How to use a headless CMS

Some people may ask, what is a headless CMS and what do we do with one?

A headless CMS is your tool for empowerment, enabling you to manage your online presence consistently across apps and services. In this article, you'll discover how to harness the power of a headless CMS to promote your business globally, giving you the control and capability you need.

 

What is a CMS?

A CMS is software that enables website management by creating and publishing content on the website. When you use a CMS for your business website, you can manage the published information, images, products, and videos.

CMS is intended for use by people without coding skills and with an average level of computing skills. Many CMS tools provide an easy-to-use interface where information can be copied from other sources. Creating links to other pages and uploading files can be done relatively quickly. Many organisations have multiple CMS editors and users who manage certain website content or listings.

Designers and developers can create templates and styles that make it easy for users to create consistent content across all ages on a site. All the files, assets, images and documents used on a website are typically uploaded into and stored in the CMS.

 

 

What type of CMS to use?

There are many CMS options on the market. The capability of the CMS you choose will depend on your business size and industry type. Enterprise buses in e-commerce with extensive product catalogues will have very different requirements from those of a service provided in the health or finance industry. Features like payment portals, booking systems, and news alerts require more website functionality.

Small business websites typically have fewer than 20 pages with images, simple menu navigation, and limited functionality. Many businesses use a user-friendly CMS, such as WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, to simplify content creation, editing, and publishing, even for users with limited technical expertise.

Medium-sized businesses often use a more sophisticated CMS to create their websites, which can have a maximum of 75 pages. This may include a customised layout, embedded videos, practical search tools and unique functionalities.

Enterprise and e-commerce websites may include hundreds of pages, blogs, embedded content, API feeds from other sources, lists, integrations, payment gateways, recommendations, delivery choices, reward points (customer loyalty programs), customised graphics and more.

Some small and medium-sized businesses need help updating their websites. Even sites built in a simple CMS system can prove challenging to maintain. Plugins and other software components may require regular updates, images require optimisation and site backup, and security checks should be run.

Employees who log in regularly may need to remember how to make updates or deviate from content and style guides, leading to consistent content.

 

Why website maintenance matters

Regularly updating and creating fresh content is critical to engage visitors, maintain search engine visibility, and maintain currency. Outdated information can harm a website in several ways: Poorly maintained websites:

  • Decrease credibility: If the content contains outdated information, visitors may question its reliability and relevance, impacting your credibility and trustworthiness.
  • Deliver poor user experience: Outdated content can misinform or confuse visitors, leading to a negative user experience and potentially causing them to seek information elsewhere.
  • Can be detrimental to SEO: Search engines prioritise fresh and up-to-date content, so outdated information can decline search engine rankings, reducing the website's visibility and discoverability.
  • Run the risk of displaying incorrect or out-of-date information: Customers receiving accurate product, service, or price information.
  • Harm brand and engagement: Poor content can cause dissatisfaction and decreased engagement, which impacts your brand perception overall.

 

How to decide which CMS to use

When choosing a content management system (CMS) for your business, you must consider your specific needs and requirements. The first consideration should be ease of use and finding an option that suits your employees' capabilities. You must assess your skill level in-house to ensure your staff can quickly and regularly update your website. If you need developers or coders on the team, opt for a CMS tool that can be managed by your marketing or customer service team.

It is also essential to consider how happy you will be with out-of-the-box options and how much you want a customised website. Some CMS tools offer more excellent customisation options, but you may need someone with advanced skills to use these features. If you do have developer resources available, open-source CMS tools may also be an option to give you greater control and flexibility over your website display and function.

If you anticipate significant growth, consider the potential scalability of a CMS. Another element to consider is website security systems and inbuilt compliance settings. Take your time researching and even consider consulting with a web developer or expert to determine the best fit for your business.

 

What is a headless CMS?

A headless CMS (or decoupled CMS) is a content management system that enables content to be created and organised independently from the presentation layer. Unlike traditional CMS platforms, a headless CMS does not dictate how content is displayed, allowing for greater flexibility and customisation in front end design.

 

According to G2, a headless CMS solution must

  • Offer content modelling
  • Allow for the creation, reading, updating, and deleting of content
  • Facilitate content production workflow
  • Organise content in a cloud-based repository
  • Allow businesses to repurpose content across multiple channels

With a headless CMS, content is managed through an intuitive backend interface and delivered to various devices and platforms through APIs. This approach enables developers to present the content using any programming language or framework, making it ideal for omnichannel content delivery and dynamic web experiences.

 

What are the benefits of a headless CMS?

Flexibility is the key advantage of a headless CMS. Developers can present content using any programming language or framework, enabling greater customisation and flexibility in design and user experience. This adaptability ensures your content remains relevant and engaging, no matter how technology evolves.

Some organisations find that a headless CMS is more efficient and practical. Headless systems boast greater security, speed, and less time spent maintaining individual apps and sites.

The other benefits of deploying a headless CMS across an enterprise business include:

  • Omnichannel content delivery: Content can be seamlessly delivered to multiple channels and devices, including websites, mobile apps, IoT devices, social media platforms, and more, ensuring a consistent experience across various platforms.
  • Futureproofing: As new technologies and devices emerge, a headless CMS can adapt without overhauling the entire content management system. This is because a headless CMS separates content from its presentation, allowing for easier integration with new technologies and making it a more future-proof solution. With a headless CMS, content creators can focus on what they do best-creating and managing content. The worry of how it will be presented is taken care of by the developers implementing the front end, allowing you to concentrate on delivering engaging and informative content.
  • Low risk and gradual implementation: Headless platforms can be implemented gradually and rolled out across your online networks when it suits you. The flexibility offered by headless platforms means you can use a staged approach to carry out the journey to an entirely headless API-based platform.

 

Considerations for headless CMS

If you believe a headless CMS could work for you, you will likely need some developer capability in-house or find an external developer to partner with. Headless may be the best tool for delivering innovative new customer experiences and expanding commerce.

However, headless tools have potential disadvantages, including a lack of preview capabilities and the inability to access pre-made presentations or themes. Cost may also be a prohibitive factor, and the complexity of deploying headless systems can also be problematic for businesses with low skill and experience levels.

You should also consider existing capabilities and whether your staff can handle the components remaining within your realm and responsibilities. It would help if you felt confident in the front and back-end interaction. As this type of system removes the static front-end delivery standard CMS, the developer must build presentation layers before content can be delivered. Marketers, content creators and content editors still need to handle creating content and uploading assets such as images or videos) to the content repository associated with the headless CMS.

 

Headless CMS case study

One notable case study of a headless CMS implementation is that of The Economist a weekly publication renowned for its in-depth analysis of international news, politics, business, finance, science, and technology. The Economist adopted a headless CMS to modernise its digital experience, improve content delivery to paying customers and streamline its editorial workflow.

The Economist delivered a consistent and optimised reading experience across various devices and platforms by decoupling the content management process from the presentation layer. The headless CMS empowered the production team to easily syndicate content, personalise user experiences, and experiment with new digital formats, all while maintaining its renowned editorial standards.

This flexibility was crucial in adapting to the evolving digital landscape and meeting the readers' expectations for a seamless, engaging experience across web, mobile, and other digital touchpoints.

The successful implementation of a headless CMS can help a news site to strengthen its digital presence, boost reader engagement, and remain at the forefront of digital publishing, showcasing the potential benefits of this most modern content management approach.

 

Who should use a headless CMS?

A headless CMS is a good fit for:

  • Businesses with multiple digital touchpoints: Organisations delivering content across various platforms, such as websites, mobile apps, IoT devices and more, can benefit from a headless CMS's ability to provide content to different channels via APIs
  • Businesses who want to deliver improved digital commerce experience: through improved online engagement, and better brand outcomes for customers
  • Developers who require flexibility: Developers who want the freedom to use their preferred programming languages, frameworks, and tools for front-end development can leverage a headless CMS to decouple the content management process from the presentation layer
  • E-commerce platforms: E-commerce businesses that need to deliver product information and content to multiple sales channels and touchpoints can utilise a headless CMS to manage and distribute content efficiently across diverse platforms
  • Content-driven applications: Companies prioritising content delivery and requiring a robust, scalable solution to manage and deliver content seamlessly can opt for a headless CMS to meet their needs.
  • Organisations with evolving tech requirements: Businesses needing a futureproof solution capable of adapting to emerging technologies and changing digital trends can benefit from the headless CMS's flexibility and scalability

 

Pimcore as CMS

Pimcore is a cohesive CMS solution that offers much more than a conventional CMS system. In addition to its easy-to-use CMS capabilities, Pimcore combines elements of multiple software tools to create a one-stop shop for medium-sized organisations, e-commerce operators and enterprise businesses. Pimcore also provides a Digital Experience Platform (DXP).

Pimcore is a flexible and adaptable tool that allows the implants its CMS, PIM, DAM, and DXP components without going headless. The headless configuration can be applied to your existing assets if you need to deliver more consistency across platforms.

 

Pimcore headless CMS benefits

Delivering the right content across all customer touchpoints is fundamental to Pimcore's headless single-source and multi-channel publishing framework. The flexible Pimcore Datahub can provide flexible and innovative marketing opportunities across many channels and applications. Datahub uses API to create GraphQL and REST-based API endpoints that distribute your products and messages across hundreds of channels.

 

 

Related questions

What sales channels can integrate with Pimcore?

Pimcore integrates with over 1,600 marketing, shopping, retail, and business channels and sales and marketing tools to streamline operations and enhance customer engagement. Some sales tools that integrate with Pimcore include Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and SAP Sales Cloud. It can also connect with Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Alibaba and Walmart.

Pimcore can also send optimised information to social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

 

What are the headless CMS options?

The software review website G2 provides user reviews of 90 headless CMS systems. Other systems in this category include Directus, Sanity, Storyblok, and Contentful. Sanity has proven to be a popular headless CMS, winning best in the small business headless CMS category.

With all these headless CMS tools, developers select their front end tool to display the content created in the CMS. The content is delivered to the website through an API.

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