CMS Development
A content management system is only as good as the editor experience it provides. If your team cannot update the site without a developer, then the CMS is a bottleneck, not a feature. We build CMS implementations where the editor experience is as deliberate as the public-facing design.
Capabilities
What we build with CMS
Theme + plugin development
Custom WordPress Builds
WordPress sites built with custom themes rather than off-the-shelf templates, with plugin selection limited to well-maintained, necessary functionality. The result is a site that performs well, is straightforward to update, and does not carry the security liability of an over-plugged WordPress installation.
Sanity · Contentful · Strapi
Headless CMS with Next.js
Separating the content layer from the presentation layer so that content editors work in a dedicated CMS interface while the public-facing site is a fast, statically generated Next.js build. This approach gives full design control alongside a professional content editing experience.
Structured fields, not free text
Content Modeling
Defining the content schema so that editors are guided toward consistent output: structured fields for headlines, images, CTAs, and metadata rather than free-form text blocks that produce inconsistent page layouts. Good content modeling reduces editing errors and improves SEO consistency across pages.
Usable by your team
Editor Experience Design
Configuring the editing interface so that non-technical team members can update pages, publish posts, and manage content without making layout mistakes. This includes field labels, validation rules, content previews, and sensible defaults.
Platform transfer
CMS Migration
Moving content from one platform to another without losing page structure, internal links, or SEO metadata. We have migrated from Squarespace, Webflow, Drupal, and legacy WordPress installations to current platforms, with redirect mapping handled before go-live.
Content publishing infrastructure
Blog and Knowledge Base Setup
Setting up the taxonomy, category structure, author management, and editorial workflow for teams that publish regularly. Includes the schema markup and sitemap configuration needed for search indexing of blog content.
Our approach
The editor experience is the product
A CMS that your team finds confusing will not get used consistently, and inconsistent editing produces inconsistent pages. We treat the editor interface as a deliverable equal in importance to the public-facing design. Field labels, help text, preview behavior, and publishing workflow are all specified.
Plugin count is a liability
WordPress performance degrades with every additional plugin. Each plugin is a potential security vulnerability and an update dependency. We start with the minimum set of plugins needed to meet requirements and evaluate each one for maintenance quality before installing it.
Headless is right for some projects
Headless CMS makes sense when the content team needs a polished editing experience and the frontend team needs full design control with maximum performance. It adds architectural complexity. For most marketing sites and small editorial operations, a well-built WordPress installation is the simpler and correct choice.
Content modeling affects SEO
Structured content fields — separate headline, meta description, canonical URL, and schema markup fields — produce more consistent and correct output than a single text block where the editor must remember to include everything. We model content structure with SEO output in mind from the beginning.
All engineering work is done by US-based engineers. We do not offshore any development or architecture work.
Part of our Web Design practice
FAQ
Common questions
Virginia · United States
Need a CMS your team can actually use?
If your team relies on developers for routine content updates, reach out and we will assess what a better-built CMS implementation would look like.