Content Management Systems - The way of the Future

Content Management Systems - The way of the Future by Quentin Brown

Building a web site that looks professional and works used to be quite a daunting task however with the new content management software anybody can have a great looking site in just a few hours.

Content management is the next step in separating structure from design. What began with Cascading Style Sheets and was furthered by XML, is exploding with the CM environment, where billions were spent last year and more billions are expected to be spent in the years ahead.

CM Systems come in many shapes: They can be huge or small, simple or very complex. They range from the very expensive (almost $300,000 for enterprise–wide systems like Vignette or Interwoven and $43,000 per server processor for Microsoft’s CMS to almost free (less than $1,000 for Manila and nothing for Mambo).But they are all based on the same idea:

CM allows designers to focus on design by building templates. Subject experts build content in a separate environment. The server takes the content, inserts it into the correct template and sends it all, neatly wrapped up, to end users.

So how does this help you?

The beauty of a content management systems is that once you have created the template for your webpage it is all done and you can then put all your efforts into adding content. This is all done online through a web based wysiwyg interface.

Basically what it means to you is that your business can have a professional looking front end which compares to sites that spend thousands. You can have all of this for virtually no cost which makes it exceptional value.

What else can it do?

This is where the beauty of CMS lies. What it means is that you can incorporate a whole range of modules and add ons that then become part of your web site. It means you do not have to create a whole range of different sites to do some of the many day to day routines that a web site requires.

Some of these are: Forums Blogs Image repositories Articles News feeds Guest Books E-commerce You can set up polls Use different languages Cortol and manage your file downloads Run staff management Document management and so much more

For many years I had to have a seperate program for my forum, another program for a gusetbook and yet another for my photos etc. Now I can incorporate them all into one nice package with a CMS.

How do I decide what is the best CMS for me?

To answer this question, you must first ask yourself what it is that you hope to accomplish. There are way too many systems to use the hunt and peck approach to determine what would work and what wouldn't. OpensourceCMS which allows you to use the different free CMS programs online (http://www.opensourcecms.com) can help you narrow down that choice, but ultimately it's up to you to decide if it will work or not. It's best to know up front what you want then look for a tool that fits that need or at least can be customized to fit it without much hassle.

First, decide on the base system by focusing on what your needs are. This may be a portal, a blog, a news site, a project collaboration site, or a combination of all of the above.

Second, decide what additional modules and plug-ins are needed to fulfil those needs and extras. The modules should compliment your site by providing little extras to make the user experience enjoyable and interesting.

Third, setup the look and feel of your site by defining the theme of your site. Your presentation will help to make it easier for your audience to find information and to see it the way you intended.

Fourth on the list is producing content to fill your site so that your user community will keep coming back for more. Content is what a good site keeps fresh and really can make or break a site for repeat visits. Think of content as the jelly in a donut, without the payoff it's like eating a plain cake and while that may suit some users, it will certainly alienate the veracious appetite of the user community who are always starving for information and eye candy.

Finally, the last element is to plan for the future by considering how best to maintain the site so that you'll keep up with the growth that your site will have as word of mouth starts to spread about how great a job you're doing. It's important to think of disaster recover and also to plan for growth so that it doesn't become a bottleneck and result in a pain in the neck for both you and your user base.

This is a lot to digest, but as you gain experience with the tools that are available, you'll soon discover that all these things are important and you'll gain confidence in picking the right solution for your needs.

All my sites now run on content management simply because it does not matter where I am or what I am doing I can change, update and add to my site quickly and efficiently.

If you haven't seen what a CMS looks like then visit a couple of my sites and you will see the versatility.

http://www.mp3soundstream.com http://www.msincome.com.au

And a friend of mine

http://www.mamboportal.com

Enjoy Quentin Brown

------------------------------------------------ Quentin Brown is the developer of a new software program called MP3 Sound Stream. He has been coaching on Internet Business and creating websites for the past 10 years. Visit his new site at http://www.mp3soundstream.com ------------------------------------------------

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