Articles - Page 167

The Top 10 AI Tools for Small Business: From Automation to a Coordinated Team of AI Agents

matt-garrepy

For many good reasons, ThemeForest is the go-to website for WordPress themes (as well as for a whole bunch of other platforms), but if you're struggling to find a worthwhile template, it may be time to broaden your horizons.Over the years, I have worked with WordPress enough to have sampled a wide range of WordPress theme vendors – and although ThemeForest is excellent – I have discovered gems elsewhere.Our Theme Vendor Directory is a great place to start looking, but below, I've selected my personal top five places to find epic WordPress themes.<h2>1. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.studiopress.com/">StudioPress</a></h2>If you're looking for pure professionalism, look no further.StudioPress craft their themes themselves, building each one upon their world-famous Genesis Theme Framework. So, not only will you get a sharp looking theme from StudioPress, but you can rest assured that the back-end is solid, too.Prices from: $59.95<h2>2. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.elegantthemes.com/">ElegantThemes</a></h2>The WordPress templates at ElegantTheme are, well, elegant.They only have 87 themes (at the time of writing), but each one is beautifully put together. I also really like the back-end of their themes, as well as the shortcodes that their themes come bundled with.The only issue that you may have with ElegantThemes; is their fee structure. You can't purchase one theme individually. Instead, you have to sign up to a $69 or $89 per year subscription plan, or pay a one-time fee of $249 for full access to their themes and plugins.Prices from: $69 per year<h2>3. <a target="_blank" href="http://themefuse.com/">ThemeFuse</a></h2>Like ElegantThemes, ThemeFuse doesn't exactly have a gigantic library (in fact, they have less than 40), but it's quality over quantity as far as I'm concerned.I find their themes (which they build themselves) to be very bold and eye-catching, so their offerings are worth checking out if that's what you're looking for.Prices from: $45<h2>4. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.templatemonster.com/">Template Monster</a></h2>Template Monster has a strong reputation, and that's mainly down to the excellence of their themes.They commission web designers to build templates, and this system seems to do a good job of keeping the quality level high. Their prices aren't bad, either.Prices from: $45<h2>5. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mojo-themes.com/">Mojo Themes</a></h2>Mojo Theme can be a little hit and miss at times, but it's home to some very snazzy WordPress themes.Furthermore, it boasts a wide range of very cheap themes that don't actually look too bad at all, for their price. A good place to look for a bargain.Prices from: $6<h2>Where Do You Shop for WordPress Themes?</h2>The list of WordPress template vendors above should tide you over, but be sure to check out our Theme Directory for more quality vendors.Or, you could always try coding your own themes.Got another source of classy WordPress Themes? Let me know your favourite vendors in the comments section below!

5 Places to Find Epic WordPress Themes (Other Than ThemeForest)

mike-johnston

Nowadays, if you aren't opting for a cloud-hosted CMS or website builder, there are a few key names that (should) spring to mind when it comes to website hosting.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bluehost.com/">Bluehost</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.inmotionhosting.com/">Inmotion</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.godaddy.com/">Godaddy</a> for example are three capable companies. 123-Reg.co.uk? Not so much.And yet, I've come across more than one web design client in my time who, to my frustration, relies on 123-Reg for their website hosting needs.In my personal experience with the company, I have been left disappointed. And it's safe to say that I'm not alone.<h2>Who are 123-Reg?</h2>123-Reg is a web hosting company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2000, it's technically the largest domain provider in the UK. Which is some feat.But sometimes the numbers can tell a misleading story, because on top of a relatively dated user dashboard, 123-Reg has a few issues.Here's three reasons to steer clear.<h2>Reason #1: The Horror Stories</h2>Most website hosting companies have their fair share of disgruntled ex-customers ranting about their services, but 123-Reg's share is beyond what one might call fair.Some of the stories online are enough to make you run for the hills. I can't testify that the following claims are true, but what I do know, is that they're common:<ol><li><a target="_blank" href="https://webdesignfromscratch.com/blog/how-123reg-almost-crippled-my-business/">How 123-Reg Nearly Crippled My Business</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://paulnrogers.com/review-123-reg-hosting-services/">[Stay] as far away from 123-Reg as possible!</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="http://0lly.uk/2013/11/01/123-reg-lost-my-domain/">123-Reg lost my domain</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="http://0lly.uk/2008/05/07/123-reg-stole-my-money-auto-renewal-nightmare/">123-Reg stole my money</a></li></ol>Now those are some grisly tales, to say the least.<h2>Reason #2: Iffy Marketing Packages</h2>If you've had a look through 123-Reg's website and decided that it's geared towards those who aren't so tech-savvy, you would be correct. And their marketing packages give it away big time.They have something called, “Instant Traffic” which is supposed to bring your website traffic from Google, simply by 123-Reg submitting your site to the search engine. Anybody who knows anything about SEO knows this is utter garbage.It's worth noting that, upon investigation, there doesn't seem to be a way to sign up to InstantTraffic anymore, but it is still present in customer's dashboards<h2>Reason #3: Poor Customer Service</h2>123-Reg boasts a notoriously poor customer service.Firstly, they have a phone line for sales, but not for support. Live chat is available, but only during UK working hours.That lack of 24/7 support is a huge issue, and one which I discuss in my article, “Why You Shouldn't Use Your Friend's Website Hosting Company“.Imagine your website goes down at 9pm London-time. You'd have a 12-hour wait before you can actually chat to your website host. That's a long time to wait if your website is anywhere near successful.<h2>Avoid, Or Jump Ship</h2>Quite frankly, you can pay the same money (or even less in some cases) for a web host that doesn't have an awful reputation, doesn't promote bogus SEO schemes, and has a decent level of round-the-clock customer service.Based on all of the above, I'd strongly recommend that you avoid 123-Reg for hosting your website. Try either one of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bluehost.com/">Bluehost</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.inmotionhosting.com/">Inmotion, </a>or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.godaddy.com/">Godaddy</a> instead, all of which have far better track records.And if you're already using 123-Reg, I'd think about moving to one of those names above, even if its only for the 24-hour support – which is an industry-standard when it comes to web hosting.Update by Mike J: On April 16th, 2016 a major issue occurred at 123-reg, the details of which are outlined in this email that was sent out to their customers:<blockquote>Dear Customer.I am writing to you to explain what happened to some VPS services on 16.04.16. This email is to detail what our steps have been. I am committed to open communication with all customers and would like to take this opportunity to explain in detail.So what happened to some services? As part of a clean-up process on the 123-reg VPS platform, a script was run at 7am on 16.04.16. This script is run to show us the number of machines active against the master database. An error on the script showed ‘zero-records' response from the database for some live VPS. For those customers, this created a ‘failure' scenario – showing no VM's and effectively deleting what was on the host. As a result of our team's investigations, we can conclude that the issues faced having resulted in some data loss for some customers. Our teams have been and continue to work to restore. What have we done? We have been working with an extended team of experts and have left no stone unturned. Our teams have been working long into the night to restore as much as we possibly can. We have also invested in external consultants to recover, in the best way possible.We have recovery running on the VPS servers and some are restoring to new disks. We have also begun copying recovered VPS images to new hosts and we expect some VPS to be back up and running throughout the night and into tomorrow.Our teams have worked for more than 24 hours and will continue to do so. No stone is being left unturned.As the technical teams come back with updates for individual VPS we will communicate updates to customers.For those customers with their own backup of their settings and data, if you wish to restore services yourself you can do this by issuing a reimage command through your 123 Reg control panel, this will give you a freshly installed VPS on a new cluster, where you can restore your service.I understand that some customers may have lost some confidence in the service that we offer. So, I want to explain what we have done to prevent this happening again. We have started an audit on all cron-jobs and scripts controlling the platform, and associated architecture, so that no script will have ability to delete images, only suspend. For image deletion for those suspended over 28 days we will have a human eye to double check. A new platform will be available by the end of the year for customers which we will provide self-managed and automated snapshot backups, in addition to architecture technology to backup the whole platform, something that is not available on the current platform. I hope this goes some way to win back your confidence.Richard Winslow, 123 Reg Brand Director</blockquote>Following this email, Twitter has gone absolutely nuts with furious customers who have not only lost their websites but, in some cases, their businesses as well. This type of experience is the nightmare of every business owner that relies on their website and our hearts go out to the poor people who have been affected by this horrible hosting nightmare.I don't know about you, but I can't imagine how 123-Reg is going to win back anyone's confidence after this debacle. If I was a customer, I'd be insulted by the suggestion that they could. We will be staying on top of this story and updating this post with any developments. In the meantime, however, please let us know about your experiences in the comments below.

Why You Should Avoid 123-Reg At All Costs

During our LightCMS featured week, we’ve focused heavily on what makes the platform such an <a href="/a-closer-look-at-the-lightcms-developer-program/">asset for web design agencies and solo web developers through its Developer Program</a>.The LightCMS Developer Program facilitates white labelling and re-selling of the website builder, in a way that allows developers to build a business without having to venture outside of the LightCMS platform at all.With unlimited websites, pages, hosting and all of LightCMS’ core features including blogging and eCommerce, a web design agency can set up shop with LightCMS – literally.But I think we’ve seen enough talk. It’s time to see LightCMS powering a web design agency for real.<h2>Evolve Creative</h2><a target="_blank" href="http://www.evolve-creative.com/">Evolve Creative</a> is a digital design agency that relies heavily on LightCMS.The design and branding agency white labels LightCMS as EvolveCMS, boasts its own custom templates, and builds upon LightCMS for each project that demands it.The company originally used Joomla to build client websites, but they wanted a hosted solution which was more manageable when it came to updates and security.The change took place in 2007, when Evolve Creative Founder Sarah Hokuf found LightCMS, and never really looked back.With regards to using LightCMS, Sarah Hokuf had plenty of praise to dish out:<blockquote>“LightCMS has been a big part of our growth. More than 90 percent of our sites are on LightCMS, so it’s a key player in the services we offer.Clients can have a great presence online and know that their site is always going to be up.They don’t have to worry about technical maintenance and can focus on their business, not monitoring downtime or uptime. It’s also great to be able to offer LightCMS with no limitations in pages and storage.”</blockquote>So, Evolve Creative make use of all the benefits I mentioned in my previous coverage of LightCMS’ Developer Program, including white labelling, re-selling at a higher monthly price, drag-and-drop page building, FTPS and full code access, and more.For me, it’s always interesting to see how a program like this handles in reality. Discussing feature sets on paper is one thing, but watching LightCMS give life to a successful web design agency seriously drives home the usefulness of their Developer Program.To wrap up this featured week, we’ll soon be releasing a video interview with a LightCMS executive. Stay tuned!To find out more about LightCMS, check out their website, and also their CMS Critic directory listing.

Evolve Creative: A Web Design Agency Powered by LightCMS

So far during this featured week, I’ve discussed the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/building-an-ecommerce-business-with-lightcms/">eCommerce capabilities of LightCMS</a>, as well as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/how-lightcms-aims-to-help-the-growth-of-web-design-agencies/">the platform’s aim to help web design agencies through its Developer Program</a>.And while it’s true that I’ve already explored the broad features of LightCMS’ Developer Program once already, there are two areas in particular that stand out which I didn’t touch on nearly enough.Those areas are; customer billing and white labelling.<h2>Customer Billing</h2>Billing a customer each month or year can be a chore within itself. Making up invoices, sending them off, and then chasing them when they’re late. It’s a potential nightmare that has become a reality far too often for most web developers.However, LightCMS’ Developer Program cuts that problem off at the root.Customer card details can be added to LightCMS in order for them to be automatically billed each month. Plus, any price can be set, meaning that the amount of profit made per website is totally up to the developer.Notably, over $3,000,000 has been billed through the LightCMS Developer Program thus far. So, it works.<h2>White Labelling</h2>Another dimension of the Developer Program that empowers the web designer, is white labelling.White Labelling, or private labelling, allows a company (in this case, the LightCMS Developer Platform customer) to rebrand a product (in this case, LightCMS) in order to make it appear to be their own.In other words, a web design agency can rebrand LightCMS in order to re-sell it to their customers.The end customer will only see the logo and branding of the web design agency they signed up to work with, whilst all the functionality and flexibility is provided by LightCMS. The third, silent party. White Labelling a CMS isn’t exactly a new practice, and there are indeed a few other platforms out there offering similar options.However, I must say that LightCMS’ entire Developer Program is one of the most well packaged re-seller programs from among the user friendly website builders out there on the market.It’s designed to be re-sold to customers and clients who aren’t tech savvy, and I genuinely believe that it’s one of the select few content management systems that is simple enough for anybody to use, yet complex enough for a developer to churn out professional websites.Our LightCMS featured week wraps up tomorrow, so be sure to stick around for it.And as always, be sure to check out LightCMS via our CMS Directory.

A Closer Look at the LightCMS Developer Program

Drupal has made some big changes to the process surrounding community initiatives.<blockquote>“We realized we need better tools and ways to communicate with you about our current priorities, how you can influence those priorities, and how you can help make Drupal.org and the Drupal project better than ever.”</blockquote>The Drupal team haven't exactly been sitting idly for the last few months, either. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/drupal-8-release-date-november-19th-2015/">Drupal 8 was released in late 2015</a>, while more recently, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/fifteen-years-of-drupal/">the Drupal project surpassed Fifteen years of age</a> – which is some achievement.Let's take a look at what's new, and how it will affect the Drupal community going forward.<h2>Learning From Hard Lessons</h2>Drupal has admitted to learning a “hard lesson” [over the course of the past year, and that's that] we need to be involved early”.As they have come to know, even if the community leaders putting forward an initiative are experts in their area, without Drupal's core team being invovled early on, the idea is too often slowed down by, “architectural refactoring and design decision backtracks”.To get involved as early as possible in all initiatives, Drupal's new initiatives process now looks like this:<ol><li>Community members plan their contribution in an issue, and identify who (if anyone) is able to volunteer some time to make the contribution.</li><li>The community members propose their initiative to the Association – so that we can evaluate it for inclusion on our roadmap. This may include a call with the community members proposing the initiative to talk it through in greater detail.</li><li>Association staff evaluate the initiative: prioritize it into the roadmap, postpone it, or–if necessary– reject initiatives that are not a good fit.</li><li>Prioritized community initiatives are rolled into the larger Drupal.org roadmap, and monthly or bi-monthly community initiative meetings are scheduled to ensure the work moves forward.</li><li>A liaison from the Association engineering team is assigned, to help coordinate architectural decisions, to provide support and access as needed, and to coordinate with the larger team when it is time for the work to be reviewed.</li></ol>This move may bring all initiatives far closer to the core Drupal team, but that also means that their attention needs to be more readily available. In response to that, Drupal stated the following:<blockquote>“This process is time intensive – and so in general we expect to be able to run only one or maybe two community initiatives at a time, in parallel with our other work. We realize this may be frustrating, but the last year has shown that our most successful initiatives required this close coordination.”</blockquote>This is positive news overall, though.Sure, there may be less initiatives flying around, but it means that the ones that are selected will be focused on and honed with Drupal's core team on hand every step of the way.To learn more about this new process, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.drupal.org/drupalorg/blog/introducing-a-new-community-initiatives-process">check out the Drupal blog</a>.Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/drupal">Drupal through our CMS Directory</a>.

Drupal Unveils New Community Initiatives Process

You're about to witness a showdown between the world's two most popular open-source CMSs — WordPress and Joomla. The WordPress vs. Joomla question is kind of like a high school rivalry. Or maybe, it's like the old Mac vs. PC debate. Thankfully, the discussion below is civil. My perspective claims WordPress as the winner. In my roles as site editor and SEO consultant, I've used both WordPress and Joomla. Working at an agency provided opportunity to collaborate with designers, network admins, developers, and coders on the various advantages and disadvantages of respective CMSs. This article admits that CMS is a context-dependent choice, but advances the merits of WordPress as opposed to Joomla.<h2>Your CMS — Your Choice</h2>I picked WordPress for a variety of reasons outlined below. You may prefer Joomla. That's fine, and we're not going to call you names. Joomla and WordPress are both fine CMSs. Joomla may actually be better for you. Different users have different needs, and different CMSs serve those different needs.Thus, with that disclaimer firmly in place, here are the reasons why I prefer WordPress over Joomla.<h2>Popularity</h2>I'm a believer in the “safety in numbers” of CMSs. If there are millions of people using something, there's probably something good going on. WordPress and Joomla are the world's most-used CMSs. However, WordPress is far more popular than Joomla. WordPress was founded in 2003, and Joomla in 2005. Over that time, WordPress's growth has exponentially exceeded Joomla's, owning a whopping 55.1% of the market share, as opposed to Joomla's 8.8%. Furthermore, when WordPress receives a vote of confidence from some of the most intelligent developers I know, I have a greater appreciation of its capability and longevity. Of course, merely because something is popular doesn't make it the best. Granted. However, we're going to consider another factor below that flows directly from the popularity issue.<h2>Community and Support</h2>If you're doing regular work on a site, you'll probably need some help at some point. Both Joomla and WordPress have loyal tribes offering plenty of support for those who need it. One distinguishing factor of the WordPress tribe, however, is its sheer size. If you have a WordPress question and you can Google, you'll probably find answers to your question on a forum, site, or blog of a WordPress devotee.<h2>User Interface</h2>WordPress has a much cleaner, slicker UI than Joomla. You can't judge a CMS by its looks alone, but there is something to be said for a CMS that is intuitive, flexible, and even beautiful. For website agencies, handing over to the client the reigns of a WordPress site is something that takes an hour or two of coaching. Handing over the reigns of a Joomla site may take a bit more coaching, a few more desperate calls from the client, and a longer learning curve. The difference lies in the user interface. Of course, WordPress doesn't have the same drag-and-drop kind of ease as something like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weebly.com">Weebly</a>. However, as powerful CMSs go, WordPress is as pretty as they come.<h2>Plugins and Extensions</h2>Plugins, or “extensions” as the Joomla moniker goes, can help to power up a site or to implement bits of complex code without the hard work of complex coding. At present, Joomla has over 6,000 extensions from the <a target="_blank" href="http://extensions.joomla.org/">Joomla Extension Directory</a>. Developers offer many more that are not hosted on the Extension Directory. <a target="_blank" href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/">WordPress Plugins</a> number approximately 24,000. Although numbers don't decide the power of plugins, it is evident from our experience that WordPress plugins possess a few advantages over Joomla plugins:<ul><li>Easier to setup and install on the site</li><li>Wider selection and plugin browsing ability</li><li>Greater capability and power of plugins</li></ul><h2>Simplicity</h2>Setup and configuration is simple on a WordPress site. Right out of the box, it delivers a robust CMS experience. Joomla, on the other hand, takes a bit of setup and adjustment. One CMS Critic reader who is the site manager of a large site commented, “Joomla is a hell when it comes to modify and template it.” A significant amount of Joomla configuration is necessary, including a specific server architecture, is necessary to make things shipshape. Starting a WordPress site, particularly if using the free hosted version, takes a couple minutes. Sure, you'll have to make some sweeping changes to the bland 2013 theme, but that's also a relatively easy affair. And, by the way, “simplicity” doesn't denote lack of power. See  the discussion on”power” below for more on this incendiary topic.<h2>SEO</h2>Because my field of expertise is in SEO, I've done significant research and consulting for agencies using both WordPress and Joomla. Onsite optimization of a Joomla site is a headache compared to the ease of a WordPress site. It is an accepted fact that Joomla is not an SEO-friendly CMS. There are, to be fair, Joomla extensions that make it far more successful for search optimization. Suffice it to say that WordPress is the superior CMS for easy and effective SEO. This is a crucial issue, due to the all-important nature of search.<h2>Cost</h2>Due in part, to the lighter developmental workload, WordPress is less expensive than its counterpart. In our recent survey of <a href="/four-features-you-should-know-about-the-top-five-cmss/">notable features of the top five CMSs</a>, I provided estimates of the setup and ongoing monthly costs of popular open-source CMSs. Here is the recap:<ul><li>Joomla:  $2,400 – 20,000 setup; $500 ongoing monthly.</li><li>WordPress: $1,000 – $15,000 setup; $250 ongoing monthly</li></ul>Obviously, there's a difference in those two numbers, even if the numbers are widely rounded out.<h2>Power</h2>I've put this at the bottom of my list, because it needs a bit of a disclaimer. I'm not claiming that WordPress is the most powerful CMS on the market. I merely want to defend against its naysayers. Castigations of WordPress usually begin with an assault on its allegedly diminutive “blogging” platform. Let's get this settled once and for all:WordPress is not just for blogs.I could site examples of really big and powerful WordPress sites (that aren't blogs), but I'll resist. Instead, let's simply accept the fact that WordPress has passed its adolescent period as a blogging platform. It's part of the big leagues now. Sure, you may not be able to build an Amazon.com or an eBay with WordPress, but you can have a thriving e-commerce site with zero problems. And, hey, eBay does use WordPress (even if it is <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.ebay.com/">for its blog</a>).<h2>Conclusion</h2>These topics outlined above aren't the ultimate criterion by which to evaluate a CMS. If you are considering a CMS, a thorough understanding of your own needs is in order before you start asking questions about a particular CMS. We've chosen WordPress, and, understandably, use WordPress as the CMS of choice for CMS Critic. As you make your own decision, please check out our in-depth CMS reviews to see if your choice makes the grade.So that's my perspective. What's yours?

WordPress vs. Joomla — A Perspective

daniel-threlfall

Weglot - The easiest way to translate a website

The easiest way to translate a website

#18164c

As I'm sure most of you are aware, I'm a designer / developer who spends quite a bit of time building and managing WordPress websites.Now with the newly launched Open Source Critic, eCommerce Critic and PlayStation Critic, not to mention my wife's website (easily the most complex of the bunch) <a target="_blank" href="http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com">The Kitchen Magpie</a>, I spend an inordinate amount of time tweaking and modify plugins and themes to meet both her requirements and mine.While there are certainly lots of things that are great about WordPress, today, there are also plenty of things that drive me nuts about it. Today, I thought I'd share with you the 5 WordPress plugins that drive me nuts.Let's start with the one that almost everyone installs by default…<h3>Jetpack</h3>Jetpack is one of those love it or hate it plugins. Personally, I hate it. Here's why. My wife is absolutely obsessed with looking at her stats and why wouldn't she be? We both spend out time at home nowadays making our money through our websites so stats are definitely important but there are several things about Jetpack that make it one of my least favorite plugins.<h4>Here's something you may not know: It slows down your website</h4>You would think that something designed for the WordPress community by the very company that produces WordPress would be streamlined and efficient and not adversely affect your site wouldn't you? You'd be wrong. Jetpack, by default, slows websites down and here's why.<ul><li>When there's a new feature added to Jetpack it's activated by default, whether you want it or not.</li><li>When you first install it, it activates all kinds of ridiculously useless plugins such as Gravatar Hovercards (really? Who wants these ugly things on their site) that bog you down with extra javascript.</li></ul>Don't believe me? On a base WordPress install with Jetpack installed by default my average load time was 1.7 seconds. As soon as I removed Jetpack and deleted the plugin, that load time dropped to 510ms. I'd consider that a fairly significant savings of speed but that's only on a base install. When you are operating a huge website like my wife's, every second counts. Especially when it's so graphic heavy. On her site the difference is larger because she was using more of Jetpack's functionality. The problem we have, however, is that we use the related posts plugin from Jetpack to make a nice image grid on her site and if we disable it, it means more coding for me so for now, it stays but I have my sights set on you Jetpack. You will fall.Why do people install it? Mostly due to lack of knowing any better. People assume (like I did initially) that because it's provided by Automattic, it's something that should help your site and that's true to some degree. 90% of the people who install Jetpack install it for WordPress.com stats (such as my wife for instance). The problem is that there are plenty of analytics out there that do a far more accurate job of capturing far more data than Jetpack does. While I know lots of people use Google Analytics, I personally dislike it and find it to be far too complex for the average user. My personal favorite is the one and only <a target="_blank" href="http://clicky.com/66435163">Clicky Analytics</a> which gives you way more information in a much nicer presentation and includes the ability to see heat maps of your pages and see who's online real time via the Spy feature.<h3>WordPress SEO</h3>I love WordPress SEO. I truly do. In fact, it's the only SEO plugin I rely on when it comes to my sites. What drives me nuts about it is this:<h4>It updates constantly.</h4>More so than any other plugin I have installed ever. Sometimes it feels like there's a new update every day for this plugin which is extremely discouraging when you've just updated all of your sites and tested the changes and then the next day, there's yet another update to test before going live. Is it good that it's updated? Absolutely. Is it necessary to update it so frequently? No. Simply take your time and plan out a release schedule that's less annoying and stick with it.  Don't get me wrong. I don't pay for the plugin and it's not that I don't appreciate the hard work that goes into it but do you really need to release a new update every day? Make it monthly unless it's a bug, you will eliminate so many headaches.The other issue I have with it is that it sucks at getting Google Authorship working easily. Yes, I know, several of you I'm sure think it does a great job and it may be working for you but the fact of the matter is it does not load the authorship code into the header and as a result, with some themes, it just doesn't work properly. I've had to install yet another plugin specifically for Authorship in order to prevent myself from punching the screen with frustration trying to make the Rich Snippets Tool confirm that authorship is working properly.This may sound whiney and unappreciative but as an administrator of several WP sites, I feel I have a right to complain. And it's my blog, so you can't stop me ?The issue with alot of plugins is that they are not vetted out by anyone. A random person can submit a plugin for inclusion to the directory and it could be the absolute most horribly coded thing in the world but if named correctly and you include pretty screenshots, people will install it not knowing any better. There are tons of absolute crap plugins in the WP directory (some with 2 ratings, both of which are friends of the author) that lead people to believe they are good when in the end, they actually cause tons of headaches and issues.This is one of the reasons why website owners really should have someone managing their WordPress installs for them. People who know what they are doing and can prevent these types of headaches from happening in the first place. For those of you out there who are fed up with trying to figure this stuff out for yourself, <a href="/contact">drop me a line</a>.

WordPress Plugins that Drive me Nuts

The primary goal of a B2B marketer is to drive qualified leads to sales.Success is measured by the pipeline (i.e. new business opportunity count and opportunity dollar amount) generated by marketing and advertising programs. No matter the campaign or technique (e.g. SEO, paid, earn and shared media, email nurturing), content sits at the center of the B2B marketer’s world. It is content that determines which brands and products are discovered by potential customers.<h2>Content is the Heart of Marketing</h2>Content is at the heart of the B2B marketer’s journey.A recent report from Forrester Research sums it up well:<blockquote>“Content is the soul of digital experiences. One billion websites blanket the world and the soul of every one of them is made manifest by content.”</blockquote>As a result, creating, managing and publishing content requires a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/cms-features?utm_medium=onsite&amp;utm_source=CMSwire&amp;utm_campaign=productpage&amp;utm_cid=70134000001AwxI">Web CMS</a>. And, the Web Content Management System is an essential tool for B2B marketers.<h2>A Web CMS Supports B2B Marketing Success</h2>An effective Web CMS is at the center of the inbound marketing strategy, and the elements of this framework are:<ol><li>CONNECT the CMS to the necessary marketing CRM systems</li><li>PUBLISH content in the right formats to the right channels</li><li>OPTIMIZE content for maximum effectiveness</li><li>ENGAGE potential buyers to help answer their questions</li><li>MEASURE &amp; REFINE the effectiveness of your content</li></ol><h4>Connect</h4>Best-in-class marketing teams position their Web CMS at the center of their strategy, then connect it with the essential elements of their marketing technology (“martech”) stack.By doing so, content instrumented via the CMS can be measured and optimized. By integrating the CMS with key business systems (e.g. Customer Relationship Management system), marketers can connect content to revenue. Many Web CMS systems provide built-in integrations to martech systems.But, it may be more efficient sometimes for marketers to integrate external solutions to perform marketing activities (e.g. Infer tech solution provides marketers with a powerfull scoring model tool). This <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/resources/whitepapers/how-a-cms-enables-b2b-marketing-success/view/whitepaper?utm_medium=onsite&amp;utm_source=CMSwire&amp;utm_campaign=productpage&amp;utm_cid=70134000001AwxI">eBook for B2B Marketers</a>. will show you how the CMS serves as the foundation for B2B marketing success. has<h4>Publish</h4>If content is at the heart of the B2B buyer’s journey, then publishing content is the heartbeat. It’s harder than ever to gain the attention of a B2B buyer: they install ad blockers in their browsers, opt out of emails and no longer answer the phone. When you interrupt their flow via outbound marketing campaigns, they’re less likely to respond.The solution? Inbound marketing, which involves the consistent publishing of valuable content to your site, by way of your Web CMS. With inbound marketing, you publish content that addresses the challenges faced by your target audience. While researching a solution to their needs, they’ll visit search engines and find your content in search results.Web CMS should facilitates the implementation of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/resources/webinars/seo-and-social-media-tips-101/view/webinar?utm_medium=onsite&amp;utm_source=CMSwire&amp;utm_campaign=productpage&amp;utm_cid=70134000001AwxI">Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices</a>., attracting more qualified visitors who are actively searching for your content.<h4>Optimize</h4>Beyond managing and publishing content, Web CMS systems can optimize content to drive meaningful results.Here are two examples of optimization: Search Engine Optimization and mobile friendly content. Increasing traffic via SEO is critical. Each month, internet users make 10.3 billion Google searches.This is why your CMS should be adept at handling Search engine optimization (SEO), because organic search is one of the most crucial components of generating leads. Your CMS must provide key SEO capabilities such as Tags management (title and description), facilitate links to internal pages on your site, and use a permalink structure that includes keywords…<h4>Engage</h4>To complement your inbound marketing strategy, a Web CMS provides capabilities to enhance visitor engagement.Let’s consider how a CMS can personalize the visitor experience, and encourage interaction with other visitors via user-generated content (UGC). Increasing visitor engagement via personalization is critical.A study from Janrain found that 74% of online customers were frustrated when websites offered up content that had nothing to do with their interests. Thus, a good <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/cms-features?utm_medium=onsite&amp;utm_source=CMSwire&amp;utm_campaign=productpage&amp;utm_cid=70134000001AwxI">Web CMS</a> can leverage known data about visitors to create a personalized experience. Personalization can provide visitors with more relevant content, and give them the feeling that “this site knows just what I want.”<h4>Measure &amp; Refine</h4>As we covered earlier, B2B marketers are well served by connecting elements of their marketing technology stack to their Web CMS:<ul><li>Web Analytics</li><li>Customer Relationship Management</li><li>Marketing Automation Platform</li><li>Predictive Lead Scoring</li><li>Multi-channels Attribution</li></ul>There are a number of dimensions from which marketers can measure results and optimize their marketing acytivities.As a starting point, we recommend the the implementation of multi-channels attribution model to perform marketing acquisition and identify programs that generate the best leads. With multi-channel acquisition attribution model, you can assess, in real-time, the programs (i.e. channel) and content driving metrics such as leads, opportunities and revenue.<a target="_blank" href="http://www.bizible.com/">Bizible</a>, for instance, offers an interesting solution that helps B2B marketers measure marketing impact on revenue. They propose advanced multi-touch channels attribution so you can give credit where it's due. You can optimize everything from keywords to conferences based on revenue, and understand ROI from paid search, content, events, and more…<h4>The Evoq CMS From DNN</h4>EVOQ CMS from DNN helps you achieve B2B marketing success. Our Web CMS solution helps B2B marketers deliver engaging, customer-centric web experiences, and use our content management products to create a personalized experience for every customer. Our industry-leading .NET CMS provides a fantastic page and content editing experience. In addition, it includes built-in integrations to the systems you're already using. With EVOQ you:<ul><li>Connect the essential elements of your marketing technology stack</li><li>Publish content that’s discovered and consumed by your target audience</li><li>Optimize your content for maximum effectiveness on every channel</li><li>Engage with your audience via personalization and user-generated content</li><li>Measure and refine your content and campaigns to drive higher results at a lower cost</li></ul>DNN provide a suite of solutions for creating rich, rewarding online experiences for customers, partners, and employees. DNN products and technology are the foundation for 750,000+ websites worldwide. In addition to our commercial CMS and social community solutions, DNN is the steward of the DNN Platform Open Source Project.To learn more about B2B Marketing or/and EVOQ Web CMS solution <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/about/contact-dnn?utm_medium=onsite&amp;utm_source=CMSwire&amp;utm_campaign=productpage&amp;utm_cid=70134000001AwxI">Contact Us</a> at DNN and we will help you achieve your business goal.

The Goal of B2B Marketer

<h3>What are Featured Weeks?</h3>As part of our efforts here at CMS Critic to enhance your exposure to the amazing products on the market, I have decided to offer featured weeks on the site. The purpose of these is to provide you with everything you need to know about a specific CMS including product walkthroughs, interviews with executives and articles about their products.Nowhere else can you get as much information about a product than on CMS Critic and when combined with our in depth CMS directory, I think this new opportunity for you to learn more will help both customers and vendors connect in a unique and meaningful way.<h3>How did this come about?</h3>I began this year by deciding to do something that has never been done before. I am touring North America and Europe  visiting and connecting with interested CMS vendors in order to learn more about their products, interview them and dig deeper into who they are and what they do so that I could bring this valuable information back to you, the consumer in a manner that I think helps make the decision process easier.I've meeting with CMS companies of all sizes that offer products for personal use, small to midsize business and the enterprise markets. I'm sharing my visits with you on the site.During these featured weeks, you'll come to our site and see a graphic indicating which product (if any) we are featuring in the top right hand corner of the site. During this period (3-7 days depending on the vendor) we'll share with you information about the company, the products they offer and more.I encourage you to <a href="/contact">let me know</a> if you have suggestions on how I can improve this as we go forward.<h3>Interested in being featured?</h3>We are currently booked up for 2015 but I encourage you to reach out to me if you are interested in participating next year (beginning in January). To do so (and to secure your spot before they run out), <a href="/contact/">drop me a line</a>.

Featured Weeks Start Monday

The following review was generously submitted to us to share with you by CMS Critic reader, Kanat Bektemirov:<a target="_blank" href="http://ucoz.com/">uCoz</a> is a popular general purpose Software as a Service —includes hosting and CMS— that can be used for a variety of projects. One can create satisfying projects of all types from personal page to blogging, from guestbook to forums, and from news site to online shopping site.Pros:<ul><li>Free</li><li>No installation</li><li>Unlimited hosting (with initial hosting space of 400Mb and it increases every second (similar to Gmail)) and bandwidth</li><li>250 offered themes</li><li>Variety of modules, tools, and features</li><li>Easy to use interface</li><li>Cheap plans</li><li>All websites can be accessed from one account</li></ul>Cons:<ul><li>Forced ads in free version</li><li>No personal use of PHP, Perl, ASP etc. scripts</li><li>Not SEO friendly</li><li>Not 100% open source</li><li>Shared hosting</li></ul><h3>Installation</h3>Nonexistent. Absolutely no installation is required – just register and start working on your project.It takes 30 seconds to register and then you will have everything ready and available for use. In a few clicks you can set up any module, feature, and template you need.<h3>Modules</h3>There are 12 content modules to choose from:<ul><li>News – allows administrator and users to post news easily</li><li>Forum – allows users to communicate in a variety of topics</li><li>Publisher – gives an opportunity to create a set of structured information on any topic</li><li>File Catalog – another content module; has its own goodies</li><li>Site Catalog – collected sites are organized in an ordered manner</li><li>Ad Board – another content module; has its own goodies</li><li>Blog – allows administrator and/or users to share thoughts</li><li>Photo Albums – good photo gallery module</li><li>Online Games – 100s of games installed by default, new games can be added by users or administrator</li><li>Guestbook – allows people to leave opinions on the website</li><li>FAQ – easy access to most frequently asked questions</li><li>E-shop – powerful tool for organizing sales on the website</li></ul>These modules have titles, but are not limited to what their names are. There are a bunch of folks who have done unbelievable projects using the modules listed above. But most people use these modules for quickly creating and managing content on the website.There are also additional modules that have fixed uses such as contact forms, web polls, tag board, banner rotator, informers, RSS import, tests, site statistics, site search, and auto sitemap file creation and updating.<h3>Security, Speed, and Reliability</h3>One of the most important factors when choosing a CMS is the website's security. uCoz provides nearly impossible to hack website security. The admin panel is well protected and one should have little or no fear of it being compromised. uCoz also allows one to set security levels based on IP address which decreases the likelihood that the admin panel will by accessed by others.Backups of oneís projects can also be created and downloaded so that the projects can be easily restored if oneís work faces peril or transferred to another CMS if needed.<h3>Localization and the Community</h3>Websites and the admin panel can be displayed in seven different languages without any installation of a language pack.The transition from the different languages can be done in one click. The uCoz community is pretty diverse and is available to help users on uCoz community forums. Technical supportFrom past experiences I found out that the official tech support —that can be reached through the admin panel— never responds, if ever, before 2-3 days if using the free version of the service.I also found out that most tech supporters are not very intelligent. By that I mean they can't respond to anything other than simple questions that can be found on FAQs and docs. Besides being not intelligent, they sometimes respond with boorishness (if using free version).They once told me to “grow up and start using my brain instead of contacting them”. I don't mean no disrespect, but it is better not to contact the official technical support. I see uCoz is working hard on improving its technical support, so this situation might completely change in the near future.<h3>Usability</h3>uCoz is suited for both newcomers and advanced webmasters. The interface is easy to use and understand while it also provides tools that more advanced users can take advantage of. The text editor can be switched back and forth between WySiWyG, BB Codes, and plain HTML.uCoz does not allow its users to use PHP, Perl, ASP or other server-side scripts nor does it give access to site's database and configuration files (i.e .htaccess). However, it is very easy to accomplish your needs using uCoz server-side codes and/or Javascript (+libraries). Also, there is a u.js file in all uCoz website pages (can be removed) that contains jQuery library and many very-very useful functions; some people call it uCoz library. <a target="_blank" href="http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&amp;prev=_t&amp;sl=ru&amp;tl=en&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fhelper.ucoz.ru%2Fpubl%2F2-1-0-4">This article</a> contains information about some available functions on u.js.Since uCoz is SaaS, webmasters do not have to worry about manual upgrading the CMS.<h3>Conclusion</h3>uCoz provides a free and easy to use service while catering to more advanced users who want more freedom in the creation of their projects.This review was just a brief taste of what uCoz services look like; it is not possible to summ up everything in one article. I posted some screenshots and captions below to show some other features that uCoz services provide.

User Review - uCoz Website Builder

If you’re reading this article, you already know about the <a href="/wordpress-is-a-cms-whether-you-like-it-or-not/">benefits of WordPress</a> and how popular this CMS is. Now you want to make money on the platform. The good news? It isn’t so hard. With the help of a WordPress developer and a few plugins, you can make money on WordPress in no time. Whether you want to run an ecommerce shop or a subscription-based content platform, you will need to create a WordPress membership site to set up a payment system and allow users to have membership profiles that let them access content or purchasing abilities.So what steps are involved in setting up a membership site, and what plugins do you need to use? Check out the guide below. We’ve got you covered.1. Choose the right hosting.The first step to creating a WordPress membership site is ensuring that your website can <a href="/8-wordpress-security-tips-to-help-you-secure-your-wordpress-site/">securely handle</a> payments. To do that, you need a WordPress host that offers an SSL certificate. Luckily, there are numerous WordPress host options to choose from. <a href="/products/wp-engine">WP Engine</a> is one of the most popular options. It’s pricey, but reliable and fast. If you’re on a budget, you could try HostGator or Bluehost, both of which offer SSL certificates as well. Do your research and find what hosting platform best fits your needs because each option has their own strengths and weaknesses. Once you establish what host you will use, you’re ready to move onto the next step.2. Install a membership plugin.Okay, this one is a bit obvious, but it’s crucial to creating a membership site. You’ll need to install a plugin that allows you to distinguish between visitors and members. Like with hosting platforms, there are numerous <a target="_blank" href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?q=membership">membership WordPress plugins</a>, so do some research and find out what fits your needs. Once you install the plugin, you’ll need to create a new user group. Go to the admin page, click Users/Roles, and then click “add new.” What you call this new group is up to you, “member” or “subscriber” perhaps, and make sure that their role capability is set to “read” and nothing more. Once you’ve established this new class, you will now be able to distinguish between different types of visitors on your site and restrict certain content or actions to your “member” class.3. Create sign-up and payment forms.WordPress isn’t known for its ability to create aesthetic fields, so you’ll need to install another plugin here. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?B=812809&amp;U=407830&amp;M=63061&amp;urllink=">Ninja Forms</a> is a popular and robust choice that uses a drag-and-drop tool to create customizable forms for user registration, payments, etc. If you need a more robust user experience, you can try <a target="_blank" href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/profile-builder/">Profile Builder</a>, a plugin that lets members edit their own profile/account information once they’ve created their account as well as customize your email campaigns for that extra personal touch. In many cases, you may even need both of these features (as Profile Builder doesn’t handle payment forms). Remember if you want to build your list of members, it needs to be easy for them to sign up, and that requires forms that are easy to fill out.4. Add forums and comment sections.If you’re creating a membership area of your site, allowing members to comment on your content or even review the products you’re selling is a nice way to create a greater sense of community around your WordPress site. <a target="_blank" href="https://bbpress.org/">bbPress</a> is a simple plugin that creates forums and allows members to communicate with each other over your content. <a target="_blank" href="https://buddypress.org/">BuddyPress</a> is a more robust option that allows members to directly message each other and form their own messaging groups, if the intent of your membership site is to provoke heavy member interaction. These plugins aren’t necessary to creating a membership site, but it’s features like these that convert consumers in the first place. Give them the whole package and make sure that your members have everything they want.5. Create a customized menu.If you are creating a members-only section of your website, then you’ll need a menu that reflects different navigation for members and for visitors. The plugin <a target="_blank" href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/nav-menu-roles/">Nav Menu Roles</a> allows you to add new tabs to your menu with ease, creating a streamlined navigation experience for whatever site you want to create. The plugin lets you set what menu users see, based on their profile behavior. For example, logged out users can see a “login” and “register” tab in the main menu, and logged in users could instead view tabs such as “profile” and “membership home page.” If you want to include a members area as well as a general content area for visitors, it’s important that you update the structure of your website and its navigation, so that none of these new pages get lost in the mix or your members have a hard time finding what they’re looking for.Have you created a WordPress membership site before? Share your advice and experience with us in a comment below!

What You Need to Create a WordPress Membership Site

If blogging is your profession, you need to build yourself a personal blog. A blog which you update on topics which are important to you, or perhaps on topics which you wish to write about for clients.However, not only does your blog need to look good, it also needs to work well for you when you’re typing up content, and it needs to work well for your visitors when they eventually read through it.This then begs the following question, “Which content management system (CMS) is best for blogging?”Here are my top five picks.<h2>1. <a target="_blank" href="https://wordpress.org/">WordPress (Self Hosted)</a></h2><a target="_blank" href="http://www.employtheinternet.com/">I personally blog</a> from a WordPress-powered website, and so do many other bloggers. There’s a good reason for that.WordPress is quick to set up (especially when using <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bluehost.com/">BlueHost</a>), allows you to manage content and digital assets easily, and has a pretty simple admin panel to boot. The learning curve is there, but it’s relatively minimal.However, the main benefits of WordPress lie in its flexibility. Because it is the most popular CMS in the world, you will find thousands upon thousands of templates and plugins to make your blog look and feel unique. Many WordPress plugins can also be used to extend WordPress' functionality, allowing you to create online stores, communities, and so forth. There's almost nothing it can't do.In short, WordPress is a powerhouse as well as a bullet-proof blogging tool.<h2>2. <a target="_blank" href="http://ghost.org/">Ghost</a></h2>Launched in in late 2013, Ghost is still the new kid on the block. But it’s growing up fast.Dedicated to being a platform for bloggers specifically, Ghost has been built around the needs of a wordsmith. The admin panel is nothing less than beautiful. It boasts neat dashboard widgets that showcase website stats elegantly, and yet Ghost maintains a deep focus on content creation above anything else. It really is built for blogging.There are already a fair number of sleek (and free) Ghost templates on offer, and new platform features are released regularly. With time, I can see Ghost becoming a serious player in the blogging world – if it isn't so already.You can opt to either self host Ghost, or make use of their cloud-hosted solution, Ghost Pro.<h2>3. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.movabletype.com/purchase.html?dc=MTCMSdeal">MovableType</a></h2>Although founded in 2001, two years before WordPress, I like to think of MoveableType as WordPress’ little cousin. Of course, I mean that in the nicest way possible.MoveableType's interface reminds me of WordPress, and in many ways, it works and feels similar to the big daddy of blogging. It has its own merits too though, including  a wide range of plugins and templates.It also has multi-site publishing capability across multiple domains or subdomains, all manageable within its user friendly interface. This makes it a powerful and scalable tool for those looking to create large blogs and magazine websites.With the likes of HuffingtonPost and Gothamist within its user base, it's easy to recommend MovableType to those looking for a platform to house a large blogging project.<h2>4. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.squarespace.com/">Squarespace</a></h2>If you’re looking for a platform that takes out the guesswork, Squarespace is for you.Squarespace is a cloud-hosted website builder with stunning templates which are great for building sleek, professional websites – including blogs. In fact, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmB1CTteAuc">a Squarespace blog can easily be created in just a few minutes</a>.There’s no need to research plugins or look elsewhere for good templates, as Squarespace supplies it all for you. Plus, it has an awesome visual editor which lets you edit your website simply by clicking on different page areas.The downside is that Squarespace isn’t ideal if you’re looking to publish hundreds of blog posts, as blog and media management isn’t very robust.<h2>5. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.typepad.com/">TypePad</a></h2>Like MoveableType, Typepad has been around for a while, and it's a reliable option more than anything else. It's known to be a very secure platform, one that hackers tend to avoid.It is a hosted solution, comes with integrated analytics, easy design customization features and a relatively small but highly dedicated community. Joining Typepad kind of feels like you joined a writers club, especially since all Typepad blogs have the chance to be featured on the Typepad website. It feels very inclusive and homely.The downside here is that for its limited functionality, it comes with some fairly heaving pricing. TypePad isn't exactly much of a looker compared to other platforms either.Honourable mentions, in no particular order, go out to; <a target="_blank" href="https://ellislab.com/expressionengine">ExpressionEngine</a>, <a target="_blank" href="http://dropplets.com/">Dropplets</a>,<a target="_blank" href="https://www.silvrback.com/">Silvrback</a>, LightCMS, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wix.com/">Wix</a>.<h2>“But What About MY Favourite CMS?”</h2>Many of you will now be wondering why I didn’t include the likes of Blogger, Tumblr, Joomla and Drupal somewhere on this list. I can already hear the screeches of, “How are they not even honourably mentioned?!”.The fact is, Blogger and Tumblr aren’t considered robust enough to be worthy of competing with WordPress, Ghost and the rest on a professional scale. If you want to blog about how much you love your kittens, they may be viable options. But I’d never recommend them to serious bloggers.As for Joomla and Drupal, The former is clunky and not exactly optimized for blogging, whilst the latter is far better suited to large-scale websites. Neither belong on this list, despite having their own uses and strengths.So, with that being said, I’d recommend sticking to the names listed above. Each one is respected, easy to use, feature rich and optimized for being your blogging playground.

Finding A Theme: Why You Should Avoid the Popular Page

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