Websites are an important part of your business. They operate as a virtual shopfront, a cyber window into your world. A content management system migh be exactly what you need, but there are times when a CMS is overkill.

When is a CMS right and when will "just a static site" do?

The key answer lies in what you want to use the webite for. "Just a static site" sells it short. It's very easy to get caught up in the latest buzzwords of the web. You should never lose sight of the real goals of your website.

Case 1

Sparkies is a small electrical contractor who does electrical wiring and data cabling. They want a presence on the net. What do they need to tell their audience?

1. The type of work they do.
2. The geographical area the work in.
3. Business hours
4. Contact information

The content isn't going to change much, so a CMS would be too much. A brochure will do just fine.

Case 2

Buntry Baldross & Croop are an accounting firm. They have a customer base that needs to be kept up to date with the latest infomation. They are constanty uploading the latest news to their site.

They want groups of users to have various levels of access to the site. They want their customers to log in to get access to information that a casual visitor won't see. Staff will be updating information on the site. A CMS is the obvious solution for them.