Our guide: Which CMS suits your company best?

One of the most important things to think about when creating a website is which content management system (CMS) best suits your needs. Let’s dive into the advantages and disadvantages of the most popular publishing tools on todays market.

Caroline Andrea Furu • 7 Nov, 2022 • 5 Min. read

There are a lot of publishing systems to choose from. The best solution for you depends on which features are most important to you.

You may want to test out the free versions of several different publishing tools to see which one you find most intuitive and user-friendly. We’ll return to this later in the article. But first:

What exactly is a CMS?

CMS is an abbreviation for Content Management System, and is a tool that allows you to create and edit a website. This can include anything from your own website to a business website, a blog, a news website, or an online store.

When choosing a publishing system, you should think about the main function your website needs.

All the publishing systems have their own specialized areas – Shopify, for example, specializes in good online store solutions, and WordPress is a good all-around publishing system that don’t require prior knowledge in order to get started.

Shopify

What it’s used for: Shopify is the world’s leading platform, where you can easily create your own online store. It’s also a good platform for developers when they need to create more advanced online stores for their customers.

This is Shopify:

This is a solution that suits both small and large businesses. Shopify makes it easy to set up your online store, move it to your own domain, run campaigns, and monitor sales.
Shopify has a large selection of themes that allow you to choose the design you want and the features you need. You can choose between free and paid themes. It might be smart to start with a free theme. Eventually, you should switch to a paid theme to get all the features you need for your online store.
Shopify is based in Canada, but works just as well for Nordic online stores. All content can be written in your preferred language, you can use the most common Nordic payment solutions, and specify your preferred currency.
Shopify is simple and user-friendly and has a support team that can be contacted 24/7 if anything should happen.

WordPress

What it’s used for: In the beginning, WordPress was mostly used as a blogging platform. Gradually, the publishing system became more and more advanced. Now it’s the world’s most used CMS, and can be used for everything from creating a simple website to advanced websites with an online store.

This is WordPress:

WordPress is a so-called open-source CMS, which means that you can change anything you want in the source code yourself. If you don’t have experience with HTML and CSS, you can get help from a developer for this.
The publishing tool gives you a lot of options, even if you have no experience with publishing or design. You can choose from many different themes, plugins, and features on the platform.
The themes make it easy to create a responsive design that works just as well on mobiles as on desktops.
There are many SEO plugins, such as Yoast SEO, which allow you to see what steps you should take to make your content more visible on Google.

Squarespace

What it’s used for: Squarespace is a simple and user-friendly platform that’s especially suited for small businesses or self-employed people.

This is Squarespace:

Squarespace is known for its many beautiful and minimalistic templates. It’s easy to create a professional and modern design, and the platform is especially suitable for people who have a portfolio or CV that they want to show off.
Unlike, for example, WordPress, it’s not possible to edit the source code in Squarespace. This means that you don’t get as many advanced functions as other publishing systems offers.
Squarespace doesn’t have a free plan like WordPress, but you can try the publishing system free of charge for 14 days.

Wix

What it’s used for: Wix is an easy-to-use publishing tool that’s especially good for beginners. The publishing system has a simple drag-and-drop interface, and you don’t need any experience to use it.

This is Wix:

If you want to create a simple website, you can do it for free with Wix. But to get rid of ads on the website, you need to upgrade your plan (from $4.50 – $26 a month).
Wix has a lot of options for most blogs and websites. You can choose from hundreds of different templates, and get access to customer support 24 hours a day, over 250 apps, and a free SSL certificate.
One disadvantage of Wix is that you have to upgrade to a more expensive plan to get many essential features, such as information on the number of visitors and conversions

Make your company visible online

Journey Agency can help you create a well-structured website. By letting us take over the web development, you get a website that is:

Responsive
User-friendly
Search engine optimized
Affordable in operation
Easy to navigate and publish in

A good website gives your customers a good impression of your company – in addition to creating traffic, conversions, and increased sales.