Swan(sea) Song – personal research during my six years at Swansea ... and bey...
Netroots nation content management systems- what’s possible & best for your org-
1. Content Management Systems
What’s Possible & What's Best
for You and Your Organization?
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Temperature Check
• What is a CMS?
• Do you need a CMS?
• What is possible with a CMS?
• What to consider when choosing a CMS
• Recommendations
•Q&A
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
3. Introduction
Austen Levihn-Coon
Strategist
Fission Strategy
@AustenLC
austen@fissionstrategy.com
Austen provides innovative online consulting services to nonprofits and
foundations. He has worked with dozens of organizations to implement
the latest online technologies and build websites to create meaningful
change. Clients have included: MomsRising.org, Greenpeace, ONE,
Reform Immigration for America, J Street, NARAL Pro-Choice America,
and many more.
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
4. Background
• Fission Strategy
o Online Campaign Strategy
o Website Design & Development for Non-profits and
Foundations
o Social Media Integrations
o Facebook and Twitter Apps
o Online-to-Offline Campaigns
• Examples
o Jstreet.org
o DefineAmerican.com
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
6. What is a Content Management
System (CMS)?
• A content management system (CMS) is a computer
system that allows publishing, editing, and modifying
content as well as site maintenance from a central page.
• Content is created and edited on the web in an
administration portion of the web application (referred to
as the Backend). The resulting content is then displayed
to the viewers on the regular site (referred to as the
Frontend).
- From wikipedia.com and http://www.webdesignerdepot.com
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
7. Do You Need a CMS?
• Do you plan to regularly update your site?
• Do you plan to have a blog on your site?
• Will you update your site remotely?
• Who will update your site?
o Web Developers?
o Non-Web Developers?
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
8. What is Possible with a CMS?
• Low Barrier to Entry
o Tumblr.com
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
9. Tumblr: What is Possible
• Free
• Set up in 10 minutes
• Design and technical skills not necessary
• Attractive templates available for free
• Displays photo, video, text
• No traditional comments by default
• Limitations on layout design, features, etc.
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
10. What is Possible with a CMS?
• NationBuilder
o Easy to set up a basic campaign site using existing
templates
o Collect sign-ups
o Integrated with voter outreach and advocacy tools
allows you to run an e-advocacy campaign
o SMS & Email tool integration
o Custom needs require custom design and
development
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
11. What is Possible with a CMS?
• Enterprise Level CMS:
o Features:
Contextual Visitor Targeting
E-business set-ups
Multi-channel publishing
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
12. What is Possible with a CMS?
• Enterprise Level CMS:
o Features:
Easily run multiple websites through a single CMS
Set user-level permissions
Option to store assets on an S3 server
Support multiple languages
Customer Support
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
13. Middle Ground of CMS Options
• Open Source
o WordPress
o Drupal
o Joomla!
o Expression Engine
• Custom CMS
o Options of CMS’s that can be custom built for you.
• Proprietary CMS
o Provide support
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
14. Things to Consider
• Scope of Site and Site Content
o Regular Updates?
o Include a Blog?
o Multiple authors?
o Integrations:
o Online Toolkit
o Facebook App
o MeetUp
o Donations
o Custom Functionality
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
15. Things to Consider
• Organizational Goals
o Ease of Use
o Branding
o Visitor Targeting
o Advocacy and Sign-Ups
o Content Promotion
o Permission Levels
o Social integrations
Facebook, Twitter, your advocacy toolset, etc.
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
16. Things to Consider
• Organizational Tech & Design Capacity
o Do you have a tech savvy staff member who will be
making updates to the site.
o Good idea to have one person internally who will
own the site upkeep.
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
17. Things to Consider
• Budget
o Present
o Future
o Staffing
Are developers or support staff easily available
and are they expensive to hire?
• Do it Yourself?
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
18. Some CMS's
• Open Source Solutions:
o Drupal
o Joomla!
o Expression Engine
o Django
• Enterprise Level:
• CoreMedia
• CrownPeak
• RedDot
• Sitecore
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
19. Recommendations
• Include all stakeholders in the process
• If possible, hire an external party to do a
needs analysis – minimizes internal biases
and politics.
• Take your present and future organizational
needs and budget into consideration when
making the decision.
• Ultimately, your website should reflect your
organizational priorities.
#NN12CMS @AustenLC
Editor's Notes
----- Meeting Notes (6/8/12 14:12) -----Managing the design and development of websites and social media apps, all from the perspective of a practitioner and a grassroots organizer. I also provide strategic and hands-on support for online-to-offline campaigns. I am not a designer and a developer, but an everyday user who has experience with the tools available.
Building a new websiteRedesigning a websiteJust to LearnYou Build WebsitesHere on behalf of an org? Here for a site on for yourself?Other reasons?Lastly, how many of you are familiar with content management systems.How many are getting their first introduction today?Who can throw out a definition of what a CMS is?
FreeSet up in 10 minutesDesign and technical skills not necessaryGenerally attractive templates available for freeDisplays photo, video, textNo traditional comments by defaultCan’t run a campaign
FreeSet up in 10 minutesDesign and technical skills not necessaryGenerally attractive templates available for freeDisplays photo, video, textNo traditional comments by defaultCan’t run a campaign
If you are a bigger organization, with a broader reach and the ability to support it, you might want to consider an enterprise level CMS. Not worth the pain to deal with systems that aren’t built for your needsWill be trying to contort a CMS to meet your needs, that the CMS was not meant to fillHave personal support, don’t have to deal with forums, will have someone there to provide supportWill be able to do things that you could never do with WordPress, Drupal, or NationbuilderContextual Visitor TargetingAbility to change the content that is displayed to a visitor based on:IP Address and geographic locationIncoming URLBased on marketing data, can assign profiles to users and serve different content – women’s shoes on zappos, environmental news sitesE-business: easier out-of-the-box solutions for larger online storesMulti-channel publishing – optimized for mobile, tablet, desktop
Multiple websites – all run through the same site, content from one can easily be served to another site with appropriate design styles (CSS)User-level permissionsAllow an intern to write, but not publish contentAllow a field organizer to only access the blog for her stateOption to store assets on an S3 serverIn hight traffic scenarios, load is not being borne by your servers. Support multiple languagesCMS that is built to do thisIP detection, serve different default languageAbility to edit
Open Source Generally have a strong support forum and online communityCan often get a Extensions, plugins, add-ons, that can Caveat - Not necessarily tested, and often run into problems with version upgrades on your CMSCustom CMSWe have found that many of the out of the box type solutions need to be contorted too much to meet an advocacy campaign’s needs, and so will often recommend a custom-built CMS, however we have a strong base of existing code (open source) that we are building off of. Rarely recommend trying to build out a custom CMS on your ownProprietary CMSGenerally higher-endRecommend if you want to be able to have someone who you can call.