The Ultimate Guide to Headless CMS in 2023

Every business is going online now as digital presence matters the most. Powering up your business to withstand a market that has strong competition is all what you need to care about today.

 Although there are numerous trends prevalent in the market but what attracts the customers the most is customization. This bait works for both B2B and B2C.  

One of the reasons that Content Management System is creating hush in the market is same. The level and quality of customization is very different when you use a CMS. In a survey it has been cleared that soul WordPress rules 43% of the market but that doesn’t mean that the rest of them are not that essential. 

Headless CMS development is luring the spotlight for development that are of multiple fields. Apart from headless CMS, SSG (Static Site Generators) are also in the queue. Though there is much time to match the popularity 

It is also important to understand certain things like what headless CMS is, which one is better traditional or headless, how to choose the apt one, advantages of headless CMS, what are the headless CMS etc. You will get to solve all these queries in this write-up. 

What is a Content Management System? 

So, before getting deep into headless CMS, let's revise the concept of traditional CMS. A content management system is software that needs no technical knowledge to develop, modify, manage and create a website.

You can easily manage your website and customize it according to your business needs.  

Content management system helps you handle all the basic infrastructure like creating pages, sorting images, and other functionalities. It gives you time to focus on several other things.  

What is a Headless Content Management System? 

A headless CMS is a much more versatile content management system. Headless CMS has this feature of different hosting for front-end and backend. This helps in developing the best and most robust application as the developer can use any strong programing for front end development and yet can have advantages of powerful feature rich backend CMS. 

Apart from content management, headless helps you to build an API and feed data to other devices as well. These qualities make headless CMS the bespoke platform for building a customized website and web application.  

Difference between traditional CMS and Headless CMS? 

There are debates heard about who is better and how. Though it is a tough decision to make as there is a huge difference in CMS development platform for both. Moreover, the functionalities also then vary and the perks that come along.  

Here is a differentiation between both the CMSs that states who is good at what and who lacks where. These detailing will easily make you understand that on the various grounds which one suits you the best. The one that is good for you is the best for you. Opinions here might differ from person to person. 

Factors	Traditional CMS	Headless CMS
Hosting & Delivery	It has In-house hosting	Provides you In the Cloud
Extensibility	It has Monolithic extensibility	This is Modular
Responsiveness	It has limitation	It is responsive by design
Workflow	Follows Waterfall	It is Agile
Iteration	It has a long iteration	This is into rapid development
Speed	This increases the latency	This is quick loading
Technical Debt	It is ofcourse inherent to the system	It can be managed easily

Headless CMS: Just an API or More? 

See, this question is debatable. Keeping CMS development services into consideration, the answer could be both yes and no. 

With a headless CMS you have all the capabilities essential to create, store and manage all of the content your business would need. This all takes place in a segregated manner especially from publishing and actual front-end of the website that you own. 

Also, this CMS provides you with great flexibility because it allows you to publish the content which is managed to any front-end publisher that is chosen by you. This happens by providing an API. It is the API that transfers the content to the front-end developer.  

Although it is true that headless CMS provides just an API, and it helps in decoupling the backend from frontend.  

How to choose a good CMS for your business? 

So, there are some of the factors that you should consider before picking a headless CMS for your development purposes. 

Ease to use 

To enable your team to manage and produce content, a headless CMS should be simple and easy to use. Choose a solution with drag-and-drop capabilities if you are searching for something direct or more advanced. You should opt for a program with more sophisticated and advanced tools for developing unparalleled templates and themes if you want greater and better control over the appearance of your website.  

Security 

Another important factor in selecting a headless CMS is security. Any content that is saved on your website has to be protected from hackers' malicious attempts and data breaches. 

Though the majority of headless CMSs include robust encryption and security mechanisms, still you should read customer evaluations before registering. It is possible that certain tools have not been available long enough for their security procedures to have received proper feedback. 

Templates and themes 

Most headless CMSs have default templates and themes. So, instead of beginning from scratch each time they create a new page or post on their website, utilizing templates that already exists, makes it simple for users who are new to constructing websites or don't have much technical knowledge. 

Advantages of Headless CMS 

Here are some of the advantages of using headless CMS. 

Improved Omnichannel Experience 

One of the most important benefits of headless CMS is that it provides improved omnichannel experience for your clients. 

It allows you to connect a headless content management system with your current e-commerce platform. Your website, mobile app, and social media sites will all be used to provide a seamless user experience. 

It also makes it effortless for developers to create a single interface that works across all devices. Instead of constructing several sites or applications for each different type of device, you can concentrate on developing a single website that automatically adjusts to the device being used. 

Content Creation Efficiency 

You can also concentrate on generating content rather than managing the underlying technology with a headless CMS. This is feasible because the majority of headless CMS include APIs, which let you combine them with perfect content production programs like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. 

You can also create an app with headless CMS that allows editors and writers to instantly add, edit, and publish material without having to log in to a backend CMS interface. This saves time because they don't have to wait for the approval procedure on their revisions before posting their content. 

Additionally, a headless CMS makes it simpler for non-technical individuals to administer their websites because they may make adjustments using capable and popular web browsers like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. 

Enable Collaborative Workflow 

Using reusable content models to organize material and decoupling the frontend (or presentation layer) from the backend, a headless CMS allows concurrent work between content editors and developers. Without the assistance of developers, content editors may nimbly update material across multiple channels, leaving developers to focus on more strategically significant tasks. For businesses looking to escalate their time to market and maximize the productivity of their developers, this presents a competitive edge. 

Serves Multiple Customer Journey With Single Source 

The interchangeability offered by headless supports several public-facing channels from a single back end. In simple words we can explain, even though each display has a separate set of needs, businesses can send content to all of their websites, apps, chatbots, and in-store displays using a single back-end database. 

Decoupled systems will allow a single field modification to be made across all devices, which has a significant time-saving impact for enterprises. 

Superior Software Architecture 

The architecture of headless CMSs segregates the frontend and backend parts. Your front-end website can be created using any technology, including PHP, Ruby, Python, or even JavaScript. The backend is composed of a single language (often PHP or Java) and interacts with the database via an API. 

One of the best aspects of such architecture is how much faster and easier delivery your website makes. Your server, which will execute both the frontend and the backend components simultaneously without any issues and here you need to deploy your code. 

User Cases 

Retail Brands 

Retail brands often sell numerous items through multiple channels. These goods come in a variety of sizes, hues, and forms. For eCommerce companies utilizing conventional content management systems, keeping track of all these items and their variants can be difficult. Hence headless CMS can boost your sales by easing your workflow. 

Websites and Web Apps 

This is usually the preferred option for high-performance "Jamstack" static-site generator sites. They are utilized by popular javascript frameworks like react, vue, and angular and may be applied to web applications. 

Product and Services 

You have the freedom to use a headless CMS for a variety of services and goods. A headless CMS may be used, by a hotel website to handle bookings and inventory, by an online retailer to manage orders, and by an airline to operate its booking engine. 

List of headless CMS 

Umbraco Headless 

Umbraco Headless is made for simplifying across all channels. It concentrates on centralising content editing for various platforms, including websites, smart watches, and in-store displays. The developers have a clear, user-friendly interface with all the tools they require because of the separation of content management. Content editors now don’t have to deal with any back-end issues. 

For multi-channel trips that are focused on the front end, Umbraco Headless is a perfect option. To build your website from scratch, Umbraco Cloud is the best option as this system is not currently able to do so. 

Strapi 

An open-source headless CMS called Strapi helps in seamless content delivery and production. Without any prior knowledge of scripting, you can hire a Strapi development partner like Zenesys to create a website using this self-hosted content management system. 

Strapi speeds up development because it is customizable and is written in JavaScript. Also, a user-friendly interface speeds up the distribution of materials by marketing teams. 

Contentful 

A headless CMS that is both effective and easy to use is called Contentful. Several features, such as a user-friendly user interface, adaptable content models, and delivery APIs, are offered by Contentful. Large projects or projects requiring a lot of material should always opt for Contentful. Though Contentful is not free—it offers a free trial, but after that, you must pay for a subscription. 

Big Commerce 

BigCommerce An open SaaS (Software as a Service) platform that is a category of headless CMS. To deliver updates to users, it does through on-premises hosting. This means that there is never a need for performance adjustment or to update to new software versions. 

The software has a huge variety of headless APIs that allow programmers to create unique CMS integrations. These APIs also enable businesses to use any CMS for their front end while using BigCommerce for their back end. 

BigCommerce enables retailers and ecommerce business owners to create intricate catalogues, control high order volumes, and manage up to 600 SKUs per product. The Headless solution ensures that complicated back-end PIM systems don't slow down the storefront's performance. 

Lumavate 

Lumavate is a headless CMS that has a well-developed front-end architecture. It was created as a platform for digital experiences. Giving non-technical people all the tools, they need to create digital experiences withput thinking about proper coding. 

However, the elegance of Lumavate's architecture is that the backend and frontend can be separated at any time. As a result, you can modify your front-end architecture without having an impact on the backend. You can connect to any number of front-end alternatives through an API, giving you complete control on your content and a variety of publishing possibilities. 

Although all these CMS development platforms are capable enough to give the desired result but a CMS development company plays an essential role. Zenesys is one of the market leading companies that has expertise in most of the platforms. Our developers have hands-on experience with Umbraco, Kentico, Strapi etc. 

CMS development has already helped serval developers and website owners as it helps you customize your website without understanding the web net of coding. Headless CMS has broken the barriers that the traditional CMS had. But a lot of factors rely on the partner that you choose.  

Choosing a partner like Zenesys that has experience of more than a decade and blessed with developers hands on with latest technology can be very fruitful. Keeping up with the latest technology always helps. Headless CMS is just the platform to shoot your growth.