5 HubSpot COS (CMS) Tips for Improved Efficiency

HubSpot is great at many things. One of those things is website/blog/email creating with the HubSpot COS. They make WYSIWYG editing extremely accurate and easy to do.

However, with any tool, there are ways to improve your efficiency. Here're 5 to get you using HubSpot COS like a well oiled machine.

1. Copy & Paste into HubSpot COS WITHOUT Formatting

If you do a lot of work in other applications such as

• Microsoft Word,
• Google Docs,
• Adobe InDesign, or 
• Apple Pages

before your content/images hit the HubSpot COS, it will save you a lot of headaches and improve overall efficiency to paste that content WITHOUT formatting.

In Google Chrome, this is called 'Pasting as Plain Text'. If you are a shortcut user (e.g., Ctrl-C & Ctrl-V), you simple add in the 'Shift' key when you paste.

The first thing you'll notice is that any nice formatting (Bold, Headings, Colors), will be removed. YES, removed. This is important. When you paste something with formatting, behind the scenes the COS is taking the source HTML (where you copied it from) and including it in your page. This may sound harmless, but it causes problems with how your website is supposed to styled. 

Items such as 

• fonts,
• font weights,
• font sizes,
• font colors,
• line spacing, and 
• headers

often look just a little off. Off enough that you end up spending an extra 10-30 minutes making it looks just right. 

What's usually happening is you're competing with the pasted html code to get the content to look right. 

You drastically improve efficiency (and slow gray hair growth) by pasting without formatting, and doing your actual formatting in the COS.

2. Batch Upload Images

This one is simple, but really helpful. If you are working on a blog post, email, or website page in the HubSpot COS, take the opportunity to upload all of the images for that content at one time. It will save time in the long run.

There are a couple options for doing this.

1. Use the standard 'Insert/edit Image' option on the toolbar and select multiple images

1. Click the Image button on the COS toolbar
2. Click the 'Add Image' option
3. Click 'Upload files'
4. Hold down the 'Ctrl' key and select multiple image files to upload
5. Click the 'Open' button
6. Select the first image you'd like to insert into your content

When you need the other images, they will be ready for you to select.

2. Use the 'File Manager' to upload the images before you jump into the COS to work on content

1. Click the 'Content' menu at the top of your HubSpot portal
2. Click 'File Manager'
3. Select the folder you'd like to place your images in
4. Click the 'Upload Files' button in the top-right of the screen.
5. Hold down the 'Ctrl' key and select multiple image files to upload
6. Click the 'Open' button
7. Navigate to the COS tool you'd like to use
8. Click the 'Image' icon on the toolbar and select an image you uploaded.

To be clear, this is not going to shave hours off your COS time. It is a nice way to be a bit more efficient.

3. Use Built In Shutter Stock Library

Did you know you can save a bunch of time navigating 3rd party stock photo sites, or creative commons pics by using the built-in Shutter Stock Library in HubSpot?

To access the library of stock photos

1. Click the 'Content' menu at the top of your HubSpot portal
2. Click 'File Manager'
3. Click 'Stock Images'
4. Search for an image
5. Click on the image you want to use
6. Either use the default 'Stock Images' folder, or select a new location
7. Select 'Save to your files'
8. Agree to the terms & conditions
9. Jump into the COS and use the stock image you selected

While the library of photos isn't as extensive as sites like iStock, it has plenty to choose from in most cases.

4. Use Templates & Modules

With any website, email marketing, and blog there are always heavily consistent elements. Things like the header, footer, side bars, etc... just don't change often. 

Templates

The use of HubSpot Templates (paid or free) can save a ton of time when building out content in the HubSpot COS. HubSpot also has a nice library of templates you can purchase if the need arises.

If you can't find one that trips your trigger, you can always get one that's close and have a developer customize it for you. 

I recommend having a template for an array of post or page types such as

• Hero Image or Non Hero Image,
• 1-2-3 Column Layouts,
• On page form,
• Side Bar or Non Side Bar.

Having these options at your disposal makes using the HubSpot COS much faster.

Modules

Modules work much the same. If you purchase a set of templates with some 'advanced' features likes blocks of images across the page, they often come as modules.

Modules take layouts/functions of your pages that you want to be able to re-use consistently and abstracts the design/code to make it easy to use. This means you don't need to know how to style a block of 4 images that show side by side across a page, thus saving you a ton of time!

5. HubSpot Software and HubSpot Design Certification

If you're using the HubSpot COS on a regular basis, you're doing yourself a disservice if you haven't taken the HubSpot Software and HubSpot Design Certifications. These certifications are FREE and will give you the guidance you need to be a HubSpot COS rock star!

Have a Question About the HubSpot COS?

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