Articles - Page 101

Not All Heroes Wear Capes. Here's Why CMS Is Your 'Unsung Hero' in 2025

janus-boye

After achieving success (in the form of $10 Million in turnover) as a leading grocery delivery service in Ukraine under the <a href="https://zakaz.ua/en/" target="_blank">Zakaz.ua</a> brand, <a href="https://cartfresh.com/for-retailers/" target="_blank">CartFresh</a> is now looking to take on the US, followed by the rest of Europe.
<a href="https://cartfresh.com/for-retailers/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/765991-a5194b58418ec6bc90a1e67f0f3d6601-medium_jpg-1.jpg" /></a>
CartFresh has recently began working under <a href="http://www.techstars.com/" target="_blank">Techstars</a>, one of the world's leading startup accelerators. The company is now offering US grocery retailers the opportunity to break further into their local market by reaching their customers online, before delivering to their door.
The white-label delivery solution helps retailers set up a functional website under their own brand, and provides the entire delivery service from end to end, so grocers can focus on producing and selling.
The company is owned and powered by <a href="http://gvmachines.com/" target="_blank">GVMachines</a>, which props up the software behind the idea. Here's a short video explaining the process.

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cOwvnKbVfpY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

After their impressive start in Ukraine, I can't help but be intrigued by the relatively short CartFresh story. Despite having little interest in the grocery retail market, I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this young company's progress.
To find out more, and to request a demo of CartFresh, <a href="https://cartfresh.com/for-retailers/" target="_blank">check out their website</a>.

CartFresh Seeks to Empower US Grocery Retailers Online

mike-johnston

<a href="http://www.crescendocontent.com/">Crescendo Content Marketing</a> (<a href="http://www.crescendocontent.com">http://www.crescendocontent.com</a>), a closed-loop B2B content marketing system, launched today to help marketers scale the content creation process and access actionable insights into how content is driving engagement and revenue. Built by marketers for marketers, Crescendo is a complete system that replaces the need for many point solutions used by today’s marketers to publish, distribute and measure the performance of content.
B2B marketers have traditionally struggled to connect the dots between marketing success and sales success. Now, Crescendo helps them create repeatable, measurable practices for creating quality content and tracking its impact through the entire buyer’s journey – not just top-of-the-funnel lead generation. Integrated with Salesforce, Crescendo tracks which specific content is driving the most deals.
“Content is the foundation of marketing and yet most content marketers hack together project management, optimization and analysis from a variety of systems. With marketers spending an average of 30 percent or more of their budget on content, it’s time we used purpose-built tools,” according to Samantha Stone, a Crescendo customer, content marketing expert and founder of the <a>Marketing Advisory Network</a>. “With Crescendo, marketers have the opportunity to understand what content is driving the best business outcomes and improve content production efficiency and effectiveness.”
“Until now, content marketing has been a fuzzy science but with Crescendo, we’re equipping content marketers with actionable ROI data they can take to the boardroom,” said Claudine Bianchi, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Crescendo. “Crescendo not only helps growing content marketing teams improve productivity but also ensure their focus is on doing more of what impacts the bottom-line, not just for buzz.”
Crescendo helps B2B marketing teams improve the efficiency of the six key stages of the content marketing lifecycle: 
•Create and Optimize: Crescendo provides an intuitive workflow for planning, assigning and scheduling content production across teams, complete with tips for improved SEO and readability so that content is engaging and easily found.
•Publish and Amplify: With Crescendo, marketers create their own blog content or import existing assets like PDFs, videos and infographics. Once created, these can be published directly from Crescendo to existing Web content management systems, including WordPress, using new or existing templates. Crescendo also prompts content contributors to craft social posts that can be scheduled and published to social media channels for maximum exposure. 
•Analyze and Suggest: Crescendo’s powerful content analytics dashboard displays a real-time ranking of top performing content assets and associated metrics, replacing the numerous point Web and social analytics solutions that content marketers have had to rely on before. Key to this is Crescendo’s Smart Tracking Code, a system which tags each piece of content. Through the integration with Salesforce, Crescendo correlates the tagged content with leads, opportunities and deals through APIs — linking top performing content with the dollar value of the deal they impact.
Screenshots:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/crescendo_analytics_11044x0-is.png" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/crescendo_analytics_2.png" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/crescendo_content_analytics_31044x0-is.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/crescendo_content_analytics_4.png" />
For more information, go to <a href="http://www.crescendocontent.com/">http://www.crescendocontent.com/</a>

Unveiling Crescendo: A Content Marketing System to Help Marketers Scale, Optimize and Measure the ROI of Content

<a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank">Wix</a>, one of the world's most popular website builders, has introduced CRM capabilities for its user base.
The platform won the <a href="/the-winner-of-the-2014-peoples-choice-cms-award-for-best-website-builder/" target="_blank">People's Choice CMS Award for Best Website Builder 2014</a>, and was chosen to be covered in detail over at <a href="http://websitebuilderscritic.com/" target="_blank">Website Builders Critic</a>.
<a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank"><img style="max-width:241px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wix-musa-1.png" /></a>
This update brings about CRM features like contact management, e-mail marketing and automated communications, in the form of “MyAccount”.
<h2>MyAccount</h2>
<img style="max-width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/354887.jpg" />
Wix's MyAccount allows small business owners to manage and automate different aspects of their business including:
<h3>Collect &amp; Manage Contacts</h3>
MyAccount enables website owners to create and manage customer contact lists with contact information and activity data sourced through the owner's site.
Website owners are also able to upload, integrate and manage external contact lists. Wix's data sharing API, WixHive, further enables users to capture a variety of actions taken by a user's website visitors, such as contact information, messages, purchases, bookings, and more.
<h3>Send WixShoutOut e-mail Campaigns</h3>
WixShoutOut emails can be distributed, and announcements can be made to specified contacts or groups.
<h3>Automate Communications Using Smart Actions</h3>
Rule-based communications can be configured and managed, which are triggered by visitor activities including welcoming new subscribers, thanking customers after purchases, informing customers of special offers and more.
MyAccount offers several pre-defined and customizable Smart Actions which users can choose from or can create their own.
<h3>Manage Industry-specific Products</h3>
Website owners can access and manage Wix's verticalized solutions including WixStores, WixHotels and WixMusic all from the MyAccount interface.
Using the MyAccount dashboard, website owners can track their sales, reservations and downloads, issue bills for payment, manage inventory and more.
<h3>Review Site Activity &amp; Alerts in Newsfeed</h3>
Site owners can view real-time updates of visitor activities as well as customized product information and articles tailored to each website owner's business category.
<h3>Administer Website &amp; Account Settings</h3>
Premium subscriptions, domains and mailboxes, website apps, site settings and analytics, SEO wizard, site permissions, and more are all manageable from MyAccount.
Wix Co-Founder and CEO Avishai Abrahami made the following statements upon the announcement of MyAccount:
<blockquote>“MyAccount is the central nervous system, coordinating numerous essential business elements in a single, unified setting.
We've created an ecosystem where small business owners can seamlessly integrate their web creation with robust business applications and functionalities that help them manage and grow online”</blockquote>
To find out more about Wix MyAccount, <a href="http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/08/26/763595/10147187/en/Wix-com-Adds-Integrated-CRM-Capabilities-for-Small-Businesses.html" target="_blank">check out the official press release</a>.
Also, visit the <a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank">Wix website</a> for more information about their platform, and be sure to swing by <a href="/products/wix/" target="_blank">Wix in our CMS Directory</a>.

Wix Unveils Integrated CRM Capabilities for Small Businesses

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/">CMS Made Simple</a> (or CMSMS for short) has finally made version 2.0 available for download.The popular open source platform is first choice for many, and proved it by winning the <a href="/2014-best-small-to-midsize-business-php-cms/">2014 People's Choice for Best Small to Midsize Business PHP CMS</a>.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cmsms_newlogo300-1.png" /> The CMSMS community has been waiting for this release for a while now, and the development team have acknowledged that in their release announcement:<blockquote>“CMSMS 2.0 has been a long and tiring uphill war, with many large and small battles; some of which we won, and some of which we lost. Throughout our battles the Dev Team has always remembered our primary goal and tagline: “Power for the Professionals, Simplicity for the End Users.”This means that the professionals have a standards-oriented, powerful engine to build websites and web based applications, and the system still remains simple and fast for the average non-technical user to be able to manage the content of his or her website.”</blockquote><h2>WYSIWYG Editing &amp; Performance Improvements</h2>CMSMS 2.0 brings about a new WYSIWYG editor, an improved and dynamic file manager, and a brand new content managing module.Content editors can now easily find, control and edit thousands of pages without concern that they will accidentally erase somebody else's work.Furthermore, the CMS Made Simple developers have revealed that they took on numerous code review sessions, performance tuning sessions, and optimization sessions to ensure that site visitors receive the best performance possible out-of-the box.According to them, depending upon the site's purpose, CMSMS 2.0 should be ready to produce better response times, reduce performance load, and ensure that the website visitor's experience is smoother than ever before.<h2>More Power, Flexibility &amp; Ease of Use to the Website Builder</h2>CMS Made Simpe's new rationalized and unified template, design, and stylesheet management interface enables developers to exercise complete control over the various different types of templates in a single website (Page Structure, News Articles, News Summary Views, Navigations).Everything is managed from one place instead of dozens of different locations in the Admin console. Additionally, all of the templates and stylesheets can be organized together into ‘designs' for easier importing from and exporting to other CMSMS websites.Here's a summary what's new in this area:<ul><li>The new “Navigator” module allows the website designer to create fast, flexible, and powerful navigations with more power and simplicity than ever before.</li><li>The new “AdminSearch” module allows an editor or a website developer to quickly and easily locate a portion of text or code. This makes their job faster and easier.</li><li>A completely rewritten module management interface provides an integrated way of managing, upgrading, searching and interacting with modules.</li></ul>Plus, CMSMS 2.0 boasts a much easier installtion process, thanks to an “installation assistant” and the existence of only one file.More information on CMSMS 2.0 can be found via their blog. Alternatively, you can <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/2015/09/Finally-Released-CMSMS-2-0-Australia/">skip ahead to the dowload page</a> to grab a copy for your next project.

CMS Made Simple 2.0 Released

LightCMS have made it a habit to significantly improve their platform on what could easily be described as a monthly basis.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/lightcms.jpg" />Powering over 275,000 websites, LightCMS was chosen for coverage as one of the most relevant website builders <a target="_blank" href="https://www.websitebuilderscritic.com/website_builders/reviews/lightcms/">at Website Builders Critic</a>, It also picked up the <a href="/the-winner-of-the-2014-peoples-choice-cms-award-for-best-cloud-cms-for-smb/">People's Choice Award for Best Cloud CMS for SMB</a> during the 2014 CMS Awards.Now, as we move into September, LightCMS has revealed some updates relating to user registration and profiles. Let's take a deeper look.<h2>User Registration &amp; Better User Profiles</h2>LightCMS now allows for end users to register their own profiles. Custom roles can be confifured, and alos changed at a later time.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/loginandregisterbutton.png" />Now that you can let users register on your site, LightCMs has also made it easy to gather more information about them with newly expanded user profile pages.Previously, these pages were host to only the most basic user information. Now though, users can input data regarding:<ul><li>Home and Cell Phone Numbers</li><li>Company/Organization</li><li>Twitter</li><li>Facebook</li><li>Home Address</li><li>Work Address</li></ul>Plus, developers can now style their user profile pages by creating a custom userprofile.html. No more bland, default templates for what is an important area of the end-user experience.For more information on this latest LightCMS release, check out their official blog announcement.You can also find out more about LightCMS throughout CMS Directory.

LightCMS Brings In User Registration & Enhanced User Profiles

Ghost, one of WordPress' competitors in the blogging arena, have made some major interface changes improving the overall look and feel of the system and making it easier to work within it.Here's a screenshot of the new interface:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zelda635x0-is.png" />Now, for comparison purposes, here's the old one:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2013-11-11_07_11_23-mozilla_firefox_1125x0673x0-is.png" />Are you can see, pretty significant changes. From the post on Ghost.org announcing the change:<blockquote>This project has been a work in progress since the end of last year, and we're very excited to see it being used out in the wild.The biggest change has been to the main structure and navigation within Ghost's admin. We were fast hitting the limits on the old top-nav placement. The new side-menu placement should provide some familiarity to most desktop applications, works better on mobile and, significantly, gives us a lot more space and flexibility to introduce upcoming new features. Winky face.</blockquote>Search has also been improved drastically as show in the animated gif below:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/search.gif" />For more information on Ghost <a href="/products/ghost">visit their page</a> in the CMS directory or check them out on the web at <a target="_blank" href="http://ghost.org">http://ghost.org</a>

Ghost Improves Interface with New Look and Functionality

If you haven’t considered a <a href="/8-enterprise-marketing-automation-softwares-to-complement-your-cms/" target="_blank">marketing automation system (MAS) for your business</a>, you could be falling behind.
A good MAS helps you reach out to your customers and prospects better than ever before, personalizing your marketing efforts to maximize their overall impact.
As a business owner or marketing executive, you’ve watched from a front row seat as marketing automation has caused a dramatic shift in the business landscape. While you recognize the marketing potential that an MAS offers, you might still have some reservations about cost, and whether or not it is right for your business.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/marketing-automation712x0-is.jpg" />
If you’re worried about cost, you’re not alone. Although most enterprises have long since added an MAS to their marketing arsenal, most SMBs have lagged behind. One of the primary reasons for the hesitation in adapting a marketing automation systems is the misconception that they cost too much for them to worthwhile for SMBs.
However, the returns that an MAS can bring apply just as much to smaller customers as they do to larger, enterprise customers, and there are many options available that can fit even the smallest of budgets.
As you deliberate whether or not your business needs a marketing automation system, consider the following 9 statistics from Wishpond’s <a href="https://blog.wishpond.com/post/115216467162/the-2015-state-of-marketing-automation-the-33">State of Marketing Automation in 2015</a>.
Not only do these statistics emphasize the benefits of marketing automation, but I also believe that they will prove once and for all that your business probably needs a marketing automation system to maintain a competitive edge in today’s marketplace.
<h2>1. 79% of the CMOs at high-performing companies rely on an MAS to boost their revenue.</h2>
This is the big one, so let’s tackle it right off the bat. A good MAS can help you increase your bottom line in a number of different ways. It can help bring in more leads, keep you in closer contact with your best customers, and ensure that you’re tracking your marketing efforts properly.
According to Nucleus Research, automating your marketing can increase sales productivity by 14.5% while also reducing overhead by 12.2%. That’s an incredible difference from such a simple change.
<h2>2. 75% of all businesses that use an MAS see positive ROI within the first year.</h2>
This statistic addresses the elephant-in-the-room: cost. Many small-to-medium-sized business owners are hesitant to use an MAS because they fear it will be added cost to already tight budget.
However, what is being overlooked is that the software will pay for itself – many times over. After all, even if all it did was reduce your overhead, it would be worth every penny, but it’s also bringing in new customers every day.
Those new, targeted leads and customers will offset the cost of the system in the first year, and the increase in value that you’ll see from your existing customers can push you into the black. Keep in mind, that’s only in the first year – you’ll see huge returns from these customers year after year, all thanks to your MAS.
<h2>3. Companies that use an MAS generate twice as many leads as companies that only use blast email software.</h2>
It’s no secret that email marketing continues to be one of the most effective ways to generate and nurture leads. While blast email software has been used effectively in the past to reach new prospects, its effectiveness pales in comparison to the results obtained with an MAS. By doubling the number of generated leads, an MAS will bring you more prospects, and if successfully converted, more customers and more revenue.
Of course, effective communication isn’t just about pumping new blood into your business; it also keeps your existing customers happy and loyal.
<h2>4. Successfully nurtured leads through the use of an MAS make spend 47% more than non-nurtured leads.</h2>
An MAS gives you the ability to narrowly target your leads so that you can design hyper-focused, personalized content that fits their needs.
This makes them happier, more loyal, and more appreciative of your services – to the tune of radically increasing the size of their purchases. In fact, when a successfully nurtured lead converts into a happy and informed customer, they’ll spend as much as 47% more than they typically would. Now that’s a revenue booster.
<h2>5. Successful lead nurturing brings in 50% more qualified leads while cutting costs by 33%.</h2>
While it’s great to get more out of your existing customer base, every business on the planet wants to grow.
Unfortunately, getting new leads is expensive, and it’s even harder to drum up sales-ready leads without nurturing them effectively. Instead of just grabbing cold leads and jamming them into your sales funnel, an MAS allows you to cheaply nurture your leads and coax them along at their leisure. This gives you 50% more sales-ready leads…at 33% less per lead.
<h2>6. Companies that effectively use a marketing automation system have reported as much as a 451% boost in qualified leads.</h2>
Automating your marketing allows you to spend much more time nurturing prospects. Since it’s all hands-off, you can educate and persuade many more leads at once, without taking up all of your time.
This means that you’ll be able to turn more prospects into leads, and more leads into qualified leads. They’ll come into your sales funnel with a better understanding of your business, and a clearer idea of why it’s valuable to them.
<h2>7. Companies using an MAS have reported conversion rates up to 50%.</h2>
An MAS opens up a world of communication with your customers. You can follow up warm leads with personalized correspondence, automatic reminders, and even birthday wishes.
All of this keeps you in constant contact with your prospect and customer base, increasing their trust in you while boosting your conversion rates. If you’ve had difficulty closing with your prospects, it may mean that you need to automate your marketing efforts.
<h2>8. 36% of marketers state that marketing automation systems help them get more out of their marketing efforts by taking repetitive tasks out of their hands.</h2>
There is a common misconception that when an MAS is utilized, it will entirely replace a company’s existing marketing department. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Marketing automation systems are designed to augment your existing efforts, and because they can take repetitive, unskilled tasks out of your marketers’ hands, it frees them up to do higher-level work. No longer will they have to be concerned with monitoring every customer and prospect in every section of your sales funnel. Instead, the MAS will keep tabs on this for them, so that they can dig deeper into your market and brainstorm new ways to connect with your audience.
<h2>9. Most importantly, 63% of companies that outgrow their competition use marketing automation.</h2>
All of these stats add up to giving you an undeniable advantage over the companies in your industry that are handling their marketing the old-fashioned way. An MAS doesn’t just let you get more out of your leads and customers, it also lets you get more out of your employees – and that adds up to explosive growth.
To put this in perspective, 60% of companies that earn more than $500 million a year use marketing automation – versus only 3% making less than $5 million. It’s clearly a strategy that the biggest players have recognized will benefit them tremendously in the long run. As you’ve seen in the above statistics, an MAS will help your business not only grow revenue, but also cut costs.
Moreover, you don’t have to blow up your company’s marketing budget to get started using an MAS. Whether you’re looking for all the bells, whistles, and every in between offered by a more expensive, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/8-enterprise-marketing-automation-softwares-to-complement-your-cms/">enterprise-level MAS</a> solution, or you simply want a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/12-free-or-super-cheap-marketing-automation-systems/">high-quality yet cost-effective SMB-level MAS</a> solution to supercharge your marketing efforts, there are plenty of options available.
<h2>Make The Change, See The Results</h2>
If you haven’t already done so, it’s time you brought your company’s marketing efforts up to speed with the current marketing landscape by <a href="/8-enterprise-marketing-automation-softwares-to-complement-your-cms/" target="_blank">choosing an marketing automation system that best suits the needs of your business</a>.
After all, if there’s one thing that these statistics should have made clear to you: when used properly, marketing automation systems get impressive results.
Which of the nine stats stands out most to you? Leave us a comment below.

10 Stats to Prove That Your Business Needs a Marketing Automation System

CMS Summit 25

Find out at CMS Connect 25, August 5 - 6 in Montreal, Canada. Seats are limited.

CMS. Content. AI. Where is it all headed?

#ffffff

Content is increasingly one of the most valuable business drivers across all industries, and we at <a href="http://ez.no/">eZ Systems</a> work to simplify the way organizations create, deliver and optimize it.
<a href="http://ez.no/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ez-logo-no-tagline_max600height250.png" /></a> Fueled by over 15 years of organic development, eZ is on the brink of releasing its next generation content management solutions, eZ Platform and eZ Studio.
Unifying the power and flexibility of our current platform eZ Publish with increased scalability and a fresh, modern UI, eZ Platform and eZ Studio signify a leap forward for the company. But more importantly, our new solutions will give developers, designers and content creators better tools to build remarkable digital experiences.
<a href="http://ez.no/Home/Forms/HTML-forms/Find-out-how-eZ-can-help-you-grow-your-business" target="_blank"><img alt="5e45kw_zX7HJKF95QB49vHUZATzOpB4ZsP7tgn2L" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/5e45kw_zX7HJKF95QB49vHUZATzOpB4ZsP7tgn2LhYSUNuSPg2JvEoNiaOITnzQBt5CdRi6rwrcQ_eqcPytLE2ZVD9byOP89YBQj0EQjCstGrPw-mY1cqMlWk0o3LKkErTeUjDQ" /></a>
<h6>eZ Systems will launch eZ Platform and eZ Studio, pictured above, in Q4 2015</h6>
Showcasing a layered approach to our content management infrastructure, eZ’s new stack features an entirely rewritten open source foundation, eZ Platform; an easy-to-use content creation center, eZ Studio; and a portfolio of cloud services for personalized content, real-time analytics and marketing automation.
Designed with technologists and business users in mind, the platform will streamline development processes, improve user efficiency across the board and, we believe, make creating content a delight.
“With our fully featured REST API and structured content repository, eZ Platform will allow developers to customize, extend and scale their sites and apps with more ease than ever before,” said Roland Benedetti, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at eZ. “And in eZ Studio, content editors will see vast improvements in their daily experience with the system. They will also be able to set more flexible workflows and build sites and apps with intuitive in-page editing, increasing productivity and collaboration.”
<a href="http://ez.no/Home/Forms/HTML-forms/Find-out-how-eZ-can-help-you-grow-your-business" target="_blank"><img alt="Screen Shot 2015-08-26 at 12.12.01 PM.png" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/E5Al2sHaYwcMi2nmfHUh_AecJfXpmKHtkpzQDBELAqToOcBdcr8cEtruhJyRQ2lz2LjVViREuEy9ZoXAx7xcvu12pFHPmPgWDwqwQlBgIupsC11ggZIQwMwc9Sa0Lfxg_60grL73" /></a>
<h2>Accelerating Development with the Symfony Full-stack Framework</h2>
Like its predecessor eZ Publish Platform 5.0, eZ Platform is built on top of the <a href="https://symfony.com/">Symfony</a> full-stack framework. This means any organization using eZ can integrate any Symfony bundle available today or in the years to come. An example of this comes from one of our dedicated partners <a href="http://www.netgenlabs.com/">Netgen</a>, who integrated the Symfony-based e-commerce solution <a href="http://sylius.org/">Sylius</a> into eZ.
Symfony has become the leading PHP framework and organizations who adopt it stand to benefit tremendously, especially when it comes to unifying and standardizing their PHP-based application development processes.
Other CMS like Drupal have followed their own approach with Symfony but in our case, Symfony developers can take full advantage of eZ’s capabilities without modifying the way they work. This means expedited development and faster time to market.
Interested in learning more? <a href="http://ez.no/Blog/(tag)/Symfony">Check out our blog</a> for various posts on Symfony.
<h2>“A Major Milestone”</h2>
If we step back to the beginning of eZ Systems, the company has always followed an open source development model. Openness and collaboration are core values at eZ, and we’ve seen substantial growth within the eZ Community.
Today, we have over 45,000 developers and content experts worldwide contributing to the eZ roadmap as well as Symfony, PHP, Lucene and other initiatives in the LAMP stack.
“From the beginning, we thought of eZ as an open source development platform where content is separated from the delivery channel and where organizations can build unique digital experiences,” said Bård Farstad, co-founder of eZ Systems. “We've always been classified as a CMS but we always knew our solutions were much more.
“The release of eZ Platform and eZ Studio is a major milestone for us,” he added. “It comes at a time when organizations recognize the need for a content- and user-first approach to grow their businesses, one where engagement is highly personalized and the right content flows into the right channel at the right time.”
For their new platform, <a href="http://ez.no/" target="_blank">eZ Systems</a> will offer online and in-person training, certification and professional support and services to enterprise customers.
<a href="http://ez.no/Home/Forms/HTML-forms/Find-out-how-eZ-can-help-you-grow-your-business" target="_blank">Discover eZ Platform and eZ Studio</a>

eZ Systems Set to Launch eZ Platform and eZ Studio

As we move closer towards the conclusion of our featured week with <a href="http://ez.no" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">eZ</a>, we’re taking a look at eZ Publish Platform’s multi-site and multi-language features.
Previously this week, we touched on <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/ez-publish-platform-content-management-marketing-ecommerce-under-the-same-roof/">eZ Publish Platform’s core features</a>, explored the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/from-hootsuite-to-comscore-success-with-ez-publish-platform/">success of Hootsuite and comScore with the platform</a>, and looked ahead to the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/looking-forward-to-the-upcoming-ez-publish-new-york-conference/">upcoming eZ Conference in New York</a>.
<a href="http://ez.no" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img alt="eZ-Logo-No-Tagline_max600height250.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HhPcLPK7aFW0t0kwy_PwaSyoSaXs8ayLHMNyHrZeHKf3b5qVwDAYzcI1S2egp2XmlJfvtWTeEwyYgg0ox0xhxs3z3RrUu7co3PlpKnqLHOm1TxB3MJst8KPjAxFETFvunx5D_vU" /></a>
The eZ eBook titled, “<a href="https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&amp;ik=bf5f0a3d6f&amp;view=att&amp;th=14f514a43bb804df&amp;attid=0.1&amp;disp=inline&amp;safe=1&amp;zw&amp;saddbat=ANGjdJ-jRokfdOxxccHfKFgL9ip2g74YL0TpMmGdjzkvf7ErHHnrIpiBUTztjx2RRt9j15DhdwFWWzmeAJt4rJaBxxAw_JGdPYXWJTvWLs47Dl8ujXPo5eCMSg6g1NaDyWWqS3mpyBifJdG-_Ar5WyRLxmBtOeyv-xgzhRDBbmxT_HC-BC7WlpdeB2n4BdItot02ZtdUH6jkFZEUIhqn3gPZP7oheX3jtR7a2RhsPilvOTdvMeXSVtkB8sWvBm_GlU22AmSyYPDhIHs7U6AeQsLF0fjM4u9X-4y-rjRYYusKZQAmrfI3kalzr9_-2gYeaSRdZTEE9xDWZ9vwK865PGNguN1gfAo_wdXIwuo4e771JRH8YMDpVE0yyMFqiWHlCGpBofe9QU3jLYZtpAH-tMwnQrY0SAtvLjkHv4l8HiZZcOigpB_wcClg0fnlyfNcUsk7oNmrGYWz5MXLoIidBjjcPlYzjWNHsFpuVPNm_ioDTz6Dcku9mt_EutQZIG7GQWmD_o05rtP0xGu2YrmREFESQD1xqJmpBu9vk7MUaA6To1qIPqdZmZfP3V27iEtKU4Kkr_buZUCxzeNGxjQN">Keys to Maintaining Multiple Websites, Channels and Languages</a>” is a highly beneficial resource regarding this topic. I’ll be referring to some of its contents throughout this article.
<h2>The Importance of Adaptive Content</h2>
In the not-so-distant past, content was produced and published solely for desktop screens.
Today, screens are everywhere from vehicles to shopping malls, and customers expect nothing less than seamless experiences on each and every device.
To deliver content with such flexibility when managing multiple web properties, you’ll need a CMS that can produce adaptive content.
Adaptive content means that the content is not restricted to a single display. It’s content that is totally separated from its presentation and design, meaning that it can be re-moulded to suit any screen size or shape.
Traditional content management systems are not typically equipped to store and manage content in such a way. However, today’s enterprise-grade platforms, like eZ Publish Platform for example, store content internally in a way which makes content adaptive. Ideal for the modern-day brand.
For more information on adaptive content, check out the <a href="https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&amp;ik=bf5f0a3d6f&amp;view=att&amp;th=14f514a43bb804df&amp;attid=0.1&amp;disp=inline&amp;safe=1&amp;zw&amp;saddbat=ANGjdJ-jRokfdOxxccHfKFgL9ip2g74YL0TpMmGdjzkvf7ErHHnrIpiBUTztjx2RRt9j15DhdwFWWzmeAJt4rJaBxxAw_JGdPYXWJTvWLs47Dl8ujXPo5eCMSg6g1NaDyWWqS3mpyBifJdG-_Ar5WyRLxmBtOeyv-xgzhRDBbmxT_HC-BC7WlpdeB2n4BdItot02ZtdUH6jkFZEUIhqn3gPZP7oheX3jtR7a2RhsPilvOTdvMeXSVtkB8sWvBm_GlU22AmSyYPDhIHs7U6AeQsLF0fjM4u9X-4y-rjRYYusKZQAmrfI3kalzr9_-2gYeaSRdZTEE9xDWZ9vwK865PGNguN1gfAo_wdXIwuo4e771JRH8YMDpVE0yyMFqiWHlCGpBofe9QU3jLYZtpAH-tMwnQrY0SAtvLjkHv4l8HiZZcOigpB_wcClg0fnlyfNcUsk7oNmrGYWz5MXLoIidBjjcPlYzjWNHsFpuVPNm_ioDTz6Dcku9mt_EutQZIG7GQWmD_o05rtP0xGu2YrmREFESQD1xqJmpBu9vk7MUaA6To1qIPqdZmZfP3V27iEtKU4Kkr_buZUCxzeNGxjQN" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">eZ eBook</a>.
<h2>Multi-Lingual Content Delivery: What to Look for in a CMS</h2>
A brand that needs to deliver content in multiple languages needs a CMS that can handle the pressure.
So, what does a content management system need to make multi-lingual content delivery manageable?
Multi-lingual Functionality Out of the Box
Many platforms offer multilingual functionality as plugins or extensions, instead of bringing them as part of their overall package. While this can work, it can also introduce vulnerabilities.
Plugins can be coded poorly and go unmaintained since they are not created by the actual CMS vendor. Malware can sneak in from third-parties, and updates are often few and far between. An out-of-the box multi-lingual feature will have less security vulnerabilities and will likely be better maintained because it is a product of the vendor.
Extensive Language Support
You may not need support for 64 languages right this moment, but it’s important to know that as your brand expands, your CMS will be capable of supporting the languages that come with going global.
Thus, it makes sense to gravitate toward a platform that is capable of supporting not just the languages you currently need, but all the translations you’ll ever need, too.
Language-specific Group and User Permissions
A team of editors with varying first languages all working within the same CMS can be troublesome, unless there’s a way to ensure that they can only edit content that pertains to them.
To make this easy, pick a CMS that has the ability to apply user permissions based on language. This will simplify the editor’s experience with the CMS, making sure they aren’t bothered by content that isn’t in their language.
For more information on how to choose the best CMS for multi-lingual projects, check out the <a href="https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&amp;ik=bf5f0a3d6f&amp;view=att&amp;th=14f514a43bb804df&amp;attid=0.1&amp;disp=inline&amp;safe=1&amp;zw&amp;saddbat=ANGjdJ-jRokfdOxxccHfKFgL9ip2g74YL0TpMmGdjzkvf7ErHHnrIpiBUTztjx2RRt9j15DhdwFWWzmeAJt4rJaBxxAw_JGdPYXWJTvWLs47Dl8ujXPo5eCMSg6g1NaDyWWqS3mpyBifJdG-_Ar5WyRLxmBtOeyv-xgzhRDBbmxT_HC-BC7WlpdeB2n4BdItot02ZtdUH6jkFZEUIhqn3gPZP7oheX3jtR7a2RhsPilvOTdvMeXSVtkB8sWvBm_GlU22AmSyYPDhIHs7U6AeQsLF0fjM4u9X-4y-rjRYYusKZQAmrfI3kalzr9_-2gYeaSRdZTEE9xDWZ9vwK865PGNguN1gfAo_wdXIwuo4e771JRH8YMDpVE0yyMFqiWHlCGpBofe9QU3jLYZtpAH-tMwnQrY0SAtvLjkHv4l8HiZZcOigpB_wcClg0fnlyfNcUsk7oNmrGYWz5MXLoIidBjjcPlYzjWNHsFpuVPNm_ioDTz6Dcku9mt_EutQZIG7GQWmD_o05rtP0xGu2YrmREFESQD1xqJmpBu9vk7MUaA6To1qIPqdZmZfP3V27iEtKU4Kkr_buZUCxzeNGxjQN" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">eZ eBook</a>.
<h2>Further Reading</h2>
eZ has also published a separate eBook, “<a href="https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&amp;ik=bf5f0a3d6f&amp;view=att&amp;th=14f514a43bb804df&amp;attid=0.3&amp;disp=inline&amp;safe=1&amp;zw&amp;saddbat=ANGjdJ9qZ5zsp090EapfUPdWK7ZPVFEPAWdbRumkO5sBD54Vx-DAraGgDD3XjfoUgo71tA23MmXQTXLXKGgwHCb4zu2eCtPzzQ_wUmaamusunUOe0uRob96x_i8Kp0sJZyLTzzCopDssrFh81vCLBTnwpJovEKVCNcrTYzyx6tn3zVYP2zos7kQlPHSj4VzHbqq6exVE5yWiaRCrS9-kMeOcKAWzYqPz9j5CHCi2Bksj7NQKdKbRCZOCpXVukby2go72t1PmmB-jOU05i8qTkqTGroVmSAMNNoiLCPhRJDyQxmPQfrBdgy637M4NjoUaN6hCDMKLbTAvw_3_L1wrCrLZzHEus6X-XiRFrGwou2A3Xc3oYJl0cdQwH8hzyEYEXjphZOJ5cYe6pUDvC_377-IK6WqMj1W1XRGYzZswZfxg0h6HxmyrP8-4vXeIhpuzNsF-X5ZuGxwfM854v25P1ROU2xfEHXOoFZa6-ig-q6s9ZDD4QJ4nmQowmd34Cvv4siqxWi-oBneD1O9wVgSyFNBX5LjnnRe4G10kZfEm13Wk3sx1E0VjmpW1WZh1BPa4gdkY9gtaEEpOvUEkk9DA">7 Major Mistakes That Will Derail Your CMS Project</a>”, which touches on some vital points revolving around topics such as content writing, integrations, personalization and so forth.
To find out more about eZ Publish, <a href="http://ez.no/Products/The-eZ-Publish-Platform" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">check out eZ Systems’ website</a>. You can also <a href="http://ez.no/Forms/HTML-forms/Request-a-Demo">request a personal demo of eZ Publish Platform</a> to see the many features for yourself. 
Furthermore, stick around for more eZ coverage, including articles on their next generation content management solutions, eZ Platform and eZ Studio, launching in Q4 2015.

Managing Multiple Sites, Channels & Languages with eZ Publish

eZ Systems has some big plans for it’s upcoming <a href="http://conference.ez.no" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">2015 eZ Content Technology Conference</a> this fall.
The conference has been extended to three days, running from November 3rd through November 5th, with a schedule packed with insightful talks, workshops and keynote speaker sessions.
<a href="http://conference.ez.no" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img alt="0GnHkBnZPBalTE27NbAJlFdFeCkGNypv6IvXV_Hs" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/0GnHkBnZPBalTE27NbAJlFdFeCkGNypv6IvXV_HsHtc3W7OGCRdf5KXoxT5L5dYUj3-n3FwbuTyB3BO5k0fq68R4ZDtsrv6PO94ZqSLgwFyaz1CDlFSXOnuAkE7BUlbOgbTpZsI" /></a>
This year will also mark a special occasion for the conference for two reasons. It will be the first time the conference is hosted outside of Europe, taking place in the vibrant city of New York. And it will also be time to celebrate the Q4 release of eZ Platform and eZ Studio. eZ Conference will be a great opportunity to learn about eZ’s new platform and see what’s coming next for upcoming releases.
We made sure eZ Conference has something for everyone.
Attendees will have the opportunity to network and learn from innovators in the web, digital marketing, Symfony, PHP and eZ communities. From web development to business strategy, to user experience and user interface design, the conference will cover more ground than ever before to give you a full digital picture.
So who can you expect to see at eZ Conference? Notable names include:
<ul>
<li>
Paul Boag: Author, Speaker and User Experience consultant
</li>
<li>
Karen McGrane: Content Strategy and Information Architecture rock star and speaker
</li>
<li>
Deane Barker: Veteran content management and strategy speaker
</li>
<li>
Bernhard Schussek: WebMozart himself, Symfony Core Developer
</li>
<li>
Plus: talks from distinguished companies such as Economist Digital, Hootsuite, MongoDB, ConnectiveDX, Novactive and a whole lot more
</li>
</ul>
<h2>Register for the Conference Today</h2>
To celebrate eZ’s feature week on CMS Critic, we are offering a special 10% discount off registration for this year’s eZ Conference.
Simply <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ez-content-technology-conference-registration-16579867831?discount=CMSCritic" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">visit the conference Eventbrite</a> page to register and use the promo code: CMSCritic.
For more details on the conference, including the full speaker lineup, workshop and talk topics, visit <a href="http://conference.ez.no">http://conference.ez.no</a>

Looking Forward to the Upcoming eZ Publish New York Conference

To get the ball rolling with our latest featured week with <a href="http://ez.no/" target="_blank">eZ</a>, we explored how <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/ez-publish-platform-content-management-marketing-ecommerce-under-the-same-roof/" target="_blank">eZ Publish Platform provides everything a brand needs for content management, eCommerce and marketing</a>.
Now, understanding a platform’s core features and benefits is one thing, but seeing them put to use in the real world by noteworthy brands puts everything into perspective.
<a href="http://ez.no/" target="_blank"><img alt="eZ-Logo-No-Tagline_max600height250.png" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/yZso9JMz33l5WvuANjWMr05G9S9-PEE4ohCGOee-TPnMEE4-igzkPPiPVTFvAgVNwV7-8CCcgGmX4CxgAFOBsVz08lsJObSLY7aKQ0knKS-reJKqMkdNBSxV-TMt2WUNlz7yj_jF" /></a>
With that in mind, let’s take a look at how two high-profile eZ customers have found success with the enterprise-grade CMS by making use of eZ Publish Platform’s broad feature set.
<h2>A Suite Deal</h2>
With over 10 million customers worldwide, HootSuite is one of the world’s most popular social media management tools.
Hootsuite began looking for a new CMS when they realised that their web properties were stretched across too many platforms. They required an enterprise-grade platform to unify their online presence.
Their essential requirements were:
<ul>
<li>
Full stack Symfony2 Implementation
</li>
<li>
Personalization capabilities for dynamic content generation
</li>
<li>
Internationalization and localization of content
</li>
<li>
Solid development framework for deep integration into their product and systems
</li>
<li>
High traffic scalability
</li>
</ul>
Jeff Waterfall, Hootsuite’s User Interface and Frontend Developer, gives us further background:
<blockquote>
“From the start, we knew that we wanted an open source CMS. After a two month evaluation process, Hootsuite narrowed their search down to Drupal, SiteCore and eZ Publish.
We started looking at eZ Publish and it checked all the boxes for us. It was an enterprise-grade CMS and it was very secure. It had everything we were looking for baked right into it.”
</blockquote>
As of right now, Hootsuite is benefitting from eZ Publish Platform in several ways, including; an editorial interface that gives publishers total control over website content, fine-tuned SEO tags, rich text formatting, embedding images and videos with multi-load functionality, and more.
Furthermore, as a result of eZ Publish Platform’s content delivery performance levels, paired with streamlined SEO capabilities, Hootsuite has experienced a boost in traffic originating from search engines.
<a href="http://ez.no/Customers/Case-Studies/Transforming-Hootsuite-Embracing-the-Symfony-Framework-with-the-eZ-Publish-Platform?utm_source=cmscritic&amp;utm_medium=articledownload&amp;utm_content=hootsuitelink&amp;utm_campaign=hoosuitecasestudy">Download the Hootsuite Case Study</a>.
<h2>Scoring with eZ</h2>
comScore is a digital measurement and analytical company, with over 1,200 employees serving over 2,000 clients.
By selecting eZ Publish Platform, comScore was looking to move forward on four key fronts:
<ul>
<li>
Marketing automation for increased lead capture and nurture
</li>
<li>
Mobile first with responsive design
</li>
<li>
Analytics availability throughout the organization
</li>
<li>
Multi-lingual content delivery
</li>
</ul>
How did it work out, you ask? comScore’s Senior Director Web Marketing, Ferry Gijzel, sums it up nicely.
<blockquote>
“By integrating our Marketing Automation Platform with eZ Publish we can offer more targeted content and a smoother user experience across multiple channels, improving engagement and conversion.
Connecting the dots between Eloqua, eZ and Digital Analytix allows us to continuously track performance and optimize where needed.
During January to July 2014 the average engagement (measured by the number of page views per visit) increased by 19.2% compared to the same period in 2013. In that same time frame, the average share of browsers that converted directly by requesting a product demo showed an increase of 25.7%”
</blockquote>
comScore’s story provides us with an excellent example of a brand making use of eZ Publish Platform for more than just content management.
As discussed in our premier featured article, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/ez-publish-platform-content-management-marketing-ecommerce-under-the-same-roof/" target="_blank">eZ Publish Platform covers the three major bases of content management, eCommerce and marketing automation</a>. And as you can see, it delivers not just on paper, but in practise too.
<a href="http://ez.no/Customers/Case-Studies/Create-Deliver-Optimize-the-comScore-Way?utm_source=cmscritic&amp;utm_medium=articledownload&amp;utm_content=comscorelink&amp;utm_campaign=comscorecasestudy">Download the comScore Case Study</a>.
To find out more about eZ Publish, <a href="http://ez.no/Products/The-eZ-Publish-Platform" target="_blank">check out eZ Systems’ website</a>. You can also <a href="http://ez.no/Forms/HTML-forms/Request-a-Demo">request a personal demo of eZ Publish Platform</a> to see the many features for yourself. 
Also, stick around for more eZ coverage, including articles on their next generation content management solutions, eZ Platform and eZ Studio, launching in Q4 2015.

From Hootsuite to comScore: Success with eZ Publish Platform

We’re kicking off another featured week here at CMS Critic, and this time, we’re accompanied by <a href="http://ez.no/" target="_blank">eZ</a>.
<a href="http://ez.no/" target="_blank"><img alt="eZ-Logo-No-Tagline_max600height250.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ns3w2zCGC3Ouw8GeW2BDUUwbnIOgoqiRIvGmGeii4y-Ljv864aP5KAjTP2LZ8Onuyboa_cxqjvdO8KYNuM5s9oiVL5BcSCNmrZsHbEIl1TOCVLKDCdZrtHAquM6FgMgQg_ADBe-a" /></a>
eZ Systems, the company behind eZ Publish, was founded in 1999. The company refined itself into eZ Systems Group in 2011 in order to develop further products to complement their flagship enterprise product the eZ Publish Platform.
As we begin our coverage of this CMS, I’m taking a good look at how it offers three solutions that are in high demand – content management, eCommerce and marketing – under the very same roof.
Here’s a short introductory video to get us started.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koDex3KhHNM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koDex3KhHNM</a>
<h2>Content Management</h2>
eZ Publish Platform may have a broad skill set, but there’s no doubting that content management is its chosen forte.
Built to be easily used by developers and publishers, eZ Publish enables brands to produce, manage and deliver content to any device type.
The platform offers landing page management, front-end and WYSIWYG editing for non-technical users, multi-language support and multi-channel delivery.
To help brands embrace the emerging age of IoT (Internet of Things), eZ Publish provides Rest APIs to push your content to the screens of Smart TVs, automotive interfaces, and more.
<a href="http://ez.no/Products/Content-Management">Learn more about eZ Publish and content management</a>.
<h2>eCommerce</h2>
Selling online, whether it be physical or digital products, is now as lucrative as ever.
In recognition of this, eZ Publish Platform gives its users everything they need to set up an online marketplace.
Products and catalogs can be added directly into any eZ Publish-powered website via specific pages, or even via embedded content blocks.
There are no design restrictions to worry about either, so shopping experiences can be moulded around existing content and design elements to provide a seamless process for the end user.
eZ Publish also empowers brands to integrate with other products that can help bolster their eCommerce offering. PayPal, SugarCRM, Netsuite, Magento and more, are all welcomed with open arms.
<a href="http://ez.no/Products/e-Commerce">Learn more about eZ Publish and eCommerce</a>.
<h2>Marketing</h2>
Marketing automation has rapidly emerged as the next big thing that brands should be engaging in. Marketing automation systems have sprouted up everywhere, built to work alongside a CMS.
However, just as it does with eCommerce, eZ Publish Platform cuts out the middleman by housing such features within itself.
eZ Publish boasts Marketing Automation, Smart Analytics, Personalization, Recommendation and Optimization features, to ensure that no web property ever goes unnoticed or untracked.
For example, eZ Live Viewer, using live analytics, tells you how a website’s content is performing in real time, by sending alerts and recommending changes that improve content performance.
Meanwhile, eZ Recommendation heightens the personalization level of a web property, by recommending; news, images, videos, products and events to users in real time, based on their behaviors.
<a href="http://ez.no/Products/Digital-Marketing">Learn more about eZ Publish and marketing solutions.</a> 
To find out more about eZ Publish, <a href="http://ez.no/">check out eZ Systems’ website</a>. You can also <a href="http://ez.no/Forms/HTML-forms/Request-a-Demo">request an eZ Publish Demo</a> to try it for yourself.
Stay tuned for a separate post from eZ Systems regarding their next generation content management solutions, eZ Platform and eZ Studio, launching in Q4 2015.

eZ Publish Platform: Content Management, Marketing & eCommerce Under The Same Roof

MotoCMS is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) <a target="_blank" href="https://www.motocms.com/">website builder</a>, capable of building professional-looking responsive websites.The latest major release, MotoCMS 3.0, brought about enhancements to speed, user experience and mobile responsiveness.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/untitled-3.jpg" />MotoCMS is equipped to handle eCommerce sites, portfolio sites and businesses sites alike, boasting an array of well designed templates to give users plenty to work with from the get go.In short, it’s a website builder, and like all website builders, it's designed to be beautiful on the outside, and simple on the inside.The plan is, you use it to modify and tweak existing MotoCMS templates, before purchasing your finished website and hosting it yourself, however you see fit. It's a model designed to get you crafting a website quickly and professionally, without any ongoing expenses.Let’s see how well MotoCMS lives up to its website builder label.<h2>First Impressions</h2>The MotoCMS website is sleek.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1807x0-is.png" />Vibrant purples dominate the design, information is plentiful and a range of languages can be switched between to appeal to a worldwide market.Clicking the “Get started” button on the homepage gets you into the action. After selecting my template, I was asked to type in my email, my name and my phone number, although only the email field was mandatory.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-2723x0-is.png" />I was able to try out the optional phone-activation feature though, only to find out that it doesn't replace the email verification feature. You'll need to verify your phone number first, and then verify yourself again via email in order to log in to MotoCMS. Long winded stuff.As usual, I'd recommend sticking to email verification only.<h2>Getting Started</h2>Thankfully, things got better when I was eventually granted access.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-51050x0-is.png" /> “Welcome to the Future”.It may sound a little cheesy but that’s totally okay with me. Cheesy, in this environment, can definitely be a good thing. Especially when the platform actually delivers on its futuristic promise.The dashboard page itself though, is empty.It simply gives you that “Welcome to the Future” message, and then forces you into clicking away to other areas of the admin panel. Perhaps here would be a good place to have a short instructional step-by-step guide, or perhaps a video? Anything would be better than the emptiness it currently boasts.<h3>Pages</h3>After heading over to “Pages” on the navigation bar, a help window pops up explaining how to use the interface.The window is useful and easy to digest. It’s good that it’s there, but it’s not so good that it isn’t centered on the screen, nor is it small enough to comfortably fit on the screen. A minor issue, but an issue it is.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-6621x0-is.png" />The options down the right-hand side allow you to edit page names, URLs and assign parent pages. Switching over to “Design” section provides you with page-specific design options that enable you to hide sections of the page, like the header or footer.Pointing and clicking at any section of the page though, brings up new options.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-12743x0-is.png" />You can edit text and insert widgets like sliders, galleries, images, contact forms, iframes, videos and maps, all right there on the page. It's WYSIWYG technology at its traditional best. It works just as you'd expect it too, which is precisely how it should be.Adding a new page is simple, too. You just click “Add New” button on the top left corner, and insert your page name and URL (or slug).You can then proceed to edit and tweak as you would with an existing page.MotoCMS also lets you instantly preview your website through the screen or a desktop, tablet or smartphone. A handy feature.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-9940x0-is.png" /><h3>Design</h3>The “Design” section within the admin panel controls, well, the design.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-2-1936x0-is.png" />MotoCMS gives you a lot of ways to edit their existing template, and it's quite simple to do as well. Settings relating to the theme, font, text sizes and widgets can all be configured. It's pretty detailed.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1-2936x0-is.png" /> Elements like social media links, page dividers, buttons and so forth can all be configured.No doubt this is where a website builder earns its stripes for being, well, a website builder. For me, MotoCMS does enough to make life simple for inexperienced web designers looking to re-brand and re-jig a template.<h3>Media Library</h3>Another option within the admin panel is Media Library.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-3-1745x0-is.png" />As the name of the section suggests, here is where you can manage media files for your website.MotoCMS throws in quite a few images that come bundled with the theme. Plus, there are categorized sections for videos, sound files, documents and more.Clicking “Upload” is how you add your own files to the mix.<h3>Extras</h3>I'd like to take a moment here to focus on MotoCMS's templates. Because they're excellently crafted.You can choose between six upon signing up (not sure why the number is limited in this regard), although more can be found at their <a target="_blank" href="http://www.motocms.com/website-templates/">template marketplace</a>.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-4-1611x0-is.png" /> Each one looks highly professional, and thanks to some detailed customization options within the MotoCMS admin panel, you can quite easily make your chosen theme unique to your brand. Starting templates are important for website builders, and MotoCMS has excelled in this area.Unfortunately though, other than templates, MotoCMS is lacking severely in the extras department.It does an awesome job of actually building highly professional websites, but that's pretty much all it does, unfortunately.There is a “Settings” page on the admin panel, which governs general website settings, basic SEO options, code injections and so forth. Blogging doesn't seem to be something that comes easy with MotoCMS either, as there aren't any settings to configure an actual blog.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-5-1738x0-is.png" /> As for eCommerce features, you'll need to dish out an additional $99. Yet for blogging, there's not even a purchasable add-on available.The only other extra functionality is the ability to configure Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools codes. It's bare minimum, to say the least.<h2>Getting Help</h2>MotoCMS does well when it comes to providing support.Every page on the admin panel has a “?” icon that leads to their Help Centre. That help centre, is home to a searchable knowledge base, and can also be used to submit a support request.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-6-1725x0-is.png" /> Furthermore, the MotoCMS community can be accessed from here, where users ask and answer questions in order to help eachother out. There's also live chat available for sorting out smaller issues.<h2>Pricing</h2>As far as pricing goes, MotoCMS gives you a free 7-day trial to get your website together. You can tinker away for that first week, but thereafter, you'll need to purchase your (modified) template in order to keep it and use it.Templates advertised on the MotoCMS <a target="_blank" href="http://www.motocms.com/website-templates/">template marketplace</a> start from $139. However, when I went to purhase my own modified template, I was asked for $199. Although this is probably down to the template I selected.Extras like the eCommerce plugin and an installation service can also be purchased at the time of checkout.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-7-1524x0-is.png" />For me, the pricing is probably about right. The templates are awesome as they are, so after a week of editing, it's worth the relatively reasonable price tag.<h2>The Verdict</h2>To describe MotoCMS, one word springs to my mind again and again; crisp.Their website, their interface and their templates are all delicately refined. I'm a big, big fan of the MotoCMS visual user experience across the admin panel, too.However, a CMS needs to be more than just a pretty face.With no blogging features, and eCommerce coming at an added price, the average startup might pass on this attractive platform. Plus, despite being WYSIWG, I wouldn't say it's the easiest website builder to use, as you're never too far away from some technical options.Would I recommend MotoCMS to first-time website builders looking to start a business? Probably not. But I would recommend it to a web developer who wants to churn out classy websites for clients who need static websites. Because that's where MotoCMS really shines.<h3>Pros</h3><ul><li>MotoCMS is a very sleek and beautiful platform. That makes it a joy to use.</li><li>Templates are plentiful, and expertly designed.</li><li>It's fast. 40% faster than WordPress, according to MotoCMS.</li><li>Editing as you preview your website on desktop, tablet and smartphone is simple and slick, just like a website builder should be.</li><li>Widgets like galleries, contact forms, maps, iframes, sliders and so forth help kit out the feature set.</li><li>General editing is easy, with point-and-click interfaces and extra menus for more sophisticated tinkering.</li><li>Live chat, a knowledge base and an online community make up the decent support system in place for MotoCMS users.</li></ul><h3>Cons</h3><ul><li>MotoCMS is not hosted. You'll need to source your own web host.</li><li>There are some (slight) display issues when it comes to help windows.</li><li>The eCommerce Plugin requires an extra $99 payment.</li><li>MotoCMS doesn't really offer much as a blogging solution.</li></ul><h2>Final Remarks</h2><a href="/products/motocms">MotoCMS</a> prides itself on offering awesome looking templates, and rightly so.A quick look at their template selection tells you that you can build a pretty slick looking website. They're beautifully crafted, and the website builder itself makes it quite easy to build on what's already there.However, it just feels like a slight technical step above the most basic website builders on the market. For web design newbies, that spells trouble. But for experienced web developers with clients on hand? It's a platform worth exploring, for sure.MotoCMS needs some touching up, but it seems to be coming along nicely. I personally like its charm, and I'll be keeping a close eye on its progress in the coming months and years.

MotoCMS Review

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