Articles - Page 35

Bland Brands Beware: Optimizely’s New Identity Brings Human Creativity to its Agentic AI and AEO Ambitions

matt-garrepy

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/office-1209640_1280-1-e1467896589420.jpg" alt="content marketing strategy" />
If you want to create an effective content marketing strategy, there are two critical stages that your organization needs to move through.
The first contains the things you need to consider before you start, and the second contains the processes you need to pass through  in order to implement it effectively and keep it on track once it is released.
<h2>Stage One (3 Steps)</h2>
Here's what stage one consists of:
<h3>1. A List of Topics</h3>
This keeps content on-topic making idea generation easier and avoids it becoming too “salesy”. The nature of content marketing means it is important to choose topics with audience appeal.
Businesses should approach content strategy from an audience perspective when compiling a list of topics by asking themselves the following two questions:
<ol>
<li>What questions does the audience have that obstruct a purchasing decision?</li>
<li>Is this topic a sales pitch or a description of a problem and its solution?</li>
</ol>
<h3>2. Define a Set of Goals</h3>
These enable content marketing plans to maintain a results-oriented approach. Is the main goal, for instance, to boost webinar enrollment or generate new leads? The best way to devise a set of goals is to examine current problems and brainstorm how content marketing might solve them. Ask questions like, “what effect do we want our content marketing to have?”
<h3>3. Stylistic Guidelines</h3>
These enable writers to craft purposeful, high-quality content, with a seamless editorial process. This includes what voice to use, how to format content, and how to make it more accessible. Content guidelines keep content marketing on-brand for organizations requiring a larger content development team.
<h2>Stage Two (9 Steps)</h2>
Here are some manageable guidelines to get you through stage two of your content marketing strategy planning:
<h3>1. Formulate Your Strategy</h3>
While the formats and planning methodology can vary depending on the organization, the main questions you want to answer in your plan include the following:
<h3>2. Set Your Goals</h3>
The first step and quite possibly the most important question to answer. This is where you define your goals and objectives. Typically, your broad goal is probably to drive sales and grow your business. But you want to be more specific in identifying this. The more specific you are, the easier it is to create more meaningful content.
<h3>3. Identify Your Audience</h3>
A thorough understanding of your audience is essential. This includes clearly defining demographics, psychographics and the behavior of your audience. Also, clearly understanding the triggers that motivate them to action will help create a content strategy that gets results.
<h3>4. Nail Down Your Voice</h3>
Most business describes their tone with a few words, but when bringing their content to life it lacks a clear personality. What are your company’s tone and voice for content? What tone could best achieve your marketing objectives and speak to your audience. An apparent personality or tone in content makes it more relatable and allows your audience to feel connected.
<h3>5. Decide on What Content Should be Created</h3>
The next step is to decide what content you should create. The content creation plan should include the themes, messages, and topics. To create a good content strategy, it is helpful to research the landscape and look at the discussion forums, twitter, search, and blogs to understand what your audience is interested in. Also consider the action that you want someone to take as a result of engaging with your content. Bridge the gap between brand objectives and audience desires.
<h3>6. Decide How The content Will be Created</h3>
Once you complete the strategy, next determine how the execution will occur. Make sure the right people are creating the right content. Do you need to hire writers? Unless you build the content, people can’t come. Good content needs a good syndication and promotion plan. Consider paid and owned media options. Use social networks to spread the message and integrate social media sharing into the design of your content, and don’t make it an afterthought.
Content marketing is highly targeted. Campaigns are about getting your message in front of the largest and most targeted audience as possible. A large audience means more people know about you, and a more targeted audience means they are more than likely potential buyers. With Content marketing, you develop content specifically produced for your customers. This is the type of content that brings buyers back to your website. This in turn draws a targeted audience of people to your site. Things that you want to keep in mind when you write your content.
<h3>7. Provide Content That Your Customers Want</h3>
Many people make a simple but fatal mistake. They write their content about their business. Why is this bad? Because most customers don’t care about your business, they care about themselves. Content marketing wants to take advantage of this by providing valuable content that customers want and need in exchange for their attention.
<h3>8. Avoid Shameless Self-promotion (Mostly)</h3>
Providing value to customers means you mostly write content for the customer’s benefit and occasionally promote your products. People are interested in content that helps them – not ads that promote your product or service. By giving customers what they want nine times out of ten, you’ll be rewarded with an engaged and targeted audience.
<h3>9. Do the Research</h3>
Sometimes it’s hard to know what your target audience wants to read about. One way to find this out is to visit sites within your industry – check popular blogs, review Twitter, Facebook, Google, to name but a few. Do the research to find out what’s needed and then write that content.
<h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/laptop-849800_1280-e1467896662225.jpg" alt="laptop-849800_1280" /></h2>
<h2>Content Marketing Best Practices</h2>
The essence of effectiveness is in knowing how to optimize your strategies. But how can you focus on those that allow more efficient connections with various stakeholders across a number of social channels, drive conversations, and influence customers? When opening up content contributions to more users across your organization, you provide more opportunities to connect and engage your customers in social channels, and you extend your online reach.
In order to engage users and keep visitors returning to your site, it is necessary to deliver fresh, compelling, and appropriate content, and then extend this to your social channels. Make sure you provide content that covers broader issues and doesn’t only focus on things that advertise the features and benefits of the product. Through tailoring this content to your audience, you are constantly identifying the right content which is imperative to the success of any content.
Take the time to listen to the online conversations of your target audience and then optimize content and strategy based on the insights you gather from them. And like any marketing activity, setting goals for the expected outcomes of any of the content produced means sometimes being ruthless. Don’t be afraid to test new ideas continually, expand and optimize what works and dump what doesn’t.
<h3>Content Marketing: Basic Techniques</h3>
Aligning sales and marketing to determine your target audience helps create a content and editorial plan of relevant topics. Don’t forget to produce content regularly that is fresh, relevant, timely, and audience-optimized.
<h3>Content Marketing: Advanced Techniques</h3>
Develop personas to understand better your customers and create a map that identifies the process of information each of your personas needs throughout the buying process. Provide website visitors with the ability to socialize and amplify content using Twitter, Google +1’s, and Facebook Likes, and build your backlinks for better SEO to ensure they contain high quality, relevant links.
<h3>Content Marketing: Optimization</h3>
Review data to better match the right communication to the right customers, and review and produce content based on the keyword phrases that are driving your organic search traffic and conversions. Continually review lead scoring and criteria to provide the most accurate score possible and re-imagine content in different forms (blogs/whitepapers/webinars, etc.)
<hr />
This post is <a href="/advertising/">sponsored</a> by Kentico. Find out more at <a href="http://kentico.com/">Kentico.com</a>.

The Ultimate Guide to Formulating a Content Marketing Strategy

mike-johnston

I love answering questions and sharing what I know with others but I also like reading opinions from people and one site I frequent daily is <a href="http://www.quora.com/">Quora</a>. For those unfamiliar with the service, Quora is a question / answer site similar, I suppose, to <a href="http://stackexchange.com/">StackExchange</a>. I personally find the Quora visual experience more intuitive (not that StackExchange is bad, simply a preference of mine) and find myself answering questions on the go in the <a href="http://www.quora.com/Content-Management-Systems-CMS">CMS category</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/photo-2012-08-21-9-32-24-am-620x465.png" alt="quora" />
I find navigating Quora to be easy to do on my smartphone and even on my iPad as you can see from the screenshot above. I love that I can manage topics, have people follow me and that I receive notifications when people either vote up my answer or reply to it. This keeps me engaged in the topics and I'm quickly able to find open questions that nobody has answered  so I can see if I can assist.
You also earn and can spend points within the system. Here's an explanation as to how the credit system works on Quora:
<blockquote>
Credits make content you care about on Quora more prominent. This prominence can help questions get answered, or get more attention for answers and posts. You'll spend credits to add a question, ask someone to answer, or promote content. You'll earn credits when people vote up your answers or follow your questions.
</blockquote>
The credit system is brilliant for one simple reason: I can use credits to promote a question I have so more people see it but in order to get credits, I need to work for them. It's a smart way to keep people interacting and sharing their knowledge.
Sites like Quora add a huge amount of value to the web. They bring subject matter experts together in an effort to provide a service that I think is essential to the way the web should work. The web has always been about knowledge gathering and questions via similar services such as Twitter for instance, tend to get buried quickly if you are following a large quantity of people. Quora focuses on doing one thing and doing it well, getting people to share what they can and helping people find answers. It's a hugely useful resource and if you haven't tried it out, I strongly recommend you take advantage of it and share what you know.
Just thought I'd share it for those who haven't heard of it. ?
Check it out here: <a href="http://Quora.com">Quora.com</a>

Why Quora is An Amazing Platform for Knowledge Gathering

As fireworks pocked the night skies across the U.S. this past weekend (a celebratory signal that summer has arrived), we had a chance to reflect on a busy June. Needless to say, it was a scorcher – especially in the CMS and DXP sector. Once again, we saw platform vendors holding major events around the globe, with several piling up on one another. 
One standout we covered at the very end of May was <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/reflections-from-sanitys-structured-content-2022-conference/">Sanity's Structured Content 2022 Conference</a>, which offered some unique perspectives on the position of content as data. The substance was unique, relatable, and truly applicable to attendees – with some terrific keynotes from the likes of Dirk Voetberg from Spotify, Kusum Kanwar from Shopify, and Carrie Hane from Sanity. We took a snapshot of the event's sessions, which were held live in San Francisco and virtually in Oslo and London. Definitely worth checking out. 
While economic uncertainty continued to obscure the horizon for enterprise software vendors, companies like Strapi bucked the trend by <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/strapi-secures-31-million-in-series-b-funding-plans-to-enhance-open-source-headless-cms-and-deliver-cloud-platform/">securing $31 million in Series B funding</a> to enhance its headless CMS. We also tracked <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/visual-content-management-platform-boom-acquires-visual-production-company-lemonone/">acquisition news from BOOM</a>, a visual content management platform, as it announced the purchase of LemonOne – a visual production vendor. Along with updates from <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/craftercms-releases-version-4-0-adds-api-powered-git-capabilities-and-composable-features/">CrafterCMS</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/proventus-as-announces-release-of-relatude-cms-and-e-commerce-version-6/">Relatude CMS</a>, it was a busy 30 days.
As always, there were a few more stories sizzling on the backburner – right next to your hot dogs and burgers. So grab an ice-cold lemonade, light up a sparkler, and keep reading...
<h2>Shopify invests in Sanity, connecting commerce with content</h2>
We've already mentioned Sanity's fantastic Structured Content 2022 event, but the news doesn't end there. In June, the content platform <a href="https://www.sanity.io/blog/shopify-invests-in-sanity-connecting-commerce-with-content" target="_blank">announced</a> a partnership with <a href="https://shopify.com" target="_blank">Shopify</a> that includes a strategic investment from the e-commerce juggernaut. Sanity is the first CMS partner to launch an app for Shopify’s headless commerce framework, <a href="https://hydrogen.shopify.dev/" target="_blank">Hydrogen</a>, and is Shopify’s only public investment in a content platform company to date. The combo will offer Shopify’s millions of merchants new capabilities to improve shopping experiences by significantly "inspiring" product and brand content. 
As noted previously, Sanity approaches content from a unique angle by treating content as data. At the same time, storytelling lies at the heart of Sanity's vision – something that permeated the themes of its Structured Content 2022 event. One of the conference keynotes featured Kusum Kanwar, Senior Product Lead at Shopify, who talked about how content makes commerce "human." Both companies share a common focus on this expanded value of content – and now, by joining forces, Shopify and Sanity aim to bring commerce and content together so merchants can tell their stories, inspire audiences, and flexibly adapt product information, brand assets, and other content faster than ever. 
Shopify’s investment codifies Sanity’s potential as a complementary resource for sellers. The <a href="https://www.sanity.io/shopify" target="_blank">Sanity Connect </a>for Shopify app was purpose-built to operate with Shopify’s headless commerce stack, which features both Hydrogen and Oxygen. Armed with these capabilities, merchants building custom storefronts on Shopify can also deploy immersive product content with rich media, embed product content on external channels, enable one-click ordering anywhere on a website, orchestrate promotions to email and social media, and much more.
 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/07/dotcms-image.jpg" alt="Image of dotCMS logo over a screen shot of the CMS user interface" />
<h2>dotCMS unveils major updates to its content authoring experience</h2>
<a href="https://www.dotcms.com/" target="_blank">dotCMS</a>, a leading hybrid-headless content management system, has <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/company/news/dotcms-unveils-major-updates-to-the-content-authoring-experience" target="_blank">announced</a> the latest edition of its platform. The new update includes a drag-and-drop content palette and story-like block editor, along with other enhancements to the overall content authoring experience. These product enhancements come on the heels of what dotCMS calls its "best year yet" in 2021, with that momentum driving a positive outlook for 2022.
In an effort to remain nimble around digital transformation, enterprise organizations are embracing <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-releases-study-on-adoption-of-mach-technologies-by-tech-leaders-qa-with-sonja-keerl/" target="_blank">MACH architecture and composability</a>. While microservices-based headless architecture brings many benefits and allows developers a great deal of freedom, brands cannot ignore the needs of their content authors – who are often forgotten in the shift to headless. 
The new dotCMS drag-and-drop content palette makes page building easier and improves the flow of content editing. In addition, the <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/docs/latest/changelogs" target="_blank">latest LTS version of dotCMS (22.03)</a> features a JSON-Based Content Store and improved content search results. 
<h2>Acquia Partners with Workato to power enterprise connectivity to Acquia CDP</h2>
<a href="https://www.acquia.com/" target="_blank">Acquia</a>, a leading digital experience platform, announced a partnership with integration and workflow automation platform <a href="https://www.workato.com/" target="_blank">Workato</a> to power enterprise connectivity to the <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/marketing-cloud/customer-data-platform" target="_blank">Acquia Customer Data Platform (CDP)</a>. Organizations can integrate Acquia CDP with hundreds of external cloud services via secure, enterprise-grade APIs through out-of-the-box connectors.
With Workato-powered integrations like this (and others), marketers can achieve a faster path to connectivity with the services they already use. As a part of the <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/marketing-cloud" target="_blank">Acquia Marketing Cloud</a> platform, Acquia CDP enables marketers to aggregate and activate data from technologies of their choice into a unified, 360-degree customer profile. From there, marketers can use Acquia CDP to orchestrate personalized, AI-powered campaigns across the entire omnichannel customer journey.
 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/07/wpe-img-chianti-1024x512-v01.png" alt="Image of WP Engine plugins from Delicious Brains" />
<h2>WP Engine acquires popular Delicious Brains WordPress plugins, including developer favorite Advanced Custom Fields</h2>
<a href="https://wpengine.com/" target="_blank">WP Engine</a>, a leading <a href="https://wordpress.org/" target="_blank">WordPress</a> digital experience platform for websites and apps, <a href="https://wpengine.com/blog/wp-engine-acquires-delicious-brains-plugins-including-advanced-custom-fields/" target="_blank">announced</a> it will acquire five of the most popular developer-centric tools for WordPress from <a href="https://deliciousbrains.com/" target="_blank">Delicious Brains</a> – strengthening the company’s offerings for both traditional and headless managed WordPress. 
The plugins have a total installed base of approximately 4 million users and are widely adopted by WP Engine’s customers. The acquired software includes <a href="https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/" target="_blank">WP Migrate</a>, <a href="https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-offload-media/" target="_blank">WP Offload Media</a>, <a href="https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-offload-ses/" target="_blank">WP Offload SES</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-search-replace/" target="_blank">Better Search Replace</a>, and a preferred developer go-to called <a href="https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/" target="_blank">Advanced Custom Fields</a> (ACF).
The acquisition of these widely-used WordPress plugins will expand WP Engine’s portfolio of market-leading developer tools, including WP Engine’s <a href="https://localwp.com/" target="_blank">Local</a>, the #1 Local WordPress development tool; <a href="https://wpengine.com/genesis/" target="_blank">Genesis</a>, the #1 WordPress theme framework; and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/atlas-content-modeler/" target="_blank">Atlas Content Modeler</a>, which simplifies the development process of creating content models for headless WordPress sites.

CMS Monthly Recap: Shopify Invests in Sanity, dotCMS Updates Content Authoring Experience, WP Engine Acquires Plugins, and More

cms-critic-staff

Monthly Recap with fireworks in background

With the advance of tablet computing and mobile technologies, more and more companies are working to take advantage of these devices as ways to further differentiate themselves from their competitors. How are they doing this? By developing apps for mobile devices such as iPads and smartphones in order to give themselves an edge over the competition.
WordPress was one of the first significant apps available on the iPad and iPhone devices and, while it struggled when first released to actually be useful, it's grown into quite the handy app.
The latest version, 3.1, offered a UI redesign and the app is even slicker than before. One awesome new feature was the addition of the Reader which lets you either choose topics and then shows you a list of curated blogs to follow or lets you read the latest from a variety of blogs on the topic you've chosen. It's a cool way of exploring new content and blogs you might not normally have known about.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/22104_793231467412177_8494232424221102817_n_yirwsg.jpg" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/photo-2012-08-20-2-29-38-pm-620x465.png" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
The only drawback here is that it seems to only work with WordPress.com blogs so it's a bit limiting.
You can also view, edit and create new posts (or pages) quickly and easily. I'm not a huge fan of blogging via tablet since I'm more of a physical keyboard guy myself but I know people who are content to do it or have purchased bluetooth keyboards and make due just fine.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/drupal_business_theme_-_1_jnfcge.png" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/drupal_business_theme_-_2_tauuho.png" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/photo-2012-08-20-2-07-43-pm-620x465.png" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
You can also administer comments (which is what I use it for primarily) via a nice clean interface:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/photo-2012-08-20-2-07-56-pm-620x465.png" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
Additional features of this app include:
<ul>
<li>Statistics so you can check how your blog is doing, how many visitors, page views, etc. (this is only good for those using WordPress.com Stats via the Jetpack plugin that comes with WordPress).</li>
<li>Quick link to the dashboard which opens up inside the app via browser integration.</li>
<li>Integrated previews of posts, pages and the entire site within the app itself.</li>
</ul>
It's a great app that keeps getting better. It's also free, which rocks. You can check it out here: <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/wordpress/id335703880">WordPress for iOS</a>

WordPress iPad App Keeps Getting Better

Sometimes a seemingly simple CMS is only simple when it comes to the simple stuff.
But when it comes to actually modifying front-end elements and responding to mobile devices and third-party tools, many fall short in their simplicity.
<a href="http://www.surrealcms.com" target="_blank"> Surreal CMS</a>, however, is aiming to be one of the few exceptions.
Their user-friendly ethos seems to emanate from every feature, with usability in mind for an experience that is trying to be, well – simple.
<h2>Inline Editing &amp; Touch-friendly UI</h2>
Surreal CMS is geared towards users looking for a straightforward content management system, and it illustrates this brilliantly with an invitation for visitors to edit some text on their homepage.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/11111.png" alt="Surreal CMS Inline Editing" /> 
This inline editing feature found within Surreal CMS is perfect for those who are new to website design and modification. After all, pointing, clicking, editing and saving just makes a whole lot of sense.
The friendly website editing doesn't stop there though. Surreal CMS boasts a responsive, touch-friendly UI, allowing users to make changes to their web pages from tablet and mobile devices.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/responsive.png" alt="Surreal CMS Responsive" />
<h2>Multi-site Management, Easy Integration Options &amp; More</h2>
Surreal CMS has more to offer than just a pretty face though. There's also a fair bit of functionality and flexibility to be found.
For example, the platform allows you to manage a number of sites from one place, even if you have multiple hosting providers.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sites_1.png" alt="Surreal CMS Site Manager" /> 
Furthermore, Surreal CMS can connect to any site using FTP, SFTP, and even Amazon S3. That means there is no need to make special arrangements to accommodate the platform. It just works.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ftp.png" alt="Surreal CMS FTP SMPT " /> 
Additional features include built-in analytics, photo galleries, file management, and more. To dig a little deeper, take a quick look at their <a href="http://www.surrealcms.com/features" target="_blank"> features page</a>.
<h2>A CMS With a Friendly Face</h2>
One other thing I noticed about Surreal CMS, is its friendliness. Not only was it presenting features which almost anybody can make use of, but it did it with some charm – and that's worth praise.
Far too many content management systems get lost in their jargon and sleek website design to offer up any personality. Surreal CMS on the other hand, keeps it cool and casual.
Just check out their <a href="http://www.surrealcms.com/pricing" target="_blank">prices page</a> for example. Their platform is an ideal solution for website designers looking to streamline their tasks and earn via a platformlike Surreal, and so Surreal CMS go out of their way to explain how best to do this.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2222.png" alt="Surreal CMS Pricing" /> 
Their website layout, copy and even the green Alien mascot found throughout their imagery and icons helps to maintain a friendly, helpful atmosphere. They even offer up a discount to non-profit organizations.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3.png" alt="Surreal CMS Offer" />
To find out more about Surreal CMS, check out their <a href="http://www.surrealcms.com/" target="_blank">official website</a>.
Additionally, explore some more of the features on offer from <a href="/products/surreal-cms/" target="_blank">Surreal CMS via our CMS Directory</a>.

Surreal CMS: a Straightforward Platform With a Friendly Face

Liferay has always been a company focused on finding new ways to improve the overall experience for their users and recently, they launched the Liferay Marketplace, a place where users can download enterprise apps and themes. At launch, there were already over 70 Liferay developed apps and themes in the marketplace.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/liferay-marketplacejpg-620x652.jpg" alt="liferay marketplace" />
<blockquote>
Liferay Marketplace supports multiple goals we have wanted to deliver over the last few years,” said Brian Chan, Liferay's Chief Software Architect. “It greatly enhances our customers' abilities to extend their existing web solutions in a manner that saves them on time and the costs associated with solution upgrades. Also, in keeping with Liferay's longstanding commitment to creating value for the open source community, Liferay Marketplace aims to make it easier for a larger community of developers to share and distribute innovations as easily consumable modular applications.
</blockquote>
In concert with the launch, Liferay has opened the marketplace to outside developers and welcomes them to begin working to put together apps for submission. The next planned phase of the marketplace will bring with it built in transaction and payment processing. This is great news for end users and can only help to build the already burgeoning community that surrounds Liferay's suite of products.
Check it out at <a href="http://www.liferay.com/marketplace">http://www.liferay.com/marketplace</a>

Liferay Marketplace Launches, Offers Over 70 Apps and Themes

The upcoming DNN World 2012 conference is fast approaching and is slated to take place between October 10th and 12th in beautiful Orlando, Florida. The organizers for this event have put up a call for speakers to submit ideas for a series of Ignite sessions (5 minute quick presentations) and submissions are due by the end of August.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dnn_header-620x180.png" alt="DNN World 2012" />
Here's a video that was put together regarding this upcoming event:
[[dnnworld]]
The theme of DNN World 2012 is “Cloud Convenience, Social Solutions”. At the conference you will learn how DotNetNuke can enable you to deploy highly collaborative, revenue generating web sites and online communities based on the latest and most advanced development techniques.
This years sessions look to be pretty interesting for those looking to consider this CMS or those that are currently looking for new ways to put it to use. Some of the topics to be covered include:
<ul>
<li>An Introduction to DotNetNuke in the Cloud</li>
<li>
The Services Framework: Security and Development Patterns
</li>
<li>
Advanced Google Analytics for Social Sites
</li>
<li>
Module Development w/ DotNetNuke 6.2 Services Framework
</li>
<li>
Use DNN for your Facebook Page Apps
</li>
<li>
Linking SharePoint &amp; DotNetNuke with the SharePoint Connector
</li>
<li>
Building Social Applications
</li>
<li>
Scaling DotNetNuke in the Cloud: A Guide For Developers and Site Administrators
</li>
<li>
Responsive Web Design in DotNetNuke
</li>
<li>
Building a Mobile Application for DotNetNuke
</li>
<li>and many more.</li>
</ul>
Check out more about this event: <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com/News/Events/DotNetNuke-World-2012.aspx" target="_blank">DNN World 2012</a>

DNN World 2012 is Coming, Will You Be There?

WordPress powers millions of websites and blogs worldwide. More than 60 million in fact, according to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress">Wikipedia</a>. And this number is constantly growing. 
‘What makes it so popular?’ you may ask. Well, the answer is simple – WordPress is easy to setup and use. This CMS allows users to build almost any type of website – from blogs to multipage websites, online portfolios and even eCommerce websites. 
One more thing to mention is the wide variety of WP themes available. As you know, a WP theme is a fast and easy way to “dress” your site, so it is not such a bad thing that the web is flooded with millions of free and premium WordPress themes, developed to serve multiple purposes. 
Below we offer you an overview of the 12 essential components to which one should pay special attention when choosing a WordPress theme. Consider these elements and build a website that will set you apart from the rest.
<h2>12 Things To Look For When Choosing A WordPress Theme</h2>
In this section you may consider 9 basic elements that most popular WordPress templates boast. Making use of them, you can not only save time and effort on site development and management, but also start a project that will be in demand among the online audience. So, read on and remember these suggestions. 
1. Responsive Design
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/heyday.jpg" /> This is one of the indispensable features any website struggling to gain customer loyalty should incorporate. It’s no secret that modern users are shifting from desktop to handheld devices, so targeting mobile shoppers is the win-win solution. 
Think about this for a moment – would you stay on a page that doesn’t display content properly on your smart device? I really doubt that. When choosing a responsive WordPress theme you may feel secure your blog or website will adapt to any screen size, showing all elements the way you intended.
 Prime example: <a href="http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/52087.html" target="_blank">Heyday</a> 
2. Auto Upgrades &amp; Support
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/club8700x0.jpg" /> No matter how stunning the look of the theme you’ve picked, customer service is what really sells. The good thing is that WordPress templates from trusted companies like <a href="http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes.php" target="_blank">TemplateMonster</a> come with auto upgrades and free 24/7 support. 
Prime example: <a href="http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/51842.html" target="_blank">Club8</a> 
3. Navigation
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/recipes.jpg" /> You may have great content, a beautifully designed layout and several easy-to-reach social sharing buttons from which to choose, but all your efforts will be in vain unless you make your site easy to navigate. If the layout looks cluttered and users can’t figure out your site, they will simply leave.
Making your website easy-to-navigate is a key to success. So be sure to choose the theme that has a clean and intuitive navigation. 
Prime example: <a href="http://www.wpexplorer.com/recipes-blogging-wordpress-theme/" target="_blank">Recipes</a> 
4. Social Media Integration
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/explorer.jpg" /> It’s unusual to find a modern user who doesn’t have a social media account. If you are running a blog or a corporate website, chances are you are trying to attract more users to participate in discussions and comment/like/share your posts.
With the help of social sharing buttons this can be easily achieved. Social media integration is known as a proven effective way to increase page views and sharing stats. 
Prime example: <a href="https://www.wphub.com/themes/explorer/category/business/" target="_blank">Explorer</a> 
5. Easy Customization
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/yamony.jpg" /> When buying a theme, check out whether or not it’s easy to customize. Some template providers will give you a theme together with detailed guides on installation and management. Depending on what goals you pursue, check out the advanced options with which the theme comes packed; does it include the functionality you might need (like calendar, slider, galleries, portfolios, etc.); what kind of standard pages does it offer? How many color/font options will you have at your disposal, etc.?
Also, check out whether the developer provides you with packaged functionality along with the template itself. As a rule, this functionality is not turned on by default. 
Prime example: <a href="http://www.wpzoom.com/themes/photonote/" target="_blank">Yamony</a> 
6. Fast Load Speed
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elegant.jpg" /> Will you stay on the page that doesn’t load quickly? Modern users want everything instantly, otherwise they go elsewhere to get it. On average, people wait for three seconds for the website to load fully. It would seem a three second wait is not that long.
However, when online it can feel like an eternity. That’s why you should be especially selective when choosing a WordPress theme for your site. Many problems with load speed will vanish once you pick a well-coded, clean template and dedicated plugins created to speed up your site. 
Prime example: <a href="http://www.wpexplorer.com/elegant-portfolio-wordpress-theme/" target="_blank">Elegant</a>
7. Cross Browser Compatibility
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/delaila.jpg" /> People are using a variety of different browsers nowadays. Alongside such popular solutions as Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer, there are many lesser known browsers (like Konqueror) that are also being used to view your site. That’s why it’s important to know your site will perform properly across all major media platforms.
To release you from the heavy burden of checking out your web page each time changes are being applied, modern template providers make themes cross-browser compatible for you to feel safe these will look and work effectively in all browsers. 
Prime example:<a href="https://www.wphub.com/themes/delaila/category/business/" target="_blank"> DELAILA</a> 
8. Clean Layout
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/delicious.jpg" /> Apart from functionality, design factor should also be considered. It is not always recommended to pick a template heavy in design elements. Clean and minimalist layouts are always in demand. Have a look at the screen shot below.
Delicious is a clean and minimal WordPress theme best suited for developing cafe &amp; restaurant websites. Thanks to the pale background, users can focus attention on the menu and specialties rather than be distracted by heavy graphics. 
Prime example: <a href="http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/50762.html" target="_blank">Delicious</a> 
9. Unique Design <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/oshin.jpg" /> Those who want to stand apart from competitors and grab user attention with something outstanding, can opt for unique designs. As a rule, such resources are very interactive, allowing visitors to participate in storytelling.
For instance, Oshin is a beautifully designed multi-purpose WordPress template with 15 different layouts from which you can choose, 50 page builder shortcode modules, a bundle of free fonts, and much more. Incorporating the latest web design trends, like slow load effect, full- width visuals, ghost buttons, and grids, it was developed to catch the user’s eye at first sight. 
Prime example: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.comhttps://www.cmscritic.com/themeforestitem/oshin-creative-multipurpose-wordpress-theme/9545812?ref=cirvitis" target="_blank">Oshin</a>
10. Cherry Framework
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/car-wash.jpg" /> Cherry Framework, along with its child themes, was launched by <a href="http://www.templatemonster.com/presentations/cherry-framework-wordpress-themes.php" target="_blank">TemplateMonster</a>. This is a free parent framework that comes with various widgets, shortcodes, and solid Bootstrap options.
Originally released in December 2012, Cherry is now compatible with more than 900 child themes. The admin panel resembles the original WP interface in many ways, allowing even those of us who are not tech-savvy to set up a site and bring it to life hassle-free. Cherry is easy to install, requiring only three clicks. Overall, it comes with most of the WP features, like SEO optimization, excellent support, custom post creation, easy import/export data procedures, XML sitemap generation, and a number of other extra features. 
Prime example: <a href="http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/51818.html" target="_blank">Car Wash</a> 
11. Custom Widgets
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/agrofields.jpg" /> The best part about WordPress themes is that many of them are filled with widgets that you can add to your site. These range from contact forms to menus, full screen slideshows, and other features. When working on the design of your future site, these are some of the elements in the Library adding functionality to your project. 
Prime example: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.comhttps://www.cmscritic.com/themeforestitem/agrofields-food-shop-grocery-market-wp-theme-/9725100" target="_blank">Food Shop Premium WordPress Theme</a> 
12. Shortcodes
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dentist.jpg" /> Attaching media data can be facilitated by means of shortcodes. These are known as the easiest way to embed lists, tabs, audio and video data, Google maps, grids, and plenty of other elements into your site. If you need any of the above features, then look for a WP theme that comes with shortcodes. 
Prime example: <a href="http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/52373.html" target="_blank">Dentist</a>
<h3>Final Thoughts</h3>
Although there is no way to guarantee success in the online world, one thing is for sure: by taking into consideration the 12 aforementioned elements you can set up a website that will be user-friendly, easy-to-customize, intuitive, easy-to-navigate, appealing and remarkable. 
Interestingly, free WordPress themes don’t lag far behind their paid equivalents, however the latter do provide a number of additional features and functionalities, like free 24/7 support, regular updates, protection from malware of any kind, etc. When looking for a template with which to build your next web project, there are several things to consider in order to obtain a product that is really worth the money. 
If you have any other thoughts or ideas on other elements to consider when choosing a good WordPress theme, you are welcome to mention them in the comments.

Choosing A WordPress Theme: 12 Things To Look For

Hotjar - Spot what confuses

Spot what confuses your users with Hotjar & AI

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<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cms-265127_960_720-1.jpg" alt="cms-265127_960_720" />
Any visitor to this site can see that there’s a huge array of content management systems on offer that all aim to help create a common user interface for dealing with the creation and maintenance of digital data.
But many people who are building websites will be unsure as to whether to jump into this complicated area. And so here’s a quick rundown of reasons why you may need a content management system, and which are some good options.
Controlling content
Ever since Bill Gates stated that ‘<a href="http://www.silkstream.net/blog/2014/07/content-is-king-bill-gates-1996.html">content is king</a>’ in 1996, there’s been hundreds of websites being created each minute, and many ways that organisations have sought to try and control the huge amount of data being produced.
Although there are many informative sites that are relatively static and won’t require frequent updating, for most modern dynamic websites, there has grown the pressing need for the usage of a content management system (CMS).
A CMS is an invaluable tool in the upkeep of a website, and in a collaborative domain such systems are critical to avoid the disorganisation of data which can lead to delays, confusion and productive inefficiency.
CMS in operation
CMS systems work by featuring a common user interface that allows multiple users to add, remove and edit content on a website to a predetermined template. And such preset designs mean that a site can benefit from a harmonious aesthetic and allow the content producers to focus on the message, rather than having to deal with unwieldy HTML or CSS.
Such systems have a wide range of applications and can be very handy to use when creating a news blog that needs to be constantly updated with latest stories. The entertainment blog at Lucky Nugget Casino uses such a system to talk about their <a href="http://blog.luckynuggetcasino.com/big-movie-slots-to-expect-in-2016/">latest slot games offerings</a> in a way that’s stylistically coherent across the whole of the site so that gamers can easily find the relevant information and even share such stories via social media.
The great thing about the CMS system found at the casino gaming site is that it allows for a much more dynamic approach to content creation. This is especially important at a gaming site where there is a constant supply of new gaming products to promote in a way that necessitates a flexible way for site builders to organise the content that is created.
CMS choices
As examples like the ones above have frequent updates, many content management systems will also feature a buffer so that <a href="http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/guide-great-content-marketing-buffer-case-study">posts can be scheduled</a> without the webmaster being present. This is particularly handy in the social media age where timing can have a surprising effect on the efficacy of a post.
And with a range of software like the WordPress CMS, as well as SharePoint and Joomla constantly offering an impressive range of features, it looks like we’ll all be gaining easier access to the latest news stories, shopping products and online games in the future.

Why you need a Content Management System

If you have ever written anything online, you'll know that it can often be a challenge figuring out how to best position your content and gain visibility for it online. Thanks to a tool called InboundWriter, the writing process just became a whole lot easier. For those looking to develop a content marketing strategy, this product should be on your list.
<h2>What exactly is it?</h2>
InboundWriter is a web-based content optimization application that helps content marketers and professional writers of all types to create web-friendly content. There is also a WordPress plugin, which can be installed from the WordPress plugin repository.
<h2>How does it work?</h2>
The application/WordPress plugin suggests popular keywords as you type, empowering you, the writer, to make informed decisions regarding striking a balance between style and optimization for the web.
Until now, the traditional online writing process was broken into separate stages – research, writing and optimization. InboundWriter combines them all into a single application by integrating real-time insights from a variety of web sources, including search engines and social media, directly into the writing process. Documents created in InboundWriter are scored on a scale of 1 to 100 based on their findability and in accordance with the content optimization strategy, as identified in the settings by the writer. Signing up and exploring the insights and automation that InboundWriter provides is completely free. Professional users may upgrade to a premium account with unlimited editing and no advertising for a monthly subscription fee.
<h2>What I Think About It</h2>
I think InboundWriter is an excellent tool to help writers get back to the business of writing and I think it's extremely useful for those who have been pushed into a blended role of creator/marketer. It removes the stress of having to figure out how best to position your content for maximum exposure. If you are in the process of trying to define your content marketing strategy, InboundWriter should definitely be on your list of applications to consider adding to your repertoire.
I'm a big fan of choices and InboundWriter gives you plenty of them. At any time,  you can choose your content marketing strategy, effectively telling InboundWriter what your goals for the particular piece of content are.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp_plugin_strategies-620x497.png" alt="InboundWriter Review" />
Once it has your goals in mind, the system changes it's focus and guides you in the writing process by providing new suggestions and recommendations as you write.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp_plugin_tips-620x497.png" alt="InboundWriter Review" />
The stars in the screenshot above show you which terms are more likely to give you higher traffic &amp; exposure, allowing you to alter your content accordingly. This is handy if you, like me, are unsure at times which keywords are the best to use as focus terms for your content.
Once you've completed all of the steps suggested by InboundWriter, you should have a score that shows green and the gauge in the software should show you in the 80-100 range (shown below). This is how you determine that you've done a good job targeting your content.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp_plugin_finished-620x497.png" alt="InboundWriter Review" />
If you haven't taken a look at InboundWriter, I'd suggest implementing it as part of your writing process. You can always get started for free and once you've seen the benefits of this great piece of software, I've no doubt it'll become part of your content marketing strategy.
Take a look at InboundWriter today and start getting your content the exposure it needs.
Since we like InboundWriter so much, we're giving away 2 free licenses. Leave a comment below to be entered to win. Winners announced on September 8th, 2012.

Become a Better Writer with InboundWriter

WordPress is a monster in the CMS industry, to the point that it's almost unfair how many websites are powered by the popular open source CMS. With a whopping 23.4% of the web running WP, it's amazingly popular and far surpasses any other CMS in the world. Today, I'm going to share with you my thoughts on why WordPress beats Drupal and Joomla. I'm going to do so by sharing what I consider to be the 8 ways it does this.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/header_image-2500x0.png" alt="8 Ways WordPress Beats Drupal and Joomla" />
<ol>
<li>
<h2>Ease of use</h2>
When it comes to ease of use, WordPress is definitely the king amongst these three. Not only does it have one of the simplest and most straight forward interfaces, it far exceeds Drupal and Joomla when it comes to usability (in my humble opinion). WordPress has been used by many projects as a model for how to do a proper user interface and continues to improve with each new update. For an overall writing experience, it also offers a very unique distraction free writing mode which allows you to focus solely on your writing. Drupal, for instance, has an interface that fosters confusion and feels too complex. It doesn't feel as fluid as I'd like to see from such a powerful CMS. Joomla has some oddball ways of navigating the menus and accomplishing simple tasks and still needs some work (although over the years I've seen some good improvements).
</li>
<li>
<h2>Ease of Installation</h2>
WordPress is incredibly easy to install, the entire process is very, very straight forward and requires little knowledge. Having said that, services like Fantastico have made it much easier to install all three of these CMS with relative ease. Without Fantastico however, WordPress is definitely the simpler of the three. Even better, if you are using a hosting service like <a href="/bluehost">Bluehost</a>, it couldn't get much easier with their automated tools and WordPress managed hosting services.
</li>
<li>
<h2>Word of mouth</h2>
This is rather obvious but given the popularity of WordPress, it gets more word of mouth than Joomla or Drupal and is far more likely to be recommended as a solution than the other two. This can, however, result in people using WordPress for purposes outside the products means so it's a double edges sword in some cases.
</li>
<li>
<h2>Theming options</h2>
Sure, themes aren't the end all be all but for those looking to start a new website from scratch, they are certainly a huge help and with WordPress as popular as it is, there are literally thousands if not millions of themes out there to choose from. New theme development agencies are popping up every day offering more and more options to choose from which again, leads to more and more adoption of the CMS. Joomla is second to WordPress when it comes to theming and the situation with Drupal is just bad. There might be one or two decent Drupal theme companies out there but the work is often poor or unappealing to the masses (feel free to correct me if you know of some I'm unaware of).
</li>
<li>
<h2>Community</h2>
The WordPress community is nothing short of massive. With a huge number of blogs running on the WordPress.com hosted platform in addition to the downloadable version, WordPress has a community of millions of users around the world. This allows for a much quicker turn around for support questions and it's much much easier to find someone with the ability to assist in either developing plugins or a theme for your website. With a community this large, there are definite advantages.
</li>
<li>
<h2>Integrations</h2>
Almost any type of web software available has an integration with WordPress already in place or is working on one. This saves significant time working with code and allows users of the platform to benefit from the ease of use it's best known for. When integrating with a third party service involves a quick process rather than editing code, the world becomes an easier place for those looking to expand their websites with new functionality. Furthermore, with a massive directory of plugins, it's easy to accomplish new things and expand your website by simply installing a new plugin.
</li>
<li>
<h2>Niche Adoption</h2>
Since WordPress was a blog platform first and foremost, there was little competition other than Blogger to contend with. As a result, WP was quickly able to establish itself as the king of hte ring in this arena. As blogging became more popular, more of those individuals who first started out using WP for their blogs started to look at how they could continue their love affair with the plaform by adopting it to other niches. As a result, WordPress now can be used for far more than just blogging and continues to grow in capability.
</li>
<li>
<h2>Ease of Development</h2>
WordPress is a very simple CMS to use to develop websites. I've worked with it for years to build a number of sites including originally using it to power this very website you are reading this on. We are now powered by Processwire but I used WordPress to begin with to help me get this far. In addition, I built my wife's website, <a href="http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com"> http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com </a> (through which she ended up signing a book deal with Random House) as well as a ton of others such as <a href="http://www.baconhound.com"> http://www.baconhound.com </a> and many others. I find the development process very straight forward and since I am self taught in PHP, easy to pick up and understand.
</li>
</ol>
Now that I've shared the number of ways I think WordPress beats Drupal and Joomla, what are your thoughts? Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments below (but please do play nice!)
~Mike

8 Ways WordPress Beats Drupal and Joomla

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/office-605503_1280-1-e1467755866875.jpg" alt="office-605503_1280" />
Your audience’s very first impression of your business almost always happens online. In fact, a <a href="http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html">Stanford study</a> found that 75% of users admit to making judgements about a company based on their website. If your online presence isn’t up to snuff, a redesign is just the remedy. Below are six indicators that all point in the direction of a revamped, refreshed redesigned website.
<h2>1. Your Website Isn't User-friendly</h2>
User-friendly functionality is an important factor for any website or mobile app. A user should be able to find exactly what they’re looking for within two clicks of a mouse – whether that’s contact info, pricing and even the search field. Navigation should be intuitive. If not, your lead generation and traffic will take a hit.
<h2>2. You’re Not Hitting Your Goals</h2>
Your current website may look great, but it’s not serving its purpose if you’re not seeing the results that you want. If your website exists to generate leads and expand your customer base, it should be doing just that. If <a href="http://blog.agilitycms.com/content-managers/calls-to-actions-best-practices-tips-tricks?utm_source=cmscritic&amp;utm_medium=website">calls-to-actions</a> are not converting or if landing pages fail to peak interest, it’s time to hit the drawing board. A peek at your site’s current conversion metrics is a great starting point in planning to make adjustments for a redesign.
<h2>3. Your Website Isn’t Responsive/Mobile-Optimized</h2>
This is a major red flag. Roughly one fifth of all traffic currently comes from mobile and it’s projected to grow by leaps and bounds every year. (Source) According to MarginMedia, almost half of users say that if they arrive on a business site that isn’t working well on mobile, they will take it as an indication of the business simply not caring. Additionally, Econsultancy found that 62% of companies that have a mobile-optimized website saw an increase in sales.
<h2>4. You’re Outdated</h2>
Whether it’s the look and feel of your site, busted third-party tools – being outdated online is a no-no. Websites, on average, generally last three to four years before they go stale. By then, new design trends have emerged while others have fallen to the wayside. Third party tools, like shopping cart widgets, that aren’t up to the most current functionality can deter customers from going any further with a transaction or to delve deeper into your site.
<h2>5. You’re Slow</h2>
Consumers are moving faster than ever before, and they expect that quick pace to be accommodated at every online touch point. Nearly half of people will give up on a web page if it takes more than three seconds to load. (Source)
<h2>6. You’ve Been Thinking About A Redesign</h2>
If you’ve been thinking about a redesign, there’s no better time than right now. Whether you’re at the end of a three-year commitment to your current site or unhappy with lead generation, if your searching Google for redesign options, it’s time to get proactive in changing and upgrading your online presence.
<hr />
[dropshadowbox align=”none” effect=”lifted-both” width=”auto” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Agility is a cloud-based, agile and powerful content management system equipped with tools and features that make building and managing your online properties easy and stress-free. To learn more, visit <a href="http://agilitycms.com/?utm_source=cmscritic&amp;utm_medium=blog">agilitycms.com</a>.[/dropshadowbox]
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This post is <a href="/advertising/">sponsored</a> by AgilityCMS. Find out more at <a href="http://www.agilitycms.com/">agilitycms.com</a>.

6 Signs You Need to Redesign Your Website

A college or university has many moving parts – and all of these parts need to work together smoothly in order for the institution to function. All kinds of information has to be made accessible to a large number of varied users – from visitors and students to staff, faculty, and administrators. In today's technology-rich world, in addition to a social media campaign that is up-to-date and well-integrated, colleges and universities have a whole host of their own, unique website and technology needs. (There's so much riding on the on-the-go accessibility of interactive information from the registrar's office alone). Each CMS for Higher Education discussed here is designed with 100% mobile-friendly capability and offers many other user-friendly features as well:
 Ingeniux 
Ingeniux is known as a flexible, secure, and reliable managed hosting solution offering day and night, year-round monitoring and support, including managed software upgrades. It requires no technical knowledge for users and is simple for those who are windows-oriented. Content (including videos, slide shows, etc.) can be easily imported and, in turn, embedded – simply by clicking and dragging from desktop applications. Ingeniux has course catalog and registration features and also allows for newsletters and campus event calendars. Other features include a forms builder, modules for athletics and news, and RSS feeds.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weaver_elizabeth_ingeniux_for_higher_ed_screenshot.jpg" alt="CMS for Higher Education - Ingeniux user interface screenshot" />
 OmniUpdate Campus 
OmniUpdate Campus employs non-proprietary code that is built on open standards. It's been around for a long time and was specifically designed for higher education (now used by more than 700 colleges and universities) – offering course catalog, faculty directory, and interactive campus map features, as well as the capacity to manage as many users, pages, and sites as needed. The windows-friendly user interface is intuitive and requires less than an hour of training for non-technical users; the average user will find it easy to copy and paste content such as images, videos, etc. from an existing website and quickly publish it on this one.
In addition to RSS feeds and forms publishing, other capabilities include blog management and social media syncing. Another convenient feature of OmniUpdate is the fact that it alerts users to problems and necessary solutions before publishing. It does not require the installation of a separate application; rather, it is 100% internet browser-based and can normally be up and running in a matter of days.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weaver_elizabeth_omniupdate_for_higher_ed_screenshot.jpg" alt="CMS for Higher Education - OmniUpdate user interface screenshot" />
 Campus Suite 
Campus Suite has earned its reputation as a secure, cost-efficient, easy-to-use turn-key software system, combined with support and hosting service – all specifically designed for colleges and universities. There are no apps to install, and built-in interactive web features allow for teacher pages, staff and faculty directories, event calendar, e-newsletters, news and press release management, blogging, podcasting, FAQs, form builders, and RSS feeds. There are also templates available that allow for easy assembly of photo and video galleries and more.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weaver_elizabeth_campus_suite_for_higher_ed_screenshot.jpg" alt="CMS for Higher Education - Campus Suite user interface screenshot" />
 dotCMS 
DotCMS is a flexible, quick-launching, open source java-based system that can be used to manage a campus' entire web (including intranet) infrastructure. The WYSIWYG editor and drag-and-drop custom template builder allow for easy management and publication of documents, images, slide shows, event listings, etc., as well as the copying of material from an old, existing site to the new one. Remote widgets are available, and remote publishing can be set up in minutes. URLs and campaign domains can also be mapped to specific pages and sites using vanity URLs and domains.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weaver_elizabeth_dotcms_for_higher_ed_screenshot.jpg" alt="CMS for Higher Education - dotCMS user interface screenshot" />
Campus IT professionals know that college and university websites today must have flexible, interactive designs – and must always be up and running. They are used by many stakeholders, including students, professors, parents, staff, and administrators – all of whom will have a whole range of technical skill levels. Ingeniux, OmniUpdate, Campus Suite, and dotCMS are all well-designed CMS' for Higher Education with the types of features a college or university's technical staff will find desirable, and all are well worth considering.
What do you think? Do you use any of these systems? Know of another we missed? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

CMS for Higher Education: 4 Great Options with User-Friendly Features

Weglot - The easiest way to translate a website

The easiest way to translate a website

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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 - 35