HubSpot is a great platform to consider if you are a developer looking to add more tools to your toolbox. The marketing automation features, the CRM, and a plethora of other benefits are available to you and your clients when you decide to build websites in HubSpot.
However, if you come from WordPress or another CMS, you might wonder what you can do to level up your skills quickly so that you can help your clients succeed.
There aren’t courses available on platforms like Udemy that you can simply purchase and watch to learn the nuances of things like Hubl (HubSpot’s templating language) or how to develop on the platform in general. And, while HubSpot has done a great job of updating their video-based learning academy, it can still be confusing for developers who are brand new to the platform.
So where do you start? The following are three tips that I found to be helpful when learning how to develop websites in HubSpot.
1. Practice Building Simple Custom Modules.
Custom modules are incredibly useful features within HubSpot’s development tools. They allow you to create sections of websites that are extremely customizable from the page editor, which means once a HubSpot developer creates one and adds it to a page, content team members, clients who don’t know code, or anyone else can easily go in and edit important sections of the page with little effort or headache.
Why do I suggest building simple custom modules? It is because they allow you to dip your toe into HubSpot develop and Hubl syntax. You’ll be able to familiarize yourself with HubSpot without needing to understand the software in depth.
Here’s how this might look in action.
You can create a simple custom module that allows your team or client to update the background image of a hero section, as well as update the top and bottom padding of that same section. Learning how to add simple fields like numbers, images, and rich text to a custom module will be a great way to see how Hubl syntax is used in HubSpot.
Once you are able to add these features to your HubSpot pages, you can begin to incorporate if statements and loops to make your modules even more customizable. This progression will be helpful in your journey to grow your HubSpot development skills.
To view the documentation for these types of features, check out this link.
2. Join The HubSpot Developers Slack Channel.
The HubSpot Developers Slack group can be found here. This is a wonderful place to interact with other HubSpot developers from around the world.
All of the channels are dedicated to development-related topics, so you won’t get drowned out by marketing or sales questions. There are channels focused on Hubl, HubDB (HubSpot’s relational database), new development releases, code galleries, jobs, and a ton of other topics that will help you grow as a developer.
I recommend logging in every day. Even HubSpot employees frequently join in on the conversations that take place here. Chances are someone there has had similar problems or questions as you, and the other developers in there are always quick to help. You would be hard-pressed to find a friendlier group of devs.
3. Teach Your Non-developer Team Members How To Use The Things You Build.
Most of us are familiar with the idea that if you are able to teach something to someone who has never seen or heard of the topic, you yourself will learn it better. I agree with this concept and I utilize it all of the time.
I have not seen more growth in my HubSpot development knowledge than when I teach some of the concepts and principles to my new interns or to my clients and non-developer team members. Doing so helps reinforce the skills that you learned while developing HubSpot website pages.
It also gives you the chance to receive feedback that is necessary to incrementally progress in your development knowledge. Some of that feedback might be things like small tweaks to your module that would make it more useful to your team.
Being able to develop in HubSpot is a valuable skill to learn. HubSpot developers will typically have solid foundations in both web development and also inbound marketing. Their ability to marry these two concepts gives HubSpot developers an edge that will be useful for clients that are hoping to grow their businesses.
The more HubSpot developers there are in the world, the more HubSpot will be utilized by businesses and the better off all of us will be. Follow my tips, learn more, and have fun!
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