CMS Platform – Powering Scalable Content Ops

Content Management

No-code

B2B SaaS

Content Operations

SEO

Workflow Automation

UI/UX Design

Internal Tools

A fully integrated CMS built to support content, SEO, operations, and sales teams at MiM-Essay and MentR-Me. It replaced scattered processes with a single system, making it easy to create and manage over 3,000 school pages, hundreds of blogs, and special listicles—boosting efficiency and helping teams scale.

TEAM
1 Product Manager
1 UI/UX Designer
5 Developers
4 QAs

ROLE
Product Strategy & Roadmapping
User & Stakeholder Research
UI/UX Designer
QA Lead
Cross-Functional Team Alignment

TIMELINE
7 Months
(strategy → design → launch → iterations)

Overview: From Fragmented Tools to Centralized Control

As MentR-Me and MiM-Essay expanded, managing and updating content efficiently became a major challenge. Teams were using fragmented tools like Google Sheets, Docs, and third-party platforms for content creation, SEO checks, and landing page management. This led to delays, dependency on the tech team, and a lack of real-time visibility into content performance.

To address these challenges, we developed an integrated CMS system that allowed the content, SEO, operations, and sales teams to manage and update content independently. The new system streamlined the creation and optimization of:

Blogs for educational resources and engagement.
School Reviews to provide insights into various institutions.
Listicles to highlight top institutions and exam preparation resources.

By centralizing these processes, the CMS empowered the teams to maintain better control over content updates, SEO optimization, and performance tracking. Key Goals:

Eliminate dependency on the tech team for content updates.
Provide a single platform for content, SEO, and analytics.
Enable real-time content management and optimization.
Reduce reliance on third-party tools for SEO and landing page creation.

Problem Statement: Bottlenecks in Scale & Efficiency

Despite high content output goals, the teams struggled with:

No centralized CMS: Teams juggled multiple Sheets, Docs, forms, and Slack messages to update school and blog pages.
Heavy developer dependency: Even minor content changes (e.g., tuition updates) required developer intervention, import logic, and testing.
Data format delays: Manual data imports from Google Sheets often failed due to format issues, delaying updates by days or even weeks.
SEO blind spots: Teams relied on third-party tools to check SEO scores and errors, causing fragmentation.
No structured layout system: Landing pages for ad campaigns or informational content like policy/about-us required third-party page builders.
No publishing pipeline or audit trail: No way to track which pages were drafted, published, who last edited them, or if they met SEO benchmarks.

Research & Insights – What Teams Needed

We interviewed stakeholders from Content, SEO, Sales, and Marketing teams to map workflows and surface pain points.

“Managing content across Google Sheets and Docs was a nightmare. There was no centralized system, and keeping everything aligned was a constant struggle.”
~ Content Team

“Every time we needed to update simple text on a school page, it required developer time. What should’ve taken minutes often turned into days, delaying important changes.”
~ Operations Team

“SEO optimization was a constant guessing game. We didn’t have a system to flag missing meta tags or broken links, which hurt our search rankings.”
~ SEO Team

“We had to use third-party tools to create landing pages for SEO and ads, which meant managing data in two separate systems. It was inefficient and costly.”
~ Marketing Team

“There was no clear way to track the status of content – we had no idea whether something was live, in draft, or waiting approval.”
~ Content Team

“Checking SEO scores and fixing warnings meant hopping between different tools. We needed everything in one place for better workflow and consistency.”
~ SEO Team

These insights helped us define an integrated CMS with built-in SEO guidance, role-based publishing controls, smart layout builders, and structured backend tabs per content type.

Solution: A Unified Content Management System

To address the growing demands of content creation, SEO optimization, and operational workflows, we developed a comprehensive Content Management System (CMS) for MiM-Essay and MentR-Me. This system allowed content, SEO, and operations teams to work seamlessly, providing a central platform for managing school reviews, blogs, listicles, and other content types.

Key aspects of the solution included:

Centralized Platform: Eliminated the need for multiple tools and manual processes, giving the teams a unified interface for content management and SEO optimization.
Self-Sufficient Teams: Empowered content, SEO, and marketing teams to independently add, update, and optimize content without developer involvement.
Integrated SEO Tools: SEO warnings, meta tag editing, and validation were built directly into the CMS, eliminating the need for external tools.
Flexible Content Creation: The system enabled easy addition of banners, CTAs, and even simple pages like “About Us” without complex formatting, offering flexibility in content presentation.

This CMS not only streamlined workflows but also significantly reduced dependencies on the tech team, improved efficiency, and allowed teams to deliver content faster while adhering to SEO best practices.

My Role & Responsibilities

End-to-End Ownership: Led the entire process from ideation to implementation of the CMS platform, designing features, testing, and overseeing deployment.
Feature Design & Development: Conceptualized and developed key features for content creation, SEO optimization, and content management across blogs, school reviews, and listicles.
UI/UX Design: Designed the user interface for both the backend (content management) and frontend (user-facing) to ensure a seamless experience.
Testing & Quality Assurance: Conducted all testing, ensuring functionality, performance, and usability met the highest standards before launch.
Cross-Team Collaboration: Gathered and incorporated feedback from content, SEO, and marketing teams to refine features and improve usability.
Post-Launch Support: Handled the roll-out and continued improving the platform based on real-time feedback and performance metrics.

Execution: Architecting a Multi-Functional CMS

I designed and implemented a comprehensive CMS system that integrates both Backend Customization and Frontend Visibility, aimed at managing Blogs, School Data Pages, and Listicles. The CMS allowed content teams to easily add, edit, and display content without needing developer support for each update.

🎓 1. School Review Module

Backend:

Modular Tab-Based Input: Fields split across tabs like Basics, Eligibility, Application Info, Program Highlights, Sales Data, and SEO Fields.
Live Preview & Real-Time Sync: Auto-updates fields like tuition, eligibility, recruiter list, etc., without developer help.
Smart Layout Enhancements: Customizable layout for each school page.

Frontend:

Sticky TOC on desktop, quick links on mobile.
Dynamic breadcrumbs (e.g., Country > Listicle > Program).
Dynamic CTAs on LHS (Book a Call > Ask a Question).

✍️ 2. Blog Management Module

Backend:

Rich Text Editor with autosave, image upload, and slug locking for URL integrity.
SEO Side Panel: Real-time keyword count and metadata settings.
Inbuilt SEO Validator: Highlights issues like missing links, low image count, and short word count.
Publishing Controls: Manage drafts, publish status, author tracking, and internal notes.

Frontend:

Formatted Blogs with rich text, images, and customized SEO settings.
SEO warnings and recommendations displayed in real-time.

📚 3. Listicles Builder

Backend:

Drag-and-Drop Ranking of schools pulled from CMS database with modal-based editing.
Content Block Editor: Manage H1, slug, intro, list body, FAQs, and custom CTA placements.
BAC Form Integration: Dynamically injects banner/CTA sections with heading, sub-heading, and form.

Frontend:

Flexible Layout: TOC on left, content center, dynamic RHS for marketing assets (optional).
Dynamic listicles with a clean layout and interactive content sections.

🗂️ 4. CMS Dashboard & Content Overview

Admin dashboard with filter & search for all blog/listicle/school pages.
SEO Score tracking, author name, last update, and status: Draft/Published.
Warnings Panel: Shows errors like missing metadata or internal links.
Notes Field for team collaboration, with autosave.
Clean, Organized Content View for admins to quickly track content status, SEO health, and publish updates.

Results & Impact

65% Increase in Traffic

Optimized SEO structure and consistent content updates boosted search rankings for blog pages, resulting in a 65% increase in organic traffic.

4500+ Content Pages Managed

Scaled content management from 200 to over 4,500 school pages, blogs and listicles - maintaining accurate and consistent formats.

80% SEO Compliance

With integrated SEO warnings and real-time suggestions, content reached an 80% compliance rate for SEO best practices.

Qualitative Feedback

“Now we can make updates without waiting for developers. It’s made a big difference in our workflow.”
~ Content Team

“The in-editor SEO checks save us hours. We can see and fix issues right away.”
~ SEO Team

“Having everything in one place, from content creation to SEO optimization – has saved time and money on third-party tools.”
~ Marketing Team

Key Takeaways

Modularity is key: Building separate flows for blogs, school reviews, and listicles enabled clean scale.
Design backend-first: A great backend UX meant fewer frontend inconsistencies and better SEO.
Empower non-tech teams: Rich editing tools, warnings, and previews reduced tech dependence drastically.
Bridge content & SEO: Embedding real-time SEO scoring within the editor directly improved rankings.
Build for visibility: Publishing toggles, notes, and tracking made status and ownership transparent across teams.