CMS Integration Guide: Maximize Your CMS Potential
A smooth, effective CMS integration is yet another challenge your business might struggle with. Because if you’re here, chances are you’re dealing with either workflow bottlenecks, data silos, or scalability issues.
The truth is, you aren’t the only one facing this. About 80% of IT leaders surveyed by MuleSoft report that data silos are slowing their digital transformation and overall efficiency.
The way to tackle the issues? Preparing for CMS integration carefully and considering the features your business actually needs to succeed.
As an expert CMS integration services provider, Bits Orchestra knows the challenges and best practices that come with creating a holistic digital ecosystem. For example, we recently helped our client, COREtec Floors, increase website traffic by 23% by simply making their integrations more intuitive to both admins and users.
In this guide, we’ll use our expertise to tell you about the top CMS integrations and critical considerations before implementing them.
Highlights:
Top CMS integrations to implement? Consider CRM, eCommerce, analytics, marketing automation, social media, and AI-powered solutions.
Smooth CMS integration doesn’t happen by accident. Keep an eye on compatibility, security, and scalability — and teach your team to use new tools properly.
Watch out for potential obstacles: unexpected costs, performance slowdowns, and unreliable vendors. Read our guide further to deal with these challenges like a pro.
An easily managed CMS-based eCommerce platform built for COREtec Floors, Bits Orchestra client.
Top CMS Integrations for Business Success
A content management system, as the name suggests, shines in managing and delivering content. But what if your business expands, and you need extra features besides just manipulating content? You might need to integrate a CMS site with any of the following solutions:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Integrate your CMS with a CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot to manage customer data more effectively and personalize your content.
How it works: Your CMS sends data about website visitors to your CRM — like what pages they browsed, how long they stayed, and what actions they took.
Why it matters: You get a complete view of your customers and personalize their experience. Think targeted ads, tailored emails, and even customized website content.
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eCommerce Platforms
You can handle CMS integration with Shopify or WooCommerce to publish and sell your products easily.
Alternatively, consider starting with an eCommerce CMS like Kentico, or Umbraco as it offers built-in commerce features. You’ll find tools like page builders, A/B testing, content personalization, and even filters for Product Shelf pages — essentially everything you need to run your online business.
How it works: Your product information, inventory, and orders sync between your CMS and eCommerce platform.
Why it matters: You can personalize product recommendations, run targeted promotions, and improve the overall customer and shopping experience.
Analytics Tools
To know what really works on your CMS website, you need solid analytics tools. Integrate anything from Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics to Hotjar — all these solutions are perfect.
How it works: You can track content performance and user behavior using metrics such as page views, bounce rates, and heatmaps.
Why it matters: You can optimize your content strategies and improve user engagement by identifying what works and what doesn’t.
Improve Your Website Performance with Expert CMS Integration Company
Integrating your CMS with the right tools can transform how you manage and deliver content, enhancing everything from customer relationships to e-commerce capabilities. Don't let workflow bottlenecks or data silos slow you down.
Marketing Automation Tools
If you’re tired of sending emails and newsletters manually, try marketing automation tools like Marketo or Mailchimp.
How it works: You can create automated email sequences triggered by website visits or form submissions.
Why it matters: You can automatically nurture leads, run targeted campaigns, and increase engagement with your audience.
Social Media Integration
Tools like Hootsuite and Buffer let you connect your CMS system to social media platforms and simplify content distribution and tracking.
How it works: You can schedule, track, and manage social media posts directly from your CMS.
Why it matters: By using social media integrations, you can drive traffic to your website, deliver consistent messaging on all channels, and increase your brand’s visibility.
Read also: Why Maintain CMS Schedule.
AI-Powered Integrations
Leverage artificial intelligence solutions to make content creation, personalization, and delivery even more efficient. Here are the top CMS integrations that use AI:
| Tool | Functionality | Benefits |
| HubSpot | An AI-powered CRM and marketing automation platform. Offers AI Content Writer for simplified content creation. | Personalizes and speeds up content creation, automates marketing workflows. |
| Zapier | A workflow automation tool that allows for creating, managing, and sharing content on social media and other channels. | Reduces manual effort by automating content management. |
| Acrolinx | An AI-powered content governance platform that ensures content consistency, tone, and brand alignment. | Improves content quality and helps follow the brand’s requirements. |
| CoSchedule Headline Studio | An AI-powered tool that helps create headlines based on SEO requirements. | Optimizes content performance by increasing click-through rates. |
| Equally.ai | An AI tool that improves web accessibility by finding and fixing accessibility issues. | Makes sure your CMS content is accessible to all kinds of users. |
Best Practices for a Successful CMS Integration
A proper CMS integration goes well beyond just connecting systems. Compatibility, security, and scalability are also important. Below, you’ll find the tips for a successful CMS integration:
Ensure Compatibility
Before implementing any CMS integration, check if it’s compatible with your CMS’s version and architecture. To do this, review your CMS documentation and the integration’s specifications. Check for supported versions and other requirements.
Prioritize Security
Security should be your top priority when integrating any tools into your CMS. That’s why, choose integrations that follow industry standards — say GDPR, ISO, or IEC. Use secure APIs, enable encryption, and implement access controls as well.
User Training
Even the best CMS integration won’t matter if your team doesn’t know how to use it. Equip your staff with knowledge by hosting training sessions and providing user manuals. You can also involve your team early in the integration process so that they understand the new tool better.
Scalability
Your integration of CMS with extra tools should help your business grow, not hold you back. Therefore, choose cloud-based tools or modular integrations that allow for easy upgrades and scaling.
Custom Needs
Sometimes, ready-made CMS integrations cannot address your specific needs. Therefore, focus on more niche alternatives and, of course, evaluate your requirements thoroughly before selecting any tool.
To explore this topic further, you may also read our guide on the tips for CMS customization.
Not sure how these best practices will help?
Our CMS integration experts are ready to help you select and implement the ideal tools to optimize efficiency and improve user engagement.
Critical Considerations Before Implementing CMS Integrations
Having learned the best practices, you may feel like you’re ready to handle a CMS integration. However, there are several more considerations you should go through before starting. Let’s discuss the main ones.
Performance Impact
There are plenty of benefits of CMS integration, and improved workflows is one of them. However, implementing new tools can also have a side effect: slowing down your CMS.
To ensure your system works well, conduct load tests and regularly monitor website performance. Test integrations thoroughly to ensure they don’t negatively impact your website’s speed.
Cost Analysis
Some CMS integrations can come with hidden expenses. So, don’t just focus on the initial setup costs. You should also evaluate long-term expenses like subscription fees, maintenance, and potential scaling expenditures.
Vendor Reliability
Choosing a reputable vendor is the final and probably most important consideration we’ll discuss in our guide to implementing CMS integration. Why? Because vendors with a solid customer support system and frequent software updates ensure your system’s long-term success and stability.
Thus, research the vendor’s customer support quality — look for resources like FAQs, chat support, and community forums. Regular updates are also crucial for security and compatibility purposes.
Steps to Successfully Integrate Tools with Your CMS
As we said at the beginning of this guide, the CMS integration process requires careful planning and consideration. Here’s how you can implement new tools smoothly:
1. Identify Your Needs
Determining your needs and goals is the first step to integrating a CMS effectively. So, take a step back and think:
What’s missing in your current CMS setup?
Which features will boost your CMS’s capabilities?
What are your scalability/security/customer experience requirements?
Based on that, prioritize which integrations are most important for you.
2. Research Solutions
Once you know what you’re looking for, start, actually, looking for it. Research tools that:
Are compatible with your CMS.
Boast a solid reputation.
Meet your functional and budget needs.
Consider reviews, ratings, and case studies (if any) to see how these CMS integrations work in practice.
3. Test Your Integration
Before you go live with any new tool, test it in a controlled environment. For example, you can use a sandbox for effective CMS integration and testing. Check for potential compatibility, performance, and integration issues.
4. Implement Gradually
After you’ve tested your new CMS integration, don’t roll out everything at once. Instead, start gradually, like with a small segment of your website or internal users. Then, collect feedback, monitor results, and grow your implementation efforts. These are the essentials of CMS integration that bring tangible results.
5. Monitor Performance
Once your successful CMS integration is live, don’t just set it and forget it. Monitor it continuously. For example, track performance metrics, user engagement, conversion rates, and other parameters. Optimize the system based on your findings.
Our CMS Integration Success Stories
Bit Orchestra has been handling successful CMS integrations for over eight years already. A trusted CMS development company like Bits Orchestra ensures seamless integration and transformative results for its clients. During this time, we’ve completed more than 130 projects — and we’ll discuss some of them right now.
COREtec Floors: eCommerce CMS Upgrade
One of our recent projects involved upgrading an eCommerce website for our client, COREtec Floors, a premium flooring brand. We had to make the site more adaptable, user-friendly, and, ultimately, future-proof.
We chose Kentico Xperience 13 with MVC Core as the perfect platform. This upgrade delivered:
A modern tech stack.
Simplified scaling and maintenance.
Enhanced front-end user experience.
We also integrated Kentico Page Builder so content editors and marketers could design pages without developer intervention.
As a result, we helped our client achieve:
A 23% rise in website traffic.
A 34% jump in conversion rates.
An increased user trust owing to the user-friendly design.
Read also: Custom CMS Development Guide.
FLAGA: Improving Customer Communication for a Gas Supplier
Our client, FLAGA, an Austrian supplier of liquid gas, sought a better way to communicate with its customers. It needed a simple yet effective solution for sending newsletters that would keep customers informed about the latest news.
To tackle that, we had to achieve a smooth CMS integration of Newsletter Studio. After we implemented the tool, our client was able to manage email campaigns effortlessly.
As a result, FLAGA boosted their brand image and increased customer loyalty through a professional online presence.
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A CMS tailored to the requirements of FLAGA, one of Bits Orchestra’s clients.
Anderson Tuftex: Making eCommerce CMS More Flexible
Our team has experience partnering with a top hardwood flooring goods manufacturer, Anderson Tuftex. We had to create a flexible CMS that supports advanced eCommerce tools and integrations.
Using Kentico Xperience 13, we delivered custom CMS templates for simplified content management.
Content pages built with custom templates by Bits Orchestra.
We also integrated our client’s system with Cybersource for secure payments, AudioEye for accessibility, OneTrust for privacy compliance, Genesys Chat, Bazaarvoice, Roomvo, and Calendly.
As a result of our efforts, our client received a functional CMS with extended eCommerce capabilities.
Custom controls that improve the user experience of Anderson Tuftex's website.
Want to see more of our success stories?
Conclusion
Integrating a CMS into your website is a decent way to streamline workflows, remove data silos, and improve overall content management. If you’re looking to enhance your current setup with new tools, try CRM, eCommerce, analytics, marketing automation, and social media integration solutions.
In case you don’t know where to start, you can always contact our team for a consultation. Having integrated simple to enterprise CMSs with various helpful tools, we’ll select the right one for you!
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How to choose the right CMS integration?
To choose and achieve a smooth CMS integration, you should:
Determine your requirements and goals clearly.
Make sure the integration is compatible with your CMS and technology stack.
Consider if the integration can scale alongside your business.
Choose integrations that improve both your team’s and end-user experience.
Evaluate the upfront and ongoing costs versus the integration benefits.
Are custom integrations better than out-of-the-box solutions?
Both are solid options, depending on what you’re looking for. Custom CMS platforms and integrations offer more flexibility, yet they’re costly to develop. Out-of-the-box solutions are affordable and faster to implement but lack customization. To learn more, check out our comparison of out-of-the-box vs custom CMS.
Can all CMS platforms support integrations?
Yes, most modern content management systems — like WordPress, Kentico, and Umbraco — support integrations with third-party tools. Yet, before integrating open-source or third-party solutions, make sure they are compatible with your system’s version.
How long does a CMS integration take?
The time it takes to set up the CMS integration depends on various factors, including:
The types of CMS integration.
The complexity of CMS integration.
Customization requirements.
While a basic integration may take a few days, a more complex one, like a headless CMS architecture, may require several months.
What is the cost of CMS integrations?
The cost of CMS development and integration depends on the integration complexity and the required customization of the CMS. If you want to learn the exact price, contact our team for a consultation.
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