Building websites that cater to customer needs is an integral part of scaling your business. To ensure a successful venture in today’s digital world, you need a sleek website that can adapt to current marketing and development trends.
To achieve these goals, companies opt for many different website-building solutions. Marketing departments love “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) editors that offer easy-to-use visual tools on platforms like Squarespace and Wix. These solutions give marketers tons of flexibility to bring their artistic visions to life. Plus, they can easily make changes (such as adding new text and visuals) without learning code or waiting for the developers.
This ease of use and artistic focus is great, but these platforms are limiting for developers. Many WYSIWYG platforms restrict access to back-end code and lack powerful developer tools. As a result, developers tend to prefer frameworks such as Next.js or Gatsby that allow back-end access.
The truth is, WYSIWYG solutions lack features that work for both marketers and developers. And in a world where both teams need equal access to the right tools to scale your business, a harmonious relationship is essential. This way, both will contribute their strengths to your website to create the best customer experience.
In this article, we’ll take a look at what solutions you can use to appease both developers and marketers. It’s time to restore unity to your organization and boost customer engagement.
Web Editor Pain Points
It’s challenging to understand the need for other options without first examining the pain points of the previously mentioned WYSIWYG editors.
These website editing tools are excellent for marketers to visually plan the site with tools such as drag-and-drop editors, out-of-the-box mobile friendly designs, and plenty of ready-to-use website templates. However, these platforms don’t allow for many — if any — back-end changes.
This lack of back-end access prevents development teams from improving on the marketing teams’ work. Instead, developers often like to use modern web frameworks that give them complete control over back-end tools and integrations.
Platforms such as Squarespace and Wix don’t offer enough tools to view or manage customer data either. In this case, both teams need better access to this information. The marketing team should be aware of data such as customer behavior and past purchases, so they can focus on marketing strategies that work best for that client. Similarly, developers should have access to information like the customer’s language preferences to serve appropriate content.
To scale within the modern business space, we need solutions that appease and empower both marketers and developers.
Harmonizing Marketing and Development
Now, let’s explore how a content management system (CMS) website editor can help bring together both teams while providing suitable tools to get the job done.
Content management systems are great for creating a space for developers and marketers to work together in harmony. With the right tools, neither team is shorthanded in what they can accomplish.
Developers can work with the tools they prefer and aren’t boxed in by restrictions of administrative tools and simplified editors. Meanwhile, marketers still have access to powerful drag-and-drop editors.
And if your business thrives on client satisfaction, consider using a CMS backed with customer relationship management (CRM) such as HubSpot’s CMS Hub. A CRM-powered CMS keeps all customer data in one place to help you develop better engagement strategies. And better engagement means better business.
CMS Features to Please Marketers
A CMS website editor provides many of the tools marketers find in typical WYSIWYG editors, such as website themes, drag-and-drop editors, and automatic device optimization. However, a CMS goes well beyond these simple marketing functions with features to get the most out of your website.
A flexible CMS also includes features such as adaptive testing. CMS Hub, for instance, allows marketers to create up to five variations of any page for split testing. The CMS then shows only the best-performing page to website visitors. Maybe that radical new design boosts sales exponentially, or maybe it’s a flop. By split testing, marketers get a chance to try their various ideas while ensuring most customers see a page that converts well.
Reporting is another important feature a good CMS provides. For example, CMS Hub provides contact attribution reporting. CMS Hub analyzes your site and your customer data to tell you which marketing efforts drive the most engagement and prompt users to sign up. This information helps the marketing team expand their most effective marketing efforts and grow your customer base.
You typically can’t find these features in every WYSIWYG editor out of the box, but they are often necessary for success within the marketing space.
Development Tools to Please Developers
As mentioned before, CMS-based site editors are great for both marketers and developers. With solutions like these, developers still have access to tons of tools they would find in a mainstream framework.
CMS Hub, for example, offers features like local website development using GitHub, serverless functions, and dynamic content. These features enable developers to retain most of the essential power of a web framework while still allowing other teams to do the work they need.
In a flexible CMS, developers can even create custom website themes from scratch, so all their content is as cohesive as possible. HubSpot specifically has a code alert system to notify developers about infrastructure or design issues that could cause failures.
The top CMS tools also offer enhanced site security. CMS Hub sites are secure out-of-the-box, which you don’t always get with alternatives like WordPress. With 24/7 security monitoring, activity monitoring, and easy proxy configuration, CMS Hub provides many security essentials to help keep your site — and your user data — safe.
Additionally, a powerful CMS can be great for freelance developers to build sites for growing businesses. They help you avoid the hassle of setting up WordPress and maintaining a dozen plugins that need patches and updates and enable your clients to make easily make changes or upload content to their site quickly.
Conclusion
To have a successful website and a successful business, developers need to access the right tools. At the same time, creative marketing design and excellent functionality are also must-haves in the modern world. Too many web platforms make us choose between one or the other.
WYSIWYG editors make it simple to create beautiful marketing and design websites that are clean and readable, keeping the marketing department happy. Meanwhile, web frameworks enable developers to make specific changes and keep up with tech trends. The best solution is to combine the design and ease of a WYSIWYG editor with the customization of a web framework, keeping both the marketing and development departments satisfied.
Additionally, both WYSIWYG editors and web frameworks typically lack the ability to track and process customer data. This data helps optimize the website and is vital to your site’s success. The solution is to use a CRM-based website editor, which combines the best aspects of WYSIWYG editors and web frameworks with data-powered tools to grow your customer base.
HubSpot CMS Hub offers these marketing and developer-friendly features. Developers can build websites using flexible themes with back-end access, while marketers can easily create and edit pages independently. And by using a CMS that’s backed with a CRM, you can create a seamless digital experience for your audience while giving your team full access to the data they need to scale your business.
HubSpot has over 2,000 global partners to help seamlessly migrate your site. Learn more about HubSpot or get started with the new CMS Hub starter plan, no matter the size of your business!
If you’re interested in developing expert technical content that performs, let’s have a conversation today.
