Content management¹ systems for websites like Drupal, Wordpress and Joomla provide simple forms for website content providers to fill out. When the content is ready to be published, the content provider hits a button and, poof, new content for the website. CMSs allow people to focus on content, the real heart of a website, and not be impeded by coding and technological barriers.

Whether you spend $100,000 for a Microsoft Sharepoint setup or you sign up for a free account on the social networking site Ning, your internet is not going to do its job if the content sucks.

One way that content fails is when it's pushed down by the big boys in corporate communications, HR and IT. To counteract that, Paul Chin suggests getting users involved. He posted a great list on ways you might increase the traffic to your intranet.

John Quarto-von Tivador seizes upon successful agriculture culture as a metaphor for good website promotion (are you from Calif. John?).

He says that it's the toughest kind of farming, like lettuce growing and not at all a cherry picking operation. Successful sites, like successful lettuce fields, require constant tending.

Too many people still look upon websites like print publications. Once they are "launched," they're done. In fact, the launch is just the beginning. Success lies in many hours of careful tending.

A content management¹ system allows just about anyone in your business to easily make changes to and add to the content of your website.

A website is like a hungry beast. It always needs new content. It pleases search engines to see that your site is being updated. More important, it pleases your readers to have access to new information valuable to them.

Without new content websites die.

Here are 8 reasons to use a content management system and keep the hungry beast healthy and working for you.