Static Site Generators vs. CMS-powered Websites: How to Keep Marketers and Devs Happy

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Many developers love working with static site generators like Gatsby and Hugo. These powerful yet flexible systems help create beautiful websites using familiar tools like Markdown and React. Nearly every popular modern programming language has at least one actively developed, fully-featured static site generator.

Static site generators boast a number of advantages, including fast page loads. Quickly rendering web pages isn’t just a technical feat, it improves audience attraction, retention, and conversion. But as much as developers love these tools, marketers and other less technical end users may struggle with unfamiliar workflows and unclear processes.

The templates, easy automatic deploys, and convenient asset management provided by static site generators all free up developers to focus on creating more for their audiences to enjoy. However, while developers take the time to build and maintain static sites, it is the marketing teams that use them daily, creating and updating content. Unfortunately, many of the features that make static site generators awesome for developers make them frustrating to marketers.

Let’s explore some of the disadvantages of using a static site generator. Then, see how switching to a dynamic content management system (CMS) — especially one powered by a CRM (customer relationship management) platform — can make everyone happy, from developers to marketers to customers.

Static Site Generator Disadvantages

Developers and marketers typically thrive using different workflows. Marketers don’t usually want to learn Markdown just to write a blog post or update site copy — and they shouldn’t need to. 

Frankly, it isn’t reasonable to expect marketers to learn complex systems for everyday tasks like embedding graphs or adjusting image sizes just to complete simple tasks. Marketers should have tools that make it easier to create and circulate content, not more complicated.

Developers tend to dedicate most of their first week on a project to setting up a development environment and getting their local and staging tooling up and running. When a development team decides that a static site generator is the right tool, they also commit to either configuring and maintaining local development environments for each member of the marketing team or providing a build server to preview changes.

Both approaches have major downsides. When marketers change the site, they want to see their updates instantly. They don’t want to commit their changes to a Git repository then wait for a CI/CD pipeline to rebuild and redeploy the site every time. Local tooling enabling instant updates tends to be CLI-based and therefore inaccessible for less technical users.

This does not have to devolve into a prototypical development-versus-marketing power struggle. A dynamic website created with a next-generation tool like HubSpot’s CMS Hub can make everyone happy.

A New Generation of Content Management Systems

One reason developers hold static site generators in such high regard is the deficiency of the systems they replaced. Content management systems of the past were notorious for slow performance, security flaws, and poor user experiences for both developers and content creators. However, some of today’s CMS platforms have learned from these mistakes and deficiencies and incorporated the best static site generator features while developing their own key advantages.

A modern, CMS-based website gives developers the control they need to build the features their users demand while saving implementation time. Meanwhile, marketing teams can create content with familiar, web-based, what-you-see-is-what-you-get tools that integrate directly with existing data and software.

For further advantages, consider a CRM-powered solution, like HubSpot’s CMS Hub. Directly tied to your customer data, a CRM-powered site builder allows you to create unique and highly personalized user experiences, while also giving you greater visibility into the customer journey.

Content Management Systems Can Solve for Developers

Modern content management systems like CMS Hub allow developers to build sites locally with the tools and frameworks they prefer, then easily deploy to them their online accounts. Once deployed, marketers can create and edit content using drag-and-drop and visual design tools within the guardrails set by the developers. This gives both teams the flexibility they need and streamlines workflows. 

Solutions like CMS Hub also replace the need for unreliable plugins with powerful serverless functions. Serverless functions, which are written in JavaScript and use the NodeJS runtime, allow for more complex user interactions and dynamic experiences. Using these tools, developers can build out light web applications without ever configuring or managing a server. This elevates websites from static flyers to a modern, personalized customer experience without piling on excess developer work. 

While every content management system will have its advantages, CMS Hub also includes a built-in relational database, multi-language support, and the ability to build dynamic content and login pages based on CRM data. All features designed to make life easier for developers.

Modern CMS-Based Websites Make Marketers Happy, Too

Marketing teams can immediately take advantage of CMS features, especially when using a CRM-powered solution. They can add pages, edit copy, and even alter styling using a drag-and-drop editor, without needing help from a busy developer. This empowers the marketing team and reduces friction when making updates. It also reduces the volume of support requests that developers have to manage.

Marketers can also benefit from built-in tools for search engine optimization (SEO), A/B testing, and specialized analytics. In addition to standard information like page views, a CRM-powered website offers contact attribution reporting. This end-to-end measurement reveals which initiatives generate actual leads via the website. These leads then flow seamlessly into the CRM for the sales team to close deals.

CRM-powered websites also support highly customized experiences for site users. The CRM behind the website already holds the customer data. This data automatically synchronizes because it lives within one system as a single source of truth for both marketing pages and sales workflows. This default integration saves development teams time that they would otherwise spend building data pipelines.

Next Steps

Every situation is unique, and in some cases, a static site generator is the right decision. But if you are building a site for an organization and solving for the needs of developers and marketers, a modern CMS may be the way to go. 

Options like CMS Hub offer all the benefits of a content management system while coming close to matching static site generators’ marquee features: page load speed, simple deployment, and stout reliability. But don’t take my word for it. Create a free CMS Hub developer test account and take it for a test drive.

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