New Web Site Planned? Go With A CMS!

[Or the benefits of content management system (CMS) web sites versus static HTML web sites ]

Are you at the point of having a new web site developed or an old web site redeveloped?

[Mike climbs up on soap-box] Please DO NOT get a static HTML web site developed!

I have explained the benefits of open-source content management systems (which means free web site software) to so many people in the past, that I thought I should get this rant out of my head and down on paper so I can actually send others to this article in the future for further information.

A few definitions first of all, so as to get a common understanding.

Static web site:

A collection of HTML PAGES linked together to form a web site. A static web site is not software.

Content Management System (CMS):

SOFTWARE that enables various forms of content to easily be managed i.e. categorised, organised and published. Types of content may be text, images, audio files or video files, to name a few. A CMS is not a collection of HTML pages, but CMS's are often used as the "engine" of web sites, and it can be very difficult to tell a CMS web site and static web site apart. For example, this web site runs on a CMS.

Open-source:

For all intents and purposes, when applied to software, this means free software. That is, zero cost. [Developers and experts, please DON'T strafe me with emails that I am seriously simplifying the open source concept, I know I am!]

A CMS is a difficult concept to get ones head around initially, so explaining the key benefits of CMS web sites versus static web sites might help.

As was mentioned, a static web site and CMS web site can look very similar. Where the differences really begin is when you come to change something on the web site. The table below illustrates some common tasks you might want to perform and which type of web site lets you do this quickly and easily.

Can I easily and quickly....	Static Web Site	Open-Source CMS Web Site	Task Example
Add/delete a page.	X	√	You have a new informative article that you wish to add to your web site.
Add/delete content to existing page.	X	√	You have new information that you need to add to an article to bring it up to date.
Add/delete a section of content.	X	√	You have launched a new product or service line and need to group the information about it together on the web site.
Add/delete new menu item.	X	√	You wish to link to the new product or service line directly from the main menu of the web site.
Add/delete imagery.	X	√	You have updated product imagery that you need to add to a product page.
Move elements of the site around.	X	√	You wish to move the newsletter subscriber form on the web site up above the box containing Industry News.
Change the text colour/size/font of the web site.	X	√	You want to experiment with a dark gray text colour for the web site text.
Restrict access to certain pages to registered users.	X	√	You only want to grant access to price pages to prospects who you have spoken to directly.
Add a visitor survey.	X	√	You wish to poll the web site visitors on what the biggest problems they are facing regarding your industry.
Add a blog to the web site.	X	√	You wish to add a running commentary about your industry to the web site so you can add new information on a daily basis.
Give team access to web site to update content.	X	√	You wish to let your marketing assistant update some pages of content.
[implement any number of other functionalities...]	X	√	[Think of a piece of functionality you wish to add you to your web site. 90% of the time, there will be an off-the-shelf component that will let you implement this quickly.]

As the table clearly illustrates, the CMS provides a whole new world of flexibility. No longer do you need to pay high hourly rates to a web developer to do any of the tasks because it can now be handled quite simply by yourself or one of your team.

Content Management Systems (CMS) come in many different "flavours". There are simple ones and complex ones; free ones, cheap ones and expensive ones; generic ones and usage-specific ones. For most small-medium sized businesses an excellent CMS option is one called Joomla. Joomla is open-source (free), easy to use and very extensible (it is easy to add functionality to it). The 1stPageProphets site is run on Joomla.

It is my firm opinion that static HTML web site development is a dying discipline, except for the most bespoke of needs. The benefits of CMSs far out-weigh those of static web sites.The web development companies that will prosper in the future will be those who focus on a core handful of top-notch open-source and closed-source CMSs, and who understand and develop strong competencies in web site content creation and persuasive architecture, the art and science of turning a web site visitor into a lead/buyer.

1stPageProphets does not develop new web sites using open-source CMS software as our core business, but we have project-managed many of these projects on behalf of our clients, liaising between the CMS developers and the client. We DO provide expertise and services for the SEO (getting high natural rankings for web sites in the search engines) of CMS web sites. We have particularly strong experience with SEO for Joomla open-source CMS. We also have increasingly strong capabilities in persuasive architecture.

We are very happy to give you further advice on the above, to recommend excellent CMS web site developers, or how to get your CMS web site ranked highly in the search engines so please contact us now.

This article may be freely reprinted as long as the resource box below remains intact (including the hyperlink) with the article.

Mike Bradley is founder of 1stPageProphets, who provide services to drive hungry, qualified buyers to your web site using natural and paid search engine results. Find out what is holding your web site back from more buyers by going to http://www.1stPageProphets.com now.

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