Should we migrate our website to Hubspot

[KGolke]

Hello, 

We've currently changed to hubspot for CRM, Project Management, and Marketing. 

And now since we're using hubspot for just about everything else, we are considering migrating our website to hubspot as well. 

We currently pay Hibu to manage our website, SEO, search, display and social media ads. 

We're looking to now do all of that in house since we've made such an investment in Hubspot, and have the marketing suite. 

Curious if others have done this, any pros, cons, and issues you've ran into during the migration?

Our website typically serves to offer educational info, pulls in and displays our google reviews, and we use hubspot forms for people to request estimates and kick off our workflows and sales pipelines. 

We also have a blog, and a few other pages with educational content, and SEO purposes.

Some things Ive read is that: Hubspot templates aren't great, lack customization if you don't have coding background, and during the migration your SEO dips. 

Curious if the pros outweigh the cons for others that have done this or if going with a wordpress site would make more sense?

[denny_cushing · Accepted solution]

Hi @KGolke, I love this question, and it is one I was frequently asked during my agency days, and one I still ask myself from time to time. 
Here are my 2 cents: As someone who has had pages built on Hubspot, has managed migrations with the help of developers, and is currently operating with a WordPress page. 

You have a pretty solid strategy to align your digital marketing ops, and consolidating it under the HubSpot umbrella is always a plus. Depending on the resources you have available, let's say, design and development, there is little that can't be accomplished in a HubSpot native website. 

The "off the rack" (out of the box) themes are indeed limited and almost always will require customization that, in part, can be done by updating fonts, colors, and general themes. 
However, replicating your current website, whichever that may be, will likely require access to the Design Manager and knowledge of JSON, HTML, and CSS. 

I would recommend exploring that option with a HubSpot developer, preferably from an authorized partner, and go from there. There are hundreds of incredible partners out there. You can start with your trusted one, or check with the community for recommendations. They will be able to assess your current website and make honest recommendations, as more often than not, it is a case-by-case approach. 

Unfortunately, I didn't give you a yes or no answer, but this much I can say: it is ALWAYS a good idea to consolidate as much as possible under a single source of truth without having a thousand plug-ins and workflows to get all that data back to HubSpot. 

Contact a partner and see what they recommend for your particular case. If you are in the US/California, I have a list of recommendations I can share. 

I hope this helps. 
Cheers,
Denny

[GiantFocal · Accepted solution]

Hi @KGolke,

If you have everything else on HubSpot, then it only makes sense to also host your website on HubSpot. 

Not only will it make all the tracking automatic, easier, and level up your campaigns, but it also gives you peace of mind for many aspects, including security, downtime, and outdated plugins. All of these are managed by HubSpot out of the box. 

Migrating a website to a new platform will cause SEO dips, not just to HubSpot, as search engine bots will need to re-crawl and rescore your pages. But eventually, your rankings should return or even improve as long as the website is well-planned and well-built. 

From my first-hand experience hosting my company's domain on HubSpot for over 10 years, HubSpot puts a lot of care into making its CMS robust and future-ready. Sites built on HubSpot 5 years ago are still working flawlessly, supporting all of HubSpot's latest features today. 

[Humashankar · Accepted solution]

Hi @KGolke 

If your website is primarily static or minimalist and you're comfortable with WordPress, it's likely best to stick with it. The cost is lower, and you've already invested in developing the necessary skills.

In spite of this, if you plan to deeply integrate your website with HubSpot's CRM and marketing automation features, or intend to launch inbound marketing campaigns, migrating to HubSpot CMS may be a better option - but it's recommended to do so with the guidance of a partner.

Best Regards

[danmoyle · Accepted solution]

Hey there @KGolke. Quick note: I do work for a HubSpot partner and we do offer service to help with all of this. However,  I'm also a long-time HubSpot user (going back to 2010) and have done just what you're asking about myself. 

In short, yes I would migrate into HubSpot. No product is perfect. You mentioned that templates can be restrictive. That's true. Much like WordPress, HubSpot now relies on themes, which include templates for "eas of use." That can feel a little too standardized for some folks. 

But here's my thought: Bringing my content into the same system as my CRM data so that the full customer journey is handled and tracked with collaborative tools makes it much better for everyone. The HubSpot tracking code can do a lot of heavy lifting to connect the data, but I've seen it work better, more seamlessly, when it's all hosted in HubSpot. Plus with advancements happening often, like AI-driven content tools, I think you'll find even more pros to migrating. 

Just my two cents. 😊

[GiantFocal · Accepted solution]

Hi @KGolke,

If you have everything else on HubSpot, then it only makes sense to also host your website on HubSpot. 

Not only will it make all the tracking automatic, easier, and level up your campaigns, but it also gives you peace of mind for many aspects, including security, downtime, and outdated plugins. All of these are managed by HubSpot out of the box. 

Migrating a website to a new platform will cause SEO dips, not just to HubSpot, as search engine bots will need to re-crawl and rescore your pages. But eventually, your rankings should return or even improve as long as the website is well-planned and well-built. 

From my first-hand experience hosting my company's domain on HubSpot for over 10 years, HubSpot puts a lot of care into making its CMS robust and future-ready. Sites built on HubSpot 5 years ago are still working flawlessly, supporting all of HubSpot's latest features today. 

[denny_cushing · Accepted solution]

Hi @KGolke, I love this question, and it is one I was frequently asked during my agency days, and one I still ask myself from time to time. 
Here are my 2 cents: As someone who has had pages built on Hubspot, has managed migrations with the help of developers, and is currently operating with a WordPress page. 

You have a pretty solid strategy to align your digital marketing ops, and consolidating it under the HubSpot umbrella is always a plus. Depending on the resources you have available, let's say, design and development, there is little that can't be accomplished in a HubSpot native website. 

The "off the rack" (out of the box) themes are indeed limited and almost always will require customization that, in part, can be done by updating fonts, colors, and general themes. 
However, replicating your current website, whichever that may be, will likely require access to the Design Manager and knowledge of JSON, HTML, and CSS. 

I would recommend exploring that option with a HubSpot developer, preferably from an authorized partner, and go from there. There are hundreds of incredible partners out there. You can start with your trusted one, or check with the community for recommendations. They will be able to assess your current website and make honest recommendations, as more often than not, it is a case-by-case approach. 

Unfortunately, I didn't give you a yes or no answer, but this much I can say: it is ALWAYS a good idea to consolidate as much as possible under a single source of truth without having a thousand plug-ins and workflows to get all that data back to HubSpot. 

Contact a partner and see what they recommend for your particular case. If you are in the US/California, I have a list of recommendations I can share. 

I hope this helps. 
Cheers,
Denny

[KGolke]

Thanks Denny, 

I don't have skills in: JSON, HTML, and CSS.

I have experience in WordPress and have helped build sites heavily based on theme choice, drag and drop editor, and plugin solutions; so I think we would need to work with a partner.

We've got a pretty minimalist website as is. northwindre.com

And have been working with SolarInbound on our initial automation and hubspot setup, however, a list of hubspot website dev. partners is welcome. 

thank you!

[Humashankar · Accepted solution]

Hi @KGolke 

If your website is primarily static or minimalist and you're comfortable with WordPress, it's likely best to stick with it. The cost is lower, and you've already invested in developing the necessary skills.

In spite of this, if you plan to deeply integrate your website with HubSpot's CRM and marketing automation features, or intend to launch inbound marketing campaigns, migrating to HubSpot CMS may be a better option - but it's recommended to do so with the guidance of a partner.

Best Regards

[KGolke]

Thanks for the insight, we are currently our website is managed by hibu, along with our google, meta, SEO, and search/display ads. I do have previous experience in wordpress, but I'm thinking moving our website to hubspot since we are using it for CRM, project management, service and marketing for our company already. 

[Victor_Becerra]

Hi @KGolke 
Thank you for reaching out to the Community!
I'd like to invite some community members who are subject matter experts to join this conversation.
@danmoyle @Jon-PrairiePath @Humashankar - Would you be able to share any insights on this? Your expertise would be greatly appreciated.
Best,
Victor