Choosing A CMS For Your New Small Business: An SEO’s Guide

Starting a new small business is an exciting journey, and having a robust Content Management System (CMS) is crucial for easily and effectively managing your website’s content and optimising it for search engines.

In this guide, we will explore four popular CMS options that we’d recommend as digital marketing specialists to new or existing business owners. We’ll delve into their features, benefits, and how they align with SEO best practices, helping you make an informed decision to propel your small business to online success.

Why Do I Need To Consider SEO When Choosing Our Website CMS?

Every business owner should be proactive about their online presence. Why create a website if no one can find it?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your website (along with other things) to rank on Google organically.  SEO can tap into technical factors of your website such as the underlying HTML, CSS and Javascript coding, site structure, and search engine indexability. This is to improve site speed, usability and accessibility so that users as well as search engines can identify and understand your website (who you are, what you offer, and where you are). 

Simplistic and easy-to-use CMS platforms can often strip away functionality to edit anything technical, limiting your ability to make some integral changes that can adapt and improve website performance for years to come.

On the other hand, entirely custom websites hosted on custom CMS platforms can offer all of the functionality but are extremely difficult to navigate and implement even basic changes.

The perfect balance of back-end user-friendliness and access to all of the important technical features is ideal for both you, as the business owner, and the team you hire to work with your website and/or SEO so that you work in collaboration to create a website that looks good, contains everything you want, and ranks well.

1. WordPress

WordPress is an excellent CMS that caters to the needs of both business owners and website developers/SEO professionals. Its versatility and robust features make it a popular choice for creating and managing websites for service-based and e-commerce businesses. 

For Business Owners:

1. User-Friendly Interface: WordPress offers an intuitive dashboard that allows business owners to easily update and manage their website content without any technical expertise.
2. Customisation and Flexibility: With thousands of themes and plugins available, WordPress allows business owners to create a unique and tailored website that aligns with their brand identity and meets their specific needs.
3. SEO-Friendly: WordPress offers built-in features and plugins, such as Yoast SEO and All in One SEO Pack, which simplify on-page optimisation tasks, making it easier to improve search engine rankings and attract organic traffic.

For Website Developers and SEO Professionals:

1. Extensive Theme and Plugin Ecosystem: WordPress provides a vast collection of themes and plugins that allow developers and SEO professionals to build and optimise websites efficiently. These resources enable customisation, functionality enhancements, and seamless integration with other tools and services.
2. Open-Source and Customisability: As an open-source CMS, WordPress provides full access to its codebase, allowing developers to customise and extend the platform’s functionalities to meet specific client requirements.
3. SEO-Friendly Architecture: WordPress’s clean code and SEO-friendly structure, including features like customisable URLs, meta tags, and heading tags, make it easier for SEO professionals to optimise websites for search engines.

Top Page Builders for WordPress:

1. Elementor: A popular and powerful drag-and-drop page builder that offers a user-friendly interface and extensive design options.
2. Divi Builder: Known for its flexibility and advanced design capabilities, Divi Builder allows users to create visually stunning layouts effortlessly.
3. WP Page Builder: A feature-rich page builder that provides a range of pre-designed elements and templates, making it easy to create custom layouts and designs without any coding knowledge.
4. Brizy: A user-friendly page builder with an intuitive interface and a strong focus on simplicity. Brizy offers a variety of design elements and templates for creating stunning websites quickly and efficiently.

Overall, WordPress’s user-friendly interface, customisation options, SEO-friendliness, and a vast ecosystem of themes and plugins make it an excellent CMS choice for both business owners and website developers/SEO professionals alike.

2. Squarespace

Squarespace is a highly regarded CMS that provides an all-in-one solution for businesses as well as design control and optimisation capabilities.

For Business Owners:

1. User-Friendly Interface: Squarespace provides a user-friendly interface, making it easy for business owners to manage their websites without coding knowledge.
2. Mobile-Responsive Templates: Squarespace offers a wide selection of professionally designed templates that are visually appealing and optimised for mobile devices. This ensures a seamless user experience across various screen sizes.
3. All-in-One Solution: Squarespace integrates multiple features essential for online businesses, including e-commerce functionality, blogging capabilities, and built-in SEO tools. This allows business owners to streamline their website and manage various aspects in one place.
4. A One-Stop-Shop: The page builder is already integrated into the platform which means no additional costs in purchasing and managing a page builder.

For Website Developers and SEO Professionals:

1. Design Flexibility: Squarespace provides developers with a range of customisation options to create unique and visually stunning websites. Its Style Editor, code injection, and CSS customisation options offer flexibility for developers to achieve specific design requirements.
2. Built-in SEO Features: Squarespace incorporates essential SEO features, such as customisable meta tags, clean URL structures, and automatic XML sitemap generation. This helps optimise websites for search engines and improve their visibility in search results.
3. Developer-Friendly Tools: Squarespace offers developer-friendly tools and features like Git integration, developer mode, and the Squarespace Developer Platform. These resources allow developers to extend the functionality of Squarespace websites and create custom solutions.

3. Duda

Duda offers a wide array of features and functionalities that make it an excellent CMS choice for creating and managing a website. Just like Squarespace, the platform supports both service-based and e-commerce business structures.

For Business Owners:

1. User-Friendly Interface: Duda provides an intuitive and user-friendly interface that requires no extensive technical knowledge.
2. Mobile-First Approach: Duda places a strong emphasis on mobile optimisation, ensuring that websites created on its platform are fully responsive and provide an excellent user experience across all devices.

For Website Developers and SEO Professionals:

1. Design Flexibility: Duda offers a comprehensive range of design customisation options. It provides granular control over layouts, typography, colour schemes, and more.
2. SEO-Friendly Features: Duda incorporates built-in SEO features, including customisable meta tags, clean URL structures, and XML sitemaps.
3. Developer Tools and APIs: Duda offers a robust set of developer tools and APIs, allowing developers to extend the platform’s functionality and integrate third-party services. This flexibility enables them to create custom solutions and tailor websites to specific client needs.

4. Shopify (For E-Commerce)

Shopify is a highly regarded CMS that excels in meeting the needs of e-commerce businesses. Its comprehensive suite of features and dedicated focus on e-commerce makes it an exceptional choice for creating and managing online stores. 

For E-commerce Business Owners:

1. Easy Setup and User-Friendly Interface: Shopify offers a seamless onboarding process, allowing business owners to set up their online stores quickly and efficiently. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to manage products, track inventory, process orders, and handle customer interactions without technical expertise.
2. Secure and Reliable: Shopify provides a reliable and secure hosting infrastructure, ensuring that online stores are protected, backed up, and have minimal downtime. This gives business owners peace of mind and allows them to focus on growing their business.
3. Extensive App Store: Shopify’s App Store offers a wide range of plugins and integrations that enable business owners to extend the functionality of their online stores. From marketing and analytics to customer support and shipping, these apps help streamline operations and enhance the customer experience.

For Website Developers and SEO Professionals:

1. Customisation and Design Control: Shopify offers a robust theming system and Liquid templating language, allowing developers to create highly customised and visually appealing online stores. This flexibility empowers developers to build unique brand experiences and meet specific design requirements.
2. SEO-Friendly Features: Shopify incorporates essential SEO features, including customisable meta tags, clean URL structures, canonical tags, and built-in sitemaps. This helps optimise online stores for search engines, improve organic visibility, and drive targeted traffic.
3. Developer-Friendly Tools: Shopify provides a range of developer tools, APIs, and documentation that facilitate custom integrations, app development, and advanced functionality. These resources enable developers to create tailored solutions and enhance the e-commerce experience.

Looking To Grow Your Digital Presence?

When choosing a CMS for your new or existing small business, it’s crucial to consider factors such as versatility, SEO capabilities, design flexibility, and e-commerce functionalities. Evaluate your business needs, consider your budget and resources, and choose a CMS that aligns with your goals.

Ready to take your new website a step further and explore the world of digital marketing? At 5 Twelve, we have a specialist in each area of SEO, Google Ads and Social Media Ads. Get in touch to learn more.