As a Sales Engineer here at DNN, I field a lot of questions about our Content Management System (CMS). Some of the questions come via email from existing customers, while others are asked by sales prospects during product demonstrations. In this post, I’ll highlight the five most common questions that marketers ask us about CMS software.

1) Does the CMS support Personalization?

Website personalization refers to the customization of web page content based on the characteristics of the visitor. Personalization is the most asked-about topic right now. I touched on personalization in my previous post, “Summary of the 2014 Forrester Forum.”

Marketers have been asking me about this capability because they want to show different content (and in different formats) based on a user’s location, device or previous actions. Creating a personalized experience increases end user satisfaction and loyalty. It can also increase revenue and conversion.

2) How can i create and manage SEO-Friendly URL’s?

Another common question concerns Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. Marketers want the ability to control and manage the format of their site’s URL’s. Everyone is aware of the importance of having good SEO and being able to "be found" by search engines.

A CMS should have powerful SEO and URL management capabilities. Read this article from Search Engine Watch for insights on how to design an SEO-friendly URL structure for your site.

3) Will Your CMS Help My Site become mobile ready?

As the shift to mobile devices continues, marketers are well aware that their site visitors will increasingly visit via mobile devices.

If your organization wants to provide a user-friendly experience on mobile devices then your CMS needs to provide mobile capabilities.

Given that Google has recommended that smartphone-optimized sites implement responsive design, many marketers and designers are opting to responsive design to make their sites mobile-ready. Responsive design is implemented in the front-end design of a site.

I tell Marketers to look for a CMS that provides easy ways to implement responsive design.

And for bonus points, it should include a mobile previewer that enables you to see how your site looks on different devices.

4) Can the CMS facilitate social sharing from my site?

It probably goes without saying, but marketers want to have their site content easily shared to the various social networks. I’m often asked about authentication via social networks (e.g. Twitter, Facebook).

Marketers want to have quality content on their sites and they also want to easily turn their site visitors into brand champions and social advocates for their content. The CMS should make it easy for your site to incorporate social sharing buttons and icons.

5) tell me about the analytics capabilities of the CMS?

While all of the previously discussed features are critical and highly sought after, they are not valuable if a marketer is unable to effectively measure the viewership, engagement and conversions that are happening on their site.

Marketers want to calculate ROI and measure effectiveness of various online campaigns and content. I’m often asked about the built-in analytics that are provided by CMS software.

I also receive questions on integrations with third party analytics systems (e.g. Google Analytics).

Conclusion

It isn’t hard to understand that the features marketers seek from a CMS are also the same items that are critical for their online success. To sum up in one sentence what a marketer is looking for:

“A marketer uses a Web CMS to serve up socially shareable, personalized content that ranks well in search, to users on any device and they want to measure the entire process.”

If you wanted to shorten it down even more you could simply say:

“A marketer uses a Web CMS to tie content to revenue.”

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