CMS and personalized websites; the best of both worlds

Collaboration – March 6, 2019

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Web sites have always been customized

Since the beginning of the Web in the 90’s, sites have been created with whatever popular theme of the moment, but especially, to the appeal of the customer. Everyone wants to stand out from the competition and the best way to do that is to create, with a made to measure design and code of a site, one “byte” at a time!

The advent of CMS changed everything!

Before the arrival of CMS (Content Management System), the client had to deal with a web developer to make changes, even the most rudimentary, such as a comma, to their website. Unless he had some knowledge of HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP.  Today, websites can still be done in this old-fashioned manner, but the problem persists when it comes to making corrections: the client must call a Web Developer.

The introduction of Web ecosystems like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal (and others), provided clients or employees assigned to the website an easier way to make changes to text, replace images (with some Photoshop knowledge), add PDF documents, change a call-to-action, etc. The list of possibilities is long.

Here are some impressive statistics on the use of various CMS

Since 2011, the number of websites made without the use of a CMS has gone down from 76% to 45%. The number of websites created with a CMS has risen from 13% to 33%. The gradual trend seems to be continuing and proves, to a certain extent, that customers want to be able to make changes themselves.

This graph demonstrates the market share that some CMS hold. It’s interesting to see that WordPress represents, as of today, 33% of all websites in operation. Even more impressive, they make up 60% of all CMS-based websites.

The best of both worlds

The ideal scenario is to offer a creative, unique and personalized website to the customer’s liking, while making it possible to modify almost all the content using the CMS.

Unfortunately for the client, a web developer will always be needed. For example, to change the structure of Web templates or to make changes that are found at the back-end level of the site.

All-dressed or tailor-made theme?

There has been a proliferation of themes of all kinds in recent years on various CMS’. This is an interesting option for customers who have a limited budget or for those who do not have time to wait the eight to ten weeks necessary for the development of their website, created from scratch. It is important on the other hand to choose a quality theme. Ideally, not very greedy on the resources of the web server and, user-friendly for updating content. The other disadvantage of a commercial theme accessible to all is that your site might look like that of your competitor.

There is a big advantage in offering a personalized website in a CMS versus an ‘all dressed’ theme. The site will contain only the features and codes necessary for its proper functioning.

There is an analogy that I like to use. Imagine someone renting a 10-room house and they only use one room and the kitchen. In the case of a CMS theme, all the codes that make the other empty parts work is still downloaded but does not serve for anything. I’m not even going to talk about plugins that can cause compatibility issues!

Our WordPress home theme, Exocore

Exocore is not really a theme. It’s more of a “framework” because it is constantly evolving. In addition, it adapts to the needs and realities of each client and project. 

Exocore is Gutenberg-ready!

The choice of WordPress as a CMS platform is evident, simply by its popularity, which leads to the growth of generous exchanges within its user community and growing developers.

The concrete benefits

The solution offered by ExoB2B translates into two major benefits for your business.

First, you get a unique site that stands out from the competition and helps differentiate your business. Our team works together with you to put forward the most important aspects of your offer. Customization is a must in B2B. In the distribution networks, in the purchasing process, in niche markets… the need to differentiate from competitors is a necessity. ExoCore provides the flexibility to achieve exceptional results.

Moreover, this flexibility is a solid and proven platform. Indeed, WordPress is so popular that it has become a standard in the industry. Your tailor-made site is supported by the latest technologies and by thousands of developers.

That’s why we can claim that our ExoCore-based websites really offer you the best of both worlds!

Would you like to know more? Contact our experts!

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