Webflow Quickstart Guide for Clients

Webflow is a powerful visual CMS, but as a first-time user, you don’t need to learn everything. This guide focuses on the core tasks you’ll be doing regularly: editing content, managing blog posts, and publishing updates.

All links below point to official Webflow University resources so you can explore deeper when needed.

1. Where You’ll Work

Webflow Dashboard

This is the first screen you see when you log in. It lists all your sites and teams.
Official overview: https://university.webflow.com/

Webflow Editor vs CMS

• You’ll typically be in the Editor/CMS interface, not the full Designer.
• The editor lets you change text, images, blog posts, and CMS content without touching layout or structure, which is usually preferred so that things don’t break accidentally.

Webflow teaches how to edit content visually: https://webflow.com/feature/edit-mode

2. Editing Content (Text, Images, Links)

Editing text and images is usually straightforward:

• Click on a piece of text and start typing.
• Click an image thumbnail → replace with a new file.
• Edit links by clicking the link text → adjust URL in the settings panel.

If you cannot click and edit something, you’re probably:

• looking at a CMS element (blog post, dynamic item),
• a global component (nav/footer), or
• accidentally in the Designer instead of the Editor.

3. Understanding the CMS (Your Content Hub)

Webflow’s CMS stores structured content (like blog posts) that feeds into templates.

Intro to Webflow CMS basics: https://university.webflow.com/videos/intro-to-webflow-cms

Official CMS course (concepts & workflows): https://university.webflow.com/courses/cms-and-dynamic-content

Key point:
A CMS Collection is like a database for one type of content (e.g., “Blog Posts”). Each entry in that collection is a Collection item (a single blog post).

4. Creating and Publishing a Blog Post

Step-by-Step:

1. Open your site in Webflow
2. Go to the CMS panel in the top left navigation bar
3. Select your Blog Posts collection
4. Click + New
5. Fill in all required fields
6. Save & Publish

If items don’t appear live, it’s usually because they haven’t been published yet. If you make edits, they auto-save as a draft. To publish them, you’ll need to click publish in the top right.

You can publish individual CMS items without needing to republish the entire site. This is handy if you’ve been working on a draft of a landing page or an update to the home page, don’t want to put it live yet, but also want to keep pushing out new CMS content.

5. Editing Blog Content (Rich Text)

Blog posts use Rich Text fields for body content.
Rich Text lets you:

• Add headings (H2, H3)
• Insert links
• Add bullet lists
• Embed images

It doesn’t let you edit layout or spacing, that’s by design, so your site stays consistent. You can adjust site-wide style rules in your Style Guide page, which is a draft in your pages navigator. Note that any changes you make to elements there (or to classes on any part of the site) may impact other areas of the site, so be careful and intentional with your edits.

6. CMS Layout Concepts You Should Know

Collection Lists

Used when you want a list of content (like a list of blog post teasers).

Official lesson: https://university.webflow.com/videos/collection-list

Collection Pages

Each blog post item gets its own page via the CMS template.
Official lesson: https://university.webflow.com/videos/structure-and-style-collection-pages

7. SEO & Publishing Basics

Some CMS collections have SEO fields:

• Meta Title
• Meta Description

Taking a few minutes to fill these correctly helps with search performance.

Any site we build implements these fields to have minimum and maximum character lengths to ensure they meet best practices for search. When you’re editing these fields, initially there might be a bit of friction as you have to re-word your title or description to fit, but in the long-term, small details like this help move the needle on SEO.

Once you’re done editing, don’t forget to publish, otherwise new content won’t show on the live site.

For publishing basics: https://university.webflow.com/courses/getting-started-with-webflow

8. Common Confusion Explained

“Why can’t I change the layout?”

Webflow separates content editing from design structure on purpose, this keeps your site consistent and prevents accidental layout breakage.

“My blog post looks different after publishing.”

Sometimes draft content needs a full site publish to go live. If a CMS item seems stuck, use the Publish button after making CMS changes to republish the entire site (unless you’ve made site-wide changes you don’t want to go live yet).

“Where did the Designer go?”

You don’t need the Designer unless you’re building new layouts. As a content editor, use the Editor/Build Mode/CMS panel.

9. Useful Official Lessons to Bookmark

Overview & UI
Start learning Webflow (official video playlist)
https://university.webflow.com/videos/start-learning-webflow

CMS Intro
Intro to Webflow CMS
https://university.webflow.com/videos/intro-to-webflow-cms

Collection List Basics
CMS Collection Lists
https://university.webflow.com/videos/collection-list

Publish & Site Basics
Getting started with Webflow
https://university.webflow.com/courses/getting-started-with-webflow

10. When to Reach Out

Taking over a new site can be confusing to begin with, especially if this is your first time using Webflow. Always feel free to reach out to us if you want to:

• create a new content type
• adjust layouts or templates
• change URL structures
• set up redirects
• expand your SEO strategy

Editing content should be fast and familiar, but structural changes often need a designer/developer touch. Just because you've had the site handed over to you doesn’t mean we’re not happy to jump in and lend a hand if you need us.

Email hello@lightningux.design or visit us at lightningux.design if you need any help.