What is a content management system?
A content
management system (usually abbreviated CMS) is an administration
interface for a web site which allows non-technical people to update and
manage the site without requiring technical knowledge. The CMS that
Stellar Web Works uses is really simple to use and it empowers any
non-technical person to create and edit the website’s content without
any knowledge of technology like knowledge of HTML etc.
Do I need a CMS?
If you (or your staff) would like to make updates to your website yourself and are not a technical person (in the web sense), then you really need a CMS. Even if you are familiar with HTML and comfortable editing the source code directly, a CMS makes the whole thing a lot easier.
Which CMS?
Stellar Web Works works with a number of content management systems but the one that we use most often is WordPress.
We have been early adopters of WordPress, building websites with it
since 2007! Back then it was still considered to be more of a platform
for building Blog type websites rather than a full blown CMS. But it was
extendible and we along with many other web developers learned the
tricks to make it work as a fully functional and easy to use CMS. Since
then it has evolved into a fully-fledged CMS and indeed the most popular
CMS in use today! It is also very user-friendly (which is the reason so
many people choose it) and has great features for search engine
optimisation.
So, how does this CMS thing work?
The website
owner/manager will have a login to log in to the CMS (the back-end of
the website). Once you are logged in, you can go back to the public
website and view it as as normal but with one key difference – you will
see a toolbar at the top of each page. If you want to make a quick
change such as change the text on a page, all you have to do is click
the ‘Edit’ button on the toolbar. Then you are taken to the edit area
for that page. You simply change the text in the edit box and click
‘Save’ and you’re done – easy as that! Of course you can do much more
than edit text – you can add images and other files, create new pages,
run a blog and much much more.
Other benefits of a CMS
Having a CMS based
website allows you to take complete control of your website, which will
provide your business with several important benefits, including:
- Reduction in the cost of maintaining your website
- Keeping content of the website up to date
- Attracting new visitors with news and new information that might be interesting to them
Contact us now to discuss if WordPress or another CMS is right for your project