This Guest Post by Anton Bell is a Part of Guest Blogging Contest, for complete details please check Guest Blogging Contest pageThese days it seems as if one cannot get through a single day without coming across the term “CMS” or “Content Management System” at least once on the internet or even on TV. There has been a lot of hype on this subject, and perhaps it is time to demystify the whole deal for those who are new to it.
CMS at its most basic level is a program that allows a user to edit and manage their website text, graphics and photos. There are of course much more advanced solutions that go far beyond this, but on a basic level, this is the thread that binds all types of CMS.
Most CMS available online are “open source projects”, which come with their own set of pros and cons. On the plus side, this is freeware which is going to cost you nothing to buy, and you have at your disposal the services of an expert community all patching the system and building your free website. On the negative side, support can be hard to come by in smaller open source projects. As long as you make sure you install a very popular CMS, you should be fine. The open platform and large selection of third party software add-ons make it quick and affordable to add new functionality and fresh bells and whistles to your website. Some of these options include forums, auctions, blogs, ecommerce, photo galleries and so on.
Some big-name CMS services include WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento, Dot Net Nuke, Google Blogger and Silver CMS.
If you need something more brand or product-specific, you will need to find a CMS specifically tailored for your industry. For example, many real estate brokers have used template solutions from Real Pro Agent Systems, Advanced Access Real Estate Systems and homes.com.
Some caveats to keep in mind when you choose a CMS:
CMS website applications are not completely fool proof. They are not always easy to use, especially for people who are not tech savvy. You may want to consider hiring a web development expert to do your website maintenance for you in addition to managing your CMS. Unless you use the tools on the CMS every day, there will always be some confusion and frustration, and even the experts often admit that what they do with CMS produces errors more often than they would like. In such a situation, it is always best to rely on someone who knows their way around the code and other aspects of working with CMS.