CMS (content management system)
A CMS (content management system) is the software that lets a team create, edit and publish website content without touching code.
Area
Framer and Webflow building
What it means in practice
A CMS stores content as structured types. A blog post has a title, author, date, cover image and body. A case study has a company name, sector, scope and summary. Templates decide how each type looks, so every case study follows the same design while the content changes.
There are two broad kinds. Built-in CMSs come with the website platform, as in Framer, Webflow and WordPress. Headless CMSs, such as Sanity, Contentful or Storyblok, store content separately and send it to a front end that developers build.
A good setup is mostly about the content model, meaning which content types exist, which fields they have and how they link. A thoughtful model makes new pages easy to add. A poor one forces a workaround every time the team publishes something slightly different.
Why it matters for B2B and AI teams
B2B and AI companies publish all the time. Case studies, product updates, integrations, job posts, comparison pages and articles all need a home. If every new page needs a designer or developer, publishing slows down and the site falls behind the company. A well-structured CMS lets marketing move at the pace of the business.
It helps search and AI visibility too. Structured content is easier to keep consistent, link internally and mark up for search engines. It also makes large sets of similar pages, like integrations or industries, practical to maintain.
How we approach it
We plan the CMS alongside the design, in Framer or Webflow, so the people running the site after handover can keep it current without us.
For Peak3, we built the Framer site around six CMS collections and 17 page templates, connected to HubSpot. The team updates the content while the templates hold the layout.
For Peak3, an enterprise website built for the marketing team to manage, the build covered 17 templates and six CMS collections.
FAQ
For most marketing sites, the CMS built into Framer or Webflow is enough and keeps things simple. A headless CMS makes sense when content feeds several channels or the front end is custom-built.
One for each repeating content type. Usually that’s blog posts and case studies, plus maybe integrations, team members or jobs. Keep one-off pages as regular pages.
Usually, through CSV export and import or an API, though fields, rich text and images often need cleanup. A well-planned content model cuts that work down.
Keep exploring
Related terms
Headless CMS
A headless CMS stores and manages content separately from the website’s front end and delivers it through an API to any site, app or channel.
Information architecture (IA)
Information architecture (IA) is how a website’s content is organized, labeled and connected, so visitors can find what they need and know where they are.
Framer
Framer is a visual website builder that lets teams design, build, host and publish production websites from a canvas that works much like a design tool.
Webflow
Webflow is a visual web development platform for designing, building, hosting and managing websites, with styling that stays close to how HTML and CSS work.
Design handoff
Design handoff is the point where finished design work passes to the people who will build, run or extend it, with the files and guidance they need.
Show us what you’re working on
Book a call and walk us through what’s changing. We’ll suggest the scope that fits, or tell you if you don’t need us yet.