Almost everyone has an online presence today, and getting your business or blog noticed means it has to be attractive and accessible. Making the right choice when looking at a content management system (CMS) to build your site can be the difference between ending up on the search engine’s first results page or its last—and most people don’t even bother with the second page.

How to Choose a CMS

There are many deciding factors when choosing a CMS, and while SEO is incredibly important, it shouldn’t be your only consideration.

A good CMS is easy to use. You should be able to design your site the way you want it to look without needing to do a course in web-design. Templates should be available to provide a layout for you to build on. Once your site is published online, you’ll still need to do some managing and editing from time to time. A good CMS is one that offers a host of content management tools.

Coding can make or break a site, so pick a CMS with clean coding that allows your site to load quickly.

Your CMS should allow you to enable a mobile version of your site. Most of your target group will likely view your site from their smartphone or tablet at some point, so having a mobile option will improve your visibility. Your CMS should also allow you to add social media integration—an easily-identified link to your business’ Facebook page, Twitter account, and so on.

Last, but definitely not least, is SEO tools and plugins that help to boost your site’s search engine optimization rank.