Content Management System

Why Build a Website with ExpressionEngine?

July 30th, 2010

We’ve designed and developed all sorts of sites at Digital Peabody — business and e-commerce, real estate, healthcare and more — most of which feature content management systems. (What’s a content management system, and why does my site need one?) Deciding which content management system (or CMS) is right for your company’s website requires knowing what can be done with each option. For many of the companies and organizations we work with, ExpressionEngine, an industry-leading CMS, is the right fit. In this post we’ll highlight the benefits of ExpressionEngine, and follow it up with a post about WordPress.

To begin with, there is almost no limit to what Digital Peabody can do with ExpressionEngine. One client, Matchstick Productions, needed a site that streams high-definition videos of extreme skiers and that was integrated with a Magento e-commerce system. We built them an ExpressionEngine site that does just that. Another client, THF Realty, needed a way to speed communication with retailers by posting documents for thousands of clients to download. We did that with ExpressionEngine, too. And we helped our friends at HuntFishGuide.com build a site to sort through thousands of hunting and fishing guides across the world, pick one out and book a trip, among other features. ExpressionEngine can provide all of that functionality and more — your imagination truly is the limit.

ExpressionEngine also has a huge community of creatives and developers all over the world, so that even if something isn’t immediately doable, there are thousands of people working on all sorts of extensions to suit any need a client may have. On its Digital Peabody-designed and -developed website, the St. Louis Jewish Community Center needed a massive calendar that serves over 15 internal departments, with both repeating events and one-off events, so we built in this extension to serve their needs. The Colorado Bankers Association wanted a site with member polls, so we found these two extensions and built them into the site. No matter how specific your web needs are, the vast assortment of ExpressionEngine extensions that are available ensure that your new site will work exactly how you want it to.

Another notable feature of ExpressionEngine is the ability to create customizable channels for your CMS. In other words, the information you are asked for when you are creating content for your site depends on what type of content you are posting. This allows us to exactly tailor your CMS to your needs.

ExpressionEngine has also never had a major security breach in over 10 years operating, and is very intuitive and easy to use. We’ll show you how to use your new CMS, and you’ll be keeping up a dynamic, interesting site in no time.

Want to learn more about ExpressionEngine and what it can do for your business? Contact Digital Peabody at 312-933-3430, and take a look at our featured sites for more examples.

Posted in Content Management System, Tips, Web Design, Website Development
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The Benefits of a Content Management System

July 16th, 2010

A content management system, or CMS, is a web-based interface through which site administrators can control what appears on their site — without needing any technical experience. Rather than having to code and upload a new static page for every additional page on a site, creating new pages with a content management system requires just a few clicks. At Digital Peabody, we’re often asked by customers about the benefits of having a CMS on their site, and we’ll run through a few below.

1. Ease of customization. With a CMS, quickly and efficiently changing content on your site is as easy as composing an e-mail. You don’t want your site to always look the same, nor do you want to have to call your developer every time you need to change a paragraph somewhere on your site.
2. Consistency. Pages created with a CMS automatically have a consistent aesthetic feel — you won’t have to keep tweaking minute HTML tags to get your pages to look the same. In addition, CMS-generated pages have the same meta structures, making the site more search-engine friendly as well as more navigable for users.
3. What you see is what you get. WordPress and ExpressionEngine, the two content management systems with which Digital Peabody works most often, both feature “what you see is what you get” (or WYSIWYG) editors, meaning what you see on the screen is what will appear on the page. Content creators don’t have to be HTML gurus to post through a CMS.
4. Separation of design and content. If your CMS-based site needs a design upgrade, it won’t mean you’ll lose the content you spent so much time working on, or have to copy-paste it into new pages. Instead, it’ll appear in the newly-redesigned pages, saving you a lot of time and effort.
5. Search engine optimization. Search engines value new content — easily posted through a CMS — as well as consistent site architecture, including metadata, URL structure, headings and more.
6. Multiple content creators. Since a site’s CMS is accessible over the web, anyone with the proper credentials can log in and post from anywhere with an internet connection.
7. Workflow management. WordPress and ExpressionEngine, as well as most other content management systems, can be configured so that users have different levels of access to the in order to ensure all posts go through adequate quality control before they are published to the web.
8. Multimedia posts. WordPress and ExpressionEngine make sharing photos and videos easy. There’s no need to go through all sorts of trouble with external photo and video hosting — just select and upload.
9. E-commerce. Digital Peabody also specializes in the industry-leading Magento e-commerce platform, which allows unprecedented flexibility for business owners looking to sell online. Magento has a variety of advanced features, including the ability to ship to multiple addresses for one transaction, create product bundles, offer coupons and more. Check out the business and e-commerce section of our portfolio here for some examples.

Want to learn more about content management systems and how they work? Contact Digital Peabody at 312-933-3430. Ready to begin? Get a free quote today, and take a look at our featured sites for examples of what a CMS can do for your website.

Posted in Content Management System, Tips, Website Development, Website Tips
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Content Management Systems Will Save You Time and Money

February 18th, 2008

Your website is a critical connection between you and your clients. And it’s nothing new to learn every successful website includes a strategy for publishing fresh, new content to your website. But we also know that the process can be tedious, an endless back and forth between your content provider and your website management team.  And god help you if you have breaking news, an error to correct quickly, or information that is time-sensitive.  And forget about weekends! 

Rather than paying a web master or a web design firms to make these updates, you can do it yourself. And not only don’t you have to know HTML, you don’t even have to know what HTML stands for!  A simple content management system allows you to easily maintain and publish content to your website directly, no middleman, no extra charge, no muss, no fuss.

For companies of all sizes and all budget levels, web design firms like Digital Peabody, offer web-based content management solutions that help you maintain a current, content-rich website. The content management system can be tailored for your organization’s website, creating simple templates for you to fill in, and point and click options that make updating your website as easy as filling in a simple form.

Your non-technical staff will be empowered with these easy-to-use tools, as basic to operate as Microsoft Word ®. If you can type a letter in Word®, change the font type, size, and alignment then you have all the skills needed to operate a content management system.  And even better, multiple contributors can publish to the website through the content management system so the work does not need to fall on one person’s shoulders.

You aren’t even limited to just text. You can also add graphics and pictures with the greatest of ease. And once you are comfortable with the system, adding sections and pages is just as easy.

A content management system can be the solution to most of your website maintenance and publication hassles. Digital Peabody’s team of experienced content management experts can help you best determine which solution can provide the most value for your organization. See how easy it is for yourself – give Digital Peabody a call at 303-468-5707 or send us an email to to request a 5-minute demonstration of a content management system.

Posted in Content Management System, Website Tips
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