What Exactly Is WordPress?
WordPress started out as a convenient technology that enabled individuals to quickly post their ideas on the web in the form of a blog. Its uncomplicated design made this possible. Over time, it developed into a much more intricate piece of free software. Creators crafted plugins and themes to make WordPress pages more intriguing and helpful.
Gradually, WordPress moved beyond the world of blogging. Entrepreneurs with a minor familiarity of HTML started utilizing the software to build ecommerce sites, and big businesses such as CNET offered short-term financial assistance. Businesses began to use SEO programs to raise the search engine positions of their WordPress websites.
WordPress in its current state is an excellent tool for creating websites and managing content. It is not necessary to have any experience in coding to be able to use it, and there are thousands of themes available to give your website a unique appearance. You can utilize a WordPress-based website to transact items on the web by introducing modules like WooCommerce.
Can WordPress Be Categorized as a CMS?
So, is WordPress actually a standalone CMS? Actually, yes — it is. A content management system can be explained in its simplest form. In order for software to fall into the category of a Content Management System, it must have a back-end content management application – often referred to as CMA – through which changes can be made to the website. The system must possess a front-facing content delivery application (CDA) that duplicates the information typed in by the user and dispatches it to a central server in order to renew the user’s website.
WordPress software ticks both of these boxes. You can utilize the CMA to compose material for your website, formulate blog entries, and incorporate information about products. The CDA then processes the information that you provide and creates an eye-catching webpage, article, or description of a product on your website. There is no requirement to hire a web designer or a webmaster; you can manage it yourself.
6 Features Needed in an Enterprise CMS
Every enterprise is one of a kind, and yours is no different. It can be said that most medium to large-scale firms identify that there are ten crucial components that must be present in an enterprise-level Content Management System.
Headless content management.
Headless may sound macabre, but it’s actually very useful. In a CMS without a front end, data is prioritized over the way it is displayed. Essentially, you store your Web page content, blog entries, product data, and more in a database and it can be accessed through a RESTful API (application programming interface) on several different platforms. Voila: your material is displayed fantastically on tablets, PC’s, mobiles, and a variety of programs.
Can WordPress support headless?
WordPress provides a RESTful API which can be used to acquire and carry out changes from an external database. Although you are no longer able to use themes and plugins, you cannot gain an optimal digital experience for your clientele if you truly want to give them a multichannel experience.
Easy administration.
A CMS created for businesses must provide customers with both easy and powerful management tools integrated into one software solution. Site administrators need the capability to keep track of planned content, take care of warnings, upload resources, and customize plugins without having to switch from one application to the other. The most user-friendly CMS interfaces are straightforward and simple to understand.
Can WordPress support easy administration?
WordPress is user-friendly, though it does not have the capabilities for large-scale database support nor does it have a dedicated customer support staff. To use the multisite features, familiarity with editing a theme’s PHP file is required. If your PHP file has been altered and it’s not to their liking, some of your extensions might not operate correctly.
Detailed analytics.
Winners keep score. An old adage is appropriate to utilize when discussing digital marketing, as keeping a record of users’ level of enthusiasm is an essential component of content management. Your business’ e-commerce success hinges on recognizing the individuals who might be interested in your services and products, their location, the type of device they employ to access your site, and the area of your site they spend the most time on. If you would like to gain a deeper understanding of your website’s traffic, think about selecting a CMS that includes popular tracking tools (like Google Analytics) already included.
Can WordPress provide detailed analytics?
WordPress does not include any tracking programs, so WordPress users must find something else to monitor their activity, either with plugins or by entering code snippets to link with Google Analytics from outside the platform. A few well-known plugins for WordPress, like MonsterInsights and ExactMetrics, keep an eye on vital performance measurements automatically. Other WordPress analytics plugins are glitchy and unreliable.
Built in SEO tools.
Exploring search engine optimization is an essential aspect of digital marketing. Content that is optimized for search engine optimization behaves like bait for the spiders sent out by search engines such as Google. The most superior content management systems (CMS) make sure to keep up with any changes in search engine algorithms and provide uncomplicated applications to assist customers and bloggers in forming optimized content, such as articles, blog entries, and product descriptions.
Does WordPress have built-in SEO tools?
Here’s where WordPress shines. Websites that are constructed with WordPress consistently perform well in search engine rankings. Plugins such as Yoast SEO can analyze content without delay, generate readability levels, and prompt authors to include hyperlinks, primary key phrases, meta tags, and other necessary SEO components.
Simple workflow controls.
The importance of workflow controls in an effective content management system cannot be understated. In a few words, they supply your marketing department with a organized framework for creating content. For instance, content creators craft materials for the site; proofreaders look over articles and product specs before forwarding them to the firm’s legal team for a review. Everyone on a team possesses a profile including the necessary permissions to optimize efficiency in their workflow.
Can WordPress support workflow controls?
Organizing and overseeing the progress of tasks with the regular WordPress framework can be very tricky. When you have multiple authors contributing to a project at the same time, it can be challenging to manage the material. Using a plugin such as User Role Editor can help to solve some issues, however this is not an entirely dependable approach.
Top 7 Content Management Systems (CMS) for 2021
In addition to WordPress, the following is an alphabetically organized compilation of the seven best content management systems (CMS) for 2021, derived from user feedback and publicly accessible information. This is intended to assist mid- to big-sized companies in narrowing down their software choices. All purchasers are strongly urged to carry out extensive testing and assessment of the software before settling on their ultimate choice.
Adobe Experience Cloud – Opens a world of possibilities
Getting Adobe is the beginning point for working with content management systems software.
- For those in search of a foundational CMS, AOpens a new windowdobe has a headless CMS offering that decouples your back-end from the front-end interface.
- By partnering with Adobe, you can gain from the company’s rich analytics and customer targeting expertise, not to mention its smartly-designed Experience Manager. The Experience Manager has a 4.2/5 rating on Capterra. It is used by some of the world’s largest companies, including MasterCard.
- And, if (or when) you want to scale up to a fully integrated content management and marketing automation solution, Adobe Experience Cloud has you covered.
Acquia – Superior experiences for websites running on Drupal
Acquia is a platform that wears many hats. Forrester Research has noted this selection of a customer data platform, which brings an array of features into a single entity.
- Acquia is built on Drupal (a popular open-source CMS software itself), which allows a good amount of customization, particularly in comparison to WordPress.
- Acquia has a 4.5/5 rating on Capterra, with cross-industry use across Verizon, Panasonic, Wendy’s, Pinterest, and others.
CMS Hub – A content management software system from marketing giant HubSpot
CMS Hub took the top spot on G2 Grid’s list of the best WCM providers for Spring 2020, far exceeding the scores of WordPress and Sitecore. CMS Hub meets the diverse requirements of marketers, web developers, and IT specialists, aiding organizations in designing appealing websites, developing content which is conducive to conversions, and keeping website availability in top shape.
This product offers an impressive array of capabilities that address a wide range of situations. Here are the highlights:
- Multilingual support (the website is available in English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, French, and Chinese).
- Serverless functions to give developers maximum flexibility.
- Custom CDN configurations in the enterprise version.
- CMS Hub is used by Randstad, Coca-Cola, and several other global giants. This could be the CMS software for you if your company is already deep into the HubSpot ecosystem. Finally, on Capterra, CMS Hub has a stellar rating of 4.9/5.
Drupal
Drupal is an additional open-source CMS tool widely used throughout various sectors, including banking technology, athletics, amusement, learning, health care, e-commerce, journalism and media production, and non-profit organizations.
- The Drupal community has 1.39 million members, out of which 117,000 active contributors have built over 44,000 free modules (third-party integrations) and 2,800 free themes to extend the website’s functionality.
- The basic version of Drupal, known as Drupal core, offers basic CMS features and can be used to build blogs, online forums, or user-generated content websites.
- Although Drupal is infamous for not being beginner-friendly, some of its features such as security, taxonomy system, multilingual site support, and custom post creation are too powerful to be ignored. It is recommended to have an experienced web developer to manage the Drupal website as it can be a bit difficult to manage and update it from a technical standpoint.
- Drupal’s enterprise-level security has gained its adoption among government users, including whitehouse.gov.
- Drupal offers integration with marketing and sales products such as Tableau, Salesforce, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Google Analytics, and Shopify.
Joomla
Joomla is a free and open-source content management system, much like WordPress and Drupal, that is utilized by many people. Over 2 million websites use Joomla as its CMS. Around 1,500+ members have contributed to the creation of Joomla, and these volunteers have made over 10,000 extensions and templates.
- Joomla is a powerful CMS if your content strategy involves a diverse content mix.
- The CMS is mobile-friendly, supports multilingual websites, provides multi-level user permissions, and can provide a thorough set of features without the need for third-party integrations/extensions.
- Compared to WordPress and other CMS such as Squarespace or Wix, Joomla comes with a steep learning curve and is not a beginner-friendly CMS. However, Joomla provides comprehensive documentation/user manual and video training classes if you are willing to learn on your own.
Oracle WebCenter Content – The go-to solution for unstructured content
Oracle has achieved acknowledgement from various renowned professionals in the industry – Gartner MQ awarded them a Leader ranking for both 2018 and 2019, and G2 Grid gave them a High Performer rating for Web Content Management in Spring 2020. WebCenter, created mainly for internal purposes, provides support for unstructured records, such as PDF files, pictures, and reports.
You can use Oracle WebCenter Content to:
- Capture data from unstructured documents and link to business process automation.
- Publish content on websites with role-based access.
- Build a repository of digital assets for marketing.
- Apply record management policies to maintain compliance.
For corporations that heavily rely on Oracle HR or ERP systems, this CMS software is a great choice. It is currently rated 4.5/5 on Capterra.
Squarespace
Squarespace is well-known for its user-friendly and unbelievably easy-to-use drag-and-drop website maker that allows you to create an attractive website design. Small and medium-sized businesses, self-employed individuals, musicians, eateries, and web diarists primarily use the CMS.
- Squarespace acts as a one-stop shop for users by providing all essential website ingredients, such as domain name, web hosting, SSL certificate, extensions, etc., right from its basic pricing plans.
- Squarespace comes with a built-in repository of mobile-friendly themes that you can modify using CSS. You can also use the style editor to customize fonts, colors, and other theme settings.
- Squarespace offers basic image manipulation features to enable image editing on the fly. You can assign multiple contributors and assign different access rights to ensure that website management does not become complicated.
The basic plan starts at $16 per month. If you pay the business fee of $26 every month as well as other enhanced plans, you can launch an online store with different capabilities reliant on the package you choose.
Although Squarespace is great for smaller websites, it may not be the ideal platform when you are looking to grow your online presence in the future.
Steps for Selecting an Enterprise Content Management System
Choosing the ideal CMS may seem intimidating, however, it doesn’t have to be. Everything flows from the Delphic maxim: know thyself. If you have an understanding of your business and what you are aiming to achieve, you will select the appropriate CMS.
- Understand your needs.
- Do your research.
- Organize a shortlist.
Conclusion
In 2003, Matt Mullenweg released WordPress 0.7 and likely had no idea of the magnitude of fame it would ultimately achieve. It has been almost twenty years since a significant quantity of companies began utilizing WordPress to expose their products to a larger public.
The decision on which CMS system to use should be based on your personal specifications rather than any platform’s popularity. By assessing what financial resources, goals, and technological proficiency you possess, and consulting with experienced colleagues, you’ll be able to choose the best possible content management system for your business.
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