Important Features of Content Management Systems
Posted on Friday, May 20, 2011 in "CMS"
Although well organized and informative content has always been vitally important to the success of a website, it is now even more important in terms of search engine optimization (SEO) because of Google’s new algorithms. Unfortunately, writing and then manually uploading content to a website can be extremely time consuming and tedious. As a result, many web hosting companies also provide access to automated content management systems for their customers to utilize.
The Benefits of Content Management Systems
One of the main boons of a content management system (CMS) is the ability to add content daily without being tied to a computer. Since a constant influx of well crafted and informative content is vital to page rank a good CMS can help automate the process. The webmaster can simply schedule when and how much content to upload and then go on about his or her business.
Establishing and Maintaining User Accounts
A good CMS will allow for the website owner to establish and maintain multiple user accounts so that a number of authors and content providers can also schedule content to be easily uploaded as needed. Each user can be assigned a unique user name, password and level of access so that the task of uploading content can be delegated out. This is perhaps one of the most useful features to websites that will be accessed by more than one user.
Flexibility and Creativity
Another important feature of a content management system is the flexibility needed for creativity. Since it is possible to preview what the content will look like prior to hitting ‘submit’ or ‘update,’ each user can view various templates and layouts before scheduling submission. Keep in mind that Google is cracking down on content so creativity is more important than ever before.
Local and Server Side Access to Content
Many times a website owner may be working with scheduling topics for content creation at home or on a laptop that for one reason or another isn’t connected to the internet. Since content management systems store everything on a hard drive as well as on the server side, it is possible to access content to see what has already been written and what still needs to be created. Once the content has been written the CMS can be scheduled to upload at some point in the future when a connection is made.
Automation Is the Key
It should be apparent by now that automation is the key to any good content management system. In order to be most beneficial to the user it is vital to automate as many tasks as possible. There is an old adage that says “Time is money” and that is never truer than in terms of providing a constant stream of content to a website. In the past webmasters spent hours manually uploading files but with the advent of content management systems they are now free to spend their time seeking other ventures while their website is virtually on autopilot!
When comparing web hosting plans make sure to check out whether or not they provide a content management system and what features their system has. Since the point of a CMS is to streamline tasks you will want as many features as possible and good web hosting companies provide the best content management systems available.
