The Content Management System (CMS) heralded a new age. Adding information to the web was no longer the realm of a solitary webmaster and in theory, anyone inside an organisation could update content, post press releases and evolve the company's online presence easily. It was a revolution.

Using a CMS not only makes it so much simpler to update content and create new pages, it allows for the constant site-wide tweaks needed to coast through search engine algorithm changes. And once you have a dynamic URL rewriter, nothing should stand in the way of getting your unique compelling copy into the search engines and attracting all sorts of traffic. Content is “king” after all.

There is one major issue however. By de-centralizing the editorial process and giving multiple people the ability to add and change the website's copy, your content may actually suffer. Diluted keyword density (effecting search engines results), poor readability (incorrect grammar and sentence structure) and uncertain intent (not sales driven enough in tone) can lead to disastrous copy. Bad writing is jarring for the user and detracts from your business acumen. Even with an Editor to oversee new content, there may be inconsistencies between writers and the process of editing and optimising content can be time consuming, bringing your “instant” CMS process to a standstill.

A Solution?

Designers of bespoke content management systems for large ecommerce websites know the many benefits of CMS and are not prepared to go back to the “dark ages”. The challenge for the designers, developers and day to day users of content management systems is to ratify the search engine and syntax issues, while continuing to empower web writers.

The answer to this challenge may come from re-centralizing the final steps of the edit process while still giving individual writers the flexibility to add content themselves. Internet savvy companies are looking at ways to standardize their copy and make the output search engine effective, by evolving their content management platforms.

The result is proactive CMS with a built-in process to standardize and optimise new content, and the dawn of a new age when it comes to adding content to your website.