Alexis Kestler
Hey there! With content marketing growing exponentially, I know you‘re probably exploring content management systems (CMS) to help manage your site. The right CMS makes creating and organizing content a breeze.
WordPress may first come to mind – it does power over 38% of all websites. But while WordPress is popular, it isn‘t necessarily the best fit for everyone.
There are pros and cons to every platform. I wanted to share my insider perspective on Concrete CMS – whether it‘s worth it for your specific needs.
A Quick Intro to Concrete CMS
Concrete CMS (previously concrete5) launched in 2008 as open source software under the MIT license. It combines a CMS, website builder and web application framework written in PHP.
The open source model lets you use Concrete CMS 100% free. You can evaluate it, modify it, and even distribute your own versions without restrictions.
Concrete CMS aims to simplify creating, running, and managing a website for users of any skill level. It empowers you to fill your site with engaging content.
It‘s easy enough for beginners but packed with advanced developer tools. You can customize your site and enhance functionality without needing to code.
Concrete CMS‘ Key Features and Benefits
Based on my hands-on experience, here are some of the top features Concrete CMS offers:
Intuitive Editing
Concrete CMS equips you with an intuitive WYSIWYG editor. You can visually customize your site, dynamically generate new content forms, and control themes without coding.
It also auto-saves drafts so you never lose text while writing. This simplifies the editing process.
Extendable Functionality
One major advantage of Concrete CMS is the extensive customization and integration options. You can:
- Deploy new features with one-click
- Access thousands of add-ons
- Get automatic updates for add-ons
- Browse a huge theme marketplace
- Quickly install extensions right from your dashboard
This flexibility is invaluable for developers and advanced users.
Responsive Design
Websites today need to offer an optimal viewing experience on all devices. Concrete CMS uses modern HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create mobile-friendly sites.
You get full control to customize the responsive design using templates, a style editor, and by tweaking layout blocks, stacks, galleries and more.
Built-in Security
Maintaining security is crucial on any CMS. Concrete CMS has measures like:
- SSL support
- Login histories
- Content approval workflows
- CAPTCHA
- Email verification
These protect your site from compromises and unauthorized changes.
Marketing Tools
Expand your reach with Concrete CMS‘ built-in marketing capabilities:
- Create surveys and forms to collect visitor data without coding
- View real-time analytics on form results
- Enable social sharing to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- Optimize SEO elements like meta tags and URLs
Blogging & Commenting
No need to have a separate blogging platform. Add an integrated blog to share expertise and industry opinions.
The commenting system supports moderation, sorting, and spam blocking. You can enable threaded comments too.
Active Community & Support
Stuck on something? Concrete CMS has an active community forum for troubleshooting issues or learning new skills.
They also offer helpful training programs and certifications you can pursue.
Visually Impressive Sites
Here‘s an area where Concrete CMS really shines. The modern templates, themes, and editing capabilities empower you to create high-end, polished websites that stand out.
Elements like parallax scrolling add visual flair not always possible with other CMS options. This appeals to agencies and developers looking to build client sites that impress.
Better Performance
How fast your site loads directly impacts your visitors and your SEO. According to Google research, 53% of mobile site visitors leave a page that takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
Concrete CMS is proven to enable faster performance:
- A case study on Barrett Media‘s site showed page load time improved by 52% after migrating to Concrete CMS.
- Concrete CMS requires less database calls and memory usage compared to WordPress, improving speed.
- The framework is optimized for caching and scales easily.
These speed gains improve user experience and SEO.
Key Differences vs WordPress
Concrete CMS and WordPress have similar backend interfaces and widgets. But under the hood, there are some notable differences:
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Learning curve – WordPress is generally simpler and smoother for CMS beginners. Concrete CMS has a steeper learning curve.
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Extensibility – Concrete CMS offers more advanced customization and flexibility. It appeals to experienced users with complex needs.
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Visual design – Concrete CMS empowers gorgeous, polished sites with modern elements like parallax scrolling. This breaks the "templated" feel common with platforms like WordPress.
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Performance – Concrete CMS enables faster page loads by optimizing things like database calls and memory usage.
So in summary – Concrete CMS caters to advanced developers needing ultimate design freedom and customization. WordPress offers a slightly easier onboarding for CMS newcomers.
Finding the Right Concrete CMS Host
If you want to tap into the capabilities of Concrete CMS, you need a quality host suited for it. I recommend considering hosts like:
TMDHosting
- Recommended by Concrete CMS itself
- Fully-managed service
- 99.99% uptime guarantee
- Free SSL certificate
- Prices starting at $2.95/month
A2 Hosting
- Optimized SwiftServer platform
- Up to 20x faster page loads
- Free site migration
- Money-back guarantee
- Prices from $2.99/month
Cloudways
- Top infrastructure from AWS, DigitalOcean
- CDN powered caching
- One-click SSL
- Automatic backups
- Pay-as-you-go pricing
These hosts offer the speed, reliability, security and support for a smooth Concrete CMS experience.
The Bottom Line
Concrete CMS offers extensive features for advanced users to build gorgeous, highly customizable sites. It goes beyond platforms like WordPress in flexibility and performance.
The open source model also allows full control to modify and extend functionality. While the learning curve is steeper, Concrete CMS unlocks immense design freedom and capabilities in the right hands.
Let me know if you have any other questions! I‘m happy to share more details about getting set up with Concrete CMS based on your specific goals and technical skill level. The setup process can be smooth when you have the right guidance.
