If a website relaunch is imminent, the following questions quickly become an issue: "What requirements do we have for the new CMS?" and "Do we do better with an open source system or with a SaaS solution? Both CMS variants have advantages and disadvantages. It is also relevant for decision-making whether development services are available in-house or whether the marketing team consists mainly of actors like campaign and content managers with little IT knowledge.
With which requirements will the marketing team start the evaluation in 2021? In our experience, the following criteria are among others:
- Simple handling in the backend
- Personalized content for individual target groups
- Integrated possibilities for SEO-optimization
- Options for measuring the success of individual pages and content
- Integration possibilities, for example from social media and paid campaigns
The experiences from the past years show that more and more providers simplify the work in the backend. The HTML code should play as little a role as possible for the content managers. For this purpose, default ready-made templates or user-friendly modules and editing masks are offered, which provide a relevant set of features for individualization with just a few clicks. The expectations on the user side change accordingly.
The SaaS provider HubSpot serves the editing spectrum of content managers and campaign managers with useful features in its CMS system. Compared to the handling with Typo3 or WordPress, the user does not have easy options for publishing websites and landing pages via the backend. The monitoring of the performance by means of Content Analytics KPIs as well as SEO features are directly included in the backend. These advantages will be presented in more detail here.
Easy creation of websites, landing pages and blog posts
On the basis of a pre-created design, page elements can be inserted into the respective page simply by drag & drop from a selection. HubSpot provides some modern designs, which can be used if no corporate design is to be considered. It is possible to create content in multiple languages with just a few clicks.
Via the CMS you choose whether you want to create a classic website, a blog post or a landing page as an element of a Google Ads, Facebook or LinkedIn campaign.
The pages can be developed locally. Compared to WordPress or Typo3, the HubDB also allows dynamic content to be stored in the page elements and personalized to the defined target groups.
Integrated analytics & reports for regular performance checks
Google Analytics provides a range of valuable metrics for marketers such as sources, traffic, clicks, length of stay, origin of visitors, etc. HubSpot also delivers this data - directly from the backend. To measure success, various analytic tools with presets are available. Traffic Analytics provides measurement data such as sessions, page views, average session length, conversion rates, bounce rates, etc. Depending on whether the CRM provided free of charge by HubSpot is used, further measurement data on new contacts and customers are available.
Optimize for more traffic and lead generation
A key task of online marketing teams is to optimize website content for relevant search terms. HubSpot also provides the tools for onpage optimization of web content within the CMS backend. Similar to the WordPress tool YOAST, content managers can optimize individual pages before each publication. HubSpot provides a guideline and shows potential for improvement in general, but also focused on specific topics directly on the respective page. In conjunction with the HubSpot Marketing Hub, there is the option to designate individual pages as the main page or as supporting content. This allows the creation of high-performance content pillars with a series of cluster pages.
Security & Updates remain on the provider side
One of the advantages of SaaS systems is that, unlike open source CMS, the user buys the security package as well. In plain language this means that providers like HubSpot CMS take care of the security of the website. The marketing team no longer has to manually take care of the renewal of the SSL certificates. In the case of website failures, which by the way are only 0.01%, the provider will take care of the renewal.
Further Information
More information on HubSpot CMS Features, prices and packages.
