Hey guys. I am creating a new website with a niche I know I'll be able to write articles about. I have never used or implemented a CMS before but I do know that Wordpress is king, and if I were to use a CMS, I would probably use that one. I am wondering, do I need a CMS? I plan on writing a few articles for online article submission to help with backlinks and SEO. I am also planning on having a few articles on the web site itself (that may be similar). I plan linking to most if not all the articles from the home page (initially), which I'm hoping will be around 5. I don't really need Wordpress, do I? I plan on occasionally adding new articles and I then plan on updating the front page links to include the latest articles. If I were to use any system, would it be wordpress? I know from a web designer (and coder's) standpoint it is important to learn how to implement a CMS. But I don't think I need to spend time learning that right now for this website. Can anyone shed some light on the subject? Thanks guys.
CMS are always a good way to go when creating a website. Whether you need one or not, you never know. I would strongly suggest Wordpress. It sounds like the perfect CMS for what you need and as previously mentioned, lots and lots of plugins.
So it will allow me to have an automatically featured articles on the front page, and update and add articles without going into the FTP? And it isn't that hard to setup? If so, brilliant.
Yes. Thats exactly what a CMS does. Its like MS Word. You have a page. You add content to it. There is a button you click to publish stuff. There is also a bar where you can decide what you want to upload to the server.
I already understand that. The importance is in if its easy to install. I don't want to spend too much time integrating it if it isn't the most necessary component of the website.
Its very easy to install. You just need a database and thats about it. Its called their famous 5 min installation.
Yeah I would really suggest Wordpress its the king of CMS system and a really good CMS to use for any site you are running.
You most definitily need a CMS, if you want to be be publisher. Not using one will simply make you waste a lot of time on design and link building. Especially the link building becomes an issue after having a dozen+ pages on your site. Without a CMS, you'll usually also end up with a terrible navigation and an inhomogenous look, that will drive visitors away rahter then attract them. Besides wordpress, you might also want to look at Drupal or Joomla (take a look at the sites in my signature, they were all made with drupal).
Wordpress is the way to go. If you go the hard coding way, you'll end up wasting a lot of time which you can otherwise invest in writing articles.
If your pretty handy with HTML/CSS creating your template for wordpress is easy... or you can download some from many wp theme sites XD
And if you want to choose a CMS read this article: Who are the Open Source Content Management System (CMS) market leaders in 2008? It could make you decide better and faster...
For what you are looking to create, WordPress would be ideal for the job. The benefits of having a CMS, far outweigh any negatives and in your case I'm unable to think of any.