A Content Management System (CMS) is a computer software system for organising of documents, movies, pictures, phone numbers, scientific data, etc. Content Management Systems allows you to control and manage the content within your web site with a easy to use WYSIWYG edit interface.

Using this uncomplicated system you can very easily add, delete images and edit text in your web site pages in real time. Just a little experience with Microsoft Word then you will be able to manage the content of your own web site very easily. You need no programming or HTML experience. Editing can be done with any normal web browser from anywhere in the world.

You can have an unlimited number of pages and a full site-search engine crawling your pages automatically. Content management systems used to be very expensive but with the availability of professional open source  systems you can have a highly professional CMS web site at a very reasonable price.  

Why decide on a CMS solution for your website?

Many companies find it difficult to keep their web site content as up to date as they would like, the site stagnates and your clients get to see outdated irrelevant information. That is why so many companies are changing to CMS.

A CMS web presence allows you to manage your web site even if you have no technical knowledge, experience with HTML or web site design. It also reduces the calls to your web design agency or IT department for changes to the web site. CMS reduces the time required to publish, allowing you to get your content on-line faster. This is a very important issue for any professional web site.

However, you need a professional company to design and develop your CMS site initially. iNetnol Consulting are professional Drupal developers. We take it further with marketing our sites so that they perform well and bring you traffic and business using the latest SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) methods stipulated by Google. Click here to learn more about SEO.

After the initial development of your CMS site, it belongs to you. Beside the yearly domain and hosting cost, there are no monthly fees - no license fees - no maintenance fees - you are not tied to us in any way. You login to your own website to control your own content. You have complete independence and total control! If you should require any support, we are there for you.

Benefits in using a CMS for your website

A content management system (CMS) is critical to the success of almost every website and intranet, and yet many organisations are not familiar with this technology.

There are a wide range of business benefits that can be obtained by implementing a CMS, including:

• faster turnaround time for new pages and changes
• greater consistency
• improved site navigation
• increased site flexibility
• support for decentralised authoring
• increased security
• reduced duplication of information
• greater capacity for growth
• reduced site maintenance costs

Beyond these, the greatest benefit the CMS can provide is to support your business goals and strategies.

For example, the CMS can help to improve sales, increase user satisfaction, or assist in communicating with the public.  Document management could be a another vast improvement in your company.
 

Framework of a Content Management System

The functionality of a content management system can be broken down into several main categories:

• content creation
• content management
• publishing
• presentation

Each of these will be explored in the following sections.

The CMS manages the entire lifecycle of pages, from creation to archival
 

Content creation

At the front of a content management system is an easy-to-use authoring environment, designed to work like MS Word. This provides a non-technical way of creating new pages or updating content, without having to know any HTML.

The CMS also allows you to manage the structure of the site. That is, where the pages go, and how they are linked together. Many even offer simple drag-and-drop restructuring of the site, without breaking any links.

Almost all content management systems now provide a web-based authoring environment, which further simplifies implementation, and allows content updating to be done remotely.

It is this authoring tool that is the key to the success of the CMS. By providing a simple mechanism for maintaining the site, authoring can be devolved out into the business itself. For example, your marketing manager maintains the press release section, while your product manager keeps the catalogue up to date.

Content management

Once a page has been created, it is saved into a central repository in the CMS. This stores all the content of the site, along with the other supporting details.

This central repository allows a range of useful features to be provided by the CMS:

• Keeping track of all the versions of a page, and who changed what and when.
• Ensuring that each user can only change the section of the site they are responsible for.

Most importantly, the CMS provides a range of workflow capabilities. These are best explained by giving an example:

When the page is created by an author, it is automatically sent to their manager for approval, and then to the central web team for their editorial review, before being automatically published to the site after final approval.

At each step, the CMS manages the status of the page, notifying the people involved, and escalating jobs where required.

In this way, the workflow capabilities allow more authors to be involved in the management of the site, while maintaining strict control over the quality, accuracy and consistency of the information.

Workflow rules bring order to the chaos of manual processes
 

Publishing

Once the final content is in the repository, it can then be published out to either the website or intranet.

Content management systems boast powerful publishing engines which allow the appearance and page layout of the site to be applied automatically during publishing.

Sites looks different, so the CMS lets the graphic designers and web developers specify the appearance that is applied by the system.

These publishing capabilities ensure that the pages are consistent across the site and enable a very high standard of appearance.

This also allows the authors to concentrate on writing the content, by leaving the look of the site entirely to the CMS.

The CMS fully automates the publishing of your site.
 

Presentation

The content management system can also provide a number of features to enhance the quality and effectiveness of the site.

It makes it easy to support multiple browsers, or users with accessibility issues. The CMS can be used to make your site dynamic and interactive, thereby enhancing the site’s impact.

Your customers will find your site more often, experience a secure shopping experience, and hopefully hang around your site longer browsing the content of your site.

eCommerce - Marketplace - iStore

We can fully integrate your products into a store with the rest of your web site. It can be used to sell shippable goods, downloadable products, recurring memberships, event tickets, and enable complex interactions through various add-on contributions.

Local e-commerce just got easier,  with the partnership between First National Bank and PayPal that enable South Africans to sell to PayPal's global customer base and move the proceeds to their qualifying FNB accounts - without having to share their personal or financial information online.

The service also allows customers to top up and withdraw funds to their qualifying FNB accounts from their PayPal accounts. PayPal has more than 81-million accounts in 190 markets around the world.