What CMS should I use for my website?

A wheel of CMS options

Choosing a Content Management System (CMS) is likely the biggest decision you will make during the website design and development process. Your choice will determine how you maintain one of the most valuable marketing assets your company has.

It’s important to choose wisely.

To make things easier, here is some food for thought as you take the plunge on a new website build.

Factors to consider when selecting a CMS

Website purpose

Each website is different. Some serve as landing pages that gather consumers’ information. Others are more developmentally complex with eCommerce capabilities.

The purpose and size of your website is a key variable in determining which CMS will be most effective for you.

For example, if you only need a simple website with a few pages, then most simple CMS platforms will likely work for you. However, if you are building a massive enterprise website for all things marketing, selling, and scalable growth, you’ll need to consider more complex CMS options that are capable of handling large volumes of content.

Technology integrations

It’s important to think at the outset about the type of technology you need to integrate with your website.

Many websites are connected to multiple additional softwares that allow the businesses to run smoothly.

For example, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems allow companies to collect consumer data, manage customer interactions, and provide customer support. Make sure your CMS allows for the integration of your preferred CRM.

If you want full control over your website, think about the pros and cons to proprietary platforms. Proprietary platforms work well for small, simple websites, but because the infrastructure is owned by a single company, you’ll have less options. If you reach a point where you’ve outgrown your website host or want to change for a better deal, you won’t be able to take your website with you. The content can be reuploaded elsewhere, but the underlying code cannot be fully replicated. Proprietary platforms are user-friendly in the beginning but more restrictive in the long-run.

Make sure your website’s ownership and licensing is compatible with your optimal CMS structure.

Editing control and daily usage

Before you make a CMS choice, it’s important to identify who will be using the software during day-to-day operations.

Every team wants a different level of control over their website. Some might be happy leaving the design updates to the experts. Others may want in-house control.

If you’re looking for in-house control but your team does not consist of developers, you’ll thank yourself for making the right CMS choice.

Choosing a CMS that is user-friendly allows non-technical marketers to operate it. This enables a more regular flow of website content to be released instead of teams waiting for a third-party to make updates.

AI integration capabilities

As AI continues to change the world of marketing, CMS software that integrates AI capabilities may become important for businesses that are building or redesigning their websites.

If you know your business uses AI or plans to adopt it in the future, make sure the CMS you choose will be compatible with your goals for leveraging this technology.

CMS Options

A Traditional CMS: WordPress

WordPress is probably the most well-known traditional content management system on the market. It can manage personal blogs and enterprise websites alike.

Wordpress is incredibly robust; it offers a large network of themes, pagebuilders, and add ons to give you more control over your website. However, this vast plugin landscape is also one of its biggest problems. Not all plugins are created equal, and each new plugin expands the vulnerability surface of your website.

Wordpress might be for you if:

  • You are hoping to migrate certain functions/integrations from an existing WordPress site

  • You are looking for out-of-the-box functions that can easily be added to your site (plugins)

  • You want the option to have more design control with a visual pagebuilder

  • You only intend to use a few reputable plugins to avoid overloading your site

A Headless CMS: Sanity

In contrast to WordPress websites that are robust and all-inclusive, a website built with a headless CMS, like Sanity, is fast and flexible. Unlike a more traditional CMS, Sanity isn’t inseparable from the front end. It exists as its own entity and is tied to websites via an API layer.

Sanity might be for you if:

  • You want complete freedom for your team to build user interfaces using whatever technologies you prefer

  • You want omnichannel publishing abilities across any platform (website, intranet, mobile app, etc.) making your content more efficient and far reaching

  • You want scalability and adaptability as your business grows and your content infrastructure becomes more complex

A Hybrid CMS

The Hybrid CMS option is advertised as the software that lets you “have it all.” Combining the features of both the traditional CMS and the headless CMS may seem like the best of both worlds.

However, a hybrid CMS is mostly useful for transitioning a website to either a traditional or a headless platform. Choosing one CMS configuration is the least complicated path for developers. Using both at the same time can get messy.

If you already have a hybrid CMS system, you’ll have the option to convert your site into either a traditional or a headless system. If you’re starting a website build from scratch, we’d recommend just choosing the headless option to begin with for future scalability.

Other options

Shopify

If you are looking for an easy-to-maintain ecommerce website, then Shopify is likely the choice for you. Shopify is an out-of-the-box solution for both B2B and B2C ecommerce. Many factors that can complicate an ecommerce project, such as product filtering and payment processing, are made simple in Shopify.

Shopify is ideal if:

  • You are looking for straightforward ecommerce functionality
  • You have a website built on another platform but need an ecommerce microsite
  • You want an ecommerce platform that also has standard CMS functionality

Webflow

Webflow is a leading “no code” development platform with a powerful visual builder and a straightforward CMS. It is used by both sophisticated web design agencies and savvy DIY-ers. It is also an out-of-the-box solution, and it’s also self-hosted, meaning the fees you pay to webflow each month cover everything from CMS licensing to hosting. It also has significant training documentation available on its Webflow University.

Webflow is ideal if:

  • You want creative control over your website
  • You have some technical understanding of website layout processes and best practices
  • You are looking for an “all-in-one” solution

DIY tools like Wix and Squarespace

If you need a company website on a tight budget, you will likely have the most success with a DIY tool like Wix or Squarespace. With this approach, you won’t have access to the coaching and expertise of a marketing agency, but you can create a professional-looking website perfect for most small companies. Even if you don’t have an eye for design, the various templates you can choose from make creating a stylish website easy.

A DIY tool is ideal if:

  • You have less than $10,000 to invest in your company’s website
  • You don’t need sophisticated design or functionality
  • You have the time and resources to write your own content for your website and build the pages

We’ve only scratched the surface on the complex world of content management systems, but hopefully you now have more background to confidently make your decision.

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