With the proliferation of platforms such as WordPress and Drupal, it is increasingly easier to maintain a website yourself. A content management system (CMS) allows you to log into a dashboard and edit text, pictures, and colors yourself. But do you really want to take on this task, and how often do you really need to change the information on your website anyway? Here are some things to consider:

The obvious advantage of using a content management system is that you can change or add content to a website without the need to know PHP, CSS, JavaScript, or HTML. A content management system may sound perfect for a new website owner and it could well be the ideal choice. Unfortunately, it is not the right choice for every single website either. There are positives to using a CMS, but there are also distinct disadvantages to using them. It is important that a web developer discuss both with the client in order to help the client come to a decision that is in their best interest.

Larger businesses may have several contributors to a website and a CMS would allow them to monitor their contributions. It streamlines the process. Content management systems can be used by almost anyone to create new pages. Many clients who engage a website designer are experts in their own fields, but may be unfamiliar with how to create content pages on the internet. Most content management systems include a simple interface editor that will allow the client or one of their staff members to create pages without knowing how to code. This is a distinct advantage, because it can cut out the time spent sending updates to an outside website administrator to upload. Web maintenance costs can be cut by creating new content in the office as opposed to paying an administrator or developer to update the site.

A CMS site that has been carefully designed and created can actually be broken by improper use of a CMS. Content management systems also requires time to update. If your organization does not contain people with extra time to devote to updating the site then a content management system may go unused and be unnecessary. If you do not already have a web-perceptive, computer-oriented person on your team, then extra training will be required to enable an employee to update it. Cost inflation due to training expenses are not well liked by clients or by developers but training may be necessary in order to teach the client to use the system effectively. Another things to consider is that popular content management systems like WordPress and Joomla! are often targeted by spammers and hackers. Since just about anyone can download the code and look for loopholes, security issues are inevitable. Not to mention that the popularity of these systems give hackers an excellent incentive. Hackers know that many popular sites will be using these platforms. So open one door and others will open by themselves. From a design perspective, hand-coded websites, on average, tend to look better, or at least more original. Designers work hard on fonts to give a website certain feel and flow and business owners are often desiring that polished, professional look. CMS editors can permit poor text design and ruin the design the business owner paid for. As mentioned before, the positives to using a content management system are equally balanced by the negatives and the business owner will need to consider both sides before making that decision.

"My web site is so fresh. The paint is still wet, but stay tuned, because I have lots of personal things, specifically about what is happening day-to-day, that I will keep updating daily." - David Hasselhoff

Workpress will allow you to do some of the work, but do you have time for that?

If the answer is that question is that you have the time to keep your website updated, let us know and we can create a great looking Wordpress site for your business and then hand over the reigns to your team. Otherwise, if either you will not need to update your website often, or you want us to keep your content updated, leave the work to us and you will not regret it.