If you’ve considered launching a blog or online business, you’ve probably come across the term CMS. You might have heard it from a developer or an educational YouTube video, or maybe you’re running into it for the first time. So, what is a CMS, and do you actually need one?
Since I started web design and development in 2008, nothing has revolutionized the industry more than content management systems (CMS). You no longer need to be a programmer to run a powerful website. The right CMS software allows you to create pages, publish content, and manage media without coding.
Here’s a more detailed look at CMS, how it works, and what it lets you do. I’ll cover real CMS platform examples and what sets the best CMS platforms apart.
What Is a Content Management System (CMS)?
A CMS is software that helps you to create and manage a website without coding. A CMS gives you one central place to handle content, design pages, and update your site. Think of it as the operating system for your website.
What a CMS Allows You to Do
A CMS is a full system for running a website without touching any code. You can use it to:
- Create and edit pages.
- Publish content.
- Upload and organize media.
- Control layouts.
- Manage users.
- Update your site anytime.
Rather than rely on a developer for every change, you can manage content yourself, keep your site fresh, and scale as you grow.
Who Are CMS Platforms Built For?
CMS platforms are designed for anyone who wants an online presence. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a blogger, small business owner, or large corporation.
Some argue that CMS software came to replace or compete with traditional developers. I beg to differ. Web developers are the biggest advocates of CMS technology because it makes their jobs easier.
Clients also benefit because it’s cost-effective and empowers them to make changes without constant developer support.
How a CMS Works (Behind the Scenes)
A CMS is just software connecting your content to your website in a smart way. Behind the dashboard, a CMS organizes your content, stores it in a database, and delivers it to your visitors exactly how you want.
Let me walk you through the basics of how a CMS works so you can choose the right one for your website.
The Content Management Application (CMA)
The CMA, or Content Management Application, is the part you interact with, where you instruct it on how you want to organize and display your content. Some of its features include the dashboard, editors (tools for editing content), and tools for creating pages, uploading media (such as images or videos), and formatting content (adjusting text style and layout).
The CMA lets you do all this without coding knowledge, thanks to its user-friendly interface.
The Content Delivery Application (CDA)
The CDA works behind the scenes. It takes the content you’ve added in the CMA, pulls it from the database, and delivers it to your website visitors. In other words, it turns your drafts and edits into live pages everyone can see.
The CDA also manages user authentication and other technical tasks that ensure the smooth functioning of your website.
What Happens When You Publish a Page
When you hit ‘publish,’ your CMS coordinates the CMA and CDA to publish. It pulls your text, images, and layout from the database and displays them according to your theme or template.
Your updates take effect instantly, making a CMS much more efficient than manually coding from scratch.
Web Content Management Explained
In this section, I focus on how content is created, organized, updated, and maintained over time. While we may have touched on this before, here is a deeper look at the process.
Content Creation and Editing
Web content refers to any information or media published on a website, including text, images, videos, audio, and documents. It may take the form of:
- Articles.
- Blog posts.
- Product descriptions.
- Company information.
- Podcasts.
- Documentaries.
- Infographics.
The list goes on and on, and your CMS stores and organizes all these media in a central location. It also optimizes all media, keeping everything accessible and consistent across your site.
User Roles and Permissions
A key feature of top CMS software is assigning user roles and permissions. It allows you to hire writers, editors, and administrators, assigning them specific roles and limitations. No one has as much control as you, and collaborations are much smoother.
Ultimately, you can set it up to protect your website from the incompetence or malice of subordinate roles.
Versioning and Revisions
Another perk of CMS software is that it backs up all your pages and posts, and you can restore any that are wrongfully edited, deleted, or broken. That way, you can have peace of mind and a long-term strategy.
Best CMS Platforms (Popular Options Today)
CMS platforms vary widely because they all had different target markets at their founding. They also license varying intellectual properties, meaning they’re not the same.
The right platform depends on:
- What you’re building.
- The level of control you desire.
- Your coding skills.
Over the years, I’ve worked with a wide range of CMS platforms, and each one fills a different role. Here are some of the most widely used and trusted options today.
1. WordPress
No other CMS beats WordPress in popularity because it’s flexible, beginner-friendly, and powerful enough.
We can also argue it’s scalable because WordPress powers small websites and some of the most visited sites in the world. It features a massive library of plugins and themes, so you can easily edit and customize without any coding.
It’s also popular because of its user-friendly interface that makes managing and updating your site a breeze.
2. Wix
This CMS is a drag-and-drop website builder for e-Commerce brands. It’s beginner-friendly and perfect for small business owners without any coding experience to start selling online.
Its user-friendly interface makes it easy to publish a beautiful website without coding. It also offers hundreds of templates, making it easy to find one.
3. Shopify
Shopify is a CMS built specifically for e-commerce that handles products, payments, inventory, and storefront design in one system.
If your main goal is selling online, Shopify removes much of the technical friction, letting you focus on products, marketing, and growth.
4. Drupal
Drupal is a more advanced CMS built for complex, high-traffic, or highly customized websites. It offers deep control over structure, users, and content types, making it a strong choice for large organizations, institutions, and custom development projects.
5. Webflow
Webflow blends CMS functionality with visual web design tools. It’s especially popular with designers who want precise layout control while still benefiting from dynamic content and CMS features.
Webflow is often used for marketing sites, startups, and design-driven brands.
Headless CMS: What It Is and Why It Matters
This type of CMS has no visual front-end, meaning it doesn’t include a built-in website or templates for displaying content. Instead, it serves only as a back-end, storing and delivering structured content to any front-end presentation layer via an API.
Traditional CMS vs. Headless CMS
A traditional CMS manages content and how it appears on the website, but a headless CMS only manages and stores content. It doesn’t control how that content looks. Instead, it delivers content through APIs, meaning you can use it for:
- Websites.
- Mobile apps.
- Software platforms.
- Kiosks.
- Anywhere else content is needed.
Benefits of a Headless CMS
The main reason I love headless CMS is flexibility, as your content isn’t locked into one website or design system. It can be pushed to multiple platforms simultaneously, and still load fast.
When a Headless CMS Makes Sense
A headless CMS isn’t necessary for every website. If you’re running a blog, a small business site, or a standard marketing site, a traditional CMS is often more than enough.
Headless CMS solutions make the most sense when you need to:
- Deliver content across multiple platforms.
- Build highly customized experiences.
- Connect content to multiple apps.
How to Choose the Right CMS for Your Website
Choosing a CMS isn’t about finding the ‘best‘ platform overall. It’s about finding the right one for what you’re building. The right CMS should support your goals today and make sense as your website grows.
1. Start With Your Website’s Purpose
Everything hinges around your needs and goals because CMS software is a tool. For example, is your website primarily a blog? Do you need e-commerce capabilities? Are you planning on expanding your site to include more interactive features?
When the purpose is clear, the right platform usually becomes much easier to spot.
2. Match the CMS to Your Skill Level
Some CMS platforms are built for simplicity, while others are suited for power and customization. It’s up to you to figure out who’ll be running the site for you and how much work it will require daily.
If you’re not tech-savvy, consider a user-friendly platform like Wix or Squarespace. Otherwise, WordPress or Drupal may be better options.
3. Think About Customization and Integrations
Your CMS should be compatible with other tools that you need for your business, such as marketing platforms, CRMs, e-commerce tools, booking systems, and analytics tools.
Going with a robust CMS saves you from future migrations as you grow.
4. Consider Budget and Long-Term Maintenance
All CMS options come with different price tags. While some may be free, others charge a subscription fee. Moreover, you need to budget for the time and resources needed to maintain your chosen CMS in the long run. Will you need to hire developers or IT support? How often will updates be needed?
5. Plan for Growth
Be ambitious enough to expect growth, and build your web infrastructure to accommodate future expansion.
Consider how well a platform handles increased traffic, added features, and new content types.
Final Thoughts: Do You Need a CMS?
If you want the ability to create content, update your site, and grow your online presence without any coding, a CMS makes that possible.
Whether you choose a traditional CMS or explore a headless CMS, the goal is the same: control, flexibility, and long-term growth. The right CMS platform gives you ownership of your content and the freedom to evolve your website over time.
If you’re building or rebuilding a website, understanding how CMS software works puts you in a much stronger position. Remember, you’re choosing the system that will power everything you publish going forward, so if you want to get some professional input from myself or my team, contact us!.
