A guide to choosing the right CMS

With nearly three decades of experience in digital marketing, we’ve seen firsthand how the right CMS can propel a business to new heights, while the wrong choice can lead to countless headaches.  Here are a few things to factor in when choosing your CMS vendor as well as what kinds of questions you should be asking.

Understand your business needs and goals

Before diving into the myriad of options available, the obvious place to start is by laying out your business needs, processes, and goals. It's essential to clearly understand the functionality of the new CMS to know if it can adapt to whatever challenges and opportunities come your way in the future. Pay particular attention to your content creation processes, distribution, and workflows to ensure scalability, and usability in the long term.

Questions to ask yourself:

• What are your future growth plans? 
• Does the CMS integrate with your existing technologies and infrastructure? 
• Is it built on the right kind of programming language?
• What level of technical expertise does your team have? 
• What type of content will you be managing (blogs, e-commerce, multimedia)? 
• How many users will be accessing and managing the site?

Exploring different types of CMS platforms 

Exploring different CMS platforms can be quite an adventure, and it's definitely worth diving into as you're on a quest to find the perfect tool for your business.

Each platform, like WordPress, Optimizely, Drupal, or Shopify, has its own unique vibe and set of perks. WordPress, for example, is super user-friendly and has a ton of plugins, making it great for blogs and small businesses. On the other hand, Shopify is a dream come true if you're all about e-commerce. It's like trying on different outfits to see which one fits best— but there’s always one that’s just right.

As you explore a new CMS, think about what you really need: 

• Ease of use
• Customization
• Security
• Support
• How well it integrates with your other tools
• Evaluate the key features 

1. User-friendliness

   It goes without saying that a CMS needs to have a user-friendly interface for your content creators, editors, and administrators. Make sure your system provides intuitive dashboards and clear navigation, along with any training and support your teams might require to get started.

2. SEO capabilities

   SEO is a cornerstone of digital marketing as it affects how visible your website is on search engines. You want a CMS vendor that makes it easy to optimize your content, so potential customers can find you without any hassle. Look for platforms with SEO optimization tools or ones that support plugins.
   
   Ensure the CMS supports:
   • Customizable URLs 
   • Easy editing of meta tags and descriptions
   • Integration with SEO tools and plugins
   • Fast loading times and mobile responsiveness

3. Security

   Security is paramount if you’re dealing with high volumes of content. A system with access controls and user authentication will allow you to control who has access to which content and when. Data encryption is key to being able to grow your business without the threat of security issues. And if you’re subject to specific industry standards and regulations make sure your CMS complies.
   
   The CMS should offer:
   • Regular updates
   • SSL support
   • User authentication
   • Data backup and recovery options

4. Scalability

   If you’re in the market for an enterprise-level CMS make sure it can flex up when it needs to. A reputation of high performance and reliability is a must in order to meet more audiences, more channels and obviously more content, so that fingers crossed your business will keep growing!
   
   Ensure you CMS can grow with you, check for:
   • Multi-site support
   • E-commerce capabilities (if needed)
   • Robust database management

Popular CMS vendors to consider

1. WordPress  

• Pros: Highly customizable, large plugin library, strong community support

• Cons:Requires regular updates and maintenance

 
2. Drupal 

• Pros: Extremely flexible and scalable, strong security features

• Cons: Steeper learning curve, more technical

3. Optimizely Content Management System

• Pros: Extremely flexible and scalable, strong security features

• Cons: Requires technical resources 

 3. Joomla

• Pros: Balance between ease of use and customization, strong community

• Cons: Limited plugin availability compared to WordPress

4. Shopify (for e-commerce) 

• Pros: Excellent for online stores, easy to use, great support

• Cons: Transaction fees, limited to e-commerce

5. Magento (for e-commerce) 

• Pros: Highly customizable, powerful for large e-commerce sites

• Cons: Can be complex and resource-intensive

Assess vendor support and community

The ideal CMS will come with an established ecosystem that brings together users, developers, and comprehensive support into the same orbit. This community can be both formal and informal. Which means beyond accessing the usual technical support, training materials and documentation, you also gain access to independent expertise and learnings shared in user forums. It can be instructive to search Stack Overflow for questions people are asking about the CMS you’re evaluating and can save you from potential pitfalls. 

Evaluate the following when it comes to vendor support and community:

• The volume of questions and their content? 
• What problems are people having?
• How many people are willing to answer those questions?
• If there is 24/7 customer support? 
• How comprehensive are the documentation and tutorials?

Consider customization and flexibility

Whatever industry you work in, you’re not just a generic player. You’re an individual business with a specific set of business requirements and your own way of doing things. So forget one-size-fits-all. Your CMS needs to be flexible and feature options like APIs and SDKs that support deeper customization and integration with other systems. The capability to integrate with other technologies in use by your organization, such as email marketing services is essential. But there’s more. Integrations with external systems are just as essential since that powers more a personalized user experience, from recommendations for relevant content to push notifications that drive a sale.

 Your CMS should be adaptable to your unique needs. Evaluate:

• Availability of plugins and extensions
• Flexibility in design and layout
• Ease of integrating third-party tools and APIs

Analyze cost and ROI

Leadership teams look at outcomes and numbers so the focus on a CMS that can deliver great ROI for your business with KPIs is important for sign off on your new CMS. 

While budget is always a consideration, focus on value rather than just cost. Assess:  

• Initial setup and licensing fees
• Ongoing maintenance and upgrade costs
• Cost of add-ons and third-party integrations
• Customizations.
• ROI potential from improved efficiency and SEO

Look at real-life examples

Checking out real-life case studies allows you to take a peek into how the platform performs in the real world. These stories show you how other businesses, maybe similar to yours, have used the CMS and what kind of results they've seen and challenges they faced, the solutions that worked, and how the CMS helped them grow. This way, you can better understand if the platform will meet your needs and support your business goals, giving you more confidence in your decision. 

Case studies and testimonials can provide valuable insights. Look out for:

• Examples of businesses similar to yours
• Success stories and measurable results
• Customer satisfaction ratings

Test before you commit

Most CMS vendors offer free trials or demos, and who doesn’t like to try before they buy? By trying out the CMS, you can see if it’s user-friendly, if it has the features you need, and if it integrates well with your existing tools. Plus, it helps you spot any potential issues before you commit. This way, you’re not just relying on reviews or specs; you’re getting a feel for how it will work for you and your team.

Use this opportunity to:

• Test the usability and features
• Get feedback from your team
• Identify any potential deal-breakers
• Ask specific questions to the vendor 

Making the right choice 

Choosing the right CMS isn’t just about buying the right CMS platform, it’s shaping the future of your digital experience. It’s also about buying into the right CMS provider. Taking the time to compare and test these platforms will help you find the perfect match as your choice of CMS vendor will significantly impact the success of your organization. To conclude, make sure you go with a responsive, reliable and future-facing vendor otherwise you could find yourself in a vulnerable position further down the line.

Download our complimentary template to see how each CMS vendor measures up and what questions can help you select the best one for your needs.