WordPress Content Management System CMS

Database Driven CMS Websites

Unlike a normal website, which is a collection of “static” pages, CMS websites are dynamically driven from a database. Especially with large websites, it can make sense to store your web data in a database, rather than in hundreds or thousands of HTML pages.

Brochure websites are perfect in doing the job they were designed for, but the needs of modern businesses have changed, and now companies often require the ability to interact directly with their websites and update the content themselves, immediately if necessary.

Using a CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM allows you or your staff [with a minimum of tuition], to add, delete or edit pages, all through a browser-based administration panel.

One advantage of a CMS is in the reduction of content update costs: If you intend to add new material to your site on a regular basis, then considerable savings can be made if instead of using a web designer every time, you or your staff can deal with the management of the content as part of the normal workday. That’s not to say you will be completely abandoned to deal with it without support – naturally you can get in touch at any stage if you need advice or help.

Typical CMS Website Benefits & Options:-

  • Add / remove / edit pages
  • Update content via web browser
  • Add / change images where needed
  • Collaborative updating
  • Membership registration / Member only sections
  • Easily integrate Social Media platforms – Twitter, Facebook etc
  • Integration with Email marketing / Newsletter services –  MailChimp / Constant Contact / iContact etc
  • Event Scheduling / Booking
  • E-commerce extensions
  • Blog / News modules
  • Galleries / Polls

and numerous other facilities available as third party modules or plugins.

WordPress is More Than a Blogging Tool: Building CMS Websites

Although originally created as software for creating blogs, rapid development over the last couple of years has turned it into an extremely powerful tool for creating and running CMS websites.

This is a short(ish) list of some of the benefits of choosing WordPress as the basis for your CMS website.

  1. It’s Open Source [Part l]: with a huge user base and developer pool, WordPress will not only continue to evolve but bugs and security issues tend to be dealt with very swiftly on the rare occasion they crop up. Compare that with bespoke CMS software offerings from some web design agencies which can often be dependent on one or two coders with no guarantee they will be capable of long term commitment to development.
  2.  It’s Open Source [Part ll]: the WordPress philosophy is all about ease of use & freedom from restrictive licensing. It is, in the end, your website – you shouldn’t be forced to pay large annual fees for the ‘privilege’ of licensing a bespoke CMS system without the option of taking your site elsewhere should you want to.
  3. Optimised for Search Engines: WordPress uses search engine optimisation (SEO) friendly coding, enhanced by excellent plug-ins that allows your content to be presented in as search engine friendly manner as possible.
  4. Expandability: As touched upon above in the overview of CMS websites, the ability to provide social media, e-commerce, email marketing, members’ sections and other interactive elements is vital in this day and age. WordPress won’t disappoint.