HubSpot's website builder explained

Editing your website should be straightforward. When you need to update a service page, launch a new landing page, or test different messaging, you want to move quickly without depending on developers or risking design inconsistencies.

HubSpot's website builder is designed to give marketers this control. It combines visual editing with powerful functionality, allowing you to create and modify pages without technical expertise whilst maintaining brand standards.

But here's what many businesses don't realise: there isn't just one way to build websites on HubSpot. The editing experience you get depends entirely on how your website is configured. Some setups prioritise speed and brand consistency, others favour maximum creative freedom. Both approaches work well, but they suit fundamentally different types of teams and businesses. Understanding these options helps you choose the setup that matches your needs.

What is HubSpot's website builder?

HubSpot's website builder is the visual editing interface within Content Hub that lets you create and modify website pages without writing code. It operates through a drag-and-drop interface where changes appear in real-time, so you can see exactly how your edits will look before publishing. This immediate visual feedback removes the guesswork that comes with traditional content management systems where you edit content in a backend interface and hope it looks right on the front end.

The builder integrates content editing with design in a way that creates a more intuitive experience. You're working directly with the visual layout whilst editing content, which means you can see the impact of your changes as you make them. This approach reduces the learning curve significantly compared to systems that separate content management from design.

The two approaches to HubSpot website building

When developing websites on HubSpot, there are two distinct approaches that create very different editing experiences. The approach you choose fundamentally shapes how your team works with the website day-to-day. Understanding these approaches helps you configure your website in a way that matches your team's needs and working style.

Section-based editing

Section-based editing uses pre-built, reusable sections as the building blocks for your pages. Instead of starting with a blank canvas and positioning individual elements, you select from a library of complete sections that are already styled, structured, and ready to use. Each section is self-contained with predetermined styling and layout, you might have a hero section, a feature comparison section, a logo carousel, or a testimonial block.

This is how we build websites at Blend, and it's designed to balance editability with brand consistency. When creating a page, you browse a visual library showing previews of each available section type. You simply click to add the sections you need, then populate them with your content. The spacing, typography, colours, and responsive behaviour are all handled automatically within each section.

Once you've added a section to your page, you click into it to edit the content. Each section has specific fields you can modify, headings, body text, images, and buttons. The editing panel shows you exactly what you can change, removing any ambiguity about which elements are editable. If you need to reorganise your page, you can drag sections to reorder them, but the internal structure of each section stays intact, maintaining consistency throughout.

Why section-based editing works

The key benefits of section-based editing include:

• Speed: Creating a new page becomes a matter of selecting the right sections and adding your content. What might take 30 minutes with other approaches often takes 5 minutes with well-designed sections.
• Brand consistency: When everyone on your team uses the same pre-styled sections, your website maintains a cohesive look even when multiple team members contribute.
• Gentler learning curve: New team members can start creating pages on their first day because they're selecting from visual options rather than learning design principles.
• Progressive efficiency: As your section library matures, page creation becomes faster. Teams that initially spend 20 minutes creating a page often complete similar pages in under 10 minutes after a few months.

The considerations with section-based editing

• Structured flexibility: You're working within your section library's parameters. You can't position elements absolutely anywhere, though well-designed sections are typically flexible within their own structure.
• New layouts require development: If you need a genuinely new layout type that doesn't exist in your library, you'll need a HubSpot web developer to create it. However, a comprehensive section library usually covers most scenarios; most businesses need fewer than 20 core sections.
• More upfront planning: You need to think through the different page types and layouts you'll need, which adds time to initial website development. This investment pays off quickly once your team starts creating pages at speed.

No-limit drag-and-drop editing

The alternative approach gives you individual modules, text boxes, images, buttons, and forms that you can position anywhere on the page. This approach is common in HubSpot's marketplace themes and offers complete creative freedom. Rather than working with pre-built sections, you're building layouts from scratch using individual components.

You start with a blank canvas and add modules from a panel. After adding a module, you drag it to position it anywhere on the page. You control the width, the spacing around it, how it behaves on different screen sizes, and all the styling details.

To create visual sections on your page, you manually add section dividers and configure background colours or spacing for each area. Every aspect of the layout is within your control, which provides flexibility but also requires more decision-making at every step of the page creation process.

Why flexible editing appeals to some teams

The main advantages of flexible editing include:

• Ultimate flexibility: If you can imagine a layout, you can build it. There are no constraints on positioning or structure beyond what's technically possible within HubSpot.
• Team autonomy: Your team can experiment with different designs without needing development work for new layouts. This works well for businesses that frequently test new concepts.
• Lower upfront costs: You don't need a custom section library built. You can start building pages immediately with standard HubSpot functionality.
• Abundant learning resources: This approach uses HubSpot's standard editing interface, so you'll find extensive documentation, tutorials, and community support.

The challenges with flexible editing

The main challenges with flexible editing include:

• Consistency issues: Maintaining brand standards requires discipline and constant attention. Different team members might interpret spacing differently or make different colour choices, leading to a website that feels disjointed.
• Longer page creation: Each page requires more individual decisions about positioning, spacing, and styling. You're not just adding content,  you're also acting as a designer for each page.
• Steeper learning curve: Team members need to understand design principles, not just how to use the editing interface. Without knowledge of spacing, alignment, and visual hierarchy, pages might function but lack polish.
• Manual mobile responsiveness: You need to preview and adjust how each element behaves on different screen sizes, ensuring text remains readable and layouts don't break.
• Quality control requirements: Without the guardrails of pre-built sections, you'll likely need a review process to ensure pages meet brand standards before going live.

Choosing the right approach for your business

Your choice between these approaches depends on several factors working together to define what will work best for your team.

Section-based editing typically suits businesses where multiple people contribute to the website, brand consistency is crucial, and speed of page creation matters. It's particularly effective for teams creating many similar page types and where team members focus on content rather than design.

Flexible editing often works better when a single person manages the website and has design knowledge in-house. It's suitable when creative freedom matters more than consistency, you need to experiment with unconventional layouts, or upfront budget is limited.

Think about your page creation volume as well. If you anticipate creating dozens of pages over the coming year, section-based editing saves substantial time. If you're creating only a handful of pages annually, the time savings might not justify the upfront investment in building a comprehensive section library.

Beyond page editing

HubSpot's website builder includes capabilities that extend well beyond basic page creation and editing, providing tools that help you optimise and manage your website more effectively.

Built-in A/B testing

Test different versions of pages without third-party tools. You can experiment with different headlines, layouts, or calls-to-action directly within the page editor, then let HubSpot track which version performs better. This integrated testing eliminates the need for external tools and makes experimentation accessible to marketers who might not have technical knowledge about setting up tests.

SEO recommendations

The page editor analyses your content in real-time and suggests improvements for meta descriptions, headings, and content structure. Rather than auditing pages after they're published, you can address SEO considerations in HubSpot during the creation process. This proactive approach ensures pages are optimised before they go live, saving time and improving search performance from day one.

Device preview

See how pages will appear on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices before publishing. You can switch between views to ensure your content works across all screen sizes, catching responsive design issues before your audience encounters them. This preview is accurate to what visitors will actually see, removing uncertainty about how your changes will appear once live.

Version history

Every change made to each page is recorded, allowing you to revert to previous versions if needed. This creates a safety net for experimentation and protects against accidental changes. You can compare versions side-by-side and restore previous content with a single click, which gives your team confidence to make changes without fear of breaking something permanently.

Content staging

Content staging allows you to test major redesigns or updates in a separate environment before pushing changes live to your production site. This is particularly valuable when making significant changes and wanting to ensure everything works correctly before your audience sees it. You can stage multiple pages, test them thoroughly, then publish them all at once for a coordinated launch.

Getting started with HubSpot's website builder

If you're considering HubSpot for your website, start by evaluating your team's specific needs and constraints. Think honestly about who will be editing the website and their technical expertise. This directly influences whether you need the guardrails of section-based editing or whether flexible editing would serve you better.

Consider how important brand consistency is to your business and how frequently you'll create new pages. If you're launching campaigns regularly, the time savings from section-based editing compound significantly. Your budget and timeline matter too; if you need to launch quickly, flexible editing might make sense, whilst investing upfront in section-based editing pays dividends long-term.

The decision between approaches isn't permanent. Many businesses start with one method and evolve to another as their needs change. Choose what makes sense for your business today whilst keeping an eye on where you're heading.

Moving forward with your HubSpot website

HubSpot's website builder offers genuine advantages for B2B businesses that want to move faster with their marketing whilst maintaining quality and brand standards. The platform puts control in the hands of marketers without requiring technical expertise or creating dependency on developers for routine updates.

Whether you choose section-based editing for speed and consistency, or flexible editing for creative freedom, the platform provides the foundation for a website your marketing team can actually control. The key is configuring the editing experience to match your team's needs, working style, and capabilities, then empowering them to make the most of it.

With the right setup and approach, your website becomes an asset that enables your marketing rather than a constraint that holds you back.