Integrated Marketing – Why a Content Management System is Mission Critical Infrastructure.
A CMS – Content Management System is software developed specifically for the creation and management of a large, dynamic collection of digital assets and material such as HTML documents, graphics, photos, illustrations, animation, charts, graphs, images, copy etc. A CMS allows designated users to simply create and edit content as well as perform basic website maintenance and development functions, regardless of their level of knowledge of software or code. Simply put, with a CMS, you can update most aspects of your website yourself, without relying on someone from IT, or an expensive outside vendor.
Why do I Need a Content Management System?
Every business ought to take ownership and exercise control over their website. Historically, this was virtually impossible for many organizations simply because they did not have the resources in-house with the necessary technical skill set to build, manage and maintain their website. As a result, many outsourced this responsibility to the agency or webmaster that created their site. Unfortunately, most sites were not built with a CMS and maintaining content and adding pages etc., became a costly, time consuming and frustrating exercise as every update involved rewriting code. As a result, many sites haven’t been updated at all. Business owners should perform a R.O.T. test on their site. R.O.T. stands for Redundant, Out-of-Date and Trivial content. If your site has R.O.T. and to prevent future R.O.T. you need a CMS.
Your prospective customers are looking for timely, relevant information about your products and services. If your site is dated, contains incorrect or inaccurate information, or the information is cluttered and hard to find as a result of poor Information Architecture maintenance, your customers’ online experience interacting with your brand and company will likely be a negative one. Businesses need to give prospective, new and long time customers reasons to come back. Updating the site, becoming a resource, engaging your audience in an online conversation via a blog and RSS, can help keep your brand top-of-mind and thus in the important consideration set for future purchase.
What’s more, websites need to attract and maintain the interest of major search engines, like Google. Today, Google ranks websites based on subject matter authority. What you say on your site, how you say it, how often you say it, and where you say it are extremely important for on-page [[SEO - Search Engine Optimization]] efforts. A Content Management System is an essential tool for improving your Google ranking.
How Much does a Content Management System Cost?
Today, high-quality Content Management Systems are available for free as Open Source Software, and are often excellent solutions for small and medium size enterprises. At Focus Integrated Marketing, we always look to Open Source Solutions as a way to create efficiencies for our clients, so more of their marketing dollars can be allocated to initiatives that generate awareness and drive traffic to their site, like Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Online Advertising, Sales and PR. It’s important to understand, that while Open Source Content Management Systems like Wordpress.org, Joomla and Drupal are free, creating a high-quality, search engine optimized site and positive user experience that meets your business objectives, does require the skills of a Strategic Planner, Web Designer, Copywriter, Information Architect, and Developers with various technical skill sets. What you won’t be paying for is the development of a Content Management System and much of the website’s structural code.
For larger projects that cannot be successfully executed using an Open Source Software CMS, or projects that require more complicated back-end development, and various systems integration, we offer Custom Content Management System solutions at multiple price points.