Do you have a content management system?

I have encountered this question several times and many many arguments from people.

Based on my experience, the best time to implement a CMS system is when you have decided redoing your website. Well am not saying that a CMS cannot be implemented for an existing site. This is very much possible if your site is straight forward, else you will end up investing much time and cost for casting your site to fit into the CMS without “customizations”. If you are ready for a compromise you may not fall into the above situation.

You need to ensure that the need for CMS is communicated to the team working on the website well in advance and if you have any particular CMS in mind, that too. Many often it happens that the design is quite difficult for a CMS as the designer is trying to show his best!

So you've decided that a content management system (CMS) is right solution for you, well there is some more things you need to know more now. I have tried to put these in the sections below.

Deciding your CMS

This section is comparatively easier than the next one :)

1. Inform your agency to design a website with DIV Based Layout and CSS. Now it is necessary to have a CMS to have a DIV based publishing. From my experience most of the CMS systems are designed this way
   
2. What kind of CMS? Typically this can be categorized into 2
   - Open source CMS (some may have some paid service)
   - Enterprise level CMS
   
   I would say you should decide on a CMS tool that matches your agency’s capability. I have seen many instances where the client insists for a CMS system and the agency will make this works in the scare of losing business. The problem starts when a customization is required or when problem arises. I would always prefer a CMS that has an online support, this can be even a open source.
   
3. Ensure that the CMS is SEO friendly. The easiest way to ensure this is to check whether the CMS supports Permalink
   
4. Non-technical CMS – The users of the CMS should be able to update the content with several clicks without knowing HTML, CSS etc. This should be as easy as using a MS Word or any editing software of this kind. The CMS can have many advanced function like workflow, queuing etc it should not be confusing the user
   
5. Ensure that your CMS is adequate enough to handle web vulnerabilities plays. Today the online script vulnerabilities are very high and you don’t want the website to go down due to this

I made a sincere effort to see which is the best CMS in terms of implementation and customization . Follow this link to know what others say...

http://www.linkedin.com/answers/technology/web-development/TCH_WDD/429527-15102360