We believe that our clients know what’s best for their site and their audience, and with Content Management Systems (CMS), they can manage their own website. There are many options available to you for CMS. We offer Training and Support for all of our CMS installations and yes, we work with WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, GetSimple, Pluck and custom CMS for your site. Unsure of what your needs are? There’s quite a few sites out there for CMS comparison, like CMS-Matrix, but this may be overkill for you. Let’s focus on what’s worked well for our clients and let you choose.
Here’s a few scenarios for your consideration.
Type One: Basic Content Updates Only
This is a super simple CMS that allows you to modify content to existing pages. You can add images, paragraphs, video files, product descriptions and so on. There is no database used here, so setup and maintenance is quite simple.
Pros: Can easily update main pages on site. Easy to learn by novice computer users.
Cons: Can’t create new pages, limited ability to change styles, can’t assign specific user priviledges for different users (i.e; one login for everyone)
Costs: Inexpensive and quick, 3-6 hours to implement.
Type Two: Update Content and Add/Delete Pages
This is more sophisticated do-it-yourself system and with it, you’ll be able to add and delete pages. This is great for seasonal content (holidays, sales, etc). If you’ve got an exsiting site, we can implement this into your current system.
Pros: Can easily add new content AND new pages. Still inexpensive (10-12 hours work)
Cons: Can only work within ‘sandbox’ of styles and area. Only a few new pages are allowed to be created.
Costs: Can be quickly implemented with 10-14 hours effort.
Example: http://sportsinjurycenters.com/cwm/index.php
Type Three: E-commerce CMS
If you’re looking to sell product, we can offer a ‘pre-built’ shopping cart solution that allows you to manage your store products AND up to three pages of ‘static’ non-product pages (about, contact and so on). This is a great solution for brick and mortar stores.
Pros: Can easily add new products AND modify existing pages. Inexpensive to install (10-20 hours work)
Cons: Limited design palettes to choose from. Modifications can add to price. Requires some basic ‘Computer Knowledge’ to self-manage.
Costs: Can range from 10 to 20 hours effort for basic install, 40 for heavy modifications.
Example: http://www.oldhavanafoods.com/shop/index.php
Type Four: Custom CMS
This is a custom-built solution for those firms needing something that is robust, secure and can handle multiple users, with different permissions (such as Editor roles or Admin roles). You’ll be able to add new pages, new photos and dynamically setup different portions of the site to work how YOU need it.
Pros: You get only what you ask for and this can improve your business communications tremendously. You can assign different users with different tasks within the CMS.
Cons: Requires significant investment of time by developer and client. Benefits can outweigh the costs over time, though.
Costs: Can range anywhere from 40 to 100 hours effort.
Example: www.committeeonfinance.org
Ideas for your CMS:
Product Gallery, Photo Gallery, Forms Management
You can have your site modified to take on photo galleries, product pages, forms management, surveys, blogs, forums and any other form of interactive site management where we’ll set it up for you and you can update the site anytime, anywhere.
Remember, we provide training AND support for all our systems. Its up to YOU to make it successful! Contact us today at 773-213-7747 to get started.