Recently I had a meeting with a product manager at a company who told me that their IT department had just been given approval to revamp their website. They are going to use an obsolete website development tool to create essentially a collection of static web pages. It's hard to believe that people are still putting resources into static HTML websites these days. It's obvious they have no idea what a true content management system like Joomla! is. Website systems like Joomla! are cost effective as well as easy to use and maintain. They are not going to be positioning themselves for the future with the decision that they made.

The benefits that a system like Joomla! can give you are so great that it can pay to use it even for a small website.

If all you want is a 'business card' online then a couple of web pages will be fine. You don't need a content management system for that, after all you aren't managing anything. But if you are committed to making your online efforts give you a return on your investment, then you need a good way to manage content as well as something that can utilize all the necessary tools for this age of the Internet. If you don't have a decent CMS things will become unwieldy and confusing as you add more content. It'll be frustrating to maintain as well.

You'll never be able to leverage your valuable online digital assets with a static website as effectively as you can with a system like Joomla.

If you have is a static website, what is it doing for you? How does anyone know that it is there and why should they care? Why not turn your website into something that generates leads or some other worthwhile activity? Companies that blog and use social media in an engaging way are being rewarded for their online efforts. Besides, the social Internet is also a lot more fun than it's ever been. Joomla! can make it easier to position yourself right into the middle of it all.

You don't need a license to use Joomla!, it comes with one!

Joomla! is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2. This means that all the investment in your content management system can go into the design and content development. You don't have to pay fees just for the privilege of using the software.

The crowd has moved and the traditional advertising and promotional methods of the past no longer get the attention they once did. The Internet has levelled out the playing field. It's not just the companies that can afford to throw huge dollars into advertising that are effective in promoting their goods and services. Systems like Joomla! and the components that are being created for it are providing the tools that enable anyone to compete with the big boys and interact with their customers.

Why in the world would you think of putting anything less than a true content management system like Joomla! online to represent your company? I don't think that the decision the product manager's IT department made is going to bring them their dream, weaving webpages for them. What do you think?