Stick with HubSpot or switch to different website builder?

[#1]

I'm getting extremely frustrated with how complicated it can be to change one little thing on my webpages through HubSpot. I'm not a website developer so I needed something easy to use for my small business. We made the choice to use HubSpot for everything: CRM, website, email, etc. 

BUT customizing anything is ridiculouly hard! HubSpot migrated my website from SquareSpace when we signed on but now I think that was a huge mistake. 

Should I stick with hosting my website on HubSpot or go back to a more user-friendly experiene on Wix or SquareSpace?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

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Q: Stick with HubSpot or switch to different [easier] website builder??

Short A: n/a

Longer A:

I don't work for HubSpot @the_emily_b, so to be brutally honest ... HubSpot isn't 'easy' for non-developers. Never has been. But those are subjective statements. What's hard for one person may not be 'hard' for another.

That being said, HubSpot is arguably the best marketing automation platform on the planet. It is a very large and powerful platform with excellent training and support.

If learning on this platform is frustrating you maybe you should consider switching back. However, before you switch maybe consider the following.

Switching platforms (any platform) always involves work (i.e., cost), and risks ...

Examples of risks:

- Loss of ranking in Google due to a poor 301 redirect strategy

- Loss of content (because some things just aren't worth paying to copy over)

- Downtime if you hire someone who doesn't know what they're doing

- COST (worth repeating)

So I guess it really comes down to whether or not you're too frustrated to keep working on this platform and are therefore willing to trade one set of frustrations for another. OR, you're willing to ask for and receive the help you need from a solid group of professionals that we've personally found to be among the best in the world.

Ultimately, you must decide.

Hope you stay. If you do, you'll find LOTS of answers here.

Help answer your question? If so, remember to accept this solution today.

Best,
Frank

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www.MFrankJohnson.com

[#3]

Thanks for your honest answer. I should probably try to do some more training to become a bit better at the design tools. Hopefully I can get more comfortable in the tool with more time & training.

[#4]

Again @the_emily_b, ask your question(s) here before you get to the point of frustration and you may even start to enjoy the process. The people here are uber helpful, so ...

Good luck.

[#5]

Hi - I'm sad to hear you're not enjoying the CMS so far. There definitely is some learning curve (just like anytime you jump on a new system). 

We had the really, really hard challenge of building a CMS that is both super easy for marketers, and very flexible and code focus for developers. There are a lot of complications with this from the tool interface to the backend technical side. We do have lots we can improve on... but the good thing is we have over 80 full time people working their butts off on this problem and have some new things in the works. 

Four side notes on this...
1. How easy the CMS is to use for marketers is semi-determined by how the developers built the templates and modules. You can build the exact same looking thing, but code it in a few different ways. One way will be very marketer-friendly, another way is pure code. This is why it's really important to find a good HubSpot CMS Developer who knows how to code with HubL and make the end result marketer friendly. 

It sounds like you had the HubSpot Migrations team work on moving the site over... so I'm assuming they got it in a decent spot. But without seeing your portal, it's hard for me to tell. 

2. We also have a Marketplace with templates and Modules you can install and drag-n-drop into your portal. Maybe there's something in there that will help build what you're looking for. We just started adding modules to the marketplace, I'd imagine there will be LOADS more in the next 3-6 months. Keep your eyes on it. 

3. Some simple, quick questions on how to use the CMS...  the HubSpot Support team can help. :-) They work really hard to help educate folks on the tools - take advantage of them. Short waits. Friendly people. Here to help you. Included in your HubSpot subscription. (please keep in mind, they will help teach the tools... they really aren't there to do tons of work/updates for you - although they often do that to try and solve the problem)

4. For help with small or big improvements / updates ... this is a great resource: http://onthebench.io/ (I'm not affiliated with them in any way). If you need more ongoing work, I'd suggest working with one of our great HubSpot Partner Agencies. 

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All that said - I do have some good news tho ... The Product team at HubSpot has been hard at work to try and improve the visual editing experience for marketers. (between you and me) They will be launching a new-and-improved editor experience in September-ISH time. I'm sure it won't be perfect (nothing is), but it will be a huge step in the right direction and a starting point for LOTS of iteration and improvements. 

hope all that helps - Cheers!