We are looking at moving our website to a new platform and going from the current CMS to a Druple based site. Any thoughts? Reviews? Experiences?
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LoyalNation
Posted 1 year ago # -
Jason Huie
Posted 1 year ago #Drupal is a very robust CMS with a variety of plugins that will meet almost any need you have. In fact, ChooseWhat.com was originally created in Drupal. Basic Drupal use requires almost no knowledge of PHP and you should be able to get a site up and running fairly quickly.
However, flexability and complexity tend to be a trade-off, and when you're using flexible/complex software, like Drupal, you will need someone who has in-depth knowledge of the system. If you have access to a deveoper who knows Drupal well, then it might be a quick way to get your site off the ground with little knowledge of the technical aspects of creating and maintaining a site. If you do not have a developer who is versed in Drupal, expect that you will quickly out-grow the basic functions of Drupal and will soon be searching for a Drupal developer.
Looking at your site, http://www.loyalnation.com, it seems like the majority of the pages are informational. Specifically, it looks like most of your pages are articles about the service you offer.
What are some of the problems you're seeing with your current CMS? What are your plans for the future of your website?
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Posted 1 year ago #SEO is one of the problems. The development house is expensive and not always easy to work with.
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Jason Huie
Posted 1 year ago #As far as SEO is concerned, moving to a Content Management System should not alter rankings. Rankings are based on the content of your site as well as backlinks, and platform/CMS will not fix these issues by itself.
That being said, we have seen SEO benefits after a move from a static (HTML only) site to a CMS. Drupal or Joomla are two popular systems, but will require you to provide your own hosting and install the CMS yourself. Usually, this means that you're going to need some sort of developement department or outsourcing the work to a contractor. I'm not sure if the department house that you mentioned is in-house or a company you are working with.
I don't know if you've seen the ChooseWhat Website Builders section that we just launched, but there are some pretty excellent alternatives. These services basically provide hosting and a CMS already setup that will allow you to manage the content yourself. I just played with 1&1 which might fit your needs (hosting, blog, and CMS). You can find some others here: http://build-a-website.choosewhat.com
Hopefully, this can get you away from an expensive development company and give you the means to control the content of your site on your own time schedule. Let me know what you think or if you have any questions.
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Lindsey
Posted 1 year ago #Hi! I wanted to check in with you to see if you had any further questions regarding switching to Drupal or a new CMS that will better fit the needs of your company and your website. I would like to reiterate what Jason mentioned as far as the idea of usinging a website builder to be able to have the control you want as far as managing the backend of your website. Development houses can be expensive and it can take a lot longer to have the changes implemented that you request. The use of using your own website builder provides you with full access to make any updates that you want in real time. Also, you may want to consider using a website builder and look into hiring a virtual assistance to be in charge of updatind your website which can be a lot less expensive than a development house and more personable.
Website builders provide variying degrees of SEO tools so that you can use SEO your site as far as being able to add metatags, H1 headings etc. Some also come with services that will SEO your site for an additional fee. I know that Jason mentioned using 1&1 which may be a really great choice for what you are needing. Here is a link to the reviews of all of the website builders that we feel are really excellent choices: http://build-a-website.choosewhat.com/website-builder-reviews.
I would love to know if any of this input has been helpful and am excited to see if you have found a solution that best fits your needs!
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AdirAkerman
Posted 4 weeks ago #I can see loyal got some useful information, thanks moderators! I was just wondering about some Drupal specifics which is how I came across this question.
If I were already working with Drupal but had to add some features I can only find on Wordpress, what would you recommend I do? I'm thinking about things like ease-of-use, collaboration, and stuff like easily applying design with templates (which are more difficult for less technical members of the team that would need to do this with Drupal). I wouldn't move from Drupal completely, but maybe there are other solutions out there. Thanks :) Adir -
Jason Huie
Posted 4 weeks ago #Hi Adir,
Unfortunately, plugins from one CMS almost never work with another CMS. Drupal has a strong community with many plugins, so you might want to take a look at the features you are wanting in WordPress and try to find a comparable plugin for Drupal. With things like ease-of-use, collaboration, and design, it sounds like you are more concerned with the fundamentals of Drupal. In this regard, there is nothing that you can really do - if you like the way WordPress handles templating and setup, then my recommendation is to move to WordPress. Our team here has worked with both Drupal and WordPress and we've also found that WordPress is a little bit easier to live with in the long run. I hope this points you in the right direction and please let me know if you have any other questions.
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