The HubSpot Content Optimization System (COS) was designed to “deliver the most personalized web experience possible. No matter the device.” It is the first integrated website, blog, landing page and marketing system that is already optimized for the mobile experience and is fully integrated with all marketing channels, delivering content tailored to every viewer's particular context.

WHat A Content Optimization System Offers

The distinctions between HubSpot's “Content Optimization System” and a “Content Management System” are substantive. One of the biggest differences, as noted above, is that the HubSpot COS is ready out-of-the-box to handle mobile device viewing. It features built-in responsive design and can handle a full range of smartphones, tablets, and other devices. This is in contrast to a typical CMS, which requires unique templates or additional user coding to optimize content for mobile viewing—a time-consuming process.

Additionally, the HubSpot COS integrates all your marketing channels. The complete inbound marketing platform means that all your marketing tools reside in a single location, and your customers enjoy a seamless experience whether they're connecting via social media, email, or your website. Most CMSes stand alone, meaning that visitors endure a static and fragmented experience.

HubSpot's COS has been tailored to current search, with author tags and social media and keyword tools throughout, in addition to up-to-date search engine optimization (SEO) practices. Choosing another CMS may burden you with out-of-date SEO techniques that ignore the influence of social media and the importance of mobile design. Even fewer content management Systems offer those features as out-of-the-box ready.

The professional- and enterprise-level HubSpot services also provide personalization for individual viewers. This level of granularity achieved through smart content, forms, and calls-to-action, gives you the option of personalizing pages to meet the specific needs of every lead and customer that comes in contact with your content. This kind of near one-to-one marketing is in contrast to the one-size-fits-all model of a traditional CMS, even as nearly four out of five website visitors seek a site design that “makes it easy for me to find what I want.”

The HubSpot COS further offers a content delivery network that outpaces most CMSes and also offers greater security.

Components of Hubspot's COS

HubSpot's COS is comprised of four principal aspects: smart content, landing pages, blogs, and websites. We're going to take a look at each of these components and the features they offer.

1. Smart Content

HubSpot's smart content is all about personalization for your leads and customers. These personalization features make the consumer experience more intimate and allow you to target better different segments of your consumer demographic. If tailored emails are a great idea, then customized websites are equally useful, too.

You can use HubSpot's smart content to create targeted content, images, forms, and calls-to-action for each segment of your clientele. This includes considering the various stages, not just demographics, in which your customers reside. You can provide necessary information to first-time visitors and welcome back messages to returning customers. You can monitor your progress and retain the flexibility to tweak your design so that you know you're providing the right content to the right person at the right time.

2. Landing Pages

HubSpot COS also makes landing page development fast and easy. You can build, publish, and promote a new landing page in just seconds, all without having to hire an information technology professional or get other outside help. HubSpot COS automatically optimizes your new landing pages for mobile devices and can help your landing pages serve as a launching pad for a follow-up campaign. The smart content feature can further multiply your efforts by providing the dynamic landing page content that will increase conversions.

3. Blogging Software

Blogging software from HubSpot has been optimized for search, mobile, social, and subscriber control. Built-in SEO tools can help you discover new keywords that will boost your rank in search engines, and author tags and social media integration further the reach and influence of the content you create. Mobile optimization means that every HubSpot template is ready to display beautifully on smartphones and tablets. A real-time preview lets you view the mobile display as you type.

To integrate across your social media platforms, HubSpot automatically posts your new blog to all of your linked social networks, even allowing you to include a single image from your blog to go alongside the social media update. Lastly, HubSpot keeps your subscribers happy by allowing them to subscriber to emails from your blog at various time intervals—as-it-happens, daily, weekly, or monthly.

4. Website Design

Website design, perhaps the largest component in the HubSpot COS, offers ease-of-use, design flexibility, and tailored content for your leads and customers. The HubSpot design interface is simple yet detailed, providing marketers with varying levels of design ability the capacity to create a wide range of looks and feels for your site without requiring a full-time site designer.

Out-of-the-box mobile optimization means that you have to design your site only once. Built-in responsive design prepares your site for any device or tablet. Importantly, the responsive feature is capable of adjusting to any size or aspect ratio, so your site will be prepared for the next launch of any new phone or tablet.

The aforementioned personalization feature applies to any page on your site, allowing you to show a different homepage to customers from different industries, or creating a custom look for clients that may be in various stages of the sales funnel.

By choosing the HubSpot COS, you enjoy a system that integrates all aspects of your inbound campaign, saving you countless hours and headaches associated with switching from system to system. The COS is less expensive than many equivalent systems and has none of the potential security issues found on free systems such as WordPress, Drupal or Joomla or the plug-ins that must be used to allow those content management systems to provide a marketing value. 

Hubspot Vs Wordpress

The right content management system—or, as HubSpot champions, content optimization system—for your business will always depend on your particular needs. That said, HubSpot provides a thoroughly integrated system that allows for a greater degree of personalization throughout than ever before possible without the malware and hacking problems WordPress is and all of its plugins are known for and with infrequent security updates. Responsive design is an increasingly important feature for SEO, and the ability to adjust to any size screen offers a future-proof solution to the next big thing in mobile devices. As you consider the best choice for your company, the HubSpot COS merits serious consideration.

The professional- and enterprise-level HubSpot services also provide personalization for individual viewers. This level of granularity, achieved through smart content, forms, and calls to action, provides you with the option of personalizing pages to meet the specific needs of every lead and customer that comes in contact with your content. This kind of near one-to-one marketing is in contrast to the one-size-fits-all model of a traditional CMS, even as nearly four out of five website visitors seek a site design that “makes it easy for me to find what I want.”

The HubSpot COS further offers a content delivery network that outpaces most CMS's and also offers greater security from malware and hacking.

Blog Update 12/1/15:

In the two plus years since the HubSpot COS was released we've learned that the software is probably not the best fit for our core business partners in the architecture, landscape, interior design and design-build industries. This is not to say that the software is not exceptional, but it was made apparent through a number of conversations with Hubspot staff that they are concentrating their efforts on mid-market companies with billings in excess of $10 million. At this time, we are recommending a Squarespace website content management system for our core clients.

About Michael Conway and Means-of-Production

My firm builds Squarespace websites, Houzz profiles, and content marketing and advertising solutions for architects, interior designers, design-build contractors and landscape design firms. Our all-in-one tactics attract the right clients with exceptional architectural photography and brand messaging that sets you apart from the competition. Contact me for a free-of-charge consultation and marketing review. It takes about 40 minutes and you'll be provided a list of actionable improvements designed to solve your specific marketing problems.