I think every website should have a Content Management System (CMS). Fortunately website owners are starting to think so too, but I still occasionally encounter a customer who doesn’t see the need or benefit of having a CMS.

Here are 10 reasons every website needs a Content Management System.

1. Fresh content = happy visitors. Who wants to read stale information?
2. A CMS can minimize broken links. A good CMS will manage website navigation for you and reduce the likelihood of Page Not Found errors.
3. Consistency improves usability. A CMS can enforce navigational or style consistencies that improve the user experience.
4. Global changes are more easily made. Try manually changing an image on every page of a 300 page site and it’ll be obvious why a CMS is great.
5. Content collaboration is easier. Allow subject matter experts to all contribute to the site’s content directly through the CMS.
6. Most sites are a work-in-progress. A CMS facilitates the frequent “tweaks” or revisions that are inevitable with any large amount of content.
7. Multi-lingual sites are becoming more important. Creating and managing multiple language versions of a website without a CMS is extremely inefficient.
8. Alternative maintenance methods require too much expertise. Managing a website from a web browser is far easier than hand-coding and FTPing files.
9. A new website design shouldn’t mean all of the content is irrelevant. A CMS allows you to “reskin” a website without rewriting all of the content.
10. Website management can be expensive without a CMS. Paying a programmer by the hour for website revisions can cost $50-100/hr.

What benefits do you see in having a CMS? Post a comment and share your opinion on the pros and cons of managing a website by using a Content Management System.