Website CMS Platforms

What Website Platform Is Right For You and Your Business?

Content Management Systems

Before starting a website, It’s important to consider what type of web operator you are. Are you a hands on power user that wants the ability to make changes to your website yourself? Do you want the ability to change out photos, add new contact forms, edit SEO keywords and Meta Descriptions?

Do you want to make minor changes to your website without having to hire a web developer to make those changes for you? If so, then we need to discuss different CMS platforms.

A Content Management System is the backend interface that allows website owners to modify their websites with minimal HTML and programming knowledge.

Content Management Systems

Choosing the right CMS is just as important as choosing a good solid design. A website CMS is the base of your website and allows the streamlining of website maintenance, everyday task and normally lowers the overhead of building & managing a website. We work with all CMS major platforms.

The CMS you choose depends on what your needs are and your web developers experience. Some web agencies focus and build on one CMS while others like Clemson Web Design have experience working with a wide array of CMS systems.

Certain CMS platforms have specific strengths where others may be lacking and some CMS systems are more complex than others. That’s why it’s important to work with a web design company who can give you choices based on your needs.

Website Content Management Platforms

Website Platforms Upstate SC

WordPress & WooCommerce:

WordPress is a php based open source Content Management System. It’s one of the easiest and most powerful web platforms of the modern era. WordPress’s strengths are based around the fact it has a tried and true GUI interface that even the least technical users can learn to use. It has thousands of plugins, extensions, page builders and themes that you can use to extend the functionality of your website with minimal effort and investment. As in, Theres no need to reinvent the wheel – its already been invented.

Not to be confused with its SaaS hosted brother @ WordPress.com. WordPress.org is a free, self hosted, open source platform that requires a web host. That means the source code is open to modification and your only limitation is your budget. Hosting for WordPress is usually pretty cheap and you can be up and running within a hour with most website hosting companies.

WordPress is great for any small to large sized content website. From small business pages, medical journals, church websites, school websites and even eCommerce (WooCommerce) websites. The ability to build any type of website around WordPress is one of its main strengths.

Some drawbacks of WordPress is that being one of the most widely used CMS platforms in the world – you have to stay on top of security and updates. Its not a build and forget solution. Periodic updates and patches are required to keep it running smoothly. Another drawback is a lot of inexperienced web agencies and developers can slopily slap together websites on WordPress. That usually results in poorly built websites that are insecure and hacked together. You can spot a poorly built WordPress website by slow page loads, excessive request and poorly implemented widely used commercial themes. WordPress is easy to work with but there are best practices and standards to follow that ensure a WordPress website is running at its best.

I normally recommend WordPress to anyone who needs a professional website thats not restricted to the eCommerce functionalities and limitations of Shopify.

Shopify & Shopify Plus:

Shopify is a eCommerce platform that’s based on a SaaS model. SaaS means software as a service. In basic terms, it means Shopify manages your web server and back end of your website so you can focus on design, SEO and sales.Unlike WordPress. Shopify is not open source and is based on its own liquid programing language. The starting price for a basic Shopify account is $29 a month and goes up from there. Shopify scales from small business to medium large businesses and traffic. Even some major retailers have websites on Shopify.The Shopify platform offers great usability and is very user friendly. Shopify also offers almost anything a small to medium sized eCommerce store could want. Where it does lack in custom functionality and features you can extend with 3rd party modules. Most modules and extensions are pay as you go monthly offerings so cost over time can add up if you need extension features not available on the base Shopify platform.The cons of Shopify are that the platform is somewhat limited in the functionality that your website can offer. Plugins and extensions to extend default Shopify functionality are usually expensive, closed source and you have to rely on 3rd party support when things go wrong. Shopify’s themes are also pretty expensive and custom designs usually require a lot of effort to implement due to the nature of development on the SaaS platform.The pros of Shopify are that it’s cheap and easy to get started. The platform caters to what most eCommerce website owners need and Shopify offers direct support to its customers. There’s also no hosting issues or backend server issues to worry about. Shopify handles security and software updates so that’s off your shoulders. Shopify handles everything server side. Payment integration is also straightforward and mostly built it. Services like Stripe and Paypal are largely built in. The Shopify admin GUI is also very easy to learn and its normally straight forward for website owners to make their own changes and updates on their website. In general. Compared to WordPress. Shopify is more user friendly, less hands on and easier to manage.I usually recommend Shopify to clients who need a straightforward hands off eCommerce platform.

Adobe Commerce & Magento:

Adobe Commerce (Formerly Magento) is the creme of the crop large to enterprise level eCommerce platform. Offered up in open source and SaaS . Adobe Commerce & Magento offer unparalleled functionality and scalability for your website. Adobe Commerce limitations are only held back by the size of your budget and network of developers.

The cons of Adobe Commerce are plentiful but are offset by its advantages. Magento has a huge technology stack. Successful Magento stores usually need multiple developers working on the different aspects of the website due to the wide array of programming languages and complexity of the platform. The development cost and overhead to build and maintain a Magento website fars exceeds that of WordPress and Shopify. Most Magento stores need a party time or full time developer and server administration on call. The platform requires quality hosting and requires a host that’s familiar with the platform. The admin GUI is clunky, complex and to make matters worse. Magento just released a completely new build (Magento 2.0) that’s even more complex to work with than previous versions.

The pros of Magento are its scalability and functionality. The platform can be built and catered to almost anything you can imagine. The only limitation is your budget and finding the right developers to do it. You can scale your website from a two product website to a 3 million product website without ever switching platforms.

Magento is a great platform but I always tell my clients – Only go with Magento if you NEED Magento. The cost, overhead and effort to build and run a Magento website far exceeds that of other eCommerce platforms.

Let Us Help You Choose Your Website Platform

With such a diverse portfolio, Clemson Web Design has experience and the expertise to help clients choose the CMS platform that is right for their business needs.

A well built website is a huge investment so don’t take that leap without knowing your Content Management System options. Call Clemson Web Design for a free consultation to learn what CMS platform suits your business best.

Wix & SquareSpace?

Clemson Web Design builds professional level websites and focuses on platforms that are scalable and for the most part, open source.

While services like Wix and SquareSpace work great for what they are. The issue is with these platforms is that they are not scalable for the long term. This directly relates to how the platforms are built, the limited functionality and the business model of the companies.. While we can build professional looking websites on these platforms. They give us limited functionality and you’re business relies solely on the service and support of these 3rd party companies.

If you think your website and business is better served with these platforms. Give us a call. We would love to give you a free consultation.

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Let Us Help You Choose Your Website Platform

With such a diverse portfolio, Clemson Web Design has experience and the expertise to help clients choose the CMS platform that is right for their business needs.

Your website is a huge investment so dont take that leap without knowing your Content Management System options. Call Clemson Web Design for a free consultation to learn what CMS platform suits your business best.

Wix & SquareSpace?

Clemson Web Design builds professional level websites. and focuses on platforms that are scalable, open source and based on modern technologies.

While services like Wix and SquareSpace work great for what they are. The issue is with these platforms is that they are not scalable for the long term. This downfalls directly relate to how the platforms are built, the limited functionality, and in the case of Wix, how the web content is served to the end users.

Have you ever heard the saying “You can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig” ?

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