What makes a good CMS?
There are some informed decisions you can make when evaluating website development companies and the CMS they use:
Choose a commercial or open source CMS, not a proprietary "we created it" CMS.
Your entire site relies upon your CMS. A company that created its own "in house" CMS may not allow you to move your site off of their servers or let another company work on your site. With a commercial, publicly-available CMS, your website won't be tied for life to your website design company, and you will be able to shop around if they become too expensive or your relationship sours.
Choose a solution over a service.
While some of our very large clients have chosen commercial CMS solutions that include annual licensing fees, for small- to medium-sized companies this should never be required. Companies some times charge this to offset the development costs for their proprietary, home-brewed CMS systems, but we feel the only time these fees should be paid is if the commercial license requires it (and in those cases, 100% of the fee goes directly to those companies).
Choose something that fits your available resources.
Content Management Systems require a certain amount of time and skill to manage properly. Choosing a CMS that is beyond your available resources is the same as not having one at all (since you will never use it). Ask the company for a demonstration, or actually take the time to practice with it before spending your money.
Look for added value (not added costs).
Many CMS systems include a great deal of default functionality, like news lists, calendars, and image galleries. Make sure that all of this functionality doesn't come with premiums attached (though expect to pay more for specialty or custom development).
Is it mature and modern?
Technologies have changed greatly over the last few years, and if your CMS hasn't kept up, it will increase your workload and decrease your site's effectiveness. Concepts like "SEO", "friendly URLs" and "accessibility compliant" might sound like technobabble, but they will greatly impact your site's success.
