There are several ways to build a website, from raw HTML coding on up to HTML editors such as Dreamweaver and Frontpage. These are good for designing the actual look of the site, but adding content and making changes to your site can be labor-intensive, depending on how you do it. You would have to create a new page on your local computer, and then upload it to your site. A Content Management System (CMS) makes this whole process a lot easier.

A CMS is a program, usually free, that sits on your web host server. It allows you to add content and change the look of the site by logging into the administrator control panel from anywhere in the world.

The nice thing about this is you don't have to have any software on your local computer, you don't have to upload anything, and you can re-arrange and add to the site, and even change the look, at any time by just logging in and clicking a few buttons.

In addition, some of the more popular CMS programs have available a lot of different free themes; it would be difficult to not find a look and color scheme for your site that you like.

Here are some of the features you can find with the most popular CMS programs:

• Templates - change the look of your site with a click of a button, at any time
• User login - allow visitors to create an account and have access to special areas of your site
• User contributions - allow registered users to write articles for your site
• Add content - add new articles and content to your site with one click
• Rearrange menus and content - change the position of features with a few clicks
• Add blogs and forums - included with the software
• Add multimedia - a variety of video and audio plugins

So should you use a CMS or not? If you are planning to have a simple "brochure" style website to simply advertise your services and phone number, and you won't do much more with it, then you can probably just use a simple HTML template such as the paid ones at Templatemonster or the free ones at OpenWebDesign.org.

If you will need a larger amount of content, or a community-based website, or a shopping cart, then using a CMS may be a good alternative to building or hiring someone to build a website from scratch in Dreamweaver.

So what are the major Content Management Systems? The three biggies, all 100% free to use, are:

Wordpress: By far the most popular, and hence most supported, CMS for blogging is Wordpress. Most blogs you will see are run on Wordpress. After installation, you simply login to the admin "backstage" screen, click New Post, and write your article. Simple as that!

Joomla: akin to Wordpress for a static site, Joomla is heavily used and heavily supported, with a very large array of extra plugins such as shopping carts, both free and commercial. Easy to use, but some aspects are not completely intuitive. Great for the typical business or community site.

Drupal: also good for a static site, but quite extensive right out of the box. With one small button, you can turn on a forum, a blog, newsfeeds, user registration, etc. A little more intuitive to use than Joomla. If you are planning a large authority site with lots of community features, this is a good choice.

A note on installation: many hosting companies will offer a one click install of the above software. Manual installation is not difficult, but does require the ability to carefully follow directions. Check with your host first to see if you can get these installed automatically, or find a host that offers CPanel. Cpanel contains a program called Fantastico that enables super easy two click installs of such programs.