When you’re thinking about getting a new website built, it’s easy to get so caught up in how the website looks that you overlook how it will work and how easy it will be to manage and update.
The content management system (CMS) is the nitty-gritty of how you manage your website, and the importance of selecting the right one can’t be stressed enough.
The content management system sits at the core of your website and allows you to manage and update your web content – anything from adding or editing text, uploading film or images, to adding pages or even whole sections to the menu. By using a CMS to manage your web changes, you don’t need technical know-how, such as HTML, to do it. This means that you can upload new material and make changes to your website quickly and easily without having to go back to your web developer.
Keeps your website fresh and engaging. Having a good CMS at the heart of your website is essential for helping to make sure that your content remains fresh and up-to-date. This is so important for SEO optimisation, driving traffic to the site and getting those visitors to return time and again. We recommend selecting a CMS that is easy to use. This will not only save you time and money when doing updates, but make it much more likely that you will keep content updated. Anything clunky or difficult to use will mean that updates don’t get made quickly, leaving the site to stagnate. And a stale out-of-date website isn’t going to do your business any favours.
Helps maintain security. You need to also ensure that your CMS is properly and regularly updated with any security patches or updates to ensure it remains secure and you are getting the most benefit from the system.
Puts you in control. A CMS enables you to control who has access to edit and upload content, from just one or two people to the whole team or company. You can restrict access to just certain sections, or the whole site, as appropriate. Plus, if you need to, you can allow updates to be made in draft form, leaving you or chosen staff to approve the content before it goes live, giving you overall control.
There are some limits to the control that the CMS gives you. You won’t have access to change certain areas of the overall design and functionality of your website. There’s a very good reason for this – making these changes can be complex and if you make a mistake, it could have a seriously damaging impact. For this reason, the CMS won’t allow you to make some changes and they need to be handled by your web developer.
We probably shouldn’t have a favourite content management system (CMS), but along with the rest of the world we do, and it’s WordPress.
We love working with WordPress, as we get great results with it every time. It’s cost-effective and very easy for content editors to use with little training.
Editing your website is easy using WordPress as it is done via an easy to use web-browser. It’s simple to create pages, edit copy and insert images, without having to understand HTML coding
Due to the popularity of WordPress and the fact so many people use it, any security breaches are quickly highlighted. WordPress offers regular updates, including for plugins, which keep your site secure. Spam protection plugins are available, which offer peace of mind. WordPress code is always being tested and the team are quick to fix vulnerabilities.
Oxford Web’s hosting packages are also designed to help keep your site secure and protected.
If you need more functionality, we can also install the right combination of plugins. There are thousands of free plugins available, plus many low-cost commercial ones, so most sites require little or no custom coding, keeping costs down.
With over 30% of all websites powered by WordPress, it is one of the most popular CMS. With some many users, it also means that WordPress is well supported, making it a good long-term solution for web development. We have the expertise needed to select the best plugins and customise them to suit just about any requirements.
This is why, when we develop all our websites – from simple marketing websites to more complex eCommerce or event websites – we use WordPress.
If you would like to discuss your content management system, or need advice on updating or migrating to a new one, please get in touch. Simply, complete our contact form, email hello@oxford-web.co.uk or call us on 01865 596144.
