An introduction to CMS - for SMEs who want to update their own web sites

CMS - Customer Management System - is sometimes a white elephant that seemed like a good idea at the time.

At The BPc, we offer to create websites in standard html or using an open-source CMS. Wordpress and Joomla are examples of open-source CMS which means that customers are not committed to a single supplier or host plus there is a choice of add-ons or plug-ins (often free) for additional features.

These systems are not intuitive! Because of this, there are companies that develop websites with a bespoke CMS that can be easier to learn and use. In addition to being at the mercy of the developer and/or host of a proprietory system, problems often arise later when unforeseen changes to the original web site specification or independent search engine optimisation becomes a requirement when perhaps those areas are not included in the CMS part of the website.

Our opinion is that Wordpress is the simplest to use and our clients have occasionally contributed to a Wordpress blog. Our experience across our client base is that fewer than half the people who wanted to update their own web site actually do so on a regular basis. Some of our clients recognise that, in reality, they are unlikely to have time to learn a new skill and update content therefore have no preference whether the website is based on html or Wordpress.

The BPc is paid a retainer by a number of clients to update content of web sites that were originally created by third-party developers to be managed in-house by the end-user client. These include Wordpress, Joomla (many!), I-ntarsia, Locallife and a couple of purely bespoke systems. In addition, Dreamweaver sites that became contorted during several edits have been tidied up and, in most cases, converted to standard html editing.

An advantage of contracting The BPc for updates is that optimisation and link building are included when time or budget allows, improving the web site's overall performance. In fact, most of our clients initially approached us for optimisation then the updates - to both CMS and html web sites - became part of the service.

Contact us by email or call the SEO desk direct 01462 618481