Is a solid Content Management System (CMS).
Being able to change a heading, replace an image or publish a new page is useful. But a good CMS should go further than simply letting you edit what's already there.
We recently put that thinking into practice on our own website. As part of a wider update, our former Insights area became Resources — not simply with a new name, but with a different approach to how content is organised, found and shared.
Here are some of the changes we made, and the thinking behind them.
1. Organise Content Around How People Actually Look for It
As a content library grows, organising everything into a simple list becomes less useful. Different visitors arrive looking for different things, and they won't necessarily use the same terminology or follow the same route to find them.
Our Resources can now be categorised by areas including industry, business type, functionality, media type and key topics. Visitors can combine those categories to narrow down the content that's most relevant to them.
For example, someone could be interested specifically in 'Drinks' and 'Distribution', while another visitor might want to see 'Engineering' and 'Reporting & Analysis'.
The wider CMS lesson is simple: think beyond where content sits and consider all the different ways somebody might want to find it.
2. Make Navigation Adapt to Your Content
Adding more content shouldn't necessarily mean adding more and more options to the main website navigation.
As part of the changes, we've reorganised the Resources menu to give visitors clearer routes into the content available, while the filtering within Resources handles the more detailed choices.
For anyone reviewing their own website, it's worth asking: has your navigation evolved as your content has grown, or are you still fitting new information into a structure designed several years ago?
3. Turn a Filtered Search Into Something You Can Share
This is one of the more interesting additions.
Once a particular combination of Resources has been filtered, that selection can be represented by a single URL. Instead of telling somebody where to go and which filters to select, the relevant view can be prepared for them and shared directly.
That creates practical uses beyond general website browsing. A salesperson, for example, could share a link containing resources relevant to a particular industry or requirement. A marketing campaign could direct people towards a carefully selected group of content rather than a generic Resources page.
Good website filtering shouldn't just help people search. It can help you curate.
4. Not Everything Has to Be for Everyone
Content can also be controlled according to its intended audience, with options for internal or external viewing.
That means the same underlying approach to content management can support information intended for the public alongside resources intended for staff.
It's a useful reminder that managing website content isn't always just about what gets published. Who should be able to see it can be just as important.
What Can You Take From It?
You don't necessarily need a large Resources library to apply the same thinking to your own website. If you manage content through a CMS, consider:
- Can content belong to several meaningful categories rather than one fixed section?
- Can visitors quickly narrow down what's relevant to them?
- Can useful selections or filtered views be shared directly?
- Can you control whether content is intended for internal or public viewing?
- Can your website structure evolve without rebuilding everything around it?
The best CMS isn't necessarily the one with the most options. It's the one that gives the people managing the website useful control over how their content is organised, presented and maintained.
Putting Our Own CMS to Work
The new Resources area is one example of how we use our own CMS to manage and develop the De Facto website. It gives us the flexibility to organise content in different ways, introduce new functionality and make changes as the way we use the website evolves.
For De Facto ERP customers, that same approach can extend to their own e-commerce presence. We develop integrated e-commerce websites with a user-friendly CMS, giving teams control over everyday content while the website remains connected to the wider ERP solution.
The changes we've made to Resources offer a glimpse at what's possible. Take a look around, try the different filters and explore how the content has been organised — there may be a few ideas worth considering for your own website.
Explore De Facto Resources