In an era where companies are beginning to take their products and services online, building a website is one of the most critical elements of turning visitors into paying customers and clients.
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However, finding the right content management system (CMS) for your company, whether you’re a small business or a larger entity, can be harder than it looks, especially with a lot of the options being specialised to certain types of businesses (for example, just e-commerce businesses) rather than businesses as a whole.
In this article, we’ll take you through what you should look for when deciding on the CMS for you, what the best content management systems are on the market today, and which one you should choose if you want to reap the most profitable rewards, so you don’t have to worry about scouring the internet for hours.
What makes a great CMS?
As you research the latest content management systems that have been developed and placed on the market, you will notice that a lot of them sound the same and can ‘do everything you want’. However, when you download and try the CMS for yourself, oftentimes this isn’t the case, and you’ve been misled by persuasive marketing on social media.
Whereas, when you look into the intricacies of what makes a great CMS, it comes down to a few different factors: an easy-to-use user interface, excellent content editing capabilities, SEO-friendly features for blog posts/web pages, responsive design for multiple devices, security measures (i.e., safe web hosts), customer support, and many more.
On top of the above features, the CMS that you choose has to be a scalable platform, meaning it can grow with you; it must have immense media management capabilities and brilliant integration features; and most of all, your content management system must be willing to grow with the ever-changing market.
Now, of course, this isn’t everything because there are so many tiny details that go into creating the ultimate headless CMS, but this should certainly serve as a baseline of what to look out for.
Another precaution to take is that, although a CMS may have all these features, other website builders are just going to be better in some areas because developers, coders, and designers have different specialties.
What are the top content management systems: A look at the leading performers
Now that you know what to look out for when choosing a website builder, we’re going to give you a list of some of the most popular, highest-performing, and reliable CMS that you can choose in 2023:
- WordPress
- Shopify
- HubSpot CMS
- Umbraco
- Joomla
- Drupal
- Magento
From our extensive research and experience using CMS builders, we’ve come to the conclusion that these are the top content management systems you can invest in right now, from features and pricing to many more elements. Here’s why:
WordPress
WordPress is the most popular CMS used for businesses online today, and just because a lot of people are using it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t either. Their easy-to-use, affordable, and SEO-friendly features, along with their huge community and huge integration list, make it one of the most impactful CMSs that you can work with today.
If you’re looking to create a website quickly with a free or affordable paid plan (for advanced users), WordPress has everything in place to help your brand become a recognisable name within your industry.
Shopify
Shopify is one of, CMSs for everything e-commerce. Therefore, if you have a product-based business (this could be a singular product or lots of collections), then this is one of the highest-performing content management tools for online stores.
With integrations to help you process orders, manage customer service, create compelling upsells on your web pages, and many more, you can begin using this alternative on a 30-day free trial (with the option of paying £19+ a month or more) depending on the plan you choose.
HubSpot CMS
HubSpot CMS was created more recently after their CRM platform completely changed the way businesses and marketers see customer relationships. Their CMS hub is now following suit, as they supply you with easy-to-use, built-in SEO tools, email marketing features, and many more across all subscriptions, from free all the way to enterprise level.
HubSpot has a unique benefit, however, as you can have your CRM and CMS set up in the same place, meaning you won’t have to go to external websites when creating long-lasting business processes.
Umbraco
Umbraco is an open-source platform that is known for being a flexible CMS that offers both product and service-based businesses the freedom of customisation. The combination of flexibility, scalability, and user-friendly design allows you to create beautiful and tailored websites.
With a huge community and numerous resources to learn from, you will never be stuck when designing your website. Not only that, but with their unique .NET framework, you have platform independence, meaning it can support any application on any platform.
Overall, there is no limit to what you can do on Umbraco CMS, compared to other platforms, where it can be limited to certain types of websites.
Joomla
Joomla is one of the best CMSs you can find online due to its flexibility for different content types. For example, you will receive more resilience for showing off non-standard content types. On top of that, they provide a user-friendly interface and simplify content management for both beginners and experienced users.
Drupal
Similar to Umbraco, this is open-source software too, meaning that it handles code in a unique way compared to other websites. This freedom allows you, your web developers, and web designers to create secure and future-proof websites.
Magento
Magento is renowned for being excellent for e-commerce websites, meaning if you sell products, this could be a great platform to look at in more detail. Their platform is highly customisable and is full of third-party integrations that you can implement to make your website function at the highest level.
What is the best content management system: What should you choose?
In regards to what is the best content management system, if you’re looking for the best all-around platform—regardless of your level of expertise—HubSpot CMS and Umbraco have to be the best content management systems.
HubSpot CMS is so convenient due to its ability to store your CRM and all marketing functions in one place, and Umbraco is completely unique and suited to all types of businesses. Here at Fuelius, we have the pleasure of being both HubSpot Elite Partners and Umbraco Gold Partners too, giving us the opportunity to help businesses all around the world.
Our professionals are dedicated to helping you achieve your mission and vision with your online marketing, so to see what CMS you’re most suited to, book a discovery session with our team today to see if we’re the right fit together.