Back in August 2021, HubSpot announced the launch of CMS Hub Starter to help growing companies build CRM-powered websites. Before that, the CMS was available in two plans, Pro ($360/month) and Enterprise ($1,200/month).
With the launch of HubSpot CMS Starter businesses got the opportunity to start their online journey at just $23/month. Isn’t that great?
But hey, this article isn’t about celebrating HubSpot CMS instead, I’ll be sharing everything about the platform which includes:
- HubSpot CMS Hub features
- How HubSpot CMS is a better choice over other software available in the market.
- Exclusive Starter pack features.
- Lastly, who should exactly be using HubSpot CMS Hub Starter?
So without any further ado, let’s begin with the article.
What is HubSpot CMS Hub?
CMS Hub is a Content Management System designed by HubSpot to let businesses create, publish and manage their website content from within HubSpot.
CMS Hub allows you to create & publish website pages and blogs and create content topic clusters to follow a robust content strategy.
Moreover, CMS Hub is backed by HubSpot CRM which makes it easy for you to maintain the customer relationships of your brand, all from one place. So let’s move further and talk about why choose HubSpot CMS Hub for managing your business’s digital assets.
Why HubSpot CMS Hub Is A Better Option?
To be honest, there are more popular and trusted CMSs available in the market than HubSpot CMS Hub. But you cannot deny the fact that many of those CMSs do not offer features like HubSpot CMS Hub.
Let’s dig deep into what HubSpot’s CMS Hub has for you:
1. Topic Clusters
The topic cluster model is a method of content creation where you create different content pieces that revolve around a pillar of content.
This image can explain this scenario better,
So the point is, in the topic cluster model, you create a pillar page, let’s say about SEO marketing. That page covers SEO marketing in-depth and explains all the concepts related to it. Then you can create multiple subtopics about SEO marketing like On and Off-page SEO, SEO trends, technical SEO, keyword research, and many more.
Here’s a fine pillar page example from Moz. You can check it out to get a better understanding of a pillar page and topic cluster model.
2. HubSpot Marketplace
HubSpot marketplace is a commodity that helps you create more robust, beautiful, and pleasing web pages. On the HubSpot marketplace, you get hundreds of templates, themes, and modules you can use on your web pages to make them amazing.
If you don’t know what templates, themes, or modules are, then here’s a brief explanation:
- Templates: Templates are a blueprint of a web page. You can use these HubSpot templates and change their content to build your own web page.
- Themes: Themes are a collection of assets like pages, modules, etc. that help you design a beautiful website.
- Modules: Modules are used to create different types of sections on your web page like a form, accordion, image gallery, slider, etc.
The objective of the marketplace is to make it as easy as possible for you to create a website through the CMS hub. Using these assets you can create a website whether you’re dexterous with code or not.
3. Comprehensive CRM
HubSpot built and launched the CMS Hub Starter as a part of its CRM platform. The motive was to give business owners complete access to their customer data so that they could create an informed web strategy. As a result, it came out to be a content management solution that helped brands understand what pieces of content will resonate with their audience.
It was the perfect platform for:
- Firstly, businesses that were not well versed in the technicalities of web development and,
- Secondly, small businesses looking for a complete solution to start their online journey.
Well, this was a brief introduction to the HubSpot CMS Hub Starter however, there are details that you should know for using the product to its full potential. This includes:
- How does it help businesses grow better?
- Who should exactly be using the CMS Hub Start?
- Comparison with Professional and Enterprise plans.
Let’s dig into each of these elements one-by-one:
How will CMS Hub Starter Help your Business Grow Better?
The answer to this question lies in the features CMS Hub Starter brings with it. Let’s dig deep into those features and see how they can help your business grow better:
1. A Fast, Secure, Reliable Website
There’s a thin line between a fast and a slow website.
A report found that slow loading websites cost $2.6 Billion every year to their owners. So you can understand how critical page loading speed can be for your website. And this is where HubSpot CMS starter can help you. It makes your website faster and more secure.
Here are the features that help in making your website faster and secure:
- SaaS CMS
- Global CDN with 99.9% uptime
- 24/7 security monitoring & threat detection
- Standard SSL certificate
- Web application firewall
If your website is fast and secure, it will offer a better experience to the users. Moreover, they’ll trust your website since it is more secure and credible. Hence, you’ll get more visitors and that’s all you need to grow your online business.
2. Create Stunning Websites with Ease
What do you need from a CMS? Obviously, the first thing would be, that it can help you create web pages easily. And that’s exactly what CMS Hub Starter does.
CMS Starter doesn’t require you to be a developer. Even if you have a marketing background, you can create aesthetic websites that will please your visitors by offering them an amazing user experience.
Here are the features that make it easy to create beautiful websites:
- Drag and drop page editing
- Landing page, blog, website pages*Multi-language content management
- Advanced menus
- Blog import
- Site export
- Local development
- Developer documentation & community
- Marketplace containing themes, templates, modules
- Design manager
Web design accounts for 94 percent of first impressions.
And if the first impression of a user doesn’t go well, they may never return to your website again. But using CMS starter, you can create websites that offer a delightful user experience to the visitors. And if they have a great experience, they’ll return to your website which will increase their lifetime value and your revenue.
3. An All-in-one Platform
With CMS Hub, you also get the HubSpot CRM platform. And combining both makes your CMS more powerful and efficient at the same time.
To be precise, these are the features you get in your HubSpot CRM which make it even better:
- Conversations
- Ads
- Email marketing
- Forms
- Facebook messenger integrations
- Video hosting
- Unlimited CRM users
- Chat & email support
- Web analytics reporting
Simply, it’s possible to create web pages, drive traffic to them, and analyze the data of your pages as well as their visitors in one place. So the process of tracking, reporting, lead generation, etc. becomes quite seamless.
And the biggest hassle of switching between different platforms to do different tasks gets eliminated.
At some point, your website management will become easier and take less time. A complete win-win. And you can invest your saved time in other productive jobs to grow your business.
So as you can see CMS Hub starter has everything you need to for gaining traction on your website and, boosting your brand’s online presence.
Who Is CMS Hub Starter For?
Before you make a final decision about investing in HubSpot CMS Hub Starter you need to understand if the platform is really the right choice for you.
CMS Starter is an amazing platform for small businesses and starting a business that are working with limited resources. It gives the opportunity to work with a platform that manages your digital assets that need very minimal or zero coding knowledge.
Now you can free yourself from the tedious job of managing a website and align tasks that help in building your brand or serving your clients.
In short, if you’re a small business that is looking for a powerful yet easy-to-use content management system, HubSpot CMS Hub Starter is what you need. Yes, obviously there are open-source platforms such as WordPress that are free but, they need a certain level of technical expertise.
We have an in-depth guide on WordPress v/s HubSpot CMS where you will get a detailed comparison to make an informed decision.
HubSpot CMS Pricing Plans For Starter, Professional, And Enterprise
HubSpot CMS Hub Starter is just an entry-level product of the CMS line up there are other plans that are known as Professional and Enterprise.
Well, obviously there are some noticeable differences between each plan and, I’ll be giving an overview of the features that are available in each plan.
So this was a small comparison table from which you can get a fair idea of the HubSpot CMS Starter pricing and compare it with other plans too. The purpose of sharing the Professional and Enterprise plan features is that you can always break the limitations of CMS Hub Starter by upgrading.
Check Complete Pricing Of The HubSpot Lineup
Final Words
So the crux of this post is, that if you’ve just started your website and looking for an advanced CMS, CMS Hub Starter could be an excellent choice. It’s affordable, easy to use, helps you create web pages with minimal effort, and is combined with a robust CRM platform. Hence you can create your web pages and analyze their performance without leaving the platform.
If you’re considering purchasing it, consult us to know this platform inside out to make a wise decision.
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