Thus, with technology booming and companies needing solutions that provide the best UI while still malleable to increasingly scalable needs, it’s no surprise that so many alternatives to content management systems aside from WordPress are on the rise. Recently, WordPress has the largest market share for content generation; however, the antiquated system of a traditional CMS almost creates a prohibition for the flexibility and scalability needed down the line. Thus, newer content management systems have been designed to evade such antiquated structures. Here, we assess the question: why choose headless CMS over WordPress, the advantages of headless CMS, and how Storyblok is leading the charge for such a program.
Flexibility Across Multiple Platforms
Maybe the most significant factor in opting for a headless CMS versus WordPress is superior content delivery across channels. A headless CMS bundles content and doesn’t limit it to one front-end presentation (like WordPress); it creates a decoupled back-end so that one universal content repository can be expressed via API to provide one piece of information across channels and multiple digital front-ends for unified, consistent messaging. This decoupled system is ideal, in particular, for anyone who needs the same branded experience across digital points of contact.
A headless CMS means omnichannel delivery across applications and websites IoT and AR/VR without duplication or limitation to certain channels. Now think of when a seasonal sale goes live at a big retailer. The marketer with a non-headless CMS like WordPress has to go into the retail website, the team app, the social media, and the in-store digital signage, one by one, and change product descriptions, promotional banners, and everything else to match. This is annoying, time-consuming, and it’s inevitable that there are mistakes across mediums as the marketers forget or are too burdened to remember and change all the necessary areas.
But with a headless CMS, the marketer makes a change in one place and it pushes to other assets (website, team app, social media) automatically (and vice versa) without any additional time or effort. This creates a streamlined experience for the consumer, no matter how they interact with the brand, and saves the marketer time. Furthermore, a headless CMS is also future-proof and works with technologies that don’t exist yet. This means that if a company wants to use AR later, it can set up a headless CMS to cast its products into AR meaning, for example, showing a customer how a couch would look in their living room. The same is true for VR; you can create virtual reality experiences with the same content repository without having to create another solution for every new version.
With seamless content delivery across channels and support for new technologies in integration, a headless CMS boasts all the flexibility and scalability solutions an enterprise could ever need to get ahead. Thus, for enterprises needing to keep up in a fast-paced digital world, the decision to use a headless CMS over WordPress is critical.
Enhanced Performance and Speed
Performance has become more critical than ever; loading lags are the worst way to ruin the consumer experience. If users cannot see what a company’s website is trying to offer them in a reasonable time frame, they will exit the page before it loads and seek alternatives. In addition, page load time affects bounce rate, conversion rates, engagement, etc. Thus, to stay competitive in an already saturated environment, brands must be able to facilitate these web functionalities via a CMS that recognizes the importance of performance and productivity. This competitive edge is offered through headless CMS as opposed to WordPress and similar offerings.
Another con with WordPress is the necessity for themes and plugins to make it all-inclusive. Sure, with selective theme choices and plugin add-ons, one can create a stunning and functional site, but typically, they’re overloaded with the extras, causing slow load times and bogged-down servers. This is not an issue with a headless CMS because there is no frontend to a content backend; it exists in its own space. Therefore, when a headless CMS transmits content via APIs, it goes exactly where it needs to go beyond unnecessary content straight to the application or device for which it was created. The bottom line is loading speed increases, which impact UX and user retention. Faster sites mean people remain on the page longer, and Google gives faster loading sites a better position on search results, as loading speed is one of the top factors that make up Google’s algorithm.
As such, sites that use this nature have a better chance of ranking, more users coming to their sites, and ultimately, better conversion rates. In addition, a headless CMS integrates with the frontend possibilities of the present and future React, Vue, and Next.js all of which are natively built to increase speed and performance on top of that. If developers choose to use these frameworks, they can create ultralight, real-time UIs and still benefit from the speed and scalability of a headless solution. For example, a retail business can use a headless solution to ensure its product pages never load more than milliseconds even when traffic spikes directed to those pages or during the holiday season resulting in a smooth viewing and purchasing experience.
Maybe the best benefit for cross channels and the ability to generate and engage with content on the fly is precisely why a headless CMS would be preferred over WordPress. Companies that utilize a headless CMS are positioned for much more growth and consumer satisfaction down the line in a world that’s only going to become more digitized. From mobile traffic to enhanced SEO to businesses that have so much traffic, the loading speed benefits of a headless CMS guarantee content success for the long game.
Scalability for Growing Businesses
When companies find themselves in a position where they need to grow and complicate operations down the line, it’s often reflected in their content. Where WordPress becomes too complicated to service effectively companies with too much content or needing to expand internationally into additional regions a headless CMS is set up to scale far easier. For instance, Storyblok makes international, multilingual content creation a breeze, collaborates with more complicated tech stacks, and supports international efforts with effortless ease. A headless CMS scales beautifully across all fronts, additional channels that may need to be integrated down the line, increased traffic needing to be accommodated where backend adjustments are not too painful.
Empowering Marketing Teams
Another benefit of headless CMS solutions over WordPress is that it grants control to the marketing team. For instance, with something like Storyblok’s visual editor, it’s so user-friendly that marketers can edit and create without going to a developer to lock in proprietary changes every time they want to realign something. This real-time process creates time-to-market efficiencies, accelerated campaign rollouts, and instantaneous brand uniformity across all projects and platforms. For instance, when a new product drops, a headless CMS can update the web, app, and social marketing efforts simultaneously, allowing the brand to say the same thing.
Future-Proofing Content Strategies
This is important because we operate in an ever-advancing technological world. Businesses require systems that understand their future direction with applications and platforms. A headless CMS is built to accommodate future technologies from voice-operated devices to AR. WordPress, however, needs a plethora of plugins and setup just to keep pace. Thus, when companies transition to a headless option like Storyblok, they establish a greener, more advanced content solution down the line. Because an API-driven headless option provides the type of platform that always works when integrating with new innovations and applications.
Improved Security
Security is always a concern with any company and this is another area where a headless CMS beats WordPress even more. With WordPress, due to its monolithic structure and a lot of security exploits with plugins, the whole site can be hacked. With a headless CMS, this is not as much of a problem. Since it’s decoupled, there are not as many access points for nefarious activities. If the content sits on the back end and is only accessible via APIs, brands can rest assured that their digital assets are secure, providing developers and users peace of mind.
Conclusion
Ultimately, choosing a headless CMS instead of WordPress means a requirement for additional flexibility, scalability, and improved performance. A headless CMS allows companies so much more in terms of cross-channel content delivery and engagement that the content becomes future-proof with collaborative ease in a decentralized environment. For instance, Storyblok is a platform that represents a headless CMS that offers these advantages and more through an easy-to-use interface but complicated enough features to give any business operating in the current market any option it needs. Gaining access to a headless CMS allows companies to thrive where previously, opportunities fell through the cracks due to a lack of ability to remain competitive and provide good digital experiences. When you’re ready to overhaul your content marketing strategy and embrace a modern approach to content management, learn why to choose headless CMS over WordPress and what it can offer you.
