How to choose the right CMS for your website?
Today, together with you, we will figure out what a CMS is and why it is needed. First of all, let’s define what is a CMS? Content management system is a content management system that is responsible for creating, modifying and managing the content of a site. A kind of engine that greatly simplifies the work of content makers by providing them with a convenient interface for managing content, so you no longer need to “dig through” the code to add a new article or simply update a picture. Each such engine has a toolbar, with the help of which manipulations with the content are carried out.
In turn, there are a huge number of CMS systems, each of which is designed for certain types of sites. Therefore, the question becomes relevant, how to choose a CMS for the site? The answer will be the purpose of your site, because depending on whether you run a blog or are the owner of an online store, content management systems for each of them will be very different. Let’s take a look at the 2 main types of sites, and determine which CMS is best for each of them.
CMS for portfolio sites and blogs
This is one of the largest segments of sites on the Internet, because everyone can create a blog, and a high-quality developer or designer portfolio will look much more harmonious not on a piece of paper, but immediately in the form of a completed project, that is, a website.
The main CMS for blogs was and remains WordPress, as the most convenient and stable engine. Initially, CMS WordPress was created specifically for blogs and small Internet sites of an informational nature. So, over time, it has grown a lot and now, when installing additional WooComerce plugins, you can even “plant” an online store. But in fact, using WordPress as a system for an online store is very inconvenient, since there are a huge number of more optimized CMS for such purposes.
Another of the CMS of the same type is Joomla. At one time, it was one of the best systems that quickly gained popularity among developers, on which it was very convenient to create business card sites and blogs, and later plugins for online stores were added to it. Today, this CMS is also relatively popular, but more among the “old-timers” among developers, since compared to WordPress, Joomla is a less convenient system in terms of content management, although it is constantly updated. Perhaps in the near future we will see a reboot of the old man who has become boring to everyone, who will again win his former place.
CMS for online stores
What is the difference between a CMS and a CMS for blogs and business cards? The functionality of the online store content management system is somewhat wider and is focused specifically on products, product categories, order processing, filters and many other functionality that is so necessary for a standard online store. The leaders in this CMS market are:
- OpenCart
- Prestashop
- ImageCMS
- 1C Bitrix
Let’s talk a little separately about each of the presented CMS for an online store
CMS OpenCart and Prestashop – in principle, they are very similar to each other, both in interface and functionality. Each of these content management systems is maximally sharpened for an online store. Track orders? – Please. Edit a product in a couple of clicks? – No problem. Very convenient and easy to use not only for developers and SEO specialists, but also for content managers and sales managers. Of course, the functionality can be expanded with the help of paid plugins, so if you pay, you get more opportunities to improve the usability of the site/design.
ImageCMS is a very interesting platform in terms of SEO customization. The optimizer is given a wide range of tools for setting up and prescribing meta tags, snippets, and with the help of paid plugins and extensions, you can easily and easily set up SEO for filters by simply applying templates that are configured within an hour, and for huge online stores it is very even big advantage. GS4B is a Gold partner of CMS ImageCMS for online stores. And of course, the most secure and widely functional CMS for online stores is 1C Bitrix. The main advantage is, of course, safety. The Bitrix content management system has several levels of protection against web attacks and all known Internet viruses. By installing several additional modules, you can even set a one-time login password, protection against DDOS attacks, and much more. In addition, the interface for editing products and categories of the online store is also very pleasing. The only but – you need to be able to work with this system, since it is somewhat specific and an ordinary unprepared developer is unlikely to be able to deal with it, therefore, it is better to turn to specialists, which is the GS4B development team. After all, it is far from the first time that “miracle developers” who think that it is possible to make changes in the code in CMS 1C Bitrix just like in others, meet with the popular 500th Internal Server Error. Therefore, you need to carefully choose a CMS, before planting a site, determine its main direction, and only then start developing a template directly for the selected content management system. If you still have a question about how to choose the right CMS for your site, ask us your questions on the social network or share your opinions in the comments.