You may be thinking to yourself:

“I’m not that good with computers and I am not sure which CMS to use. I just want it to look good, work and be easy to use.”

Unfortunately, sorting through and selecting a CMS is not easy. There are literally thousands of CMS’s  (Content Management Systems) out there,  some of which are ‘open source’ (free); and some that aren’t.  You could spend weeks trying to evaluate the pros and cons of each one (but we do not recommend that).   Picking the wrong system and the wrong team can cost you a ton in the end.

For example, one of our clients had a website built using  ColdFusion CMS.  For the features they desired, it required a ton of custom development and was not easy to hand off to another firm. Over several years, they spent over $300,000 when they probably could have spent as little as $30,000 for the same features and a similar look and feel.

This issue is complicated by the fact that designers have often gone to school, and learned one CMS or another, which has become outdated or undesirable for other reasons prior to graduation: now they will protect their outdated and/or limited skill-set by strongly recommending what they know, at the expense of the client.

We highly recommend main-stream “open-source’ or free CMS software selection for a number of reasons:

• There will always be a steady supply of up-to-date improvements and upgrades available
• There will always be a ready pool of qualified professionals, available who are able to work with the software
• The software is free, allowing a grater budget for customization, and marketing

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