Ask Questions Prior to Purchasing a Content Management System
Category: SMM
By: Frank Iacono
A content management system (CMS) is a system that is used to manage the content of a website. Typically, a CMS consists of two primary elements: the content management application (CMA) and the content delivery application (CDA).
A CMS can be either reasonably simple or very complex. There are a wide range of CMS products available, developed by providers such as Oracle and Microsoft, the open source community such as Alfresco and Joomla, and other small development companies. Choosing the right CMS can be a very important decision for you and your organization. Below, please find some questions to ask yourself and the vendor prior to selecting a CMS solution.
Objectives:
What is the content strategy? What goals are currently being met? What goals are not currently being met? Is licensed software or software-as-a-service (SaaS) best for you? How much integration is required with other systems (i.e., back office and ecommerce systems)? Which services should be provided through the CMS to interact with the website? What is “the vision” from a team-by-team perspective and ultimately the company?Content Providers:
Who is creating and/or editing the content? What is the frequency of the updates? Who plans the content? Who approves content? How is the content being used? How does the system handle authors working on content that may be published simultaneously to different parts of the site?Content Inputs:
What is your current content creation processes? What are the problems and/or frustrations that you face today in creating content? What features would you like to see in an authoring, CMS or publishing tool? What tools do you use in authoring today? How effective and ineffective are they? What is the format of the content you create? What source is the content dependent on? How can you add metadata in the CMS? Do you plan on re-using the content elsewhere on the website? How do you manage and/or demand content from internal customers?Content Process Flow:
How do you handle version control? How do you handle the approval process? What is the workflow process? Who is in charge of editing the content? How is the content classified so it can be searched by your external customers and optimized for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? What relates content within the website?Content Outputs:
What format does the content that needs to be inputted need to be in? How much of the content should be reusable? What site templates are required? What are the search requirements? What other site functionality is required?General CMS Questions:
Is the CMS intuitive (i.e., is it easy to learn and use from an administrative perspective)? From a page content perspective is it possible to paste in text from MS Word or other similar content-based programs and retain all the formatting? Does the CMS let you preview the page before you publish it? How good is the search facility in the CMS (i.e., meaning does it generate proper URLS that can be searched for in the future)? How easy is it to integrate the CMS into the site design you’ve selected? Does the CMS have a WYSIWYG editor? Does the CMS allow for you to define our own meta-data Can you describe your CMS’ access control? Can you configure the CMS to work with a sandbox from a testing perspective? How does the CMS create and handle dynamic links versus static links? Does the CMS apply performance best practices as related to the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing? How easy is it to incorporate site redesigns into the CMS? What is the subscription and/or upgrade policy (i.e., annual basis)? Do you have to pay for version upgrades? Is it possible to have a copy of all the manuals and training materials regarding the CMS prior to purchase? Will the CMS vendor provide you with references from at least 2-3 existing customers?The theme of this article is pretty simple. If you are planning to purchase a CMS solution for your company, please make sure to complete your due diligence. This includes talking with existing content providers in your organization, creating your own checklist of necessary functionality and requirements, partaking in product demonstrations, and checking out vendor references.
Take your time, be thorough, and ask a lot of questions. Good luck!
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