Web Content Management Software Features
Web content management products can vary widely, but all of them have approximately the same base features at their core. These are features you can expect in most, if not all, web content management systems.
Content Authoring – Drafting and publishing content is intuitive and non-technical.
Rich Text Editor – Formatting content is straightforward and painless.
Versioning – Keep track of incrementally changing versions of the same content.
Plugins/Widgets/Apps – Available gadgets and modules suit the needs of your site and are easily incorporated onto the page.
Approval Process – Can easily institute an approval routing process between authors and editors.
Content Scheduling – Easily schedule content to be published at a certain time and in a certain order.
Asset Management – System allows the storage and management of rich media files.
Internal Search – Able to search your content based on keyword, metadata, tags, etc.
Content Repository – Content—both published and yet-to-be published—can be intuitively managed, edited, tagged, approved, and stored.
Additional Web Content Management Software Features
Plenty of web content management products have started offering additional features aside from the typical functionality expected. There is plenty of variation within WCM products, and these are examples of a few of the features we have seen offered by some.
Prebuilt Templates – The software provides a wide breadth of free or purchasable site templates that are attractive and suited to your web pages' needs.
Mobile Templates – Effective mobile templates are available and easily customizable.
Branding/Themes – Consistent design elements across sites (including personalized brand components) unites web pages into a coherent online presence.
Customization – The visual appearance of web pages can be easily customized to fit your site’s needs.
User Community – The system has a large and interactive community of users.
SEO – Pagination, page headers and titles, meta tags, and URL structure all contribute to site SEO.
Flexible Navigation Structures – Users are able to build out different and multiple taxonomies to store and index content.
User Access and Permissions – The ability to grant access to select data, features, objects, etc., is based on the users, user role, groups, etc.
Internationalization – Enables users to view and interact with the same content in multiple languages.
Dashboard and Reports – Access pre-built and custom reports and dashboards.
Application Programming Interface (API)/Integrations – This specifies how the application communicates with other software. APIs typically enable integration of data, logic, objects, etc., with other software applications.
Enterprise Scalability – Provides features to allow scaling for large organizations or an expansive web presence.
Potential Issues with Web Content Management Software
The resources required to effectively maintain a digital brand aren’t cheap. Open-source implementations have the added cost of developer resources, which can be fulfilled in house or through contracted services. Even proprietary vendors with customer support often still require substantial resources to configure and troubleshoot the system. This cost persists for sites that need continual customization or recur when a firm decides to upgrade software versions.
