How headless CMS and API-first content architecture enabled publishing to 12 channels simultaneously. From 25 posts/month to 400/month without adding headcount.
TL;DR
Traditional content publishing: Write post in WordPress. Click publish. Post appears on blog. Share manually on social.
API-first publishing: Write content once in headless CMS. Hit publish. Content automatically appears on blog, sends via email, posts to social, updates mobile app, syncs to third-party platforms -all via API.
Same content. 10x distribution.
We migrated from WordPress to headless CMS architecture and went from 25 posts/month (one writer) to 400 posts/month (same headcount) within 9 months.
This is how API-first content unlocks velocity -and when it's overkill.
Traditional CMS (WordPress, Webflow):
Content creation → Built-in publishing → Content appears on website
Tightly coupled. Content lives in one place.
Headless CMS (Contentful, Strapi, Sanity):
Content creation (CMS) → API → Multiple frontends (website, app, email, social, etc.)
Content and presentation are separated.
The power: Write once, publish everywhere.
Real example:
Traditional WordPress:
API-first with headless CMS:
Time saved: 45 minutes × 400 posts/month = 300 hours/month = £15K in labor savings
What we evaluated:
| Headless CMS | Pricing | Pros | Cons | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contentful | £250/mo | Best API, great docs, mature | Expensive | Chose this ✅ |
| Strapi | Self-host (£40/mo) | Open source, customizable | Requires maintenance | Considered |
| Sanity | £15/mo | Affordable, good DX | Smaller ecosystem | Backup option |
| Prismic | £8/mo | Cheap, simple | Limited features | Too basic |
We chose Contentful because:
Designed content structure:
// Blog post content model
{
title: "String",
slug: "String (unique)",
summary: "Text (160 chars max)",
body: "Rich text",
category: "Reference (category taxonomy)",
tags: "Array of strings",
seo: {
metaTitle: "String (60 chars max)",
metaDescription: "Text (155 chars max)",
ogImage: "Media",
canonicalUrl: "String"
},
author: "Reference (author model)",
publishedAt: "Date/time",
status: "Enum (draft/published/archived)",
}
Key decisions:
The automation workflow:
// Simplified webhook handler
export async function handleContentPublish(content) {
// 1. Deploy to website (Next.js ISR)
await fetch('/api/revalidate', {
method: 'POST',
body: JSON.stringify({ slug: content.slug })
});
// 2. Send email to subscribers
await loops.sendEmail({
to: subscribers,
subject: content.seo.metaTitle,
body: generateEmailTemplate(content)
});
// 3. Post to social media
await twitter.post(generateTweet(content));
await linkedin.post(generateLinkedInPost(content));
// 4. Update mobile app content
await mobileAPI.syncContent(content);
// 5. Notify team in Slack
await slack.notify(`New post published: ${content.title}`);
}
Migrated 200 existing blog posts:
Results after 3 months:
Before (WordPress):
After (Headless CMS):
Productivity per person:
Cost comparison:
| Approach | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| WordPress + manual distribution | £4,800 (1 writer + 0.5 social manager) |
| Headless CMS + AI + automation | £5,200 (1 writer + 2 editors + £420 tools) |
| Cost per post | £192/post vs £13/post |
| Savings | 93% per post |
✅ Publishing to 3+ channels (blog, email, social, app, partners) ✅ High volume (50+ posts/month minimum) ✅ Multiple content types (blog, docs, marketing pages, app content) ✅ Technical team available (developers to build integrations) ✅ Programmatic content (generating pages automatically)
✅ Publishing to 1-2 channels (just blog, maybe email) ✅ Low volume (<25 posts/month) ✅ Simple blog only (no app, no complex distribution) ✅ No technical team (headless requires dev resources) ✅ Budget < £500/month (headless CMS + development = £400-£800/mo minimum)
Bottom line: API-first has setup costs. Only worth it if you'll use the scalability.
Month 1: Evaluate
Month 2-3: Choose stack
Month 4-6: Build
Month 7-9: Migrate
Month 10-12: Scale
Expected timeline: 6-9 months from decision to scaled production
Want help building an API-first content infrastructure? Athenic integrates with headless CMS platforms and automates multi-channel distribution -turning content operations into a competitive advantage. See how it works →
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