Articles - Page 150

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

janus-boye

This year, we had a large list of content management systems fighting to be in the nominees for Best Open Source CMS and considering how successful this category was last year, it's no surprise we've got a solid list of contenders for the award in 2013.
Last year, <a href="/products/concrete5/">Concrete5 </a>took home the People's Choice award but this year, we've got a whole new list of nominees to choose from. Remember, YOU chose this list of nominees and YOU chose who won with your votes. We're just happy that each year, we've got some fresh faces in these nominations.
As a refresher, here's the list of nominees for this year's People's Choice Award for Best Open Source CMS:
<ol>
<li><a href="/products/modx/"> MODX </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/dnn-platform/"> DNN Platform </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/liferay/"> Liferay </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/processwire/"> Processwire </a></li>
<li><a href="/cms-critic-awards/"> e107 </a></li>
</ol>
And the winner of the 2013 People's Choice Award for Best Open Source CMS won by a huge margin thanks to your votes. The winner is…
<img style="max-width:150px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-open-source-cms150x0.png" />
MODX!
MODX is an incredible CMS that offers an abundance of features for those looking for quality software for free. MODX Revolution starts as a completely blank slate. Start from scratch, or use the Package Manager to download and install Add-ons, Core Extensions, Templates, or even Content Pack Distributions.
Congratulations to the MODX development team and to all those CMS that were nominated this year.
Learn more about <a href="/products/modx/">MODX </a>or visit them <a href="http://www.modx.com">on the web</a>.
Don't forget, we have the Critic's Choice portion underway now, where a panel of judges select the winner of the Critics Choice awards so check back to see who gets picked as the cream of the crop by the Critics.

2013 People's Choice Winner for Best Open Source CMS

mike-johnston

These days, search engine optimization (SEO) feels like a moving target, making it ever more difficult for businesses to get their name out there and place high among the search engine listings for their main keywords. Back in the olden days, as recently as five years ago, it was easy enough to just outsource your SEO to a specialty agency who would optimize your pages, stuff your keywords, maybe do some shady black hat tricks, and make sure all your metadata boxes were checked. It really was as simple as that. Throw some AdWords money in for good measure, and voila! Ample web traffic was yours!
But as all good things must do, those days have come to an end. It’s just not that simple anymore. In the modern days of Panda and Penguin, of content is king, of repurposing and reuse, you have to be a content machine in order to compete with all the other websites out there fighting for the top unpaid search placements. The truth is, content freshness is one of the biggest factors in your search engine ranking. Not just fresh content, but lots of it!
Sure, the old stuff still matters–keeping your metadata descriptions under a certain length, strategically using the keywords that you want to rank for, and creating traffic via referral links from other sites–but even those things have changed some in the last five years. For example, referral links need to come from reputable sources, or they can actually be worse for your site than no referral links at all. And using keywords is a must, but you can be penalized for over-using them.
So how do you balance the new requirements with the traditional best practices? Well, it starts by having the right tools. The creators of Cascade Server CMS have made it a top priority to provide the best available tools to their clients for driving traffic to their business websites. After all, isn’t the purpose of a CMS to help you create the best website you can? And if you’re spending money on a website and a CMS, shouldn’t you find the best product that will give you a solid return on your investment?
Cascade Server provides a unique set of tools to help you improve your business’ SEO. For example, Cascade Server offers content freshness reporting to help you keep all pages and content up to date. The freshness factor is not exclusively about putting out new pages consistently but also about adding new content to existing pages. The more recently a page has been significantly modified, the fresher it is considered to searched engines, and therefore, the more likely it is to be served up as a top search result.
Cascade Server allows you to see how fresh your pages are based on the a specific time frame since they were last modified (30 days, 60 days, 90 days, etc.) as well as to view pages that have “review dates” set that are upcoming or overdue. This way, you can always make sure you are updating pages as soon as they need to be updated based on time-sensitive content, and you can make sure all the pages on your site are refreshed regularly to please the search engines.
<img style="display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/stale-content.png" alt="The Cascade Server Content Freshness Report shows you what portion of your site is out of date and also allows you to drill down to see stale pages, set new review dates, notify users that their pages are stale, or make updates directly." />
The Cascade Server Content Freshness Report shows you what portion of your site is out of date and also allows you to drill down to see stale pages, set new review dates, notify users that their pages are stale, or make updates directly.
Planning new content is essential to maintain freshness on your site, drive new traffic, generate new leads and subscribers, and be a thought leader in your industry. With the Editorial Calendar that comes standard with Cascade Server, you can plan blog posts and other content pieces, assign them to users, schedule them on your calendar, and even see how past pieces are performing.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/editorial_calendar.png" alt="With the Editorial Calendar that comes standard with Cascade Server, you can plan blog posts and other content pieces, assign them to users, schedule them on your calendar, and even see how past pieces are performing. Regularly scheduling new content to be published can significantly improve your search ranking." />
With the Editorial Calendar that comes standard with Cascade Server, you can plan blog posts and other content pieces, assign them to users, schedule them on your calendar, and even see how past pieces are performing. Regularly scheduling new content to be published can significantly improve your search ranking.
In addition to this data, Cascade Server also provides a Google Analytics connector, which allows you to bring additional traffic data right into the CMS. All of your content contributors and editors may not have access to your business’ Google Analytics account, but by bringing this data into the CMS, they can see directly how their content is driving traffic for the entire site.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/web_traffic_analytics.png" alt="cascade - web traffic analytics" />
By allowing content authors to see web traffic analytics right inside the CMS, you can empower them to create better content and hold them accountable for their work.
In addition to content freshness and analytics, it is important to remember the basics. That’s why Cascade Server provides SEO Scoring for every page on your site. While meeting these basic requirements may not give you much of a boost in rankings, not meeting them could result in SEO penalties that you will definitely want to avoid.
<img style="display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/seo_scoring.png" alt="SEO Scoring in Cascade Server provides a way to ensure that you’re meeting the minimum basic requirements for search engine optimization. There’s a lot more to SEO than this checklist, but you’ve got to start somewhere." />
SEO Scoring in Cascade Server provides a way to ensure that you’re meeting the minimum basic requirements for search engine optimization. There’s a lot more to SEO than this checklist, but you’ve got to start somewhere.
Just because search engine optimization has gotten harder, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Want to learn more about how Cascade Server can help with your SEO? We’d love to speak to you. Just fill out the form below, and we’ll be in touch within one business day to discuss your needs.
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Cascade Server CMS Helps Customers Improve Their Search Engine Ranking

The award for Best Hosted / Cloud CMS is new for 2013 and we added it to give a bit of separation from the typical content management systems on the market.
For a cloud CMS to be effective, the services need to be managed well, offer regular updates and security maintenance, have excellent technical support and high availability. These are separate from the typical requirements of a standard CMS and therefore, we felt it justified to have this new category this year.
As a refresher, here are the nominees for this year:
<ol>
<li><a href="http://acquia.com/products-services/acquia-cloud"> Acquia Cloud </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/agility-cms/"> Agility CMS </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/commonspot"> CommonSpot </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/gutensite"> Gutensite </a></li>
</ol>
It's time to announce the winner of the People's Choice award for Best Hosted / Cloud CMS. This was a hard-fought battle between <a href="/products/agility-cms/">Agility CMS </a> and <a href="http://acquia.com/products-services/acquia-cloud">Acquia Cloud</a> but in the end, there can only be one winner.
So who takes home the award for Best Hosted / Cloud CMS for 2013?  According to the people, it's…
<img style="max-width:150px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-hosted-cloud-cms150x0.png" />
Acquia Cloud!
Acquia's open cloud platform delivers scalability, security, and high performance for your Drupal sites. Acquia Cloud is the only solution that helps everyone from professional developers to large enterprises achieve success in Drupal application lifecycle management.
Congratulations to the Acquia development team and to all those CMS that were nominated this year.
Visit them <a href="http://acquia.com/products-services/acquia-cloud">on the web</a>.
Don't forget, we have the Critic's Choice portion underway now, where a panel of judges select the winner of the Critics Choice awards so check back to see who gets picked as the cream of the crop by the Critics.

2013 People's Choice Winner for Best Hosted / Cloud CMS

ImpressPages have now launched the latest version of their user-friendly CMS in the form of <a href="http://www.impresspages.org/" target="_blank"> ImpressPages CMS 3.6 </a> , which boasts a Theme Marketplace with a twist. 
 The creation of ImpressPages CMS by <a href="http://www.aproweb.eu/" target="_blank"> Apro Media </a>  – a web design firm, came in response to the difficulties faced by many of their customers, who were having trouble learning the ropes of other popular content management systems on the market. So, the team at Apro Media decided to build ImpressPages, in a bid to make life easier for their customers, and the wider web community in general. 
 The main addition made to ImpressPages via the latest update, has been the introduction of the Theme Marketplace, which is a lot more than your average theme or template store.
<h2>The Theme Marketplace</h2>
ImpressPages CMS' <a href="http://market.impresspages.org/" target="_blank">Theme Marketplace</a> houses a range of beautifully designed themes, all of which work seamlessly with the content management system. You can currently find a mixture of six free themes, alongside four premium themes, selling at $49 each.
Users of ImpressPages don't even need to visit the marketplace, as the theme repository can be browsed through without needing to leave the admin panel. Similarly, each theme can be previewed in the same way, before purchase. There is also a one-click install feature, which naturally ties in with the ImpressPages ethos of user friendliness.
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1700x0.png" alt="ImpressPages CMS 3.6" /> You can go a step further by customizing pre-designed themes too, by adjusting colours, fonts, layouts, and other parameters, all within the admin panel.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3.png" alt="ImpressPages CMS 3.6" />
However, ImpressPages have also given their Theme Marketplace an interesting spin. Developers using ImpressPages can quickly and easily begin building, publishing and selling their themes to other ImpressPages users through the Theme Marketplace.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/21.png" alt="ImpressPages CMS 3.6" /> Developers can choose to charge for their themes, or create completely free ones for the benefit of the community. ImpressPages merchants can also choose to contribute between 10% to 50% of his fee to the growth of ImpressPages.
<h2>Still Keeping It Simple</h2>
With version 3.6, ImpressPages CMS have remained true to their rule of simplicity, by streamlining their platform even further.
For example, LESS CSS support has been integrated – making it easier to understand and modify CSS, along with default widget styles which are now fully responsive and are also available in plain CSS and configurable LESS formats.
To find out more about these additional features bundled with ImpressPages CMS 3.6, as well as to get an insight into the future of the platform, you can read through ImpressPages' <a href="http://www.impresspages.org/blog/impresspages-cms-3-6-and-theme-marketplace-in-a-nutshell/" target="_blank">official release notes</a>.

ImpressPages CMS 3.6 Released Along With Theme Marketplace

With so many content management systems to choose from, how do you select the right one for your marketing team? One item that always seems to fall to the bottom of the consideration list – after a lengthy analysis of features and price – is the quality and availability of on-going services after your new website is launched.  You can quickly focus your search for a new vendor by considering what level of service you need from your <a href="http://www.marqui.com/landing-pages/CMSCriticMorethanSoftware.aspx">CMS provider first.</a>
Maybe you are a crack coder or have an IT team in your organization with a ton of experience building and maintaining websites. If this is the case in your organization, you may decide to manage the build and ongoing maintenance of your website internally. The question you really need to be honest about at this point is – do you want to? The ongoing maintenance and time required to ensure that software updates or patches are applied correctly, without breaking any of the plug-ins or custom code you’ve created will continually fall to your IT team. If something does break, are you confident that there is time to hunt through forums to find solutions and then implement them yourself? For mission critical websites, the time to get a page fixed or a patch installed can make the difference between a successful campaign launch and explaining to the CMO why you missed a key Q3 initiative. You also want to know that after the initial excitement of launching the site is over, there is a commitment to keep the site up to date in a timely manner. You might find that choosing a vendor with a technical support team that specializes in working with your CSM just makes your marketing teams life easier, allowing everyone to focus on marketing rather than the technology.
On the other hand, if you are a marketing department that doesn’t have access to a website development team or IT resources are thin, you should seriously consider the advantages of having a CMS with ongoing technical and design support first. Although I have been talking about services in general, it makes sense here to talk about the different kinds of support available. First, there is technical support. You need a team of people who understand the CMS you’re using, your website, and your overall marketing efforts. Knowing how these elements work together is the key to quick troubleshooting and fast resolutions of issues. Beyond being experienced, the technical support team must also be available when you need them. Always be sure to check the support availability for your time zone and the average turnaround times to respond to phone calls or email.  The second type of support is design and best practices support. A digital services team should be able to advise you on ways to improve your site design to take advantage of your technologies and improve the effectiveness of your digital campaigns. Most importantly, a services team that knows your CMS and marketing programs can make value added suggestions, knowing that you can implement them with your current technology platforms.
If your CMS provider has a <a href="http://www.marqui.com/landing-pages/CMSCriticMorethanSoftwareServices.aspx">digital services team</a> or partner program for building, designing or re-designing websites your next web update will be considerably easier. Being able to engage with a team that understands the capabilities of your CMS means that design choices can be made that allow you freedom (after the build is complete) to update more of the content. Hiring an agency that is not familiar with your CMS risks you having a site that does not work optimally with your CMS. For example, a site design may be unsuitable or expensive to build, or there is too much hard coded design on websites that you cannot update or modify through the CMS.  Whatever you do, don’t let an agency pick your CMS because it is the one that they like best! You will be the one who will be using it day in and day out and it must suit your needs first.
Although there are pros and cons to using installed software versus a cloud-based CMS services, cloud-based content management systems and services work together very nicely. Not only does the maintenance of the CMS fall to the solution provider, the very nature of cloud-based platforms means they are accessible by a support services team and are not locked behind your IT firewall. You don’t have to open up your internal IT systems to outside support teams or play guessing games about what can be seen on the screen – your service provider can log in and troubleshoot quickly and easily.
For your next CMS purchase, considering the level of services that works best for your organization can help you short list the right vendors. After all, choosing the right CMS for you make your team more effective and your day to day work trouble-free.
<a href="http://www.marqui.com/landing-pages/CMSCriticMorethanSoftwareGeneral.aspx">Marqui</a> provides web marketing software and services to help our customers engage members, customers and prospects through the web. Our on-demand software combines powerful web content management and drip email marketing without compromising ease-of-use for non-technical users. Our customers receive industry-leading support and a range of services focused on helping them succeed including web marketing consulting and website design and build.

Confidence and Support: Why A CMS vendor should provide more than just software

Movable Type have announced the arrival of a new, cloud-based hosted &amp; managed version of their powerhouse publishing and blogging software.
The CMS giants came into being in 2001, and have grown into a widely popular social publishing platform, supporting thousands of organizations, some of which make up the world's Fortune 100 companies.
<a href="http://www.movabletype.com/" target="_blank"> Movable Type </a>  now provides its users with bespoke cloud computing and managed hosting solutions which allow their customers to deploy their sites to the cloud with just a single click. All this, has been as a result of Movable Types partnership with <a href="http://www.arckcloud.com/" target="_blank"> ArckCloud </a> .
<h2>Teaming Up With ArckCloud</h2>
To make the cloud-based hosting possible, Movable Type have teamed up with ArckCloud. The founder and director of ArckCloud, had this to say about the partnership:
<blockquote>
“Having been long-time users of Movable Type, we couldn’t be more excited to be partnering with the company. Everybody in America loves a comeback, and we want to be part of that and help make Movable Type easier to use and better than ever.”
</blockquote>
ArckCloud aims to aid Movable Type's customers by getting their publications and blogs on a stable, secure cloud server, whilst offering OS/application updates, patches, support for critical application issues, infrastructure consulting, performance reporting and automagic application scaling, in line with the growth of each specific website.
<h2>Up In The Clouds</h2>
When it came to making the decision regarding cloud-based hosting and management services, general manager of Movable Type North America, Robert Minton, gave the following statement:
<blockquote>
“Our research, ranging in scope from enterprise customers down to the small business owner and individual blogger, indicated we needed to introduce a simpler, streamlined version of Movable Type in the marketplace. We engaged customers, listened to their feedback and now offer a solution that makes it easy to get up and running on Movable Type in a cost-effective manner for the growing business.”
</blockquote>
Naturally, the one-click cloud server setup resulting from Movable Type's union with ArckCloud, allows organizations and individuals to focus more of their time, energy and money on other parts of their publication.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1700x0.png" alt="Moveable Type" />
Movable Type Pro – which will also be available in the Amazon Market place this fall, has been designed from the ground up for bloggers, design and development firms, and small to medium-sized businesses. What's more is, Movable Type Pro and has all of the usual Movable Type features, plus extra social networking options, custom fields and new professional templates.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2700x0.png" alt="Moveable Type" />
To showcase all of these new enhancements, Movable Type will host the Movable Type Idea Exchange, in conjunction with the 2013 Pivot Conference at Social Week in New York City, on October 15th and 16th, 2013. 
During the event, developers, bloggers and company representatives alike will have the opportunity to interact and engage with the latest version of the Movable Type platform.
If you're interested in attending the Movable Type Idea Exchange conference in New York City, you can find all the relevant details, along with information on how to register for attendance, <a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/event/7757704503" target="_blank"> right here </a> .

Hosted & Managed Version of Movable Type Announced

Users of the <a href="https://www.wazala.com/" target="_blank">Wazala!</a> ecommerce platform have been treated this week to some major updates coming in the form of Wazala! 2.0.
Those unfamiliar with the online store builder should know that Wazala! is a uniquely straight-forward platform which can help you to <a href="/build-an-online-store-using-wazala/" target="_blank">overlay a store on top of existing websites and pages in minutes </a> .
Now, with the launch of Wazala! 2.0, users will be getting a number of enhancements and additions which will impact design, marketing and general usability.
<h2>A New Look</h2>
As well as a brand new slick user interface, you can now enjoy Wazala!'s new store designer dashboard which allows you to pick a ready-to-use theme – all of which are free, or even build an entire online store from scratch.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1700x0.png" alt="Wazala! 2.0" />
If you're opting for one of Wazala's free themes, you can add your own finishing touches via the Wazala Designer page, where colours, fonts, headers, footers and more can all be customized.
These enhanced design options mean that your store can now be tweaked to match your existing website, making the shopping process even more seamless and free flowing for your customers.
<h2>A Deeper Infrastructure</h2>
To go with Wazala!'s shiny new looks and design features, Wazala! 2.0 also brings about some behind the scenes updates to help with marketing and general store analysis.
For example, the new sales &amp; stats dashboard lets you easily view sales, average order totals, average number of products per order, and so forth. The dashboard can also calculate conversions by a specific date or time period.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-31.png" alt="Wazala! 2.0" />
Wazala! 2.0 also introduces a more detailed approach to search engine optimization. Without you having to lift a finger, your Wazala! store will come fully optimized “out of the box”, in line with the highest SEO standards.
Every page, product or item you add to your store, will be automatically accompanied by keyword-rich URL’s, meta titles, descriptions and keywords. Naturally, these can all be tweaked at a later stage if necessary.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-4.png" alt="Wazala! 2.0" />
Also, Wazala! have implemented three new payment gateways; Stripe, PayMill and PayPal Advanced. These new options come in to accompany existing Wazala! payment methods including PayPal and Google Checkout.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-2700x0.png" alt="Wazala! 2.0" /> 
On top of all these great additions Wazala! announced that digital product selling is now available to all users, whilst social media sharing options have also been improved. To get a better understanding of these Wazala! 2.0 features, and the other enhancements mentioned above, check out the <a href="https://www.wazala.com/" target="_blank">official Wazala! 2.0 release notes</a>.
Additionally, you can find out more about <a href="/products/wazala/" target="_blank">Wazala! via our CMS directory</a>.

Wazala! 2.0 Launched

Shopify - The global commerce platform

Build your business with Shopify to sell online, offline, and everywhere in between.

The global commerce platform

#ffffff

This year, we had a huge amount of competition for Best Free CMS and lots of communities were vying to get their favorites to the top.
The list of free content management systems is a huge one and with the number of products in the market, the list to filter during the nominations stage was very lengthy but it came down to 5 very impressive CMS platforms.
Let's review who was nominated for this year's People's Choice award for Best Free CMS.
Here are the nominees for those who were unaware:
<ol>
<li><a href="/products/processwire/">Processwire</a></li>
<li><a href="/products/tiki-wiki-cms-groupware/">Tiki</a></li>
<li><a href="/products/concrete5/">Concrete5</a></li>
<li><a href="/products/wordpress/">WordPress</a></li>
<li><a href="/products/umbraco/">Umbraco</a></li>
</ol>
And the winner is…
WordPress!
<img style="max-width:150px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-free-cms150x0.png" />
As you can see, this year, WordPress was nominated and as such, it didn't take long for the community to rally behind it. We all know how huge the WordPress community is and once they chose to back their platform of choice, it was pretty clear that WordPress would end up the winner of the 2013 People's Choice Award for Best Free CMS.
Congratulations to the WordPress development team and to all those CMS that were nominated this year.
<a href="/products/wordpress/">Learn more about WordPress</a> or visit them <a href="https://wordpress.org/">on the web</a>.
Don't forget, we have the Critic's Choice portion underway now, where a panel of judges select the winner of the Critics Choice awards so check back to see who gets picked as the cream of the crop by the Critics.

2013 People's Choice Winner for Best Free CMS

The exponential growth of ecommerce over the last few years in no secret to anybody.
As time goes on, more and more ecommerce new-comers enter the fray with fresh ideas and firm determination. They are of course joined by seasoned offline and online merchants reinventing their businesses on the web, where <a href="http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/online-retail-sales-growth/" target="_blank">research shows</a> that the sales figures are only getting healthier.
In light of this, most people looking to get started in ecommerce are looking for two things – functionality and simplicity.
<a href="/shopify" target="_blank">Shopify</a> is a popular ecommerce platform which holds both of these attributes, plus much more, just as I mentioned in my <a href="/shopify-review-ecommerce-only-simpler/" target="_blank">Shopify review</a> some months back. Now however, I'm going to discuss just how Shopify manages to make ecommerce as simple as can be.
<h2>1. Simple Store Setup</h2>
<a href="/shopify" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1700x0.png" alt="Shopify Simplifies Ecommerce" /></a>
If you need to get your store online in a hurry, using Shopify is a great way to do it without losing out on quality along the way.
The initial sign up process is over in a matter of seconds, which is swiftly followed by an easy-to-follow six step plan designed to help you lay the foundations of your store, including a professional domain name, design and products. If you know what you want, you can have a fully functioning store set up within just minutes of signing up.
<h2>2. No Technicalities</h2>
<a href="/shopify" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-3700x0.png" alt="Shopify Simplifies Ecommerce" /></a>
Shopify offers plenty in terms of detailed customization features and other built-in tools which seasoned merchants will find useful. Yet, ecommerce newcomers will also be just as happy with the platform's alternative, non-technical approach.
Frankly, you don't need to know anything about web design, coding, or anything else technical in order to successfully Shopify. Beautifully pre-designed themes can be activated with just a few clicks, whilst the admin panel oozes simplicity to help you add products and pages in no time at all.
<h2>3. Easy Platform Migration</h2>
<a href="/shopify" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-4700x0.png" alt="Shopify Simplifies Ecommerce" /></a>
Shopify also makes life easy for those with existing stores hosted on other platforms, such as WordPress, Ebay and Magento.
Within the <a href="http://apps.shopify.com/" target="_blank">Shopify App Store</a>, you can find a host of specialised importer tools which will help you to migrate your online store from a variety of different popular platforms like the ones mentioned above. Once you install the app on your Shopify store, all you have to do is follow the instructions within the app, which will import your products in no time at all.
<h2>4. Theme Freedom</h2>
<a href="/shopify" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-5700x0.png" alt="Shopify Simplifies Ecommerce" /></a>
With over 100 free and premium themes to choose from via the Shopify Theme Store, you shouldn't be too hard-pressed to find a theme which is suitable for your industry.
However, on top of simply selecting a pre-designed theme, you can tinker with the design via some user friendly options pertaining to how your website header looks, social media buttons, additional layouts, and more. More experienced web designers can delve into the code of the theme, or even create a new Shopify theme from scratch.
<h2>5. Flexible Payment Gateways</h2>
<a href="/shopify" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-6700x0.png" alt="Shopify Simplifies Ecommerce" /></a>
Being able to offer your customers a convenient payment gateway is vital when it comes to ecommerce, and Shopify does a great job of recognizing that.
As well as giving you the option to offer popular payment options such as PayPal, SagePay, and over 70 other gateways, Shopify also handles credit card payments for you – globally.
<h2>6. Smart Marketing</h2>
<a href="/shopify" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-7700x0.png" alt="Shopify Simplifies Ecommerce" /></a>
Marketing your online store correctly can be a hard task for anyone. Thankfully, Shopify offers some pretty useful tools built-in to the admin panel to make the whole process a little easier.
For example, a fully integrated blogging platform can be added to your store, alongside in-depth visitor, customer and order tracking analytics. For search engine optimization purposes, Shopify enables you to specify page titles, meta tags and more, for both pages and products. All of these marketing features are rounded off nicely by Shopify's discount &amp; coupon code engine.
<h2>7. Offline POS Solutions</h2>
<a href="/shopify" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-8700x0.png" alt="Shopify Simplifies Ecommerce" /></a>
For those of you who have physical stores, Shopify's POS (Point of Sale) solution is where it gets really interesting.
<a href="https://www.shopify.com/pos" target="_blank">Shopify POS</a> is essentially an iPad application which allows you to sync your product inventories between your offline and online store, allowing you to take orders from both customers visiting your physical retail setting, as well as those visiting your website. Once your iPad is set up within your store, customers can browse your catalogue, select products and swipe their credit card using the Shopify Card Reader. Customers can then print or email themselves a receipt.
<h2>8. Endless Support</h2>
<a href="/shopify" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-9.png" alt="Shopify Simplifies Ecommerce" /></a>
Last, but not least on Shopify's list of simplifications, is the terrific support systems they have in place.
Shopify have a comprehensive approach to customer support, made up of a <a href="http://docs.shopify.com/support" target="_blank">dedicated support page</a> which aims to answer the most common questions, a <a href="http://ecommerce.shopify.com/forums" target="_blank">discussion forum</a> where you can ask thousands of other Shopify users for assistance, along with an extensive <a href="http://docs.shopify.com/" target="_blank">Shopify Manual</a>. If all of those options fail you, Shopify's support team can be contacted directly via live chat, email or phone.
So there you have it, 8 very good reasons for why you should try Shopify if you're looking for a simple, yet functional ecommerce solution. A great way to join the 60,000 people already using Shopify, would be to <a href="/shopify">check out their 14-day free trial</a>.
Additionally, you can learn more about <a href="/products/shopify/" target="_blank">Shopify via our CMS Directory</a>.

8 Ways Shopify Simplifies Ecommerce

If you're planning to build a website with the intention to share or showcase digital media, then selecting a CMS with a solid digital asset management (DAM) system is absolutely vital.
This applies to both individuals looking to extend their personal web presence, as well as enterprising organizations seeking a professional website solution.
Being able to manage, modify and present documents, images and other digital assets in a fashion which befits your company or persona will ultimately decide how much of an impact your content has on the end user. Not to mention the ease-of-use administrators will enjoy with a powerful DAM system in place.
<a href="http://www.jahia.com/" target="_blank">Jahia xCM</a> is a capable content management system with a feature extensive digital asset management system built in, which will sound like a highly lucrative combination for almost any serious website builder looking for a suitable platform for their site – or sites.
<h2>The Essentials of Digital Asset Management</h2>
A digital asset management system essentially helps to store, manage, modify and present digital files such as PDF documents, images, videos and so forth. They work extremely well in enterprise environments, where workflows need to be streamlined.
Being able to manage digital assets on a large or professional scale within most website building CMS, can often prove difficult, if not unfulfilling. This is largely because, as most content management systems attempt to focus on aesthetic design options and flexible content publishing features, digital asset management often takes a back seat. They do exist of course, but usually in very basic forms, with limited customization features.
So, for organizations seeking to manage, publish and present a vast array of digital assets across numerous web initiatives, using just any CMS can cause issues. Ideally for such organizations, a balance would be struck between flexible content publication, and powerful digital asset management.
As it so happens, that ideal solution may just exist within Jahia xCM's competent CMS.
<h2>Striking the Balance with Jahia xCM</h2>
Jahia xCM does a pretty impressive job when it comes to the balancing act between quality content publishing, easy website creation and highly detailed digital asset management.
Due to the extensive and customizable features offered by Jahia xCM's embedded DAM features, it would not be unfair to compare the platform to a dedicated digital asset management system.
For example, media assets can be given pre-defined and user-defined rules and metadata, subjected to workflows, reviews and of course be easily published. In fact, Jahia xCM goes a step further with publishing and presenting digital assets, by providing drag-and-drop functionality to insert assets into pages, as well as configurable modules to create new rules, such as document thumbnails.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-2.png" alt="Jahia xCM" /> 
Additionally, there is enhanced control over images and how they are to be displayed within your Jahia xCM website. Images themselves can be cropped, resized and rotated, whilst thumbnails are automatically generated in relation to user-configurable rules.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1.png" alt="Jahia xCM" /> 
Jahia xCM's digital asset management system further impresses by allowing you to automatically convert documents to PDFs, auto-publish assets, and make use of tagging. Documents and files can also be uploaded to the server en masse, or within .zip files, which can then be uncompressed on the server itself.
On top of all these features, Jahia xCM also offers widgets which allow for digital assets to be displayed on your website in a number of ways, including sliders, galleries, fancy boxes, and so on.
Additionally, not only does Jahia xCM silently index all documents and digital assets, but it also silently manages the links integrity, if an asset is moved or renamed.
Many of Jahia xCM's DAM features mentioned above are demonstrated by this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn2loxb5LKg&amp;feature=share&amp;list=PLCi1wJLT02ziX4o-JQB2Ga7B7w6Q0k-4_">introductory video on document rules</a>, all of which would prove handy for both enterprise automated needs, and for the needs of an individual editor or publisher.
So, if you're looking for a solid combination between content and asset management, look no further than <a href="http://www.jahia.com/home" target="_blank">Jahia xCM</a>.
For more information, you can also find <a href="/products/jahia/">Jahia xCM on our CMS Directory</a>.
NB: In addition to properly blending Content and Digital Asset Management with Jahia xCM, Jahia also provides a rich collaboration and sharing tool for Digital Assets dedicated to Marketing teams in a perfectly integrated package, called <a href="http://www.jahia.com/business/jahia-wise-key-benefits" target="_blank">Jahia Wise</a> – But I'll get to that in another article, so stay put!

A Look at Jahia xCM's Brilliant Blend of Content & Digital Asset Management

Silk, is a platform used by over 16,000 people to share their collections, opinions and data related to pretty much anything, ranging from their favourite coffee places to the latest statistics for their beloved sports teams. 
 Essentially, <a href="http://www.silk.co/" target="_blank"> Silk </a> allows you to quickly and easily organize data within a very clean, simple design,which helps focus on the content your Silk site is trying to present. Silk excels with the visualization of information by providing options for the use of crisply designed graphs and charts. 
 Now, <a href="http://www.marketwired.com/About-Us" target="_blank"> Market Wired </a>  – the company behind Silk, have announced the release of a new Silk service, build from the ground up for enterprising companies and organizations.
<h2>Silk For Teams</h2>
Within <a href="http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/silk-launches-silk-teams-announces-new-investment-from-leading-venture-capital-firm-1838363.htm" target="_blank"> Market Wired's official release notes </a> , the cloud-based publishing providers said the following regarding their new venture:
<blockquote>
With the new Silk for Teams, Silk allows companies or organizations to build private, secure Silk sites backed by a rapid-response support tier for paid subscription customers. Proven use cases for Silk include project management, customer relationship management, historical data capture and analysis, human resources intranets, competitive analysis, and lightweight graphics generation for reports and websites.
</blockquote>
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-11700x0.png" alt="Silk For Teams" />
People who work together on different projects within one body or company need to share and update information in a way which is quick, easy and easy to share. Silk For Teams makes this happen, by allowing organizations to privately share in-house knowledge and data throughout their staff or user base via a Silk-based website.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-10700x0.png" alt="Silk For Teams" />
Using Silk For Teams, internal knowledge bases can be formed which help organizations detail project tasks, analyse online engagement, combine Word &amp; Excel documents, and much more.
<h2>New Enterprise Assosciates Investment</h2>
As well as revealing the all new Silk For Teams service, the Silk project was given one more boost, thanks to a hefty $1.6 million investment made by New Enterprise Associates. Market Wired's official release notes had the following to say:
<blockquote>
The extended financing round brings total funding to date of $3.7 million, and includes investments from NEA as well as Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom’s venture fund Atomico. Silk’s founding team previously launched Xopus, which was acquired in 2010 by publicly-traded SDL, the global customer experience management company. Xopus offered a solution for enterprises looking to make use of structured and complex content. 
</blockquote>
Additionally, Silk rounded off their newly improved, further funded platform by offering the service – along with thousands of Silk sites, on a new, shorter www.silk.co domain.
To find out more about Silk, Silk For Teams, and to also create your very own Silk website, <a href="http://www.silk.co" target="_blank"> visit their official website </a> .

Silk Launches Silk For Teams & Announces $1.6M Investment

There are plenty of excellent enterprise-class content management systems on the market but only one can be chosen as Best Enterprise CMS by the people. This year, we had a tough race to the finish with Adobe, Liferay, and Sitecore the top three contenders but who will take home the award?
Enterprise content management is a tough gig. There are a huge number of competitors and standing out from the crowd can be tough. Innovation occurs every day and each new product must be able to adapt to meet the coming demands of the next generation of marketers and business people. This year's nominees reflect systems that our readers believe to be some of the best in the business and we're glad to have them participate in our annual awards.
As a reminder, here are the nominees for this year's Best Enterprise CMS award:
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.adobe.com/solutions/web-experience-management.html"> Adobe Experience Manager </a></li>
<li>Cascade Server</li>
<li><a href="/products/episerver-optimizely/"> Episerver (Optimizely)</a></li>
<li><a href="/products/liferay/"> Liferay </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/sitecore/"> Sitecore </a></li>
</ol>
This year was a close battle between Adobe (last year's winner), Liferay, and Sitecore but in the end, there can only be one winner and we're pleased to announce that the winner for Best Enterprise CMS for 2013 is…
<h3><img style="max-width:150px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-enterprise-cms150x0.png" /></h3>
<h3>Sitecore!</h3>
Delivering unparalleled ease of use, total flexibility, and enterprise-grade capabilities, Sitecore CMS is the platform of choice for leading companies around the world, powering more than 32,000 websites.
They offer an online marketing suite and a powerful enterprise-class content management system that truly are deserving of this award.
<a href="/products/sitecore/">Learn more about Sitecore</a> or visit them <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/">on the web</a>.
Congratulations to the Sitecore team on their win! Stay tuned to find out who walks away with the Critics Choice Award (selected by our panel of judges) coming soon.

2013 People's Choice Winner for Best Enterprise CMS

As you know, this year we are using a panel of judges to help select the winners of the Critics Choice portion of the CMS Awards. We're already announced our first judge, <a href="/introduction-to-the-judges-john-coonen/">John Coonen</a> and now it's time to tell you who the second one is.Our second judge for the Critics Choice CMS Awards is none other than Adriaan Bloem. Adriaan is very active on social media and can be found answering questions on site such as Quora and many others.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/adriaan-bloem-shirt-ed-sm100x0.jpg" alt="Adriaan Bloem" />What specifically made us think of him was his knack for honesty in his answers and we think it ties in well to the way we try to be here at CMS Critic, open, unbiased and honest.For those of you who don't know him, Adriaan is Senior Manager at MBC Group, responsible for online platform and infrastructure coherence, ranging from web content management, mobile, social, forums, to video.Adriaan has 18 years of experience in online, and was previously Analyst at the Real Story Group, and Consultant to large enterprises on their internet, social enterprise, and search endeavours. Adriaan likes penguins.You can find him on Twitter <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/adriaanbloem‎">@adriaanbloem‎</a>For a full schedule of the awards, visit the <a href="/cms-critic-awards">CMS Awards</a> page.

Introduction to the Judges - Adriaan Bloem

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