The Essential Guide to Framer's CMS for Designers and Clients
Oct 13, 2024
A successful website is more than just great visuals—it’s also about fresh, up-to-date content that keeps visitors engaged and encourages them to come back for more. Framer’s CMS (Content Management System) is a powerful tool that allows designers to build dynamic, content-rich websites that are easy for clients to update themselves. In this guide, we’ll explore how designers can leverage Framer’s CMS to create effective content-driven websites, ensuring smooth handover to clients and keeping projects scalable and easy to manage.
Understanding Framer’s CMS: The Basics
Framer’s CMS is designed to bring flexibility and adaptability to web design by turning static pages into editable, dynamic sites. Unlike traditional static websites, a CMS allows users—whether designers or clients—to change content on the go, without breaking the underlying design structure.
In Framer, you can create content collections (like blog posts, services, or portfolio items) that clients can edit directly through an easy-to-use interface. This makes it possible for clients to keep their websites up-to-date without the need to rely on developers or designers for every change. Additionally, Framer now allows you to integrate your CMS with Google Sheets and Notion, making it even easier to manage and update content using familiar tools.
Example: Suppose you’re designing a website for a creative agency. Instead of hardcoding each team member’s profile, you can set up a “Team Members” collection. This way, the client can easily add, remove, or edit profiles whenever team changes happen, without having to contact you for assistance.
Step 1: Setting Up Collections
Collections are the foundation of Framer's CMS. Collections allow you to group content types, such as blog posts, services, or products, and manage them effectively.
Create a Collection: Start by creating a new collection in Framer’s CMS. You can name it according to the type of content you want to manage, like “Projects” or “Testimonials.”
Define Fields: Next, define the fields you need for that content type. For a “Projects” collection, you might want fields like “Title,” “Description,” “Project Image,” and “URL.” Defining these fields ensures your content remains organized and consistent across the site.
Pro Tip: When defining fields, think about what content will need to be easily updated by the client. Providing clear names and instructions for each field will help clients avoid confusion during editing.
Step 2: Designing Dynamic Pages
Once your collection is set up, you can use it to design dynamic, content-rich pages. Dynamic pages pull data from your collection, meaning that each time the collection is updated, the associated pages are updated as well.
Linking Collections to Design Elements: In Framer, link your design elements (like text boxes or image frames) to specific fields in your CMS collection. This allows you to populate the page dynamically, pulling in content directly from your CMS.
Repeaters for Multiple Items: Use Framer’s “Repeater” feature to display multiple items from a collection, such as a list of blog posts or portfolio projects. With a repeater, you can create a single design template that displays all items from your collection in a visually consistent way.
Example: If you have a “Services” collection, you can use a repeater to create a section that showcases all services, each with a consistent layout—making updates as simple as editing the collection.
Step 3: Enabling Client Editing
Framer’s CMS isn’t just for designers; it’s also a fantastic tool for clients who need to keep their content updated. By providing clients with access to editable fields, you can ensure they can keep their site fresh without compromising its design integrity.
Define Editable Fields: Choose which fields should be editable by clients. For instance, you might allow them to edit text content and images but restrict changes to design elements like fonts or layouts.
Client Instructions: When handing over the site, create a simple instruction guide for your clients. Walk them through the editing process, ensuring they understand which fields are safe to edit and how to make updates.
Pro Tip: To make things even easier, consider adding tooltips or in-line comments within the CMS to guide clients when they are editing content.
Step 4: Using the CMS for SEO Benefits
One of the most overlooked benefits of using a CMS is its impact on SEO (Search Engine Optimization). By regularly updating content, your client can keep their website fresh, which search engines love.
SEO-Friendly Fields: Encourage your clients to update fields that contribute to SEO, such as page titles, meta descriptions, and headings. This will help them stay competitive in search rankings.
Blog Content: Setting up a blog collection is a great way for your client to regularly add fresh content to their site. Frequent updates signal to search engines that the website is active and valuable, leading to better ranking opportunities.
Step 5: Maintaining Design Consistency with Shared Components
Even with a CMS, it’s important to ensure that clients can’t accidentally break the design consistency of their website. Framer’s shared components and design systems make this easier by locking down design elements while allowing content updates.
Shared Components: Use shared components like headers, footers, and buttons to maintain consistency across the website. While clients can edit the content inside these components (such as text in a call-to-action), the overall design remains intact.
Style Guide and Design System: Build a simple style guide that explains how to use colors, typography, and other design elements. With Framer’s design system management, you can ensure all dynamic content remains consistent with the brand identity.
Example: If a client wants to change the text of a call-to-action button, they can edit the content, but they won’t be able to change the color, size, or font—keeping everything aligned with the original design.
Integrating Google Sheets and Notion with Framer CMS
Framer’s CMS has recently added support for integrating with Google Sheets and Notion. This new feature allows you to connect your content directly to these popular tools, making content management more flexible and efficient.
Google Sheets Integration: By connecting Google Sheets, you can use a spreadsheet to manage your website content. This is particularly useful for clients who are already familiar with spreadsheets, as it provides a comfortable way for them to add or update information.
Notion Integration: If your client prefers using Notion for content management, you can now link Notion databases directly to Framer’s CMS. This allows seamless content synchronization, making updates in Notion automatically reflect on the website.
Example: If your client manages a list of events in Notion, you can link that database to Framer’s CMS. As the client adds or updates events in Notion, those changes will automatically appear on the website, ensuring everything is always current.
Bringing It All Together
Framer’s CMS is a game-changer for designers and clients alike. It empowers designers to build dynamic, scalable websites that are easy to maintain while giving clients the ability to control and update their content with ease. By setting up collections, designing dynamic pages, enabling client editing, leveraging SEO capabilities, and maintaining design consistency, you can create a seamless experience for both you and your clients.
With the new integration options for Google Sheets and Notion, Framer has made content management even more flexible and accessible. Whether you’re building a portfolio, an online store, or a content-heavy blog, Framer’s CMS has everything you need to create a site that grows with your client’s needs—without the hassle of constant redesigns or developer intervention.
Ready to create stunning, content-driven websites? Get started with Framer today and enjoy a 25% discount with this referral link: https://www.framer.com?via=joworks