There is no such thing as the perfect CMS: But here are our top tips on CMS selection

In today's digital landscape, a robust and efficient content management system (CMS) is crucial for businesses to effectively manage their online presence. With a myriad of CMS options available, it can be overwhelming to choose the perfect one for your organisation. However, at Everything Connected, we firmly believe there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to CMS. As a digital creative and technology agency, our mission is to empower our clients with the right tools to succeed. We are technology agnostic, allowing us to focus on finding the ideal CMS that aligns with your unique business needs and future growth.

Understanding Your Business:

At Everything Connected, our approach begins with a deep understanding of your business, audiences, commercial objectives, and team capabilities. We believe a successful CMS implementation is not just about the technology; it's about leveraging it to drive your business forward. By collaborating closely with our clients, we gain invaluable insights into their operations, challenges, and aspirations. This knowledge forms the foundation for selecting a CMS that seamlessly integrates into your existing workflows and empowers your teams to deliver exceptional digital experiences.

A Focus on Future Needs:

While it's important to address your current requirements, we understand technology evolves rapidly. As a forward-thinking agency, we strive to identify CMS solutions that can adapt and scale with your business as it grows. Our team of experts keeps a keen eye on emerging trends and industry best practices, ensuring the chosen CMS not only meets your current needs but also provides the flexibility to accommodate future enhancements. By considering your long-term objectives, we can help future-proof your digital ecosystem, saving you time and resources in the long run.

Finding the Right CMS:

With the understanding of your business and future aspirations, we embark on the journey of finding the right CMS for you. Our technology-agnostic approach means we are not tied to any particular platform or vendor. Instead, we focus on evaluating a wide range of CMS options based on their features, scalability, security, ease of use, and customisation capabilities. Our team diligently researches and tests various solutions, ensuring the chosen CMS aligns seamlessly with your business goals and provides a superior user experience for both your customers and internal teams. Here are some of our top considerations for selecting the right CMS for your business.

Top Tips for CMS Selection:

1. Ease of Use
   A user-friendly interface and intuitive tools are vital for a CMS. It should empower your team to create, edit, and manage content without extensive technical knowledge or training.
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2. Scalability
   Consider the CMS's scalability to accommodate your business's future growth. It should handle increasing content volumes, site traffic, and additional features or integrations as your needs evolve.
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3. Customisation and Extensibility
   Evaluate the CMS's level of customisation. It should allow you to tailor the design, layout, and functionality of your website to align with your brand and meet your unique requirements. Additionally, look for a CMS with extensibility, enabling easy integration of additional features and functionalities as your business grows.
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4. Content Editing and Workflow
   Collaborative content creation and editing are essential. Look for features such as version control, content scheduling, approval workflows, and user roles/permissions to streamline content production processes.
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5. Multichannel Content Delivery
   If your business delivers content across multiple channels (websites, mobile apps, social media platforms, etc.), ensure the CMS can effectively manage and publish content to these channels.
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6. SEO Capabilities
   Check if the CMS provides built-in SEO tools or integrates with popular SEO plugins. It should allow you to optimise your content for search engines easily, including meta tags, URLs, sitemaps, and mobile responsiveness.
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7. Third-Party Integrations
   Determine if the CMS seamlessly integrates with other essential tools and services your business uses, such as CRM systems, email marketing platforms, e-commerce solutions, analytics tools, and social media platforms.
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8. Security
   Prioritise robust security features to protect your website and content from potential vulnerabilities, data breaches, and unauthorised access. Look for features like user authentication, SSL (secure sockets layer) support, regular updates, and a history of security patches.
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9. Support and Documentation
   Consider the availability and quality of technical support offered by the CMS provider. Check if they offer documentation, tutorials, forums, or training resources to assist you and your team in using the CMS effectively.
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10. Total Cost of Ownership
    Evaluate the overall cost of the CMS, including licensing fees, hosting, maintenance, and potential customisation or development costs. Commerce costs structure obviously are key if you need this capability. Compare the pricing structure and features of different CMS options to find the one that fits your budget and provides the best value.
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11. Commerce Capability
    If your business involves e-commerce or selling products online, assess the CMS's commerce capabilities. Look for features like product catalogue management, shopping cart functionality, secure payment gateways, inventory management, order tracking, and integration with popular e-commerce platforms. A CMS with robust commerce capabilities simplifies the process of setting up and managing your online store while providing a seamless shopping experience for your customers.
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12. Internationalisation Strategy
    If your business operates globally or targets audiences from different regions, it's crucial to consider the CMS's internationalisation capabilities. Look for features that support multi-language content management, the ability to adapt your website or app to different cultural and regional preferences, and robust support for managing and translating content. The CMS should also handle date and time formats, currencies, and other region-specific elements. Additionally, consider whether the CMS supports multilingual SEO and enables efficient management of localised versions of your website or app. A CMS that facilitates effective internationalisation strategies will help you deliver a tailored user experience that resonates with your target audience across different regions.
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13. Localisation Strategy
    To effectively target specific local markets, consider the CMS's localisation capabilities. Look for features that streamline localisation workflows, enable efficient translation management, and handle region-specific elements such as date and time formats, currencies, and language variations. The CMS should provide tools to adapt content to cultural preferences and allow for the creation and management of localised versions of your website or app. A CMS with robust localisation capabilities will support your efforts to deliver content that is relevant and engaging to local audiences, helping you establish a stronger presence in different regions.

Comparison of leading CMS solutions

Here is a comparison of some of the key factors that can be used to compare some of the leading CMS solutions we often use. This specifically compares the leading non-transactional solutions. We will do a blog on e-commerce comparisons across the likes of Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, Big Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud so keep an eye out for it soon.

Conclusion:

When it comes to selecting a content management system, the perfect CMS simply does not exist. As mentioned at Everything Connected, we pride ourselves on being technology agnostic, enabling us to find the right solution tailored to your business needs. By considering these key criteria, you can select a content management system that meets your business objectives, enhances content management processes, and empowers your team to deliver a compelling digital experience. Carefully evaluate each criterion based on your specific requirements to find the CMS that aligns with your business needs, supports growth, and offers the necessary flexibility and functionality to thrive in today's digital landscape.

If you want help finding your (nearly perfect) CMS partner and want to be guided through the process rather than just sold to, book in time with one of the Everything Connected team here, we would love to hear about your business and give you a business tool that meets your needs.