Getting Started with CMS: Tips and Best Platforms in 2020

If you want to bump the number of visitors on your website, you'll need the right mix of text and visuals to attract users. A few years ago, creating a website was difficult because of the tedious coding process behind it.

Today, the challenge isn't building a page from scratch, but in choosing a Content Management System from the many options available online.

We’ll breakdown everything you need to know about CMS to help you answer the question, “What is the best CMS?”

A quick introduction to CMS

A Content Management System (CMS) is an online platform meant for a more comfortable website design. Mostly created for beginners with little to no background in code, CMS platforms manage and publish web content through simple drag-and-drop features and layout editing.

Its graphical user interface allows users to create, edit, and publish text or multimedia without manual code.

The difference between CMS and HTML

Many factors come into play when building a website, especially for new businesses who are excited to enter the digital space. If you’re new to the industry, one of the decisions you'll make is to host your website in HTML or use a CMS.

What exactly separates the two? HyperText Markup Language, or HTML, is what web creators use to design pages. It’s mainly used to add style such as customized fonts, color, and even images or video, through manual codes.

A CMS, on the other hand, is a software that helps you build a website from scratch. Meant for those with little to no programming background, CMS platforms is more of a design-as-you-go type of way to make your website.

HTML vs. CMS Platfoms

What should you look for in a CMS platform?

The best CMS platform is still up for debate, but there are specific features that a reliable website should offer:

1. A powerful editor for publishing new content and maintaining the best quality.
2. Options for categorizing content and keeping it organized.
3. Reliable tools to edit pages and functionalities at any given time.
4. Highly customizable features to create sites in line with your design requirements.

Features to look for in a Content Management System

Best CMS for small businesses

Choosing the best CMS platforms means looking at different factors, such as ease of use, templates, and support options. With that in mind, here are the best CMS platforms for website development for 2020.

1. WordPress.org

WordPress is probably one of the most popular CMS platforms to date. Unlike WordPress.com, which is a blogging site, WordPress.org is for eCommerce.

WordPress allows its users to build websites, from online stores to membership sites, without requiring technical skills or coding knowledge. Other pros of using WordPress are:

• The site offers a massive selection of themes and templates for website design.
• The platform is exceptionally SEO-friendly and is compatible with plenty of SEO plugins, making it easier to optimize your page.

2. Joomla

Following Wordpress is Joomla, another free, open-source CMS platform. Unlike WordPress, you'll need hosting and a domain name to create a page, but the platform itself is free to use.

If you’re an experienced developer or web designer, Joomla is the platform for you. Some of the benefits of Joomla are:

• Joomla offers flexibility to all users, which is beneficial if your site has more complex design requirements.
• Since it’s open-source, Joomla’s community support is a big help if you’re stuck with a particular function or design aspect.

3. Drupal

Drupal is the CMS platform behind a few popular university websites and The Economist's page. It's the ideal platform for building a site that needs to hold a vast amount of data. Let's look at some of the pros of using Drupal:

• Adding content is relatively more straightforward with Drupal, which has flexible custom content types.
• Drupal has a built-in system for creating and specifying admin roles to make user management easy.

4. Concrete 5

Concrete 5’s strength lies in its content editing features that make it extremely easy for the user to update his website. If you’re hosting a page with dynamic content and loads of requirements or information, Concrete 5 will do well. Some of its pros are:

• Concrete 5 offers SEO tools to help keep your content on the upper ranks of Google.
• Like Facebook pages, Concrete 5 allows different permission and administration levels to control what a user can and can’t access.

5. Textpattern

Textpattern is proof that flexible yet straightforward features are sometimes the best options for creating a website. It’s easy to use for every type of user and offers comprehensive documentation. Here are some of the pros:

• Plugins and templates are free.
• You can structure your information and filter it according to different segments.

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