Website owners will hear about October CMS from savvy agencies in 2019 - and here’s why. Building a modern, high-performance website in 2019?

You may find your agency touting this small player in the CMS market as the next big thing. October’s popularity rose by 30% in 2018, and it’s set to go after an even bigger share of the market this coming year.

A Content Management System on the rise

October CMS, first released in 2014, is built on the Laravel PHP framework - an increasingly preferred platform for web developers to code quickly and effectively. This makes it fast out of the box and allows developers to use the series of Laravel performance tools to increase the speed and reliability of websites.

The use of October as a content management system for websites has increased by 650% since the beginning of 2016. This meteoric rise can be attributed to three things. Firstly, it only launched in 2014, so in 2016 still had a relatively small user base. Second, the team at October have chosen the right horse to back in Laravel - which is rapidly increasing in popularity and has an enthusiastically active community of developers onboard. Finally, developers are reacting well to the slickly-designed backend, less error-prone framework code, effortless customisation and superior security.

It’s also worth noting the workload of the websites using October - which on average have more visitors than those hosted on Squarespace, Shopify, Joomla or even WordPress. This suggests it’s considered a solid choice for sites which anticipate handling a large volume of visitors. We predict that more and more agencies will recommend October CMS to, and use it for, their more established clients across 2019.

Credit: W3techs; https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-octobercms/all/all

What’s the difference with October CMS and why should I care?

“October is a free, open-source, self-hosted CMS platform based on the Laravel PHP Framework. Thousands of digital studios and freelancers all over the world love October for its simplicity, flexibility and modern design.” - https://octobercms.com

Imagine you want to take a series of photographs to display on large canvases in your home. You fantasise about the stunning beauty of these images that would make guests stop and admire them with breathless excitement.

You already know that if you took the photos yourself, it would be highly unlikely that you would achieve the desired effect. So, you commission a professional.

Now, you have a choice to make. A) Allow the professional to use their choice of equipment that gives them all of the advanced features they need to be truly creative. B) Ask them to use a smartphone camera, because you sort of understand how it works and might change your mind about delegating the project one day.

In a nutshell, October CMS is a content management system built to allow developers and web agencies to do their best creative work. There exists fantastic CMS options for the general public, but October is increasingly the choice of consummate professionals.

Will I lose control of my site if my agency uses October CMS? I need to publish things.

Fortunately, just because you’re handing your developers a better toolkit, doesn’t mean that you’re giving up all control to them. There are publisher roles available in October just as there are in more mainstream CMS, which means you can still create blog articles, products and the like. It’s essentially the perfect choice if you’re looking to update day-to day-content yourself, but equally expect a quality level of site maintenance, speed and performance from your agency or developer.

Why do I need ANY content management system? Isn’t that what my agency is for?

A content management system is an interface that you use to manage your website’s pages, blog articles, files, settings, design and various other elements. It’s the mother of all dashboards when it comes to effectively updating and maintaining your site.

Even if you vowed never to touch your website, determined to "leave it to the experts", a good CMS will save you money by keeping the hours your agency spends working on your site to a minimum. It allows them to:

• Work from templates;
• Give access to multiple contributors;
• Ensure the security of your site more easily.

It also gives them a simple way of allowing you to contribute blog articles and other content if you decide to do so in the future.

If you’re considering building a website with an agency or developer in 2019, don’t be afraid to ask them what their preferred content management system is for a site like the one you’re proposing. Sometimes, it’s good for a professional to know that their client is open to different ideas, especially when trying to deliver the best result on a brief. Find out more about October CMS here.

1Pilot is an advanced monitoring tool for your PHP framework, CMS and all the individual sites that you manage. It is designed specifically for October CMS and Laravel.