Is a free CMS a good idea for my site?
Many of you are looking for a solution for your website. The word free CMS comes up a lot: what can you expect? Let's take a look at the different CMSs in order to understand them better.
Why create a website?
The need to create a website
You need to have a presence on the Internet, whatever your activity: service provider, seller of goods or even an association or institution. People need to be able to find you on a search engine, locate you, find out your opening times, your contact details, etc.
But how do you create a site?
How do you create a site? You don't do any programming, you don't speak three words of HTML - that famous web language - and you're not a geek by any stretch of the imagination. Are there any tools for novices? Can you do without learning to code or using the paid services of a developer?
The solution: open source CMS
While some webmasters still create their framework themselves, most use what are known as CMS (Content Management Systems). Based on WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) logic, they allow you to create a site in visual form, without having to code. There are free CMSs available, and we'd like to point you in the direction of these.
What should you bear in mind when creating a website?
Free CMS does not mean zero expenditure
Some CMS are free. However, this does not mean that you will pay nothing for your site. Unless you're satisfied with a totally unprofessional URL (Uniform Resource Locator), flanked by an extension like www.votremarque.wordpress.com with the basic formula of a basic platform like wordpress. No, to have a dynamic site, your platform will have to be chosen wisely and you will necessarily have to spend money, if only to be hosted, and that's even with free and easy software, as is the case with CMS made simple for example.
Create your website with seriousness
Your website is the image of your company. An unprofessional URL brings your business into disrepute. And yet it's a medium with which you hope to create engagement: attracting new prospects, for example, or building customer loyalty. With the creation of a website, a start-up can succeed in attracting investors, convincing financiers or uniting people around its project.
Creating a site to give buyers confidence
If you want to sell online, the URL is an essential element of assurance for the buyer. They will only fill in a contact form and pay for their order, by entering their credit card numbers, if they feel confident. An interface that doesn't flow smoothly for Internet users reflects an amateurish attitude and sows doubt in people's minds, which can cause you to miss the sale.
Consider the question of hosting
"To host my site, I go with the cheapest host". This is probably what you're thinking, because like the URL, you can save on hosting costs. The easy way out, yes, but not recommended. Firstly, because it makes you dependent on third parties for something as important as your image. Secondly, because it is offset by the presence of random advertising on your site, which is never a guarantee of professionalism. So simplicity and efficiency are not on the side of economy.
What should you do before choosing content management tools?
Three choices to make
For your website, you will have to pay the costs associated with renting your domain name (between €8 and €14 per year) and the subscription to the hosting company (between €4 and €6 per month). So you need to make three choices: a registrar, a host and a CMS-type tool.
Having a technical base
As you can see, setting up a website involves many different aspects. There are many players involved and many different recommendations. To find your way around, it's best to know your way around, or to have the patience and curiosity to learn: there's no shortage of tutorials on the web.
Learning Wordpress
A CMS such as wordpress runs under Apache and allows you to configure CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), rather than using an HTML text editor. Its intuitive use and easy installation - by downloading it from the .org site and then transferring it from your FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client, having created your MySQL database beforehand - will enable you to understand the basics of the content management system and effortlessly acquire a good level in terms of responsive web design, i.e. accessibility for web users. Alternatively, some web hosts offer one-click modules.
Other free CMS for creating and customising your website
Other solutions exist, such as Drupal, Joomla and Xoops. All of them offer greater flexibility when it comes to customising or redesigning your site, although you will obviously need to imagine your interface based on a template before generating it. You can never move forward blindly, even less so with a customisable site. The fact remains that these tools are ideal for content managers developing their own site. The degree of knowledge required by each varies. Beware, however, because the landscape is changing: some CMS solutions are born and don't last: like Mambo, which has been abandoned since 2013.
Paid CMS for beginners
How are they sold?
Other CMS are not free. In this case, the buyer is automatically offered support and a kit to create a site without any prior knowledge. This is the case with e-monsite, for example. These CMSs generally operate on a subscription basis.
A complete package
To simplify the process and avoid having to deal with multiple people, many offer a complete package with all the necessary plugins. This is the case with Weebly, for example. You are guided through all the steps, and only have one supplier to interface with.
Staying vigilant
The landscape is changing, and so are the services offered. One example is Prestashop cloud, whose service was interrupted at the beginning of the year, prompting all members to migrate to a partner hosting provider. In other cases, it was the compliance of the GTCs (General Terms and Conditions of Sale) that posed a problem, as was the case with Wix for a time.
Marketplaces as alternatives
Some service providers offer to create a space on a marketplace, such as Shopify. However, be careful to assess the costs involved. Over the long term, this type of solution may cost you more than another alternative.
When choosing your CMS, beyond the price, the functional aspect of the possibilities offered, the security dimension of the system and the associated quality of referencing are all points to consider carefully. If you're a novice, don't make the mistake of trying to do everything yourself: you'll spend time that could be better spent developing your business, for example.
Article translated from French