Content Management Systems: The Battle Between Static and Dynamic Websites

When it comes time to decide that you or your business needs a website, there are many things that need to be considered. For many, the world of website development is a complete mystery. We hope this article provides you with a little ammunition to get in your prospective web designer’s door. When working with a web designer, you need to know what type of website will work best for your business. There are two different types of websites that you will need to consider: a dynamic website and a static website.

So what is the difference?

• static website: The pages of these websites are usually not updated, the content they contain remains the same, and is generally updated by the web designer if the need arises. These websites are best for businesses that want to convey basic information about their business and don’t intend to update their site frequently.
• dynamic website: The pages of these websites are always changing. Whether the website contains a blog or regularly updated information, it is always changing. These websites work best with a content management system (or cms) as they need to be updated quickly.

These are the two basic breakdowns of website types. So now is the time to ask yourself, “what kind of website do I need?” Depending on how much effort you’d like to put into your website, the decision can be quite simple, and here’s why. Search engines love content, and they love fresh, new content. Think of a website like a fruit basket. You start with a variety of fruit and as people get to the basket they start taking the fruit away and it has to be replenished.

On the other hand, if there is a second fruit basket, with already aged fruit, that basket will remain as it is and people will not enjoy your delicious fruit because it has been there for a long time. This is how search engines see a website. If the content stays the same, the spiders and search bots will gradually stop appearing and over time your website will move down the rankings. Regularly updated content creates an incentive for both the search engine and people to keep coming back.

Top 10 benefits of using a CMS on your website:

1. Easy to use: In most situations, a content management system will allow anyone to update content using a WYSIWYG editor.
2. No HTML coding required: This relates to the first benefit. Since your website will feature a WYSIWYG editor, updates will be made using an interface similar to popular word processing software instead of editing code.
3. Quick update: Updates that do not require HTML coding take much less time to create or edit. Simply write your article, bold a few sentences, create some headings and links, and your article is ready to publish.
4. Multiple Authors: With many open source CMS, with admin registration, multiple people can create content. By registering multiple authors on the back-end, you can create a workforce to keep your website up to date with new content and take some of the workload off of you.
5. Based on SQL database: With all your content stored in a database instead of HTML files, it saves a lot of space and creates better organization. This results in almost unlimited articles and content and much faster load times!
6. Separation of design and content: Are you afraid of letting other people update your site? Are you afraid to update your own site for fear of messing up the design? Fear no more! A content management system is based on a database, so you can create and update all of your website content in a completely design-free environment, which means no more accidental HTML deletion.
7. Admin Backend: With many open source content management systems, there are two administration panels. One front end panel and one rear end panel. Separating the two allows you to have multiple people working on the website and gives you control over who has access to which features.
8. Optimized for search engines: Most CMS have some sort of built-in SEO functionality. This means that your website will have the ability to place keywords in its URLs, which means a better chance of being found in search results.
9. fresh content: With an easy-to-use system, you’re more likely to spend more time developing content and less time coding. The better your content and the more you have, the more likely you are to attract customers and keep them coming back.
10. Secure website: Most good content management systems will have built-in updating and security features. This means upgrading is easier and more likely to happen frequently. A website that is regularly updated with the latest security software is much less likely to fall victim to an attack!

By using a content management system on your personal or business website, you increase its functionality exponentially. Whether you need a simple business website or a complex social media system, content management systems offer something for everyone.

Check out these great content management systems:

• Joomla! (Used by myRise Design)
• WordPress (ideal for blogs)