Content Management Systems (CMS)

Content Management Systems (CMS)

Another technique to control the look and design of a site is to use a content management system. There are many dynamic languages people use such as PHP, ASP, and ColdFusion. However, most people do not need an expensive content management system. Before you invest heavily in a content management system or design, you should know what the goals of the website are. Make sure any content management system you would consider using produces search-engine-friendly pages. (More about making a site search engine friendly later.)

Blogs as Content Management Systems

I organize many content sites with weblog programs such as WordPress and Movable Type. Movable Type costs $199 (as of writing this) for a commercial license and provides many of the features of expensive content management systems. Movable Type also offers a free one-month trial of their web-based software by the name of TypePad. If you like TypePad, you can host your blog there for a low monthly fee. Blogger, owned by Google, is a 100% free blogging software platform that is rather limited on the feature front. WordPress is free a downloadable software program that is easy to install.

If you want to give blogging a try, I suggest going to Blogger.com and signing up for a free account. If your site is personal in nature or you like the blog content management system, you may not even need to pay for design beyond a site logo. If you are serious about using a blog as part of a business, I would recommend using WordPress or Movable Type.

I wrote a couple articles on why I think using blog software is often an outstanding idea for both search engine placement and ease of site design