The Pros and Cons of Website CMS (Part Two)
ByIn Part One of this series, I talked about the importance of great design and content – as well as what a content management system is. In this second part, I want to share the advantages (pros) and disadvantages (cons) of using a CMS platform.
THE PROS
1. Quality through templates
The natural structure of a CMS assures that quality is maintained. Most CMS’s use a format where a master administrator controls the “look” of the site including the fonts, colors, navigational structure, content, and special widgets such as site-wide search engines, online giving, or flash banners.
The administrator also has many other options including the ability to set an approval process before a content item can be published or “made live” to the site. This keeps all aspects of the website up to church standards.
Additionally, most companies that offer a CMS platform can provide you with professional design services to “skin” out your site with a custom look or offer an array of pre-designed templates they plug-in and modify to your needs.
2. Functionality
While the quality of your design layout is improved using a solid CMS, the functionality of your site also increases! An example would be a media upload editor, which optimizes media files as they are uploaded to a server, can help increase quality by helping to assure images load quickly and are sized properly. Publish dates assure that updated content gets published at a specified time, though perhaps written weeks earlier. Using time-out date features, contributors to the site can set their content items to expire to assure that no out-of-date content is left on the site.
3. Ease of Use – No Web Development Knowledge Necessary
Almost anyone can edit their website content using a web-based “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) editor built into the CMS. Adding event information or a news article is as simple as using a word processor. Other features such as those listed below, also can be simple to use after a thorough training session.
4. Features & Plug-ins
One of the greatest advantages of using a quality CMS is the ability to choose a variety of features or plug-ins to use on your site including:
- Discussion or collaboration modules
- Seamless blog integration
- E-Newsletters
- Flash or Rotating Banners
- E-Invitations
- Online Giving or E-Commerce
- Audio, Video, and Podcasting
Many systems already come with these “bonus” features so there is no need to purchase different components like what was required in the past.
THE CONS
There are a few disadvantages to using a CMS however. While these are far outweighed by the advantages, fairness demands that we consider a few.
1. Restrictive For Web Designers
Though CMS’s add an element of control for those who are not web savvy, they can be restricting to administrators who have a deep understanding of website design and limit the creative options.
2. The Price
CMS platforms can either be purchased outright and set up on an internal server or “leased” from the CMS provider through a monthly / yearly fee. The first option usually lacks tech support, updates, or training. It requires more involvement and can be more of a hassle or expense. Leasing is a better option because you can get customer support or training but it is way more expensive than a typical monthly hosting plan.
3. Learning Curve
A few systems are fairly easy to learn and many others are more complicated. If the administrator or team member has some knowledge of computer technology and are web savvy, the learning curve will be quicker than a non-techie or non-trained person. Either situation will require a fair amount of training but it is much better than learning all the ins and outs of web design. My advice is to choose a company that provides on-site or online training along with good documentation and manuals.
All things considered, the benefits to a church using a content management system and having a well-designed site far outweigh these minor disadvantages. In part three of this series, we’ll look at how to choose a CMS for your church.
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Chuck Scoggins is Creative Communications Director at Calvary Church in St. Peters, MO and President of 374 Designs. His latest project is Serve15 and you can email him at chuck@374designs.com.
On the price, don’t forget that there are very stable open source options out there.
A CMS doesn’t have to be restrictive…if you build it last. One of the reason I don’t like a boxed or leased CMS is that you have to fit the design to the CMS.
The solution is to fit the CMS to the design…create a unique infrastructure that fits and adapts to the design and flow that is created.
I absolutely agree that a leased CMS is costly…I know of churches that are spending over $300 a month (translate that to almost $4000) a year. It just doesn’t make sense. There are some GREAT leased services out there, I just don’t think their costs can be justified.
I think the learning curve is small…sure it’s there but any company worth it’s weight will walk you through it.
I don’t think any church should build a website without a CMS or someone on staff that has the experience and knowledge to make changes. If you do you’ll end up with a site that is announcing the Summer Picnic 04 in May 09. It’s a fast path to an outdated website both through content and presentation.
Not having a CMS of some kind really hurts most sites in the long run. You do not want to go back to the site developers for every little fix, that just costs you way too much money and time. The same is true if you use CMSes that are proprietary to the web development firm you are using, in both cases you are in a perfect position to basically be blackmailed. Instead I prefer to use open source or free CMSes with a big online community that can help me if I get into trouble. The best one so far is acctually Wordpress. When i buy hosting for my clients now I always include one-click installs for Wordpress (easy to find hosting with wordpress at WebHostNinja.com btw). This has saved me sooo much frustation, and my customers are happy since they can update the site without me.
Thanks for the comments, guys!
A couple of quick clarifications…
@Mark & @Fernando
There are some great open source options out there. I decided not to focus on them because most of them require an install on the part of the webmaster. Many churches do not have a webmaster that can get this done, so it’s often better for them to use a hosted (and supported) solution. Whether using an open source solution, or a lease/purchased solution, the point remains that churches need to be using more CMSs.
@Michael
I like the concept of fitting the programming of the CMS to suit the needs of the design. One potential problem with that approach, however, is that if you change designs (which most good sites do every couple of years) you will have to change the CMS…a costly (time and money) proposition.
On your second point, CMSs can be costly, but I feel that the cost is justified when you consider all of the benefits of a hosted CMS. We have a great company (worth their weight), and they give us great support, but for the average user (that is, the average person posting content who isn’t a web developer by trade) there was quite a learning curve. I think the quality of the company doesn’t necessarily dictate the degree of learning curve.
Again, thanks for the dialog!
[...] part one of this series we discussed what a CMS actually is and in part two, the advantages and disadvantages of Content Management Systems. Today I’d like to wrap up the [...]
@ all- Sorry for my delayed response as I am trying to catch up on work.
I just posted some comments that would tie in with this conversation on my recommendation for CMS providers.
Again, there is NOTHING wrong with paying for a monthly service because:
1. You get training and technical support which you can’t usually get with open source or freeware. This is extremely valuable for people who are new to CMS, Web 2.0, or even the Internet.
2. A worker deserves their wages. If a company invests their time and money into a product they should be able to make a profit. There’s nothing wrong with this and for a church to NOT want to pay someone who earns a living from their talent is going against Scripture.
3. You almost always get what you pay for. I will ALWAYS say this and have heard so many horror stories to back it up.
My advice is if your church doesn’t have the money for a $300 monthly plan – don’t try and do it. Find something you can afford. If you can afford it, then it’s up to you to know if you are being the best steward of that resource.