02.28.2023 Phill Burrows
The realities of a marketing budget will often mean that you need to do more with… exactly the same as you had to spend last year.
With this in mind, it’s likely that any spend on your website will be capped at a certain level. If your website needs to produce leads - and the vast majority of websites should produce leads - then that means you likely need to have your website produce as many leads as possible, whilst spending as little as possible.
How can you build a website that succeeds in generating more leads for you, but doesn’t break the bank? Where can you find the cutting edge that will make a difference for you and your company?
Choose the CMS built for lead generation
The first step in your quest for successful lead generation should be to look at what other factors limit your lead generation efforts and remove them. Fewer obstacles will equal more leads.
Start with your CMS. Wordpress is not a CMS that’s created for ‘out of the box’ lead generation. Generating leads through a Wordpress website needs an endless range of plugins (forms, quizzes, banners and more) and the heavy involvement of a developer for the majority of changes.
The HubSpot CMS, on the other hand, is designed with markers and lead generation in mind.
Underpinned by HubSpot’s CRM and with dedicated marketing tools available, the HubSpot CMS is designed for marketers, not developers. Forms and landing pages can be created quickly and easily, using drag-and-drop functionality.
Now, we know HubSpot CMS might be new to you and that you probably have some questions. Here are some quick and easy answers, all with the aim of showing how you can build a lead generating website on a budget...
How much will a HubSpot website cost?
An annual licence for HubSpot’s CMS can be bought for £2,352 per year, which is the equivalent of £196 per month.
Development time is likely to be less than your regular Wordpress website, because of the HubSpot CMS’ structure, based around themes.
Development time is likely to be less than your regular Wordpress website, because of the HubSpot CMS’ structure, based around themes. A developer will build a theme for your business to use across your website. You can then use the drag and drop functionality to insert website elements and have them appear in your theme.
Think of it like this; when you drop a form into Wordpress, a developer typically needs to make sure that form is styled properly and the look and feel of it is consistent with your website.
Once you have a theme built though, the HubSpot CMS does this for you. You drop the form into your website and the theme applies automatically. This can reduce your build costs and put website edits into the hands of marketers, rather than developers.
Then there’s also the savings to bear in mind. HubSpot host your website as part of that annual licence fee, so your hosting cost will disappear. There’s also no plugins to update, no downtime to rectify and no security threats to stop your website from working for you.
The cost of all of those elements disappears when a website moves to HubSpot; you just get a good website, at a very reasonable cost, set up to generate leads for your company.
There are options to consider on an ongoing basis as well. Where a ‘normal’ approach to your website might be to consider a redesign every 3-5 years, the HubSpot CMS suggests a different approach. Incremental changes, which are now easier to apply, can keep your website at the cutting edge constantly, eliminating the need for costly relaunches and instead spreading a lower cost across a low month retainer. We call this approach Growth Driven Design or GDD and we think it’s the high impact, low cost future of keeping your website up to date, relevant and high performing.
How long does it take to develop a website on HubSpot CMS?
Developing a website on the HubSpot CMS is likely to take less time than alternatives because of the theming engine working behind the scenes..
Once a theme is up and running you can work with your developer on specific styles and imagery choices that make the website come to life, but the theme can be developed in a matter of days rather than weeks or months.
This approach can also reduce development time because you will be involved in your website’s look and feel. Instead of waiting until your website is finished to see what it looks like and then deciding if you like it or not, you can be involved with the design choices, led by your expert developer. This reduces the risk of you being dissatisfied with the website when it’s ready, leading to one design being scrapped and things starting all over again; a costly and time-consuming process.
This is why we believe in the GDD process. Building a launchpad website and publishing it within 30-60 days allows us to quickly make improvements based on real user data. As a client you may also find quicker time to value than with previous website projects you have been involved in, where a site was built over 3-6 months, launched and then left with little analysis or improvement being made to it.
How do I know my HubSpot CMS website will work?
HubSpot is ranked as the leader in G2’s ‘magic quadrant’ of CMS software. It received a Gartner ‘Customer’s Choice’ award in 2020. And there’s an ever-growing library of users who are happy to say: ‘we built our website on HubSpot and we love it!’ Here are some specific examples that built their website with lead generation in mind.
If you know HubSpot already then you likely know that HubSpot is known and respected as an inbound marketing automation tool and it is still that. Now imagine you could combine that powerful, industry-leading inbound marketing automation tool with your website.
How do I know it will generate leads?
That’s the real answer to ‘how do I know this will work?’ HubSpot are already a huge success on the back of helping marketers to generate more leads. They’re now helping marketers to do that by enabling them to create a lead generation website on a budget that won’t break the bank.
How do I run my HubSpot CMS website after launch?
There are no plugins to update, no hosting issues to sort and no security threats to deal with, so the first answer is… with much less stress than previously!
Because the platform is built for marketers the ongoing running of the website is placed entirely in your hands. You can easily build new landing pages, create forms, A/B test pages, track, label and sort contacts in the included CRM and much more.
There’s also HubSpot Academy; a dedicated free resource for learning both how to use the software and the principles of lead generation and inbound marketing, if you need a refresher. And, of course, we’re here to help as well, if you need it.
