Building a website from scratch demands time, expertise, and often an expensive team. However, content management systems (CMS) allow you to create, manage, customize, and scale your site without any coding.
Whether you’re launching a complex eCommerce store or a simple blog, a CMS makes the process accessible, efficient, and cost-effective.
This guide covers everything you need to know about CMS, including:
- What Are Content Management Systems?
- How CMS Works
- Components of CMS
- Key CMS Features
- CMS Navigation Types
- Types of CMS
- CMS Pros and Cons
- CMS Vulnerabilities
- Protecting Your CMS
- CMS and Website Building
- Websites You Can Build
- CMS vs. Code-Based
- Choosing the Right CMS
- Creating Content with CMS
- Editorial Management
- Optimizing CMS for SEO
- Top CMS Platforms
- Futureproofing Your CMS
- CMS FAQs
Understanding content management systems starts with defining what they are.
What Are Content Management Systems?
A content management system is software that allows users to create, manage, and modify digital content without needing to code. It simplifies website development by providing tools, plugins, and templates for building websites.
A CMS supports team collaboration, allowing users to update content through a shared dashboard and scale operations with minimal technical support.
Businesses use content management software to build websites, manage blogs, and distribute digital content effortlessly.
But how user-friendly are CMS for non-tech users?
According to Matthew Baker, a website development manager, a CMS offers non-technical users a simple way to manage website content.
“Whether you build a site yourself or work with a developer, a CMS makes it easy to create content without design or development work,” Baker said.
“Usually, you just write your content, add media, and publish. Sometimes, you might want to do some basic design, and a CMS allows that through pre-built themes or templates you can customize.”
Curious how one tool can handle all this? Let’s explore how web content management systems work.
How CMS Works
To understand how CMS works, it helps to know what goes into building a website manually.
When building a website from scratch, you deal with multiple layers of code: HTML for layout, CSS for design, and JavaScript for interactive features.
Even small updates, like revising content, require manual HTML edits, checking for proper display, and uploading files to the server.
It’s a lot of work, especially for non-developers.
A CMS streamlines this entire process. Instead of writing code for each element, you have an intuitive interface that lets you easily add content, style pages, and manage updates without touching a single line of code.
“[…] you can upload files like photos and documents straight to the website using an interface, not a file browser or an FTP client. For this reason, a CMS is super easy to learn and work with,” Baker said.
More than that, CMSs offer predictability in functionality and often have a large community of users and experts for support. Many CMS platforms also feature plugins and add-ons to extend functionality, enabling options like shopping carts, membership programs, and file storage integration.
“Many of the most popular CMSs make it easy for developers to write custom code to accomplish almost anything, so if you can dream it, you can do it.”
Components of CMS
A web content management system has two main components:
- Content Management Application (CMA)
- Content Delivery Application (CDA)
The content management application is the user-friendly interface where you create, edit, and organize content. The dashboard allows you to format text, add links, and insert images with ease — no coding skills required. You can simply drag, drop, or click on elements to customize your content.
Once you’ve made changes, the content delivery application takes over on the back end. It assembles the code, stores the content, and ensures everything displays properly on your website.
To publish a new blog post, simply click “Publish,” and the CDA will handle everything automatically, no manual uploads needed.
Now that you understand how a CMS functions, let’s explore its benefits.
Key CMS Features
A good content management software is packed with features to make managing and maintaining digital assets hassle-free. Learning content management systems means familiarizing yourself with the following key features:
- User Management: Create and manage multiple user accounts with different access levels. This allows you to control who can access content or manage site settings.
- Content Creation & Editing Tools: Easily create, edit, and publish various content types, including text, images, and videos, using a WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) editor for real-time changes.
- Publishing Controls: Schedule posts or publish content immediately with built-in options to control when and how content goes live.
- Version Control and Backups: Track content changes and revert to previous versions if needed.
- Responsive Themes: Ensure your website looks great on any device with mobile-friendly themes that automatically adjust to different screen sizes.
- Pre-Made Templates: Choose from a library of pre-designed templates for quick site setup.
- Software Integrations: Seamlessly connect your CMS with tools like CRM systems, email marketing platforms, or eCommerce solutions.
- Built-In SEO Tools: Optimize your content for search engines with built-in tools for meta tags, keyword optimization, and site structure enhancements.
- Sophisticated Analytics: Gain insights into user behavior, traffic, content performance, and more with detailed reports and analytics dashboards.
- Content Staging: Test and preview content changes before publishing to ensure everything looks and functions as expected.
- Security Measures: Protect your site from security breaches with built-in features like SSL certificates, user authentication protocols, and regular software updates to patch vulnerabilities.
- Support Network: Access help through user forums, documentation, or customer support to troubleshoot issues or learn how to use advanced features.
- Migration Services: Transfer website content from one CMS to another without losing data or functionality.
- Multi-Language Content Creation: Easily create and manage multiple language versions of your web pages to reach a global audience.
Note: Depending on your chosen CMS platform, some of the features mentioned above may be free, while others might require a paid plan or additional plugins.
CMS Navigation Types
Content management systems can be divided into On-Premise and Cloud-Based systems, each with unique navigation options for managing content:
1. On-Premise CMS
In an on-premise setup, the CMS is installed directly on a server managed by the user or their web host. This offers complete control over the server environment and the ability to modify the source code as needed. On-premise CMS solutions are ideal for organizations that require full customization and greater control over security and infrastructure.
Popular examples include WordPress.org, Joomla, and Drupal.
2. Cloud-Based CMS
A Cloud-Based CMS is hosted and managed by the CMS provider, allowing users to build websites without dealing with the technical backend. Since the provider manages the source code and infrastructure, users typically cannot access or modify the core code.
This type of CMS is easier to set up and maintain, with the hosting provider handling updates and security.
Examples include Wix, Shopify, and WordPress.
Types of CMS
CMS platforms come in various forms to cater to different needs and workflows. Here are the 11 most commonly used by developers:
1. Component Content Management Systems (CCMS)
Most content management systems handle content as whole posts, pages, or documents. You write and format an entire document, and the CMS manages it as a single unit.
A CCMS works differently by breaking content into smaller components like sentences, paragraphs, or images. This gives you more control and makes reusing and organizing content easier.
This type of CMS is perfect for organizations with high content output, especially those in industries with strict security or compliance needs.
Key advantages of CCMS include:
- Managing content as individual components for easy updates
- Keeping a single source of truth with version control
- Reusing content instead of copying and pasting
- Translating content once and tracking updates
- Publishing to multiple platforms or systems with ease
2. Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECM)
An ECM system streamlines how businesses manage, store, and share content. It ensures that the right information reaches the right audience based on the organization’s needs.
ECMs make it easy for employees to access the documents and information they need for daily tasks. This improves efficiency by organizing content so team members can retrieve it quickly and use it to complete projects or make important decisions.
ECM systems also help keep things tidy by automatically deleting no longer needed files after a set time. This saves storage space and ensures that only relevant, updated information remains in the system.
3. Web Content Management Systems (WCMS)
Web content management systems enable users to manage a website’s digital elements without coding or web programming skills. They offer tools for content creation, collaboration, and site administration, making it easy for teams to manage web content.
Unlike an enterprise CMS, which handles web and print, a WCMS is dedicated solely to managing online content. This makes it ideal for businesses that want to maintain a dynamic website without dealing with technical hassles.
4. Digital Asset Management Systems
Digital asset management (DAM) systems allow businesses to store, organize, and share digital assets in one centralized location. Cloud-based DAMs streamline collaboration by enabling easy access for employees, clients, and contractors.
While initially focused on images and videos, DAMs now support various formats, from logos and fonts to documents.
5. Document Management Systems
A document management system (DMS) is a cloud-based solution that helps businesses store, manage, and track their documents. It automates everything from uploading and organizing to distributing files, removing the need for paper-based processes.
6. Open-Source CMS
An open-source content management system is free to download and use, with no licensing fees, contracts, or mandatory updates. Anyone can
