Content management system

A content management system (CMS) is software that makes it easy to create, edit and publish content on a website. Authors can use it to add text, images or videos together and without programming skills. A CMS is therefore the foundation of almost every website – regardless of purpose, topic or industry. With extensions, a CMS can also be used for search engine optimisation, for example with the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress. And because content marketing is one of the most important disciplines in online marketing, the choice of CMS also determines how quickly and well a team can publish content.

Besides WordPress, there are many other widely used content management systems. Well-known examples:

• TYPO3

• Drupal

• Neos

• HubSpot Content Hub

Using a CMS

Anyone who wants to build and maintain a website can hardly do without a CMS – whether one person looks after it or a whole team with different roles and permissions. Classic systems such as WordPress come with ready-made themes, so you don't necessarily have to develop your own design. Systems such as TYPO3 or Drupal are often used for larger corporate websites with a custom design. WordPress was originally developed as a blogging system but is now used for websites of all sizes. Headless CMS such as Storyblok or Contentful play a growing role: they only manage the content and deliver it via an API to any frontend – for example to the website, app and online shop at the same time. Shop systems such as Shopware also bring their own CMS functions with Shopping Experiences.

Building a website easily: working with a content management system

A CMS distinguishes between frontend and backend. The frontend is how the website appears in the browser; in the backend, administrators and editors edit the design and content. To do so, they log in with their credentials – usually from anywhere via the browser. Pages, categories and content can be created and edited without programming skills, for example in a visual editor that shows formatting such as headings or bold text directly (WYSIWYG). WordPress uses the block editor for this, in which text, images, videos or YouTube embeds are inserted as individual blocks. Many modern systems have a modular structure, so pages can be put together like building blocks. A good CMS also lets you maintain important SEO data: page title, meta description, URL, alt texts and structured data.

Advantages of a CMS at a glance:

• Intuitive operation without programming skills and without touching the page code

• Easy creation of web content

• Multilingual content and country versions

• Integration with CRM, marketing automation and online shop

• SEO extensions and other plugins to extend the software

• Content planning and publishing at a scheduled time

If several authors work on the content, roles and permissions can be used to define clear responsibilities. Depending on the CMS, there are different levels:

• The user has to log in to make changes

• The user can write content but not delete or publish it (e.g. author)

• The user can edit and publish content (e.g. editor)

• The user can adjust page functions or the website design

• The user has all rights (e.g. administrator)