A Q&A to Convince Your Boss of the Benefits of HubSpot Content Hub for Your Website Redesign

The numbers are in—your website is out. As it stands, your business website simply isn’t bringing in the traffic or converting the leads it should be. You’ve concluded that a full-scale website redesign will be the best way to better align with your audience’s needs. Now it’s time to pitch the idea to your CEO.

Many marketing leaders already know how this next step goes: As soon as you bring this type of suggestion up to your boss, the questions start coming. What’s the ROI for this project? How much downtime is required? Who should we recruit to help? And didn’t we recently revamp the website—do we really need a full redesign? 

Don’t worry—SmartBug thought ahead for you. Below, we provide you with all the answers you might need to convince your boss to go with HubSpot’s new CMS, Content Hub, to plan and perform a top-notch website redesign.

\

What makes HubSpot Content Hub the ideal choice of CMS to host a website redesign and migration?

Content Hub simplifies the way companies can update and create content using advanced AI functionalities. For one, HubSpot Content Hub can replicate all types of designs from any other CMS. The only limitation is your imagination (or possibly your budget, if you need custom development and numerous animations). 

Additionally, the platform offers specialized features to help make website migration and redesign as seamless as possible, including tools for:

• Planning and executing page redirects
• Ensuring compliance and accessibility standards
• Automating reports and workflows
• Performing ongoing optimization and site maintenance (A/B testing)
• Supporting multiple brands’ unique needs and goals

Will making the switch to HubSpot hurt existing SEO performance?

If a website is already hosted on a CMS other than HubSpot, we recommend starting the migration with an SEO audit to make sure the switch won’t reduce the search authority of the site during migration. 

Because HubSpot uses native tools from Google and SEemrush, Content Hub is very effective in terms of maintaining SEO best practices throughout the migration process. For example, you can scan your website directly using HubSpot and it will assess all on-page SEO, including analyzing mobile experience, crawling and indexing, identifying accessibility issues, and addressing virtually every aspect of the user experience. You can even filter the results of these assessments by the level of SEO impact, technical difficulty, or whose responsibility it is to mitigate it (e.g., marketer or web developer).

The average website migration typically sees a 20 percent decrease in traffic post-migration. Despite this, SmartBug’s clients manage to either maintain their pre-migration traffic volume or experience a significant increase in traffic. Take, for example, our long-time partner StoneX. StoneX’s website migration, which redirected more than 5,000 pages of content, not only boosted overall traffic by 7 percent but also increased qualified leads by 23 percent.

What initial and ongoing costs are associated with the use of HubSpot Content Hub?

Apart from its Free plan, HubSpot offers three main levels of pricing: Starter, Professional (Pro), and Enterprise. Each level has its own set of capabilities and inclusions. According to HubSpot’s product catalog:

• Content Hub Starter starts at $20/month
• Content Hub Pro starts at $500/month
• Content Hub Enterprise starts at $1,500/month
  (Prices as of August 2024)

Website hosting and SSL certificates are included in all packages. Moreover, many basic features can be used at no additional cost, but a full-scale website migration typically falls under the Pro or Enterprise pricing tier. There are no hidden costs associated with the continued use of HubSpot Content Hub. However, it’s important to note that if you want to have a dedicated IP address, an add-on is available for $300/month.

What is the typical timeline for migrating to HubSpot Content Hub, and what resources are required?

After performing a full-scale SEO audit, all the pages that need to be replicated and all the required modules (blocks of content in each page) are compiled and listed. The next step is recreating the modules in HubSpot Content Hub and replicating the pages. Typically the process takes 3-6 months, depending on whether developers need to custom-code complex modules or if the existing website has numerous animated modules.

In terms of resources, most HubSpot partners prefer to have a dedicated project manager involved on the customer side so all strategic decisions can be made in a timely manner with the necessary amount of client input.

How does HubSpot Content Hub enhance the user experience for both staff and website visitors?

For your staff, it will simplify content creation for new webpages, landing pages, blog posts, and essentially any other piece of website content moving forward. Content Hub also simplifies SEO efforts by optimizing your content for multiple formats (using the Content Remix functionality). In the end, staff members save significant time on managing the website and don’t have to always consult with a developer to make changes. If the organization chooses to work with an Elite Partner agency like SmartBug, they even have access to a team of HubSpot experts to help them through any obstacles and answer user questions throughout the process.

In terms of website visitors, HubSpot Content Hub prioritizes the user experience, enabling more enjoyable, accessible, and productive website visits. The tools in Content Hub (mostly the Pro or Enterprise version) allow businesses to create contextualized or “smart” content and to test different versions of content (A/B testing). It also helps apply a unified brand voice to all content using AI, if desired. These capabilities mean better, more targeted content that appeals to and accommodates the audience. 

What does the onboarding and migration process look like?

The HubSpot website migration process itself looks a bit different for every business, but you can see a general outline of the steps in this HubSpot Knowledge Base article.

In terms of onboarding, it’s highly recommended that you work with brand strategists and a UX expert when developing a new website or tackling a large-scale redesign. These professionals have the specialized skills and knowledge necessary to create the best user experience possible for your organization using Content Hub. They can help plan and conceptualize the project, as well as assist in its eventual execution and performance of ongoing maintenance tasks. 

What kind of support and training do HubSpot and its partners provide?

Most of the time, your HubSpot partner provides the required training on how to use the CMS in HubSpot Content Hub. At SmartBug, this consists of an initial 2-4 hour training, after which the client is autonomous, receiving notifications when new features are publicly released. 

Additionally, HubSpot offers some HubSpot Academy courses and user certifications for free online. You can also turn to the HubSpot Community forum if you run into an issue using Content Hub, want to hear others’ experiences, or just want to maximize your HubSpot knowledge.

How does using HubSpot Content Hub future-proof a website, and what kind of scalability does HubSpot Content Hub offer as the business grows?

A recognized leader in the era of Smart CRM, HubSpot has an impressive road map for the future! As a SaaS company, HubSpot continues to add new and improved features (some are in beta; some are public) without upping the cost of your CMS. You can add those new features to your website as soon as they become publicly available. Starting to work on Content Hub today will also give you an edge over your competitors who are still working on disconnected CMS systems that require users to manually update plug-ins to stay up to date.

In terms of scalability, most users start by signing up for the Content Hub Starter plan, then upgrade to the Pro version when the need arises. Some Pro users will upgrade to the Enterprise version when they require more advanced features. Content Hub is a good fit for all company sizes and sectors.

Who can help my team get started with HubSpot?

HubSpot has thousands of partners all over the globe that offer various services and marketplace solutions, from paid advertising to sales enablement to sales coaching and training. If your organization needs several of these services, it’s best to turn to an accredited HubSpot partner with specialized experts who can help you through every step. You can even search the top agencies and HubSpot service providers to find the perfect fit.

Our team at SmartBug is honored to carry the designation of the world's largest, highest-rated, and most decorated HubSpot Elite Partner. With over a decade of experience working with the platform, we know HubSpot better than anyone else, and we’re committed to sharing our knowledge and skills with businesses like yours. Whether you’re looking to maximize your usage of HubSpot Content Hub to create a killer website, improve payment processes with Commerce Hub, or utilize any number of HubSpot services, SmartBug can help.