A website is more than a beautiful web design. In addition to a marketing functionality, it also has a communication task. With HubSpot's CMS, with integrated CRM, many useful functions are combined.
And because HubSpot's platform is tuned for Inbound Marketing and Sales, an inbound website on HubSpot CMS also brings the ideal conditions and the right tools to thrive.
In this article, I'll go into more detail about HubSpot's key CMS features for building a website, and then you'll understand why you should build your next website on HubSpot. But first, let's get to the why.
Why HubSpot CMS?
With HubSpot CMS (Content Management System) you can easily manage, update and personalize your web pages. The creation of new web pages is easy to realize through the Design Templates & Themes (with a drag & drop editor) and moreover, these templates are already responsive.
The CMS has integrated multi-language functionality for international websites.
Backup is automatic and saves version history, so you can restore any version - even months later.
Fast and secure: the CMS is based on a CDN (Content Delivery Network) and guarantees fast online content availability. In addition, there is a standard SSL certificate for a subdomain included. Under the domain, you can select one of 3 TLS (Transport Layer Security) versions and additionally activate an extended security level. On top of that, there is a Web Application Firewall (WAF) that runs 24/7 to protect your website and files.
A sitemap and URL redirects, as well as system pages (404, 500, password, and search results pages) are also available. And, of course, what should not be missing is a clear and intuitive dashboard for users, with hints or information.
You can read about the features and functions HubSpot CMS offers in the Content Hub.
Die HubSpot Plattform bietet neben einem CMS (Content Management System), ein Marketing Automation Tool, eine Sales Software, einen Customer Service und einen Operations Hub inklusiv einem CRM (Customer Relationship Management) in einem an.
The HubSpot platform offers a CMS, a Marketing Automation and Email tool, a Sales software, a Customer Service functionality, and an Operations Hub for integration of further external company software, including a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) in one.
All HubSpot Hubs are harmonized with each other and that gives you flexibility. For example, you can start marketing as soon as you build a website and expand later as needed.
An overview of HubSpot's products and services can be found here.
What CMS features does HubSpot offer?
Below, I'll give you an overview of the individual features you should know about in order to implement a successful web project on HubSpot, and also explain what they are needed for and what they can do.
And here are the most important CMS features at a glance:
File Manager
In the File Manager, you can create folders and subfolders and store your images, documents, and videos according to your organization's system. A search help and search filters additionally facilitate finding. For each file, there is information like external access (visibility) and URLs, file usage, history, and general information like file size, type, dimensions, etc.
You can rename, move and replace the individual files, very handy if they are used in different places on the website. You can also clone and edit the images directly in the file manager (crop and resize), saving you the down- and upload.
Design-Manager
The Design Manager is the back-end of Design Templates & Themes, these are organized into individual files. There you will find first a HubSpot folder with its free themes and modules, and the Marketplace folder. The Marketplace is the management of apps (integration to HubSpot account) and Themes. In the Marketplace, you can download free, as well as paid themes and templates.
The downloads from the Marketplace can be found in this folder. A Theme with its Design Templates contains, among other things, files with CSS, images, JS, modules, templates (coded in HTML), as well as JSON files (JavaScript Object Notation - a format for data exchange).
Regardless of which theme you choose, I recommend creating a child theme, that way you will benefit from updates when they are available. And a child theme is also great for customizing individual requirements and wishes, e.g. for the modules.
Another option is to let a developer create your own theme.
Drag & Drop Editor
The drag and drop editor in the front-end lets you create new web pages quickly and easily. While the layout is created on the page level, the design adjustments to your branding, such as color, fonts, etc. are done in the theme settings.
The header and footer are global modules and are customized from the page.
To create a page, choose a template from your design and you're ready to go. You can easily add and remove modules. In HubSpot, all modules are listed on the left side. You can then add your content by clicking on the module and style it the way you want.
You can also save complete sections and paste them to other pages.
Smart Content
Der Smart Content lässt sich im Rich-Text durch Smart-Regeln nutzen, basierend auf Kategorien. Bei den Kategorien gibt es zur Auswahl z.B. Anzeigenquellen, Kontaktlisten, Lifecycle Phasen und mehr. Im Anschluss folgt dann die Regel, auf Basis der jeweiligen Kategorie.
Smart content can be used in richtext modules through smart rules based on categories. Categories can be selected from e.g. ad sources, contact lists, lifecycle phases, and more. The rule then follows, based on the respective category.
For example, the category is Device Type, and the choices for the rules are Desktop, Tablet, and Mobile Device.
This function allows you to display a different text than the default text for specific visitors.
Forms
Creating forms in HubSpot offers you many advantages. For example, you can easily drag and drop the individual fields (properties) into the form. Properties include among others names, company name, and email. You can also hide fields, which makes sometimes sense e.g. for Preferred Language or Lifecycle Stage.
The fields may be prefilled with information that has been already submitted before. And what should happen after the form submission, a thank you note as an inline message or a redirect to another page? There is also the possibility to send a follow-up email to the contact who filled out the form, automatically after each submission.
In HubSpot, you can also create pop-up forms. In addition, there are detailed form analytics, as well as the possibility to compare the KPIs of 2 forms.
CTAs
Easily create a call-to-action as a link, a text button, or an image. HubSpot offers 3 variants for CTAs, the simple CTA, the multi-variant CTA, and the smart CTA.
With the multi-variant you can create different variants of an existing CTA. This way you can test which one encourages more clicks.
The Smart CTA has the same function as the Smart Content.
You can view more information about the click rate under details for the respective CTA.
Please note that the use of CTAs requires the loading of JavaScript. Therefore, CTAs should only be used wisely, so as not to delay the overall loading time of the page too much.
SEO Tool
The integrated SEO tool of HubSpot helps directly with the editing of a page. Under Settings, important SEO data can be entered, such as page title and meta description. There is also the Optimize tab, where help is given, and points that still need optimization are listed.
In HubSpot, you can also have all your web pages scanned in terms of SEO. You will then receive a list with important suggestions for improvement and what effect they have on your SEO.
To optimize SEO, you can also use Topic Clusters to create and link related content, for example to a pillar page.
A/B Test and Adaptive Test
In HubSpot, there are two test options for your web pages to find out which variant of your web page is better received by visitors.
The A/B Test is about two different versions of a web page, half of which is displayed to the visitors. After a while, you can select the winner page to be always displayed.
In the Adaptive Test, you can create up to 5 page variants. During the test run, the variant with the most popularity is then displayed more and more frequently. This test is available with Content Hub Professional and higher. You can read a nice and understandable explanation about this topic here.
Blog
HubSpot's blog tool is clearly structured and easy to use. When creating your post, you can design your content beautifully using the rich text module with its many options and insert images or a CTA quickly.
Bei den Einstellungen ist ein Feature-Bild für Social Media integriert und Sie können die Veröffentlichung für einen bestimmten Zeitpunkt planen. Zusätzlich gibt es das Tool für automatische Post in den Social Media (Note: Dafür ist Marketing Professional notwendig).
In the settings, a featured image for social media is integrated and you can schedule the publication for a specific time. Additionally, there is a tool for automatic posting on social media channels (Note: Marketing Professional is required for this).
Further, HubSpot comes with an AMP functionality (Accelerated Mobile Page), this ensures fast loading time on mobile devices by loading javascript files and other files later. The blogs with AMP format are preferred by Google in the search results on a mobile device.
Landing Page
With a landing page that you create yourself in no time, you can offer a special offer and thus convert visitors into leads, these pages in HubSpot are not indexed by search engines (unless you want to). Furthermore, an association to campaigns is done with only two clicks.
For information, a landing page should not have a navigation, so as not to distract the interested party, but the legal links in the footer (e.g. legal notice and privacy policy) must be displayed.
HubDB
HubSpot's HubDB is a database in the form of a table with structured content. It grants you some options for individual use and includes easy maintenance of the data. By adding a filter, the content on the website can then also be sorted well.
The HubDB is especially predestined for the creation of dynamic web pages. The use of such a database is especially good for resources, press releases, events and job listings, and more.
Chatflows
In HubSpot, you have the option to create bots using templates that work with if/then branching. In these chatflows there are different settings, e.g. on which pages and at what time the bot should be displayed. The option to consent to data processing and cookies is also available.
Web Analytics Reporting
Create your own dashboard, according to your needs with drag and drop reports. HubSpot offers you many insights into different analytics. The web analytics dashboard in the reporting tool gives you, among other things, insights into areas such as device type, countries, traffic, page views, bounce rate, performance, which web page ranks best incl. the number of clicks, and much more.
With these analytics, you have meaningful data to continuously optimize your campaigns and website.
Consent to Web Analytics
HubSpot comes with a cookie banner that is compliant with the GDPR. The settings allow you or your website visitors to set an opt-in and an opt-out, as well as the management of the consents given. It is also possible to list and select individual HubSpot cookies.
The documentation of the consent runs only through contacts. You can create a list and view reports about it.
New visitors, without form submission, are not contacts. They are tracked based on their website visit, but no other data is recorded unless it is a company. This website visit is tracked via the Activity Feed tool, and is only viewable with a HubSpot Sales license.
Those who use Google Analytics can integrate it into HubSpot, as well as the Google Tag Manager and the AdRoll, the new Google Consent Mode v2 is also supported.
The cookie banner for consent also blocks cookies from HubSpot integrations, including Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. So if you use an integration, these cookies will also be blocked. With manually inserted scripts, it logically doesn't work.
Unless you have Content Hub Enterprise, with the Serverless Functions Reference (server-side code), which allows you or your developer to include third-party cookies.
An alternative is to use a CMP (Consent Management Platforms), which you should definitely test beforehand, as not all CMPs are completely compatible with HubSpot.
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