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Which Open Source Content Management System is Best for your Website

Article Overview

The Content Management System or CMS that you decide to use for your website will be crucial to the way in which your websites work. Many web companies prefer to use their own CMS platform, whilst others prefer to use an open source CMS like WordPress, Joomla or DotNet. Our preferred CMS here at Hopping Mad Designs is WordPress and following are some reasons why we like to use an open source CMS like WordPress.

What is an Open Source CMS?

An open source content management system means that your website will be built around a CMS that is free to download. Unlike proprietary CMS platforms, ( which are very common) that have been purposely built by web developers, open source CMS gives you the absolute freedom to move your website wherever you like.

The trick with open source CMS solutions is to pick the right CMS, and the right web design agency to build it.

At the moment the favourite is WordPress, and here at Hopping Mad Designs we have designed and built hundreds of WordPress websites for our clients.

Features of Open Source CMS.

1) Are built and maintained by groups of likeminded people from around Australia and the rest of the world.

2) The source code is available to everyone. Anyone can use open source with a little training – basically it is free for anyone to use.

3) The beauty of open source CMS is that it can be hosted anywhere. You will never be tied to one particular hosting company that you may not want or like. You can host an open source website with just about any ISP in Sydney or Australia

4) Most plug ins or add ons are free and provided to you as soon as they are available.

 

Features of a Proprietary CMS.

– Have been developed by 1 web development company.

– You will NEVER have access to the source code.

– You will have to host with the company that built the CMS – watch those monthly fees start to skyrocket!

– If you are unhappy with the CMS or the development company, you are STUCK – you cannot move their CMS – basically you have to start all over again OR get your design files moved over to an open source CMS – there is generally a fee associated with this.

There are pros and cons for each, BUT being in this industry for 18 years I can say with certainty that a OPEN SOURCE CMS is far far better for your business. I have seen too many disasters from people getting trapped into using a proprietary CMS.

 

 Why WordPress is a Great Open Source CMS.

 

  • The main reason why we absolutely love to use WordPress is that the designs can be easily customised for your website. WordPress allows for graphics to be easily implemented, which will give your website that professional, designed look.
  • Because WordPress is an open source CMS, you are free to host or take your website any where you want ( see above points).
  • Because there are teams of developers constantly working on improving the functionality of the CMS, you will never have to worry about missing out on latest tech advances.
  • The WordPress blog functionality is awesome. If you are a fan of content marketing, then a WordPress blog is the way to go. The interface is clean and extremely simple to use, which makes it the perfect partner for businesses looking to blog about their service or product.
  • It easily integrates shopping cart/ecommerce functions.
  • WordPress is loved by the main search engines and if you update site content ( which is super easy to do), you will see your web rankings skyrocket.
  • WordPress is scalable and can work with any type of website and budget. It is perfect for the small business web presence and can work equally as well for a complex back end site.

 

Problems When You Don’t Use a WordPress CMS

If you are happy to:

  • pay excessive monthly fees – total waste of money
  • be held to ransom by your web developer or web company as they own your CMS
  • have to deal with 1 web company for the life of your website
  • be completely limited in design style – very template driven web design
  • have poor search engine performance – can’t rank on google – your website will be lost online;

then WordPress is not for you.

But if you want a website that looks and performs extremely well for your business and will help to contribute to your online success then a WordPress CMS is the answer for you.

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