Your website says everything about your organization. It establishes credibility, explains what you do and may even be a tool for income generation. But how much time can you devote to tweaking, updating and fixing? Choosing the right content management system for your website can save you tons of time and effort - and can give your organization a fantastic spring clean. In this session, we'll review some of the top website platforms to consider when picking a new content management system for your organization. In particular, we'll review WordPress, Square, and Wix. We'll cover what each platform offers, their strengths and their weaknesses. At the end of the session, you'll have a understanding of the key questions you should ask your organization before making a final decision.

1. HOW TO CHOOSE A CMS FOR
YOUR NEXT WEBSITE
April 16, 2015
NetSquaredVictoria
ScottTowne

2. SUMMARY
1. Cliff Notes &
Recommendations (How
to decide in 1 minute)
2. What is a content
management system?
3. What are the top choices
to consider?
4. How to choose a CMS?

3. CLIFF NOTES
Section 1

4. • Who are we expecting to visit our site?
• What do I want my site to do now?
• What might I want my site to do in the future?
• How design-minded are we?
• How technically-minded are we?
BEFOREYOU CHOOSE A CMS

5. • Choose one that you like to use
• Choose one that matches your time and budget
• Choose one that has the looks & usability your
audience and organization relates with
• Choose one that has the features you need or
will need in the future
HOWTO CHOOSE A CMS?

6. • If you have zero budget - Weebly
• If you have minimal budget, but time - Squarespace
• If you have lots of time and technical interest - WordPress
• If you have several feature requirements - WordPress or
Squarespace (depending what the features are)
• If you don’t know what features you’ll need in the future
and you have budget - WordPress
• Not worth it for paid or free - Wix
RECOMMENDATIONS

7. WHAT IS A CMS?
Section 1

8. –wikipedia
“A content management system (CMS) is a computer
application that allows publishing, editing and
modifying content, organizing, deleting as well as
maintenance from a central interface.”

9. WHY WOULDYOU
WANT A CMS?
• Costs are typically lower than a fully custom site
• Allow you to manage your site (a little DIY)
• Add new content to your site when you want
• The site is adaptable as your organization changes

10. COMMON PHRASES
• Framework or Platform: the CMS itself
• Theme or Template: gives the site a specific style
and look
• Plug-in or App: adds functionality beyond the
framework

11. WHAT ARETHE CHOICES?
Section 2

13. WHAT IS IT?

14. THREE FLAVOURS

15. –WPMUDEV
“WordPress.org is open source blogging/CMS
software that powers 22 per cent of the web.The
software is a community-driven project and
WordPress.org is where you can download the
WordPress installation files, and search for and
download free themes and plugins.”

16. –WPMUDEV
“WordPress.com is a commercial website where you
can host a free site with some limitations or pay a
yearly fee to remove the restrictions.”

17. WordPress VIP is enterprise level hosting version of
WordPress.com for publishing massive amounts of
content.

21. PRICING?

22. WORDPRESS.ORG - HOSTING

23. WORDPRESS.COM - NO ADS

24. WORDPRESSVIP

25. LEARNING CURVE?

28. THEMES & PLUGINS?

29. WORDPRESS.COM 300+ THEMES

30. RESPONSIVETHEME

31. WORDPRESS.ORG 3,000+ THEMES

32. WORDPRESS.ORG 35,000+ PLUGINS

33. OTHER BENEFITS?

34. Content Organization - the best around

35. Community - WordCamps and Meet-Ups

36. Drag & Drop -Themes/plugins are available

37. Ethos - ‘Democratizing publishing on the Internet’.

38. OTHER DRAWBACKS?

39. Malicious - Popular with malicious code writers

40. Crashes- Requires updates & you can break it!

41. Official Support - none, but many active forums

42. OVERALL?

43. Powerful open-source software that can do anything
and grow for any size, but you need some technical
support to unleash that power.WordPress.com is
good for blogging or testing out WordPress, but not
fully featured enough for serious sites.

44. WHAT IS IT?

45. –wikipedia
“Wix.com is a cloud-based web development
platform that allows users to create HTML5 websites
and mobile sites, through the use of their online drag
and drop tools.”
”

46. LEARNING CURVE?

48. THEMES & PLUGINS?

49. 500+ THEMES

50. • Zero responsive themes - a mobile editor
instead
• Once you pick a theme, you cannot change

51. 250+ APPS

52. PRICING?

53. GET RID OF ADS

54. OTHER BENEFITS?

55. Placeholder content - makes it easier to edit and visualize

56. OTHER DRAWBACKS?

57. Two separate websites - the experience and
branding can feel inconsistent

58. Locked-In - exporting content not supported

59. OVERALL?

60. What you gain in the Wix editor and apps you lose in
mobile responsiveness, lack of theme changes requires
and you cannot export or your content.

61. WHAT IS IT?

62. –wikipedia
“Weebly is a web-hosting service that allows the user
to "drag-and-drop" while using their website builder.”
”

63. LEARNING CURVE?

65. THEMES & PLUGINS?

66. 125+ THEMES

67. • Themes are not responsive, but 20 different
mobile layouts that correspond to the
themes

68. PRICING?

69. NO HAPPY HOUR

70. OTHER BENEFITS?

71. IPAD DRAG & DROP APP

72. OTHER DRAWBACKS?

73. Two separate websites- the experience and
branding can feel inconsistent

74. RSS feeds - Only way to import or export content

75. OVERALL?

76. Weebly just kind of works, but you’ll want to be
careful about making your site and mobile versions as
close as possible. Editing your site on an iPad should
be fun (sometimes)!The big warning is that exporting
will be a pain if you want to change your CMS later.

77. WHAT IS IT?

78. –wikipedia
“Squarespace is a software as a service based
content management system (CMS) which is
composed of a website builder, blogging platform and
hosting service.”
”

79. LEARNING CURVE?

81. THEMES & PLUGINS?

82. 32 THEMES

83. PRICING?

84. BESTVALUE

85. OTHER BENEFITS?

86. MOBILE APPS

87. SINGLE PAGE SITES

88. DONATION SYSTEM

89. MIGRATETO WORDPRESS

90. OTHER DRAWBACKS?

91. AVANT GARDE DESIGNS

92. EDITORS COST MORE

93. OVERALL?

94. Squarespace has amazing designs, is easy to use and
a robust set of tools for supporting you organization
at a great price point.

95. HOWTO CHOOSE A CMS?
Section 3

96. • Who are we expecting to visit our site?
• What do I want my site to do now?
• What might I want my site to do in the future?
• How design-minded are we?
• How technically-minded are we?
BEFOREYOU CHOOSE A CMS

97. • Choose one that you like to use
• Choose one that matches your time and budget
• Choose one that has the looks & usability your
audience and organization relates with
• Choose one that has the features you need or
will need in the future
HOWTO CHOOSE A CMS?

98. • If you have zero budget - Weebly
• If you have minimal budget, but time - Squarespace
• If you have lots of time and technical interest - WordPress
• If you have several feature requirements - WordPress or
Squarespace (depending what the features are)
• If you don’t know what features you’ll need in the future
and you have budget - WordPress
• Not worth it for paid or free - Wix
RECOMMENDATIONS

99. CREATE CONTENT

100. HOW TO CHOOSE A CMS FOR
YOUR NEXT WEBSITE
April 16, 2015
NetSquaredVictoria
ScottTowne