A static website is built in HTML code and can only be updated by a trained web developer. In contrast, a website that uses a content management system (or CMS) can be edited, expanded and updated by regular users and administrators. There are 2 main benefits of using a CMS for your site:

1. Content can be easily maintained, which will help you achieve a fresher, content-rich site that ultimately delivers better results.
2. Your website can be maintained by your existing staff, which reduces the ongoing maintenance costs.

Most good content management systems work by organising the text, images and files for your site within a database. Changes to your site can be made through a special database interface. Each page of your web site is then programmed to link to the CMS to retrieve the appropriate content for the page. Every time a page is visited it checks the database for its content, so any updates that are made to the CMS are immediately visible on your site. No special software is required for visitors to view a content managed web site because when the web server sends your web pages to the visitor they are sent as plain HTML, so it looks and works just like a static site.

A good CMS should not require you to install any special software on your computer and you should not need to learn HTML or other coding languages. Your CMS should allow you to use HTML (if you want to), and to change fonts or layouts. Finally, but importantly, a good CMS will be fast, secure, simple and easy-to-use.

BYOWEB is passionate about content management and for several years the provision of Content Management Systems (CMS) has been a cornerstone of our services. Our content management systems empower our clients to perform a range of tasks for which they previously needed to hire professional developers (like us). We believe that when a company can update the content (text, images, files or other data) of their own website then the site tends to:

• be more accurate and up-to-date
• have more content, structured more appropriately for visitors
• be more popular and successful
• be better value for money over its lifetime

However, the main reason that we are so committed to content management is that our clients love to be able to update their own content. Our commitment to making CMS affordable and successful for our clients has led us to develop content management systems that end up being cheaper than static sites.

Custom-built content management systems are often required for larger and more complex projects. With several years experience in CMS design and development BYOWEB is uniquely capable in understanding, documenting and delivering the precise requirements for your project. Although web development companies have a reputation for losing direction with this type of project, leading to budget and timeline blow-outs, BYOWEB has a refined and proven project methodology that will ensure that your project runs smoothly.

Open Source Content Management Systems are geared towards smaller business with significantly smaller budgets. We have years of experience with the following open source systems:

• Drupal
• Joomla
• DotNetNuke
• Mambo
• nopCommerce