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Top 10 Reasons to get a Content Management System  Updated :: 11/11/2006 4:47:14 AM
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The obvious benefits of deploying Web Content Management Systems (CMS) include the ability to easily add and update content, and to create workflows to assure that proper approval is gained before publication. However, there are many other business reasons why you should consider implementing a Content Management System for your Website.

1. Update Web Content Anytime, Anywhere
2. Content Updates Do Not Require Technical Knowledge
3. Control Who Publishes Content and When
4. Manage Industry Specific Content
5. Improved SEO
6. Archive the Content of your Website
7. Reduce Time and Costs
8. Increase Customer or Partner Participation and Self-help
9. Launch a Multi-functional Website Quickly
10. Publish and Re-distribute Content in Standardized Format



MAKE UPDATES ANYWHERE, ANYTIME
Many sites go without basic content updates because there are too many technical obstacles along the way. You may find your content is ready for the site, but the site is not ready for your content. For businesses that have a remote or distributed staff, the site is not updated because the Web authoring software (Frontpage, Dreamweaver, FTP, etc…) is not convenient or accessible. Simple updates to static sites are often time consuming and tedious, so the site goes without updates. A good CMS will simplify the time and procedure required to post a content update.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A TECHIE
First and foremost CMS's are easy to use. A CMS allows you, co-workers or non-technical personnel to make changes to the site without having to learn HTML. Rather than having to know HTML code, or duplicate existing pages, a CMS will provide an intuitive means to add and edit content. Even if you have your own Web-savvy staff, their time could be used more productively by adding functionality rather than performing editorial changes.

CONTROL WHO PUBLISHES CONTENT AND WHEN
Website content doesn't get updated effectively when there are administrative bottlenecks. Often, the person that understands A, doesn't know about B, but knowledge of A and B may be required to get content up-to-date on the site. Web Content management systems can eliminate the bottlenecks associated with delivery, formatting, and editing of site's content. Managed workflow, content scheduling, archiving, and centralized control over content delivery. Content authors, editors, and Web administrators can all "work" on the site instead of waiting for each other.

ACCOMODATE INDUSTRY SPECIFIC CONTENT
Most Web site initiatives involve the management of data that is specific to industry or custom business logic. For example, consider a real estate company's Web site where the site's content is property listings. Immediately, we can visualize the use of the data specific to the real estate industry, such as: "Bedrooms", "Baths", "Lot Size", "Building Features". A good CMS will provide a form of "content intelligence" that will adhere to taxonomy and accommodate this ad-hoc data.

IMPROVE SEARCH ENGINE PLACEMENT
Your site's static pages may be indexed by Yahoo! and Google, but you want to drive traffic based on specific keywords and phrases that are in line with your marketing objectives. The quality and format of your site's content is critical to optimizing your site's placement in the search engines. Many CMS tools focus on SEO and have search engine friendly tricks "built-in". Some of these SEO tricks include, page titles, meta tags (keywords and description), descriptive hyperlinks, permalinks and optimized filenames that are automatically generated from your site's content. By optimizing each page and it's content, search engines can more accurately read and index your site, resulting in better search engine placement.

ARCHIVE YOUR WEB CONTENT
Archiving the content of your site in a database makes it easier for future reference, site enhancements and re-designs. Unlike static sites (which are comprised of a collection of pages), dynamic CMS tools store all content in a database. Hence fresh content gets added, and older content can be easily archived and then re-accessed as needed. Archived content is not entirely removed from the site, thus eliminating broken links and missing pages.

REDUCE TIME AND COSTS
With the help of a CMS, business users are empowered to create, publish, and manage their own Web content by means of an Internet browser or even Microsoft Word. This enables your employees to realize the full potential of your Web site by using them as business tools for communication with customers, partners, and co-workers.

GET A MULTI-FUNCTIONAL WEBSITE, FAST
Another motivating factor for moving to a CMS, is that your site lacks required functionality. You may wish the site could easily be extended with features like security controls, discussion forums, keyword searching, or a feedback system. Since most CMS's are dynamically driven, features like knowledge management (FAQ lists, customer support, CRM, feedback systems, or article management) and user management (member login, registration and security) are often inclusive to the CMS features. Some content management systems even offer extended features for collaboration (forums, calendar) and e-commerce initiatives.

ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION AND SELF-HELP
Customers and partners can quickly find and access the information they need. Features like knowledge management (FAQ lists, customer support, CRM, and feedback systems) are often inclusive to the CMS features. Managed workflow, content scheduling, archiving, result in Web sites that are richer with more accurate, timely, and easy-to-find content.

RE-DISTRIBUTE OR SYNDICATE CONTENT
CMS's create content is a consistent format that adheres to Web standards. Navigation and sitemaps are often automatically generated by the CMS. Most CMS tools also provide a means to distribute and syndicate your sites' content in formats beyond W3C and Section 508 compliant HTML. Content is "packaged" into accessible XML-based formats such as RSS and ATOM. This provides the ability to easily syndicate organizational content to and from other sources (ie; news feeds).

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