Long gone are the days when one has to spend time remembering and typing down all the HTML codes and customizing them with CSS. Although it is still an option, most websites today use a content management system, popularly called a CMS. This guide will provide you with a detailed overview of the best content management Systems that you can leverage to create, manage and run your websites.
What is a Content Management System (CMS)?
A CMS helps to create, manage, and modify the content of a website without going into the technical aspects of it.
A CMS is a tool that allows you to build and manage a website without having to spend time writing code from scratch. The content management system handles all the basic structures of a website, making it easier for you to focus on the other parts of the website, such as the design and functionality.
How do CMS Platforms Work?
The CMS helps users to manage content from an internal and easy-to-use interface, or dashboard, making it easier for people with zero technical knowledge to create a website.
Many CMS platforms are available, and most of them are free of charge. You do not need knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL to create a website using a content management system.
Building a website with CMS is like playing with blocks to build a home. You can select which blocks to keep and which not to. You can easily add images, text, and graphics from the dashboard. Another great thing about CMS platforms is that they are updated regularly.
Benefits of Content Management Systems
There are many advantages to using a website Content Management System, some of the most important of which are given below:
- User-friendly.
- Easy maintenance.
- Regular updates
- Cost-efficient.
- Can create dynamic and interactive websites.
- SEO-friendly.
- Excellent customer and community support.
One of the major highlights of content management systems is that even users with zero technical knowledge can create a fully functional website and modify the content all by themselves. It helps save time and money by hiring a web developer or learning different programming languages.
How to Choose the Best Website CMS Platform?
With the rapid advancement in technology, many content management systems are available on the internet to easily build web pages without any technical knowledge.
If you are planning to create a website using a content management system, here are a few things you need to keep in mind before choosing one for yourself.
1. Ease of Use
You need a CMS interface that helps you create and edit the content easily. In other words, the CMS platform should have a drag-and-drop interface, allow you to add visual content, be straightforward, and help create webpages quickly.
2. Excellent Design Options
A great website design helps to engage more audiences. You need to choose a CMS platform that provides you with a variety of easy-to-edit design templates where all you need to do is customize the design based on your requirements without writing any HTML or CSS codes.
3. Easy Installation of Plugins
Not all content management platforms are the same. Hence, it is impossible to provide all the features and fulfil your website’s requirements in a single go. Plugins, however, allow you to dodge these problems.
They extend the functionality of a CMS by adding features. For example, Yoast SEO is one of the most popular plugins available that allows you to add meta descriptions, SEO titles, tags, etc. to a web page, thus increasing its chances of ranking better in SERPs.
How to Test and Choose the Best Content Management System for Websites
Consider the following factors when choosing your CMS platform.
- Scalability: You need a content management system that can grow with your business and adapt to changes as they occur. An expanding site needs a CMS that can handle its needs.
- The support team is critical to your success.
- Website design templates should be customizable according to your needs.
- Use CMS software with an intuitive user interface so that you won’t need any technical knowledge to use it.
- A CMS that integrates with third-party content management systems will enable you to tailor your marketing strategy to users’ web interactions.
- Many CMS are free for the basic version. Extensions and template designs would cost money. Make sure your budget remains within your reach, and be clear about pricing.
10 Best CMS Platforms/Software of 2022-23
Now that you know the benefits of using a CMS website and the factors you need to look into before choosing one, here are some of the best content management system examples you can choose from for creating your website:
1.WordPress.com
You may have heard of the content management system WordPress before, as it is the CMS platform with the largest market share. It is the commercial version of WordPress. WordPress.com allows you to buy a domain from WordPress or create a free subdomain with WordPress.org, which we’ll cover later.
From beginning as a mere blogging platform to facilitating the creation of high-end websites, WordPress has grown a lot. It comes with an intuitive interface and allows you to customize the content as per your needs while utilizing different plugins and themes.
WP is known for providing a top-notch user experience. You can easily create and publish posts and pages with the easy-to-use editors available for content formatting. WordPress is also known for its large community and for rolling out frequent updates.
Pros
- It’s easy to get started. Highly recommended for beginners looking forward to creating websites quickly.
- Creating a website with WordPress.com is free of charge. You only need to pay a small amount to buy a domain.
- It comes with millions of themes to choose from, both paid and free. You can choose one based on your niche and switch between themes if need be.
- features the option of using eCommerce features. WordPress provides you with many options, including a plan with all the features required for an eCommerce website.
- If you are looking for a more flexible and powerful CMS, you can easily switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org.
Cons
- WordPress.com comes with very few monetization options, even with paid plans.
- Custom domain names like xyz.com are not available with free plans.
- You do not have full control over your site, as you have with WordPress.org.
2. Joomla
When you look for the best CMS software, Joomla is the second best one after WordPress. It was launched in 2005. It is the best open-source CMS and comes with many templates and extensions.
While Joomla might not be user-friendly like WordPress, it is very flexible. The CMS is free to use, although you need to buy hosting and a domain name to get started.
If you are looking for a CMS platform that helps to manage “custom post types,” i.e., if you are looking to create a website that is not text-based, Joomla is the best option. Not to forget, Joomla comes with excellent user management, making it the best CMS for membership sites.
It is the most recommended CMS platform for designers and developers but is not a recommended option for beginners.
Pros
- Flexible It comes with a lot of options. It is best for building something complicated.
- designed especially for website developers.
- It is open-source and provides a good level of community support.
- With the fantastic and easy-to-use extensions, you can use Joomla to create a superb eCommerce site.
Cons
- Can be complex. Often, you will need to hire a web developer who has expertise in Joomla to create a website with the CMS.
- It does not come with many additional plugins and themes as compared to WordPress.
- It runs into compatibility issues if you have many extensions and modules installed.
3. Drupal
Drupal is yet another content management system, an open-source and free CMS with millions of users worldwide. Many famous websites, such as The Economist and Tesla, are built using Drupal.
You can go with Drupal if you are a developer or are planning to hire a developer to build your site. With Drupal CMS, you can create highly-customizable sites that need a lot of data to install.
Pros
- It’s free to use and open-source. It allows users to rebuild websites according to their needs.
- Designed for professionals by professionals,
- It provides a lot of creativity, allowing users to create complex website designs.
- Built-in caching provides high speed.
- It comes with prebuilt queries, forums, and multi-blogs.
- An online community, including most professionals,
Cons
- It becomes difficult to find out how to change the website’s appearance and add extra features.
- Since you need a developer to create high-end dynamic websites with Drupal, it can be very costly.
4. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce platform in the world. WooCommerce makes it easy to manage eCommerce sites. Please note that WooCommerce is not a CMS platform, albeit a WordPress plugin.
That means you need to have a WordPress site to install WooCommerce. According to W3Techs, 5.8% of the entire websites in the world use WooCommerce.
Pros
- A completely free and open-source WordPress plugin that is easily accessible to everyone.
- There are many easy-to-edit themes available that help to create eCommerce sites easily. Both free and paid themes are available. One of the best places to get your WordPress WooCommerce themes is ThemeForest.
- Some of the important features of WooCommerce include unlimited customization, blogging, easily manageable product categories, tags and attributes, product ratings and reviews, product sorting and filtering, and location customization.
- It provides top-notch security and, hence, is the most reliable platform for financial transactions.
- Effective SEO for products and services
- It provides informative and simple built-in analytics.
- Cost-effective.
- It lets you manage inventories, making it easier to keep track of your stock.
- It comes with a variety of payment gateways, such as PayPal, and debit and credit cards.
Cons
- Understanding a few options available in WooCommerce can be stressful, especially when you are new to creating eCommerce websites.
- Though WooCommerce works with any WordPress theme, you need to stick to themes specially designed for WooCommerce to get support when stuck.
5. Wix
Wix is a cloud-based platform for developing mobile-friendly sites. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes creating websites a cakewalk. It also allows you to install plugins for adding more features.
Wix is also known for its excellent features, such as email marketing, e-commerce, contact forms, and community forums. Like every other CMS platform, you can also remove advertisements, use your domain name, and get access to all the advanced features with Wix’s premium plan.
Pros
- Beautiful and easy-to-edit designs.
- Smooth drag-and-drop interface.
- Top-notch site security.
- Professional customer service.
Cons
- The free version contains advertisements. You need to pay for premium plans to use Wix ad-free.
- Limited drag-and-dropS features affect creativity.
- Not many apps are available on the Wix app store.
- Doing SEO is difficult.
- There is difficulty in importing and exporting the data.
6. Shopify
Shopify is another famous hosted CMS platform. A unique feature of this platform is that you do not need hosting, or install any software or manage backups.
It is an excellent CMS for building eCommerce websites selling various types of goods or services. The drag and drop interface makes it one good eCommerce platform for in-store sales.
Pros
- Easy store setup and configuration.
- Eye-catching and unique online stores.
- Easy app integration.
- Highly secure and reliable.
- Mobile-friendly.
- Excellent customer support.
- Easy payment methods.
- Excellent loading speed.
Cons
- Can be costly if you want to add third-party applications that are not available in the Shopify store.
7. WordPress.org
WordPress.org is the most popular and best choice if you are looking for a mature CMS software. Unlike WordPress.com, WordPress.org is an open-source CMS. It was built for blogging but is now used for building full-fledged websites and online stores.
You can install WordPress on your site in a single click with the help of your hosting provider. With WordPress.org, you can install plugins to extend the functionality and choose among different WP themes. You also have better options to monetize your website.
Pros
- Flexible and dynamic.
- HTML, CSS, and other programming language knowledge is not required.
- The WordPress block editor makes it simple to create eye-catching designs.
- There are numerous monetization options.
- It has paid and free WordPress themes and plugins.
- SEO-friendly.
- Huge and supportive WordPress community
Cons
- You need to buy a domain and hosting package of your choice and take care of the data backup and security on your own.
8. Magento
Adobe launched Magento, an open-source eCommerce platform powered by Adobe. There is a free version of Magento which you can download and install on your web hosting account called Magento Open Source. You can also invest in Magento Commerce. It provides full support and comes with hosting services.
Pros
- Highly customizable.
- Third-party extension support is available.
- Delivers great site speeds.
- Brands like Coca-Cola, Nike, and Ford use Magento.
- Supports different payment gateways.
Cons
- Creating a website with Magento can be tricky for the first time.
- Hiring a professional Magento developer can be expensive.
- Ineffective support forums.
9. PrestaShop
PrestaShop is another open-source eCommerce CMS platform that you can host yourself. You can install it on any web host that you use. It is supported by many web hosting providers, including Hostinger, Blue Geek hosting, and Namecheap.
Pros
- An outstanding PrestaShop community that provides tips and tutorials.
- No need to pay extra if your shop grows.
- Easily customizable.
Cons
- A steep learning curve.
- PrestaShop themes are not so good.
10. Blogger
Blogger is a CMS created especially for blogging in the year 1999 by Google. Blogger is also referred to as Blogspot. Blogger is completely free. Blogger enables you to quickly transfer data when switching from WordPress.
Pros
- Get started in just a few clicks.
- Simplistic and minimalistic design.
- Since Google hosts your blog, there is no need to pay for the hosting.
Cons
- Limited to creating blogs only.
- Only basic themes are available.
- If you plan to export data from Blogger to WordPress, you will need to manually copy and paste pages.
Which One is the Best?
According to us, WordPress.org is the best content management system you can use for creating your website. According to reports, over 35% of websites are built on WordPress, for some pretty obvious reasons.
WordPress has everything you need for creating a website. The one-click install further eases the process of migrating a website from some other CMS to WordPress in no time. It also comes with many options in the form of plugins for extended features, such as Yoast SEO, WPForms, and SeedProd.
WordPress features are limitless. With WordPress, you can create an eCommerce site, an online forum, a learning management system, an auction site, a marketplace, and much more. If at any point, you feel you need more space, you can easily upgrade your hosting plan too.
Conclusion
You can get started with creating a website with any of the abovementioned CMS platforms. But before doing so, do proper research and choose the one that perfectly suits your needs.
So, which CMS are you planning to use for building your website? Drop your opinions in the comment section down below.
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Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Can I use CMS to build an eCommerce website?
A content management system (CMS) for e-commerce allows store owners to modify and publish digital material on their websites without having to write any code. It includes several essential e-commerce features such as interfaces with shipping, payment gateways, shopping carts, and product inventory management.
2. What does content management system (CMS) software do?
It helps build websites without the need for any technical and coding knowledge
3. How much do Content Management Systems (CMS) cost?
A CMS’s price increases as its features increase. The price of a CMS may vary from $10 per month for a small company to thousands per month for an international corporation.
4. What are the best 3 Content Management Systems (CMS) products?
WordPress, Blogger, and Joomla
5. What is the most widely used content management system?
WordPress is the most popular and used CMS.