In the world of Content Management Systems (CMS) there are many options to consider. If you are looking for an easy solution for your website, a solution like WordPress might suffice. However, if you are looking at more complex implementations and integrations with other systems in your organization, it might be worthwhile to look at headless. In this article, we will delve into what a headless CMS is and how you can determine which system works for you.
What is a headless CMS?
A headless CMS provides the content to your systems. Developers retrieve the content through APIs and can use any Javascript framework they prefer (e.g., React, Angular and VueJs). It allows you to publish static content across multiple platforms at once, making it a powerful tool for many organizations. Since javascript frameworks are widely used, a react CMS can be a key enabler for organizations in serving their systems with single-source-of-truth content.
Difference between a traditional CMS
A traditional CMS, such as WordPress or Joomla!, provides both the front and back-end of your system. As you might guess, ‘headless’ thus refers to a system that only provides the back-end (i.e., content). This content can then be retrieved through API calls, which makes it favorable for organizations to drive an omnichannel strategy and provide content across their channels.
Factors that influence your headless CMS selection
When it comes to a headless CMS comparison, there are many factors that come into play. In general, you can assume that certain factors are present and unlimited (e.g., API calls) whereas the availability of a global CDN can be more limited. The latter, naturally, depends on the speed you desire for users across the globe.
Content Management
In your quest in selecting the right headless CMS, you can look at several components that are relevant for organizations. First off, most of these systems can do multi-channel publishing, which is one of the key pillars. However, in terms of content editor functionalities, there are different levels of maturity. Depending on your content needs, this can be a key differentiator for selecting a system. Content, like all aspects of life, can be optimized. To test what works best for your goal (e.g., increase conversion), there are also headless CMS available that do A/B-testing.
SEO
Another element that is intertwined with the content editor is search-engine optimization (SEO). To optimize content for search engines, additional elements need to be provided such as SEO title, meta description, tags, and a focus keyword to validate if the content is optimized. This is not where SEO stops. Speed is another important element that determines the rankings in search engines. This is dependent on the API calls as well as the proximity to the end-user (i.e., driven by the global CDN).
Go to a comparison overview
Prepr has created a strong headless CMS comparison with a dozen players active in the space. This helps you to understand the offerings and conduct a fit-gap analysis based on the features you need versus the offerings.
