Importance of Content Management to Businesses
Having a website is crucial in establishing your online presence. However, you must provide value for your customers to keep them returning. Content is one of the best ways to add value to your website. In the digital marketing industry, a time-tested adage goes, “Content is king.”
Creating content can help drive your website traffic and increase brand awareness. According to the 2018 Content Preferences Survey Report, 71% of customers look for a blog when purchasing a product or service. The survey also states that 49% of buyers use content to research and make purchase decisions. If you don’t have one yet, you could be losing customers to competitors who have a blog.
This is where a content management system can make a lot of sense. It makes updating and managing a website less stressful. Keep reading to learn about the benefits of a CMS and how to choose the best one for your business.
7 Benefits of Content Management System
Content management systems (CMS) provide businesses with the tools they need for updating and managing their content, even without coding knowledge. Without a CMS, updating your content can be time-consuming. Meanwhile, with a CMS, you can update and manage content within a single interface.
Here are some more benefits you can get from a content management system:
1. Gives Your Website a Consistent and Uniform Look
Content management systems have a template you can choose from for your design. This will help boost your brand reputation and integrity. A uniform look will make your website look clean and professional. Also, it helps create a distinction beyond your blog and product pages.
Having a uniform design will help reinforce and control your brand image. It will make your website recognizable to both loyal customers and prospects. In addition, if you don’t want to use ready-made templates, CMS will help you design your own template. This will ensure that the overall look and function of your website delivers.
2. Cost-Effective and Affordable Solution
Maintaining a website can be expensive if it is a static one. You would have to call a web designer or developer from time to time to make frequent changes to your website, which adds up to your expenses. Aside from that, you will have to wait for a few days to see the actual updates on your website.
On the other hand, a CMS eliminates the need to rely on a web developer to make frequent website updates. You can make the changes yourself when you need them done. With a content management system, you can save time and money.
3. Makes Your Marketing Functions More Efficient
Content management systems offer a platform for writers, marketers, and designers to collaborate and share ideas regarding your content. In addition, CMS is not just designed for content and website management.
It also allows you to integrate marketing functions like lead generation, email marketing, social media, analytics, and search engine optimization. This comes in handy if you aim to serve customers on different channels.
In addition, CMS allows you to integrate your marketing automation software. You can feed the data back and forth to the concerned department. These platforms make it easy for your sales team to distribute their sales content more effectively. A CMS will help automate most marketing processes.
4. CMS Helps Improve Search Engine Rankings
Aside from marketing tools, content management systems offer several plugins to help improve your website rankings. They offer options such as page titles, meta descriptions, alt tags, and other website optimization elements for boosting Google rankings. With more than 80% of searches starting online, it is a must that your website should rank higher.
Content management systems can make links clickable and even recommend the best SEO practices. They help drive website traffic and convert leads and visitors into potential customers. A CMS will help your website optimize for three SEO ranking factors: content marketing, off-page SEO, and on-page SEO.
5. Does the Technical Stuff For You
Maybe you or your team members are not tech-savvy but still need to manage and update the content you will publish on your website. With a CMS, there is no need for coding knowledge. You do not need to know JavaScript, HTML, or CSS to update your content effectively. CMS platforms like WordPress are designed for users with no designing or programming experience.
Web content elements like images and text can easily be inserted and uploaded into specific pages and styled in a content editor similar to word processing software. The editing template offers basic image editing tools like cropping, flipping, color handling, and others. In addition, there are common text editing tools like choosing font styles, size, and formatting tools as well.
6. Provides Additional Layer of Security
The last thing you would want to happen to your website is for it to be hacked. Statistics show that 30,000 websites are hacked daily, and 64% of companies have experienced at least one form of cyber attack. Websites, especially e-commerce ones, are often the target of hackers for the sensitive information in their databases.
Content management systems undergo consistent testing by developers and computer scientists to protect businesses from possible security threats. In addition, CMS platforms have tools and plug-ins that offer additional security and regular updates related to new threats. This gives your website an additional layer of security to protect sensitive information and data.
7. Streamlines Workflow
As mentioned earlier, managing a website can be tedious, especially if done manually. Think about the effort that web developers and graphic designers will go through to ensure that all design elements stay uniform within a web page. With a CMS, they just have to plug in the content, and the platform will do the rest.
With a simple and smooth workflow, a CMS will help your team remain productive and focus on creating the content. The platform is user-friendly, so users can easily and efficiently publish their content. With content writing services, you can focus on growing your business and let the platform handle the content management tasks.
Choosing the Right CMS for Your Business
Choosing a content management system is a major decision and investment. There are many CMS providers out there. How do you know which one is right for your business? Here is a guide on selecting a CMS for your website:
Determine Your Current and Future Business Needs
What is your purpose for the CMS? Are you aiming to drive website traffic? Will you be putting content on different channels? Are you planning to write content in different languages? You should determine your current and future business needs to help you choose the right content management system for you.
Get Your Team on the Same Page
Content management systems can impact different departments within your organization, so you would want to get their support. Get the backing of as many senior managers as possible. You need to make them understand the importance of a new CMS to the long-term success of your business. Hear what they have to say and be prepared for contrasting views.
Do Your Research
Once you have gotten the support of management, look for potential solution providers. Check reviews about the CMS to help you with your decision. If possible, contact previous clients to know about their experiences with the CMS. Remember that just because it worked for them does not mean it will work for you. Have a short list of companies and narrow down your choices.
Evaluate the Features
Different CMS providers offer various features, so carefully evaluate each. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Is the platform easy to use?
- Will it scale with you when your business grows?
- Do they offer customization?
- Can you integrate most of the third-party apps you are using?
Answering these questions can help you choose the most suitable CMS solution for your business.
Conclusion
Having a website can help you establish your online presence. But content creation is one thing; managing it is another. Your website content would not mean anything if you are not updating it regularly. Therefore, you need to update it with fresh content. Investing in a CMS can help in updating and managing your content, making it a less tedious task.
References:
https://inbound.business.wayne.edu/blog/the-importance-of-content-management
https://www.theedigital.com/blog/top-reasons-to-use-a-content-management-system
https://skyrocketgroup.com/why-is-a-content-management-system-important/
https://blogs.oracle.com/marketingcloud/post/5-reasons-you-should-have-a-content-management-system
https://www.sitecore.com/knowledge-center/digital-marketing-resources/how-to-choose-a-cms#chapter2