CMS Hub: Definition and Differences From Traditional CMS

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September 13, 2021 (Updated: February 3, 2023)

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What Is a CMS?
Why Every Company Needs a CMS
What Is CMS Hub?
CMS Hub New Features
CMS Hub vs. Traditional CMS
How To Choose the Best CMS for Your Business

When companies start new content marketing campaigns, it’s important for them to organize and manage their work efficiently. With the help of a CMS, or content management system, they can do just that. CMS programs allow businesses to create effective websites that attract customers more easily and help them promote their products and brand. There are many CMS tools to choose from, including the one created by HubSpot, a software development and marketing company. In this guide, we discuss what a CMS is, how CMS Hub differs from others, and how you can find the right CMS for your company or business.

What Is a CMS?

Content management systems are tools that companies use to develop and manage their websites. There is a variety of CMS options available with different functions. Some of those CMS options include:

A CMS can also help companies perform more powerful marketing through content management for blogs, videos, and more. That content can deliver important information to customers and help businesses display their products and brand. Some CMS can also integrate with other marketing tools like customer relationship management systems (CRM), email marketing tools, and off-site advertisements. When you combine those with the CMS’ normal functions, you can implement your marketing strategies more effectively.

For example, let’s say you use a CMS to create content and attract more customers to your site. Then, when a customer visits your site, they might sign up for your email list. Your CMS could then add that new email address into your email marketing database so you can seamlessly incorporate new sign-ups into your marketing efforts.

Why Every Company Needs a CMS

Content management systems are extremely helpful to companies. Not only can they assist with frequent website updates, but they also have other great benefits, including:

Strong SEO Practices

Many CMS tools allow you to implement better search engine optimization (SEO). Basically, they help people find your website and content more easily via Google and other search engines. Those SEO functions allow businesses to create content with titles, meta descriptions, and keywords, all of which can help increase their organic traffic. A CMS also allows people to add backlinks to other articles and include paragraph tags as well. Some CMS programs can conduct on-page analysis of a company’s website and flag certain things that it could improve to help its customer outreach.

Lastly, most programs also have the ability to track the performance of a website, which can help businesses understand if they’ve properly optimized their website or if they need to make adjustments. Those adjustments might include shorter meta descriptions or content with a better readability score.

Uniform Design

When your website has a uniform design or look, it creates a consistency that customers can expect from your company. That, in turn, helps you develop a recognizable brand. Some CMS programs can allow you to create a template for your blogs or content. The template can make sure that all content posted to your website is consistent in its design.

Though CMS programs and content templates are helpful, it’s also a good idea to create a style guide, which helps ensure content and design consistency. Style guides inform all writers and content creators about the tone for your campaign’s blogs, articles, and videos, as well as label words they should use or avoid. Explore CopyPress’ free eBook on why your business should have a style guide, which also includes tips to help your content marketing succeed.

Efficient Workflow

When you use a CMS design template for your website and content, it can help to make the workflow more efficient. That’s because content creators can focus more on generating articles or blogs. They don’t have to spend time creating or designing a webpage for each article they write. This increased efficiency can help companies hire separate employees for their website and content, which means each employee can focus on their separate duties and produce their work more quickly.

Many CMS programs also allow companies to add plug-ins to their website. This can help them keep track of important information or manage different areas of their business, such as their website analytics, social media, and email marketing campaigns.

Improved Client Satisfaction

A CMS can also help you design your website in a way that makes it easier to navigate, including adding calls to action, clickable links, and simple ways to interact with the company, like signing up for an email campaign. Adding these features to your site helps customers spend less time figuring out what your company can do for them and more time on deciding how exactly they want your help.

What Is CMS Hub?

Image via HubSpot

CMS Hub is one of the many content management systems you can choose for your business. This HubSpot CMS program is cloud-based, meaning users can access it from any machine and make adjustments to their website design on the go. They can also write content for their sites, such as blogs or articles, and upload them from any device. Some of its features include:

HTML coding
Website design
Security analysis
SEO analytics
Social media integration
Content creation

CMS Hub New Features

CMS Hub added some new features in April 2020. Some of those features include:

Themes: Hubspot’s CMS now has a variety of themes that you can choose from. You can also make your own theme or collaborate with your developer to create one that works well with your brand.
Page editing: After establishing the theme of your site, you can now edit them more easily with drag-and-drop editing. You can also edit each page separately and ensure that it delivers the information you need.
Multiple languages: CMS Hub can translate content for visitors. It can conduct A/B testing on pages in multiple languages, which means it’ll compare two or more webpage designs and see which one performs better with website visitors. If you use variation testing, the CMS will automatically display the highest-performing webpage to customers.
Dynamic content: CMS Hub can also update referenced content on your webpages. It uses a program called HubDB to keep track of the content you reference and update it around your site whenever you need it.
Memberships: Memberships help your website tailor its content toward your visitors. With memberships, the CMS can keep track of what your customers take interest in and the products or services they buy. Then, it can use that information to display pages, content, and products that might interest them.
Off-server functions: Off-server functions allow your website to run programs and web apps without the risk of slowing down your website. Especially when paired with the other tools of CMS Hub, these functions can help provide an efficient experience for your customers.
Activity logs: The CMS can now track the activity of whoever makes changes to your website. If you have a few developers who work simultaneously on your site, you can see the actions they take on the activity log.
Brand domains: CMS Hub can now assist you in hosting multiple websites. Having multiple websites can help you establish and manage different facets of your brand all on the same CMS.

CMS Hub vs. Traditional CMS

CMS Hub has a few differences compared to traditional CMS programs. Some of those differences include:

SEO Tools

If you use the professional subscription for CMS Hub, the program gives you some additional SEO tools. Those tools make suggestions for keywords to target and give you a strategy for your content. More traditional CMS options, such as WordPress, don’t offer those types of tools on their own. However, some traditional CMS programs do allow for plug-ins that can help with your website’s optimization.

Website Analytics

CMS Hub provides you with many tools to track the traffic of your site, including number of visitors, geographic locations of those visitors, and time of day they visited. Using those numbers, you can make informed decisions on how to increase or maintain visitors through marketing. Traditional CMS solutions often provide you with webpage analysis, but some only give you the number of page visitors and nothing more.

Website Hosting

HubSpot offers cloud hosting, which means they take care of your website’s security and help with its hosting and maintenance. Though some traditional CMS programs offer cloud hosting, others are self-hosted and require you to manage the security and maintenance of the site on your own. But as mentioned previously, if you want more freedom in the creation and hosting of your website, then self-hosted options might be a better fit for you.

How To Choose the Best CMS for Your Business

HubSpot’s CMS is one option for companies, but there are other CMS tools such as WordPress, Wix, GoDaddy, and more. So, how do you know which one is right for you? Here is a list of steps for helping you choose the best CMS for your business:

1. Ensure It’s Scalable

If a CMS is scalable, that means it can handle increased loads of work for your growing business. No matter how big or small your business is, once you get your website up and running, it’s probably going to require constant changes. Let’s say you add more products to your site and you need a larger e-commerce store. Maybe your business is evolving, and you need a second or third website. Your CMS needs to be able to handle constant changes, additions, and developments.

2. Understand the True Costs

Though it’s pretty easy to assume you know the exact costs of managing a website, it can be a little trickier than you might expect. Many CMS tools and programs have different monthly subscriptions you can choose from. But for some websites, that might just be the start. The major costs for managing a website include:

Operational costs: Operational costs are expenses you pay to keep the website up and running. They can include the monthly subscription to maintain your website, the recurring fee for the shared hosting account, and the payment for the domain. However, depending on the size of your site, you might also want security tools and testing features, which could cost even more.
Value costs: Value costs are any changes or additions made to the website that give it value. Most often, these are changes or tools that help your customers. They can include an optimized e-commerce store, a blog or content page, or a rewards account page. It’s possible that your value costs might accrue as your business continues to operate. You may find that you need to make more changes or additions to your website as you receive more feedback.
Problem costs: Problem costs are expenses you need to pay when problems or challenges occur. These problems can include issues with security or paying for a better server subscription to keep up with your traffic. Most often, you can avoid these costs by thinking of problems ahead of time and paying a little extra upfront so you don’t have to pay a lot later.

3. Figure Out Who Hosts It

There are three different ways that someone can host a content management system. Depending on what your company does or how it operates, one hosting system might be better for you than another. Those hosting systems are:

On-Premise CMS

On-premise CMS means that the company puts the CMS on its own server. Essentially, the company pays a fee for the license of the CMS software and has the ability to use it freely. This self-hosted system allows companies to have full control of the CMS and its functions. Companies can use this control to easily update their website and keep up with increasing traffic and customer visits.

But companies also take on all the costs and risks when using on-premise options. They’re responsible for protecting their own website from any security dangers. They also have to pay for the server’s hardware, along with maintenance fees and software updates.

Cloud-Hosted CMS

A cloud-hosted CMS behaves similarly to the on-premise CMS. The main difference is the level of control. With a cloud-hosted CMS, you pay for the license and a third-party server downloads the software for you. You lease the space on the server to host your website. Though you don’t have as much freedom with the CMS as you would with an on-premise version, it can provide you with a little more convenience. The CMS vendor handles the security, the software updates, and maintenance. You just have to focus on making the website and content.

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) CMS

Software as a service is a program that you can access over the internet. For content management systems, the SaaS allows you to manage and manipulate your site as long as you have an internet connection. This hosting service offers limited control for companies, but it can also make the process of creating a new website easy. If you’re just starting your business or website, a SaaS CMS might help you create a basic platform for your customers. Then, as your business grows, you can move the website to a more scalable hosting service.

4. Make Sure It Can Integrate Technology

It’s important for the CMS you choose to work well with other programs. Though a CMS program can do a lot, you may still need other tools and software to help you with other parts of your business. If the CMS you choose doesn’t pair well with those other pieces of software, it can create a lot of challenges.

Before you look at CMS options, note some of the technology you already use. Make a list of the programs you find most helpful and that you don’t plan on changing. Then, research which of the CMS options work best with those programs.

5. Figure Out Its Security Setup

When customers visit your site, they want to feel secure when inputting personal information. Whether they give you their email address or their credit card number, it’s important to make sure other people can’t access that data. Though some CMS providers, like WordPress, have plug-ins and extra security features available to them, other programs might not. You’ll want a CMS provider that can protect you from hackers or potential threats. If the CMS doesn’t have the best security features, you then have to decide if it’s worth it or if you should pay for third-party security software.

6. Determine Its Search Engine Optimization Capabilities

Whether you’re continuously writing blogs or you’re simply creating an online store, SEO is important. Many CMS programs analyze SEO and identify areas of a website that need help. They can also help companies keep track of where their website currently ranks on different search engines. If your website focuses a lot on blog content, you might be interested in CMS options that have tools for increasing your content’s readability score. Regardless, understanding how your company prioritizes its SEO practices can help you choose the CMS software that’s right for your goals.

The internet has a lot of ways for businesses to create their websites and manage their marketing content. Depending on what your business needs, it’s helpful to look into different CMS programs and the SEO tools that they offer. Whether you choose CMS Hub or another management system, make sure it has everything your company needs to grow and succeed.

jross

CopyPress writer