For years, I’ve relied on WordPress to build biotech websites. It’s a dependable platform, but it is heavy-handed because it tries to be everything for everyone. WordPress began as a blogging platform, and even though it has added features like custom post types, Advanced Custom Fields, and Gutenberg Blocks, it’s still cumbersome. The WordPress way of doing things can feel rigid, and it requires constant workarounds for custom solutions.
After years of dealing with this friction, I decided to build a better solution with Payload CMS and biotech-specific features. This approach will include the features most therapeutic biotech companies need, ready to launch the same day a contract is signed. Teams can start adding content on day one, with no weeks of setup.
Payload CMS with biotech-specific features
This solution uses Payload CMS as its foundation and adds biotech-specific features like pipeline management, team pages, publications, careers, and more. Payload CMS provides a modern core. The core is secure and well maintained, and the added features make biotech websites easier to create and manage.
The team does not spend months building a custom CMS. Content editors start working on day one.
What do biotech websites need?
Most therapeutic biotech websites are static online brochures, a handful of branded, design-heavy pages with minimal user interaction beyond a contact form.
They have these requirements:
- Minimal backend requirements. Unlike e-commerce or web apps, biotech websites don’t need complex backend code.
- Custom designs. Each site needs to look unique and align with the company’s branding.
- Stripped-down codebase. Less code means a faster, more optimized site.
If you minimize backend complexity or decouple it from the frontend, you can build a biotech website faster. The site performs better, and editors have fewer obstacles when they edit content.
But agencies build most biotech sites differently. They rely on bloated tools like WordPress or Webflow.
Why WordPress isn’t ideal for biotech
The WordPress ecosystem offers flexibility through plugins, customizable themes, and page builders that cater to businesses on tight budgets or inexperienced designers. Biotech websites don’t need that:
- No theme switching. Biotech sites are custom-built around content, so WordPress themes are irrelevant.
- Limited page needs. Most biotech companies don’t need page builders because their websites are small and intentional.
- Minimal plugin requirements. The features biotech websites need, like pipelines, teams, publications, and more, are common and shouldn’t require external plugins.
With WordPress, this unnecessary flexibility comes with tradeoffs:
- Security is a frequent problem because of outdated plugins or poor configuration.
- Making WordPress perform well often requires extensive work.
- Developers hit friction when they hack around WordPress’s defaults.
- Editors have to work out the admin dashboard, which makes content editing harder than it should be.
What about Webflow and no-code builders?
No-code tools like Webflow are a step up for small, fast projects, but they come with their own issues:
- Code bloat. To create a no-code experience, these tools generate excessive code behind the scenes. Because of this, performance suffers compared to a hand-coded, streamlined site.
- Vendor lock-in. Once you’re in Webflow, you’re stuck there. If performance becomes an issue or you need a feature that Webflow doesn’t support, you cannot move the site to another platform.
Webflow might work for an MVP, but it isn’t ideal for companies that need long-term flexibility and high performance.
Payload CMS with biotech features built-in
Payload CMS gives biotech websites a modern and secure foundation, and it avoids bloated tools like WordPress or Webflow. The additional biotech-specific features include, among others:
- Pipeline management
- Teams
- Publications
- Media
- Careers
The team does not build these features from scratch, which saves weeks of development time. Editors log in and manage content on day one.
By using Payload CMS as the foundation, biotech companies get:
- Speed. A website can launch the same day a contract is signed.
- Performance. Minimal, optimized code gives fast load times.
- Simplicity. Content editors get an interface without unnecessary features.
