Whilst Drupal is not the leading content management system out there at the moment (that honor goes to WordPress), it is still one of the most popular systems around at the moment. In fact; you will be surprised at just how many large companies out there use this software (more on that soon). On this page we are going to take a little peek at exactly why you should opt for Drupal as the content management system for your website.
Drupal is a Proven Piece of Software
When you own a website you want to make sure it runs perfectly right off the bat, right? After all; the last thing you want to do is own a website which is failing on you all of the time and needs constant maintenance to actually make you money. Thankfully Drupal is one of the most stable content management systems around. As I mentioned previously; there are tons of companies out there at the moment using Drupal as the backbone of their site. These are a few of them:
- Disney
- New Zealand Government
- MTV
- Adobe
- Warner Bros Music
- Nike
- Greenpeace
If it is good enough for them it is good enough for you, right?
Drupal is Open Source
One of the main reasons as to why Drupal has been taken up by so many websites around the world is down to the fact that it is Open Source. Open Source means that there are thousands upon thousands of programmers working on the system to make it as good as it possibly can be. Open Source also leads to a number of additional benefits. This includes:
- Developers are constantly making new features which can be plugged straight into Drupal. They are also creating new themes. If you had the right know how (and honestly, not a lot of it is required), you can completely change the look and the way in which your website functions in mere minutes.
- Security issues are spotted pretty quickly. You do not really get that with ‘paid’ software (not enough developers working on it). When an issue is spotted you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be fixed within a couple of days. This will ensure that your website is secure at all times!
- Drupal is made in PHP (and you can read all of the code…if you understand what is going on). This means that it is easy for any developer to improve the site how they want. In short; Drupal is a fantastic way to get a site which you can be proud of and that is truly unique to your company.
Drupal is Customizable
We have already covered this to some extent previously. Basically; when you use Drupal you have almost full control over the way it looks and the features that it boasts. Many of these features and looks can be changed within no more than a couple of button clicks. It is a highly effective (and cheap!) way to get a website which you can truly call your own.
Drupal Can Be Deployed Rapidly
In this day and age it is important that you get a website up and running as quickly as possible. In the past it could take days, if not weeks or months, to cobble together a functional website. You do not have that issue with Drupal. With the right developer working on the case it is likely that you could have your barebones website up and running within the hour (not including content). New features can be added pretty quickly. It is not unsurprising for people to have a fully functional website working within a couple of days (this means all of the features that they really need). Obviously the speed at which the latter stage takes place will be based upon whether the plugins and themes required have already been created and whether they need to be changed a little if they have.
Community Features
The internet is all about being social nowadays. Thankfully for you; community features are part and parcel of the base installation of Drupal. A simple installation will give your users access to forums, article commenting and blogging features. The benefit? Well; whenever you have a site that boasts social features you can be sure that people will be coming back time and time again! If you wish you can even change up these features and improve them for the better. For example; I have seen a few people put together YouTube clones using nothing more than a few simple plugins.
SEO
In this day and age it is important that you rank as highly as possible in the search engines. If you do not rank highly then you will do next-to-no business. Thankfully ranking highly with Drupal is simple. You have all of the tools at your fingertips which will allow you to SEO each and every page on your website without diving too much into the code. The result? Higher rankings and more money in your pocket!
Long Term Website
As I have mentioned previously; Drupal can be changed easily and it is almost constantly being updated. The benefit to you here is the fact that it is virtually future proof. If any changes occur in the web industry you can bet that one of the many talented Drupal developers out there will be creating code that can help keep the system up to date. In short; once you have Drupal installed on your web hosting you are going to be virtually set for life! Remember; since this is an open source project you never have to worry about Drupal going out of development due to the bankruptcy of the company either!
If you wish to find out more about how Drupal is going to be incredibly useful when it comes to development your website or perhaps wish for a website to be created using Drupal as a back end then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us, we will be more than happy to help you out!