It’s no coincidence that as the number of people using the Internet on a regular basis has grown, so too has the sheer number of websites available for them to check out.
For the most part, this has a lot to do with entrepreneurial-minded folk taking to the web to stake their claim to an industry valued to be worth more than £1 billion in the UK alone, though at least some of the credit must surely go to the advancements that have been made in making the tools to make quality websites accessible to anybody who wants them.
Negating the need to shell out top money to a professional designer, tools like online website builders have opened the doors to those without any real technical knowledge or coding know-how, allowing them to build websites that look just as impressive as their professionally-designed counterparts, and which function just as well.
Perhaps even more powerful than those site builders, few tools have empowered so many people to launch their website quite like Content Management Systems (CMS).
There’s all sorts of reasons why many of the websites we visit every day choose to run on leading CMS platforms like WordPress, Joomla and specialist Ecommerce solution Magento, though the real question is why you should use one for your next website.
Free to use
Though it is of course possible to spend money on buying a CMS from a company, in most cases, you won’t have any need to. Not when you can use any of the aforementioned platforms without spending a penny.
Most of the leading Content Management Systems are open source, which means you can download, install and run them on your server for free.
This is ideal if you’re looking to create a dynamic, content-rich website on a tight budget, though even if you do have the cash to spend, when you can drive your site on a powerful free tool, that’s money you could be better investing elsewhere.
Easy to install
Many of the best web hosting companies now offer one-click installation of platforms such as WordPress and Joomla, meaning you could have everything you need to create your site in place within no time.
Log into your control panel, and if your hosting company does provide this feature, just click on the icon of the CMS you want to use and follow the instructions. Give it a few moments to configure, and hey presto, you’re ready to roll.
Even if you can’t do it all from your control panel, installing a CMS is often no more difficult than downloading everything in one single zip file, then uploading it to your server.
Manage your site from anywhere
Since everything you need to develop and manage your site is based on your hosting server, there’s no software to download and absolutely nothing tying you down to a single computer.
This means that you can log on to your CMS anywhere that you have an Internet connection and do whatever you need.
This is perfect if you’re on the move a lot, or even if you want to take work home from the office at the weekend.
Added functionality
At their core, Content Management Systems give you everything you’ll need to add and amend pages, publish text, images and videos, and tinker with the look of your site, but it doesn’t end there.
A whole world of third-party applications exist for whichever CMS you decide to use so that you can add all new levels of functionality. Want to add photo slide shows, contact forms or even eCommerce solutions? You name it, if you can put it on a website, you can do it on your CMS.
