Inbound Marketing Blog

25 October, 2016

Migrating or Redesigning Your Website? Here’s How You Can Update Your HubSpot Templates

Written by Josh Mason

on 25 October, 2016

Did you know that the average website redesign takes around 5 months?

Then when they do finally get finished it’s been found that typically 1 out of 3 marketers aren’t happy with the end result.

I’ll stop throwing statistics at you now and just cut to the chase.

Website redesigns can be a massive headache.

Especially if you’re a HubSpot user and you can’t get your head around using their templates.

Whether you’re migrating your existing wordpress site over to HubSpot or you’re redesigning your current website with HubSpot, the templates can prove to be a razor sharp thorn in your side.

So what’s the problem with them and what can you do about it?

Challenge 1: Website redesigns

The first problem that you can have with HubSpot templates is when you’re going through a website redesign.

The main issue tends to be with the type of templates available, how many templates there are and what you’re using them for. It can be quite difficult to edit HubSpot templates and this often means that you end up creating one template for every single page of your website. While this isn’t a huge problem, it can get incredibly messy later down the line, especially if your site has a lot of pages.

The other option that people go for is to create flexible templates that they can use for multiple pages, however this then means that you can become very limited with what you can do across your site. For example if you’re wanting to create a ‘meet the team page’ and it needs lots of images, naturally that’s going to require a very different layout to an about us page.

So while of course it’s great that you can create a website on HubSpot without any coding knowledge, it does mean that you can be quite restricted in how creative you can get with your pages.

Challenge 2: Website Migration

The second challenge stems from when you’re migrating your website over to HubSpot. If you’re not used to the template editor and the way it works you can run into general styling issues that could potentially break your site.  

HubSpot do have a great migrations team, however it’s vital that before you hand your site over to them you have your entire website mapped out and you’re 100% happy with it.

Because the problems can arise once they’ve done the migration and you realise you want to start changing things.

So unless you have someone in your team who can code and create custom modules, it’s best practice to make sure everyone in your team is completely satisfied with your website before handing it over to the migrations team.

The Solutions

 1. Purchase Templates off the HubSpot Marketplace

Purchasing a pack of let’s say 30 or 40 templates can be a great place to start. Naturally you will still need to create all your content for the pages but buying templates from the marketplace gives you a solid foundation from which to build on.

It’s a simple way to get the ball rolling. Depending on what packs you go for it can be quite pricey, so make sure that you’re happy with the pack you decide to buy and you know it can work with the vision you have for your website.

Note: This solution can work very well for redesigns, however migrating a site and forcing existing designs into new templates can be very difficult.

 2. Hire a Freelancer

The second solution is to hire some help in the form of a freelance web designer.

The main benefit here is that if they know their way around the HubSpot COS then they will be able to create highly customised pages and modules. You’ll essentially have unlimited flexibility and be able to feed your vision to the designer to bring to life.

The downside of hiring a freelancer is that it could prove incredibly costly, especially if you’re redesigning your entire website. It all depends on your budget and the scale of your operation. If there’s a just a couple of pages that you want redesigning then a freelancer could be the ideal option.

 3. Hire an Agency

Last but by no means least you could always hire a marketing agency.

The beauty of hiring an agency is that they’ll have their marketing hats on when designing your website. They won’t just be thinking about the way it looks, they’ll be thinking about customer journeys, user experience and using styling for SEO purposes.

So not only will your website look better, it should also perform better.

Then if you’re happy with the job they’ve done you’re going to feel confident using them again, maybe you might want to increase your conversion rate on a certain page for example.

While we’re not suggesting that you need to hire a marketing agency full time just for a website redesign, it’s nice to know that if you do have any other quick fixes or problems that they can help you out.

Which is the best solution out of the three?

Well that completely depends on your circumstances.

If you’ve got people in-house that understand HubSpot templates then it may make the most sense just to buy some templates.

However if it’s like trying to understand sign language then your best bet would be to hire external help.

What’s important is that regardless of what option you choose you know how you want your website to look and behave. Because website builds and redesigns aren’t cheap, so it’s important that you’re not forking out for them on a regular basis.

It’s best to get into the habit of growth driven design, where you constantly add and develop your website over time making little tweaks here and there based on feedback you’ve gained from customers and your own tests. Not only will this stop your website becoming dated, but it will be great practice for getting to grips with the HubSpot COS.  

Topics: HubSpot Templates Website Redesign