What is a content management system (CMS)?

A con­tent manage­ment sys­tem, also cal­led a CMS, is an appli­ca­ti­on that helps users crea­te, mana­ge, and modi­fy con­tent on a web­site wit­hout requi­ring any spe­cial pro­gramming skills.

Gene­ral­ly, a con­tent manage­ment sys­tem can also be cal­led a con­s­truc­tion kit. It offers buil­ding blocks that help you crea­te your web­site wit­hout the need for tech­ni­cal know­ledge.

The buil­ding blocks include, for exam­p­le, images, vide­os, texts, social media chan­nels and SEO tools. Most con­tent manage­ment sys­tems also offer exten­si­ons that add addi­tio­nal func­tion­a­li­ty to your appli­ca­ti­on.

So you can focus on the important are­as like con­tent and SEO of your web­site while the CMS takes care of the rest.

Con­tent manage­ment sys­tems are also used for appli­ca­ti­ons other than web­sites. The­se include e‑commerce stores, intra­net appli­ca­ti­ons and docu­ment manage­ment.

How does a content management system work? #

Let me take you on a litt­le tour of the Word­Press con­tent manage­ment sys­tem (Word­Press is curr­ent­ly the most popu­lar and wide­ly used con­tent manage­ment sys­tem in the world).

Let’s take a look at how con­tent crea­ti­on works. Wit­hout a con­tent manage­ment sys­tem, you would first have to crea­te a sta­tic page in HTML and then upload it to your ser­ver.

With a con­tent manage­ment sys­tem like Word­Press, you can con­ve­ni­ent­ly log into your Word­Press inter­face and wri­te con­tent from any­whe­re in the world, at any time.

Images, vide­os and files can also be easi­ly mana­ged thanks to the WYSIWYG edi­tor. You can upload images direct­ly on the page or via the media libra­ry. Also the inser­ti­on of images by copy (CTRL+C) and pas­te (CTRL+V) is easi­ly pos­si­ble with Word­Press.

Of cour­se, the­re are many more func­tions available. For exam­p­le, you can sche­du­le publi­ca­ti­on, secu­re indi­vi­du­al pages with pass­words, or grant access only to log­­ged-in users. Most con­tent manage­ment sys­tems also have a revi­si­on sys­tem.

What are the advantages of using a content management system? #

Using a con­tent manage­ment sys­tem can help you increase the pro­duc­ti­vi­ty of your busi­ness. Con­tent can be mana­ged quick­ly and fle­xi­bly.

Users do not need any pro­gramming know­ledge and do not have to inter­ve­ne in the code of the web­site. Nevert­hel­ess, most con­tent manage­ment sys­tems can also be exten­ded at any time on a tech­ni­cal level through indi­vi­du­al deve­lo­p­ments.

In addi­ti­on, the most popu­lar con­tent manage­ment sys­tems offer both free and paid exten­si­ons. The­se can be con­ve­ni­ent­ly instal­led and updated via the con­tent manage­ment sys­tem.

Many con­tent manage­ment sys­tems also have a com­mu­ni­ty. The Word­Press com­mu­ni­ty, for exam­p­le, is one of the lar­gest. In addi­ti­on to the offi­ci­al forums, the­re are also groups on social media who­se mem­bers help with ques­ti­ons about Word­Press.

What makes a content management system? #

A con­tent manage­ment sys­tem con­sists of two modu­les on a tech­ni­cal level:

• A Con­tent Manage­ment Appli­ca­ti­on (CMA) — this modu­le allows you to mana­ge your web­site con­tent and add new ones.
• A Con­tent Deli­very Appli­ca­ti­on (CDA) — this modu­le is respon­si­ble for making your con­tent that you have crea­ted via the CMA visi­ble to your visi­tors.

Tog­e­ther they form the con­tent manage­ment sys­tem.

What content management systems are available? #

Word­Press, which we have alre­a­dy tal­ked about, is the most wide­ly used con­tent manage­ment sys­tem. The choice of con­tent manage­ment sys­tems has grown enorm­ously in recent years. Despi­te ever­y­thing, Word­Press has a 65% mar­ket share of web­sites imple­men­ted with a con­tent manage­ment sys­tem.

Bes­i­des Word­Press, the­re are other popu­lar con­tent manage­ment sys­tems that you can use to crea­te your web­site:

• Joom­la
• Wix
• Drup­al
• Blog­ger
• TYPO3

If you’­re thin­king about imple­men­ting an online store, you should check out the­se apps in addi­ti­on to Woo­Com­mer­ce:

• Shop­i­fy
• Magen­to
• PrestaShop
• Open­Cart

In addi­ti­on, the­re are also les­­ser-known con­tent manage­ment sys­tems that are aimed more at lar­ge com­pa­nies and cor­po­ra­ti­ons.

What types of websites can you create with a content management system? #

Alt­hough some con­tent manage­ment sys­tems still focus on spe­ci­fic are­as — like Shop­i­fy and Magen­to on e‑commerce, most sys­tems are fle­xi­ble.

Alt­hough some con­tent manage­ment sys­tems still focus on spe­ci­fic are­as — like Shop­i­fy and Magen­to on e‑commerce, most sys­tems are fle­xi­ble.

• Web­sites
• Blogs
• Online­shop / E‑Commerce
• Com­mu­ni­ties
• Social Net­works
• Online Cour­ses
• Mem­ber­ship Sites
• Port­fo­li­os
• Bio­gra­phie
• Media­thek
• Auc­tion­eer
• Mar­ket­places

Just to name a few. Of cour­se, you could con­ti­nue the list, but I think that’s enough to illus­tra­te how fle­xi­ble and diver­si­fied Word­Press can be used.

What is the best content management system? #

That is not easy to ans­wer. For a fac­tu­al ans­wer, one must first ana­ly­ze the pro­ject.

Gene­ra­li­zed, howe­ver, you can use the cur­rent facts and figu­res. After all, the­re must be a reason why Word­Press has such a strong mar­ket share among con­tent manage­ment sys­tems.

On the one hand, Word­Press is also sui­ta­ble for beg­in­ners. The intui­ti­ve and easy ope­ra­ti­on of Word­Press make it the ide­al choice for beg­in­ners.

Moreo­ver, Word­Press curr­ent­ly offers 58,843 plug­ins that allow you to add important fea­tures to your con­tent manage­ment sys­tem with just a few clicks.

How to create your website with a content management system? #

So you want to crea­te your web­site with a con­tent manage­ment sys­tem? Then we sum­ma­ri­ze the indi­vi­du­al steps for you in a sim­pli­fied way:

1. Get a web hos­ting and a domain.
2. Install the con­tent manage­ment sys­tem of your choice.
3. Con­fi­gu­re the con­tent manage­ment sys­tem accor­ding to your pre­fe­ren­ces. Set the design and struc­tu­re and defi­ne the typo­gra­phy.
4. Crea­te and publish con­tent, look at your com­pe­ti­tors and find inte­res­t­ing topics that inte­rest your poten­ti­al visi­tors.
5. Sub­mit your site to search engi­nes so that you can be found.

Nowa­days it is easy to get a good web hos­ting. The­re are now even pro­vi­ders like Kins­ta and Raid­bo­xes that spe­cia­li­ze in pro­vi­ding Word­Press web­sites.