Companies of all sizes have become increasingly interested in Content Management Systems (CMS) that handle online content. After years of struggling to maintain content, people are eager for a solution that makes content management easier and more efficient. All CMS's are not created equal.
I recently spoke with an executive who said his company was extremely unhappy with their CMS, as it hadn't performed as expected. Upon closer review, it turned out that the CMS was so complicated that nobody could figure it out. Their solution was to start over with a new website - and a simpler way to manage web content. Another company informed me that they planned to hire three new staff members to help evaluate, purchase, implement and manage a CMS for their organization - the role of the new staff was not to create content, but to manage it.
These companies had valid criteria for evaluating a CMS: to provide an easy way to deliver new content to a website, and to provide an effective way to manage existing content. However, there are other criteria that should be considered.
Before committing to a CMS, I recommend that organizations follow a four-step plan.
Step 1
Address fundamental business issues, such as:
What is the purpose of my website?
How can the layout and structure of my website be improved?
What can be done to improve the effectiveness of my website?
How can my website improve the company's bottom line, whether by increasing revenues, improving customer retention, or decreasing expenses.
The first question is so fundamental that many companies overlook it, or tend to define their goals in such general terms that they are meaningless. The most successful online businesses can define their website goals in a single word or sentence. A simple word association game illustrates the point - say "Google", and just about anybody will respond by saying "search." Say "amazon.com" and most people will respond by saying "books."
Your website may or may not be the next Google, but it still needs a well-defined goal or purpose. The majority, if not all of your website content, should relate to your online goals.
Step 2
Develop strategies and specific action plans for meeting your online goals. Some examples:
To exploit opportunities overseas, you decide to provide website content in several languages.
To keep your name in front of customers and potential customers, you decide to implement an opt-in email system to deliver company newsletters, coupons and special announcements.
To help retain customers, you decide to build an online "university" to train customers on the effective use of your products through video, audio, whitepapers and slideshows.
To improve site navigation and structure, you decide to split content into four key areas: products and services, customer support, media relations, and investor relations.
You should use several strategies to meet your goals, and be willing to modify these strategies if results aren't achieved. You should also be sure that you have some way to measure success.
A part of your strategy should be to determine how online and offline efforts will work together and support the direction of your business.
Step 3
Define the team of individuals who will create, approve and manage your content. Determine what level of competency in web technologies they must have, and what training will be required, if any.
Step 4
Evaluate potential CMS solutions in terms of how their features support your strategies and action plans for achieving your online goals. Determine how easily your staff will be able to implement and support the CMS.
Your evaluation should look at several other issues as well. These include:
What is the long term viability of the CMS provider?
What level of support will the CMS provider offer?
Are open-source CMS solutions a viable option?
Is a hosted CMS solution a viable alternative?
Other than the cost of the CMS, what additional investment in technology and training will be required?
Your evaluation should incorporate hands-on use (by your team) of those CMS products that appear to be a good fit with your requirements.
Final Thoughts
A CMS should be easy to use. The more "bells and whistles" there are, the more complicated and difficult the CMS may be to use. As in the case of the company I described at the beginning of this article, the selection of a difficult-to-use CMS resulted in its failure to be successfully adopted.
Even an easy-to-use, simple looking CMS product can be complicated. Switching between different CMS products is difficult. Know what you are investing in before making the purchase to ensure that the product will meet your expectations.
Finding the "perfect" CMS is virtually impossible. In some cases a custom solution makes sense.
Regardless of which CMS you choose, remember the saying, "Garbage in, garbage out." Without a well defined goal for your site, strategies for reaching that goal, and a team focused on providing quality content, your site can quickly lose focus.
Wild-Webs has created custom CMS solutions specifically tailored to the needs of several clients. If your business needs assistance choosing a CMS, or planning and developing a custom solution, call Wild-Webs today.
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