At times, building a website can feel like a crash course in lingo, jargon, and acronyms. The one we’ll dive into this week? CMS.

A CMS, or Content Management System, refers to a software that allows website owners to manage, store, and deliver their website’s content in one, user-friendly space. CMSes you may have heard of include WordPress, Squarespace, Shopify, and more. So how do you know which one is best for you?

What’s a CMS?

Before we get into choosing a CMS, it’s helpful to understand the problem that they solve. When you visit a website, your computer communicates with another computer (a server) to request specific information (content). The server then responds to your request by kindly sending back some data. This data includes all the related files needed to display that website, such as programming files that allow the site to display data from the server, files that determine the design of the website, and, of course, the content, text, and media from the page you’ve requested.

Imagine if you had to update each of these files individually every time you wanted to make a change to your site. It’s a lot of work! A CMS, then, is a system that manages this for you. It can be used for eCommerce shops, blogs, or more traditional websites. CMSes include regular software updates to ensure your information is protected, so your visitors receive up-to-date, secure information when they visit your site. It allows you to make changes via a user-friendly dashboard and applies it wherever appropriate.

In short, a content management system streamlines the management of your website with friendly interfaces and secure delivery.

Which one is best?

The short answer: it depends. I’ve been working with WordPress for years, but I firmly believe that there is no one right solution. With that in mind, there are a few questions I always like to start with. Let’s dig into them.

What kind of site is it?

Today, most CMSes are flexible enough to adapt to pretty much any type of website. However, some are more optimized towards certain uses than others. For example, Shopify focuses specifically on eCommerce, whereas WordPress and Squarespace are flexible enough to be used for both blog-centric or static websites.

Can you build out more static pages on a eCommerce-focused platform like Shopify? Sure! Can you also integrate eCommerce into WordPress, originally known for it’s blogging capabilities? Absolutely. Nevertheless, understanding the type of site you want can help list out key features that are an absolute necessity and will make your site building experience go much more smoothly.

Maintenance preferences

No website is utterly hands-off after the initial building process. There will always be updates to your software, slight style changes, and information that needs to modified or changed as you and your online presence grow.

For some people, they want to be able to focus as much as possible on their business and learning how to maintain their website is just not a priority. Having a solution that is more hands-off can guide someone towards more managed options, like Squarespace or managed WordPress hosting. This means that the service provider generally maintains your site through regular updates, security checks, backups, and regular feature releases. The downside? There tend to be more restrictions for larger-scale modifications and custom features to help protect the shared nature of this type of hosting.

For people who want to build highly custom functionality or just like the idea of learning more about the nuts and bolts of their site, a self-hosted option can be a good one. Using software like WordPress or Drupal, you can select the hosting provider of your choosing, and then are responsible for making sure your site is regularly updated and secure. This requires a bit more responsibility and know-how, but offers the possibility of extending your site pretty much as far as you can think.

What’s your budget?

Paired with the question of maintenance preferences, navigating a budget can really help to figure out which CMS is for you. If you’re looking for low-maintenance without hefty customizations, a monthly fee for a managed hosting (like Squarespace) can be an excellent option.

If budget is a higher priority, exploring different hosting providers to find a plan that suits you – which is typically paid yearly – can be a useful alternative. Open source software, like WordPress and Drupal, are free to download and install, so most of your cost comes from hosting and any premium add-ons or plugins. The important caveat is to remember that time is a cost as well.

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There are tons of options and it can be overwhelming. Narrowing down your options by clarifying your needs, preferences, and any non-negotiable features is a helpful way to make sure you’re choosing the best option for you.