A Content Management System (CMS) is a Software as a Service that allows you to manage your online content via the website by editing, updating, and adding new content. There are different CMSs such as WordPress, Shopify, Drupal, among others. Each CMS has its own advantages and disadvantages, so choose one based on your web requirements!
When searching for a content management system for your business, there are several things you need to consider. First, you want something that looks good and is easy to use. Obviously, you don’t want to lose half of your potential customers over usability issues or design. You also want something that won’t cost you an arm and a leg in upgrades and maintenance. This can be especially true if you change web developers often. Finally, you want an easy-to-scale platform; at the end of the day, you’re a software vendor, and you’re always expecting to grow as fast as you can, amplifying your sales and customer support capacities.
These are the best options out there for your online business representation.
Several CMS can help your business stay true to a consistent, professional voice on the web, among those include WordPress, Shopify, Drupal, Magento, and Weebly. The best choice for your business depends on what your goals are.
WordPress
“WordPress is software designed for everyone, emphasizing accessibility, performance, security, and ease of use” – so it says the Mission page on wordpress.org/about. That description resumes very well what WP is.
WordPress is a website platform with several critical features that make it appealing for business owners who aim to create their own online presence. For example, WordPress is free and open-source, meaning anyone can use it unrestrictedly. It also allows for extensive customization of the layout’s design elements. This flexibility makes WordPress a strong choice for business owners who want to maintain as much control over their brand as possible, as it allows them to have a say in how their website looks and operates.
WordPress is also elementary to use and manage, both individually and concerning collaboration with others, such as web designers or programmers. The CMS on which WordPress is based makes it very simple to update content or the site’s appearance in real-time without relying on any outside assistance.
Lastly, WordPress has a massive community of users who generate content through free plugins, blogs, and other forms of media sharing. This means that business owners can leverage the popularity of other sites by using the same WordPress platform they do, thus broadening their reach with minimal effort on their part.
Shopify
Shopify is a leading content management system provider based in Canada. Their e-commerce solution offers affordable pricing, exceptional service, and top quality, a popular option for small businesses and existing online retailers. Clients of Shopify include Hyatt Hotels, Red Bull, Louis Vuitton, and Tesla Motors. Continuing education and online training material are available; also, on-site classes are held regularly at the head office in Ottawa, Canada.
Shopify allows users to create their online store using free themes or customizing one of their existing ones. You can add and customize product pages like it’s nothing, also add apps like social media widgets and SEO plugins without needing any coding knowledge or skills, making this an excellent option for businesses looking for ease of use in their CMS.
The best thing about Shopify is that it’s flexible—not just in terms of security, but in terms of how much control you have over the look and feel of your online store. For instance, Shopify boasts a highly customizable theme engine, which means you get to pick your own color scheme, skin textures, and even font options. Finally, the shopping cart is excellent and admits all kinds of credit cards from(almost) all over the world!
This might interest you: Why use Shopify for your restaurant and food and drink business?
Drupal
The open-source content management system Drupal was created and maintained by a community of developers and users and is one of the most popular CMS. It was initially released in 2000, and it has been estimated that more than one million websites use it. A large proportion of government organizations, universities, and non-profit organizations use Drupal to power their online presence, which allows you to create, edit and organize all of your website’s content from one place. This can be useful for businesses that want to control their own content updating and editing or for those who want a more user-friendly interface for their customers.
It uses a template system that allows the user to customize the appearance of their site without having to learn HTML, CSS, or web design languages like CSS. Drupal’s template system is called “themes” and is developed by Drupal’s online theming community at drupal.org/themes.
Here’s how it works: you can use Drupal to manage various content on your website—from blog posts and pages to products and users. You can organize it by creating different types of content (called “categories”) based on what you want to display on your site. Then you create other “blocks” of information–for example, a block for news updates about your company or another for customer testimonials–and add them into each category as needed. For example, if you’re selling shoes online, you could have a shoe.
Magento
Magento is an open-source content management system developed by Varien Inc., now known as Magento Inc. The company was founded in 2000 and is located in Los Angeles, CA. eBay acquired it in 2011.
Magento is an e-commerce provider focused on the needs of online merchants and has a wide variety of features, including a creating your own website and e-commerce, customer relationship management (CRM) tool that helps you manage your customers and their orders, and a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor that allows you to make changes right on your website so that you don’t have to go into the back end.
However, the platform offers both front-end and back-end functionality for your website—both of which are customizable—and it provides an array of integrations with other popular platforms like WordPress and Google Analytics and payment gateway options like PayPal and Amazon Pay. In fact, according to some reports, Magento powers nearly 39% of all e-commerce websites around the world!
Magento is available in both open source and paid versions. The paid version (Magento Commerce) starts at $20,000 USD per year, but you can opt for the free Community Edition download if you want to start small.
To start with Magento, you’ll need some technical knowledge so that you can upload files correctly and manage your domain name settings. You’ll also need an SSL certificate so that your website will be secure when customers visit it.
Weebly
Weebly is a content management system that gives you the ability to create a fully functional website in a matter of minutes. No experience required.
Weebly’s primary function is to help you create a website quickly and easily. You can use it to build professional-looking websites for both personal and business purposes. If you’re not sure what kind of web design you want, Weebly offers many templates from which to choose. These templates are customizable, so you can make them fit your needs—or you can add custom HTML or CSS on top of the template if you need more flexibility or control over the design. To help you start, there are also various widgets that you can use to add functionality like contact forms or slide shows without needing any coding experience at all. The platform caters to small businesses and comes with tools for e-commerce, blogging, social media integration, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), mobile customization, video backgrounds, site statistics, and more.
Weebly has over 800 third-party app integrations that are compatible with their CMS. Users can log in to their accounts via Facebook or Google and integrate features like PayPal or Mailchimp. They can also embed social feeds from Twitter or Instagram on their websites. Other third-party integrations include Zendesk, Webflow, Olark Live Chat, and many more.
Weebly offers an integrated shopping cart with checkout pages optimized for mobile devices for those who need an online store. You can accept payments from major credit cards or PayPal directly through the platform — no third party required!
Weebly has over 30 million websites worldwide, which means there’s a good chance one of them is someone you know.
The CMS for You
Use the Content Management system that provides you with the best solutions specifically for your web needs because it is not the biggest or the most used CMS always the best for you or your business. When selecting which CMS you’re going to use, take some time to identify their strong and weak points, research them, and look very closely at the price tag they have, comparing the CMS characteristics and your internal needs.