Wordpress Alternatives Your Marketing Team Will Love

So, you want to use Wordpress as a CMS but want the inside scoop on Wordpress alternatives before making a final decision. Well, you’re in the right place! In this blog, we’re discussing the Wordpress CMS platform and a few of its competitors - more specifically - the platforms that our eCommerce marketing team believe are optimal alternatives.

Wordpress As A Content Management System

Originally made specifically for blogging back in 2003, Wordpress has evolved into a complete content management system, enabling its customers to build and launch a website with minimal frustrations and obstacles. It now powers 30% of all websites, which makes it a top CMS for growing businesses.

Ease of use is one huge advantage of Wordpress. No development knowledge is required; as long as you know how to use a word processor, then we’re sure you can use Wordpress with ease.

Unfortunately, monetizing content on Wordpress comes with some challenges. Although marketers can create a hyperlink from a blog post to their eCommerce store, this action is often disorganized, onerous to track and, more often than not, appears visually different from what was planned.

There are three Wordpress alternatives that we believe stack up against one another: HubSpot, Shopify and BigCommerce. Keep on reading to see why.

HubSpot’s CMS Hub

Similar to Wordpress, HubSpot’s CMS Hub is a completely integrated *you guessed it* content management system. It includes a variety of features that allow marketers to create a truly personalized experience for every person that visits your website. How? Its features enable merchants to track each website visit and see all of that data in one place within the CMS Hub.

Other notable features include:

• SEO recommendations to improve your site
• Adaptive testing to monitor the highest performing variations of a page
• Contact attribution reporting that provides insights into content types, sources and campaigns

In addition to the expected tools you’d want in your CMS - like a domain manager, file manager, drag-and-drop editor, design tools and more - HubSpot’s CMS Hub provides its customers access to more powerful marketing tools. This includes features like marketing automation, list segmentation, advanced reporting and so much more. The Groove Commerce team especially loves the CMS Hub for its lead forms, call-to-action (CTA) button functionality and blogging capabilities.

Lead Forms 

Worried your lack of development experience will prevent you from building lead forms? Think again. HubSpot enables individuals with zero development knowledge to customize the content on a web page and embed forms to drive more leads, all with the platform’s drag-and-drop editor. Say hello to more subscribers!

CTA Functionality

Similar to how HubSpot users don’t need a background in development to build lead gen forms, they also don’t need in-depth eCommerce design knowledge to build high-converting CTA buttons. Show off your brand’s professionalism with customized CTAs that are built for use across your entire site.

Advanced Blogging

If you’re using HubSpot for eCommerce and want to drive valuable website traffic and increase conversions, then you likely have a content strategy in place. We’re huge advocates for HubSpot’s blogging tool as it helps brands increase their organic search presence without the headache.

Your marketing team will quickly get the hang of HubSpot’s blog editor. Upon publishing your first blog, you’ll see how its straightforward UI allows users to effortlessly insert images, format blogs using heading hierarchy and add internal and external links in the body copy.

If you need help from a teammate when it comes to proofreading, the composer features lets teammates add comments, share feedback and collaborate with the authors of the blog. Since every blog is already optimized for mobile, you don’t need to worry about diving into the development or design of your blog on other devices.

Remember those beautiful CTA buttons that you created to increase engagement? Add them into your HubSpot blog, if they’re relevant to your content or offer, and watch the magic happen!

For more information on HubSpot and Wordpress as content management systems, check out this Wordpress vs HubSpot blog.

Shopify

Shopify functions primarily as an eCommerce platform and secondarily as a content management system. This platform provides the tools that marketing teams need to do their jobs, like creating discount codes, integrating social media, managing product inventory and more.

Similar to HubSpot and Wordpress, users don’t need coding or development expertise to successfully run their site - for the most part. Shopify’s ready-made templates are built for those lacking advanced coding knowledge. However, when it comes to blogging, you may run into some difficulties.

Blogging

It’s pretty laborious to add additional functionality to your Shopify blog. Shopify’s built-in blog is pretty elementary; it allows brands to add a blog to their eCommerce store, apply templates to blog posts, manage comments and publish or unpublish blog posts in bulk.

Like other content management systems, the opportunity is there to include CTA buttons within a blog post. After building a CTA to fit your Shopify theme, insert it into your blog where necessary, just like you would on HubSpot or Wordpress. Shopify’s blog provides this simple functionality, and that’s how we’d best describe a Shopify blog: simple.

Remember how we said HubSpot doesn’t require any development experience? Well, Shopify’s blog does. If you have a developer on your team that knows what they’re doing, then you’ll have your dream blog. Without a developer, we wish you luck. You’re better off building your blog on HubSpot or Wordpress.

Lead Forms & CTA Functionality

Shopify customers have the ability to choose from various forms and CTA templates that dynamically adjust to both mobile and desktop devices. This functionality does require an integration from within the Shopify App Store which can require meticulous development work. We encourage you to check out these Shopify pros and cons for more details on developing with Shopify.

BigCommerce

Like Shopify, BigCommerce functions as both an eCommerce platform and as a CMS. Like both previously mentioned Wordpress alternatives, BigCommerce doesn’t require a ton of coding experience. Its complete CMS enables eCommerce merchants to update their websites in real time. Plus, its headless API allows for integrations with Wordpress and other front-end content management systems.

Blogging

All BigCommerce stores have a basic blog set by default. The customization capabilities are based on the BigCommerce theme. The majority of Groove Commerce clients that use BigCommerce actually host their blogs on other CMS platforms, like Wordpress or HubSpot.

If your eCommerce store runs on BigCommerce and you have a large amount of valuable content necessary for your marketing strategy, then we recommend opting for Wordpress or HubSpot. Although these platforms may involve slightly more development, we truly believe they’re worth the investment.

CTA Functionality

Use BigCommerce Buy Buttons to increase your brand’s reach and provide seamless shopping experiences outside of your eCommerce store. Place these buttons in your blog, within your emails, throughout social media posts and in a variety of other places to make it easy for your customers to purchase. Where you can add HTML, you can add a Buy Button. Your customers will thank you for making the process so easy (and you’ll be thanking them when you see an uptick in online conversions).

Lead Forms

Similar to Shopify, BigCommerce merchants may select from a variety of mobile-responsive templates. Choose from a variety of apps in the BigCommerce App Marketplace, and integrate it with your BigCommerce store to choose beautifully designed lead generation forms that are guaranteed to drive more leads.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are quite a few Wordpress competitors that are viable options when it comes to investing in an eCommerce CMS. We encourage you to evaluate your needs, conduct your own research and don’t be afraid to ask questions! It’s important to digest what differentiates one platform from another before making a decision.

Need more help? Get in touch with our team by filling out the form below with your questions or concerns. One of our certified eCommerce experts will be in touch with you shortly.

Cheers!