Articles - Page 160

Agentic AI for Agencies in 2026

bmckeiver

A responsive web presence is no longer a luxury feature. It’s an absolute must have.
As new devices and screens roll out year after year, Internet surfers no longer rely solely on their desktop machines. Thus, businesses need to be ready for visitors using laptops, tablets, smartphones, watches and even TVs, all at the same time.
Thankfully, <a href="http://www.1and1.com/?AC=OM.US.USj13K353625T7073a" target="_blank">1&amp;1 Internet</a> offers all the tools needed to help customers offer a web property that’s mobile optimized, for a mobile world.
<a href="http://www.1and1.com/?AC=OM.US.USj13K353625T7073a" target="_blank"><img alt="sshot-8.png" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/dYnPiA1zK_faLxTaFUzEBY6QPdNWBgHLd5CE-GyP8RW_EUlxyrXuAnpeEQdDdgPEQf11jYoJMsNbPXJnGSL99F1wXXj3zXac9fdWxTE6mDmMb96Hgr4mKqwvovQCvpDrQFqt0d8" /></a>
Previously during this 1&amp;1 featured week, we’ve looked at the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/a-look-at-1-1-internets-customer-centric-approach/" target="_blank">web host’s customer support services</a>, and discussed <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/1-1-hosting-not-just-web-space/" target="_blank">how 1&amp;1 endeavours to be more than just a website host for their customers</a>.
Now though, let’s shift our focus to their mobile toolkit.
<h2>Mobile Out of The Box</h2>
Having a mobile-ready website design right out of the box would be great, wouldn’t it? 1&amp;1 Internet thinks so too.
For those who leverage their <a href="http://www.1and1.com/website-builder?ac=OM.US.USj13K353625T7073a">1&amp;1 MyWebsite</a> or <a href="http://www.1and1.com/ecommerce-website?ac=OM.US.USj13K353625T7073a">1&amp;1 Online Store</a> products, a range of 100% mobile responsive designs are available right out of the box.
There’s no need for any technical knowledge, as each template is designed to adjust to different screen sizes (while maintaining its good looks), all by themselves.
Furthermore, even non-customers of 1&amp;1 can benefit, as <a href="http://www.1and1.com/ecommerce-website-design?AC=http://www.1and1.com/?AC=OM.US.USj13K353625T7073a">1&amp;1 Internet’s Mobile Website Builder</a> can help turn a PC-ready website into one optimized for mobile devices.
<h2>Website Management on the Move</h2>
Your customers are mobile, and so are you.
To help you stay on top of your website management tasks while on the go, 1&amp;1 Internet offers up an array of apps and solutions.
Blog App
First up, is the Blog App. As the name suggests, customers on-the-go can update and edit their MyWebsite blog directly from their phones with the 1&amp;1 MyWebsite Blog app. The app is available for both <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oneandone.diy.blog">Android </a>and <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/1-1-mywebsite-blog/id930410198?mt=8">iOS</a>.
Whether you are at an industry conference, photoshoot, or meeting, this is the easiest and fastest way to publish new content and photos to your blog.
The Analytics App 
This app enables customers to analyze their most important website stats and data no matter where they are. Details can be viewed as a list or in chart form from custom time periods.Download it now from <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oneandone.analytics">Google Play</a> or <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/1-1-insights/id568833432?mt=8">iTunes</a>.
The Storage App
Available with all <a href="http://www.1and1.com/?ac=OM.US.USj13K353625T7073a" target="_blank">1&amp;1 hosting</a> contracts, the Storage app gives customers access to all the data located in their online storage folders directly from their smartphone or tablet. This makes working on the go much more efficient. Check it out for <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.einsundeins.smartdrive">Android </a>and <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/1-1-online-storage/id429396710?mt=8">iOS</a>.
Tablet Editing
Last but not least, is tablet editing. 1&amp;1 MyWebsite users can enjoy editing their website content – including text, images and apps – through their Apple or Android powered tablets.
So, all in all, it’s safe to say that with 1&amp;1 Internet as back up, tackling today’s mobile world should be a breeze.
To find out more about <a href="http://www.1and1.com/?ac=OM.US.USj13K353625T7073a" target="_blank">1&amp;1 Internet as a web hosting solution, check out their website</a>.

Tackling The Mobile World with 1&1 Internet

mike-johnston

Not all ASP.NET platforms are designed equal.
There are four key differentiators that set them apart, in ways that fundamentally change how the end-user can interact with the CMS in question.
Here’s an overview of those four points, adopted from the works and opinions of <a href="http://www.ingeniux.com/web-cms">Ingeniux</a>, an enterprise-grade ASP.NET MVC-based platform.
<h2>1. Architecture: Decoupled vs. Tightly Coupled</h2>
If you are looking for flexibility in how you build your front-end, or where you leverage your content management capabilities, then you want a CMS that has a decoupled architecture.
In a decoupled architecture the application for managing content is separate from the application delivering content.
In this case, the CMS does not dictate the stack, or set of technologies required to deliver the content and website, allowing for a more flexible content delivery model. In a decoupled architecture model, content can be delivered anywhere and in any format.
In contrast, in a tightly coupled architecture web content, customer data, analytics data, website presentation, and content delivery take place in a single database and application framework. In other words, content management and content delivery are the same application.
<a href="http://www.ingeniux.com/company/blog/aspnet-web-cms-architecture-decoupled-vs-tightly-coupled">Read more about ASP.NET architectural differences</a>.
<h2>2. Development Model: MVC vs. Web Forms</h2>
Let’s talk about how your developers code your front-end experience by examining the two typical approaches in ASP.NET: Web Forms and MVC.
ASP.NET Web Forms is the traditional development model for ASP.NET. Microsoft created Web Forms to help developers more familiar with client server development (e.g. WinForms) quickly migrate to building web pages through a visual RAD interface.
The problem with Web Forms is that it supports a tightly coupled architecture, one where the interface is integrated with the application functionality (code behind).
This means the application code and the interface are not easily reusable. With Web Forms you are also locked in to the controls available for the CMS platform, dependent on their quality, upgrade cycle, and HTML output standards or you must spend a lot of time creating your own customizations that then require maintenance.
MVC (model view controller) provides a different architectural pattern for development. MVC is the more modern approach to ASP.NET development, and is the future of ASP.NET with full support from Microsoft.
With MVC there is a clear separation of presentation from application logic, enabling the reuse of both. With MVC, a request is first sent to the Controller which then decides which Model (application logic/validations) and UI (View) to put together to create the appropriate front-end interface.
Another difference between Web Forms and MVC is that you can use Microsoft Web Pages (Razor) in MVC. Razor is a lightweight view engine and Microsoft recommends you use it. With Web Forms, your only template option is via an aspx page.
<a href="http://www.ingeniux.com/company/blog/aspnet-web-cms-architecture-decoupled-vs-tightly-coupled">Read more about MVC vs Web Forms</a>.
<h2>3. Structured Content vs. Blob Content</h2>
In a world where new channels and devices are emerging all the time, the ability to reuse content is absolutely critical.
Content reuse takes a variety of forms. It could be the updating of content on multiple websites or mobile devices, supporting multilingual requirements, or it could involve content for both digital and print.
The idea of creating and managing separate versions of content for each channel/device is nothing short of a waste of time and effort, and most brands are realising that.
To reuse content it must be structured. Also known as intelligent content, structured content simply means content is stored in a way that defines and describes it.
The opposite end to structured content is Blob content, otherwise known as binary large object content.
Many CMS platforms continue to store content in Blob format. Essentially, you have a large WYSIWYG editing environment where you write the entire content of your page, including images, multimedia and maybe some documents, and it’s all stored as a Blob in the database.
But there are problems with this method. How do you know what this content is? How do you pull it apart to display it differently for mobile versus the website? How do you automatically resize images for mobile? The answer to all of the above is frustratingly simple; you can’t.
In addition, logic may be applied to structured content at the application layer. Content can be rendered dynamically based audience segments, visitor behavior, devices, business rules, and other factors. In this case, structured content supports personalization across multiple channels.
<a href="http://www.ingeniux.com/company/blog/aspnet-web-cms-structured-content-vs-blob-content">Read more about structured content vs blob content</a>.
<h2>4. Database: NoSQL vs. SQL Server</h2>
Nearly all ASP.NET CMS platforms use Microsoft SQL Server for a database engine. In some cases, they might use Oracle, or MySQL. All of these are relational database platforms that store web content, customer data and analytics data using a standard model and schema. In a relational database content is typically stored as Blobs.
Unfortunately, in an agile decoupled content management and deployment model, a relational database presents challenges. Content needs to be managed in a more structured (or intelligent) manner than a Blob provides. What’s required is a flexible content or data model, offering a richer content structure, and that’s where NoSQL can help.
NoSQL databases – or better described as “not only SQL” – support agile content management and deployment because they are schema free, meaning content can have any structure and that structure can change over time. In NoSQL, content is stored as documents or JSON objects that have richer metadata and use search-based indexing allowing content to be easily queried and retrieved based on the metadata.
There are many advantages to a NoSQL database for content management. They are:
<ul>
<li>Designed to manage content and provide a much more intelligent content model for storage and reuse</li>
<li>Schema-free so content definitions can change without database upgrades or “joins,”</li>
<li>Less expensive and easier to administrate.</li>
<li>Provide automatic “sharding” of information so they are easier to cluster, scale, and geographically distribute.</li>
<li>Work very well in cloud-based deployments.</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://www.ingeniux.com/company/blog/aspnet-web-cms-database-nosql-vs-sql-server">Read more about NoSQL vs SQL Databases</a>.
<h2>Ingeniux &amp; Its ASP.NET Positioning</h2>
After looking into Ingeniux as a SaaS solution, now is a good time to explore its ASP.NET positioning.
ASP.NET is an open-source server-side Web application framework designed for Web development to produce dynamic Web pages.
As for ASP.NET MVC – which is what Ingeniux leans upon – that’s the framework developed by Microsoft, which implements the model–view–controller (MVC) pattern.
<h2>A Main Focus on ASP.Net MVC &amp; Razor</h2>
Ingeniux has a main focus is on ASP.NET MVC and Razor. In fact, it’s 100% MVC.
Most CMS applications have not made the move to MVC, whereas with most of the ones that have, not all of the features will work.
According to the Ingeniux team, they provide a, “totally unique ASP.NET Footprint &gt; MVC, Decoupled, Service-oriented delivery and multi-site publishing, NoSQL Db, Structured content model, and so forth.”
To find out more about Ingeniux, <a href="http://www.ingeniux.com">visit their website</a>.
Furthermore, you can explore more of <a href="/products/ingeniux/">Ingeniux via our CMS Directory.</a>
Stay tuned for our last round of coverage for this featured week with Ingeniux.

Not All ASP.NET Platforms Are Equal (With 4 Examples)

Your <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/8-awesome-alternatives-to-google-analytics/" target="_blank">analytics platform</a> is your personal website assistant. It will tell you what’s working, what's broken, and in some cases, what your next move should be.
And yet, many businesses fail to utilize their analytics system to its true potential, simply because they don't know how (or where) to read the data that it churns out.
<img alt="bigstock-Website-analytics-and-SEO-data-77090498.jpg" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/99xxNHKMk0k4rnQibftjDMyJtJBZw-HB0mM3kmfpieGjZxkX9px7BY_E4HfVaWkh7_fNMvQfIoD4emQFIGtko7hQNJ38fHsWiPmNy0zMBT79lVjdkPaT6IfpNiBoOwBOM0fZNuV9" />
Sure, you know how many visitors your site gets per day, but did you know that you experienced a 25% dip in visits last week? Do you know that only 5% of them got as far as the checkout page in your online store? And if it went in the other direction, and your sales went through the roof due to a promotion, are you recognising the hallmarks of a successful marketing campaign?
With all of the information available, it’s easy to fall into the trap of spending hours on your analytics system without actually learning much at all – and this is how business owners get frustrated.
To be productive with your analytics system, you need to figure out exactly what you’re looking for – before you actually can find it.
Here are a few of the metrics that every business should be looking out for.
<h2>1. Pageviews</h2>
Your pageviews will indicate the amount of times a visitor has been on a webpage. Every time a page loads up in a browser, it’s counted as a pageview, and this is great for giving you a look at the ‘big picture’ when monitoring your website traffic.
It’s generally a good sign if your pageviews are high, and this metric will help you to identify where to best place/update new content on your site. It’s also a useful metric when deciding on what pages to target with a specific call-to-action. However, if your visitors aren’t spending long on each page, it may mean that your site is difficult to navigate and customers aren’t finding the information they need right away – which is clearly not a good sign at all.
The most important thing to remember, is to measure your page views in context with your other site metrics such as bounce rate. This will give you a more well-rounded overview of your web traffic and enable you to analyze your data more accurately.
<h2>2. Landing pages</h2>
Tracking your website landing pages is a key part of analyzing the success of your various marketing campaigns.
With a landing page report, you can see exactly what page a customer lands on when they reach your site and the number of impressions each page is receiving. You can also assess the average click-through rate and ranking position.
The most popular landing pages on your site will have a low click-through rate and a high number of impressions, and these are the pages you should focus your attention on.
<h2>3. Exit Pages</h2>
Marketing isn’t simply about getting customers to visit your site, and it’s actually keeping them there that’s the tougher task.
The exit pages report will reveal how many people leave your site and it will identify the pages that they leave from most often.With this metric, you can find out where your customers are dropping off the radar – and why. Once you’ve got this information, you can figure out how to hold on to them for a while longer.
One key thing to note is that sometimes you want your customer to exit a page – for example, when they make a purchase at the checkout. So it’s not always a bad thing. However, if they are leaving from other pages then it’s something you should investigate further.
<h2>4. Bounce rate</h2>
A high bounce rate (over 55%) is usually something you want to avoid as it means that a user has left your site after visiting just one page. By keeping an eye on this metric, you can find new ways to retain your site visitors.
However, there are also cases where a high bounce rate is acceptable – such as on the contact form page, checkout, or on individual blog posts. If a page has an unusually high bounce rate, try evaluating the functionality, design and wording of that page to help lower it.
<h2>5. Customer Acquisition</h2>
Your acquisition overview will show you where your customers are coming from, what they do when they get to your site, and whether they provide a conversion – i.e. by getting in touch, signing up for your newsletter, or making a purchase.
Organic search is normally the top dog when it comes to web traffic, and other avenues include traffic via referral, direct, paid search, and social.
By analyzing where your best converting customers are coming from, you can use this information to better target them in future campaigns.
<h2>6. User Behavior</h2>
The user behavior metric will give you a visual flow of what people do once they get to your website.
This is important to assess which pages on your site are drawing the most attention and which sections need some extra work. Once you’ve ascertained which pages are the most popular on your site, and why, you can utilize this design in future.
There are many things to consider when reviewing your website analytics and it’s important to keep the bigger picture in mind at all times. Context is everything and once you get it right, your analytics tool will be one of the most important resources that your business has.
What key metrics do you analyze for your business? Let us know in the comments below.

6 Metrics to Focus on When Using Your Analytics System

grainne-logue

Cloud CMS is proud to announce the availability of its subscription-based cloud platform and public content API for building real-time, cloud-connected mobile applications. Cloud CMS connects your native and HTML5 mobile applications to cloud services that make your application development faster, leaner and less expensive.
The Cloud CMS platform aims to provide all of the back-end, enterprise-class infrastructure and services your mobile applications need including Enterprise Content Management, Users and Groups, Role-based Security, Auditing, Content Transformations and Analytics and Reporting for marketing lead generation.
<h3>Plug into New or Existing Applications</h3>
The Cloud CMS platform provides a fully-loaded REST API as well as open-source drivers for iOS, Android and popular JavaScript/HTML5 frameworks including jQuery, jQuery Mobile, Sencha Touch, Appcelerator Titanium and PhoneGap.
The drivers are easy-to-use native code libraries that can be plugged into your new or existing mobile applications. Cloud CMS offers Getting Started Videos and Quick Start Guides to help developers get up and running quickly. These include:
<ul>
<li>Quick Start for iOS, iPad and iPhone</li>
<li>Quick Start for Google Android</li>
<li>Quick Start for Windows Mobile</li>
<li>Quick Start for Blackberry</li>
<li>Quick Start for Appcelerator Titanium</li>
<li>Quick Start for PhoneGap</li>
<li>Quick Start for jQuery Mobile</li>
<li>Quick Start for Sencha Touch</li>
<li>Quick Start for Dojo Mobile</li>
</ul>
<h3>Try Cloud CMS for Free</h3>
You can Get Started with Cloud CMS for Free using their hosted cloud services. A free account offers you time to evaluate the product while taking advantage of Cloud CMS support for all of your questions and concerns.
The company also offers enterprise support for on-premise and private cloud installations that can be customized to the needs of your business. An open-source download of the platform will soon be made available. Visit Cloud CMS for more information.
<h3>About Cloud CMS</h3>
Cloud CMS is a scalable, cloud-based Content Management platform that empowers mobile applications with all of the backend infrastructure and authoring capabilities needed to create, collaborate, publish and deliver delightful digital experiences. It lowers the cost of development, quickens the pace of deployment and delivers powerful insights into your customer behavior, needs and lead generation.
The Cloud CMS content platform is ideal for mobile applications and is offered via a simple subscription. You only pay for what you use.
Cloud CMS offers enterprise-class content services including role-based security, user and group management, identity services, OAuth2-based authentication, automatic web forms generation, content transformations, extraction, content lifecycle workflow, real-time analytics and much more.
For more information, visit <a href="http://www.cloudcms.com">http://www.cloudcms.com</a>.

Cloud CMS – Cloud Content Management for Mobile Apps

Hannon Hill releases its latest version of its flagship product, Cascade Server 7.6. <a href="/products/cascade-cms/">Cascade Server</a> is an enterprise CMS used by thousands of organizations in the education, government and non-profit, technology, and healthcare industries. The latest rollout from Hannon Hill provides Cascade Server users with new levels of speed and ease for content management and content strategy.
<h2>What's New in Cascade Server 7.6?</h2>
The two major improvements include an end-user advancement — drag-and-drop addition — as well as an enhancement for developers.
<ul>
<li>Drag-and-drop functionality for uploading files into the CMS. Adding files to the CMS is a breeze, providing an easy drop-zone for embedding or inserting files. Dropping a text file, however, does something that few CMSs do. It automatically parses the text into the HTML text editor, eliminating those all-too-familiar headaches when you copy/paste text. When you insert an image, the CMS will automatically place the image inline into the editor, then allow you to adjust it according to your preferences using the image editing tools.</li>
<li>Include one velocity templating format into another. With the update, now when a developer writes a Velocity Format, they can easily reuse it in other Velocity Formats elsewhere as needed. Velocity scripts can be reused like blocks and added to any area of a web page. Child formats can be recalled from parent formats anywhere on a site with a single macro string. This dramatically reduces the amount of time required to code portions of a site, especially when it may be necessary to do so over and over again. Plus, this improvement prevents coders from needing to copy/paste code, which will likely cut back on the number of errors and bugs introduced into the code.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Improvements to Cascade Server</h2>
In addition to these new benefits, the CMS received a sweeping overhaul of the many other tools its customers know and love.
<ul>
<li>Velocity Locator Tools — Easily access metadata and data definition tools with no index block.</li>
<li>Site Import/Export Speed Improvements — Process improvements and quicker upload times.</li>
<li>Google Analytics Connector Overhaul — The new OAuth compliant connector requires that an access token from Google be used in order to verify a site.</li>
<li>SQL Server 2012 support – Now supporting SQL 2012, Cascade will be phasing out support of older SQL versions</li>
</ul>
Atlanta-based Hannon Hill is the clear leader in CMSs for higher education. Thousands of colleges and universities use Cascade Server for its power, freedom, and advanced capability. Cascade Server uses a friendly interface, multi-site management, and rapid implementation, which is perfect not only for educational institutions, but also government, healthcare, and technology organizations. Cascade's continual improvement signal its continued leadership role.
Check out the following video that highlights a few of the new features:
<a href="http://www.hannonhill.com/kb/Release-Notes/7.6/">Read all the details on the new release by checking out the Cascade Server 7.6 Release Notes.</a> Hannon Hill’s customers have been notified of the release and can download and install the newest version by visiting the <a href="http://www.hannonhill.com/downloads/cascade/index.html">Cascade Server Downloads Page</a>.
To find out more about Cascade Server, and the powerful CMS suite from Hannon Hill, <a href="http://www.hannonhill.com/products/index.html">visit the Cascade Server site</a>.

Cascade Server 7.6 Released

daniel-threlfall

Alterian (LSE:ALN), the leading international integrated marketing platform provider, announced today the immediate availability of its new <a href="http://www.alterian-content-management.com/">Alterian Content Manager, Professional Edition</a>. This product combines Alterian’s wealth of CMS expertise and its track record of collaboration with Microsoft, together into one package for partners and customers looking to build an online identity on the Microsoft Platform. Alterian Content Manager is the Content Management System (CMS) behind more than 500 customers worldwide, including WWE,AstraZeneca, Thomson Reuters, Lending Tree and Avis-Europe.
Alterian Content Manager, Professional Edition (ACM-p) is shipped with an extensive ASP.NET sample website to enable rapid implementation, including over 25 fully documented Components (.ascx controls) ready to be customised. These Components include many of the essential areas of site functionality like navigation, news, forms, sitemap and search features; as well as social media functionality such as blogs, polls, RSS feed subscriptions and a rich media player. As a result, websites can be up and running in just a few weeks, whilst offering a rich set of contemporary features that help businesses engage with their audiences in order to build long-term profitable relationships.
ACM-p offers many similar features as its big brother, Alterian Content Manager, Enterprise Edition (ACM-e) but, with several carefully introduced properties – including a maximum number of sites, servers and users allowed – midsized companies can now also benefit from this world class CMS solution in a configuration appropriate to their size and budget.
ACM-p is comprehensively based on Microsoft technology, making it especially beneficial to partners and clients in the mid-market that wish to implement their websites purely on this platform. Based on SQL Server, ASP.NET delivery and utilising valued concepts such as Master Pages and Data Providers, it works intuitively with Microsoft Visual Studio and helps companies build an engaging online identity on the typical technology stack of their choice – Microsoft.
Arjen van den Akker, Product Marketing Director – WCM at Alterian says of the new proposition, “If your company needs speed of deployment, Alterian Content Manager, Professional Edition is the obvious product of choice. It allows our partners to focus on adding real value to their clients’ websites, rather than wasting valuable time and money by sorting technology issues under the hood. Furthermore, our clients enjoy working with one of the most user friendly CMS solutions in the market. As well as being available as a fully stand alone solution, ACM-p can seamlessly work with our email, analytics and social media solutions, effectively driving unparalleled web engagement. Priced to fit the typical budgets of the midmarket-tier, we believe our Professional edition will be a hugely competitive offering in this space.” 
 
John Baker, Managing Director of Digirati, an early adopter of ACM-p and already highly experienced in implementing the Enterprise edition, says, “We are increasingly finding that medium sized organisations require very advanced system capabilities. Alterian Content Manager Professional now enables us to offer these capabilities at a compelling price point for these customers. As well as providing the most advanced content management facilities in the mid-tier, Alterian Content Manager Professional enables us to deliver websites as pure ASP.NET web applications. This means that we can build to exact client requirements and avoid the inherent constraints that are typical to other systems in the mid-market.” 
 
Alterian Content Manager, Professional Edition is available immediately.
For more information on Alterian Content Manager and Alterian’s vision for web content management, please visit<a href="http://www.alterian-content-management.com/">www.alterian-content-management.com</a>.

Alterian releases Content Manager Professional Edition

Adobe today kicked off their annual Digital Marketing Conference, Adobe Summit. Each year, thousands of attendees ranging from digital marketers to senior leaders, descend on beautiful Salt Lake City for this one of a kind conference showcasing Adobe and their partner's amazing products and services. For anyone involved in marketing (and let's face it, we all are in some aspect) this is the place to be if you want to know what is coming down the innovation pipeline.
Adobe has long been the most innovative company, in my opinion, when it comes to digital marketing and the future of the industry and the announcements coming out of this summit are certainly a testament to that.
<blockquote>Adobe Summit brings together the best marketers and advertisers from all industries,” said Brad Rencher, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Marketing Business, Adobe. “At this year’s event we’ll explore why digital marketers are fast becoming strategic leaders within their organizations. We’ll also share how leading brands are using Adobe® Marketing Cloud to get from data to insight to action, faster and smarter than ever.”</blockquote>
<h2>Today's Announcements from Adobe:</h2>
<h3>A New Touch Interface for Adobe Marketing Cloud</h3>
This new UI allows marketers to work with and see how their campaigns are performing using touch capable devices such as tablets and smartphones. Adobe Marketing Cloud also now links with Adobe Creative Cloud, which is used to build and deliver campaigns. In addition, every solution within Adobe Marketing Cloud has been upgraded with new mobile marketing capabilities, including new mobile capabilities for analytics, advertising, social app development, targeting content on smartphones and tablets, and mobile content management and delivery.
Check out this video showcasing the platform in all its glory:
[[adobemc]]
<h3>Adobe Social for Mobile Phones and Tablets</h3>
Adobe today upgraded Adobe Social, part of Adobe Marketing Cloud, with a completely redesigned user interface focused on interpreting and presenting social data in a more digestible format that helps social marketers prove business results.  Adobe also debuted Adobe Social for mobile phones and tablets.  Social marketers now have a marketing tool that’s as mobile as they are.
<h3>Adobe CQ has been rebranded Adobe Experience Manager and it's Chock Full of New Features</h3>
Adobe CQ (winner of our Critic's Choice award for <a href="/critics-choice-for-best-enterprise-cms-goes-to/">Best Enterprise CMS</a>) has been rebranded as Adobe Experience Manager (a much more fitting name) and now comes with a new responsive design, social communities and new video capabilities thanks to integration with the Adobe Scene7 platform. In addition, Adobe today introduced a new <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/dam/">Digital Asset Management</a> offering within <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/aem/">Adobe Experience Manager</a>.
<h3>A New Standard Version of Adobe Media Optimizer</h3>
Adobe has announced a standard version of their Adobe Media Optimizer (a component of the Adobe Marketing Cloud). For those who are unaware, Media Optimizer is Adobe's digital advertising platform for campaigns across search, display and social media. This new edition offers a rules-based bidding solution that integrates seamlessly with Adobe Analytics and allows for improved performance of your search engine marketing campaigns. Designed for media buying agencies, search engine marketing firms and direct advertisers, this solution offers more control and transparency over campaigns at an economical price point.
In Addition to these announcements, Adobe has also introduced a host of new features to Adobe Marketing Cloud such as:
<ul>
<li>Adobe Marketing Cloud Cards
<ul>
<li>Using a share dialog feature, content or data in any Adobe Marketing Cloud solution can be turned into a sharable “card.” This collaboration feature also allows marketers to leave annotations and comments on cards, so that everybody working on the campaign is on the same page.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Adobe Marketing Cloud Feed
<ul>
<li>The feed is an aggregation of shared cards. It provides each marketer with an at-a-glance view of everything in Adobe Marketing Cloud that is relevant  to them. The feed helps marketers and their teams stay up to date.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Adobe Marketing Cloud Boards
<ul>
<li>Users can create a board to collect and curate cards.  Like cards, boards can be shared and commented on. Boards give a marketing team a common base for discussion and improve coordination of activities in Adobe Marketing Cloud.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Unified Login
<ul>
<li>The Adobe Marketing Cloud now provides a common access point for solutions allowing customers to access, navigate, and collaborate between and across user experiences.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Integrated Digital Asset Management (coming soon)
<ul>
<li>The integrated DAM system will store, manage and share assets across all Adobe Marketing Cloud solutions. Marketers will be able to search, find, edit, annotate and upload assets and organize assets by folder and campaign, and it will include full metadata support.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Campaign Setup Wizard (coming soon)
<ul>
<li>Marketers will be able to quickly create a campaign, specifying campaign title, team and asset repository. If Adobe Creative Cloud users are invited, their Creative Cloud account will be synchronized automatically with the campaign's Digital Asset Management folder. Automatic synchronizations and integrated sharing, commenting and annotations mean that marketers will always be up to date with their creative team and that assets don’t get lost in transfer.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
To learn more about any of these products visit <a href="http://marketing.adobe.com">http://marketing.adobe.com</a> or to learn more about the Adobe Summit, visit the <a href="http://summit.adobe.com">Adobe Summit website</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/cmscritic">follow us on Twitter</a> during the summit for real time reporting.

Adobe kicks off Adobe Summit, their Digital Marketing Conference

Call Tracking + AI 

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

#ffffff

<a href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> has announced the 4th release of their popular website builder. Some of the highlights of this release include reimagined headers, video backgrounds, specialized layouts, even more templates and tons more.
Here's a quick video showcasing some of the new things in <a href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> 4:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y_MZh6UWHp0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
From an eCommerce perspective, Weebly 4 brings some new changes such as:
<ul>
<li>Reimagined customizable eCommerce storefront allows you to drag and drop products and categories anywhere on your site to drive sales.</li>
<li>The automatic tax calculator saves time with one-click tax rates for the entire US, guidance for international rates, plus provides the ability to set taxes by region, price, or manually.</li>
<li>Get the best real-time shipping rates across carriers to save you and your customers money.</li>
<li>Drive new sales with site-branded, digital gift cards and custom coupon codes.</li>
</ul>
There are also some interesting marketing based additions such as:
<ul>
<li>Unprecedented level of integration between your site, store, and email marketing. Just drag and drop your site content directly into an email and share it across social media.</li>
<li>Weebly Exclusive: Get smart email suggestions. Add a coupon, product, or category and Weebly 4 auto-creates an email that is ready to send to customers.</li>
<li>Recover abandoned carts with an automatic email sent at exactly the right time to land the sale.</li>
<li>Weebly Exclusive: Full funnel analytics &amp; insights to track campaign impact with the first email-to-sales insights from your Weebly dashboard.</li>
<li>Expert guides help you go beyond…a complete sellers handbook to help you sell more and an SEO guide to help you get found online.</li>
</ul>
Learn more or get started by <a href="https://www.weebly.com/">building your free website with Weebly</a>.

Weebly 4 is out and brings lots of changes to the popular website builder

You may have asked this question before:  “What's the best CMS for beginners?” Maybe someone has asked you this question. The question isn't easy to answer, though. We need to understand what the person asking is wanting to do. Keep a blog? Advertise their photography business? Sell widgets? We'd like to help answer this question, and in order to keep the net as broad as possible, we're going to say “everything.” Here is the question we will try to answer in this article:What CMS will enable the complete newbie to do just about anything — except of course write code and do complicated design stuff?We suggest that there are at least six qualifications that this CMS should fulfill:<ol><li>Low Cost. Just in case this is a hobby, we don't want to break the bank on massive startup costs and killer hosting fees.</li><li>Easy to start. Launching the website or blog should be just about as easy as joining Facebook.</li><li>Design-friendly. Just in case our newbie friend doesn't know what “Photoshop” is the CMS must be able to pick up the slack.</li><li>Quick learning curve. What's the user interface like? Does it have the shocking complexity of a jet airline control panel, or does it have the slick intuitiveness of an iPhone?</li><li>Help. When you get stuck, you're going to need help. We wanted to make sure that users had it when they needed it.</li><li>Scalable. Let's say the beginner evolves over time into a power user. Will he be stuck on the training wheels of his baby CMS or will he be able to take the training wheels off?</li></ol>Those are six rather tough qualifications. We surveyed the playing field to find out who qualified. This post does not discuss our process of elimination. Suffice it to say that a lot of site builders eliminated themselves from the start thanks to fat fees. It's always hard to compete with free. Plus, there were some CMSs that were designed for beginners, but provided approximately zero options and customizability. Then there were some CMSs that had downright frightening user interfaces.An unnumbered qualification of our CMS selection has to do with longevity. Since longevity is hard to predict, we made our selection based on popularity. Choosing a CMS isn't a popularity contest, of course, but we wanted to make sure that the CMSs we recommended were going to be around for a while. Widespread adoption of a CMS is one indicator of its potential lifespan. Thus, the two CMSs surveyed below have a high likelihood of being around for a few more years at least.Rather than take you through the laborious process of picking, choosing, and eliminating, we're going to present you with the two winners.<h2>Weebly</h2><a target="_blank" href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> oozes with awesomeness for a lot of reasons:<ol><li>Low Cost. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> is free. Can't really beat that. If you want  That's going to cost.</li><li>Easy to start. You want Facebook signup? You got it.</li><li>Design-friendly. You've got hundreds of awesome templates to choose from. Now you can fake looking like you're a professional designer.</li><li>Quick learning curve. Anyone can manage the WISYWYG editor. Easy. Plus, the integrated hosting deal really simplifies things.</li><li>Help. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> has a nice help center that is simple and easy to navigate. There aren't a whole lot of video tutorials, but there are plenty of screenshots.</li><li>Scalable. On the scalable side of things, Weebly also lets you play around with the source code and fiddle with SEO settings. The system isn't set up to cater to the HTML heads, but there is enough freedom to have some fun. The drawback is that Weebly lacks the rich library of features offered by its bigger brother alternatives. Do note, please, that Weebly is not open source.</li></ol>Whether it's for a blog, an e-commerce site, or that fashion consulting business you've always wanted to start, Weebly's got your back. Check out our <a href="/weebly-review/">Weebly review</a> from July of last year.<h2>WordPress</h2>Yes, you were expecting that we would feature this as a winner. How could we not? WordPress is the most popular open-source CMS on the market, and there's a good reason for that.<ol><li>Low Cost. Free. Obviously, you may drop a few bucks for a template, hosting, and the like, but the price structure is just right for such a powerful CMS.</li><li>Easy to start. Okay, Weebly's got WordPress taken on this one, but not by a whole lot. If you opt for a self-hosted site, you've got to jump through a few loops that may frighten the complete newbie.</li><li>Design-friendly. The themes available to WordPress users are virtually endless. Design ineptitude is no problem. Just find yourself a pretty theme, install, and go. You're set.</li><li>Quick learning curve. The WordPress interface is clean and simple. We like clean and simple. Even Weebly looks cluttered by comparison. Most newbies that I've tutored on WordPress are able to jump in and start publishing posts within about 2.2 minutes. As the user continues his or her WordPress journey, the knowledge deepens and the experience is more enriched.</li><li>Help. WordPress has a community of devotees that are chattering away on forums all day long. In my experience, the forums are very responsive. Even some themes have their own forums. Even the theme forums that I have tested have been very quick to respond.</li><li>Scalable. Here is where WordPress clearly trumps Weebly. You don't see many professional developers, designers, and programmers extolling the virtues of Weebly. Of course there are many virtues of Weebly, but the pros don't flock there. Instead, they sing the praises of WordPress. In the words of one WordPress guru that I know, “You can do anything you want with WordPress.” That's just about true.</li></ol>You may have a favorite CMS that you recommend. By all means, please recommend it in the comments below. All things considered, however, these are two safe recommendations to give to those who want a DIY website that's easy to make.

What's the Best CMS for Beginners?

<a target="_blank" href="http://dashboard.webydo.com/landingpages/starta.aspx?campaign=cmscritic&amp;utm_source=cmscritic&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_campaign=cmscritica">Webydo</a> is a powerful website builder that's recently begun to really gain traction for themselves in the industry. Today, we bring you our interview with Webydo CEO and co-founder Shmulik Grizim. Read on to find out more about this unique and interesting website builder.Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?Before working on Webydo, with my partner Tzvika Steinmetz, we founded and headed two leading web agencies that are still very successful. Webydo is a collision of two personal passions of mine – the web and good design. Good design puts creativity at the center, enriching the human experience. My other great passion is the web. The web has introduced a new era of collaborative efforts. An innovative community brings to life radical transformations.  I believe that Webydo's designers’ community is building up this transformative power that will change the structure of the web itself.How did Webydo come about?We were leading a big web agency and felt frustrated by the fact that 70% of website creation budget is going towards the repetitive development of handwritten code. This old professional process for creating a website was slow and expensive and we felt that the hands of our creative designers were tied. Designers are marginalized in this process; they cannot experience their designs in real time and lack direct communication with their clients. We believe there's a need for a pro-designers movement, a community lead platform that will enable designers to control the entire website creation process on their own.We've asked the best mathematicians and engineers to develop a code generator that will automatically convert graphic design into code. With Webydo designers can finally create advanced websites for their clients in a process that is ten times faster and cheaper, without hiring a developer or writing even one line of code. That's a real revolution.We hope more talented designers will join Webydo’s community and help us create the best work environment for creative designers.Where to you think the market is headed for website builders?The web design market has seen a rise of low-cost, Do-It-Yourself solutions for amateurs like Wix, Squarespace and <a href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a>. These simple tools offer limited selection of pre-designed templates and are designed to provide a “fast, fun and easy” process for unprofessional users. However, less than 3% of websites are created using do-it-yourself platforms. Amateurs find it hard to finish the process and only 2% of the registered users manage to publish a site on domain. We believe website creation is a serious task that needs to be done by professional designers.And indeed, more than 70% of websites today are created in a professional process by developers and designers using pro-developers platforms such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. However, using these solutions designers still need to code or hire developers.Yet, there is a global community of 38 million designers who wish to focus on the creative side and create multiple websites for their clients without writing code. Designers cannot use DIY website-builders, as these solutions are not suitable for professional use. Asking a designer to create a website using DIY website builders is like asking a designer to design for print using PowerPoint… Professional designers need professional solutions.Now, there is finally a solution made by designers, for designers. Webydo’s free online software enables designers to create and manage multiple pixel-perfect websites for their clients, without writing code or hiring developers.  With Webydo designers can build an independent web design business and conquer the market.Where do you see Webydo in this market?Webydo is the leader of the pro-designers movement. We’re providing the first full solution for website creation, designed specifically to fit the needs of creative designers.We believe that designers should grab the driver’s seat of website creation. Designers are the innovative force behind the great achievements of this era. And, while developers have extremely powerful open-source communities such as WordPress, designers had no solutions tailored to fit their creative and professional needs. It is time for designers to unite in action and create a design-centered platform. We hope more talented designers will join Webydo designers’ community and together we will create a better web for us all.What do you think makes Webydo unique? Why?Webydo’s free cloud software is like an online Photoshop re-imagined for the web.  Every feature in the system was made with designers needs in mind, providing designers with total creative freedom and independence. The challenge was to make Webydo's sophisticated system extremely user friendly and efficient. One element that saves a lot of headaches for designers is that with Webydo you are designing in browser. There is no need to install or patch any software and you can continue working on your clients’ sites from any computer. Webydo's system provides a full code-free cloud solution for designing, managing, and hosting your clients’ sites and even billing your clients.Webydo enables designers to start designing from scratch, with a blank canvas, using a professional “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” design interface that allows designers to just drag and drop images, texts, videos, flash, galleries, menus, custom designed forms, widgets, or even their own HTML code. When the designer finishes designing and hits Publish, the website is immediately live online.Moreover, designers need to have a clear and direct dialog with their clients, as websites today demand constant updating and managing. This is why Webydo offers designers two integrated work environments: the professional online software for creating and designing websites as well as a built-in CMS (Content Management System) for the ongoing content updates by the website owner. Designers can even lock parts of their design, preventing unwanted changes and preserving full artistic control. This integration of professional web design cloud software with a CMS that can be easily used by unprofessional users allows designers to provide their clients with exceptional web design service.  Lastly, the full Webydo solution is provided to designers for free. Designers can even host unlimited amount of websites on Webydo’s sub-domain all free of charge. When the designers’ clients are ready to publish their sites on domain, the client can purchase a premium plan for $9.99 a month. In this way Webydo is helping designers build a strong and independent web design business.If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?There used to be many technological barriers in the process of creating advanced websites, including the need to master HTML code, databases, Ajax, Java Script, .NET, handle server crashes, etc. Webydo’s mission is to eliminate all these technical barriers and help designers focus on what is most important – the creative side.What do you consider your biggest accomplishment to date?We’ve started with a small team and a tremendous mission to find a solution to a problem that big companies like Adobe have yet to solve. The strength of Webydo’s innovative platform is coming out of the fact that Webydo is lead by its users. Webydo’s devoted community of designers is setting up the roadmap for development of Webydo’s online software, suggesting features and voting which features should be developed first. We believe in radical democracy and we want designers to own the Webydo platform and shape our future. Your biggest failure?There are still many designers who have not yet joined Webydo…Webydo has a strong community of more than 13,000 designers who’ve already created close to 90,000 websites and hundreds of designers are joining us every month. We see every designer who joins us as our partner and we hope this tremendous momentum will continue and the design community will unite in action and turn Webydo into the best work environment for website creation by designers.Where do you see your product 5 years from now?We want to empower &amp; help designers lead the website creation market, turning the web into a richer human experience.Thank you for your time Mr. Grizim.—Have you tried Webydo? If not, check them out and let us know what you think in the comments below: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.webydo.com/">Try Webydo</a>

Interview with Shmulik Grizim, Webydo CEO and Co-founder

After building and perfecting your content management system, it's now time to market itThere is already an ocean of content management systems available, and so it's very easy for new products to get lost in the currents, never to be exposed to the masses.This marketing struggle doesn't only affect newcomers to the CMS world either. Many platforms which have been active for months and sometimes even years can find it difficult to stand out from the crowd.So, to help get your product heard, seen and spoken about, I've put together a handy guide which outlines the best ways to market a content management system.<h2>Start a Blog</h2>Blogging is one of the most powerful ways to market online. Period.By setting up a blog for your content management system, you can detail some of its core features, explain answers to commonly asked questions, and even comment on wider issues which are trending in your niche.Using your blog, you can produce free, valuable content which will breed trust in your product and keep customers informed. The content you create can then be shared on social media and will eventually be picked up by search engines – both of which will bring you traffic.A blog is also a great way to keep your customers up to date with product news and updates surrounding your product. Additionally, the comments section of a blog is the perfect setting to engage with customers directly, and personally.<h2>Write Quality Press Releases</h2>Whether you're launching a new product, or releasing an update, pushing out a press release to news websites is a great way to get exposure.But don't just write a press release – write a damn good one.Nobody likes a lengthy, boring press release, nor a long list of impersonal bullet points. If your press releases don't intruige the reader, they won't bother trying to find out more about your product, which is assuming that your boring press release got published by anybody in the first place.So instead, ensure that your news actually is news worthy, and present it in a way which is concise, professional and above all, engaging.<h2>Get Active on Online Communities</h2>Marketing isn't all about beng formal, nor is it about staying within the zones of your own digital spaces. In fact, marketing requires you to branch out.Online communities like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.quora.com/">Quora</a> allow you to interact with people who are asking questions relevant to your industry. By answering these questions and presenting yourself professionally under the name of your product or brand, you will naturally enhance your reputation, and gain some targetted traffic whilst you're at it.Furthermore, online forums related to your industry are ideal for getting your product seen. The trick is to find relevant discussion boards, sign up, take part in the community, and make good use of your forum signature to link back to your website for yet more targetted traffic.<h2>Jump on to Social Media</h2>Speaking of branching out, there's no better way to do it than with social media.For starters, get your product a dedicated account on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. Then, start to engage with customers and people in your target market directly by answering questions, partaking in hashtags and showing a bit of personality.Although, showing personality doesn't mean losing your professionalism altogether. Keep your social media updates relevant more often than not, and avoid tangents which will alienate your fans and followers.If your niche or industry is flexible enough, you can even extend your online presence to other social platforms like Vine, Instagram and Pinterest. A photography-based CMS for example would be a great match for such visual social networks.<h2>Initiate Email Marketing</h2>Perhaps the most important piece of information you can collect from a customer, is their email address.Having a list of emails from previous and potential customers enables you to send out products news, special offers and other marketing content right to their inboxes. That means complete access without having to worry about the customer missing the memo, like they may do if you only make announcements via social media or blog posts.So, start building an email list today using your website and blog by integrating a newsletter subscription form. The more emails you collect, the further the reach of your email marketing campaigns.<h2>Hold Developer Contests</h2>Another great way to market your content management system is to hold developer contests.The idea is that developers compete with eachother to produce valuable content for your platform in return for a prize, or perhaps some form of coverage on your website or blog. The content can be in the form of templates, plugins, or whatever else you feel would work best.Not only will your CMS gain some new content, but this method will also help your product be heard amongst the developer community in particular.<h2>Join the CMS Critic CMS Directory</h2>For those of you who haven't yet noticed, CMS Critic hosts a very detailed CMS Directory, which is free to become a part of.If you have a content management system, there is no reason at all why it shouldn't be listed on our directory. Not only will it be found by browsing customers, but they can also find your website, social media accounts, videos, screen shots and more. The directory even allows users to “Like” products.And as if all that wasn't enough, it's also a piece of cake to submit your CMS.<h2>Over to You</h2>So there you have it, some sure-fire ways to get your content management system under the noses of potential customers.If you can successfully leverage these methods in a consistent manner, the results will soon speak for themselves.So get out there and start talking – because the Internet is full of ways to get your voice heard.

The Newbies Guide to Marketing a Content Management System

Choosing a content management system for a mobile platform is vital for companies that are looking to get the most out of their marketing efforts. This is due to the proliferation of mobile phones and devices, and the fact that most of us use Android, Apple iOS or Windows platform powered devices to access the internet. There are various factors you need to look into when choosing your ideal mobile CMS, and we’ll be exploring a few of these in this article.It Starts With AnalyticsTo begin with, you need to know what the figures are in regards to your target audience that are accessing your site via mobile phones or other hand-held devices. A great place to start would be Google Analytics, a free tool that displays all the pertinent data to give you an idea of whether going mobile would make financial sense in the long run. Metrics found onGoogle Analytics helps you answer questions such as:–    What are mobile visitors searching for (keywords)? –    Is the structure and information flow in your site mobile-friendly (site search, page depth, conversions and site speed)? –    Are they having trouble finding information (landing page bounce rates and average time on page)?…and so on. Armed with this information, you can start creating a CMS that’s able to get you better conversions as well as boost your visibility online.A mobile CMS should be basic, intuitive and minimalist. However, there’s the problem of having different needs for different mobile platforms that makes it necessary to have a mobile CMS that can have the same effectiveness across all platforms. For example, things like presentation style, interaction style and software stacks are all important things to pay attention to when creating your ideal mobile CMS.Device Agnostic vs Device Specific CMS DevelopmentThere are two approaches to mobile CMS creation: device agnostic and device specific development. Device agnostic basically means that the CMS is not tied to a particular device, or it is machine-independent. This means that it won’t need manual modification in order to make it work across devices and platforms. Device specific mobile CMS development provides unique mobile experiences depending on the device your target customer is using to access your site or app.Device Plans and MatrixesWhen you’re developing a mobile CMS, you need to have a device plan right from the very start if you’re going to ensure that people accessing your content or platform have the best possible experience. For example, the device matrix for mobile browsers stretches from A to F, meaning that you will need to do due diligence from the data you’ve collected so you can know what class of browser your audience is using to access your mobile site.User InteractionUser interaction should also be another thing that needs to feature in your plans while creating your ideal mobile CMS. Your CMS should thus have this functionality or allow for a plugin to be used to provide it. At the very least, your CMS should give you the ability to post forms and record responses even on a mobile platform. If you’re shopping around for a good mobile CMS provider, Magnolia is a great option given its popularity, ease of maintenance, flexibility, and scalability.Do you have any questions or comments regarding mobile CMS development? Please take some time to leave your thoughts in the comment box below.

A No-Frills Guide to Choosing Your Mobile CMS

SEO is and always will be important, regardless of how loudly the “SEO is Dead” crowd howls. Because SEO is important, your CMS's ability to do SEO matters. If you haven't thought much about the convergence of SEO and CMS, this article will alert you to this crucial touchpoint, and give you insight into how your CMS may be performing in the area of SEO.<h2>The Importance of SEO</h2>You may not be an SEO professional, and that's fine. But that doesn't mean that SEO is any less a part of your job, regardless of whether you're a designer, a developer, a coder, or a content writer. If you work on, in, or around a CMS, you automatically play a role in SEO.How well you do SEO doesn't merely depend on your knowledge of the SEO field. It also depends on the quality of your content management system. Some CMSs make SEO really difficult, even contributing to damaging SEO practices. Other CMSs, by contrast, were built with SEO in mind, making the process simple and rewarding.You use a content management system, and you want great Google rankings. It should be fairly obvious that you want your CMS to facilitate improved SEO. Does your CMS make it easy, or are you ruining your SEO due to your CMS?<h2>What SEO functions should your CMS be able to do?</h2>Let's assume that your CMS does what every CMS should do — help you create content. Basic onsite SEO best practices include using good keywords and synonyms and maybe sprinkling in a few links and anchor texts. Beyond that, your CMS should allow you to do the following.<ul><li>Create intuitive navigation. Simple site navigation allows you to optimize a user's experience, which improves search engine rankings. Navigation is important because it influences how long visitors stay on the site, whether or not they convert, and how your site gets indexed by the search engines. Make sure your CMS provides an easy way to simplify, restructure, or otherwise organize your site navigation.</li><li>Easily create links. Every page on your site should have a link to some other page on your site. The goal of inbound links is to increase the time spent on your site. Most CMS editors contain quick-and-easy ways to insert links and customize the anchor text. If your CMS requires you to code every link by hand, it creates an unnecessary SEO obstacle.</li><li>Keep your Robot.txt clean. Most content editors stay away from messing with a site's robots text file (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/robotstxt">Robot.txt</a>). This file, which contains important instructions for the search engines, is crucial. Your CMS should give you access to this file in order to ensure that the site is cleanly indexed, and to remove any disallow or nofollows, which can corrupt a search bot's attempt to index the page.</li><li>Easily edit file and image information. Inserting a file or image into a site is standard practice on most sites. Less common, however, is naming these images with search engine friendly names. Your CMS should enable you to upload custom-named images, and then change the alt text and tags on the image for SEO power.</li><li>Create titles and descriptions. Two of the most important SEO features on a page are title and description. Some proprietary CMSs make it impossible, believe it or not, to change this information. Still others make editing it a chore. Either way it's a major strike against SEO. Make sure that your CMS allows you to add page titles and meta descriptions for every single page.</li><li>Use headline tags. Although WYSIWYG editors are nice, they sometimes create a hurdle for strategic use of header tags. These HTML tags, known by their abbreviations (H1, H2, H3, etc.) are helpful search engine signals, notifying the crawler what's important on your page. The presence of keywords in headline text can improve your SEO. Any CMS should allow easy editing of the header tags.</li><li>Customize URLs. Often, a CMS creates new pages with default URLs that are pure gibberish and absolutely horrific for SEO. If something like www.examplesite.com/12/18/h18r+&amp;83.aspx appears in the search bar when you create a page, a red flag should go up. This is a no-no for SEO. Your CMS should give you control over the URL, to ensure that it contains readable text and relevant keywords.</li></ul>This may seem like a tall order for a CMS, but it's not out of reach. Some CMSs come with built-in power tools for such SEO customizations. Others, however, require labyrinthine paths for editing this information, or involve complicated code editing, which may be out of reach for the average content creator.When you go back to work on your CMS today, find out how easy it is to do some of the functions above. If you're in trouble, you may want to think about installing plugins or extensions on your <a href="/four-features-you-should-know-about-the-top-five-cmss/">open-source CMS</a> to improve your SEO editing. You may even need to consider a new CMS.

Can your CMS do SEO?

CMS Summit 26

Find out at CMS Summit 26, May 12 - 13 in Frankfurt, Germany

What's ahead for CMS in the agentic era?

Explore a wide range of informative articles, insights, and industry updates. Stay informed and ahead of the curve with our diverse collection of news and posts covering the latest trends and developments in the industry. Page - 160

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Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

What's ahead for CMS in the agentic era?