What You Should Know About Content Management Systems

Content Management Systems (CMS) have become the most popular way to develop and manage a website. These systems are open source or developed internally. Open source systems are by far the most cost-effective and popular option.

There are many popular names within open source Content Management Systems. Some names include Joomla, Drupal, Wordpress, Magento, and Concrete5. Many marketers may blindly, but with good intention, recommend any one of the systems. However, has the right CMS been recommended for you? Which CMS is the best?

We’ve examined some of the most popular systems available. Read further and see if we can come to some conclusions about CMS quality.

A CMS for your Dental Website

Wordpress – While some will claim that Wordpress can do everything you could possibly need, it’s important to note that this CMS is a blogging platform. Turning this CMS into a functioning dental website requires a lot more than the blogging capabilities it was designed for. Firstly, the platform must be custom converted to handle normal website capabilities. Secondly, Wordpress is notorious for being too reliant upon plugins. A plugin is an additional piece of coded works that is installed within the CMS. In many cases, plugins cost additional fees. For WordPress, plugins are required to include some basic website functions like including SEO, menu, and security framework. These plugins are not always easy to use and will need to be updated quite frequently. Once the plugins are in place, Wordpress can function as a normal dental website with easy maintenance and updates. Interestingly enough WordPress is the most popular CMS available. Why? Matt Cutts, a Google representative, has endorsed WordPress ever since he began using WordPress for his blog. Since Matt Cutts is like the Tom Brokaw of internet information, WordPress has exploded. Due to its popularity, WordPress has also become the main target for website spam, hacking and viruses. If you decide to utilize WordPress, please consider virus protection software. We offer a virus monitoring system that maintains great security. WordPress overall is a great system, but is it ideal?

Joomla – Joomla suffers from the same plugin issue as Wordpress. Additionally, Joomla websites have had increased risk of being attacked by hackers in recent years. Hacking causes a greater concern than simple information breach. If a website is hacked for too long and becomes the victim of phishing and spamming, Google and other search engines will ban your website from their searches and listings. This causes many more issues if you’ve employed any other online campaigns. Lastly, Joomla is slightly more advanced than Wordpress, causing difficulty and frustration for those with little or no CMS experience. If you are considering Joomla, virus protection is highly recommended.

Drupal – Drupal can be compared to Legos in that it can be used to build any kind of website you’d like. This kind of content management framework is best for large, complicated projects, but is often recommended for those with quite simple needs. Because Drupal is by far one of the most difficult CMS’s on this list to use (next to Magento), many beginners are baffled about where to begin when using this platform. While versatile, its difficulty means a larger learning curve and more expense to set-up.

Concrete5 – Concrete5 has taken a different route than previous CMS’s. Concrete5 utilizes an in-line editing system making this CMS the easiest-to-use CMS around! Installing this CMS is a little more complicated than WordPress, but has the same versatility and complexity of Drupal. Lastly, Concrete5 includes security, menus, SEO, and basic website functions to create an effective and beautiful website without relying on plugins. Although plugins are available, they are not required for basic dental website functionality.

In short, each CMS will have pros and cons. Like deciding which car is right for you, choosing a CMS depends largely on what you are trying to accomplish. If gas mileage is important to you, you may choose a car that is ECO-friendly. If 4wheel is important for you a truck or SUV may be the chosen vehicle. There is no one CMS that is “best”. Some are better than the others, but the more popular choices are typically good choices. Each CMS on the market will have its own strengths and weaknesses. Depending on whether you’re using the platform for blogging, multilingual websites, or for more of a complicated framework, each business and scenario will require a different CMS.

Here at Pro Dental Designs, we create our websites using Concrete5. We find this base platform to be the best of all worlds. However, WordPress also has a very impressive interface. For help setting up your dental website or for information regarding your dental marketing strategies, please call Pro Dental Designs today. We can help you make sure your website is working hard for your practice!