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Web content management

Written by Ana Canteli on February 06, 2018

A web content management system – WCMS - allows the members of the company to easily and efficiently manage the content of the web pages of the organization. This, in turn, means that network users can find information about the company, or what it does or offers.

Web content means any type of digital information; of course text but also, audio, video, 3D graphics, etc. Otherwise the concept of management has also evolved. Management in this context means set static content in web pages but too support dynamic publishing contents. Therefore, each time more users look for ways to maintain their web project; feed the social networks of the organization, at the same time that they need to detect the most popular content and improve the marketing strategy at all times.

A web content management system is also a set of easy-to-use tools which offers the features to manage your web content ,so that users can design, create and maintain content, without knowledge about languages or web programming.

Web content management software is a good option to keep the organization connected to its customers, while reducing costs and offering the customer innovative experiences. WCM solutions must cover all types of content; facilitate their management in multiplatform environments, throughout their life cycle. Because if you are not present on the internet, it is very likely to be ignored by your target audience and dominated by competitors, in an environment so focused on the Internet and social media.

The best option in this scenario is to opt for a web content management system. Having a website is just the beginning. Managing content and updating it is equally important, if not more. From the technical point of view, a web content management is software with a clear objective: to offer a platform for non-technical personnel, which allows them to manage all the information they need; to provide compelling experiences to the target of the company. At the operational level, a web content management system is an essential online tool, to offer a digital experience through multiplatform devices; while managing the customer experience.

For all these reasons, when choosing enterprise content management of this type, it is very important to consider what are the features of a good content management software.

What does a good web content management system have to have?

Nowadays to be competitive in the digital age, companies need to produce and distribute their enterprise information to the target in a compelling way, and at the same time efficiently through a multitude of channels. Web content management systems give companies - of any size - the possibility of improving their position in the sector; leaving technical staff to focus on web development, (rather than supporting the user of the system) and digital marketing specialists, develop the strategy in content marketing.

Therefore, a wcm platform must have the following elements:

1. Library services. The content management system must address the entire information management process: design, create, revise, modify (editing - avoiding overwriting -), publish, maintain, organize, store, archive and distribute content.
2. Business process management. To provide all these services, the web content management software can offer a workflow engine; for instance to organize sequentially the editorial review, control the content authoring or the approval process.
3. Security. Users will access the web cms through their username and password and can access the contents (folder, files, images, audios, videos, etc.) if they are authorized to see them; and manipulate them if they have permissions. In turn, they may participate in a workflow, individually or by role assigment. On the other hand, security will allow the content creator to exercise a complete analysis and traceability on what has happened to the content, throughout its life cycle.
4. Descriptive metadata. The enterprise content management softwarre must include features that allow the identification and description of the contents. It can be through the keywords assignment, which users choose from a list of terms. In this sense they can use a thesaurus - controlled vocabulary dictionary -. Or assign categories, relations -to link documents based on the relationship that binds them- or metadata groups (set of descriptive elements that help us define a content: author, date, title, status ...) that can also be used to search and find the content, through the search engine.
5. Ability to assembly content from various sources. In addition to sustaining content regardless the format, the wcm systems must be able to gather content from external sources, whether they are news RSS services, social media or third-party applications. Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other social networks maintain their own environments and have different ways of entering the contents of the web content manager. Therefore, the content management systems must offer integration facilities to include this new tool in the ecosystem that organization use.
6. Responsive web design. The web content management platform must be able to adapt to new ways of consuming enterprise information and displaying content in new formats, mobile or tablet; that can be even the most used by the target.
7. Multilingual facilities. The management software must offer support to website builders so they can work with the languages used in the company and to support the translations of the content in different languages. Therefore, it must take into account the diversity of characters depending on the language, the alphabet used, among other considerations.

Benefits of Open Source web content management systems

Selecting a web content management platform for your company can be a challenging task. Here we highlight some of the strengths of free code, when it comes to offering solutions in WCMS.

• The free code also frees the company. Do not get into the discussion of whether a proprietary web content manager is better than free solution. There are many excellent companies that are using these types of tools. However, think about the possibilities that one day your content solutions provider will take an update that you do not like, or even worse; leaves the sector. In these circumstances you may have to face a structural problem. With an open source web content management platform, you can rely on multiple developers that will work with your code and give you the opportunity to use the plugins or developments that interest you most
• Open source technology provides flexibility. And in such a changing and evolving environment as new technologies offer new formats day by day; with the need imposed by the market to adapt to new trends in the use and consumption of content by online communities, this advantage can mean a strategic difference.
• Free software is an efficient investment. This does not mean that the proprietary technology option is not effective. But often, an organization can get more out of an investment made in a free content management system. Mainly because the company can rely on the community of users and developers who are constantly working on the evolution of the tool. Providing regular updates that improve performance and experience.
• Open source solutions are usually easy to customize. When designing your web site, if you want to create your "perfect cms", the free code offers more options when it comes to addressing your web page. For example, if we start with a limited budget, the ideal is to start with a template. Then, as your business evolves, you can boos the digital experience management including additional modules. You can launch an events and webinars portal, add a success stories blog to improve the personalized content offered from your web cms. Complete the control panel to manage inbound marketing campaigns, monitor email to improve customer experience management, etc
• Open source and the issue of security. It is by far the most frequently asked question in relation to open source programs. If anyone can access the code, that means that developers with dishonest intentions can identify and exploit system vulnerabilities. It is a legitimate and reasonable doubt that arises naturally. But it is really possible to create a web content management system with high security levels . To get started users will need login and password to access the web application. Then the assignment of profiles and roles can be used to determine which environments, functionalities and privileges are accessible to them. In addition, security management at granular level allows the board of directors to define which contents are accessible or not; and in which terms (edition, revision, approval ...) In addition, the a web developer will make sure that the system is updated. The updates help the web content management software to be a secure environment. And on the other hand, the developer can apply more options or add plugins that improve the security of the system.

Regardless of the web content management system, you can choose the wcm platform that best suits your needs. Remember that one of the strengths of web content management solutions is that they create an environment that is easy to use. If it is easy to use, the web experience manager will be able to show how it is used so the end user will be comfortable.