Headless CMS (Content Management System) might seem a little confusing, especially if you have no clue what a content management system is in the first place. However, it isn’t that hard to understand or explain, and pretty soon you will be able to understand all the benefits and what Headless CMS can do for your website and your contentful agencies.
Now, a traditional CMS is a content management system that is fully connected to a ‘head’ or the display function of the website. For them, you often get a “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG), because everything you do on the backend of the website is seen on the CMS. Plus, everything is packed into one system.
To use an example, let’s say you have a piece of content that you are using an ordinary CMS to manage. You want to push this content to the website on the computer, but you also decide it would be great if the content were formatted for mobile too. However, the CMS only goes to the computer, rather than to any device, because the computer is the ‘head’.
You can also think about a CMS like a straight road leading to a destination, where there is no way to deviate or otherwise move from the path. Instead, you have to take that straight road, so the content goes right to the computer.
The Headless CMS, on the other hand, would allow you to customize and post the content anywhere by using an API (Application Programming Interface), where you could take the piece of content and post it on any device. Instead of a straight road with one destination, you have a winding and branching road that goes in a lot of directions but eventually leads back to the same destination, which is your content getting into the hands of the people who need it.
Going In Depth And Headless
A headless CMS gives the editors a place to manage their content while also providing the content through APIs for developers. The API acts like a bridge that connects the content of the back end to the front end code and templates. So with the right API you can fully customize your content and put it on any front end you choose, instead of being locked into one choice with CMS. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for dynamic and complex websites. Using a platform like BCMS headless CMS ensures that your content can be seamlessly integrated and displayed across multiple channels, enhancing both efficiency and user experience.
All of your content and APIs are hosted on the cloud, and then they are sent to wherever you want the content to be sent. For example, you can put your content on the web, as well as on mobile devices, VR, and voice as well. The Headless CMS can use APIs to attach to anything, which makes it helpful for right now as well as future proof for whatever technology we use next to access our data.
How Does Headless CMS Help A Business?
One of the biggest advantages of having a Headless CMS is that you can share a lot of content, in a lot of places, without spending a lot of time doing so. You don’t have to implement multiple content management systems to support all the ways you want to get your content out. Instead, you can just use one Headless CMS for unlimited digital channels.
While CMS also intermingles code and content, which makes it impossible to share the content somewhere else without the same code, the Headless CMS separates the code of the website from the content on the website. Not only does this make editing content and developing the website much easier, but it also allows for the website to be developed by people while not damaging any of the content already on the website.
The biggest benefit to a Headless CMS is if your business is omnichannel. If you need to make an update or have caught a mistake on your business, and you’ve got 50 pieces of content that you have to fix or update, you don’t want to be fixing everything one by one. With a Headless CMS, you can make the update in one central location and then push out the change to everywhere that matters in one or two clicks.
Many businesses have switched to a Headless CMS just for that alone!
Get A Headless CMS For Your Business!
Now that you’ve learned what a Headless CMS is, and how it works and can benefit you, then you can introduce one to your business process. It will help you keep your content moving, and now that you know how it works, you can make it work for you!