Articles - Page 52

What I Mean to Say: A Practitioner Perspective on AI, Semantics, and Content Evolution

msalvatierra

With a new year comes a fresh look at what’s working for your content management system and what’s not. For enterprise businesses, any changes to a digital infrastructure can impact the entire company, especially changing their Content Management System (CMS).
Last year, companies witnessed a distinctive shift in the role Enterprise CMS platforms play. Rather than being a one-stop shop for all features a company would need, effective CMS platforms became the glue holding enterprise martech stacks together.
In 2019, any successful Enterprise CMS platform should give more than an updated look. It has to be a future-proofed investment in a company’s marketing strategy. Here are 9 forward-thinking essentials your Enterprise CMS should deliver this year:
1.Cloud-first integration
If 2018 was the year of the cloud, then 2019 is the year the cloud infiltrates every part of an organization’s digital presence. The Cloud helps organizations trade CAPEX for OPEX, breaking the 3-5 year cycle of hardware replacement and eliminating the responsibility over managing infrastructure. There are fewer limits, and enterprises pay as they go only for what they need.
How a CMS would interact with a Cloud hosting solution is the foundation of the rest of a
website’s success. A CMS should ideally work hand-in-hand with any Cloud hosting solution. That intimate connection gives a team more control over server performance and scaling.
Cloud resources within the CMS gives companies the power to grow capacity for their websites instantly, quickly react to spikes in traffic, or autoscale whenever needed. A Cloud system baked into a CMS lets your team manage these capabilities in a variety of areas, with fewer pieces to juggle.
What does the future look like? In a word: choice. Some CMS platforms are now being deployed with containers – allowing you to launch a CMS in minutes and start building your website or application with continuous deployment and no long-term contracts.
2. Solid security 
Last year saw some of the biggest online presences get slammed with several massive security breaches. From Marriott to Twitter, major enterprise names struggled to keep user information secure. It resulted in damaged brand trust, PR nightmares, and (many times) a drop in profit.
No one can afford to have security compromised, but especially not enterprise organizations.
More information online means more data for hackers to crack. Popular open source platforms like WordPress are notorious for having the most frequently compromised websites of any CMS. They often need extra third-party plugins to stave off attacks, and it’s only a matter of time before those are cracked. An enterprise CMS should uphold the integrity of your data. While any website can be hacked, some platforms are more secure than others. Do your research to ensure the source code is sound, that testing and patching are part of the support plan. Consider platforms that warranty their code and services. And ask what protocols are in place in the event of a hack, from 24/7/365 critical care to SLAs.
3. <a href="https://www.solodev.com/resources/case-studies/miami-beach-visitor-and-convention-authority.stml">API integration</a> 
Your enterprise organization needs features native to the CMS. However, there’s also something critical about having a CMS that seamlessly connects your organization to
technologies your team is already using—Marketo, MailChimp, Tableau, analytics
tracking and more.
Today’s digital experience landscape includes thousands of technologies. Understanding which ones to pick is hard enough; but how do you get them to work together? The CMS is a cornerstone of your digital stack, and it should help orchestrate data across different channels. That means seamlessly integrating with the most advanced applications on the planet like Salesforce CRM, Microsoft Dynamics ERP, even exotic platforms like Humanetics to manage blood donation data. The possibilities are endless – and your CMS should be the hub for it all.
When considering the API capabilities of a CMS, find out if it has documented out-of-the-box integrations. Are they committing their APIs to libraries like Swagger UI? How easy is it to build your own integrations in the future?
4. <a href="https://www.solodev.com/blog/web-design/should-your-website-risk-not-being-ada-compliant.stml">Compliance </a>
The Internet might feel like the Wild West, but there are a bevy of regulations that every website should follow. From ADA Accessibility, WCAG 2.0 compliance, GDPR, HIPPA, and more, your new CMS should take important governance and compliance rules into consideration.
Arguably one of the most important regulatory requirements of any website is accessibility. Every web experience should deliver “digital equality” to its visitors, regardless of their disability. Unfortunately, the realm of ADA compliance remains largely misunderstood. Accessibility isn't a “set it and forget it” endeavor; it requires both achieving and vigilantly maintaining the standards.
As the Department of Justice issues more legal suits against public and private institutions, it's critical for all organizations to monitor their ADA posture and develop the best practices for managing compliance. Even <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/blind-woman-sues-beyonces-entertainment-company-discrimination/story?id=60188354">Beyonce</a> recently fell victim to an ADA compliance publicity nightmare.
A good CMS should leverage a structured data foundation, enabling pages to be easily scanned by screen readers. Additionally, it should integrate seamlessly with best-of-breed platforms like SiteImprove to scan for violations on a regular basis.
5. <a href="https://www.solodev.com/blog/tags/mobile.stml">Mobile-first readiness</a> 
It's no longer enough to be “mobile responsive.” With increasingly more users browsing
websites on their smartphones and tablets, you must adopt a true “mobile first” strategy –
where the mobile experience is thoughtfully designed from day one. Likewise, you need a
CMS that understands this shift, and provides a foundation for building, testing and
launching world-class mobile experiences.
6. 
For enterprise organizations, permissioning remains a critical requirement for any CMS platform. Only a handful of people within such large organizations should have access to an enterprise website’s content. Granular permissions give CIOs and CTOs the peace of mind they need when it comes to internal content. User permissions help make sure those with editorial capabilities are approved by administrators. However, effective enterprise CMS platforms still provides the common workflows that enable sharing and teamwork.
7. Native Multisite
Enterprise companies have hundreds or even thousands of pages under their care. It’s important to have a CMS capable of handling the needs of those sites rather than having multiple sites managed on multiple platforms.
Having all your websites on a single platform means your entire team can work from a single
interface to develop and manage content. This means more efficient training and better use
adoption. It leads to smarter hardware use and ultimately lower hosting fees.
A single CMS platform also makes it easy to spin up new sites by making clones of an existing site. Users can share the same piece of content or other assets across all your sites. This
promotes consistent template governance across your sites and ensures an enterprise brand is presented the way you want it to be no matter how many websites you have.
8. Headless capabilities
Organizations wanting to move information across different platforms might find consistency a struggle without some sort of headless solution. The promise of decoupled CMS is that the function isn’t limited to or defined by frameworks that represent the frontend of a website. A headless or decoupled CMS gives you the freedom to share data or access analytics across channels, and connect everything with the power of a RESTful API.
Imagine giving visitors the same experience online as you would a mobile app. This could include customers ordering your services through Alexa or voice-driven gadgets. Headless gives your website the ability to exist today while preparing for the devices of tomorrow – everything from wearable tech like smart watches to screen readers for the visually impaired. At the same time, you want to have the ability to host the templates and frameworks for your website right alongside your data-driven apps.
Hybrid CMS platforms put one foot in the freedom of headless and the other in the stability of the templates and frameworks your website needs. Many CMS solutions are either one or the other – traditional or truly headless—but why choose? If a goal is to be future proof, then select a cloud-based hybrid solution that gives an enterprise the best of both worlds.
9. Training and support
Know who will be there after a website goes live. Not all CMS platforms come with support options. For example, many open-source applications don’t offer direct access to support teams. Typically they develop security patches and software upgrades you have to download and install yourself. While plenty of enterprise organizations have an IT infrastructure to handle manual updates, there’s still a learning curve that comes with any new enterprise CMS.
And while you might go to sleep, your enterprise website won’t—particularly if it generates global traffic. Know any potential CMS’s support response time and the availability of those support options.
About Solodev
Solodev is a leading enterprise website Content Management System (CMS) that empowers organizations to create amazing websites and engaging digital experiences in the cloud – all with total design freedom and control. Built from the ground up for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Solodev provides unparalleled security, scalability, and redundancy with 24/7/365 U.S. based support. Solodev has been listed as one of Inc. 5000’s fastest growing companies for the last three years and recognized as a High Performing leader on the user-driven G2 Crowd Grid. Winners of the 2017 AWS “City on a Cloud” Innovation Challenge, Solodev is an AWS Advanced Technology Partner with competencies in Education, Government, and Marketing &amp; Commerce. Solodev’s self-service CMS can be purchased on demand in the <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/seller-profile?id=8e11c912-6253-41b8-b065-bf32bd27911b&amp;ref=_ptnr_solodev_cmscritic-content_9critical">AWS Marketplace</a> or through the GSA Contract. Learn more at <a href="http://www.solodev.com/">www.solodev.com</a>.

9 Essentials Your Enterprise CMS Should Deliver in 2019

mike-johnston

A new minor release of PrestaShop is available. This new release, while minor, does bring a few new features that users have been waiting for. Let's take a look at what you can expect from this update.
With each release, the PrestaShop community is involved in providing feedback to further expand the product by adding features, fixing bugs and more. In this release, a package of optimizations that will allow merchants to make considerable time savings in their recurring store management tasks has been incorporated.
<ul>
<li>SEO optimizations have been made to the pages for categories, brands &amp; suppliers, content (CMS); this brings an added advantage in terms of SEO rankings for stores as they are better recognized by search engines;</li>
<li>A dynamic preview (on Google) of product meta tags is now featured, which is useful for ensuring that tags are completed and positioned correctly; <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1_25_v88qxr.png" /></li>
<li>Editing of specific prices: no need to edit and then delete specific prices for each promotion! From now on, and with just a few clicks, merchants will be free to modify the specific prices created for their products (including dates, countries, combinations, etc.), which will make it easier to set up promotional activities throughout the year;</li>
<li>Physical stock management: it is possible to add a reference on customer order pages to indicate the physical location of the products in storage (shelf, aisle, warehouse, etc.). This storage location is specified on the product pages in the merchants' back office. An essential tool for facilitating order processing and preparation;</li>
<li>Now more intuitive, the new categorization for installed modules will make it easier to access these modules by using more precise terms and a sort by last use feature;</li>
<li>A different menu structure suited to Mobile browsing will add more user comfort and offer a more seamless experience;</li>
<li>Optimized page loading times (chiefly the homepage, categories, products, order history pages) will lend greater responsiveness and performance: loading time will be between 15% and ten times quicker depending on the pages and usage scenarios.</li>
</ul>
– Updates to receive notifications for the functions that need to be updated to their latest version.
– Alerts to receive notifications about any alerts requiring rapid response (e.g. if a module needs to be configured or, more rarely, if it is corrupt).
This purpose of this new configuration is to make this page more legible with a direct view of pending actions with varying degrees of urgency;
<ul>
<li>For new merchants, tips and advice on configuring SEO for the homepage is available on the SEO &amp; URLs page. This provides better guidance on SEO for on-line stores in line with the criteria set out by the various search engines;</li>
</ul>
For a full list of addons, features and fixes, visit the announcement: https://www.prestashop.com/en/blog/features-prestashop-1-7-5-0

PrestaShop 1.7.5.0 Now Available - Brings New Features to Users

dotCMS, a key player in content management and digital experience software, together with Myplanet, a software studio headquartered in Toronto, are hosting an <a href="https://dotcms.com/webinar/digital-accessibility">in-depth webinar</a> to show how forward-thinking brands are using IoT devices to bring their digital accessibility experiences above and beyond pure compliance.
From smart speakers to wearable technology, new touch points are now constantly emerging–bringing fresh touch points to the customer journey on a regular basis. While this constantly evolving environment gives brands the opportunity to innovate and delight their audiences with cutting-edge digital experiences, it also poses problems to those brands that still struggle with basic website accessibility. For those companies, the prospect of making their entire digital offering accessible to those with disabilities and impairments may seem impossible.
“We’re excited to present alongside the folks at Myplanet who have hands-on expertise using content management platforms, like dotCMS, to create accessible experiences for their customers on IoT devices,” said Stefan Schinkel, Enterprise Sales, dotCMS. “They’ve got a unique take on smart interface design and development and how it can be leveraged to address accessibility in the IoT era.”
Join dotCMS and Myplanet for this informative webinar, Thursday, January 31st at 11am EST / 8am PST. Register here: <a href="https://dotcms.com/webinar/digital-accessibility">https://dotcms.com/webinar/digital-accessibility</a>
About dotCMS
<a href="https://dotcms.com/">dotCMS</a> is a leading, open source content and customer experience management platform for companies that want innovation and performance driving their websites and other content-driven applications. Extensible and massively scalable, both small and large organizations can rapidly deliver personalized and engaging content across browsers, mobile devices, channels, second screens and endpoints — all from a single system.
Founded in 2003, dotCMS is a privately owned US company with offices in Miami, Florida, Boston, Massachusetts, and San Jose, Costa Rica. With a global network of certified development partners and an active open source community, dotCMS has generated more than a half-million downloads and thousands of implementations and integration projects worldwide. Notable dotCMS customers include: Telus, Standard &amp; Poors, Hospital Corporation of America, Royal Bank of Canada, DirecTV, Thomson Reuters, China Mobile, and DriveTest Ontario.
About Myplanet
<a href="https://www.myplanet.com/">Myplanet</a> is a software studio. We’re an integrated team of designers and developers making smarter interfaces to empower your employees and engage your customers.

The IoT Era is Bringing Digital Accessibility Beyond Pure Compliance

Ternio has announced their first product for the general public called <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2339221-1&amp;h=3648828587&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fgetblockcard.com%2F&amp;a=BlockCard%E2%84%A2" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">BlockCard™</a>. BlockCard is a debit card that enables the card holder to spend the value of their cryptocurrency with the same ease as traditional credit cards. BlockCard can be used online or in physical store locations, anywhere in the world major credit cards are accepted.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zOJtdPT86QI?start=2&amp;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Ternio's goal is to accelerate the use of blockchain and cryptocurrency into everyday life,” said Ian Kane, COO &amp; Founder of Ternio. “BlockCard enables the card holder to gain real utility from their cryptocurrency and removes the notion that crypto is only a speculative asset.”
BlockCard currently supports four cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Stellar Lumens (XLM) and Ternio (TERN). Consumers who hold any of those cryptocurrencies can deposit them to their <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2339221-1&amp;h=696672769&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fdashboard.getblockcard.com%2Fauth%2Fregister&amp;a=BlockCard+account+after+signing+up" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">BlockCard account after signing up</a>. Additional currencies will be added throughout the year. BlockCard™ users have the option to select between a virtual or physical card. Those who want a physical BlockCard™ can also select between a plastic or a metal version of the card.
Ternio's BlockCard is one of only three approved crypto debit cards in the United States and is the only card to support multiple cryptocurrencies – giving card holders the option on how they fund their BlockCard. It is also the only card that enables real time spending of cryptocurrency by processing transactions via a crypto exchange. Ternio registered over 1,000 people during their soft launch. Those interested in having a BlockCard account can signup now at: <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2339221-1&amp;h=1504439539&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fgetblockcard.com%2F&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fgetblockcard.com." target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://getblockcard.com.</a>
“We want to give consumers the option on which digital asset they use to fund their BlockCard account,” said Daniel Gouldman, CEO and Founder of Ternio. “Card holders decide if they want to buy a bagel with their Bitcoin or a <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2339221-1&amp;h=462056155&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzOJtdPT86QI&amp;a=latte+with+their+Stellar+Lumens" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">latte with their Stellar Lumens</a>. Most importantly, these transactions occur on digital asset exchanges, which helps to propel the crypto community.”
Ternio BlockCard™:
Ternio is a leading blockchain company driving the adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency into everyday life with its Lexicon framework and BlockCard™. The BlockCard™ is a physical debit card created by Ternio. With BlockCard™, card holders are empowered to spend their BTC, ETH, XLM, and TERN anywhere in the world major credit cards are accepted. Learn more at <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2339221-1&amp;h=1198581509&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fgetblockcard.com%2F&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fgetblockcard.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://getblockcard.com</a>

Ternio Introduces CryptoCurrency BlockCard™ Enabling Users to Spend Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Stellar Lumens Anywhere Credit Cards Accepted.

If you’ve been considering opting for a headless CMS recently, you’ve most likely come across <a href="https://buttercms.com/">ButterCMS</a> as a suggestion and not without good reason. With more content customization abilities and the entire set up process taking less than a few minutes, it’s no surprise that more teams are making the switch to go the headless CMS route. It comes with many benefits that a more traditional CMS like WordPress lacks and is rapidly <a href="/content-delivery-in-the-modern-era-headless-cms/">becoming a dominant tool in modern content delivery</a>. ButterCMS, in particular, has recently made some impressive product updates that have led to productivity enhancements for their users, both content editors as well as developers. A major contributor to these new changes made by Butter is feedback they receive from their clients as they consistently strive towards improving their user experience.
<h1>Pages Dashboard</h1>
With a completely redesigned Pages Dashboard, Butter offers a lot more capability to easily edit and manage pages for your website including filtering your content and easier localization.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/buttercms1_lhjnfk.png" alt="buttercms1" />
The Dashboard now also provides a bulk edit and bulk publish feature which allows users to select and set several pages live at the same time. Not a complex feature but will come in handy for content editors using Butter to publish more to their site much faster.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/buttercms2_kfgy10.gif" alt="buttercms2" />
If you use different languages to set up your site content, you’ll appreciate ButterCMS’s recently added localization capability that filters down the pages that need to be translated.
<h1><a name="_uh9oeqkhqrlp"></a>Media Library</h1>
Another productivity boost for ButterCMS users comes in the form of the upgrade to the media library based on popular demand to upload multiple images at the same time. This can be accessed directly on the media library page or if you need to use it for your blog posts or pages on ButterCMS, you can access the media library from the WYSIWYG editor.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/buttercms3_zzqqy4.gif" alt="buttercms3" />
I’ve also noticed they’ve made minor workflow improvements by getting rid of additional steps in the process, allowing you to manage your content much easier.
<h1><a name="_iyvhnz8i9jgk"></a>ButterCMS CLI Tool</h1>
ButterCMS recently <a href="https://buttercms.com/blog/building-a-command-line-interface-in-javascript-with-oclif">built their own CLI </a><a href="https://buttercms.com/blog/building-a-command-line-interface-in-javascript-with-oclif">tool</a>, which stands for Command Line Interface and is essentially their own custom tool that’s going to allow developers to release new projects that fully integrate with their system. This tool can be consistently modified to perform new commands and improve older ones according to your customization requirements.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/buttercms4_hvh4ak.png" alt="buttercms4" />
Check out the new ButterCMS CLI on <a href="https://github.com/ButterCMS/buttercms-cli">GitHub</a>.
<h1><a name="_82a0ldhpm7e"></a>ButterCMS Blog</h1>
ButterCMS offers two solutions, a complete content management system as well as a blog engine that integrates with any tech stack and great SEO. They also have their own <a href="https://buttercms.com/blog/">blog</a> with great tips for developers and CTOs as well as a “New to Butter” section with in-depth tutorials on setting up your blog on ButterCMS and getting the most out of the features they offer.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/buttercms5_qcftl8.gif" alt="buttercms5" />
Choosing to go with a headless CMS takes some initial getting used to but the long-term advantages and possibilities it offers are worth making the switch. It takes away the complications of navigating through the website and empowers marketers to easily make changes to the blog pages without the constant need of a developer’s help. 
<h1>Wrap Up</h1>
Headless CMS is on the rise and provides a solid alternative to traditional CMS’s like WordPress. <a href="https://buttercms.com/">ButterCMS</a> positions itself as a developer friendly alternative to WordPress and with enhancements like it’s revamped content dashboards and Media Library, marketers will enjoy it even more as well. It provides localization, multi-site support, search engine optimization and works with all tech stacks. If you’re wondering if a headless CMS is a right fit for your project, they offer a 30-day free trial for you to try out and provide content migration support if you’re moving from an existing CMS.

ButterCMS - Productivity Enhancements for Content Editors and Developers

Upland Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: UPLD), a leader in cloud-based Enterprise Work Management software, today announced it has acquired Adestra Ltd., a leading provider of enterprise-grade email marketing, transaction and automation software. Adestra's cloud solution enables over 400 leading brands to understand and engage individual customers with relevant, timely, and effective communications. Adestra will be combined with Upland's mobile messaging, customer engagement, and knowledge management solutions to create a powerful product suite serving the $5.9 billion CXM market which is forecast to grow 23% per year to $16.9 billion by 2022.1 The acquisition adds approximately $18 million in annualized revenues and will be immediately accretive to Upland's Adjusted EBITDA per share.
The acquisition of Adestra adds a fundamental component to Upland's CXM Solution Suite, which now includes multi-channel messaging and email, automated mobile conversations via SMS, MMS, and RCS, mobile wallet functionality, Voice of Customer (VOC) and Voice of Employee (VOE) solutions, advanced knowledge management, and marketing automation and personalization. Upland will continue to buy, build, and integrate additional components to this CXM offering in order to enable more personalized customer experience, enhanced multi-channel engagement across the customer journey, deeper process automation, sophisticated analytics and reporting, and coordinated services delivery with CXM expertise.
“Adestra broadens Upland's product portfolio, strengthens our CXM solution suite, and builds our sales capacity and footprint,” said Jack McDonald, chairman and CEO of Upland Software. “Moreover, the transaction is immediately and meaningfully accretive to Adjusted EBITDA per share and takes Upland to an approximate $190 million annualized revenue run rate,” he added. “As this transaction demonstrates, our acquisition pipeline is robust, and we are actively pursuing additional opportunities.”
“Sophisticated enterprises need multiple intelligent, inter-connected communications channels that integrate with key platforms to meaningfully engage across the entire customer journey at scale,” said Jed Alpert, SVP of Customer Experience Management Solutions at Upland Software. “Adestra's established presence in restaurant and retail, travel, media and publishing, and nonprofits, enhances our existing strengths in these industries, and the addition of their technology to Upland's Customer Experience Management suite will enable our customers to deliver consistently personalized, multi-channel experiences across their entire customer lifecycle.”
The purchase price paid for Adestra was $56.0 million in cash at closing, net of cash acquired, and a $4.2 million cash holdback payable in 12 months (subject to indemnification claims). Upland expects the acquisition to generate annual revenue of approximately $18 million, of which approximately $16.7 million is recurring, subject to reductions for a deferred revenue discount as a result of GAAP purchase accounting, estimated at $0.1 million for the remaining half of December 2018. The acquisition is within Upland's target range of 5-8x pro forma Adjusted EBITDA and will generate at least $8.0 million in Adjusted EBITDA annually once fully integrated. The acquisition will be immediately accretive to Upland's Adjusted EBITDA per share.
In connection with the acquisition of Adestra, Upland amended and expanded its credit facility from $358.9 million to $400 million. Specifically, $61.1 million of new term debt was drawn, taking Upland's gross debt outstanding from $223.9 million to $285.0 million with debt, net of cash on hand, now at approximately $265 million at a maximum interest rate of LIBOR + 400 basis points (currently at approximately 6.3%). Further details regarding the transaction can be obtained in the Form 8-K filed on December 13, 2018.
Business Outlook
Upland today also announced that it has raised its full year 2018 guidance to reflect the Adestra acquisition, raising revenue, recurring revenue, and Adjusted EBITDA guidance ranges. The increase in 2018 revenue guidance below is net of an estimated $0.1 million reduction for a deferred revenue discount as a result of GAAP purchase accounting and all guidance adjustments are prorated for a closing date of December 12, 2018.
For the quarter ending December 31, 2018, Upland expects reported total revenue to be between $42.5 and $44.5 million, including subscription and support revenue between $39.4 and $40.6 million, for growth in recurring revenue of 62% at the mid-point over the quarter-ended December 31, 2017. Fourth quarter 2018 Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $15.6 and $16.4 million, for an Adjusted EBITDA margin of roughly 37% at the mid-point, representing growth of 64% at the mid-point over the quarter-ended December 31, 2017
For the full year ending December 31, 2018, Upland expects reported total revenue to be between $147.2 and $149.2 million, including subscription and support revenue between $134.2 and $135.4 million, for growth in recurring revenue of 58% at the mid-point over the year ended December 31, 2017. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $52.0 and $52.8 million, representing growth of 73% at the mid-point over the year ended December 31, 2017. The transaction will be immediately accretive to Upland's Adjusted EBITDA per share.
About Upland Software
Upland Software (Nasdaq: UPLD) is a leading provider of cloud-based Enterprise Work Management software. Our family of applications enables users to manage their projects, professional workforce and IT investments; automate document-intensive business processes; and effectively engage with their customers, prospects and community via the web and mobile technologies. With more than 4,000 customers and over 450,000 users around the world, Upland Software solutions help customers run their operations smoothly, adapt to change quickly, and achieve better results every day. To learn more, visit <a href="http://www.uplandsoftware.com/" target="_blank">www.uplandsoftware.com</a>.

Upland Software Acquires Adestra

When you launch a site, you will find that most bloggers and marketers will recommend you to use the WordPress Content Management System (CMS).
Although WordPress is the most widely used CMS it might not be the best option for you. There are several other systems like Joomla, <a href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a>, SquareSpace or Drupal that might be better suited for you.
So, to help you make the right decision I have written this simple guide that will help you determine if WordPress is the best CMS for you…
Your skill level:
The first thing you must assess while choosing a CMS is your skill level. If you haven’t got much experience with design or coding, <a href="https://wordpress.com/">WordPress</a> is probably the best option for you as it makes it easy to manage sites with easy to use themes and plugins. They are even third-party tools like <a href="https://coschedule.com/">CoSchedule</a> that let you manage your site better.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/wordpress-best-cms-for-you-1_okkejl.png" />
But the problem with WordPress is that all these short cuts through the use of plugins and easy to use themes will limit the amount of custom modifications you can make. Also, using too many plugins can affect the loading time of your site. Plugins can also lead to more security risks.
This is why if you have some experience with developing and are looking for a platform that makes it easy to create a custom site, <a href="https://www.drupal.org/">Drupal</a> would be a better option. This is because you develop Drupal sites with blocks. They let you create any type of site. Also, it offers better security than WordPress.
If you are looking for a platform that is in between WordPress and Drupal in terms of ease of use <a href="https://www.joomla.org/">Joomla</a> would be a better option. And if you are looking for a CMS that is even more easy to use than WordPress, <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/">SquareSpace</a> would be a better option.
But when you use a platform like SquareSpace, the number of customisations you can make will be more limited than on WordPress.
Your budget:
Another factor you should take into account while choosing your CMS is your budget. If you have a small budget WordPress is the more affordable option.
<a name="_GoBack"></a> For example, if you decide on running your site on WordPress and are looking for the <a href="https://hostadvice.com/hosting-services/wordpress/">best web hosting for WordPress</a>, it is going to be very affordable even if you choose a managed hosting or a dedicated server. This is because it is a popular open source CMS and many hosting services are battling it out to offer the most affordable service.
But on the other hand if you were looking for managed hosting for a site that runs on Drupal or Joomla it can work out expensive as fewer companies offer it.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wordpress-best-cms-for-you-2-1024x469.png" />
The popularity of the WordPress CMS also makes it easy and affordable to find developers and virtual assistants to help run your site. You can also make many more modifications easily with the use of free and premium plugins.
On the other hand finding people to help modify your Drupal site can cost you more as there are fewer experienced Drupal developers. But they will be able to customise your site a lot better than a WordPress site.
So, if your budget is tight and you need a simple website, WordPress would be the best option. But if you want something unique and you have a high budget it would be better to choose Drupal.
The purpose of your website:
WordPress is a great option for running a simple basic site or blog. But it is not the best option for creating something more sophisticated like an ecommerce store or social media site or news site.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/wordpress-best-cms-for-you-3_yr07mb.png" />
<a href="/choosing-the-best-cms-as-the-foundation-for-your-e-commerce-site/">For creating an ecommerce store</a> it would be better to use a CMS like <a href="/shopify/">Shopify</a> or <a href="/bigcommerce/">BigCommerce</a> as they have been specifically created for this purpose. And they provide access to dozens of apps that can make setting up and running your ecommerce site a lot simpler.
For creating a social media site a better CMS would be Drupal and for creating a more sophisticated commercial blog or news site <a href="https://www.rebelmouse.com/">Rebel Mouse</a> would work best.
Now choose your best CMS. It doesn’t have to always be WordPress
WordPress might seem like the best CMS in the world because it is so widely used and is recommended by some of the top bloggers. But as you can see in this post it isn’t the best option for everyone. If you plan to set up a simple site or blog, WordPress can work well for you, but if you want to create something more sophisticated there are better content management systems.

Is WordPress the Best CMS for You?

Shopify - The global commerce platform

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

The global commerce platform

#ffffff

Content management system provider introduces its new cloud-based container CMS on the newly launched AWS Marketplace for Containers, accelerating website and application deployment for as little as $1 per hour per container
Solodev, an industry-leading website content management system (CMS) built for Amazon Web Services (AWS), recently launched a new Solodev CMS Enterprise for Docker and Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS). The availability of this product came on the heels of AWS’s introduction of the brand new AWS Marketplace for Containers, announced at AWS re:Invent 2018 in Las Vegas.
AWS customers can now use the Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) console and AWS Marketplace for Containers to discover, produce, and deploy container solutions – including Solodev CMS Enterprise for Docker. With today’s release, AWS Marketplace has extended its existing benefits and features to container products, with a rich discovery and search experience offering access to a curated catalog of trusted software from reputable vendors. From day one, AWS customers can quickly find and deploy Solodev CMS Enterprise for Docker through AWS Marketplace for Containers.
Solodev’s new container product changes the way CMS is purchased and provisioned, allowing individuals and organizations to deploy, manage and scale enterprise-grade websites and applications faster than ever. Solodev containers can be easily set up and launched through AWS Marketplace for Containers[MOU1] for as little as $1 per hour per container with no long-term contracts. Built from the ground up for AWS, Solodev is a trusted platform for creating advanced websites and digital experiences in the cloud with proven security, scalability, and redundancy. Now with containers, Solodev users can build custom applications and deploy continuously – leveraging a complete set of container-ready technologies including Apache, Mongo, PHP, Redis, SQL, and more.
“We are happy to welcome Solodev and their new CMS Enterprise for Docker to the new AWS Marketplace for Containers, which will help over 200,000 AWS customers find, buy, and deploy solutions specific to their container environment,” said Garth Fort, Director, AWS Marketplace, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
According to 451 Research, the application container market is expected to quadruple from $759 million in 2016 to more than $3.4 billion in 2021. With companies embracing this technology at an accelerated rate, the AWS Marketplace for Containers is meeting the demand of its customers and offering a trusted ecosystem for container services – where other AWS Partner Network (APN) Advanced Technology Partners like Solodev have been fully vetted.
“There’s no question; containers are the future, and CMS has been the missing piece,” said Shawn Moore, Chief Technology Officer, Solodev. “At a time when advanced web solutions can cost millions, Solodev’s pioneering use of container technology can significantly reduce costs and eliminate the friction in building websites, setting up servers and everything in between. Just like the cloud before it, containers are changing the way enterprise organizations create and build IT infrastructures, and we’re excited to be on the ground floor of container transformation with AWS,” he said.
For more information about Solodev, visit <a href="http://www.solodev.com/">www.solodev.com</a>.
Learn more about Solodev Enterprise for Docker on the <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/B07K6TRSMP/ref=_ptnr_solodev_cmscritic-content_pressrelease">AWS Marketplace</a>.

Solodev Launches New Enterprise Container Content Management System for Docker on Amazon Web Services

Design agencies are in high demand, as just about everyone needs to maximize their digital footprints these days. But not everyone possesses the technical skills or composition know-how to create a visually stunning, intuitive, and search-visible site. This is where agencies come into play.
Fortunately for agencies and their clients, there are several web design platforms that make the task straightforward, efficient, and even (gasp) a good time.
The right site builder must also give agencies the flexibility to build and scale over time as well. So that limits the playing field.
WordPress is often the first tool that comes to mind. However, this platform can be unnecessarily complex, buggy and expensive. 
What most agencies need is a feature-rich, easy-to-use, powerful yet intuitive platform to work with. Choose one with too few features, and you’ll soon hit growth limitations; too many, and you’ll get dragged down by undue chaos and confusion. So let’s stick to the middle of the road.
To help you separate wheat from chaff, we are going to analyze three of today’s best website creation platforms. Hopefully, this will help you identify the one best suited for your growing agency’s needs.
<h2>Duda</h2>
Like many site creation suites, <a href="https://www.duda.co/">Duda</a> is a platform for creating fully optimized multi-screen websites. <a href="/duda-website-builder">Duda</a> is well-suited for small and medium-sized businesses, as this is their primary audience.
<a href="/duda-website-builder">Duda</a> offers a myriad of beautifully-designed templates, a drag-and-drop interface, eCommerce options, and a plethora of elements for design agencies to work with for budding brands. And using Duda helps streamline site development. As the site puts it, “digital publishers on Duda average more than a 50% drop in website build times.”
This is a bold claim for agencies looking to optimize production and site turnaround times. And Duda has a lot to offer in this realm.
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/286281912?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Firstly, Duda’s white label options enable agencies to create a fully immersive, customized experience that screams of professionalism. This includes compelling options for custom login screens, custom color and logo implementation features, and other branding options. Duda also offers user migration and “content injection” options to help migrate existing sites over to its platform. It also features one-of-a-kind templates that can be automatically pre-populated with clients’ business information.
On the communications front, Duda’s white label features provide automatic email generation components that present clients with site stats, analytics, and onboarding instructions for their accounts. Additionally, the content collection form makes it easy to send clients data sheets that include instructions on how they can send exactly what is required to build a stunning website.
What helps makes Duda a premier option for agencies is its rich team collaboration and client management options. Through this builder, users can generate unique dashboards for clients, enabling varying roles and permission levels based on their technical prowess; this includes potential access to publishing and editing permissions, eCommerce enablement, developer access, and more.
<a name="_GoBack"></a> What is particularly outstanding is that Duda supplies agencies with a custom widget builder. This enables brands to not only integrate third-party services, but to build unique, native widgets for clients. This feature can help agencies provide massive customization value to client builds.
And of course, Duda has developer capabilities for HTML/CSS/JavaScript integration, automatic SSL certification (for white label dashboards), and gives a remarkable amount freedom of freedom for SEO optimization.
<h2>Squarespace</h2>
<a href="https://www.squarespace.com/">Squarespace</a> is one of the more popular website builders on the market today, and with good reason.
Like Duda, Squarespace features stunning, mobile-responsive templates that are eye-catching and polished. 
This platform gives users various styling options to help customize websites and give them a more branded look. Like the previous platform, Squarespace enables users to tailor their site’s appearance without having to dive into coding languages; this greatly simplifies the processes for designers. Though, if a client requires it, coding can be applied for a more customized destination.
When compared to Duda, however, Squarespace is less intuitive; this can slow things down and cause frustration. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/squarespace_zlovtc.png" />
Squarespace is lacking in scalability, and SEO is minimal too. Furthermore, integration features for Google Analytics and Search Console, Facebook retargeting, and other necessary marketing elements are hidden within the platform’s Advanced Settings and need to be added using the Code Injector tool. This isn’t exactly client or novice coder-friendly, but at least these features do exist.
When a brand expands their offerings, clients are likely to request the implementation a variety of third-party apps or extensions to enhance functionality. This is where the platform falls epically short of the mark as new features must be rolled out by Squarespace.
Another drawback for Squarespace is its responsiveness. While the site claims to tout fully responsive designs, the site’s contents can often shift when viewed on mobile devices. This means that users are likely to not have complete control over their sites’ appearance, which can certainly be problematic for agencies, as clients demand certain levels of uniformity and professionalism.
But Squarespace has a solid audience for many legitimate reasons. Functional, beautiful sites can be built in a small fraction of time, and updates, articles, images, videos and blogs are a synch to create and publish. 
The tool makes integration with other platforms like MailChimp, Gmail, Facebook, and oodles more marketing and social interfaces a snap – they know how to play well with others. It’s a very, very good option if ease and speed are your agency’s priorities.
<h2>Wix</h2>
<a href="https://www.wix.com/">Wix</a> is another popular option, but it has its own set of pros and cons too.
This platform boasts over 500 templates done by professional designers, making custom designs a breeze. These come pre-populated with content, meaning that designers merely need to replace the existing assets with their own materials. 
The platform’s drag-and-drop builder makes site assembly a snap. Wix also features a new AI-based system that will automatically create the first draft of a site for its users. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wix-1024x610.png" />
On the downside, Wix makes switching site designs a significant effort. If you opt for another design later down the road, you will need to re-insert your content all over again. It’s essential to feel certain about a template before diving in. This can be quite problematic for agencies seeking to optimize their efficiency as clients may want to apply a different template later in the process, ultimately creating a massive slow-down in production.
This also doesn’t lend to simplicity when a brand scales and needs to re-format a customer’s offerings. 
Wix is also not all that SEO friendly. This is the single most prevalent issue brought up by Wix users; there are many observations that SEO is not a strong suit, so it requires you have your own SEO expertise to ensure you are not forgotten by Google’s algorithms. Again, this can create significant problems for less technically-inclined clients. 
If you have your own SEO expertise, however, Wix can be a stellar option for newly-minted businesses and those who need a stunning site with intuitive versatility. 
The Verdict
You know what your agency really needs to get a sophisticated and impressive site up and running. Narrow your focus to these three excellent offerings and find the one that fulfills most of your business’s needs. 
Choose the one that will enable your company to turn professional websites around the fastest, and that will allow you to scale with minimal issues.

How to Choose the Best Website Building Platform for Your Agency

The latest beta of the upcoming WordPress 5.0 release is now available for testing.
The upcoming 5.0 release brings with it the terrible Gutenberg editor that Automattic feels they need to try to cram down the throats of WordPress users everywhere.
<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutenberg-3_nn5asp.png" /><figcaption>Fear the Gutenberg!</figcaption></figure>
This editor basically takes normal tasks that were / have been easy to perform and adds unnecessary extra steps in an attempt to make WordPress' editor look more like that of Squarespace (not that theirs is terrible but it's definitely not as easy as the existing WP one.
If you want to hear real world experiences with Gutenberg, just look at how many bad reviews are coming in daily over at the WordPress plugin database: <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/#reviews" target="_blank">https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/#reviews</a>
In a nutshell, it's full of bugs and really ticking off users:
<blockquote>If you type, you have to wait for ages just to see it appear on screen. 
If you delete, you have to wait at least 2 seconds for it to go away. 
If you highlight, you have to hold your mouse button down for like 5 seconds at the place you want to highlight to until the highlight actually appears so you can release.</blockquote>
The response from the Gutenberg team to this review was “it's a known bug” however this is just ONE of a huge number of complaints about the editor.
To perform a simple task such as using bold, what was once a single click process has been turned into a two to three click one, reducing productivity of users by a large margin for what should be a simple task.
To give you an idea, here's how the editor looks when editing a post:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/screenshot_20181128_092915_mgn8wq.png" />
In the above example, I wanted to show you the process to get to bold. It shows up like this with a bunch of expandable categories and a search. Want to bold your text? Well to make that intuitive, we've made it harder for you to find the bold button! Now you get to search for it in a menu instead of just clicking on it.
Sense my annoyance in this post? That's the intention. I don't understand how a company so focused on ease of use and intuitiveness can stray so far from them.
<h2>Can you keep the classic editor?</h2>
Yes, you can. Thankfully the WP team is smart enough to include it as an installable plugin so that you don't have to be forced to use Gutenberg and for those who are currently on WordPress, I'd recommend installing and activating it now to prevent Gutenberg from taking over when WordPress 5.0 comes along.
For those who want to try this beast out, you can actually install the Gutenberg editor on your blog now (as a plugin) but I'm not sure why you'd want to do that. The best bet, test it in a dev environment  first and make your decision. Fortunately, you can still use the classic editor even when this 5.0 release hits so you won't be stranded in a desert full of frustration.
Wanna learn more? Go here: https://wordpress.org/news/2018/11/wordpress-5-0-release-candidate/
For those who are tired of this and want to just be able to write a blog post without the mess, try one of these great WordPress alternatives instead:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://write.as/">https://write.as/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://withknown.com/">https://withknown.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ghost.org/">https://ghost.org/</a></li>
<li></li>
</ul>
Good luck out there!
~Mike

The first release candidate for WordPress 5.0 is now available (and sadly it brings Gutenberg with it).

Picture this: you’re online, wanting to order groceries from Amazon Fresh for convenience. You select a delivery time on the app with ease, scheduling the groceries to arrive at your door moments after you get home from work.
The experience is simple, streamlined and efficient.
But that<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40555815/what-its-like-to-be-a-blind-software-engineer-at-amazon"> exact experience</a> was frustrating for one blind Seattle user. For a period of time, the Amazon Fresh app had a bug for users with vision loss. They couldn’t select a deliver time if they were using a screen reader — technology on which nearly all visually-impaired users rely.
Amazon — prioritizing the customer experience — remedied the issue for its visually-impaired users.
Making sure anyone can access your website shouldn’t just be a priority of a Fortune 500 company. Having an accessible website is also so low-cost that no business has an excuse as to why it’s not a priority.
But what is ADA compliance? Is it really enforced for websites? And what are the steps to make sure a website is on the road to being ADA compliant?
We sat down with <a href="https://www.solodev.com/">Solodev’s</a> Director of Web Development and ADA liaison Scott Madara to get answers.
Q1: What are the rules about ADA compliance with business websites?
The general compliance for your website is directly proportional to your legal obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. These responsibilities and specific rules vary depending on the style of private businesses compared to government entities to nonprofits organizations – so it will differ depending on your organizational needs.
However, regardless of your website’s standings or target audiences, your website must be compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 standards. At bare minimum, your website must be A-level compliant. It shouldn’t have any issues within that designated category. Business websites ultimately should strive to meet AA compliance. If you serve in a highly public nature (government contractor or do business with the government) you should strive to be AAA compliant. It all depends on the nature of your business.
Q2: What happens to websites if they fail to be ADA compliant?
There are the obvious legal penalties — fines, courtroom costs. Businesses like Five Guys’ and Target have already undergone the financial headache of paying for relatively simple fixes.
There’s also the negative publicity associated with not being ADA compliant. There’s a loss of brand trust due to that negative publicity as well for not being inclusive of all customers.
There’s also the penalty of lost business. By not prioritizing ADA compliance, your business is losing out on a certain percentage of a customer base. Roughly 19 million people in the US alone live with disabilities. Over 3.4 million Americans over the age of 40 qualify as either legally blind or visually impaired. And, as a population ages, those disabilities make using websites or online services more difficult if those websites don’t accommodate for those users.
Q3: How can complying with the ADA actually help businesses?
<a name="_GoBack"></a>You mean other than the knowledge of doing the right thing? There are several benefits to ADA compliance. It keeps your business out of legal trouble and the PR nightmare of being drawn into the courts system. Compliance also builds up trust among your website visitors because you’re making an intentional effort to be accessible to everyone.
Fundamentally, a website that is ADA compliant will be more accessible to a variety of technologies. Screen readers aren’t just for the disabled, and we anticipate a variety of applications based around these things as IoT grows. If your website is accessible to these types of devices, you’re one step ahead in the evolutionary growth if Internet of Things technologies.
Sites that are ADA compliant offer better UX experiences. From what we’ve seen anecdotally websites that prioritize compliance are standardized and simplified.
Q4: What are some common challenges businesses face when working toward ADA compliance?
There’s a ‘retraining’ of a company that happens to make everyone more aware of ADA and accessibility needs. Everyone involved needs to understand the importance of making a website accessible to all potential website visitors who could have a variety of disability struggles.
Challenges often pop up within your existing infrastructure (aka content management system) and automation/third party tools which many use to have a fully functional digital presence. Some of these platforms have inherent problems with compliance. At Solodev, we ensure that our websites are primed with ADA in mind. That’s how we built our <a href="https://www.solodev.com/">CMS</a>.
With plugin after plugin, your common content creator is at the mercy of the plugin author to make the ADA updates. Conversely, you’re forced to shell out more money for developers who can fix those issues for you.
There can also be challenges in understanding the fundamental roles of the legislation and rules. You have to read through them and work through them often in order to get an appreciation for each specific rule element and resolve potential issues.
Staying proactive is another issue. It’s not a one-and-done reactionary process. Small business owners often get a legal notice or see the issues and try to immediately resolve a small issue. They think ADA only applies to larger companies — especially those heavy in the digital space. They don’t see it as an ongoing evolution for their website or perpetual change to the workflow and production schedule. There must be a change in mindset company wide to making sure that ADA compliance is proactively sought rather than something done in the 11th hour.
Q5: What are the downsides to being ADA compliant?
There are moments when your might have an incredibly clever idea, cool design, or color scheme, but if it’s not ADA compliant, you can’t run it. But those moments stem from not having ADA in a place of priority in the first place.
There are also some associated costs in order to become compliant. Those costs aren’t prohibitive, but they need to be built into the underlying infrastructure costs. ADA compliance is a lot of work — and it can feel frustrating when you have a large website with pages. However, the work is worth the time.
Q6: What are the best ADA compliance tools?
We use so many resources to help entrepreneurs work toward ADA compliance. We recommend the <a href="https://fae.disability.illinois.edu/anonymous/?Anonymous%20Report=/">Functional Accessibility Evaluator</a> (FAE) that evaluates a website or a single webpage against the WCAG 2.0. <a href="https://siteimprove.com/en-us/core-platform/integrations/browser-extensions/">Siteimprove</a> has a chrome extension so you can check each page individually. The Chrome extension as a dev is a dream for this issue. <a href="https://monsido.com/features/web-accessibility">Monsido </a>is another excellent resource.
There are a lot of tools available, but one thing remains critical; you must use those tools before making a page or content live.
—————-
Solodev is a leading enterprise website Content Management System (CMS) that empowers organizations to create amazing websites and engaging digital experiences in the cloud – all with total design freedom and control. Built from the ground up for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Solodev provides unparalleled security, scalability, and redundancy with 24/7/365 U.S. based support. Solodev has been listed as one of Inc. 5000’s fastest growing companies for the last three years and recognized as a High Performing leader on the user-driven G2 Crowd Grid. Winners of the 2017 AWS “City on a Cloud” Innovation Challenge, Solodev is an AWS Advanced Technology Partner with competencies in Education, Government, and Marketing &amp; Commerce. Solodev’s self-service CMS can be purchased on demand in the <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/seller-profile?id=8e11c912-6253-41b8-b065-bf32bd27911b">AWS Marketplace</a> or through the GSA Contract. Learn more at <a href="http://www.solodev.com/">www.solodev.com</a>.

Why Your Website Has to Be Just as ADA Compliant as Your Office Building

More and more ecommerce stores are springing up online. One of the main reasons for this is that more people are buying products online. <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mark-hillary/customers-now-prefer-shop_b_10752822.html">67% of millennials</a> and 56% of generation x prefer to shop online.
Another important reason for the rise in online stores is that it is so easy to launch one. There are tools like Shopify with which you can launch a new store <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/laura-inamedinova/2016/05/16/how-to-launch-your-ecommerce-store-in-a-day/#7726778c3916">in a day</a>.
On top of that, there are solutions like drop shipping which make running a store much easier.
Dropshipping is when you don’t handle most of the time-consuming aspects of running an ecommerce store. These include making the products, storing them in a warehouse, packing and shipping them. These are handled by a separate manufacturer. All you do here is add the products to the store and promote them.
It’s a low-risk, and lucrative method, and lots of people are having success with it. For example, Ray Bridges dropshipped phone cases and made <a href="https://www.oberlo.com/blog/how-i-made-4500-in-9-weeks-selling-phone-cases">$4,558.03 in 9 weeks</a>.
And the best part is that you can add the products to your store in minutes as there are several apps in the Shopify app store that can help you do this.
Filtering out which of these is the best can take you a while. Therefore, I have gone through the trouble and reviewed two popular Shopify dropshipping apps, Oberlo and Dropified side by side here. Read my review and pick the one that suits you best…
2022 Update: Oberlo app was shut down on June 30, 2022. The Oberlo app is completely removed from the Shopify store. Dropified is still around though. 
If you're interested in learning about print-on-demand dropshipping, check out <a href="https://www.printful.com/blog/what-is-dropshipping/" target="_blank">this comprehensive article</a> on dropshipping and selling without inventory.
Using Oberlo for Dropshipping
Oberlo was launched in 2015. Since then it has become one of the most popular dropshipping apps on Shopify. It currently sits at the number one spot in the <a href="https://apps.shopify.com/browse/finding-and-adding-products-dropshipping">Dropshipping</a> and <a href="https://apps.shopify.com/browse/finding-and-adding-products">Finding and Adding Products</a> app categories on Shopify.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/top-shopify-dropshipping-apps_ixjb8h.png" />
Oberlo has got a stellar rating of 4.8 out of 5 from 2,198 reviews. They are definitely doing something right.
It is a very easy to use app. To install it all you have to do is go to the Oberlo app page on Shopify and click on the ‘Add app’ button and then add it to the ecommerce store you would like to sell dropshipped products on.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/oberlo-products-catalogue_fw1pln.png" />
As soon as you do this the app will be installed, and a catalogue of products will appear right in your Shopify dashboard. There will be hundreds of them.
You can browse through these, add your selling price and easily display them on your ecommerce store with a few clicks. Oberlo will calculate how much profit you will make with each sale and even automatically add the description, title, and images.
You don’t have to conduct any due diligence for these products and their suppliers as Oberlo have already done that for you. The suppliers’ warehouses, working conditions, documentations and many more details have been verified by Oberlo.
If you want to go beyond this catalogue and add products from other sites, you can take advantage of Oberlo’s chrome extension for <a href="https://www.aliexpress.com/">AliExpress</a>. After you install the extension, an Oberlo icon will appear on the product pages on the AliExpress website. You can click on this and quickly import products into your store.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/add-aliexpress-products-to-oberlo_hnbwvg.png" />
These products haven’t yet been verified by Oberlo. So, you will need to conduct your own research to make sure they are up to the mark. You can do this by reading product and supplier reviews.
The best part about using Oberlo is that they run a freemium model. You can install them on your Shopify store for free. With the free plan you can add up to 500 product to your store and fulfil up to 50 orders.
If you want to fulfill more than 50 you can upgrade to the basic plan which costs $29.90/month. This increases the limit to 500 orders. They also have a Pro plan at $79.90/month that has no order limit (unlimited).
Using Dropified for Dropshipping
Dropified is another dropshipping app. It is slightly younger than Oberlo. It isn’t as popular as Oberlo as it sits at the number six position in the dropshipping apps chart on Shopify. It has a decent rating of 4.2 from 9 reviews.
Just like Oberlo, it is easy to install. You go to the <a href="https://apps.shopify.com/shopified-app">Dropified app</a> page and click on the ‘Add app’ button. Then you select the store you would like to add it to and follow through the steps it guides you through.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/dropified-dashboard_mefbah.png" />
But adding products isn’t straightforward. They do not instantly appear in your dashboard like with the Oberlo app. To add products you must first install the dropified extension on your browser. Then visit sites like AliExpress and use the extension to edit the title and price and add the products.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/shopified-for-shopify_s3yw92.png" />
This way you can add products from other sites like Amazon, Costco, Walmart, and more. But you need to conduct your own due diligence on each of these products and their suppliers as Dropified hasn’t done it for you.
Dropified has no free plan, but they do offer a 14-day trial. You can only access this trial if you sign up for one of their paid plans though. The smaller plan costs $47/month and lets you add 15,000 products and fulfill 1,000 orders a month. While the bigger plan costs $97/month and lets you fulfill 20,000 orders a month.
Which should you use: Oberlo or Dropified?
As you can see from the detailed review above, both of them are great apps that can be installed with a few clicks. Both also make it easy to add products to your Shopify stores.
But if you are looking for the most convenient option, Oberlo beats Dropified easily as you don’t have to go through the process of browsing a third-party site (although Oberlo also has this feature) and spending a lot of time finding reputable suppliers and products. Oberlo instantly provides access to hundreds of products from verified suppliers right in their dashboard. And you can add them with a few clicks right away.
Oberlo also works out cheaper as they have a free plan. Also, their paid plans cost a lot less than Dropified’s paid plans. Dropified’s paid plans cost $47/month and $97/month and Oberlo’s cost $29.90/month and $79.90/month only.
The only place where Dropified beats Oberlo is that it lets you import products from sites other than AliExpress like Amazon and Walmart. But for most people Oberlo’s catalogue and the millions of products listed in AliExpress should be sufficient.
<a name="_GoBack"></a> You only need Dropified if you have a favourite product listed exclusively on another ecommerce site that you badly want to dropship.
Do you run an ecommerce store? Which app do you use for dropshipping? Please leave your comments below.

How To Choose Between Oberlo and Dropified Apps

If you’re a church leader, you might be familiar with the classic, hair-pulling madness of trying to get a well functioning website working for your church.
There are so many factors to consider! How is it going to look? How will it be laid out?
What information should you even put up there once you have a site? Upcoming events? Audio of your sermons? Videos of your sermons? A live stream of your Sunday service? The possibilities are endless …but so is that headache, right?
If you feel like you just need a hand getting everything done so you can get back to your sermon prep, you’re not alone. There are literally thousands of pastors and church leaders out there looking for a quick and easy way to streamline the online part of their church …while still keeping it relevant.
After all, we practically live online these days, don’t we? After all you probably hopped onto Google and typed in a few search terms to find this post in the first place, right?
And if any potential future congregants are ever going to find your church, chances are higher than ever that they’re going to do so in a very similar way.
Fortunately, there are quite a few church website builders out there that are specifically devoted to supporting church websites with their specific needs.
<h3>Finding a good church website builder</h3>
When searching for a Faith-based CMS provider (that’s basically the shorthand for a website builder) for your church, you’re going to want to look for more than just the tools they offer.
For example, you’re also going to want a provider that can cater to the specific needs of your church with of course the most important need being easily-available support for non technical users.
With that in mind, we’ve gone ahead and organized a list of our top CMS providers that have met three criteria:
<ol>
<li>They’re popular <a href="https://ministrywebsitedesigns.com/">church website builders</a></li>
<li>They provide good service</li>
<li>They’ve demonstrated an understanding of the needs of the church</li>
</ol>
Here is the list, ranked in order of companies considered to provide the best <a href="https://ministrywebsitedesigns.com/">church websites</a>.
IMPORTANT NOTE: There’s one more bit of additional information that we want to include that can be helpful in the decision-making process. Currently, in the church technology space, the market of individual, stand-alone companies are being rapidly consolidated by a “big fish,” so to speak. We’ve gone ahead and included a handful of the companies that have been purchased by this larger “big fish” company in the list after the two independent ones at the top because some of these subsidiary companies still provide their own, unique website builders. However, be aware that often quick acquisitions and employee consolidation of companies with decent products can lead to a lack of technical support, (which is one of our three major criteria!).
Alright, on to the website builders!
<a href="https://ministrywebsitedesigns.com/" target="_blank">Ministry Designs</a>:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/06/best-church-website-builders-1_iipqzm.png" alt="Ministry Designs " />
The number one solution, head and shoulders above the rest, is Ministry Designs. Ministry Designs not only has the most intuitive and comprehensive <a href="https://ministrywebsitedesigns.com/" target="_blank">church website builder</a> (CMS) but they also have all of the features you need to make sure that your website stays up to date. One of the amazing things that they do, that is really outside of the norm for this industry, is roll out monthly updates. They do this to ensure that you’ll never have to buy another website. Additionally, when working with the folks at Ministry Designs, they assign you a customer success representative who will share their screen with you and teach you how to use their tools. When shopping for your new website for your church, you would be making a mistake not considering Ministry Designs first.
FaithConnector:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/06/best-church-website-builders-2_tshm3u.png" alt="Faith Connector" />
Our second choice is FaithConnector. Along with Ministry Designs, this is one of the few remaining website builders that is still standing on its own, and for that, we give them both a round of applause.
FaithConnector is another solid company with excellent support and another slew of features that usually means they can get you the site that you’re looking for. Their website builder is good, though their editor is a bit out of date, which is why they land second on our list.
With good support, a solid product, and a host of features, FaithConnector remains one of the few viable options if you’re looking for an independent company that provides good, focused support.
Nucleus:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/06/best-church-website-builders-3_nchkjn.png" alt="Nucleus" />
Nucleus is a relative newcomer to the conversation but has gained some popularity, in large part to some excellent marketing. After reviewing the website editor, I’ve found it bit limited next someone of the other companies on the list. Nucleus has positioned and priced itself as a church “hub,” but the facts are after reviewing it, it's missing some critical flexibility and options that the featured companies on this list offer. Plus, at $99 a month it’s pretty expensive.
Note: The remainder of the list is made up of companies that have been bought out in recent years. While they are now subsidiaries of a larger organization, these candidates have managed to retain at least a portion of their website building capabilities, though long-term technical support has become a concern.
Sharefaith:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/06/best-church-website-builders-4_e99uhx.png" alt="Sharefaith" />
toward helping churches build their websites. But — and this is a big but — they’ve built their tools to be an overlay of WordPress. 
While this might not be an issue for a tech-savvy website builder, if you’re from a church that lacks those “technical gurus,” this can present a whole bunch of problems. A system built on top of another system is always a bit nerve-racking, and with the potential to lose good customer support in the future, the ShareFaith website builder has become a bit suspect at this point.
Clover Site: 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/06/best-church-website-builders-5_rnhe09.png" alt="Clover Site" />
You’ve got to give credit where credit is due, and in this case, it’s honoring an industry pioneer.
Clover was at one point was the leader in the church-specific CMS industry.
Unfortunately, though, that day of prominence has come and gone. At this point, Clover lacks the flexibility needed to really personalize and customize your website. That, in addition to the whole selling out to a larger company bit, has landed them further down the list.
Ekklesia360: 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/06/best-church-website-builders-6_oyj7bk.png" alt="Ekklesia360" />
company’s willingness to make changes to their CMS, literally customizing the features they offered on a case by case basis for their customers.
This might sound good on the surface, but before you start jumping for joy, the problem in connection to this adaptability that we found quickly presents itself is affordability. Changes on the kind of scale we’re talking about aren’t minor, and that extra cost puts them out of reach for most church’s budgets.
In addition, we found that their website editor is sadly out of date, a bit clunky, and difficult to work with.
Thrive CMS:
If you're wondering what Thrive CMS is, you're not alone.
Thrive is the website editor solution that the a larger consolidation company created as their own website builder. It has been pushing most of its brands to use this new CMS, and Bridge Element, Site Organic, and Ezekiel are now all selling the Thrive CMS solution.
One question that we couldn’t manage to answer was why it was priced differently across those brands.
Pricing aside, from what we could tell, the solution is limited and a bit hard to work with; however, it does seem to be a bit better than what these established brands had before.
A final note:
Although this list of the best church website companies isn’t comprehensive, we felt like the options listed above were the best in the market that target churches.
While <a href="https://ministrywebsitedesigns.com/">Ministry Designs</a> clearly topped the list with their high-end website builder, impressive features, and excellent customer service, the truth is there really are still quite a few choices out there, so take your time and look into each option to find the one that works best for you.
Whatever you do end up choosing to go with, we always recommend not just researching, but actually demoing any of these CMS solutions before signing up in order to see which one meets the specific needs of your church the best.

The Best Church Website Builders

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