Why most CMS solutions fall short
In 2024, there are three primary options available for building and managing your website:
- Monolithic CMS platforms like WordPress and HubSpot.
- Modern website builders such as Framer and Webflow.
- Custom frontends integrated with a headless CMS like Sanity, Storyblok, or Contentful.
If your website is more than just a single-page or static brochure, it’s essential to carefully consider which CMS option will best meet the needs of your marketing team and users. We’ll examine why many traditional CMS platforms may not be ideal for your requirements and explore the advantages of using a custom frontend integrated with a headless CMS.
Headless CMS platforms often seem overly complicated.
Headless CMS platforms were created to separate website content from its code, enabling content reuse and offering more design freedom. They allow full control over the codebase, facilitating integration with other platforms without waiting for plugins. However, despite promising streamlined website management for marketing teams, many headless CMS interfaces are complex and lack essential features.
Marketing teams often reach out to us expressing dissatisfaction with their headless CMS setup, sometimes even contemplating a switch to platforms like Hubspot CMS or Webflow.
However, it’s unfair to fault the developers configuring these headless CMSes. The issue lies with the product, not the engineering.
Customizing dashboards in certain headless CMS platforms can be incredibly challenging, even with extra effort.
Most marketing material for headless CMSes focuses on creating blog articles and recipes because building website pages can be either extremely difficult or a complete nightmare.
Contentful’s content management screen
What your users and marketing team deserve
We aim to design websites that capture the essence of the brand and ensure a delightful experience for both users and marketing teams. Managing your website effectively is just as crucial.
Opting for the most intuitive headless CMS currently available, such as Sanity, and tailoring its interface can significantly improve the overall user experience.
Let’s explore how this works.
Powerful and easy website management
We should provide the marketing team with a user-friendly CMS that enables easy self-management of your website.
With features like unlimited page and folder creation, simple content editing, built-in collaboration, and multilingual content management, your marketing team can easily create and manage pages. They can preview changes instantly and navigate the website effortlessly using a sitemap-like browser.
Foolproof SEO setup
We should automate technical SEO tasks like updating the sitemap and adding schema markup when pages are added or removed. Marketers can manage page indexability, redirects, and SEO fields like title and description, all following Google’s best practices.
Unlimited integrations
A marketing team toolbox goes beyond a CMS, utilizing various tools to achieve its goals. An adaptable setup enables effortless integration of any tool with a documented API, whether it’s a CRM, a newsletter platform like Klaviyo or MailChimp, or analytics tools such as Google Analytics and GTM.
Possible integrations
What’s next?
Managing content is a journey that never ends. Clients always want better experiences, and we need to be prepared for the challenges they bring. Understanding their technical problems and appreciating innovations in the field are crucial. It's inspiring, and we're grateful for the progress.
Certain CMS platforms, like Builder.io, Sanity, and Storyblok, along with Contentful, are leading the way. They're pushing boundaries and setting high standards.
We're not just observing this evolution; we're actively involved. We're always working to improve our approach, making our solutions more efficient and user-friendly.
Original post link: https://tinloof.com/blog/why-most-cmses-aren-t-a-good-fit-for-marketing-teams
