How to Choose the Best CMS to Create Aesthetic Websites
Website aesthetics are more than just a glam-up game. It is now a quintessential element to capture the user’s attention and establish trust to drive conversions. As humans, we emphasize visuals; therefore, aesthetic designs can draw us in and evoke feelings, and research suggests that they can influence our decisions. Therefore, websites with appealing aesthetics help create a positive first impression, establishing trust and credibility with the audience.
You will need to have the support of engaging visuals that keep users on the website longer. This can help take desired actions, like making a purchase, purchasing or signing up for a newsletter. The longer your users stay, the higher the chances of converting them.
How your website looks is important but then the types of CMS you pick can determine how those designs take shape. In this article, we’ll dive into key factors, highlighting major factors to consider when choosing the best CMS to create an aesthetic website.
#1. Functionality
The CMS functionality involves a toolkit to provide ease-of-use, intuitiveness, and user-friendliness for a website. It includes visual design elements and user interfaces that help create and manage website content.
What Does It Entail?
Functionality will involve a set of features in the CMS that are engineered for user-friendliness, straightforwardness and a welcoming interface that interacts with websites. This extends to design elements enhancing visuals to assist users in managing digital content effectively.
Importance
A robust CMS helps meet diverse business requirements. Although captivating design captures user attention, the functionality retains their interest. Without proper function, users could face slow response time or navigation problems leading to a less than satisfactory experience. Here, an ideal CMS blends pleasing aesthetics and dependable functionality.
Comparison
While many CMSs like Joomla, Drupal, and Squarespace offer a decent range of features, WordPress stands out for its extensive plugin ecosystem. It allows users to extend its functionality far beyond its core features.
#2. User-Friendliness
When you consider the user-friendliness of CMS, you’ll need to gauge it based on how intuitive and easy it is for users to understand and operate without requiring advanced technical skills. It is so since CMS bridges intricate digital platforms and non-technical individuals looking to establish their digital presence.
What Does It Entail?
User-friendliness in a CMS goes beyond just gauging an intuitive dashboard. It involves navigating features like drag-and-drop functionalities, clear on-screen instructions, and responsive design adaptability. A truly user-friendly CMS will also provide robust support documentation and active community forums to ensure users have resources to counter any challenges.
Importance
A user-friendly CMS enables users (even those with limited to no tech background) to handle their website updates effortlessly. It eliminates the need for constant technical support and empowers users to maximize their online presence.
Comparison
Compared to other CMS, WordPress takes the lead in user-friendliness, thanks to its intuitive Gutenberg editor. While many other CMS platforms require a bit of a learning curve, WordPress stands out for its simplicity and user-centric approach, making it a top choice for those prioritizing ease of use.
#3. Customization
Pick a CMS that allows you to easily adapt to your business needs. For better aesthetics, choose one that can be tailored to your design preferences without losing functionality.
What Does It Entail?
At its core, a highly customizable CRM offers diverse themes that help set the visual tone, plugins to extend functionality, and the capacity to inject custom code for bespoke features. The platform must support both visual appeal and backend flexibility without losing functionality.
Importance
A versatile CMS becomes an indispensable digital asset as businesses expand their online presence. It should offer flexibility, ensuring the website can evolve in design and functionality to align with the brand’s growth and shifting audience expectations. By staying adaptive, businesses can continuously refresh their image, ensuring they always meet the latest trends and user preferences.
Comparison
WordPress offers the best balance among leading CMS platforms regarding ease and adaptability. While Joomla and Drupal offer robust flexibility. However, they can be complex for beginners. That’s where most businesses using Drupal would often need Drupal to WordPress migration services to leverage extensive plugins and themes, standing out in terms of versatility and scalability.
Similarly, Wix is user-friendly, has a good site speed, and massive template collection. However, the website builder needs advanced customization, its templates aren’t interchangeable, and analytics requires users to sign up for a paid plan.
When picking the best CMS for your website, it’s critical to consider these pros and cons. This will help you make the best decision when building an aesthetically pleasing website.
#4. Scalability
Scalability in a CMS refers to its ability to handle growth in managing web traffic, content, or media. Also, it involves ensuring consistent performance and a smooth user experience as the CMS scales without compromising speed or performance.
What Does It Include?
A CMS aimed at quality aesthetics will be scalable to be adept at managing rising user traffic and expanding volumes of content, from articles to multimedia. It should also be able to seamlessly integrate new features through plugins or extensions, ensuring database efficiency even as it balloons in size.
Importance
A scalable CMS is important since it requires the website to accommodate visitor surges while assuring swift load times and fluid user interactions. It also ensures a consistent user experience and positions the business for unhindered digital growth and evolution.
Comparison
If we consider the scalability factor of CMS when choosing one for aesthetics, WordPress leads the way when paired with a robust hosting partner. Other CMS options, while scalable, often mandate a deeper dive into technical nuances, demanding a steeper learning curve or additional resources.
#5. Security
Sure, you have aesthetic decisions to make for creating an intuitive website. But do you know that a website safety plan is also one of the key aspects to consider when choosing the best CMS? If you go beyond just look-and-feel, CMS involves tools that offer website security over the cloud. For this, you’ll need to rely on cloud security posture management (CSPM) that boasts security tools to monitor any slip-ups and ensure seamless website operations.
You’ll thus need CMS which enables continuous scanning of cloud services to detect misconfigurations, unauthorized access, and other vulnerabilities. Here, integrating CSPM demonstrates your commitment to providing unmatched customer experience, reinforcing the stance on cybersecurity.
What Does It Entail?
A highly secured CMS will provide consistent software updates to address newly targeted vulnerabilities. Also, it lets you integrate security plugins, enabling Secure Socket Layer (SSL) for encrypted and secure data transfer, and providing secure coding standards to reduce risks.
Importance
Statista reports 236.1 million global ransomware attacks in 2022, where such cyberattacks caused damages worth $8.4 trillion. With websites at the frontline of cyber-attacks in our digital age, a robust security framework within a CMS isn’t just desirable; it is essential.
Comparison
Despite being a prime target due to its large user base, WordPress’s regular updates and abundant security plugins bolster its defenses. While platforms like Drupal or Joomla offer built-in security, WordPress leverages its vast plugin ecosystem for protection. Committing to security best practices is essential for any CMS to counter cyber threats.
#6. Affordability
Cost-effectiveness is an important factor when determining the right CMS. Affordability doesn’t mean the initial cost but includes the long-term expenditures, such as maintenance, updates, and extensions. For an aesthetic website, while visuals take the most of the priority, the CMS should provide value without breaking the bank.
What Does It Entail?
In evaluating the cost-effectiveness of a CMS, consider various facets of expenditure. This includes checking up on initial setup charges, licensing fees, and recurring costs for maintenance and updates. Also, consider other expenses like premium features, specialized themes or plugins, and the additional charges associated with scaling, security measures, and other integrations.
Importance
Every business operates with a budget, so the chosen CMS should fulfill immediate requirements while being cost-efficient. Excessive costs can drain resources and make it difficult for businesses, especially startups or SMEs, to maintain and upgrade their online presence.
Comparison
WordPress is an open-source CMS that eliminates initial licensing fees, though premium elements may have costs. While platforms like Squarespace or Wix have recurring fees, Joomla and Drupal, despite being open-source, might entail expenses for custom features. WordPress tends to be more cost-effective, especially with its free resources, but ongoing hosting, maintenance, and security costs can impact long-term affordability.
Conclusion
The above-discussed are just five of the many aspects that you’ll need to consider when opting for the best CMS. It is all about striking the perfect balance between aesthetics, functionality, user-friendliness, customization, scalability, and security.
While there are pros and cons to choosing WordPress as your CMS, you will have an edge due to multiple factors. It not only simplifies operations for beginners but also serves the needs of advanced users, making it a holistic choice to build dynamic, secure, and aesthetically appealing websites.