How to choose the right CMS for your business

There are plenty of content management systems available today and the most popular ones are open source CMS such as WordPress and Drupal. If you are new to business or you want to migrate to a new CMS, picking the right one can be challenging. However, the following checklist could help you make that decision easier and faster.

#1 Choose CMS according to your capability

If the CMS you are already using meets your needs, staying with the same system for the next project may provide you with a more sophisticated web app. Being already familiar with its basic features, you are in a position to explore other features. Some content management systems are developed to be easily scalable, like Drupal. So, if you’ve been using it, exploring other Drupal modules to enrich your new project would be much easier for you. Also, as you know its basics, any upgrade to the newest CMS version would be a routine.

However, if you want to explore the possibilities of the entirely new CMS, keep in mind the significant amount of time that such an adventure requires. 

#2 Choose your CMS according to the technology you use

When you are looking for a new CMS, a database and scripting languages you plan to use are equally important. For example, if you are entirely in PHP and MySQL, choosing a Java-based CMS will not do you good, unless you have time to invest in exploring new features. In other words, if you want to use Symfony PHP as a technology for building web apps, a Drupal CMS is its compatible content management pal. 

#3 Determine how much a CMS will cost you

Even though the price is not the main factor you need to look at, it could overrule your decision. However, there are many options you can consider comparing your needs, budget and business goals.  If you’re looking at budget-friendly options, there are many powerful open source CMS platforms available for any type of business, like WordPress or Drupal. 

At the moment, there are countless free modules for Drupal and plugins for WordPress that you can choose from. But, if you want to enhance or customise any part of your website, you are limited as you can only use available modules and functionalities. Consider also that licenses tend to be costly.

#4 Choose the CMS for business that looks into the future

Even if your website is currently covering all devices, it’s important to consider other possibilities that you haven’t yet looked into, but could benefit from it in the future. Just look at the AI nowadays – different AI-powered functionalities have become almost mandatory for a huge variety of platforms.

The easiest way to be sure you are choosing the right CMS solution is to look at its content capabilities. The CMS that is built for the future is the one capable of supporting new channels whenever is needed. 

#5 CMS for your business should support third-party and micro-services integrations

Let’s say you want to build a charity web app. You’ll need a CMS able to integrate different billing tools and other systems. Or, you would want to have a deep look at your marketing insights. Marketing demands a solution that can easily integrate other apps and services. Moreover, many industries, including healthcare, logistics, and retail have specific software that they may need to integrate into a new CMS.

This might sound like a no-brainer but you would be surprised to hear that there are still some CMSs that don’t have this functionality integrated in the best way. Another consideration is migrating your existing content to your new platform. You want to make this process as easy as possible, and you want to do it without losing any of your content.Therefore, check how each CMS platform resolves content migration. 

#6 Design per choice

Customised design has a more significant impact on users and makes them stay longer on the website. In that case, the CMS platform you seek has to allow modifications to the design and the layout. Such options are of great advantage as you need to use design to support your content marketing services and make your content stand out. 

To put it differently, a platform you choose should not impose the templates on you. Rather it should be flexible enough to allow customisation.

#7 Your CMS should support and underpin your content marketing strategy

Imagine you want to increase the number of your users with content and affordable marketing. A CMS should be your ally for content creation, management, distribution, and manipulation. The right CMS for your business is the one that helps you lay a good foundation for your content strategy, supporting it along the way and adapting to the changing needs of the users in terms of content consumption. 

From the SEO and content perspective, a good CMS can help you to format your content and optimize it to be easily found in the search engines. Also, you want a CMS that’s going to follow SEO trends and get your site well ranked. Therefore, you can never have enough data around website usage. If you can’t integrate a satisfactory level of analytics into the considered CMS, continue your search so you can support your SEO services. 

#8 Take the scalability into account

Change is inevitable for any growing business, and changes can impact your website tremendously. Therefore, you need to make sure you choose a CMS solution that can quickly grow and scale along with your business.

In other words, you should consider a CMS able to turn a simple blog into an e-commerce site, or a forum into a full-blown web application. Or, let’s say you decide you want to go for a basic open source CMS because you just want to launch a website quickly. But, will that platform support your goals in 6 to 12 months? What you also need to consider is how many users will use the platform, and what level of technical expertise they will have. You need to make sure that they won’t have a difficult time using it. 

#9 Always request a demo

Before the purchase, be sure to test and get a proof-of-concept first. Ask for a chance to implement a part of the website first and get team members and end-users to test it. The testing phase is crucial as you could detect many issues that may not have been visible in the first place.

#10 CMS should provide a positive user experience

How people react to your website tells a lot about the quality of user experience. Do people like to use it or hate it? A significant contribution to a good user experience comes from a good CMS. In the name of good UX, make sure you get familiar with the potential of each CMS you choose, as well as its preview in different aspects.  Drupal, for example, provides huge flexibility regarding UX.

#11 Look for support availability in business CMS

Open source platforms often come with a community familiar with its environment, development and security issues. Having a rich community of contributors include solving time-sensitive issues and regular CMS upgrades, offered by open source systems that provide plenty of features for you to choose. 

To conclude 

Think about what your CMS needs to do and what do you want from your website in the long run. Invest your time to explore each available option.

First of all, If you don’t have a technical background, as a non-developer person, a CMS has to be intuitive, easy to use and provide: 

• Accessible content management – you want to be able to know how to edit your website without any HTML or any front end knowledge.
• Quick edits  – you want to be able to dive into content over the web to make changes.
• User-friendly content formatting – you want to be able to upload and format attractive content without any obstacles.
• Independence in publishing –  when you use a CMS, you want to be able to publish, edit or upload a new blog without the need for a designer or site admin. 
• Familiar site management – you want to be able to easily manage multiple website pages from the one single CMS. 
• Flexibility – you want to be able to expand your CMS with available plugins/modules any time (learn about the best Drupal SEO modules).

Don’t forget – at the end of the day, your CMS ultimately has to have two functions:

• To allow you to update your digital platform.
• To be extremely easy for you to use it.

If you can’t think of where to start, say HI to our business development specialists. They might guide you in your quest for the right CMS. 

Need help to decide which technology is the right one for your business idea? Get in touch with us today and we can help you choose the best option.