HubSpot recently made an update that has been on every HubSpotters wishlist for quite some time, and I could not be happier about it. They gave us the ability to add custom modules to blog posts. This is a huge change in the way HubSpot functions, and it is vitally important for making the most out of your blogging efforts.
To understand it, let’s do a brief history of how blogging has evolved in HubSpot.
The History of HubSpot Blogging
Successful blogs have always been key to improving your SEO rankings and getting more visitors to your site. It has worked this way for countless HubSpot customers and even the company itself. Much like when Amazon was just an online bookstore, HubSpot would not be the company it is today without its blogging tools.
Despite its importance, it has always been one of the hardest parts of the platform for inexperienced users to manage. I have been working on HubSpot websites for about seven years, and I still avoid creating a new blog from scratch because the only way to customize blog posts has been through direct coding in HubL (HubSpot's coding language). This means that you are required to understand HTML, CSS, and HubL in order to get your own blog up and running. It isn’t a gigantic ask with all of the coding information available to you, but it does require you to learn something that is most likely totally unrelated to your day-to-day responsibilities. This steep barrier to entry left you with two choices: buy a template from the marketplace or hire a developer.
While either of those options would get the job done, they come with their own set of limitations that creates a ceiling on what your blog could be. You were very limited in the conversion opportunities you could have on your blog because of the technical limitations of the platform.
This has begun to change quickly in the HubSpot world. Blog listings now have actual pages you can edit, and the posts fully utilize the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor that HubSpot is famous for. While all of these have been great quality-of-life improvements, they don't hold a candle to the value that custom modules will bring to your blogs.
What Custom Modules Do For Your Blog
Custom modules are a game changer for your blog posts. Custom modules make it so much easier to customize your site and add elements that will lead to conversions. They are also infinitely reusable and can solve needs that the default HubSpot options simply cannot. They have changed the way websites are built on the platform and how visitors can interact with your website.
The only thing missing was being able to add them to one some of the most important pages on your site, your blog posts. Now you can get that increased functionality and customization on any blog post you create. You no longer have to settle for simple CTAs in the post itself or in the sidebar. You can add any element to your page that you use anywhere else on your website with the drag-and-drop editor while creating your post. This means your blog posts will have access to all the conversion tools in your portal. Once you couple that with the organic visitors that a well-run blog brings in, you got a conversion stew going.
I cannot stress enough how powerful of a change this is for your site. You have access to significantly more options to increase conversions on your blog, which were simply impossible before. Why are you even still here? Get busy adding custom modules to your blog posts!
Now for some examples
While I have talked a lot about the potential benefits of using custom modules in your blog, I want to finish this post by giving some examples of what you may want to add to your posts.
Images
Images are one of the weaker areas when it comes to customization in HubSpot blogs. Currently, you are able to put them directly in the blog post itself or apply a module to the template that will display the same images and content for each section. This was something that limited what options were available.
Now, you can add things like image sliders and photo collages to your pages. This will open up the kind of blog posts you are able to write and will make blogging easy for industries that have a large reliance on photos. With one simple change, you can open up the options for generating positive SEO on your blog while also making the blog more interesting to your readers.
Here's a quick example of what an image grid could look like in your blog post.
Calls-to-Action
CTAs are a very useful but odd feature in HubSpot. Some portals will use them on key items and images in order to track their views and funnel more completely. Others will use them for every button on the entire site, which can hurt load times and muddle data.
Much like images, using CTAs in your blog posts was limited to specific uses. If you wanted to tailor the CTA by blog post, you were restricted to using it inline. Now, your CTAs can do more than just sit on the page. You have access to the full abilities of a custom module to provide additional functionality and features. Even better, you can then apply those features to your posts individually in order to get the most impact.
Forms
What is better than having a blog post that performs well? Having a blog post that performs well and also doubles as a landing page!
You are now able to add forms to your blog posts that are specific to each post in order to maximize conversions on the page.
Now, with an easy-to-use custom module, you can expand the options on your post exponentially. Besides the ability to display different forms on each post, you also gain access to all the additional customization options that a custom module provides. You can set up forms that show up in a modal, progressive forms, or even forms tied in directly to software that you sell. The sky is the limit with this one change!
Well, if you are still here, you may need help getting started with new features for your posts or if you are wondering how this change could affect your site. Don't worry, we can help. You can schedule some time to talk with us, or you can hop into the custom module game with the many custom modules available in our Cell Theme.
