If you are looking for the best content management system (CMS) for your business website you must be lost for choice. The CMSs available today are high quality and they are easy to use. More importantly, they are free which makes them perfect especially for startups trying to leverage the huge internet market.  If you have tried looking around in the market you must have come across Joomla™, WordPress and Drupal™. These are not only some of the most popular CMSs available they are also used by the biggest brands in the world.

A Daunting Choosing Task

If you are looking for an affordable yet reliable CMS these three options are your best bet. Over the years the Joomla™, WordPress and Drupal™ have earned a loyal community and users fiercely defend the CMS they use as the best.  The fact that the three CMSs are rapidly upgraded to keep up with the times can confuse business owners looking to build a blog or site for their online operations.

Is Drupal or WordPress or Joomla The Best CMS? Here’s Your Guide on Picking the Best Content Management System.

Truth be told they are all amazing and highly reliable and making a choice between the three can be a daunting task.

It might be cliché but information is power. Before choosing between the three content management systems it is important to get insight on what features each brings to your website. More importantly, you should check for reliability, ease of customization and plug-ins available to help with scalability issues. If you are looking for the best platform for your business website you must compare the available CMSs.

Here are some key factors to understand about Joomla™, WordPress and Drupal™:

WordPress CMS

This is by far the most popular CMS and for many good reasons. It was started in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little together with Michel Valdrighi. Since then it has grown to be the top CMS in the world with 25% of all websites being hosted on WordPress. The platform uses MySQL for database management and is based on PHP. It boasts over 140 million downloads, 2,000 themes, 27,000 free plug-ins, and one-click installation capability. WordPress is best for small business websites and a favorite with bloggers.

Some of the famous websites hosted on WordPress include CNN, Sony, Forbes, NASA, Ames Research Center, and the New York Observer. With over 60 million websites today this is one CMS that every business owner should have a look at before trying the rest.

Here are some of the benefits of using WordPress CMS over the rest:

• Ease of installation and use: There are no technical skills required to use WordPress. The one-click automatic installation makes it possible to have your website running in less than 5 minutes.
• Customization: This remains the main pros of using WordPress as you can give your website a distinct touch by using thousands of available themes and templates, plug-ins and other customization features available on the platform.
• Technical support: The community support available on WordPress makes it possible for anyone to get free assistance at any time. Millions of people are already using the CMS and getting help is easy.
• Cost-effective: This CMS is free and there are so many tools available for beginners to build a fully functional website without incurring any cost.

WordPress has its drawbacks chief among them being the fact that you can’t make a lot of visual edits. While it is perfect for beginners web developers looking for an e-commerce platform might not be comfortable using this CMS.

ALSO READ: What Are The Differences between Free and Open Source Software?

Joomla™ CMS

Joomla is another popular content management system (CMS) and it has gained popularity among website owners who want a platform optimized for business. The CMS was released in 2003 by Mambo and today it boasts over 30 million downloads. It boats over 900 free themes, 7,000 plug-ins and it updates every 36 days. Joomla is popular as an e-commerce platform and social networking sites because it doesn’t require any technical skills. For Joomla users, it is alternative to the technical expertise required for Drupal and the complex website development options available on WordPress.

Some of the large institutions using Joomla include Harvard University, IHOP and The Hill. It is considered one of the first truly small business CMS platforms.

Joomla™ CMS Advantages and Drawbacks

Like all CMSs Joomla has its fair share of pros and drawbacks. Here are some of the pros:

1. PHP development: By using PHP as the scripting language the developers have made it easy for website owners to easily display their content. There are minimal compatibility issues and the websites look great.
2. Social networking: With social media being an integral part of marketing it is important to have a website which allows easy creation of these platforms. Joomla allows you to set up your social media networks in minutes.
3. No technical expertise: This CMS is considered a middle child of Drupal’s complexity and WordPress’ simplicity. Anyone who is not tech-savvy will find it easy to install and start using this CMS.
4. Support portal: Joomla offers an extensive help portal where users can get assistance from the large online community.

Joomla offers an out-of-the-box CMS platform but it also has drawbacks. It is not SEO friendly and it is not perfect if you are looking for a highly customized business website. It also uses lots of server resources leading to slow speeds.

ALSO READ: 5 Ways Content Management Software Can Help Your Startup Take a Quantum Leap Up

Drupal™ CMS

Released in 2001 by Dries Buytaert Drupal has grown into one of the most popular CMS. It boasts 15 million downloads, over 1,800 free themes, 24,000 free plug-ins and one-click installation availability among other features. It is considered one of the most powerful open source content management system (CMS) available. The power of this CMS makes it perfect to build equally complex websites which are ideal for the business environment.

Drupal™ Pros and Cons

If you are looking for a business website that is aesthetically and functionally stable Drupal is your best CMS. It is technically advanced and this makes it possible to build highly customizable websites. Other reasons the CMS has grown in popularity include:

1. Great performance: Compared to WordPress and Joomla, Drupal pages load faster and response time is one of the things search engines are looking for during ranking. It is less resource-intensive and this is the reason its speeds are amazing.
2. Customizable: It is easy to use the available plug-ins on Drupal to give your website a personal touch to reflect your business.

Unlike Joomla and WordPress you need some knowledge of HTML, PHP to install and use Drupal. As your website evolves you will require the services of a technical expert which is quite expensive. Unlike WordPress, you also need to purchase your own domain and hosting services before getting started.

Choosing between Joomla™, WordPress and Drupal™ CMS can be a daunting task but it all boils down to your unique needs. With this information, you can now go on and build a website that suits your business needs.

Building a great web presence online requires you having a well-designed and perfectly-crafted online marketing approach, and to top up that, you’d need professionally-crafted website design using one of the three aforementioned content management software above. Anything short of that is unacceptable!

Quick Tips:

Focusing on SEO means you’d have to consider WordPress because it comes with full-loaded search engine optimization options; whereas, a business focusing on having a sophisticated eCommerce portal should consider Drupal or Joomla. But you should remember that Joomla is not SEO-friendly as you know.