If you're thinking about launching (or relaunching) a website for your business, you've probably come across two of the big content management systems in your search for the perfect system: HubSpot CMS and WordPress.
In the vast majority of cases the final decision is between these two systems: which one has the best functionality, which one is easier to use, which one will benefit my business the most?
Today we answer all these questions in this post, where we are going to make the definitive comparison between the two most popular content management systems on the market: HubSpot and WordPress.
stay tuned so you don't miss anything!
Content management systems: HubSpot and WordPress
HubSpot CMS
HubSpot debuted in 2006, and it was this company that popularised the term "inbound marketing". HubSpot is primarily a marketing company that provides tools and services to help businesses develop.
Its flagship service and one of its software packages is HubSpot Content Management System (formerly HubSpot Content Optimization System). This content management system is a website builder and blogging platform that works in conjunction with HubSpot's email, marketing, analytics and SEO services. HubSpot's CMS is a comprehensive tool that addresses all the web marketing needs of any business. According to the company, more than 95,000 customers already use HubSpot's services.
WordPress
WordPress is the most popular CMS on the web, with over 60 million active websites (including 35% of the top 10,000 most visited websites). WordPress is essentially a content management system, so the natural approaches of HubSpot and WordPress are different.
HubSpot is first and foremost an optimised marketing service.
WordPress is first and foremost a flexible CMS.
Consequently, these two platforms have different strengths and weaknesses and the means of defining their weaknesses vary. Nevertheless, today we will analyse the strengths and weaknesses of each based on their primary role as a content management system.
Advantages of the HubSpot CMS
In addition to the obvious advantages that come with HubSpot's functionalities, this platform combines all the features that a CMS should have in one place.
However, as we mentioned in previous lines, this system not only acts as a CMS, but also integrates different services and software systems that are key to the development of an Inbound Marketing strategy:
- Marketing Hub (for marketing automation)
- Sales Hub (CRM for sales)
- Service Hub (for customer service )
- Operations Hub (to automate business processes, make integrations...)
- CMS Hub (the content management system)
The integration of all these tools will allow us to get more out of the HubSpot CMS.
Data access
Every organisation needs access to its website data.
HubSpot allows its customers to export almost everything from their marketing software, their CRM and their CMS, including:
- Social media posts
- Form submissions
- Landing page data
- Keyword data
- Page performance data
- Email performance
- Recipient data for a particular email
- Published blog post data
- Website data (page HTML, file manager files, URL mappings, Sitemap)
- List of contacts, companies or agreements
Analytics
If you plan to monetise your website (or further increase your revenue) it is in your interest to be able to measure your online traffic. Web analytics provides us with data on what is driving traffic to your website, converting customers and causing visitors to bounce.
HubSpot's analytics software is robust - especially when used in conjunction with its marketing services, and is integrated into HubSpot's CMS.
"It analyses the performance of each of your pages in terms of visits, keywords and inbound links, and identifies which traffic sources generate the most visits, leads and customers over time. It then drills down into each source to see the individual leads and businesses it is generating."
HubSpot offers an all-in-one solution for your website and web analytics needs, allowing you to launch your website and start tracking visits immediately and completely.
Blog management
Blogging remains one of the most effective content marketing tools. Your blog posts can be used to drive new traffic, invite subscribers, build trust in your brand and even nurture leads.
HubSpot has worked diligently to make their CMS blogging platform intuitive and feature-rich. Having a HubSpot blog allows you to write, format and edit your blog posts with an editor that ensures that "what you see is what you get". HubSpot's blogging platform also allows you to schedule your posts and easily add calls to action (CTAs) to each post.
Creating pages
Your website needs pages that explain what you do and showcase your products or services. Web pages can be coded from scratch, but a CMS is meant to make it easier for a non-developer to build web pages.
HubSpot CMS offers a drag-and-drop page builder that uses modules to build page content.
The default modules cover standard page features such as menus, social media buttons, text, subscription forms, headers, CTAs, sliders, blog posts and images. Anything more complicated has to be developed from scratch using HubL or get it from HubSpot's module marketplace. The builder itself is easy to use and intuitive, as long as you're happy with your theme and don't need additional features.
SEO
Your website needs to be optimised for search engines. Strategy, site structure, site speed, mobile optimisation, structured metadata and the use of themed keywords all play a role in search engine optimisation. You don't get a top position in Google just by being online. Google needs to see that your website delivers what people are looking for.
With HubSpot CMS your website comes with built-in SEO tools. HubSpot's SEO tools will provide you with keyword research for the topics you're focusing on, strategic charts to organise your content and on-page SEO tips to better optimise your blog posts.
Themes and styles
Every website needs a defined, consistent style, and content management systems often use "themes" to give your website this consistent style.
HubSpot themes are built using standard web languages combined with HubL and are sold on the HubSpot Marketplace. The HubSpot Marketplace has over 5,000 templates, but not all of them are site-wide themes. Many are individual themes for emails, landing pages, web pages or blog pages.
Advantages of the WordPress CMS
Data access
WordPress is open source software, which means that anyone can use it, distribute it or customise it. WordPress therefore offers its users unrestricted access to their data including:
- Entries
- Pages
- Comments
- Custom fields
- Navigation menus
Analytics
WordPress does not include analytics by default. But they can easily be added to any WordPress website. Plugins like JetPack and Monster Analytics make WordPress analytics almost plug and play. In addition, companies that choose to use WordPress for their CMS but HubSpot for marketing (yes, that's possible) can integrate their HubSpot analytics tracking into their WordPress website.
Blog management
WordPress started as a CMS for blogging and continues to excel in this field. WordPress allows you to write, format, edit and schedule posts without needing to know code.
Page creation
Due to its open source nature, WordPress provides its customers with a myriad of plugins and add-ons to significantly enhance the experience and quality of websites created with its platform.
SEO
As with most online marketing functionality, WordPress does not incorporate SEO tools.
If you choose a WordPress website, you can use online tools such as SEMRush for keyword research and WordPress plugins such as Yoast SEO for keyword optimisation, Google snippet previews, XML sitemap generation and general SEO tips.
Themes and styles
WordPress has tens of thousands of themes in multiple markets that give a uniform look and feel to your entire website and its content. In addition, most WordPress themes are highly customisable without the need to know any code through the admin panel settings. The number of themes available, the ability to customise them and the accessibility for developers to modify them make WordPress theming virtually limitless.
HubSpot vs WordPress, which one to choose?
If you still have doubts about which system you consider more suitable for your business, we bring you this comparison table that summarises and offers an overview of the advantages of each of these systems:
|
Advantages |
HubSpot |
WordPress |
Access to data |
Access to different data from Marketing Hub, Sales Hub or CMS Hub |
Unrestricted access |
|
Analytics |
Includes robust, customised analytics software |
No analytics included, but plug-ins can be added |
Blog management |
Includes an intuitive, feature-rich blogging platform |
Allows you to create and schedule posts without knowing how to code |
Page creation |
Offers a drag-and-drop page builder |
No features for page creation, but plugins can be added |
SEO |
Comes with built-in SEO tools |
No built-in SEO tools |
Themes and styles |
Has over 5,000 templates, including individual themes |
Includes tens of thousands of customisable themes |
With HubSpot and WordPress integration, you can choose both platforms
what if I told you that you could integrate the best features of each of these content management systems into a single platform?
After seeing all the features of HubSpot and WordPress, we can say that both have very advantageous features, and in many cases one stands out from the other.
Now with the integration of HubSpot and WordPress you can have the best tools of each software in a unique and customisable platform.
if you don't know where to start, Occam can help.
