For a long time, the ‘traditional’ Content Management Systems (CMS) have dominated the
Internet. You probably have used one before as a visitor or administrator, as most of the
Internet is powered through these systems. The most common platforms are WordPress and
Joomla. They allow admins to easily create and publish content on their websites, and they
also offer the capability to start a webshop. For a few years, a new type of CMS is emerging:
the headless CMS. In this article, we will look at five reasons to go for a headless CMS over
a traditional one. Afterwards, we will provide a simple overview of headless CMS comparison features.
Supply multiple platforms with content
Where a ‘traditional’ CMS can publish content to a website, a headless CMS does not have
a front-end: it has multiple. Through API calls, it is possible to send information across
multiple platforms. Hereby you can execute an omnichannel strategy, which is increasingly
common with the introduction of the Internet of Things, applications, in-store hardware, and
other device types.
Single source of truth
With a single source of content, you also have a single source of truth. No matter how many
channels or marketplaces (e.g., Amazon, Alibaba) you integrate with, you only need to edit
content once. This makes it efficient and also ensures a streamlined marketing approach
across channels.
Faster page speed and first paint
Two measures for a website’s performance are page speed and ‘first paint’ (i.e., when the
first elements of the website become visible). When using a headless CMS with a modern programming language, this is faster than traditional CMS that make use of slow server-side programming languages and templates. A good example is the use of an Angular CMS when you are making use of javascript.
Advanced features to segment and personalize
As content is provided across channels, more features are being introduced that cater to the needs of an omnichannel approach. One of these elements is personalization. The means to create segments of users and recommend them the right content and products. We see that these capabilities are more advanced in headless CMS compared to the traditional options.
Front-end freedom
For developers, this might be the most important element. When you select a headless CMS, you can design the front-end according to your own needs. For example, you can select Bootstrap or any other framework you are comfortable with to create the applications you want to offer to your users.
Headless CMS comparison: where to start?
Now that we have discussed five reasons to go headless, let’s look at how to compare the systems available. Naturally, you need to think about the use cases and options for your organization before starting to compare systems. Good examples of features you can consider are:
- Presence of a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to provide content to users faster
- Presence of Software Development Kits (SDKs) to create and modify environments with more ease
- Personalization capabilities such as recommendations and segmentation of users
- Rich content editors that support Search Engine Optimized (SEO) way-of-working
- Ability to conduct A/B tests among user segments to optimize your channels