If you are starting a new business, chances are you looking to build a website. No matter how big or small your company will be, a great looking website is always a big plus. But it is not always so easy, especially when it comes to deciding on the CMS to use. There are many choices, and depending on some factors, you can go different ways. So let’s see what suits you better, shall we?
First Steps
Do you have developers onboard? If not, an Open Source CMS might not be the best for you. It requires at least some knowledge of coding to deploy and use effectively, but most young start uppers don’t have any development experience. There’s also another side to this: think how your employees will use the CMS: can they use it on their own, add content and manage the website absolutely by themselves? If not, and they often need help from the developers, you might need to think about switching to Custom CMS.
What is your budget? Open Source CMS cost little to none, and Custom CMS can cost a pretty penny, depending on if it was built in-house or by another company. In any case, budget is almost always the most important aspect in choosing the future CMS for the business. It is important to mention though, that even more costly, Custom CMS will have a lot less maintenance bills than Open Source.
Why use Custom?
Even though the word open might be tempting, it’s biggest downside is that it is not fitted to your needs properly. Chances are you are trying to play by your own rules and doing your best to differentiate yourself from your direct competitors, and that’s where the first major setback comes in: you won’t be able to use your full potential with Open Source CMS.
It’s good for big projects. The bigger your project is, the more you will need a Custom CMS. It is simple: more features require more flexibility from your side, and Open Source CMSs just won’t allow that, as they have their limitations. Marketplaces, platforms and big start-ups: all of them use Custom CMSs because of their limitless possibilities.
It’s a future investment. It can cost you a big penny to develop a Custom solution, but prospectively, it is a far better, more efficient choice. It will allow you to grow in the future, because there are no limits to what can be done with your website with a Custom CMS. Besides, remember when we talked about lower maintenance costs? Don’t forget about those too.
Full control. A Custom CMS will allow your marketing team to use all the tools and innovations they come up with to make your online campaign successful. Not only that, but they will do that with ease! No need to hire a development team to deal with every bit of website work, just you and your team: just because you chose to invest in a Custom CMS. They will be able to integrate new APIs, add endless multimedia content completely by themselves.
Unique design. If you have a particularly complex design in mind, you might run into some problems, because there are some limitations to Open Source CMSs. A Custom one, on the other hand, allows you to integrate whatever design choices you desire and change them whenever you want afterwards: any block on your website might be customized by yourself, which will be a great compliment to your business ideas.
Customizable statistics. All businesses have different directions, and as a result, have different needs in market research. Not all Open CMSs allow you to precisely customize the statistics that come in through your website: be it incoming unique traffic, clicks or downloads, Open CMS will allow you to tailor your needs and use them to their fullest.
Custom plugins. One of the best features that will allow you to fully unleash your website’s potential is custom plugins. There are basically no limitations on what can be done with those, so you can completely focus on your ideas and implement all of them.
When do I use an Open Source CMS then?
If you are on a strict budget, and as we discussed, it almost always is the first thing people are concerned with, then you might be better off with something like WordPress. It is the most popular choice among Open Source solutions, it is completely free, and it provides a relatively high flexibility.
Note: you have to understand that designing, development, hosting, domain and plugins will all come at a certain cost.
Also, if your website is small and not complex at all, you probably don’t need a Custom CMS. The exception here might be if you are planning to grow soon, then it might be worth looking into. Otherwise, stay with an Open Source Solution.
And finally, if you don’t mind spending a few weeks on training your employees how to interact and use your new CMS, then an Open Source is totally for you.
If you have any additional questions or want to get your own Custom CMS (or want us to develop something on WordPress), hit us up and we will help you decide what you need! Get your consultation and quote for free, and let’s make history together!
