Conversion & Design: How Well Does Your CMS Site Work?

So you’ve jumped into the trend of embracing CMS website design as well! Good for you.

Surely, the easy and DIY approach provided by channels like WordPress, Joomla, and other platforms out there is worth at least one try. Added to that is the amazing template design technique that just lets you edit and design the site all by yourself!

No designers needed! They all can go home!

But is this easy aspect beneficial? You might be saving the design and development cost, for sure. But how many leads and business opportunities will this CMS based website design approach cost your business?

It Is Time: Let’s Assess Your CMS Website Design Efforts

At this point, everyone knows how important sites are to generate leads for the business. And that’s why you started with the process of CMS website design and development in the first place, right?

But what use is a site (custom or CMS) if it does not attract or convert the right kind of people? Whether one hires a top-notch designer or uses DIY builders from a friend’s laptop, the endgame needs to be lead generation and conversion.

So let’s shift through the essential lead generation features a site must have and see if the CMS website builder provides that or not. Take up a pen and paper, cause this stuff is going to be important.

Design & Branding With CMS?

CMS is quite popular for being easy to design!

The plethora of themes offered by content management system software is the main reason why big and small business owners are so attracted to this new technology. There is nothing wrong with a good template. Visitors don’t particularly care whether the site is template-based or custom. What they care about is UI/UX.

And besides the UI/UX, there is one thing entrepreneurs must consider while creating a website using CMS templates, and that is branding.

Site branding depends on many factors, and the visuals of the site happen to be the most important among them all. And utilizing easy to edit site templates might not boost the branding efforts on the site that much.

So before beginning with the whole process, check the branding necessities. For robust branding essentials, it will be better if you choose custom CMS site development rather than a basic template-based approach.

The Matter of Information Architecture

Most users love to conduct online searches easily. And that is only possible when the enterprise content management system is flexible enough to implement an information structure that works for the business.

The strategic placement of all the content on the site pages will hook the users, keep them reading, and reduce the bounce rates that will eventually help the site to rank well. But a CMS web design process might hinder the integration of the right information architecture.

Once again, the onus of responsibility falls upon the template-based designs. These templates are often so rigid and hard to edit that changing any element there and creating your information hierarchy becomes impossible. But all is not lost though.

In case you need a bespoke template design that matches the site structure requirements of the platform, consulting with an experienced CMS website design company might help. They can guide the process and imbibe the experienced design approach to help the site become unique yet easy to use.

Have You Eliminated the Background Burden?

The adoration of CMS web development rests on the fact that users don’t need coding knowledge to work with these platforms. And yet, the coding factor tends to cause more problems for template-based websites.

One of the more impactful conversion elements on any site is the speed factor. The site needs to be lightweight and fast, display information within the first two seconds to keep the audience interested. However, the template design might fall short when it comes to site speed.

During CMS development, even as you edit the template and remove the unnecessary elements within the page, the related codes to make those design elements work are still there in the background. These background burdens increase the site loading time and hamper conversion chances for the site.

With expert technical help, while using a CMS to create websites, you can ensure no behind-the-scenes burden weighs down the site and slows down its growth.

Authenticity Matters: Especially for Website Visuals

One can not ignore the importance of visual elements when it comes to conversion. In an era where users spend most time scrolling image-heavy social media, implementing the right visuals on the site is the surest way to keep them interested and convert them.

And these days, it is easy to get access to high-quality images. Just visit one of many stock image platforms, and you’ll get access to millions of free images and videos to use on the site. Even some modern content management system templates come with these images preloaded.

However, the use of these easy to get, royalty-free, and overused graphic elements will not just harm the branding efforts but the credibility of the platform as well. The users want to do business with authentic businesses, and utilizing basic visuals will not impress them. So when using CMS website builder for the site, implement authentic visual elements that resonate with the business.

Are You Catering for Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey?

Not everyone who steps through the threshold of your website is on the same page.

The buyer’s journey takes them through some diverse phases till they are actually able to make a decision. The phases- recognition, deliberation, and judgment require different kinds of research, and to match the separate requirements, you need to craft a website that caters to every stage of this journey.

Which is a lot easier said than done.

Crafting a site to match the needs of every phase of the buyer’s journey takes a lot of elements. From blog posts to case studies, the path to conversion through content is going to be the site’s main goal. And using an ordinary CMS to create a website might be too mainstream to match this need.

But that does not mean that CMS design is entirely a lost cause. You can still design a perfectly fine CMS site and help the audience with the buyer’s journey. And to do that, you might consult with a web design agency that knows how to leverage the CMS benefits as well as integrates uniqueness within the design.

Wrapping up: CMS Design Is Not Hopeless, as Long as It Is Unique!

The immense popularity of enterprise content management systems makes it hard to believe that it can have any shortcomings. But the standardized design is not going to be enough to wow the audience anymore. They are in the hunt for something exciting and entertaining, even when looking for a floor cleaning service.

So don’t fall into the comfort traps of any advanced content management system! Consult experienced designers and traverse the hardships of web design cause that’s the only way you are going to build a site that will be worth all the design effort.