Blogging software has been often confused with being a Content Management System. While the application of blogging software is used to manage articles (a.k.a “posts”), it’s important to remember that articles are not all that the term ‘content’ implies when comparing blog software to full-blown CMS software.

Content also includes photos, web forms, calendars, products and anything else that appears on a website. Content for a CMS can actually include blogs.

While I realize that the last statement could end the topic, I think it’s worthwhile to more fully explore the differences…because there is a lot to know.

Blogging Software

Blogging software is a lot less bulky than a Content Management System and, typically, it’s a lot easier to use. Blogging software can be self-hosted or offered as a hosted service, like Blogger.com or Typepad.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that, if you’re considering a Content Management System, your needs are more than what a hosted blog service would offer. However, if you’re just looking to get some info out on the web, blogging software is a great candidate.

Pros:

If you’re technically savy, you may be able to install and manage blogging software yourself. With an inexpensive hosting account, FTP access and a user manual, you can get your blog up and running in just a few minutes.

In addition to the ability to more highly customize the appearance, you can also add plugins to extend the functionality of your blog. Hosting your own blog software also gives you the ability to integrate your blogging software with other, third-party applications like forums, wiki software, subscription softwares, etc.

However, I can say from experience, that managing multiple softwares for a single website creates a lot of overhead. If you’re ok with this, or you just can’t find what you need, the overhead may be an acceptable consequence of running a business. Be sure to research full CMS solutions before going this route.

Typically, blog softwares support multiple authors, user permissions and meta-data like keywords and custom fields. You should also be able to upload files via the software interface without FTP. You can also create articles, or “posts”, with little or no HTML knowledge.

Cons:

Customization of blogging software requires additional knowledge. Often these softwares implement their own template language (or “tags”) and plugins that extend functionality are added seperately.

All plugins are not created equal. Each plugin developer has different standards of design, implementation, testing and support. You may find that installing one plugin is cake, but another breaks your entire site.

In my experience, Moveable Type plugins are pretty dependable. Wordpress plugins are plentiful, but less dependable on a whole.

Blogging software has a glass ceiling. As your website grows, you may find yourself implementing third-party applications to offer new features. With additional applications, comes overhead (see previous mention of this in ‘Pros’) which is a double-edged sword.

Different blogging softwares have different limitations. Some blogging platforms handle categories, subcategories and multiple page templates better than others. You may find it easy, or challenging, to create a static ‘about’ page. Some softwares may create more valid, or invalid, web markup than others.

Popular Blog softwares include:

• Movable Type
• Wordpress
• TextPattern

Content Management Systems

While Content Management Systems can offer blogging and article management, they offer a lot more growth potential and fine control. Content Management Systems often include features like workflow management, per-user interface customization, integrated content versioning, SSL logins, user accounts, user profiling, content profiling, forums, blogs, classifieds, ecommerce…the list goes on. I think you can see where this is going…

Pros:

Potential for growth is one of the largest pros for a content management system. These systems are designed to handle workflow from multiple departments and offer scalability.

While you can allow users to create accounts in blog software, you have much finer user control in a full-blown CMS. This applies to both users outside and inside of your local network.

You can also prevent pesky users from posting unwanted articles, require management or editor approval, update a RSS feed and trigger countless other tasks. This is referred to as ‘workflow‘.
Blog softwares are beginning to implement workflow but workflow is more mature in a CMS. Workflow is very important to some organizations (and not important to others).

With a Content Management System, you also gain the advantage of maintaining a single application. Most CMS solutions should handle load balancing which is very important for very large sites.

Cons:

With advanced features comes advanced learning, so the learning curve is greater for a CMS system. While a CMS puts you in full control of your web destiny, more control means more user training. CMS solutions also often require special expertise for implementation.

The more complex a system is, the higher investment cost.

Popular Content Management Systems include:

• WebGUI
• Drupal
• Bloxum
• Joomla
• e107

Making the Decision

One of the major factors in deciding between using blogging software or a CMS is growth expecations. If you’re a small company, not planning to grow beyond 3-4 authors writing posts, a blog software may be just the solution you need.

However, if you’re planning on adding new features quickly, need more than the standard blog offers or in need of workflow, explore the CMS solutions out there. You don’t have to be large to use a CMS but a CMS does lend well to the larger environment. A lot small companies and professional associations have found a CMS very beneficial.

If you’re planning to add more software to augment your website offerings, evaluate the overhead of maintaining seperate softwares for your website. Does the flexiblity outweigh the overhead? Can you afford the development and maintenance costs? Will implementing multiple softwares require multiple experts? Or would it be more cost-effective to implement, learn and maintain a single software?

CMS Matrix is a great source for evaluating the CMS solutions currently being used on the web.