Choosing the right content management system (CMS) for freelancers, independent designers, bloggers, chefs and photographers can be neck breaking. Sometimes, the internet is a confusing place with so many information and suggestions. There are so many CMS software in the market, each offering unique services – that’s the problem.
Since you are a freelancer, doing multiple tasks at a time is your forte. So, to make your business easier, you need a Content Management System that is quick and user friendly, yet powerful when it comes to customization. Customization is very important for freelancers for you to stand out from the crowd.
So, how would you know which CMS is meant for your business website? Careelancer is here to make all your decisions easier and effective, and to do so, we have sourced Best 5 Content Management System for freelancers.
This is more of a guideline that includes both pros and cons to help you choose the best fit.
Why CMS For Freelancing Career?
Read through the quickie pointers;
- Makes your content management easier, such as home page, blog post, images and video management from your different websites, all at the same place.
- You don’t need a web designing or coding background to setup a CMS website.
- Installing themes and customising designs is a one-click process
- Time saving and easy to follow set-ups, made specially for freelances who lack technical expertise
- Plenty of choices in terms of scalability and affordability.
Shall we begin?
Okay, here goes Best 5 CMS Software for Freelancers(we use one or more of these as well)
1. WordPress
WordPress is the most widely used CMS in the freelancers’ world. Released in the year 2003, WordPress today powers more than 27% of the websites globally.
WordPress is an over qualified CMS platform, thanks to its growing fan base, which supports and empowers over 51 million websites.
Features:
- Its best feature is flexibility.
- You can add countless numbers of themes (over 2,400), apps and plugins (over 49,000) to improve functionality and proficiency of your website.
- Personalising your website is as easy as installing WordPress because all of these plug-ins and additional features are free and easy to add & use.
What are its Aces?
WordPress platform is not just a mere CMS for building portfolio websites that represents your services, but it can be also used to build various dynamic websites, such as eCommerce sites, business blogs, landing pages and much more.
You can design WordPress websites without prior knowledge of writing codes or programming languages.Ideal for both beginners and advanced users.
What are its Downsides?
It is the most at-risk CMS to virus attacks, spams and other cyber security risks. Furthermore, its Blog Centric Architecture (lack of native content blocks) does not allow defining multiple content areas in a quick and easy way. Plus, the WYSIWYG editor is not that great.
2. Wix
A very simple CMS platform for building simple websites.Wix was mainly built for web administrators who aren’t IT professionals. In short Wix is for beginners and for people who are not friendly with CMS and its ethics.
Features:
- Intuitive in-line editing.
- Easy to insert, manage and modify contents including videos, photos and texts.
- Best part? You don’t need additional page or layout support nor do you require technical skills.
- Biggest template collection for website customisation.
- It contains over 100 themes and over 100 free plugins. If you are a premium member, the number just doubles.
- Ideal for beginners.
What are its Aces?
Beginner freelancers who cannot afford to learn CMS will find their best friend in Wix. There is no learning curve in this, like WordPress. In fact you can start building websites immediately.
What are its Downsides?
The free plan has very limited features, unlike WordPress. There are only very few extensions available currently. The free plan provides only 500mb space and no custom domain name integration. The premium plan starts from $4.50/month.
3. SquareSpace
SquarePress isn’t an open source platform, like WordPress or ImpressPages, which means all things built for SquarePage is original, of highest quality and comes directly from the developers.
Features:
- It’s extremely appealing to look at. It’s very sleek, quite contemporary and straight out of the box.
- The native themes and templates are easy to install and modify.
- Hosting and software updates are done automatically by SquarePage, which makes website building effective and less time consuming.
What are its Aces?
SquareSpace is best for businesses such as online stores, celebrities and fashion. It is best for beginners as it’s very user-friendly. If money is not a concern, then SqaureSpace can be one of the most reliable and profitable CMS platform.
What are its Downsides?
You cannot add your own PHP code. SquareSpace doesn’t give freelancers an option to customise websites. There is no user developed extensions as it’s a closed source platform. Bit expensive price tag ($12/month).
4. Concrete
Concrete is an open source CMS for advanced design based freelancers. It’s editing tool bar lets designers edit images via built in editor and allows you to modify any web page to your hearts content just like that. Template creation is also a dream work.
Features:
- Sleek drag and drop system if you are technically advanced freelancer.
- Built in image editor is excellent, especially beneficial for freelance photographers and designers.
- Coding template and modifying elements consumes less time.
What are its Aces?
It’s free of cost, useful for advanced technical designers. Well rounded and reliable platform.
What are its Downsides?
Most plugins and extensions are chargeable. SquareSpace is relatively good at everything but outstanding at nothing. Customising themes and websites is complex but fruitful.
5. Ghost
Ghost primarily focus on blogging and took the world by storm in 2013 with its non-intricate coding sessions and exceedingly deep level of personalisation.
Features:
- Solely focuses on blogging platform and is a boon for freelance bloggers.
- It has a brilliantly designed dashboard, which can make any freelance blogger go bonkers. It has everything they need, from visitors to social shares.
- Excellent writing feature – mark down on the left and live preview on the right.
What are its Aces?
Ghost has its own subscription plan at ghost.org for hosting purposes. The platform is best for minimalist bloggers.
What are its Downsides?
Expensive monthly subscription ($19/month). Not all web hosting supports Ghost. It’s not very capable of customisation and website setting-up. Not suitable for advanced bloggers. Features still need to be developed and bugs still need attention.
