Content Management System: Choosing the Right CMS for Your Business
Aug, 07, 2024 
Selecting the right content management system (CMS) for your business is a very important decision. It is a decision that determines the future of your online profile. Currently, more than 76 million websites employ a CMS, of which WordPress dominates the market with a 62.8% share as of 2024.
But how does one go about it especially given that the field is filled to the brim with so much competition? To begin with, it is necessary to explain what a CMS is. A CMS stands for Content Management System and it is a tool that assists you in developing content for your website and publishing it on the internet without the need to write a single line of code. It is like having a set of tools to create a great online image, all the tools are in one place and ready to be used.
Now let us illustrate with examples. If you are operating an enterprise level site, then Content Hub could be the way to go. In the case of blogs, WordPress is usually the most popular option. Joomla is excellent for membership sites whereas Drupal is perfect for sites that get a lot of traffic and have lots of data. These are just a few examples of how various CMSs are designed to meet various requirements.
Well, how does one select the right CMS for his/her business? First of all, it is necessary to define what your website requires. The features you want, the level of customization you need, and the amount of money you are willing to spend should be thought of. So, the best CMS for your business is the one that meets your needs and objectives in the most effective way.
Tune in for more details on CMSs where we will offer you the latest statistics, references to useful reports, and examples so that you can make the right decision. Selecting the right CMS is not an easy task, however, with the right information, it becomes a fairly easy task.
Understanding CMS
A Content Management System (CMS) is a software application that facilitates the creation, management, and modification of digital content on a website. It’s the digital hub where you create your site and store all the content you want to publish.
As of 2024, approximately 68.7% of all websites use a CMS. WordPress holds the majority of the CMS market share at 62.8%, followed by Shopify at 6.2%, and Wix at 3.8%. These statistics highlight the growing reliance on CMS platforms for website development.
The benefits of using a CMS are numerous. They include improved content organization, efficient content creation and editing, enhanced collaboration, streamlined publishing, and consistent branding. Furthermore, CMS platforms typically offer a variety of customization options.
Choosing the right CMS for your business involves assessing your organization’s specific needs. Key considerations include ease of use, customization flexibility, SEO-friendliness, budget, security, technical support, and integration with web analytics. It’s important to choose a CMS that aligns with your team’s skill level, offers features that benefit your organization, and can scale as your needs change.
How a CMS works
A Content Management System (CMS) is a tool that helps in managing, creating and publishing content online. It is more like a content store where many people in a team can create, edit and even publish content.
The CMS works through two key parts. The first one is the content management application (CMA). This is where your team can add and manage content before it goes live on your site. The second component is the content delivery application (CDA). This retrieves the content that is uploaded in the CMA, saves it on the back end and displays it to the viewers.
Another important characteristic of a CMS is that it enables editors to work on the content in real time while they can preview how the content will look when it is published. This feature allows the creators to view websites and apps under construction.
The two core parts of a CMS: Content Management Application (CMA) and Content Delivery Application (CDA)
A Content Management System (CMS) is an effective tool that can be used to manage the content creation, modification and deployment. It consists of two integral components: The two main components of the architecture are the Content Management Application (CMA) and the Content Delivery Application (CDA).
Content Management Application (CMA)
CMA is the front end of a CMS through which content creators can create and edit content without having to code. It is kind of like the dashboard of your CMS where you can type in text, upload images, and even change the format of your website.
For instance, if your CMS is WordPress, then you can create a new blog post by using a simple text editor. This is an easy to use tool in the CMA that allows even non technical users to contribute to the content of the website.
Content Delivery Application (CDA)
The CDA, however, is the working tool that receives the content from the CMA, saves it, and displays it to your website visitors. It is in charge of collecting the content that you have developed and accumulated in the CMA and storing it appropriately and making it easily retrievable by your site visitors.
In other words, the CDA translates the content input into templates and to web format, which allows the visitors to work with it. It is the central component of the CMS mechanism, which takes content from the backend, transforms it according to templates, and delivers it in a format that is understandable for the website visitors.
Combined, the CMA and CDA are the core of any content management system, so you can easily organize your website’s content and deliver it to your audience without any hassle.
Why Businesses Need a CMS
In today’s world where the Internet is a major factor in the economy, a content management system or CMS is not a luxury but a necessity for any business. It’s the backbone of a successful online presence, and here’s why:It’s the backbone of a successful online presence, and here’s why:
- Efficient Content Management: A CMS makes the process of developing and disseminating content for the digital platform easier. Even with no background knowledge in CSS, HTML or coding, businesses can easily upload and edit content through an easy to use interface. This efficiency is very important in the current world that is characterized by the use of technology in almost everything.
- Collaboration and Workflow Enhancement: CMS platforms enable many users to work in the back end of the same tool. This feature helps in coordination of the team members and makes sure all the members understand the project.
- SEO-Friendly: It is important to note that most of the CMS platforms have integrated SEO features. This feature assists companies to ensure that their content is properly indexed by search engines hence increasing its visibility and ranking.
- Customization: There are countless options for customization with CMS platforms. The design and features of the site can also be aligned to the business’s brand.
- Cost-Effective: A CMS saves the business from having to hire a web programmer to design the layout of the website and input new content. This cost-effectiveness is especially significant for small to medium enterprises.
- Real-Time Updates: CMS allows businesses to edit the content of the digital content in real-time. This capability helps in making sure that the content that is being produced is timely and is still useful.
According to the current data, more than 76 million websites rely on a CMS. Thus, more than 900,000 of the 1 million most popular sites have adopted a CMS. WordPress is the most popular CMS with 62.8% of the market share. These figures go to show that more and more businesses are turning to CMS platforms for their operations.
Top 5 CMS Platforms
In the year 2024, organizations understand the importance of a content management system (CMS) in their online strategy. This section reveals the five leading CMS platforms that are ruling the world of web development at the moment.
Every platform has its own benefits and thus, meets different business requirements. From the versatile WordPress to the Shopify that is a powerhouse for e-commerce, these CMS platforms are not just tools, they are doors to the digital world.
It is time to take a closer look at these platforms and reveal their main characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, and the spheres where they can be most effectively applied. This will help you to make the right decision when selecting the right content management system for your business. We will be coming up with detailed features on these platforms, giving you all the current facts and figures to help you make the right decision.
Wix
Wix is one of the youngest players in the content management system market, but it is already making its presence felt with such figures and offering unique solutions. Wix currently hosts approximately 8 million websites as of 2024. This platform is used by 2.8% of all websites, thus making its presence felt in the CMS market share.
One can mention the growth of Wix. Market share growth rate of Wix for the years 2016 to 2023 is 800%. This surge is a testament of the fact that the platform is easy to use and very powerful at the same time.
Wix offers over 300 apps that allow users to improve their websites in various ways. The Wix App Market offers a wide range of apps for different purposes, starting from SEO specialists and ending with e-commerce, so the choice is suitable for any company.
Besides, Wix is not only about figures; it is also about international presence. Wix is used in 190 countries thus showing that it is well accepted all over the world. This wide usage highlights the versatility of the platform to the various markets and the needs of the users.
WordPress.com
In as much as selecting the best content management system for your business is concerned, there is no better option than WordPress. Looking at the list of the analyzed sites, com can be considered as one of the leading contenders. It currently supports more than 43% of all the websites on the internet and is therefore the most popular CMS globally.
WordPress. Not only is com the most popular domain extension, but it is also one of the fastest-growing ones. WordPress has been growing at a rate of 12% per year since 2011 and is widely used in the modern world. This growth has been attributed to the flexibility of the platform, the ease of use and the availability of numerous themes and plugins.
One of the most important advantages of WordPress.com is its scalability. It can effectively handle large traffic websites, online stores, and many other types of sites. This makes it a perfect solution for companies of all sizes and from all fields of activity.
In support of such assertions, there are many large corporations that have adopted WordPress.com for their websites. These are Sony Music, Meta Newsroom and PlayStation. The success stories of their works give real-life examples of what WordPress. This paper aims at establishing the various ways that a business can benefit from having a .com address.
However, it is not only the giants of the market that get a lot of advantages from WordPress.com. Over 500 new WordPress based sites are developed every day and 70 million new posts are published on WordPress. com every month. These numbers demonstrate the popularity of the platform and the engaged audience that is present on it.
As for the security, WordPress.com takes it seriously. Updates are given frequently to make sure that the platform is secure and up to date. This commitment to security is paramount especially for any business that is involved in the processing of sensitive data.
Drupal
Drupal is one of the most suitable and efficient content management systems for businesses. Launched in 2000, over the years it has expanded and is currently the third most used CMS in terms of market share.
The main advantage of Drupal is a large and active community and a large number of available modules, over 42,650, and themes, 2,900. These resources enable organizations to develop their website according to the required purpose. For example, the Chaos module is the most popular Drupal module with more than 11 million downloads; it is a set of APIs and tools that help to improve the customization of a Drupal site.
Nonetheless, its features are powerful and only 1% of all websites on the Internet use Drupal. However, it hosts 15 percent of the world’s 12,000 most popular websites. This means that even though Drupal may not be the most used CMS in the world, it is the most used in building high performance websites.
Another important factor that should be taken into consideration when selecting a CMS is security. In 2014, through a Drupal bug, 12 million websites were targeted. After that, Drupal has advanced in terms of security features to show that it is a safe platform for its users.
Another benefit of Drupal is that it is relatively cheaper to use compared to other content management systems. Although Drupal is an open source, the cost of site development can range up to $40,000. This cost is justified by the flexibility and scalability that Drupal provides to the businesses, which makes it a worthy investment.
Regarding the community, Drupal has a community of 1.3 million members. The active and helpful community is an essential feature for the users and contributes to the constant development of the site.
Shopify
Among the best CMS for your business is Shopify. This comprehensive e-commerce CMS solution is aimed at assisting the merchants in the creation of their online shops. Being an online cloud-based SaaS e-commerce platform, it does not require the owner to worry about the server and its updates, allowing them to solely concentrate on sales.
Shopify is not only a CMS but much more than that. It is an omni-seller commerce platform that has revolutionized the e-commerce industry. Web, mobile, social, marketplaces, physical, pop up stores, Shopify has it all in its back pocket.
Another factor that has made Shopify to be among the best CMS platforms is that it is very easy to use. Shopify has the advantage of enabling the addition of products, modification of inventory, management of orders, and alteration of an online store’s appearance. A clean interface, understandable settings, and an excellent help center reduce the need for support.
Another great aspect is that Shopify allows for integration with other applications. A strong e-commerce platform has many plug-ins and modules to enhance the function of the store. These integrations make e-commerce integration smooth and efficient in terms of operations.
Shopify also has integrated SEO facilities to enhance the text of products, images, and other materials to be easily read by the search engines.
Joomla
When it comes to choosing the right content management system for your business, Joomla is a strong contender. This CMS platform is currently used by 2.4% of all websites whose content management system is known. As of July 2024, Joomla is used by over 1,162,000 live websites, with a significant number of these websites, 644,342 to be precise, registered in Europe.
Joomla is particularly popular among businesses, being the choice for 9% of them. This popularity is likely due to Joomla’s extensive language support, with the platform available in 76 different languages.
The platform’s development benefits from the contributions of approximately 780 volunteers, ensuring it stays up-to-date and responsive to user needs. Joomla’s version 3 is the most widely used, accounting for 83.6% of all Joomla-powered websites.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the selection of CMS is a critical step in the development of your enterprise. Choosing a platform is not the only thing; it is about selecting a solution that will help you in achieving your business objectives.
Bear in mind that no two businesses are the same. One cannot compare what is good for the other since everyone is unique in their own way. Hence, it is necessary to identify your particular requirements and assess how the various systems address those requirements.
Do not be carried away by the crowd. Rather, it is necessary to concentrate on the peculiarities that make your business unique and select a CMS that will be able to emphasize these advantages.