Website development
A marketing site that explains what you do and brings in the request. Fixed scope, fixed price, a date.
Read more →CMS or not: do you need to edit it yourself?
Almost everybody asks for a CMS. Roughly half never use it, and pay maintenance on it every year regardless.
The short version
A CMS makes sense when something changes regularly and cannot wait: news, vacancies, projects, products, prices. Then being able to edit it yourself is not a luxury but a necessity, and every alternative is dearer.
If a paragraph changes twice a year, a CMS is a system you maintain for something you barely do. Sending the change to your builder then costs less than the maintenance, and you have no login, no updates and no attack surface for anybody to exploit.
Take a CMS if
- Content is added monthly or more often.
- Several people need to be able to publish.
- You publish news, vacancies or projects.
- Prices or terms change regularly.
Skip the CMS if
- The content is largely fixed and rarely changes.
- You have nobody to maintain it — and admit that honestly.
- Speed and security matter more than typing it yourself.
- You would rather spend the maintenance budget on being found.
What gets overlooked here
The question is usually asked as "do I want to be able to edit it myself", and almost everybody says yes. A better question is: edit what, and how often. Somebody saying "the text on the service pages" usually means something that happens three times a year. Somebody saying "our projects, one a month" needs a CMS.
There is also a middle form that is rarely offered: a CMS for exactly the two or three parts that genuinely change, and the rest fixed. That is cheaper to build, safer and faster, and in practice it covers almost everything people ask for.
Once you have decided
WordPress vs custom
WordPress runs roughly four in ten websites. That is neither coincidence nor recommendation — it depends entirely on what the site has to do.
Read more →Rebuild or improve
A new site is almost never the answer to "we get too few enquiries". Finding out why first is cheaper and works more often.
Read more →DIY or hire
Making a site yourself is not hard. Making one that brings in customers is a craft, and you only notice the difference after six months.
Read more →Frequently asked questions
What does a CMS cost extra?
Part of the build budget, and annual maintenance afterwards. That second figure is the one people forget, and the reason to ask the question seriously.
Can I add a CMS later?
Yes, and it is not a rebuild. An existing page can be made editable once it turns out you need it — almost always cheaper than building it in up front just in case.
What is a headless CMS?
A CMS that manages only the content, separate from how the site looks. It gives you editability without the site itself becoming slower or more vulnerable — see the glossary entry.
Not sure which way to go?
Send a short brief with what you have now and what needs to be better. You get an honest answer, including if that answer is that you do not need us for it.