7 Benefits to Hosting Your Website on the HubSpot Standalone CMS

You might be thinking to yourself, not another HubSpot CMS benefits post!

Yep, we need to have this HubSpot CMS conversation one more time.

Why?

Because boy have things changed and now, the HubSpot CMS is a standalone product that can help your business do some amazing things with ease.

Heck, I even did a video about the launch of the standalone CMS product. 👇 

You can also read the release from HubSpot themselves about the launch of the HubSpot Standalone CMS.

If you want to dive deeper into this subject after reading this article, you could always head over to the main HubSpot CMS page as well.

Now, let's get into the good stuff.

Let's talk about all the reason aka benefits you get if you use the HubSpot CMS to host your business website.

1. Get a HubSpot Site Up or Redesigned Fast with CMS Templates in the HubSpot Marketplace!

That's right, while most times you may want to engage a HubSpot partner agency like us here at Impulse Creative or one of the other many HubSpot Partners, you can also opt to create your own site quickly and with ease.

Are you wondering how?

I hope so, that's why we are both here!

So … how? HubSpot Templates, that's how!

Before you freak out, these templates are an awesome way to get going with HubSpot. I wouldn't put them at the custom HubSpot CMS development level but, they are also not at that cost level either.

HubSpot has created an entire Marketplace where you can search for just what you need in a CMS template.

In the HubSpot Marketplace you can search for:

• Blog Templates
• Email Templates
• Landing Page Templates
• HubSpot System Page Templates
• Website Page Templates
• Template Packs

You can also search for free and paid versions.

Yes, you heard me right. You can download free templates to get started if you are on a budget and the cost of the standalone HubSpot CMS is most of your budget right now.

Heck, you can even search the HubSpot Marketplace by layout, feature set, and provider or, HubSpot Partner.

A bonus in the HubSpot marketplace is modules. This allows you to even add additional functionality to some of the templates you may download. 

So, when thinking about purchasing the HubSpot CMS, head over to the HubSpot Marketplace and peruse the templates. that might help you make an educated decision.

Speaking of purchasing the HubSpot CMS, one of the major questions we get when folks are on the fence is, what's included?

An easy answer, a ton!

But, we find that answer to not be very valuable so, let's dig in!

2. The HubSpot CMS Lets You Focus on Content & SEO

No matter if it is a website, blog, and or landing pages, you have the ability to optimize the page during creation.

Also, the CMS comes with SEO tools that help you focus on your on-page SEO strategy. Just head over to the optimization panel, and BOOM, you’re an SEO ninja and didn't even know it.

The HubSpot CMS also comes with a Content Strategy tool that helps you focus on topics, sub-topics, pillar pages, and sub-topic pages. Typically these sub-topic pages are the blog articles you are already writing.

We did a Sprocket Talk video on this tool as well. 

Okay, we actually have done a couple of videos on the HubSpot SEO tool.

3. The HubSpot CMS Allows for Smart "Amazon Style" Content

If you want to treat your visitors like a name rather than a number, HubSpot lets you achieve that. Once you know their name, you can start to personalize their experience.

It still fascinates me how Amazon knows to show me audio equipment, video gear, and cool marvel t-shirts.

Your site can be smart like that as well with the HubSpot CMS as it leverages personalization, smart content blocks, and more based on the CRM and CMS talking to each other. Show certain contacts certain content based on an ebook they downloaded or based on their lifecycle stage.

Better yet, show your mobile users a different experience than your desktop viewers from a content perspective. #responsivedesign

Dumb brochure style websites are a thing of the past!. Or should I say, they should be!

4. The HubSpot CMS has a Built-in Robust-yet-Simple Design Manager

HubSpot gives you the tools you need to create amazing pages and emails with a simple drag & drop editor.

No need to know HTML.

It does help if you know CSS or know someone that understands CSS as the pages will need to be styled.

Let me explain.

The design manager and HubSpot, in general, has been built to have three major layers. The HTML or structure of your site. The style "CSS" of the site, and last but not least the content of the site.

This makes it super easy to restructure, reuse, and rework the look and feel of your marketing, sales, and service messages.

There is also a dedicated file manager to help you stay organized. The file manager also gives you access to free stock photography and a simple image editor as well.

Additionally, the file manager allows you to edit and host your video files right on HubSpot as well. No worries about file size either as HubSpot is on a CDN and you have unlimited space for your files.

Last but not least, we can dive into the deep end of the development pool and create our own HubSpot Custom Modules. This functionality allows us to do almost everything we could ever think of doing from a functionality standpoint.

5. The HubSpot Standalone CMS Lets You Focus on Capturing Leads Without the Need for Third-Party Tools

That's right, you get a forms tool that is drag & drop and is super powerful with features like hidden fields, progressive profiling, and custom property creation.

Then there is the call-to-action tool, or CTA tool. This tool allows you to add button CTAs as well as image-based CTAs in your blogs, pages, emails, and more.

Last but not least, we can't forget about pop-ups. This tool used to be called Lead Flows but now is simply named for its functionality.

However more of them have slide-in functionality vs pop-up but, I digress.

A pro tip to watch out for, the lead capture tools in the standalone CMS will not support Smart Content.

You would have to upgrade your HubSpot account to get that.

6. You Can Report on What is Happening and Make Data-Driven Decisions Moving Forward

via GIPHY

When it comes to reporting your success, you are golden. The HubSpot CMS comes with Web Analytics Reporting. With this reporting, you can look at metrics like:

Session Engagement Rates by Source.

This table shows the bounce rate for sessions on your site (the number of sessions with only one page view divided by the total number of sessions), the page views per session, and the average session length, all broken down by source. Click the header name of a column to sort the table by that metric.

New Visitors Session by Source.

This report shows sessions from new visitors over time within the selected date range, broken down by source type. Again, for a more in-depth look at your sources data, check out the traffic analytics tool.

Average Pages per Session by Source.

How many pages visitors viewed in an average session, split out by original source.

Average Session Length by Source.

The number of minutes and seconds spent on your website per session, broken down by original source.

Bounce Rate by Source.

Bounce rate --- the number of sessions with only one-page view divided by the total number of sessions --- by original source.

Sessions by Device Type.

The number of sessions broken by mobile vs. desktop.

Device Type Breakdown.

This report will show a that shows the relative percentage of sessions from desktop, mobile, and other devices during the selected date range.

Session Country.

This table shows the number of sessions from up to five countries and the percentage of sessions from each during the selected date range.

Last but not least…

Trends

This report reveals trends found in the last full week of your traffic analytics data. A trend is highlighted when a traffic source is performing much better than it did before. Or if your traffic source isn’t performing as well as it was.

Now, all that data will help you make smart decisions with your website changes moving forward.

Thanks, HubSpot CMS!

7. The HubSpot CMS Can do so Much More

Do a quick Google search for the HubSpot CMS and you will find all of those articles I mentioned at the start.

Two things will happen.

“Your CMS is the foundation of all your marketing, so choosing a platform that will help you grow is key. We recommend HubSpot CMS to all our clients because there is no other option on the market better suited for marketers at growing companies.”

- Remington Begg

• Speed
• Unified Publishing
• Security
• Personalized
• Reliability
• CMS+CRM
• And so much more

Let's chat about a couple of these and pick the brains of some leaders using the HubSpot CMS.

HubSpot CMS Speed 🚀

HubSpot talked about the speed of the CMS.

Here is what they had to say.

"HubSpot CMS is built on a global Content Delivery Network (CDN) infrastructure that loads fast no matter what device visitors are using or where they're located. In addition, we've made a significant number of enhancements in the past six months to speed up websites hosted on HubSpot. We have a whole page dedicated to these enhancements, but at a high level we've optimized the size of images and how CSS and JavaScript load, which equates to a faster site and better experience."

HubSpot also talks about security and reliability in their article as well.

HubSpot CMS Unified Publishing 😮

Rob Sobers even took time out to write about the HubSpot CMS and the benefit of unified publishing. This is what Rob had to say.

"One of the first benefits of the CMS, especially if you go all-in, is that it unifies your publishing tools. This can be attractive to small marketing teams with limited budget or experience.

You can log in to HubSpot and edit your homepage, publish a new blog post, or A/B test a landing page. Combined with the email and social tools, HubSpot starts to become your one true publishing tool, simplifying your marketing stack and making it easier to train new people."

Companies that educate their consumers are winning in today's digital world. To educate to win you need publishing tools. You also need to know what to publish but, that a whole other article!

HubSpot CMS is also a CRM 🤯

Marketing and sales have to get to the point where they are unified. A great way to make sure that happens is to connect your websites marketing with your sales teams CRM. Or just make them one thing.

This is what Weidert Group had to say about the one-two punch of CMS plus CRM:

"Based on the fact that HubSpot CMS is the first and only combined CMS and CRM that offers the ability to personalize your entire customer experience — from first website visit through every marketing, sales, and service touchpoint — combined with its ease of use and built-in security, it is simply the best website builder for SMBs, period. "

Anytime you can get multiple tools for one low cost, it is a win, win situation.

My hope for you is that you have quickly realized HubSpot's CMS is either a great fit for your or not depending on the features and benefits your company needs for their sales and marketing efforts as well as website functionality.

There are additional tools that can be purchased to enhance the Standalone HubSpot CMS. Plus, don't even get me started on the integrations that can be added as well.

If you have questions about the HubSpot CMS please let me know in the comments below. If you are a big fan or have not found it to be a great fit for you, I would be interested in knowing why as well.

Just let me know.

P.S. You might be wondering but George, how much does the HubSpot Standalone CMS cost? The HubSpot CMS is now available to purchase as a standalone product, or combined with any hub for $300/month.

Now, on to the comments section or your regularly scheduled day.

Computer/web photo by Christopher Gower on Unsplash