At its core, a content management system (CMS) supports the creation, revision, publication, and deletion of your site content through an administrative interface. This separation of content and presentation allows you to focus on your content without worrying about disrupting the display of the page, because the content you are adding does not effect the styles we created for the site.
Nearly all new sites are created with a CMS, because the effort of adding a CMS to a site is not that much more than creating the site as a set of static html files (and it is much easier to manage). However, a CMS is not necessary for all sites. The people at SEOMoz put together a few questions to help you decide whether or not you need a CMS. A brief summary of their questionnaire is as follows:
- Do you need to update the site more than once a month?
- Are you planning to run a blog on your site?
- Will non-web developers be updating/managing content on the site?
- Do you require the ability to manage your site’s content from remote locations (w/o downloading special software)?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then a CMS is right for you. If you answered no to all of the above questions, you will probably be able to get away with a static site. Keep in mind, a static site may need the assistance of our web team to update content down the road.
Need More Assistance? Have Additional Questions? Give us a call at 616-796-9936 or email us at studio@36squares.com and we will be glad to help you out. And, if you decide to develop your new web site with us, and mention this article you may be eligible for a $100 discount.
Additional Resources:
