Content is the lifeblood of your website and your business. It’s no longer enough to simply have content on your site, you need to manage it in a way that allows you to create, edit, format, and publish as quickly as possible.
At its core, this is what enables you to provide a great user experience for visitors who read your content or interact with it in different ways (such as through social media posts). Your brand needs to stay relevant and up-to-date on digital channels, but not all companies have the tools necessary to keep their websites up-to-date with new content.
The evolution of content management
Content management systems (CMS) are the backbone of most websites. They provide a way for non-technical people to manage their own site’s content and functionality while also providing developers with a set of tools they can use to build new websites or edit existing ones.
CMS evolved from simple file management systems that allowed users to upload files and folders onto their servers. Then, software companies built CMS products on top of these earlier systems, eventually leading to what we know today as “content platforms” or CSPs. CSPs offer more features than traditional CMS but still allow for user-friendly editing capabilities by layering on top of these older technologies.
Move to the cloud
A content platform is a cloud-based platform that allows you to manage all of your content needs in one place, including:
- Content management software
- Web content management systems
- Web content management tools
- Web content management features
Improve your UX
If you’re not making your users feel good, you need to make a change. The key to understanding how your users feel about using your product is by listening to what they say and observing their behavior. You can do this through customer feedback, surveys and other forms of user research.
To get started with UX design for content platforms, we recommend using a customer feedback tool like Type form (which is also our preferred tool for collecting data).
Integrating your technology stack
It’s not enough to understand where your content is, what it looks like, and how it’s being used. You also need to know how all this information integrates with your other systems.
- Integrations with other systems
- Integrations with legacy systems
- Integrations with third-party systems (e.g., CRM)
- Integration with internal systems (e.g., accounting)
- Integration with external systems (e.g., customer support or marketing automation)
Accessibility and usability on any device
- Content is accessible on any device.
- Content is available in a variety of languages.
- People with disabilities can view content.
Learn when it’s time to switch to a cloud-based content services platform.
- When you need to scale.
- When you want to manage content from one place.
- When you need to improve UX.
- When you want to integrate your technology stack.
- And when your organization’s needs are changing, some of those answers may also change.
Conclusion
If you’re considering switching to an open-source content services platform, now is the time to do it. With the number of tools available and their increasing popularity, there’s no better time than now. The best part? It doesn’t have to be difficult or costly. By choosing a solution that meets your needs and budget requirements, free or paid, get started immediately!
