7 things to consider when choosing a headless CMS for your business

So, you've decided that headless CMS is the next step for your marketing team. It's modern, cutting-edge, and can solve a whole host of problems. The next challenge is now to pick the right headless CMS for your business. 

To help, we've put together a list of the key factors you should consider when looking for a headless CMS. 

7 things to consider when choosing a headless CMS for your business

1. Start with a business case

The first thing you should do is make sure you have the right mindset. That means redirecting your mind away from your budget and shopping and turning it back to a business case. 

Why are you buying a headless CMS?

What are the things you learned about headless CMS that made you decide it was the next step for your team? Was it the time-saving, the productivity improvement, the consistency, the way it can make your content evergreen? 

Write these factors down first so that you can set your guiding light down from the start. 

2. Understand the headless approach

Next, you need to be sure that you understand the headless approach. Headless CMS is a complete overhaul of traditional CMS systems. That means you're going to need to completely reframe the way you think about and use your CMS platform after this transition. 

One of the initial ways you'll find yourself changing your thinking is that you'll think of your CMS as less so a single platform and moreso a network of APIs, integrations, and channels. It's a distribution network, not a one-stop app. 

This will feed into the next aspect of the headless approach, which is that content will become Priority One. You won't be as caught up in making things friendly for the web, as your headless CMS will handle this for you. 

3. Identify the needs of your key stakeholders

An exciting feature of headless CMS is that it is set to be used by so many different teams and departments. Technical teams, marketing staff, content creators, management, and more are all going to be using this platform. 

As such, you'll want to carefully consider how useful and easy it will be for each of these teams to adapt to your new headless CMS. 

For content creators and marketers, that means bridging the technical aspects with the creative components or possibly removing them altogether. If you've had content marketers doubling as tech specialists with your old CMS, make sure that your new headless CMS doesn't repeat this mistake. 

4. Set your budget

Next, it's time to set your budget. Several costs can come up when choosing a headless CMS, though there is a lot of flexibility with each of them. 

These costs include hosting, implementation, migration, development, maintenance, and of course, the headless CMS platform itself. A headless CMS platform can be anywhere from open-source (i.e., free) to $10,000/month for enterprise solutions. Generally, though, you can expect to pay between $20/month and $500/month. 

What sets the more affordable headless CMS options apart from enterprise solutions are key features like scalability, product maturity, security, and services like dedicated customer support. 

5. Shortlist the vendors

With your business case, headless understanding, stakeholders, and budget accounted for, you're ready to start shortlisting vendors. This is the process where you start to niche down and settle on the few vendors you want to focus on. 

A great way to narrow the vendors you're looking at is to focus on a specific segment of headless CMS services. You should have an idea of the kind of headless CMS options you need, so cross off any that aren't in that vein. 

6. Evaluate the products

Now that you have a shortlist, you're ready to start evaluating the products. That means comparing the different headless CMS options head-to-head. Working closely with your content marketing and development teams can be a great way to do this. 

You'll want to consider factors like the number and quality of API connections, how useful the documentation attached to the product is, and how quickly you can start using the headless CMS platform. 

7. Evaluate the vendors and their proposals

Lastly, you're ready to evaluate the vendors themselves. You already know how the products these vendors are offering stack up against one another. Now you want to make sure that the vendors are companies that you want to do business with. 

You can check this by looking at the level of training they offer, how available their support teams are, whether or not they offer consulting services, what level of implementation challenges you'll face, and more. 

Once you've evaluated the quality of each product and the vendor behind it, you should have a clear winner for your headless CMS platform. 

Find the right headless CMS platform for your business with ThinkLogic

Still looking for the right headless CMS platform for your business? Reach out to ThinkLogic today for expert insights and advice on finding the right fit.