Choosing a CMS for your Business Website

by | Mar 9, 2021 | Web Design | 0 comments

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If you are ready to give your business a boost with a new website, there are many factors to consider. One of the first questions is what Content Management System (CMS) to use, or if you should use one at all. The decision you make is going to affect who would have the skills to build the website, the cost of building it, and how easy it will be to make changes, among many other factors. But first, you may be asking yourself what the heck a CMS is.

What is a CMS?

A Content Management System is a software program designed to make it easier for users to create, manage, and modify content on a website without the need for specialized technical knowledge. With a CMS, you would be able to make changes to images, text, and even buttons within a couple of minutes and with little to no technical or coding knowledge. 

Common CMS Options:

  • Wix
  • SquareSpace
  • WordPress
  • October
  • Shopify
  • BigCommerce
  • Magento

Building Your Own Website on a CMS

If you want to build a website yourself but are not a full-stack web developer, it is a no-brainer to use a CMS. Wix and Squarespace offer drag and drop builders that are easy for complete beginners to use. If you want an eCommerce website that is easy to build and manage, Shopify is a great option. Those who want to minimize monthly upkeep costs, want more flexibility with functionality, or are a bit more comfortable with learning some basic coding, may brave it with WordPress. 

Hiring A Web Design Agency

Some business owners don’t have the time, resources, or confidence in their ability to build a website on their own. This is super common. In fact, we find that the most successful business owners are the ones that know where their skillset starts and ends, and contract out the work that they are not skilled in. However, if you are hiring a marketing or web design agency to design your website, you may wonder why a CMS would still be necessary. After all, these are the experts you are paying for, right? Right.

Why We Use a CMS

Keep in mind you aren’t just hiring an agency to stack a few building blocks, but for advice on the best software to use, effective design, and so much more. By using a CMS software, agencies are able to cost-effectively build client’s websites with a user-friendly experience that looks great, is easy to use, and drives the conversions that matter most for your business. As experts in our industry, we know that WordPress is one of the most common CMS software across the globe. We most often utilize WordPress when developing websites for our clients for a number of reasons.

Get More Bang For Your Buck

Before CMS software became popular, clients were spending roughly the same amount of money on website development as you would today but the websites they developed were not user-friendly and they often only had basic functionalities such as contact forms and buttons. WordPress has been so widely used over the years that plugins and documentation already exist to incorporate complex styling and functionality. In a relatively short amount of time, someone who is familiar with WordPress can add a stylish event calendar, integrate an Instagram feed, create an easily editable image gallery, and add eCommerce functionality to your fully responsive website. Without a CMS, this type of functionality would require a highly experienced coder and weeks or months – and that doesn’t include making it look good.

For some large enterprise businesses or businesses looking to develop an online functionality the does not exist yet, having a 100% custom-coded website makes sense, but for most small and even mid-sized businesses such an investment simply isn’t logical. 

Take Control of Your Website

Many also clients want the ability to make simple changes to their website without needing to contract a developer for hourly revisions. Clients who want to make text or image changes to their WordPress websites may be able to do so in just a few minutes (depending on the change). We won’t hide the fact that someone who has zero knowledge may face a small learning curve but consider this… When learning Microsoft Word for the first time or switching from an Andriod to iPhone you would need to click around for a few minutes or ask where a certain option is. The same is true for WordPress. Also, just as there are some experts who know advanced features of Microsoft Word, there are developers who know advanced features of WordPress, but that doesn’t mean the average person can’t easily learn the basics.

Get A Quote for A New Website Today

Are you ready to Choose WordPress for your new website? Contact Buzzbait Consulting today for a free quote to develop the ideal website for your business.

Written By: Serene G.

Serene is the Organic Marketing Manager at Buzzbait Consulting. With almost 10 years of marketing experience, she has just about done it all from content writing and SEO optimization to public relations and social media management. She has also personally designed and developed countless websites, working on teams that developed hundreds more. This experience allows Serene to oversee all organic marketing initiatives while providing local businesses with valuable insight into growing their business. When she is not in the office, she is working with pregnant women as a birth doula and childbirth educator.

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