Coding a website from scratch takes time, technical know-how and a skilled (often expensive) team. But with content management systems (CMS), you can build, manage, customize and scale your site without touching a line of code.
Whether you’re setting up a complex eCommerce store or a simple blog, a CMS makes the process accessible, efficient and, best of all, low-cost.
In this guide, we unpack everything you need to know about content management systems, including:
• What Are Content Management Systems?
• How Content Management Software Works
• What Makes Up Content Management Systems?
• 14 Key Features of a Content Management System
• 2 CMS Navigation Types
• 11 Types of Content Management Systems
• CMS Pros and Cons
• Why Are CMS Platforms Prone to Vulnerabilities?
• 6 Common CMS Vulnerabilities
• 5 Tips on How to Protect Your CMS Website From Vulnerabilities
• How a CMS Simplifies Website Building
• What Types of Websites Can You Build With Web Content Management Systems?
• When Should You Choose CMS vs. Code-Based?
• How To Choose the Right CMS for Your Business
• How To Create Content With CMS
• How To Use CMS for Editorial Management
• Optimizing Your Content Management System for SEO Success
• 7 Best Content Management Systems
• Futureproofing Your CMS for Long-Term Success
• Content Management System FAQs
Learning content management systems begins with defining what are content management systems.
What Are Content Management Systems?
A content management system is software that helps users create, manage and modify digital content without coding. It simplifies website development by providing easy-to-use tools, plugins and templates for building websites.
A CMS also supports team collaboration, allowing users to update content through a shared dashboard and scale operations with minimal technical support.
Businesses rely on content management software to build websites, manage blogs and distribute digital content effortlessly.
But just how user-friendly are content management systems for non-tech-savvy users?
According to Matthew Baker, a website development manager at Thrive Internet Marketing Agency, a CMS offers non-technical users a simple way to manage website content.
“Whether you build a site yourself or work with a developer or agency to create one, a CMS makes it super easy to create content without having to do any design or development work,” Baker said.
“Usually, all you have to do is write your content, add media and publish. Sometimes you might want to do some basic design, and a CMS allows for that as well through pre-built themes or templates that you can customize.”
Curious how one tool can handle all this? Let’s dive into how web content management systems work.
How Content Management Software Works
To understand how content management systems work, it helps to know what goes into building a website manually.
When you build a website from scratch, you deal with multiple layers of code: HTML for the layout, CSS for the design and JavaScript to add interactive features:
CSS for the design
Image Source
Even small updates, like revising content, require manual HTML edits, checking for proper display and uploading files to the server.
It’s a lot of work, especially for non-developers.
A CMS streamlines this entire process. Instead of writing code for each element, you have an intuitive interface that lets you easily add content, style pages, and manage updates without touching a single line of code.
“[…] you can upload files like photos and documents straight to the website using an interface, not a file browser or an FTP client. For this reason, a CMS is super easy to learn and work with,” Baker said.
More than that, CMSs offer predictability in functionality and often have a large community of users and experts for support. Many CMS platforms also feature plugins and add-ons to extend functionality, enabling options like shopping carts, membership programs and file storage integration.
“Many of the most popular CMSs make it easy for developers to write custom code to accomplish almost anything, so if you can dream it, you can do it.”
What Makes Up Website Content Management Systems?
A web content management system has two main components:
• Content Management Application (CMA)
• Content Delivery Application (CDA)
The content management application is the user-friendly interface where you create, edit and organize content. The dashboard allows you to format text, add links and insert images with ease — again, no coding skills are required. You can simply drag, drop or click on elements to customize your content.
Once you’ve made changes, the content delivery application takes over on the back end. It assembles the code, stores the content and ensures everything displays properly on your website.
To publish a new blog post, simply click “Publish,” and the CDA will handle everything automatically, no manual uploads needed.
Now that you understand how a CMS functions, let’s explore its benefits.
14 Key Features of a Content Management System
A good content management software is packed with features to make managing and maintaining digital assets hassle-free. Learning content management systems means familiarizing yourself with the following key features:
1. User Management: Create and manage multiple user accounts with different access levels. This allows you to control who can access content or manage site settings.
2. Content Creation & Editing Tools: Easily create, edit and publish various content types, including text, images and videos, using a WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) editor for real-time changes.
3. Publishing Controls: Schedule posts or publish content immediately with built-in options to control when and how content goes live.
4. Version Control and Backups: Track content changes and revert to previous versions if needed.
5. Responsive Themes: Ensure your website looks great on any device with mobile-friendly themes that automatically adjust to different screen sizes.
6. Pre-Made Templates: Choose from a library of pre-designed templates for quick site setup.
7. Software Integrations: Seamlessly connect your CMS with tools like CRM systems, email marketing platforms or eCommerce solutions.
8. Built-In SEO Tools: Optimize your content for search engines with built-in tools for meta tags, keyword optimization and site structure enhancements.
9. Sophisticated Analytics: Gain insights into user behavior, traffic, content performance and more with detailed reports and analytics dashboards.
10. Content Staging: Test and preview content changes before publishing to ensure everything looks and functions as expected.
11. Security Measures: Protect your site from security breaches with built-in features like SSL certificates, user authentication protocols and regular software updates to patch vulnerabilities.
12. Support Network: Access help through user forums, documentation or customer support to troubleshoot issues or learn how to use advanced features.
13. Migration Services: Transfer website content from one CMS to another without losing data or functionality.
14. Multi-Language Content Creation: Easily create and manage multiple language versions of your web pages to reach a global audience.
Note: Depending on your chosen CMS platform, some of the features mentioned above may be free, while others might require a paid plan or additional plugins.