Cms Development – it is Extremely Necessary for ...

Before elaborating upon CMS Development, it would be better to expand the acronym CMS. CMS stands for content management system. It is a sort of engine that is operational in the back-end of a website, thus allowing website owners to manage content posted on their sites. Content can be in the form of texts, pictures, music and documents. If you want to make your website reliable, flexible and user friendly, then CMS development can come in handy for you.

Whether you want to add new content, upgrade or delete the present content, or whether it involves website templates adjustment, CMS allows web masters to take care of all the aspects concerning their website. For CMS development, you can contact different firms that deal in CMS development. A true CMS will allow you to have full control over your website, helping you manage the content in whichever way you want.

It saves your time as it helps you focus on unique content creation without wasting your precious time dealing with stubborn software that you are using at the moment. When you are hiring a company for CMS development, just let it know some of the details such as what kind of content you are seeking, what kind of role you are seeking for your users, and what kind of access you want to provide for users. The leading companies that have high experience in CMS development provide optimized CMS that can bear high server loads. It will run on SQL database.

Properly designed CMS are user friendly, functional and flexible, without being complicated due to buttons and functions in excess quantity. For a better website development, you need a highly customized CMS. You will be able to control navigation and sound using CMS. A well developed CMS allows you to control Flash animations , gaming, page or news generation without having to gain web programming knowledge.

So, CMS development is necessary for a highly featured website development so that you can derive high traffic. The target audience should not feel difficulty in navigating through your website. You will be able carve a niche for your online business.

Cms: Keeping Your Web Content Current...

Websites provide information. Whether you sell products or services, or your site is educational or commercial in nature, content is king. Few websites are truly static and even fewer should be. Good design and regularly updated content are the key to keeping your website relevant, fresh, and valuable to users – not to mention the search engines. Paying a web designer whenever you need to upload new photos or text gets expensive. For frequent updates, a Content Management System (CMS) makes it easy to manage updates yourself, even on complex dynamic sites.

Simply put, content is all the ?stuff? on your website: text, photographs, charts, graphics, audio/visual elements, downloadable forms or PDF documents, interactive pages and applications that allow users to do or affect something. In short, content is anything that appears on the site, and all the elements that comprise it. Content management is how you manipulate that ?stuff?: text revisions, calendar and event updates, new photographs, forms, even new pages or tabs on the site. A CMS is a computer program or software that allows you to add, delete, or manipulate the content, generally without any special knowledge of code, programming or web design magic.

When developing a website, your designer will want to know in advance what content the site will include. This is important, because content influences both the design – how the site is composed visually – and the structure of the code to ensure that everything works smoothly. Ultimately, everything on the ?front end? of a given website (the part the user sees) is the result of programming code on the ?back end? that translates into a given effect. This is what scares most non-developers away from updating their own sites: it’s literally a whole other language.

This is where a CMS comes in. The increasing number of programming languages, an exponential increase in the sheer number of websites on the World Wide Web, and the many features now integrated with other technological gadgets (cell phones, PDA?s, networks, etc.) make it increasingly important to make sure that your content is both accurate and properly integrated into the site structure. If you have an active calendar section, for example, that lists important dates or event information but doesn?t get properly coded to print or download to peripheral devices, it sort of defeats the purpose. Or, say you want to update product information or feature a new item, but the photos don?t load properly. Even more to the point: do you really have the time or money to contact your web designer every time a change needs to be made? Probably not. If you have an integrated CMS, you don?t need to know the code.

In most cases, CMS input or editing panels are designed to look and operate just like the familiar programs you use every day. Text is generally straightforward, using standard keyboard typing, copy-paste functions and common formatting commands typed directly into the panel. Some use the familiar button or menu technology to upload photos, graphics and other files. In short, they?re designed in such a way that anyone with standard computer skills can accomplish basic web editing tasks, without knowing html or other coding languages.

In an ideal world, all CMS are programmed to integrate smoothly with every page and function on your site. In reality, however, many CMS solutions can cause as many problems as they solve. Most off-the-shelf versions have limited functionality. They are generally designed to work with do-it-yourself web design templates, both of which place limits on how much you can customize your site or editing options. Depending on the version, they can be full of glitches and may be intended to work with a very limited number of web design programs. In short, off-the-shelf CMS (in conjunction with the templates they are designed to work with) may very well hold your website hostage.

Customized CMS, developed by your web developer specifically to work with your website, is the best option. Alternately, there are sophisticated, professional caliber CMS available from both proprietary and open source vendors, usually via Internet download or subscription. You can get these yourself, or ask your designer/developer to research the best options to integrate into the site. Proprietary software requires the purchase of a license and cannot be altered. ?Open source?, on the other hand, means that code can be viewed and modified by the public to encourage peer review and improvement by other programmers. These are generally free, though not always. Professional CMS can be extremely effective and most are designed to work with a range of design architectures. Depending on the source and what you need, they can range in price from free to quite expensive. Many of them are efficient and cost-effective. However, unless you know what you?re looking at, it may be hard to tell. Some of them are great, while others can hobble your site as much as an off-the-shelf version.

It all comes down to how much time and effort you can invest in learning about the technology. One of the main problems with the more sophisticated do-it-yourself CMS is that they can be quite complicated to integrate into your site. Incorporating a CMS into the original infrastructure of your site generally improves functionality and allows for future customization. Most proprietary CMS vendors offer tech support, but they may charge additional fees and “support” usually doesn’t mean a technician who can come to your office for installation or set-up. While a handful of open source CMS providers offer excellent products and tech support, most expect you to be knowledgeable enough to manipulate and/or customize the code yourself. Most open-source providers value effectiveness, broad applicability, and free access to further information. They usually provide links to other resources, product reviews and blog posts.

The simplest, safest, and most effective solution is to go with a custom CMS developed by your web design/development firm. This is the most direct way to ensure that your CMS is designed to meet your individual needs and is integrated with the specific configuration and features of your website. Customized CMS may be more expensive up-front, but for sites that require frequent updates or complex integration across various pages and functionalities, it may be more cost effective in the long run. Work with your designer to make sure you both understand what your website and CMS needs are. A customized CMS may ultimately be less expensive, especially if you count the time and frustration of trying to figure it out for yourself.

A reputable, professional designer/developer will be able to guide you through the decision making process and answer your questions. If you have the interest and are feeling techno-savvy, it?s always a good idea to do a little research on your own, even if you leave the job to your IT specialist or web designer. The more you know, the more likely you are to get what you want and need.

Get your Cms to Hit the Targets you Want...

With more than a thousand Content Management System (CMS) vendors, organizations face tough choices navigating the tricky waters of technology. A CMS solution that is perfect for a large company may be ineffective for an SMB as it has no use for features that are used extensively by a larger enterprise.

Buying a CMS is similar to buying Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions – you need to clearly evaluate your organization’s needs and then map them to make an informed choice. Once you succeed in identifying a CMS solution, how will you ensure that it simplifies your work as promised? What measures will you use to show your leadership team that the CMS will provide good ROI?

Before beginning a CMS implementation, it is extremely important to identify the key business goals that must be achieved. Without this clear vision of the objective, CMS implementations are almost sure to fail. In this context, it is not surprising to find that most CMS implementations often overshoot budgets and timelines, and over their lifetime consume far more time, energy, and resources just to stay functional that you ever imagined.

Organizational goals are diverse – but we can take a look at some common business objectives that must figure on your checklist before a CMS implementation.

Goal #1: Improve Business Responsiveness

In an intensely competitive world, organizations must be able to quickly update their Websites as soon as a new product or service is launched. In this scenario, organizations need the capability to accelerate content publishing, and provide subject matter experts (SMEs) with tools that are simple to use. Content specialists must be able to focus more on creating content – and not let content control them.

For example, consider the marketing arm of a technology services firm that has just found out from its sales team that –

1. there is a big SAP implementation services contract coming up

2. the company awarding the contract is checking vendor Websites to evaluate capabilities before drawing up a shortlist

In normal circumstances, the marketing team would have hurriedly asked the developers to put up a few links to SAP whitepapers (usually hidden inside the site) on the home page. If the same company had a Web content management system, the SMEs could have created a microsite with content tailored to showcase SAP capabilities. The ease of uploading content will also allow the same team to put up more recently created whitepapers on this microsite. In situations like this where time is of the essence, a user friendly CMS is invaluable.

Similarly, if SMEs feel that a particular content – such as a whitepaper on the Website – must capture email addresses of the people who download it, they can easily create a form using the content management tool, and ensure collection of this data. The email addresses can then become part of a lead generation exercise, used by the organization to sell specific services to users according to the type of whitepaper downloaded. Further, if a marketing person feels the need to run a campaign showcasing RFID capabilities, he can easily create a microsite within the main Website, and provide an in-depth overview of his company’s capabilities. It is clear, therefore, that ease of use in this scenario can actually drive business efficiencies and opportunities.

Goal# 2: Improve Branding

An organization’s image in the marketplace is a combination of multiple factors, out of which–the Website–is clearly one of the most influential. A simple mistake such as a non-existent link on a company Website can mean a missed business opportunity. The chosen Website CMS must enable the organization to maintain link integrity – thereby significantly reducing the chance of users reporting a missing link.

The CMS must also give the organization the capability to maintain consistency across all pages of its Website (with style sheets, templates, etc.) so that branding and design are controlled to the level desired, regardless of who is responsible for the actual content.

As a result, visitors can have a consistent and professional experience on a Website managed through an effective CMS.

Goal # 3: Improve Quality of Information

The CMS must enhance the organization’s ability to improve the quality of information by giving it the capability to deliver content that is updated, comprehensive and validated by SMEs. A Website CMS must have intelligent workflow automation, and ensure that content passes through appropriate quality gates before being published. For instance, ensuring that files can be given a full document lifecycle, including check-in, check-out, versioning, rollback, approvals, and scheduling.

The CMS should support configurable workflows that enable organizations to assign tasks to any person, and escalate in case defined thresholds are crossed. For example, the CMS must automatically send email alerts to content owners of specific sections on a Website, if these sections are not updated after a specific time period.

Goal # 4: Reuse content

In a digital world where content can be creatively used in a variety of forms such as whitepapers, podcasts or articles, effectively managing and using this content is critical for competitive advantage. However, the same content present in multiple mediums, across different business units can create silos of unmanageable information – and increase maintenance costs.

Organizations must encourage content reuse by reducing duplicate content and storing each kernel of content only once. An efficient CMS can help find and tag content assets from a single point of control. This centralized control medium also means that the organization can effectively measure the success of its various online marketing initiatives.

Goal # 5: Take Advantage of New Communication Media

The Web 2.0 audience demands an interface that is functionally rich, easy to use, and publishes content quickly. You would not want to frustrate an audience that is used to sites such as Flickr or Blogger. Adding complex content posting rules on your company’s blog will only alienate your would-be listeners. Further, different forms of metadata such as ‘rating’ or ‘tagging’ by voters introduce new layers of complexity in managing content.

Additional challenges in content management arise due to multiple device types. Organizations that follow a manual content updating style, or have a CMS that tightly binds content and structure, will be at a distinct disadvantage when publishing content to different formats. Hence, organizations must look to a CMS that enables and facilitates easy creation of content that caters to multiple mediums and audiences from a single source, for example; publishing of digital assets like audio and video files, and simplify the process of publishing the XML associated with the Podcast RSS feed.

Goal # 6: Improve Productivity

To improve productivity of key content specialists or SMEs, choose a CMS that allows even non-technical users to contribute and update content on a Website from anywhere, using just an Internet connection. Choose a CMS that encourages SMEs to experiment with the presentation of their content. For instance, enforcing design with, navigation schemes, and the presentation of content through standardized presentation templates. These templates ensure that the content presentation, titling and linking are arranged in a way that enables even non-technical staff to easily update content.

Productivity can also be enhanced by giving SMEs the ability to search and quickly identify digital assets that are present in the organization. Content owners can thus save valuable time in creating content that is already present.

Conclusion

Like sails driving a ship, goals are vital for content management. Using the right metrics can add further control and boost effectiveness. For example, ‘business responsiveness’ can be measured by the organization’s ability to quickly update its Website as soon as new products or services are launched. Other metrics used to gauge success of CMS goals can include Web usage statistics, turnaround time for publishing new material or implementing changes, customer satisfaction, development time for new pages, and cost of training. Having a clear vision of what the CMS has to achieve can turn the direction of change in an organization’s favor, and make it better equipped to maximize CMS potential.

Factors to Consider Before Choosing a Cms...

A content management system, which is more commonly known as CMS, is software that you run on your own server in order to handle and publish all your website content easily, from HTML files, images, etc.

CMS makes the process of updating and uploading your content much simpler and easier, plus it gives you the added bonus of being able to easily create a dynamic, automated website.

Choosing the right content management system to use is probably one of the best things you can do for your website, but you have to know what factors you need to take into account before making your final decision.

The important questions

It probably sounds like a wise move to integrate a CMS into your Web management activities, but don’t make your decision based on that detail alone. You would need to figure out various things first. Ask yourself

Do I really need a CMS?

What kind of website will I be putting up/do I already have? Is it a blog, an online shop, a news website, or an image gallery?

What is the website updating and maintenance process like at the moment and how could it become more efficient?

Will further improvements and upcoming features on the site, such as interactivity tools, message boards, or even Flash movies, work well with a CMS?

What other elements of my website should my CMS be capable of handling?

The important thing is to know how your website can benefit from a CMS and how the CMS can streamline Web management for your group. Once you’ve established what kinds of capabilities you’re looking for, then you can start actively choosing your CMS.

Commercial vs. open source vs. custom-made

One of the first issues Web developers have to face is what kind of CMS they should select, and the first question is whether to go with a commercially-produced CMS, a free open-source CMS available for downloading online, or to have in-house programmers create a CMS from scratch. Each one has its own unique set of features and advantages, but also comes with its own problematic issues.

Commercial content management systems tend to make developers shrink back because of their thousand-dollar price tags, which is why only the biggest names in business tend to opt for a commercial CMS. The New York Times, JP Morgan Chase, ScotiaBank, and Sun Microsystems are just a few of the companies whose websites are working with a commercial CMS. The best part about a commercial CMS is that you can get regular updates, new plug-ins, and have regular tech support working for you. Unfortunately, it doesn’t lend itself easily to any modifications you might want to have done on the system.

Open-source CMS tend to be a heavy favorite with individual website developers because they’re easy to download, install, and run. There are open-source CMS out there that fulfill a particular function, such as those which target blog sites or online stores.

The main challenge of using open-source CMS is the fact that they don’t always tend to be very stable systems. Programmers are usually developing them on the side, and this doesn’t guarantee that the system will be regularly updated or repaired because it’s possible that software development can be halted or resumed depending on the creator’s whims.

Many companies also choose to have their own CMS developed in-house, or they may hire a development company to build it. This is favorable because it allows for flexibility and can integrate the very specific needs of a website. You will also be able to freely access the source code, make needed changes, and integrate additions to the CMS. However, it may prove to be much more time-consuming than simply buying or installing one, plus you might also need a dedicated team to fully develop and test its functionalities and conduct the site migration.

Other CMS factors

It doesn’t stop there. Once you’ve figured out for what purpose the CMS will be used, what kind of features you need, and what kind you want for your website, you would then have to determine other factors. These factors may include how user-friendly it would be, which people in your team will be using it, its simplicity of use for the non-technical members of your team, its capability of handling your website’s load, and its capacity to provide ample support and documentation, among other considerations.

CMS hunting grounds

Now that you’ve figured out what kind of CMS you have in mind, it’s time for you to get out there and start looking for the perfect one for your website. There are many sites offering CMS advice, comparisons, tips, and news about upcoming products as well as updates to systems currently out in the market.

Sites like Builder.com and CMSWatch.com provide more than adequate information on the subject which The CMS Matrix (www.cmsmatrix.org) allows you to do a search for the right CMS for your needs, and you will even get to see an exhaustive list of presently active CMS on the website.

You might also want to go straight to the CMS developers themselves to learn about how their system works and check out their demo pages, too. You can also look through the sites of Web design and development companies, since a lot of them also build content management systems bearing their brand and usually offer extensive how-to guides and support.

Making the right CMS choice in itself can be a long process, but it is undoubtedly worth it to take the time to understand everything a CMS can do for your website.

Choose the Right Content Management System (cms) f...

With an explosion of online content there is consequently an explosion of content management systems (CMS) available to help you manage that content, with literally thousands of vendors to sift through. But most CMS’ still end up being too expensive, too difficult to maintain, and eventually inadequate. This is often the result of purchase decisions based on technology, and not business requirements.

So then, how are CMS solutions chosen? You will usually compare product features, ask friends and colleagues, and look to different analyst ratings. In theory, this should be an excellent way to pick the right solution and sometimes it is. But content management systems have been around for over two decades and the features and functionality for the most part are starting to become commoditized. The ‘bells and whistles’ that these solutions try to distinguish themselves with, ultimately have no bearing on your content-specific needs. And this is why most solutions you purchase will end up being junked after they fail to do what is asked of them.

To ensure successful implementation and adoption, the CMS solution must be implemented like any other large enterprise application, with clear objectives and systematic planning mechanisms. So let’s look at some best practices that should be on everyone’s checklist before deploying any CMS within your organization.

#1 Define CMS Goals

Before installing a CMS, it is extremely important to identify key business goals that must be achieved. Business goals can be defined around parameters like productivity, efficiency, quality, ROI, or branding. Without this clear vision of the business goals, CMS implementations are very likely to fail. It is not surprising to find that most CMS implementations often overshoot budgets and in the long run, consume far more time, energy and resources than ever expected–just to stay functional.

Think of this step like vacationing in an exotic locale. You can go two ways: hope that when you get there, everything you need and want to do will be waiting for you. Or like most of us you plan accordinly: where you’re going to stay, what sites you will visit, and find all the best deals in the process. Which makes more sense to you?

#2 Evaluate the Content Information Landscape

The next step is to start gathering details of your content information landscape. Rather than looking only at technology, you should look at how processes, business rules, and the content are defined.

With these details on the content information landscape, parameters can be defined for CMS selection. The CMS purchased should also easily integrate with multiple systems that affect this landscape as well as are necessary to help meet your defined business goals – such as campaign management systems or CRM applications. The sequitur here is: don’t purchase CMS before clearly defining your requirements. You will save yourself time and resources with a clearly envisioned road map to guide you.

#3 Select the Right CMS Solution for Your Organization

Selecting the right CMS involves consideration of a host of factors, including:

1. Ease of use for users and IT administrators

Like any other business application, the success of a CMS depends on adoption by the end user community. Subject matter experts (SMEs) with no technical knowledge must be absolutely comfortable using the system to achieve the exact look and feel they want for content presentation. Similarly, IT administrators must be able to easily enforce policies across multiple Websites using a single console, and integrate the CMS effortlessly into the organization’s IT landscape. Consider everyone’s roles and responsibilities and make sure the CMS can meet those demands.

• Speed of deployment

There is a direct correlation between CMS implementation/configuration time and costs incurred. A CMS that requires extensive coding will definitely increase implementation costs. Hence, a CMS will only be effective if it can be rapidly configured and deployed, and as such, requires minimal training for use by non-technical professionals.

• Total-cost-of-ownership (TCO)

Most organizations make the classic mistake of buying a CMS based on license price. The real work of owning a CMS begins after the site is live and as such CMS maintenance/support expenses far exceed purchase costs. Be sure to factor this into your overall costs and consider the TCO of an application to arrive at an informed decision.

#4 Involve All Critical Stakeholders

Just as it is important to have top management support for CMS implementations, it is equally crucial to encourage the participation of internal stakeholders. These content owners should be identified and their feedback on usability leveraged to build and customize the system. Involving non-technical SMEs in the design of the new CMS will also help minimize reluctance to use the system. The success of the CMS rests on this acceptance of the CMS by the shareholders .

#5 Don’t Forget the Services Aspect

As we said in step 3 the real work in any CMS implementation begins post-launch. There is a spike in effort levels at the beginning of any implementation – but for a relatively short period of time compared to the average CMS lifetime.

Change is a constant with most Web sites and your CMS needs to be as flexible as your organization, whether this is a simple template change or an entire site redesign. You need to factor in and expect that you will need to have some level of service be it from your internal IT department, your Web agency or your software vendor

On top of ongoing support and management, you also need basic application and infrastructure support of the installed software. This requires the efforts of a dedicated team, responsible for managing hardware, software, and the network.

For some organizations this is not a problem: with dedicated in-house teams for HTML template creation and modification, workflow revisions, architecture changes, site redesign support, and training, they can prepare for the worst. But for the vast majority, this is often overlooked as a part of an ongoing CMS implementation. Without this dedicated team small businesses often outsource these ‘services’ to a third party vendor, adding to the implementation costs. To avoid the distress of exceeding budget, these costs must be factored into the total implementation costs.

# 6 Plan for the Future

How scalable and flexible is the CMS when it comes to incorporating new features or managing an explosion of content? You must make sure that the chosen CMS partner/vendor has the technological bandwidth and capability to quickly capitalize on emerging communication media.

Conclusion

CMS implementation processes can be a lengthy and energy-consuming. But following the guidelines illustrated here: clearly defined goals, processes mapped to the application, gaps identified, and looking for a customized application with dependable scalability and flexibility, you can help yourself avoid some common potholes and choose the right CMS for you.