These five ways very generally describe how a Content Management System (CMS) can help businesses and SOHOs, create more effective web solutions..
1- Improve Efficiencies
With "standard" websites, all changes have to go through the site Webmaster: a designated person familiar with web design, an IT department, or an outside contractor. But if the Webmaster is too busy or on vacation and cannot get to it right away, even the smallest change like fixing a spelling mistake is delayed.
A Content Management System (CMS) empowers all employees with the ability to make their own changes. Anyone with basic Internet skills can quickly add, edit, or delete content.
2- Streamline Workflow
As the old saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth. The more hands that your changes pass through, the higher the chance for mistakes. With a CMS, any authorized person including the web owner, department managers, and other administrators can make changes "on the fly" without extensive design knowledge. Product Managers update their own products, Human Resources update their own contact lists, and SOHOs keep it all in-house.
3- Make Changes Anywhere
Powerful HTML editors like Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage are great tools for designing websites. But they are not so good for content management. One change requires accessing all the pages through the program, which is usually housed in one fixed location and can be made only by those familiar with HTML editing. With a CMS, all the required tools to add, edit, and delete content are on the server so that anyone with basic web skills can make changes from any Internet connection.
4- Save Time and Money
Anytime you make a change to your website, it costs money. This is especially true if you sub-contract your Webmaster needs out to a professional designer. Not only are you paying designer-sized fees for something as simple as fixing a spelling mistake, but making that change takes time to open the program, find the right file, make the change, and upload again. There may also be minimum billable hours or fees involved. CMS allows anyone to make that change - and quickly. A spelling mistake takes literally only seconds to fix. You save time and money doing it yourself.
5- Change Text, Images, Links...
The most powerful CMS software packages allow you to change not just your text, but every element of your website's editable regions including images, media (e.g. Flash, Word, PDF, Windows Media files) and links. With built-in WYSIWYG editors and Cascading Style Sheets, you still have full control over the look and feel of your web Content.
