What is a CMS

17 December 2020

If you have ever wanted to create a web page you will have come across the acronym CMS and you might be still not sure what it means. 

This acronym CMS stands for ‘Content Management System’. 

However, what does content management mean exactly?

➡️ A content management system is software that allows you to create a web page.

You can manage both the web structure and its content: the different pages and the elements that you incorporate such as image, text or video.

In short, a CMS has everything you need to make your website work.

Now that you know what it means, why should you use a CMS?

Advantages of using a CMS

Probably, many of the web pages you visit today are created under a CMS, why should you use it to create your website?

  • It saves time

When creating a page with CMS, this system has already incorporated some time-consuming actions that take time away from the programmer, such as the creation of new users.

In addition, CMS usually have default templates that you can modify in a few minutes, achieving a personalized and attractive site for the visitor.

  • It makes the work easier for any user

Thanks to the fact that the CMS works on a simple interface, any user without technical programming knowledge can carry out their task.

This is useful when you are a blog or media outlet and the content is updated daily or even hourly. The person in charge of updating it only has to share the text and upload images, without touching code.

  • Economic savings

Developing a web page with CMS, where elements such as templates or servers are included, is cheaper than doing it with HTML code and starting from scratch.

This allows you to save in economic terms and dedicate that part of the budget to another side of your business or project.

You may have already found an answer to your questions and started creating your website with CMS. Now, what types of CMS can you find?

CMS types

To classify the types of CMS we will show you three aspects: the price of the CMS, whether you need to host on your own, and its theme.

✅ Free or paid CMS

Within the CMS there are some with a free license and others that you have to pay to use them.

  • Free license: Those that are published in free software with a community behind it, acting to improve performance and launching new features.
  • Paid licenses: they require a payment to be able to use them. Unlike the free ones, they do offer professional support to solve any problem that might come up.

In addition to the price, the main difference between the two is how problems are solved if something happens to your website. In the free ones you will have to get by on your own in forums and on other internet pages, while in the paid ones there is a team behind ready to help you with whatever you need.

✅ Hosted o self-hosted

In hosted CMS, a company is in charge of providing you with everything you need to make your page work: servers, software and hosting of your website.

Its use is simple, you just have to enter the CMS, register and start working on it.

On the other side, with a self-hosted CMS you have to take care of everything. From hiring the hosting and domain, editing the code, adding templates, etc

Which one is better for you?

Our recommendation is that you consider what you are going to use your page for.

A self-hosted has great possibilities to expand your website, install plugins that improve your page, position it in search engines, etc. And that is why it requires professionals who master the code to maintain the page.

While the hosted CMS is somewhat limited in functions and opportunities.

If you are not sure, you can always start with the hosted CMS and if you notice that your project grows, go to self-hosted. Of course, it entails economic and time expenses to migrate all the content.

✅ CMS Themes

The theme of the CMS influences the classification of CMS types:

  • CMS for ecommerce: they are those in which you can create an online store or ecommerce.
  • CMS for websites: those that have a general objective in which to create a blog or communication medium

In any case, generalists tend to adapt easily to any type of content. That is, through plugins or tools they can be transformed into, for example, an ecommerce.

Based on these types, which CMS is the most recommended?

Recommendations for CMS

According to the previous classification, we recommend these two types of CMS according to the objective and theme of your website.

✅ WordPress for general content

WordPress is undoubtedly the most popular CMS. The main reason is that its interface is intuitive and allows easy handling of all the elements.

It’s free if you use the open source WordPress.org which, with its limitations, allows you to create professional-looking web pages. It has an extensive library of templates to customize your website.

If you prefer to have unlimited features, you also have WordPress.com, in which you can install plugins to improve your website in many aspects, such as loading speed, saving space or web positioning.

Finally, it is a versatile CMS that allows the creation of company websites, online stores or blogs

✅ Shopify for ecommerce content

Shopify is the ideal CMS platform to start your online store. It is one of the already hosted systems, so the platform will be in charge of providing you with what you need to start your online store.

It is the perfect platform to get started with your ecommerce because you can create your own online store in a short time. As simple as choosing one of the templates that Shopify has and designing it to your liking, without needing programming knowledge.

The only downside is that it does not have free options, but it does have paid plans adapted to different professionals:

  • Basic plan, $ 30 per month: up to two users on the account and the ability to add unlimited products and categories.
  • Shopify plan, $ 79 per month: includes the above, expanding to five users, creation of performance reports and the possibility of defining international domains to improve the SEO of your store.
  • Advanced Plan, $ 299 per month: up to 15 employees, ideal for large businesses with high volume of products, orders and work teams.

Now you know what a CMS is, what it is for and what types there are. Are you going to use one for your website?

We will read your comments!

Isabel Romero Isabel Romero , 17 December 2020
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