Has my business outgrown its CMS?

Is your outdated CMS holding your business back?

Content management systems (CMSs) are designed to save you time when it comes to managing your website’s digital content and creating and editing web pages. In fact, using the right content management system can be key to running an efficient and successful website.

So, if your CMS used to work for you, but has started to feel clunky or become difficult or time-consuming to use, it could be time for an upgrade.

In this article, we will find out more about what a CMS is, the problems you may run into if your business outgrows its CMS, and the best systems to use in 2023.

What is a CMS?

A content management system (CMS) is a software application that makes it easy to manage all the text, images, videos, files, and other digital content that make up your website.

A good CMS features a user-friendly interface that makes it simple and intuitive for those without any coding knowledge to manage their website’s digital content and create and modify pages on their website.

If you’ve ever built or modified a website without coding, you probably used a CMS to do so. 

Popular CMS applications include WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Drupal and Shopify. Shopify is an example of an eCommerce CMS platform, which allow businesses to create and manage their own online store.

What are the benefits of using a CMS?

As the internet becomes more and more entwined in our daily lives, having a website has become a necessity for businesses that want to survive and thrive in the digital age.

The right CMS can make storing and organising your digital content and managing and updating your website a breeze. Here are the top five reasons why using a CMS is a no-brainer for anyone that owns a website.

Simple to use 

Most business owners hire a web design agency for the web design and development process. Once the website has been built, CMS applications make it easier for individuals with no coding experience to manage their digital content and modify their website.

Easy to collaborate 

A CMS stores all digital content securely in one accessible central location. It also allows multiple people to log in and gain access to this content. This encourages collaboration as it makes it simple for multiple people to work on the same website from any location.

Scalable 

Most content management systems can scale up as your business grows and evolves. You can use a CMS to easily customise your website and add new functionalities as and when required. As your website grows and gains more visitors a good CMS will also ensure that it doesn’t experience any performance issues. 

Secure 

Content management systems are usually equipped with advanced security features to protect your website and digital assets and data from potential security threats including hackers and other malicious attacks.

SEO-friendly 

Many content management systems also feature SEO tools or plugins to help optimise your website for search engines and improve its visibility in search results.

Integrations 

Most content management systems are also equipped with a framework for connecting to external applications and services. This allows businesses to easily expand their website functionality, without requiring custom development work.

Signs that your business has outgrown its CMS

Ok, so we’ve just heard about the benefits of a good CMS, but what if your CMS isn’t ticking all the boxes as it used to?

Some website owners find that as their website grows, their CMS can’t always keep up, and that’s where they begin to run into problems.

Whilst the right CMS can help to boost productivity and catapult your business to new heights, equally, an outdated or inefficient CMS can hold your business back.

If you’re finding yourself increasingly frustrated by website platform limitations, it could be time for a CMS migration or CMS upgrade.

7 signs that your business has outgrown its CMS:

1. You’re using multiple CMSs – If your CMS can’t meet your requirements, you may find yourself using multiple CMSs to work around the problem. Doing so kind of defeats the point of using a CMS in the first place as a CMS is supposed to provide a central location to store and manage all your website’s digital content. Using multiple platforms will only decrease efficiency and productivity.

2. Growing website traffic is causing performance problems – An increase in website visitors is great news for your business unless your CMS can’t keep up with the demand. If large volumes of traffic are causing your website to load very slowly or crash, then you may need a CMS that can deliver faster processing speeds.

3. CMS capabilities are holding back innovation – If you or your team have come up with new and innovative ideas or concepts for your website, only to find that your CMS cannot implement said ideas, then your CMS could be standing in the way of your website’s progress. 

4. There isn’t enough storage space – As your website grows, so will its storage requirements. If your CMS is struggling to meet your storage requirements it may begin to run slowly, crash, or display error messages when you try to upload more content. 

5. Content management is difficult or slow – A CMS should help you to manage your website and its content in a way that is simple, fast, and efficient. If your website is becoming more difficult or time-consuming to manage and update, then it could be a sign that the system is outdated or no longer able to meet your requirements. Equally, if you are spending a lot of time or money on customisations or workarounds to get your CMS to do what you need it to, it could be time for a CMS migration or upgrade.

6. There has been a security breach – As your website grows and attracts more traffic, it may become a more attractive target for cyber-attacks. If your website experiences any kind of security breach it could be a sign that it requires a CMS with more advanced security features.

7. Your website does not look or function properly on different devices – Outdated content management systems may use outdated features or lack fundamental capabilities that could leave your website falling behind its competitors. If your website does not adapt its web design to display properly on different screen sizes and devices, then it could be providing visitors with a very poor user experience, putting your business at a significant disadvantage.

What impact could an outdated CMS have on your business?

An outdated CMS can have far-reaching effects on both your website and your business’s overall performance. Here are some of the most profound ways that an outdated CMS could put your business at a disadvantage.

Reduce productivity 

Your CMS is meant to save you time and improve efficiency, but an outdated CMS can often have the opposite effect. If your CMS is no longer meeting your business requirements then it could be taking longer than usual to update your website, and fix or find workarounds for technical issues.

Poor user experience 

If your website is built or managed using an outdated CMS it can cause major problems with user experience (UX) including poor functionality, slow load times, webpages not displaying correctly, or a website that crashes frequently.

Lost revenue

A poor user experience can lead to decreased traffic, high bounce rates, low engagement rates, and lost revenue.

Vulnerabilities 

An outdated CMS is likely to be more susceptible to a security breach or cyber-attack. A security breach could reduce your organisation’s credibility, lose business, or even have legal implications.

Poor visibility in search results 

Outdated CMSs are less likely to support the latest SEO best practices and may lack SEO tools to optimise your website for search. Poor visibility in search results can result in limited website traffic and poor brand awareness.

Increased costs 

You are more likely to encounter technical problems and difficulties when using an outdated CMS. These problems can be expensive and time-consuming to fix or find workarounds for.

How to choose the right CMS for business growth

The right CMS to help grow your business depends on several factors including the size of your business, the complexity of your website, and your business goals and budget.

At a minimum, you need your CMS to be modern and user-friendly. Ideally, though, you want a CMS that is more than just ‘okay’, you want one that will help your business to innovate, work more efficiently, be more productive, and ultimately drive business growth.

Here are our top tips for choosing the right CMS for business growth.

Determine your business goals – Then look for a CMS with the features and capabilities to help you to achieve those goals.

Next, look for a CMS that offers:

Scalability – Think about your goals and how your business is likely to grow and expand over the coming years. Make sure you choose a CMS that is scalable and capable of growing with your business to help avoid technical problems and another CMS upgrade a few years down the line.

Integration – Consider the technologies and apps that your business uses that may be useful to integrate with your CMS. Choose a CMS that features APIs to help it easily connect with third-party apps to streamline and automate processes and help your business run more efficiently.

SEO tools – Customer management systems featuring SEO tools can increase your website’s visibility in search results to help your business to reach more customers and drive business growth.

Excellent customer support – The level of technical support you receive can directly affect the value you receive from your CMS whilst also minimising costly downtime.

Which CMS should I use in 2023?

If you’re in the market for a new CMS, we’ve rounded up 8 of the most popular options for 2023.

Pros and Cons of using WordPress as your CMS

According to W3Techs, WordPress is an open-source CMS used by 43% of all websites. This makes it the most popular content management system out there. WordPress used to primarily be a blogging tool but can now be used to create any type of website including business, eCommerce, blogs, and portfolios. Find out more about starting a WordPress project with Create8.

Pros – User-friendly interface, responsive designs, over 54,000 plugins available, SEO plugins available.
Cons – Vulnerability of an open-source platform, customisation can be challenging, updates for plugins and themes can cause technical problems.

Pros and Cons of using Hubspot as your CMS

Hubspot is a team of internet marketing experts and the Hubspot CMS is a content management system with an emphasis on marketing and driving business growth. 

Pros – Simple drag-and-drop templates, a wide variety of marketing and SEO tools, hosting available.
Cons – No free plan available, no built-in eCommerce available.

Pros and Cons of using Drupal as your CMS

Drupal is an open-source CMS that is often used for large or complex business websites. It can support a large range of different content types but may be less user-friendly than some CMS and may require support from a web design agency.

Pros – Advanced security features, lots of themes and plugins available, community support, can handle large and complex websites.
Cons – Complex to use, may require a web developer, updates can be time-consuming.

Pros and Cons of using Magnolia as your CMS

The Magnolia CMS is a popular content management solution for medium to large businesses and enterprises with more complex, multi-channel, multi-site, and multilingual requirements.

Pros – Customisable layouts, good customer support, supports multilingual websites, scalable.
Cons – Can be expensive, limited third-party integrations, steep learning curve.

Pros and Cons of using Joomla! as your CMS

Joomla is a free open-source CMS used to develop dynamic websites and online applications, it is used by both small businesses and large organisations worldwide. Over 9% of all known business websites were built using Joomla.

Pros – Supports eCommerce, intuitive user interface, multilingual, community support available.
Cons – Limited customisation, content migration can be tricky, may require a web developer for trickier projects.

Pros and Cons of using Shopify as your CMS

Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce platform and CMS that can be used to build online stores without any coding knowledge. Shopify features an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to create, edit, and manage website content including product pages, product images, blog posts, and static pages.

Pros – Cloud-based and secure, simple to use, easy to customise, lots of plugins available, scalable.
Cons – Limited free templates, plugins are not free, may require a web developer.

Pros and Cons of using Contentful as your CMS

Contentful is a headless CMS, a type of CMS that allows content creators to create, manage, store, and distribute content through an API, while the content delivery layer is handled separately. It’s a good solution for larger businesses managing multiple platforms.

Pros – Easy to integrate with other platforms, scalable, powerful range of features.
Cons – Steep learning curve, may require a web developer, can be expensive.

Pros and Cons of using Adobe Commerce  as your CMS

Adobe Commerce, previously known as Magento, is a feature-rich eCommerce CMS platform that helps businesses of all sizes to build and manage successful online stores.

Pros – Seamless integration with other platforms, supports multi-channel stores, drag-and-drop interface, uses AI to create personalised commerce experiences.
Cons – Can be expensive, complex, may require a web developer.

Pros and Cons of using a Custom CMS

While using an off-the-shelf CMS can be an easy and cost-effective solution for many small to medium sized businesses, building a custom CMS may be a better solution in certain circumstances.

Custom CMSs are more flexible and their functionality is tailored to the task at hand. They’re an ideal solution for large or complex websites that require specialised features or complex integrations. 

A custom CMS also provides greater control over your website’s code and data. There are no licensing limits or usage restrictions that impact your ability to modify your website, which means more freedom to adapt and grow.

While custom CMSs provide more flexibility, security and control when compared to pre-existing CMSs, building them can be both time-consuming and expensive. They also require specialist expertise to ensure proper development and maintenance. 

Need help with your CMS?

If your business has outgrown its CMS and you need help with a CMS migration or support choosing the right CMS to meet your needs now and into the future, our team here at Create8 can help. You can contact us online or give us a call on 0161 820 9686.