Considering the opportunities the internet offers and heavy competition across multiple industries, the simple website that may have sufficed years ago is no loner enough for today’s online business owner. As content is the major key to generating traffic, the CMS has become one of the hottest commodities in the web hosting business.
More commonly known as a CMS, a content management system is a type of software used to create, edit and manage content on a website. These robust systems enable processes and workflows to be streamlined and typically involve the organization, categorization and structuring of information. This technology allows you to store content as entire documents or configurable components, all while maintaining the links in between, making the CMS is great tool for search engine optimization. Most systems enable the complete control of a website from working with scripting languages and building pages to managing files and actual programs.
Years ago, most web hosting companies only granted their clients with access to areas that permitted them to upload content to the server. Rarely did they provide a means for controlling management and the structuring of data. Even corporate users were limited as the tools provided didn’t allow them to monitor what changes had been made to their sites and who made the alterations. With a CMS, users are fully equipped with tools that offer extensive control over the management functions of their website and all of its content.
Due to mass popularity, web hosting customers with a large amount of content now have various options for implementing content management systems. With the development of open-source solutions, providers are offering these programs for next to nothing as a part of their monthly hosting plans. Some of the options you will commonly find are Joomla, Drupal, PHP-Nuke, Mambo and Xoops to name a few. Here are some other choices on the market:
OpenCMS
Hence the name, OpenCMS is an open source content management freely available to developers and users. This software is preferred by many small to medium sized businesses as it enables them to create highly customized sites with interactive functionality. OpenCMS supports a number of web-based programing languages including PHP, XML, Java, JSP and several others.
Microsoft Content Management Server
The Microsoft CMS is more suited for larger enterprises. This system offers transparent content management and integration along with data transformation and syndication, all of which seamlessly combine various information and business processes. The Microsoft solution is more advanced than most open-source packages as it has the ability to present information based on the customer’s needs. The major difference between the Content Management Server and other systems is that it is a Microsoft commercial product, and therefore more expensive.
Regardless of what your requirements are, there is sure to be a CMS out there for you. These programs go far beyond the basic tools offered by a provider and have the power to transform your site into an interactive, user-friendly platform. As nearly every host is offering some type of system, it’s safe to say that the CMS is a driving force in the web hosting industry.
