Do you have access to your website? If you do then how easy do you find it to make a change, post an update or even create a new webpage? The face of website development and management has really changed over the past few years. This change has a massive benefit to those who would like more control over their websites but lack the knowledge of website techy. So how do you control the content on your website?

Have you heard of WordPress? Joomla? Drupla? These are examples of  pretty well known content management systems (CMS). A content management system is how you control the content on your website and as of the last few years they have really developed into something much more effective. Because of these easy to use content management systems more and more business leaders are able to make updates themselves (and saving money in doing so as you no longer need to pay for every little page update).

The majority of the websites that we work with use a WordPress CMS and I have to say it is a very easy to use system. Through WordPress you log in and amend so much of your website and still through very little training (if any at all). Once logged into WordPress you can create new pages, upload a new blog entry, add photos to a gallery and even reply to any comments you may have. If you are feeling adventurous and want you can install plugins – plugins are a tool for your website that you can install. Different plugins offer different improvements to your website. For example you can install plugins to improve your websites SEO, or a plugin to improve the security on your website. There is a vast range of plugins to choose from with detailed descriptions on what they do.

Drupal and Joomla are very user-friendly content management systems and again are easy to use once you get the hang of it. However I would recommend sticking to WordPress if you want a basic CMS that is very easy to use. Drupal and Joomla have been nicknamed the adult versions of WordPress and offer the user a lot more web technician experience as you work a lot closer to the coding and HTML of the website. However if you want that upgrade and feel that WordPress is a little too basic for you then i would suggest moving up to Drupal or Joomla.

A content management system that you can personally use can really make the difference to your site. If you’re still having pay for someone to make updates to your website then I do recommend that you look into transferring your website to a content management system you can use. For more information keep an eye out on Friday as Debbie will be talking more about how an effective CMS can help your business.