What Is CMS: Content Management Software and Why Is It SO Important?

A ‘CMS’ or ‘Content Management System’ allows a web site owner and their staff to be able to maintain their website without technical capabilities. Users are able to update copy, edit and create new posts, upload images to a portfolio, add video, audio and more.

Having a CMS allows a company to create current content and grow their website. and as a result, their marketing and internet presence on the world wide web.

If you have e-commerce; a CMS is necessary in order to be able to maintain your online catalog: update product photos and descriptions, add new categories, display featured items, run promotions and marketing campaigns, etc.

Why does it cost so much more to build a website with a Content Management System?

If you possess in-house capabilities with the extra human cycles to dedicate or you have the resources to outsource site maintenance and promotion, then a professionally built website without content management may be a good fit.

The added expenditure of integrating a content management system into a website can vary wildly. You have to evaluate what your website is going to require. The benefits are the capability for your staff to be able to maintain and update your website’s content. Your organization participates and can promote the website through interactive blogs, video, social media and e-commerce.

Proprietory or Open Source?

A Proprietory CMS is a custom designed system built for one organization by either internal staff or outsourced resources. The advantage: it’s capabilities are only limited by its developers skills and project budget requirements.

The limitations start with system upgrades and maintenance. Adding capabilities requires extensive planning and resources. If the CMS was built externally and that relationship degrades then what happens? Did the developer create appropriate technical documentation to allow future development? Was it built to any standards? Are there copyrights in place that prevent changes to the code?

A proprietary content management system is appropriate for larger organizations that deal with legacy technology or a company with an idea that current open source solutions just cannot provide a viable solution for, but companies should be wary of the long tail costs involved with creating and maintaining a custom solution.

Going with an Open Source platform involves using a pre-existing framework of technologies built by an active community of developers. The software is free to use, the costs are in the deployment of the system. One advantage to going open source is the fact that the code base is supported by literally 1000’s of developers resulting in an active support community. The system is continually updated, features and quality are always improving.

OK, I’m sold…do you have a Content Management System you recommend Sunny?

Definitely WordPress! What is WordPress? WordPress is an open source Content Management System (CMS), often used as a blog publishing application, powered by PHP and MySQL. It has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system. Used by over 12% of the 1,000,000 biggest websites, WordPress is the most popular CMS in use today. Click here to learn more about why WordPress is the most powerful blogging and content management software available; used by the top media companies and even U.S. Government Agencies!

Drupal – A True CMS With Tons of Ready Made Extensions

The birth, growth as well as development of a website depend upon the CMS that is chosen by the developers. If you are willing to start a business online then it is must that you pick a CMS that would perform all that is needed for a successful journey. I think initially you must know what actually DRUPAL is. To mention a few good spots of DRUPAL I must say it is a content management system basically used on PHP configuration. The styling of this CMS is helpful in creating complex designs in the website to make it accessible for multiple internet systems. Being open-source it can do wonders for your business without any hindrance.

There are many factors that make this CMS a perfect choice for your site development purpose. Free downloading options, easy installation and a huge community of people available 24/7 for maintenance and up-gradation makes it highly adorable to users. You will fall in love with the flexible tools that this system is empowered with because this CMS allows developers to do any activity for a successful website building activity. Remember that it takes money and time to create a successful as well as responsive site. Before you invest your money go for an extensive study and only then choose the right CMS for your business. The most attractive part of this process is that it is easily manageable and adaptable for any kind of development activity. A site designed with DRUPAL edits your content in such a way that it looks perfectly simple to your clients. Keep in mind that internet users are hungry for information so you need such a site that will at once mesmerize them and convince them. Almost every company finds this CMS appropriate because it takes a lot of development procedures to install it successfully. It is perfectly portable so it is easy to adopt as well as implement. Packing as well as unpacking your website is perfectly easy with DRUPAL. It allows you to modify, share as well as distribute contents over a large platform. It will allow you to stay ahead of all your rivals. So being free, possessing high profile clients, extensive API support, flexible features, search engine friendliness and many more special elements make it an expert. Once you succeed in making your site live then you can claim to have one of the best sites for your clients to plunge upon.

Today’s world demands smartness and flexibility and if you have to stay successful in your business then be absolutely picky and clever before you land up with a choice. Remember that you must be absolutely trendy and sensible before landing up with a decision. It must be kept in mind that content management system is the back bone of your site. If the backbone is not strong then you can never dream of lording over your potent rivals. It is all about intelligent business strategy.

Is a Commercial CMS Like Joomla Right For You?

The arguments for using content management systems to develop websites are well documented and generally fairly convincing.  There are so many advantages in using a CMS over a static website that very few people develop static sites any longer.  Those that do are usually professionals well versed in server technologies, HTML, CSS and JavaScript, although there are a few amateurs creating basic websites with editors such as Expression Web, Dreamweaver and the open source Komposer.

There are many open source content management systems available to the consumer and to the developer alike.  One of the most popular to emerge in recent years has been Joomla; this platform is used both by individuals to quickly construct personal or small business websites that have sophisticated interactivity and look great, and professionals using the platform to build winning sites for their clients.  Joomla is by no means the only open source CMS available; many people swear by Drupal as a development tool, while others prefer CMS Made Simple for its superb usability and excellent search engine friendliness.  And although developed originally as a blogging platform, WordPress is a fully functional content management system in its own right and is one of the easiest to build and edit — even for the complete novice.

Whether you decide to use a CMS like Joomla must depend upon your own individual requirements and the purpose to which you will put the site when it is live.  Popular CMS have not only huge support communities, but a seemingly endless array of plug-ins and components which extend the functionality enormously.  There are many examples of this, but one of the most popular is probably the shopping cart.  What is incredible is that all of this technology is available for no cost to the individual who is prepared to roll their sleeves up and have a go themselves.  Even as recently as five or six years ago developers would be charging many thousands of dollars for sophisticated e-commerce systems; nowadays, any Tom Dick or Harry can have one for free.

It would be sensible, of course, to exercise caution when deciding to develop something as important as an e-commerce website.  There are many complexities, some of them extremely important like tax bands and shipping charges which would put the task out of the reach of most people, but there are those who are prepared to rise to the challenge and who complete perfectly usable and fully functional e-commerce sites without any prior knowledge or experience.

Whichever route you decide to choose you will find numerous forums and support groups available to help you should you hit trouble along the way.  Owning and maintaining a website or blog can be extremely satisfying; Joomla and other CMS make it possible for anyone, whatever their experience to become their own Webmaster.

Advantages of CMS Integration With PHP Web Applications

Content is king in online business. It plays an important role in earning the money. It is fact that all search engines like fresh content so you need to update your website everyday with fresh content. This habit is useful in rankings of your website. Google’s new indexing system has made compulsory to have quality and fresh content to achieve good ranking. In order to inject everyday fresh content into your website you need a system that work without the help of HTML experts or any knowledge of scripting. Such system is available in the market and that is called content management system.

Content management system allows you to edit, delete or change the content without prior knowledge of scripting. You can edit your content as per your wish and you can delete or change your content as per your requirements. Content management system work for every kind of websites be it e-commerce website or your personal blog you can change content of any type be it images of your products or textual content of your blog.

Open Source CMS has recently made a dominating presence in the market as it provides some highly beneficial options of not only having an easily manageable blog, but to have full length websites that can be managed the way you want. Content management systems and e-Commerce platforms both allow for a cost effective development of websites.

There are plenty of technologies available in the market for content management system. They may be open source like Drupal, Joomla, Modx, Word Press, Magento, e-commerce, X-Cart etc. or proprietary technologies like ASP.NET. You can use any of these technologies to manage your content on your website. You can integrate CMS of any technologies with the help of proper professional developers. You can search such developers from outsourcing companies because they have developers with the same talent available at cheaper rates.

With different plug-ins and add-ons you can add more functionality in your website with CMS integration. CMS integration assures better security to your content. CMS integration allows control of user access. It is well-known that today’s business competition is fierce and everyone want to go ahead therefore you need suitable CMS integration in your website. You should have neatly designed website and attractive content to go ahead in this march. You need an effective tool in form of CMS integration so you can go ahead in this race of brand recognition.

You have to decide which technology is suitable for your website. However it is depends on the nature of your website to select the technologies. For instance for your e-commerce website Magento is the best option now a day as it comes with lots of useful features.

Joomla CMS for Media Industry

Internet has become an integral part of the media industry. Every print and broadcast media house uses its website as a complementary feature. Joomla CMS is one of the preferred choices of the people in the media industry. Over the years Joomla developers have created many niche templates and plugins which cater to the needs of the media industry. In the media industry urgency and large volume of content are two keystones which make Joomla development such an advantageous proposition for any media house.

A number of media houses around the world have adopted Joomla CMS for their websites, thanks to its flexibility and robust features. Being one of the most revered CMSs in the market, Joomla is an evolving platform and there are regular advancements to make your website better. In case of any errors and bugs you will find solution to your problems from Joomla developers around the world.

Advantages of Joomla for Media Industry

  • Joomla is an open source system which comes free of cost. It is ideal for startup media houses planning to create an industry-standard website with minimal expenditure. You only have to spend on buying the domain and website development.
  • User-friendly content management system allows users with basic Internet and computing skills to publish and manage a website. Very little coding knowledge is required to manage and publish in a Joomla website.
  • Features like photo galleries, slide shows, quiz, comments and multimedia elements such as video and audio which are a must for any media house, can be integrated into a website using easily available plugins.
  • Websites managed with Joomla are search engine friendly which is one of the primary requirements of news website. The CMS can be customized to ping major search engines for fast indexing which increases page views.
  • Promotional features like RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, Delicious, Digg etc. can be integrated in the website for viral promotion. There are custom built plugins to enable these features.
  • Custom Joomla CMS allows multiple users to have publishing and editing rights over same or varied domains controlled by an administrator. This allows for simultaneous publishing in the same website.
  • There are hundreds of free as well as paid Joomla templates custom made to cater to the demands of the media industry. This allows for quick development of websites from scratch.

So what are you waiting for? If you are a media house get your website developed with Joomla or migrate from the painstaking HTML platform. You can outsource your custom development project to an offshore development center and get that website which not only promotes your brand but also creates an impact on your readers. Joomla developers will create a skeletal website which can be easily updated and manage using the all-powerful Joomla CMS.

Choosing the Right CMS (Content Management System)

As a web developer, my CMS of choice when pitching new clients is WordPress for its ease of use, fast installation process, ability to scale and flexible template structure. The fact is, the majority of new website owners seeking a CMS are satisfied with WordPress because it meets all of their needs. This is due both to the fact that WordPress is a robust system as much as the fact that most new clients don’t really need overly complicated systems. Just because something CAN do more doesn’t mean it NEEDS to.

For companies seeking a bit more flexibility with their content or an e-commerce option, then my next suggestion is the Joomla CMS. Joomla has a great third-party shopping cart system called Virtuemart that is sufficient for most small businesses. It also has a more flexible system for structuring content layouts than WordPress, which is appropriate for large inventory e-commerce stores or magazine-style websites with hundreds (if not thousands) of content items. In this scenario, Joomla is my clear-cut suggestion.

Next up the food chain is Drupal which is only recommended in the most extreme situations. Extensive news or corporate sites usually require a system like Drupal because of it’s intense structural flexibility. While WordPress is accessible to everyone, Joomla is approachable to those that are a little bit more technically minded, Drupal on the other hand is for programmers only. Drupal sites should only be developed and maintained by an extremely experienced team with a proven track record, as it’s very complicated nature can make for an expensive to develop (and maintain) option. But since it’s only recommended for large organizations, most website owners will never have a need for it anyway.

In conclusion, most individuals or small companies will find WordPress more than meets their needs; e-commerce or magazine developers will find Joomla solves their core problems and corporations or large-scale news organizations will have their goals met with Drupal.

CMS Makes it Easy

Do it yourself is not as scary as it sounds. It you need or want a website, there is a fairly simple way to get a professional website quickly.

CMS, or content management system, is just a fancy name for a website in a box. You push a button or two, and your web host installs it for you (if you’ve got a good web host) and in the space of thirty minutes you can install a generic website that gives you working email, dependable page navigation, image handling and control, and more.

What this means is that in a tiny amount of time, anyone can set up a website that is very professional-looking, and has many features. Then with a few hours of customization you have a website that is capable of doing almost anything you want it to do.

Joomla

Joomla is a CMS that is free and open-source. Anyone can download it, install it, and use it. Joomla has a long history and a huge user community that makes it a very safe option to install and use. Joomla can be customized to present a picture gallery, add comments, or be a business website with a shopping cart. It is a general purpose package that, once set up, can be made to do almost anything. Joomla is an excellent choice if you want to pop up an entire website, put your energy or your money into customization, and in the space of a week or less have something you can be proud of.

Joomla is not hard to use, although it will take you a few hours of reading the extensive documentation, to understand how to use it. There are many resources on the web that will explain anything about Joomla. Or you can go to their excellent and active forum for support. One of the resources that describes both installation and customization of Joomla is Website-Do It Yourself.

Customization

One of the first things you want to do to customize your site is change the template. There are many free templates out there that you can download to your computer and upload to your website – and you immediately have a new appearance. The colors can be changed, the format of the page (columns, inserts) can be changed, any of the page details can be changed.

Once you’ve chosen a template that you like, you can change the logo picture at the top of the page. Since that logo image will automatically be used on every page, it is very powerful at defining your site.

Joomla also has many third party plug-in modules that add functionality to your site. Almost all these things are free. For example, you can change the editor to one you like better, you can add advertising modules to the sidebars, you can add security modules that prevent spam, and the list goes on into hundreds of additions.

In conclusion, Joomla is absolutely the best choice you could make to create a unique and beautiful website. It’s CMS at its best – functional, customizable, free, quick to install, and well-documented.

How to Choose a CMS

Content Management Systems represent the modern way to build a website. In the past, most websites were built using HTML to control the layout of the web page and format the content within it. Sites built in this way were limited in their interactivity, had to be created by somebody with knowledge of HTML code and server technologies, could take a while to build and upload, and were time-consuming to update.

Dynamic websites

Content Management Systems have been around for a number of years, but it was not until the introduction of popular open source CMS that the concept really took off. The open source movement has been responsible for enormous changes in popular technologies, mainly due to the fact that open source products are generally free to use. Examples include business software, operating systems and content management systems. These are basically built around a database in which all the data for each page is stored. The web page itself is virtual and only exists when a browser requests it. Unlike static websites, a dynamic website can be quick to build and update, and because it resides entirely on the web server, the interface used to construct and edit it is accessed via an ordinary web browser.

Open access

Since all the web building is done through an ordinary browser, anyone is capable of creating and editing a dynamic website built using a CMS. This means that in practice, a site can be built by one person but edited by a number of others. There are considerable practical advantages in this approach; the head of the Department may want to create a web page for his or her department but have other team members add content to it. This is often the way organisations create large websites that are filled with current, relevant content. A positive side-effect is that search engines absolutely love fresh, relevant content, so a website built in this way will naturally be indexed and in all likelihood appear in the top few pages for that topic.

Permission levels

Another benefit of using a CMS to construct a dynamic website is that different levels of permission can be granted to those who will add content to it. For example, the department head may decide that certain individuals are permitted to add content but only in one subject area, while others are able to add content in all subjects. Individuals can be given permissions to write content or just to edit existing content depending on the circumstances. Permission can also be customised so that people submitting content must have it approved before it is published — quite an important consideration if there are legal implications.

Software

There are a number of different content management systems available today, many of which are free to use. Probably the most common open source CMS is the blogging platform WordPress; although designed for creating blogs, this is a fully functional CMS in its own right and can easily be adapted to that purpose alone. The second most popular content management system is almost certainly Joomla; this CMS evolved from an earlier open source program called Mambo, but is now extremely popular all over the world due to its ease of use, sophisticated interface and huge support infrastructure.

Conclusion

Whichever CMS you decide on, you are certain to find it extremely easy to produce top quality website using the most basic of tools — your existing web browser. Other people in your organisation will be able to add or edit content without any prior experience, and ultimate control will always remain with the administrator of the site to ensure that content is appropriate before it is published. CMS really have revolutionised the process of web design.

CMS – How Having a Good Content Management System Improves Your Business

Any business in today’s economy needs a dynamic online presence in order to survive, but creating and maintaining a web site can be an overwhelming task for many business owners. Using a Content Management System (CMS) can simplify the process and render several other business advantages at the same time, but before commencing such a project it is important to identify the key business goals you want the system to achieve. These may include:

• Increasing the flexibility of the site

• Improving the accuracy of information

• Supporting marketing

• Reducing the duplication of information

• Improving the customer experience

• Improving business responsiveness

• Streamlining information updates

A suitable content management solution can then be chosen to ensure that these business strategies will be met. Here are some more reasons why a CMS is good for business:

Cost of implementing

A compelling reason for businesses to use a CMS is cost. Although some CMS can be expensive, many others are freely distributed under an open-source license.

Speed of deployment

Getting a website up and running used to be very time-consuming, but a modern CMS can get you online in a matter of hours.

Getting Support

A proprietary CMS website can be potentially expensive to maintain, but help is usually close at hand whereas an open source CMS such as Joomla or Drupal may not have the same dedicated support facilities. However, almost all have excellent support communities so any problem encountered should be quickly solved.

Staffing levels

Most CMS can be edited by existing staff who can be trained to use the software – and there is nothing new to buy.

Security

Security is a serious concern for any business. A CMS automatically keeps track of updates, recording when and who updated the content creating an audit trail of any unauthorized changes.

Transferring hosts

It is important for a business website to be transferrable to another host if necessary. CMS usually have an export option, making it simple to change.

Applications

So many plug-ins and extensions for popular CMS now exist is that extending the functionality of your website is easier than ever.

Appearance

All CMS use CSS to style the pages, and the design of the site relies on the use of templates. The big advantage is that changing the template can radically alter the look of the site; if you have a site with hundreds of pages this can be an incredible time saver.

Adding functionality

A CMS is virtually is limitless in terms of scale, and can expand as the business grows. If at some stage an e-commerce site is required, it is relatively straightforward to add one in most content management solutions.

Edit from anywhere in the world

Editing a CMS by using a web browser means that you can add or edit content from anywhere with Internet access, and is substantially cheaper than purchasing multiple site licenses for Dreamweaver or Expression Web for everyone in your office.

User Management and permissions

Access to separate areas of the site can be granted to different users, and documents and webpages placed into separate directories. Additional users can be created and deleted as staff members leave or roles change.

SEO

One of the claims for the traditional HTML website was that it was easier to optimise, but CMS can actually improve ranking by generating SEO friendly code and because they are so easy to maintain, they often have fresher content than the traditional static site.

How Sitefinity CMS Website Development Helps Your Online Identity

When you have a fully optimized website, you can garner a lot of customer views so that more and more people learn about your business; it is then that they will order products and services from you. More and more businesses understand this today, which is the main reason behind the success and popularity of Sitefinity. It is a unique platform with customizable features that helps it suit a variety of different businesses.

It can cater to all of their needs with a wide range of templates creating a strong online presence with a CMS that offers a well-designed website.

Understanding the Workings of the CMS

A one of a kind CMS that can convert from Web Forms, MVC and vice versa; every template offers you three specific modes. There are the Web Forms, the MVC and a mixed mode in which the MVC controllers and Web Forms controls are able to coexist on one page. The MVC function is completely streamlined in Microsoft so that the code works just the way it is. It is quite easy to work with for .NET developers, as the system is based on ASP.NET technologies.

With .NET controls, MVC views and .NET data providers, most businesses will benefit from letting skilled and dedicated Sharepoint programmers help them implement this platform for their enterprise.

Creating a Strong Identity for your Enterprise

Sitefinity developers help you avail every aspect of the software and put it to use so it can garner more customers for your enterprise. The skilled developers can design master pages or a wide variety of themes and can even extend the application for specific requirements. Along with helping you support MVC and Razor, the application can quickly define custom data which is quite helpful. You can address all your unique project necessities with the software, as it is completely customizable.

Building such a website creates a strong online presence for your company. This is a step in the right direction for it will increase the brand value of your enterprise.

An Appealing User Friendly UI

Sitefinity development has a unique built-in Module Builder that helps entrepreneurs address specific project necessities. It does this by giving them the opportunity to create new-fangled content with a web-based interface. It allows you to define new data models that you can devise one-to-one or one-to-many and even many-to-many relations designed for different content types. Another great perk this tool has is its user friendly user interface that entices clients that you can then retain as loyal patrons.

What is more is that it automatically produces a user-friendly UI for showcasing all kinds of data. The full-featured API is also a wonderful aspect that you can use to develop supplementary extensions.

Once you have availed this software to create a highly operational portal for your enterprise on the internet; you will have an online identity that draws a lot of eyeballs. Your retail site and store will increase your brand value by making your more popular among online customers leading to a higher profitability

Freelance Web Designer | WordPress Developer | Hong Kong