Articles - Page 55

Brightspot Illuminates the Future of CMS with Human-Controlled, AI-Powered Storytelling 

matt-garrepy

<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/cms-265127_1920_b1emzl.jpg" /><figcaption>Image source: <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/cms-wordpress-265127/">Pixabay</a></figcaption></figure>
Content marketing is one of the most discussed topics among marketers and for a good reason. People have noticed that blog content is more than just a bunch of words on the screen. <a href="/why-a-good-cms-is-the-backbone-of-content-marketing/">High-quality content</a> is a combination of talented writing and psychology and those who are able to produce such content have the key to success in any business.
Considering that blogs are used as a means of communication with readers in almost all industries, the question of how to write an engaging blog content is what troubles many. If you are an inspiring WordPress blog owner, the following tips will give you some direction and show you how to bring your content to perfection.
<h2>Apply Headings and Subheadings</h2>
There is no need to mention the importance of an eye-catching headline, you probably already have that figured out. What is not prioritized enough is the use of headings and subheadings.
By clearly organizing your thoughts with their use, the readers will find your content easier to grasp.
Christopher K. Mercer, digital marketer and founder of <a href="http://citatior.com/">Citatior</a> explains this in the following manner:
“People usually skim the text before they start reading. If you offer them a long continuous text without any sectioning or highlights, the content will seem too tiring and they will give up right away. To sum up, never underestimate the importance of headings and subheadings.”
You need to present a readable content and a clear structure if you want to keep the readers’ attention.
Believe it or not, but this is one of the key parts of a <a href="/formulating-content-marketing-strategy/">successful content marketing strategy</a>.
<h2>Use Short Paragraphs</h2>
There is a simple rule that all the best content writers know and that is that short paragraphs make for a readable text.
It will be easier to keep the readers engaged if you organize your thoughts into short sections. That means that you can use 3 sentences max within one paragraph.
Not to mention that having this constraint in mind will help you to be consistent throughout the text.
Syed Balkhi in his article on <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/306076">Entrepreneur</a> claims that “Most of your website visitors spend less than 15 seconds on your website, meaning people quickly skim through the content instead of reading word for word. If your content is hard to scan, meaning it contains long sentences and paragraphs, it's likely that your visitors won’t stick around.” He also adds, “Breaking down your content into short paragraphs makes it more digestible for your readers.”
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/blackberry-2690107_1280_m0adwg.jpg" />
Remember that you’re not writing a novel and mobile web browsing has overtaken desktop
Image source: <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/blackberry-priv-mobile-phone-qwerty-2690107/">Pixabay</a>
<h2>Aim for the Quality, not Quantity</h2>
Don’t focus on the length of the article that much, focus on what you are writing. 
James Daily, the Head of the content department at <a href="https://flashessay.com/">FlashEssay</a> explains, “Throwing a bunch of facts and information at your reader just to fill out the norm will only get them confused.”
Aside to that, your point will be easily lost.
You need to ensure that your title fulfills the promise, so use it as a guideline and keep it in the back of your mind during the whole writing process.
If you get stuck, don’t hesitate to use some online tools and here is the list of services that can work into your advantage:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://readable.io/">Readable</a> – This is one of the most useful tools to make your text clear and easy-to-read. It uses readability algorithms to assess content and make a copywriter’s job simple. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.essaysupply.com/">Essay Supply</a> – In case you’ll need a little writing assistance, this online website can provide you with customized and original content. Just send them the general idea of the section you have trouble with and the experts will take on from then.</li>
<li><a href="https://alconost.com/en/services/professional-online-translation?source=google&amp;medium=cpc&amp;campaign=Nitro_EN_new&amp;adgroupid=translation_service&amp;keyword=translation%20services&amp;matchtype=e&amp;adposition=1t3&amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMInNSz5dz93QIVz7ztCh2wQgqaEAAYAyAAEgImoPD_BwE">Alconost</a> – If you found an amazing text with relevant facts you would like to cite but it is in a foreign language and you are not proficient enough to provide a valid translation, don’t give up on that. You can use this service and get any type of text translated professionally. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.marstranslation.com/promotion/professional-translation-agency?utm_medium=cpc&amp;network=google&amp;adgroup=50766652785&amp;utm_campaign=1045008447&amp;search_keyword=translation%20service&amp;matchtype=e&amp;adposition=1t1&amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiMb0st793QIV4ZXtCh3hFwpZEAAYASAAEgK0TvD_BwE">Mars Translation</a> – Here is another great translation service that can be of great help. They work with native translators who guarantee to deliver quality translation.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Proofread</h2>
You can’t achieve high-quality content without <a href="https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/10/proofing-editing-content/">proofreading</a>. It is like a safety net for all the mistakes you possibly made.
“The content you post must be brought to perfection if you don’t want to jeopardize your professional credibility,” says Christine Jordan, a content editor at <a href="https://resumescentre.com/resume-writing-service">Resumescentre.com</a>.
Editing and proofreading will help you to spot all the errors that may have occurred during the writing.
Try not to proofread the content as soon as you finish it. Leaving some time in between will make you look at it more objectively and realize the problematic areas much faster.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
The issue of how to improve blog content and its performance is what <a href="/15-myths-about-content-marketing/">concerns most blog owners</a>. You won’t have to be one of them if you apply these tips.
Instead of just thinking about will this help you or not, simply apply all the methods and wait for the results. There is no better proof then experiencing it for yourself. So, make a cup of coffee, get seated, and start writing.
Author’s bio: Jessica Fender is a professional freelance writer and independent blogger. She is passionate about content marketing and leading other marketers to success in this new age of digital marketing. You can find her articles on Freelancer.com and Addicted2Success, and follow her on Twitter @fender_jess.

Content Writing Tips to Improve Your WordPress Blog

mike-johnston

<div>Enterprise leaders need cutting edge digital products and experiences faster than ever. Contentful is supplementing its best-in-class technology offerings with a new program of complimentary agency and implementation partners. These partners can help customers navigate their digital transformation journey and deliver projects faster than ever.</div>
<div></div>
<div>The new Solutions Partner Program focuses on agencies and consultancies that can enhance how modern organizations transform and deliver digital experiences. Contentful's content infrastructure is a core component of modular-based architectures, which not only help customers push products and experiences out faster, but also give them a leg up in an omni-channel world.</div>
<div></div>
<div>The purpose of Contentful's partner program is to empower a network of agencies and consultancies to deliver tailored services to our growing customer ecosystem, recognize partners that are doing the best work with Contentful, champion them to our customers, and grow the content infrastructure market.</div>
<div></div>
<div>The ultimate goal: Give all Contentful customers access to trusted experts to help them build and deliver projects on Contentful.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Responding to demand</div>
<div></div>
<div>We’re making this shift because it’s what the market demands. In recent years, our customer base has steadily expanded from smaller, innovative projects to large-scale, digital transformation initiatives in some of the largest enterprises in the world.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Contentful is recognized as a core piece of infrastructure that supports every customer or employee product and experience. This evolution has been driven by the massive market shift in the way digital products and websites are created — away from legacy CMS solutions and toward infrastructure stacks.</div>
<div></div>
<div>With our new partner program, enterprises will get all of the help they need to fulfill their digital objectives. Today, ten of the 11 leading agencies in Gartner’s 2018 Magic Quadrant for Global Digital Marketing Agencies are Contentful partners or customers, including <a href="https://www.rga.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">R/GA</a>, <a href="http://www.akqa.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AKQA</a> and <a href="https://www.sapientrazorfish.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SapientRazorfish</a>.</div>
<div></div>
<div>We solve our customers’ biggest concerns by combining partners who are industry experts with Contentful’s solutions. For example:</div>
<ul>
<li>
<div>Technology solution consulting: “How should I think about incorporating Contentful into the rest of my technology stack across my organization?”</div>
</li>
<li>
<div>Content model consulting: “How should I set up and maintain my content model to take advantage of Contentful's ability to make content reusable?”</div>
</li>
<li>
<div>Implementation: “How do I migrate from my old solution to Contentful in the least painful way, while avoiding the pitfalls of complex migrations and still focusing on our end customers?”</div>
</li>
<li>
<div>Change management: “How do I enable my organization to adopt and utilize Contentful easily?”</div>
</li>
<li>
<div>Ongoing or adhoc content and front-end services: “I just need more developers to get through this cycle, and they need to know Contentful: Do you have any partners that can help me staff up?”</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div>Speeding up digital transformation</div>
<div></div>
<div>Enterprises are adopting Contentful for one of two primary reasons. Customers just getting started with Contentful want to build amazing digital products. Others have already built projects and are looking for organizational transformation where every experience is powered by Contentful.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Legacy CMS solutions are no longer optimal. Their one-size-fits-all approach leaves enterprises struggling with bloated solutions that, while they do everything, don’t do most things very well. Instead, enterprises that need to ship products fast and meet customers where they are want an all-star stack of technology providers and partners that deliver exactly what they need.</div>
<div></div>
<div>With our top-flight partners, enterprises can access trusted advisors to help them realize their digital potential with less risk and at greater speed.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Enterprises won’t have to acquire new and hard-to-find talent, because the best talent is within our partner ecosystem. Whether enterprises are looking for a partner to help with a single project, a complete transformation or even a partner by region, we’ll have one to recommend.</div>
<div></div>
<div>By relying on Contentful and partners, enterprises can concentrate on what they do best, and leave content management to the experts.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Partners also benefit</div>
<div>Our partners, meanwhile, get streamlined partner sandbox accounts with the ability to start developing immediately. This is a huge step beyond legacy CMSes, where there is no such thing as rapid prototyping.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Partners will also be eligible to co-market with Contentful, get assistance with business planning and internal navigation, and potential access to client introductions.</div>
<div>To help customers get the most out of Contentful as quickly as possible, we typically advise customers to get started with Contentful in one of three ways: via a customer driven implementation, a customer and partner-driven implementation, or a partner-driven implementation. In any of these scenarios, Contentful’s customer success organization will be part of the team. We’re already hard at work on a certification program, and partners will be divided into five classes:</div>
<ul>
<li>
<div>Power: The highest level of Contentful's partner program, Power Partners have the most experience building and launching large digital projects with Contentful. They can be trusted with any Contentful project, no matter how large and complex.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div>Premier: Premier partners have done three or more full-feature implementations with Contentful and are on their way to becoming a Power Partner.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div>Professional: Have executed at least one full-feature implementation of Contentful.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div>Strategic Industry: Leaders in a specialized field, such as content modeling or custom web apps.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div>Community: Partners that are just getting started with Contentful and may specialize in smaller Contentful-related projects.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div>Driving change</div>
<div>Contentful is modernizing the web by powering the transition from legacy CMS to content infrastructure. With our new partner program, this transition will occur faster than ever.</div>
<div>Our global network of partners is dedicated to making customers successful, accelerating speed to value and empowering customer teams through content services. We look forward to helping our customers find the right solutions and partners that enable them to unlock their organization’s full value—today and in the future.</div>

Contentful responds to market shift with new partner program

JotForm announced today a way for users to automatically generate designed, professional-looking PDFs whenever someone submits a response to an online form.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qLIXeKxWhag?start=3&amp;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The product, <a href="https://www.jotform.com/products/pdf-editor/">JotForm PDF Editor</a>, addresses a major pain point. Many JotForm users wanted the information they collected turned into a presentable, document format. But doing so typically required them to copy and paste the information into a new document manually.
JotForm PDF Editor, on the other hand, automates the process. It allows users to start by designing how they’d like the final PDF to look, with the ability to add sections, customize colors, drop in images and logos, and choose fonts.
Then, when the submissions roll in through their online form, the PDFs generated in JotForm PDF Editor are quickly sortable, with options to download, print, or share the new documents  instantly.
“Our users told us about wanting a better way to present and distribute their form data,” said Aytekin Tank, JotForm founder and CEO. “Our new PDF Editor makes the entire process significantly easier. The best part — anyone can use it, even without any technical skills.”
Another big benefit to using PDF Editor is the seamless integration into Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox. Newly-created PDFs send automatically to any of these storage services so teams can quickly view and sort through the files.
PDF Editor also simplifies e-signature collection. Any signature sent through an online JotForm form can be designed neatly on a new document automatically. And because JotForm forms are simple to fill out using any device, that means agreements, waivers, and contracts can be signed on the go.
Other features include:
<ul>
<li>Option to create fillable PDFs</li>
<li>PDF password protection</li>
<li>Over a hundred pre-made PDF templates</li>
</ul>
JotForm and its new PDF Editor are free to use. JotForm has provided a quick way for users to create and publish online forms since 2006, but PDF Editor takes a leap toward making the data collected by users more actionable and presentable.
The new product is expected to be used by a wide range of users, including medical professionals for intake, HR departments for employee evaluations, teachers for acquiring parental permission, and much more.
Learn more about JotForm PDF Editor at <a href="http://www.jotform.com/products/pdf-editor">www.jotform.com/products/pdf-editor</a>.

New JotForm PDF Editor Automates PDF Creation

Looking to save time, we expect to find the solutions that can ease our pain when customizing WordPress websites. Indeed, overloaded with an abundance of advanced options and extensions, it's hard to make the best decisions. Yet, you might be happy to know that it's far simpler with plugins for Elementor page builder.
This time around we'll explore the power of JetBlog, JetElements, JetTricks, JetEngine, JetReviews, JetParallax, JetMenu, JetTabs, JetWooBuilder and JetBlocks plugins. Well, there are ten of them. The best part is that you can use them in your designs and boost its functionality big times. Need more? Don't shy away from checking other <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-elementor-plugins/?aff=cmscritics" target="_blank">Elementor plugins</a> for your project.
Created by highly skilled developers, numerous helpful plugins for Elementor page builder come in handy for a variety of purposes. If you are still new to Elementor add-on plugins, find out more useful information with tips on this video. That's easy, right?
https://youtu.be/MjEL9BX09ew
This time around, though, to help ease your work &amp; save the day, we'll go over the best 10 plugins for Elementor. Stay tuned and find the solution that fits your particular needs best.

<h2>JetBlog – Blogging Package for Elementor Page Builder WordPress Plugin</h2>

To help you enrich your website pages with stylish content widgets, JetBlog comes in handy. Better yet, JetBlog is one of the best plugins for Elementor page builder to trust. Designed to showcase your posts in a more eye-catching way, JetBlog allows you to create and customize text tickets, smart tiles and smart lists.
<ul>
<li>works with Elementor;</li>
<li>supports RTL;</li>
<li>offers multiple typography settings;</li>
<li>is totally responsive.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/69506-big_v1no7y.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-plugins/jetblog-blogging-package-for-elementor-page-builder-wordpress-plugin-69506.html?aff=cmscritics">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/69506.html?aff=cmscritics">Demo</a>

<h2>JetElements – Addon for Elementor Page Builder WordPress Plugin</h2>

JetElements is here to ease your worries and assure that creating content is easier than you might imagine. The thing is that it comes with multiple elements, Contact Form 7 and tons of high-class modules. The latter, besides, contain an awful lot of style options and functional settings to help you enhance your content with animation, gradient backgrounds and custom fonts.
<ul>
<li>integration with WooCommerce;</li>
<li>WPML + RTL support;</li>
<li>multiple home page templates;</li>
<li>multiple pre-designed blocks at hand.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/69508-big_mr2krm.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-plugins/jetelements-addon-for-elementor-page-builder-wordpress-plugin-69508.html?aff=cmscritics">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/69508.html?aff=cmscritics">Demo</a>
<h2>JetTricks – Visual Effects Addon for Elementor WordPress Plugin</h2>

Keep your visitors needs in mind when empowering your website with eye-catching visual effects. Look no further, add JetTricks plugin to your collection. No extra coding skills needed, instead, the extended functionality of the plugin can make your page look more striking.
<ul>
<li>satellite functionality;</li>
<li>tooltip effect;</li>
<li>section particles;</li>
<li>Parallax effect.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/69529-big_iz1udq.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-plugins/jettricks-visual-effects-addon-for-elementor-wordpress-plugin-69529.html?aff=cmscritics">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/69529.html?aff=cmscritics">Demo</a>
<h2>JetEngine – Adding &amp; Editing Dynamic Content with Elementor WordPress Plugin</h2>

Used to work with dynamic content? With JetEngine plugin, it's easy to create custom post types, taxonomies, Elementor-built templates and showcase them. Moreover, you can easily jazz the different types of content to match your company's identity or add important information even without bothering with code.
<ul>
<li>offers 40+ easy-to-use widgets;</li>
<li>multi-layered Parallax for sections;</li>
<li>full responsiveness;</li>
<li>WPML + RTL support;</li>
<li>grid, masonry &amp; justify image layouts.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/71125-big_ej37cs.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-plugins/jetengine-adding-editing-dynamic-content-with-elementor-wordpress-plugin-71125.html?aff=cmscritics">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/71125.html?aff=cmscritics">Demo</a>
<h2>JetReviews – Reviews Widget for Elementor Page Builder WordPress Plugin</h2>

JetReviews is a go-to tool when it comes to creating review blocks and rating bars. In addition, it comes with multiple styles, layouts, and, what's more, tons of customizable elements for rating and review blocks.
<ul>
<li>responsive to the boot;</li>
<li>multiple eye-catching styles of rates &amp; rating bars;</li>
<li>compatible with WP Review;</li>
<li>immaculate typography.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/69510-big_m50iip.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-plugins/jetreviews-reviews-widget-for-elementor-page-builder-wordpress-plugin-69510.html?aff=cmscritics">Details</a> |  <a>Demo</a>
<h2>JetParallax – Addon for Elementor Page Builder WordPress Plugin</h2>

Designed to help you create as many Parallax layers as you need, JetParallax plugin is second to none to make it happen. It allows you to create eye-catching pages by applying countless Parallax layers to different sections. Thus, you can enjoy a variety of behavior triggers, speed, animation effects and custom positioning.
<ul>
<li>immense Parallax layers usage;</li>
<li>animation speed;</li>
<li>mouse move and scroll behavior type;</li>
<li>custom position settings;</li>
<li>Parallax background rich functionality.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/69511-big_ag1aew.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-plugins/jetparallax-addon-for-elementor-page-builder-wordpress-plugin-69511.html?aff=cmscritics">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/69511.html?aff=cmscritics">Demo</a>
<h2>JetMenu – Mega Menu for Elementor Page Builder WordPress Plugin</h2>

To help you make it big in creating a Mega Menu in a drag'n'drop way, JetMenu plugin is always at hand. Being one of the best plugins for Elementor, JetMenu includes an awful lot of style settings to apply for different menu presets.
<ul>
<li>easy-to-use stylization process;</li>
<li>fully responsive design;</li>
<li>exquisite badges;</li>
<li>diverse colors;</li>
<li>customizable backgrounds;</li>
<li>Mega Menu module.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/69509-big_l1kyuf.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-plugins/jetmenu-mega-menu-for-elementor-page-builder-wordpress-plugin-69509.html?aff=cmscritics">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/69509.html?aff=cmscritics">Demo</a>
<h2>JetTabs – Tabs and Accordions for Elementor Page Builder WordPress Plugin</h2>

Do not shy away from creating and implementing outstanding tabs and accordion blocks to your website. Do it right &amp; enjoy creating breathtaking tabs &amp; accordion widgets in a jiff. Besides, tons of easy-to-use customize settings can help you showcase your content the best way.
<ul>
<li>multiple tabs layouts;</li>
<li>full responsiveness;</li>
<li>intuitive appearance;</li>
<li>image accordion.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/69512-big_uhiqe0.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-plugins/jettabs-tabs-and-accordions-for-elementor-page-builder-wordpress-plugin-69512.html?aff=cmscritics">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/69512.html?aff=cmscritics">Demo</a>
<h2>JetWooBuilder – WooCommerce Page Builder Addon for Elementor WordPress Plugin</h2>

Help your online store stay ahead o the curve by creating WooCommerce Product pages on a go. With JetWooBuilder, it's easy to display the products and create single pages. Besides, it applies 4 WooCommerce layout widgets and can be used to any page created with Elementor.
<ul>
<li>intuitive appearance;</li>
<li>easy-to-use functionality;</li>
<li>tons of style settings;</li>
<li>versatile customization options.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/69528-big_ltqpzv.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-plugins/jetwoobuilder-woocommerce-page-builder-addon-for-elementor-wordpress-plugin-69528.html?aff=cmscritics">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/69528.html?aff=cmscritics">Demo</a>
<h2>JetBlocks – Elementor Header &amp; Footer Widgets WordPress Plugin</h2>

Enough bothering with code when creating headers &amp; footers. Enjoy simplicity and flexibility with one of the best plugins for Elementor JetBlocks. Thus, it comes with 9 exquisite widgets required for building and applying login forms, search boxes, WooCommerce carts or registration forms.
<ul>
<li>designed to work in perfect sync with Elementor 2.0 PRO;</li>
<li>multiple style settings;</li>
<li>the go-to tool for building headers &amp; footers;</li>
<li>simplicity &amp; no coding skills.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/69867-big_ntodrs.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-plugins/jetblocks-elementor-header-footer-widgets-wordpress-plugin-69867.html?aff=cmscritics">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/69867.html?aff=cmscritics">Demo</a>

<h2>CrocoBlock – Elementor Addons</h2>
In fact, the entire site can be built based on your page builder and its extensions to make it function much better. This is how Elementor drag and drop plugin and <a href="https://crocoblock.com/?ref=93&amp;campaign=cmscritics"> CrocoBlock </a> subscription work. If you use them together, you can build new page templates, theme parts, MegaMenus, work with WooCommerce Single page templates with ease. In this case, building a website requires zero programming skills and isn't restricted to the features of your theme.
In the end, you can design your WordPress site without hiring a designer. Come rain or shine, these 10 plugins for Elementor page builder can get you through that day job with ease. The best part is that even non-tech-savvy users should not worry about a thing. Just use any of them to your benefit.
Have you already tried Elementor plugins? Well, it's a right opportunity to grab it.
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/elementor-marketplace/?aff=cmscritics" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elementor_980x120_eng_u9juaq.jpg" /></a>

10 Best Plugins for Elementor Page Builder

Online portfolio website builder Format.com recently launched their latest campaign, <a href="https://www.format.com/classics">Format Classics</a>. By recontextualizing classical figures like Vincent van Gogh, Hokusai, and Helen of Troy, they’re highlighting the idea that sharing work is central to the creative process. Whether work is new or old, it is imperative that creators share in order to learn, grow, inspire—and create more.
The campaign’s concept of making old work new again is echoed in the design decisions. Much of the design takes something familiar and presents it in new ways. On the landing page, the artwork is teased as a way to hint at the historical figures without showing them completely, and as you dive further into the campaign you’re rewarded with more information. 
Since much of the work is well known (everyone with a smartphone will recognize Hokusai’s wave), Format frames the work differently—even down to the way the figures are silhouetted, with shapes that enhance perception through the presentation. Van Gogh is wearing a large, wide-brimmed hat that creates horizontal lines and a square frame is used to emphasize that shape. Hokusai is known for his wave, so he’s framed by a large curve. Helen’s pulled-back hair creates a circular shape, echoed by a circular frame.
The portfolios themselves showcase each figure both visually and through the copy. Van Gogh’s vibrant work contrasts his dry wit, Hokusai takes his role as a creator very seriously, and Helen merges the worlds of high fashion and high followers as a supermodel-meets-Instamodel. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/classics-article-l_b2tn5s.jpg" />
“With van Gogh’s portfolio,” says creative lead Josiah Bilagot, “we felt it was important to showcase his worldview through his work as well as his personality. Many creators choose to show their audience who they are via captions, blogging, or an about page, and we wanted to give van Gogh the same opportunity. 
“We also wanted to show how sharing work is a key element of being a creator. We were deliberate in our selection of paintings—you won’t see Starry Night, for example—to highlight the idea that sharing can breathe new life into old work to encourage creators in any stage to look at their entire body of work through a new lens.”
Hokusai is a master of ukiyo-e, a type of Japanese art that embraces negative space, so his portfolio includes a lot of enforced negative space. “Instead of crowding everything together, there is a lot of intentional space around his work,” says Bilagot, “which is how we think he would do it himself.”
Helen’s profile tackles the question of presenting three-dimensional work in a two-dimensional space. Bilagot solved this by letting the sculptures stand alone, apart from any framing elements, leading with four different angles of her face and giving the audience a glimpse into Helen’s world—which is all about Helen.
Small details go even further to really personalize the portfolios. For van Gogh, the Iris theme is very recta-linear, so his signature is used as the wordmark—similar to the way he might sign one of his paintings. In Helen's case, her personality shines through her integrated Instagram account, while Hokusai's journal includes how he felt about himself as an artist in his own words.
The portfolios were created solely using Format as a way to showcase old work in a fresh way. Each portfolio uses a different theme, as well as highlighting Format features like Galleries, Store, Blog, and Instagram integration.
About Format
Meet Format, the online portfolio platform that empowers creatives to succeed. A website builder and so much more, beautiful themes showcase your work alongside integrated business tools. Whether you’re just getting started or you’re a full-time professional, Format has the tools and support you need at every stage of your business. Build the website you want to share, promote, and sell your work all in one spot.

Format is Using Portfolios for Historical Figures to Inspire Creators

<h3>Contents</h3>
<a>Introducing Monstroid2 Update</a>
<a>New Exciting Features You Get</a>
<ol>
<li><a> It’s Simpler With Elementor</a></li>
<li><a> Power Content on the Go with 500+ Sections </a></li>
<li><a> Make the Most of 20 Skins </a></li>
<li><a> Lighter &amp; Faster </a></li>
<li><a> Powerful UX with Jet Plugins </a></li>
<li><a> Get WooCommerce and Elementor Work Together </a></li>
</ol>
<a>Conclusions </a>
<h2>Introducing Monstroid2 Update</h2>
Does something like ‘Monstroid 2’ ring a bell to you? This is one of the most famous and widely recognized WordPress themes of 2017. Many developers call the theme an all-in-one toolkit to build a website. And the sweeping number of 7260 sales up to date proves <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/monstroid2.html?aff=cmscritics" target="_blank">Monstroid2</a> exclusivity.
So, what if we tell you that this August Monstroid2 gets its first large update? The team of <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com?aff=cmscritics" target="_blank">TemplateMonster</a> has worked on it for months to provide you the finest 2018 web design possibilities. Now, Monstroid2 is even more incredibly functional, rich and speedy. And, it’s even faster to build a website with this awesome multi-purpose template!
Don’t take our word for that right now? It’s time we show you all the greatness of the new updated Monstroid2.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/img1_ym54za.png" />
<h2>New Exciting Features You Get</h2>
When we first saw Monstroid2 back in 2017, we couldn’t think of how it may be better. It already had everything and that was true. However, the fruitful year of 2018 brought around higher demands, new connection points with the audience, and, of course, new technologies. To stay on the verge of web innovation, Monstroid2 gladly brings you the hottest features with its new update.
<h3>#1: It’s Simpler With Elementor</h3>
Monstroid2 has always been a WYSIWYG-friendly template. Before the update, it had PowerBuilder editor on board. It was actually a good option until the groundbreaking Elementor took visual editing to a whole different level.
These days, Elementor builder holds the palm of supremacy among visual builders in terms of flexibility and speed it provides. Moreover, this builder is considered the most comprehensive one for WordPress. Well-thought element categories, comprehensive interface, live preview, all this makes Elementor the #1 WordPress visual builder of 2018.
With the new update, Monstroid2 goes for Elementor. It plays hard and offers you the free Elementor on board, as well as tons of pre-made customization blocks and Elementor-oriented plugins. So, now, you can create a website of any degree of visual complexity faster than ever before!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/img2_b9mytd.png" />
<h3>#2: Power Content on the Go with 500+ Sections</h3>
In fact, the team behind Monstroid2 went all-in switching to Elementor. They created a huge collection of over 500 Elementor-based UI elements for different purposes. All of these UI blocks are inside your Monstroid2 admin panel and let you create exactly the interface you dream.
For example, let’s say you want to power an accordion FAQ section. With Monstroid2, you just drop by the library of pre-sets and pick you design among a bunch of highly-professional options. Then, you just have to drag the chosen preset to the right place, style with options and add content.
Moreover, if you want a neat adjustment on top of that, feel free to modify the preset further on and even save it as your own UI element.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/img3_xhpg0x.png" />
<h3>#3: Make the Most of 20 Skins</h3>
If a multipurpose theme has 20 skins, that’s pretty impressive. With 20 unique hand-crafted designs Monstroid 2 offers you, you’ll find the match for your company, personal or e-commerce website.
However, life is life, and you may like certain pages or blocks of another skin more. With the updated Monstroid2, you’re no longer limited to using just 1 skin. On top of 20 skins, Monstroid 2 adds a Magic Button to Elementor. Just click it to add any page or section of another skin to your one. Exciting, isn’t it?
By the way, new skins are released on the weekly basis. So, you’ll never fall out of customer’s grace by going for shiny and new Monstroid2 skins. They will all be available for you.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/img4_tzzhyg.png" />
<h3>#4: Lighter &amp; Faster</h3>
With the update, Monstroid2 shed a lot of its digital weight. Now, its files are sleeker and a few times lighter than before (only 250kb).
What does this mean to you? In the past, Monstroid2 required a medium or more advanced hosting. And, of course, you had to pay extra for it. Now, Monstroid2 is so lightweight and swift, you can run it on any cheap hosting without a hitch.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/img5_unfqk2.png" />
What’s more, with the weight reduced, the speed of Monstroid2 grew tremendously. Now, it takes only 1.2 second to load Monstroid2. Test the <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/62222.html?aff=cmscritics" target="_blank">Live Demo</a> to experience!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/img6_latwr5.png" />
<h3>#5: Powerful UX with Jet Plugins</h3>
With the new Monstroid2 update, you get not only a myriad of pre-built Elementor blocks, but also unique set of plugins. These plugins, called Jet Plugins, let you add custom content types and power the functionality that is unavailable in Elementor by default.
Fortunately, the developers were really generous and included 9 premium Jet Plugins free. Here they go:
<ol>
<li>JetBlocks</li>
<li>JetTricks</li>
<li>JetWooBuilder</li>
<li>JetTabs</li>
<li>JetParallax</li>
<li>JetReviews</li>
<li>JetMenu</li>
<li>JetElements</li>
<li>JetBlog</li>
</ol>
If you’re interested what each plugin lets you do, please check the <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-elementor-plugins/?aff=cmscritics" target="_blank">Jet Plugins</a> page in the <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/elementor-marketplace/?aff=cmscritics" target="_blank">Elementor Marketplace</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img8-1024x381.png" />
<h3>#6: Bring WooCommerce and Elementor Together</h3>
When many templates just claim to be WooCommerce-compatible, Monstroid2 has WooCommerce on board. Moreover, it brings you custom e-commerce skins, pages and functionality.
Most excitingly, you can work with your store pages just the same you work with the regular ones! Thanks to JetWooBuilder plugin, you get a chance to customize e-commerce pages within Elementor, tapping into a rich set of e-store-related functionality on board.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/img9_pkvm8l.png" />
<h2>Conclusions</h2>
It’s impossible not to welcome the new Monstroid2 update, with which this template gets to the forefront of web design innovation in 2018. With Monstroid2, you get a robust universal template, fully editable within a comprehensive Elementor interface. Do not hesitate to go for it when powering your website and launch one if the leading WordPress websites in your niche!
Stay tuned for more!

Sweeping Monstroid 2 Update: More Features, More Freedom

Affinity announced today the official launch of Alliances™, a relationship management solution that helps business professionals expand their networks and identify more opportunities for warm introductions. Alliances™ enables users to connect with any contact outside their organization and instantly share their relationship graph. Affinity then allows users to see the best paths to referrals within two degrees by applying a patent pending relationship strength algorithm so users truly understand who is best suited to make a referral or introduction. Alliances™ is now available for all users as an integrated part of the Affinity platform.
Alliances™ reinvents professional networking by using machine learning algorithms and Natural Language Processing to analyze a user’s relationship graph and identifying sources of warm introductions. While Affinity's relationship management platform enables an organization’s team to leverage each other’s relationship graph, Alliances™ allows Affinity users to connect with external contacts such as advisors, partners, investors or mentors to tap into their networks and access their connections. Unlike social media networks, which treat all relationships the same, Alliances™ automatically shows which connections have the strongest relationships to targeted prospects based on the tenor of their emails, frequency of their meetings, and other factors, enabling users to easily identify opportunities for referrals and introductions.
“Alliances™ unlocks the real power of business networks to help professionals source new opportunities, raise capital and close deals,” said Ray Zhou, co-founder of Affinity. “Unlike traditional networks, Alliances™ captures not only who your colleagues and peers know, but how well they know them, so you always know who’s in the best position to introduce you to a new contact or organization. With Alliances™ you can stop cross-checking social networks, your CRM system and other platforms hoping to stumble upon the right person to make an introduction.”
According to LinkedIn, 84 percent of B2B decision makers begin the buying journey by way of a referral. And yet, most sales professionals lack the insight to know which contact in their network is best suited to make that referral for them. Social networks can help identify mutual connections, but they’re insufficient for professional networking due to an overabundance of connections and an inability to determine which relationships are real or genuine. Affinity’s Alliances™ opens the doors for more warm introductions by easily and quickly surfacing the people in a user’s network that are in the best position to make a referral.
Affinity’s Alliances™ offers features such as:
<ul>
<li>Relationship Strength: Affinity’s machine learning and Natural Language Processing algorithms analyze relationship data buried in peer-to-peer communications to let you easily identify which contacts in your network, within two degrees, have the best relationship with targeted prospects or organizations.</li>
<li>Prospect Lookup: Look up any prospect to see every relevant contact your allies can provide a warm introduction to, based on real-time network data including the latest emails sent or received, the latest meetings held or scheduled and more.</li>
<li>Prospect Finder: Within Affinity’s CRM, input your targeted prospect by industry, job title, location or other criteria, and Alliances™ will display every relevant prospect who you can get connected to via your allies’ real-time networks.</li>
<li>Prospect Import: Within Affinity’s CRM, import a list of prospects by an organization or person name, in either .csv or .xlsx format, and see which of your allies can make a warm introduction.</li>
</ul>
“The real economy is comprised of relationships; it consists of people working together to deliver the products and services that run our modern world. Alliances enable professionals to better grow, leverage and manage the relationships that dictate their success,” said Joe Lonsdale, General Partner at 8VC and an Affinity co-founder.
“Alliances™ for Affinity has helped our portfolio companies supercharge connectivity within our common network; spotting new opportunities for adoption and partnerships,” said Luca Zorzino, Investment Director at Illuminate Financial.
Alliances™ is immediately available for all existing Affinity customers by selecting the “Alliances™” tab directly from the main menu within the Affinity dashboard. For more information, visit https://www.affinity.co/product/Alliances.

Affinity Launches “Alliances™,” Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Grow Users’ Professional Networks

From product managers and marketers to UX designers and researchers to CX professionals and executives, everyone has a business need to connect with their customers and end-users. The ability to do this face-to-face, whether it is virtually — through a webcam or smartphone — or in person, there is an added benefit to seeing the user and being able to read non-verbals and observe facial expressions for sentiment. The lack of gating features in face-to-face interviews provides critical insights that enable one to better decipher reaction, emotion and empathy from the customer. 
Enter UserTesting’s <a href="https://www.usertesting.com/platform/live-conversation">Live Conversation</a>, today’s solution for companies looking to connect in real-time with their customers to gather qualitative feedback and insights on projects, designs, campaigns and more. With Live Conversation, users simply choose the demographics of the participants they are seeking insights from, enter their calendar availability, and UserTesting does the rest to connect them with their target audience. 
What’s new?
UserTesting recently released enhancements to Live Conversation to give its users greater flexibility in coordinating and conducting moderated, live interviews — with 24/7 scheduling and same-day interviews to offer faster time to insights in the moment they need it, and support for multiple time zones to make it more accessible for international companies. 
As schedules frequently change, new enhancements to Live Conversation also make it easy to add, adjust and edit availability, even after a study is created. Expanded capabilities also include deleting times previously marked as available and adding more availability if sessions do not fill. 
Companies such as Alaska Airlines, Autotrader, Constant Contact, and CoverMyMeds all use Live Conversation to make smarter business decisions based on deeper customer empathy and real-time human insights — resulting in time, cost and resources savings over traditional moderated mechanisms. 
Bradley Miller, Senior User Experience Researcher at Autotrader, said he “turned to Live Conversation to connect with recent car buyers to better understand the customer journey, and to ultimately drive empathy and customer-centric design.” With Live Conversation, Autotrader saw cost savings and an 80 percent decrease in time investment. What would normally take weeks now just takes him a few days to schedule and conduct live customer interviews.
Frank Rosile, User Experience Designer at CoverMyMeds, said that “talking to patients [via Live Conversation] builds empathy for them, and helps CoverMyMeds understand the ‘why’ behind what to build.” Using Live Conversation, CoverMyMeds has seen significant time and cost savings as they gained important information about patients to inform future product development.
When to use it? Live (or moderated) vs. unmoderated customer research
One question that we often hear from customers is which is better: live (moderated) or unmoderated customer research? The answer, as you might’ve guessed, is that it depends. Like any research strategy, there are differing benefits for each approach making them more or less suitable depending on what you’re studying and your ultimate business goals.
With live moderated studies, a real person will be there to help facilitate the test. The moderator will work directly with the participants, guiding them through the study and will be there to help facilitate and answer questions if the participant encounters any challenges while completing their tasks.
Unmoderated studies are just as they sound. It’s not monitored or guided, so there’s no one else present during the study except the participant. The participant completes any tasks and answers questions at their own pace, on their own time, at a time and location of their choosing. 
Now that we’ve established the basic differences between the two, let’s dive in to how and when to best apply each strategy based on your research needs.
Live customer research: pros and cons
It helps to think of moderated testing as an interview or a real-time conversation that you’re having with a customer. Everything that you’d do to prepare for that type of interaction is what you’ll need to consider for a moderated study.
Pros
Live moderated testing works best when you need a high level of interaction between you and your customer. For example, if you want to study a prototype with limited functionality, or a complicated process or concept, moderated testing provides you with the interaction you’d need to guide a customer through the study. They’re also an excellent way to conduct interviews, understand the customer journey, and discover pain points.
Live moderated testing is also a great way to observe body language and pick up on subtle behaviors and responses and probe participants for more information if they seem stuck or confused.
They allow you to develop a rapport and have a natural conversation with your customers which helps establish trust, and can lead to candid feedback that might not be possible with other qualitative research methods.
Cons
Because of the additional time and resources, live moderated testing does cost more than unmoderated testing; however, you can reduce some of that cost by conducting remote moderated studies, rather than in-person with Live Conversation. This will give you the opportunity to connect with participants all around the world and reduce the need to block out a dedicated time and space for onsite interviews. Who doesn’t love getting some hours back in their day? 
Unmoderated customer research: Pros and cons
This type of testing is best for validating concepts and designs quickly with a diverse group of customers. Unmoderated testing works great if you have specific questions that you need answered, you need a large sample size, you need feedback quickly, or if you want to observe a customer interacting in their natural environment. 
Pros
The beauty of remote unmoderated testing is that it can be done anytime, anywhere, and you typically have actionable feedback within a day if not sooner. Because a moderator isn’t needed, the cost is typically much lower than moderated tests, which can enable you to run more tests with a wider variety of customers.
Cons
Since unmoderated tests are completely unsupervised, it requires a fixed set of questions and tasks for customers to complete, and doesn’t allow for follow-up questions or clarification. If customers run into issues, have technical difficulties, or don’t understand the tasks or questions, you won’t have the ability to step in and guide them.
At the end of the day, the choice is up to you, but now you can choose the best qualitative test for your customer research needs.
Paige Musto is VP, Corporate Marketing at <a href="http://www.usertesting.com/">UserTesting</a>, a human insights platform company that helps businesses create better customer experiences.

Meet Live Conversation — The Solution for Virtual, On-Demand 1:1 Live Customer Interviews

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<a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.softwareag.com%2Fcorporate%2Fdefault.asp&amp;esheet=51874631&amp;newsitemid=20180928005064&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Software+AG&amp;index=1&amp;md5=d7ab1aa2879952b56fb926f99ec57059" target="_blank">Software AG</a> today announced the acquisition of Built.io, a San Francisco-based market-leading iPaaS company. Founded by serial entrepreneurs Nishant Patel, Neha Sampat and Matthew Baier, software vendor Built.io introduced its iPaaS offering, Built.io Flow™ in 2015. It has subsequently been named a Challenger in Gartner’s 2018 “Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service” and was named a Cool Vendor in the report “Cool Vendors in Pervasive Integration, 2016.”<a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180928005064/en/Software-AG-Acquires-Built.io-Accelerate-Leadership-Hybrid#"></a>
Built.io’s Flow and Embed products will come together as a single integrated offering with Software AG’s globally recognized webMethods Integration Platform.
Customers will benefit from easy-to-use and robust integration solutions leading to significantly accelerated time-to-value, critical to the success of IoT and digital transformation solutions.
“The unified vision guiding Built.io Flow was to make it faster and easier to connect any software, system or device,” said Nishant Patel, Chief Executive Officer of Built.io. “Built.io Flow uses a modern architecture to democratize integration and embed it into any product or SaaS service. I am thrilled that Software AG recognized the potential of combining the agility of our cloud-native integration platform with its proven webMethods platform to enable powerful enterprise integration and digital transformation. With our leadership in cloud integration and Software AG’s leadership in digital transformation through enterprise integration, we are jointly able to offer customers the world's most advanced hybrid integration platform.”
The acquisition opens Software AG’s webMethods integration capabilities to any Node.js developer and allows for enterprise-wide participation in integration projects. It also opens Software AG’s application and B2B integration and API portfolios to fast-growing developer communities and a near limitless innovation pool – as seen by participation in the upcoming <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fevents.linuxfoundation.org%2Fevents%2Fnode-js-interactive-2018%2F&amp;esheet=51874631&amp;newsitemid=20180928005064&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Node%2BJS+Interactive&amp;index=2&amp;md5=54fc77c4f8d2991572b9cbf4f434e067" target="_blank">Node+JS Interactive</a>, the world’s largest gathering of Node.js developers, taking place in Vancouver from October 10-12.
“This is an extremely significant acquisition for Software AG to expand its position in the growing iPaaS market and we are delighted to welcome Built.io to the Software AG Group,” said Dr. Wolfram Jost, Chief Technology Officer at Software AG. “Cloud integration is at the heart of digital transformation with 80 percent of the work in IoT projects related to integration. In a world of decentralized IT architectures based on microservices, APIs and events, integration is the core capability enabling end-to-end processes and improving customer experiences. Speed and flexibility in implementing integration projects are playing an increasingly important role in business success. Broadening developer participation within the enterprise, within departments and within open source communities demonstrates our commitment to fully addressing today’s customer needs.”
Built.io also extends Software AG’s iPaaS offering to the small- and medium-sized business market. Software AG’s webMethods integration Cloud’s focus on enterprise customers is complemented by Built.io’s extensive experience in addressing the SMB market and in empowering line of business users within the modern enterprise.
With Built.io Flow, Software AG can now also deliver industry-leading integration via a completely embedded offering: An elegant, cloud-based integration solution that can be easily incorporated into any SaaS application. This enables end users to quickly integrate third party data from over 300 sources directly into their application, providing meaningful context and powerful insights.

Software AG Acquires Built.io to Accelerate Leadership in Hybrid and Cloud Integration

Cendyn, the leading provider of hotel CRM and hotel sales platforms in the hospitality industry, announced a new partnership with Hedgehog, a digital consultancy, to integrate Cendyn's eInsight customer relationship management (CRM) solution with the Sitecore® Experience Platform™ (CXP) to deliver powerful personalized digital experiences.
The agreement will enable Hedgehog to tap Cendyn's guest intelligence engine to fuel live personalization and dynamic pricing based on marketing segmentation and guest profiles in eInsight across Sitecore's digital platforms.
The CRM + CXP integration between Cendyn and Sitecore, facilitated by Hedgehog, will allow hotels to ensure their guests receive targeted messaging based on their personal preferences and behaviors stored in Cendyn's central data warehouse across all digital channels. Tackling this at scale, and delivering such personalized messaging in real-time, is huge for the hospitality industry.
The arrangement also includes a re-seller agreement with Hedgehog that promotes the sale of Cendyn eInsight as the preferred CRM of choice for hoteliers to Hedgehog customers.
“Our partnership with Hedgehog for Sitecore CXP integration is a big step forward in helping hotels deliver personalization at scale based on business impact,” says Charles Deyo, President &amp; CEO at Cendyn. “By adding this integration to our portfolio, we are continuing to expand our reach as the most connected CRM provider in the industry. This provides a cohesive, clear path to personalization.” 
“The partnership between Hedgehog and Cendyn really spotlights our focus on personalization in the travel and hospitality industry,” says Dan Galvez, Founder and CEO at Hedgehog. “By working with Cendyn on this connector, we are helping hotel properties present their guests with individualized experiences tailored to their unique needs.”   
About Hedgehog Hedgehog is a full-service digital consultancy transforming the way brands interact with their customers by designing and engineering high performance, multi-channel digital marketing solutions positioning clients for growth and success. A multidisciplinary web solutions firm partnering with Microsoft, Sitecore, Magento, Acquia, Drupal, and WordPress; Hedgehog offers strategy, design, consulting, technology, and managed services. Hedgehog is headquartered in Holbrook, NY with additional offices in Portland, OR, Charlotte, NC, Sofia, Bulgaria and Netherlands, Amsterdam. The company is consistently recognized for being one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States.
For more information, visit <a href="http://www.hhog.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">www.HHOG.com</a>.
About Cendyn <a href="http://www.cendyn.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Cendyn</a> is a cloud-based software and services provider that develops integrated technology platforms for driving marketing, sales and event performance in the travel and hospitality industry. The Cendyn Hospitality Cloud offers the most complete set of innovative software and services in the industry, covering hotel marketing, guest engagement, group sales and event management. With offices in Boca Raton, Atlanta, Boston, San Diego, Toronto, Whistler, London and Singapore, Cendyn proudly serves more than 30,000 hotel clients in 143 countries with enterprise spend levels in excess of $1 billion.

Cendyn integrates with Sitecore via Hedgehog to elevate real-time marketing personalization

Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Marketo, the market-leading cloud platform for B2B marketing engagement, for $4.75 billion, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. With nearly 5,000 customers, Marketo brings together planning, engagement and measurement capabilities into an integrated B2B marketing platform. Adding Marketo’s engagement platform to Adobe Experience Cloud will enable Adobe to offer an unrivaled set of solutions for delivering transformative customer experiences across industries and companies of all sizes.
Today, consumers have a very high bar for what constitutes a great customer experience and Adobe Experience Cloud has enabled B2C companies to successfully drive business impact by harnessing massive volumes of customer data and content in order to deliver real-time, cross-channel experiences that are personalized and consistent. When businesses buy from other businesses, they now have the same high expectations as consumers.
Marketo’s platform is feature-rich and cloud-native with significant opportunities for integration across Adobe Experience Cloud. Enterprises of all sizes across industries rely on Marketo’s marketing applications to drive engagement and customer loyalty. Marketo’s ecosystem includes over 500 partners and an engaged marketing community with over 65,000 members.
This acquisition brings together the richness of Adobe Experience Cloud analytics, content, personalization, advertising and commerce capabilities with Marketo’s lead management and account-based marketing technology to provide B2B companies with the ability to create, manage and execute marketing engagement at scale.
<blockquote>
The imperative for marketers across all industries is a laser focus on providing relevant, personalized and engaging experiences,” said Brad Rencher, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Experience, Adobe. “The acquisition of Marketo widens Adobe’s lead in customer experience across B2C and B2B and puts Adobe Experience Cloud at the heart of all marketing.”
</blockquote>
“Adobe and Marketo both share an unwavering belief in the power of content and data to drive business results,” said Steve Lucas, CEO, Marketo. “Marketo delivers the leading B2B marketing engagement platform for the modern marketer, and there is no better home for Marketo to continue to rapidly innovate than Adobe.”
The transaction, which is expected to close during the fourth quarter of Adobe’s 2018 fiscal year, is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Until the transaction closes, each company will continue to operate independently.
Upon close, Marketo CEO Steve Lucas will join Adobe's senior leadership team and continue to lead the Marketo team as part of Adobe’s Digital Experience business, reporting to executive vice president and general manager Brad Rencher.

Adobe to Acquire Marketo

<a name="_GoBack"></a> The world of social media marketing is a fast-paced one. Trends come and go, and if you want to stay on top of your game you need to apply strategies that are up-to-the-minute. Here are six of those marketing trends that really make a significant impact – penetration-wise – this 2018. We still have one quarter to go this year, and that’s still plenty of time for you to implement these marketing trends and tactics to create better brand impact!
<ol>
<li>Video content is king. There’s never been a more effective time to utilize video as one of your premiere marketing tools – especially since businesses and brands that utilized it are up 63% from the previous year. And with over 1.5 billion users logged in to YouTube every month, social networking sites have launched all sorts of new features that will encourage the use and creation of video content. You have Live Videos, 360-videos, instant stories, etc. Apart from being an enjoyable aspect of consuming social media content, these videos are also high on value. Ad recall is achievable within your video’s first 10 seconds. Video pros suggest creating animated videos as these are more popular than mere explainer videos.</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Mobile solutions count. Smartphone users now number 2.53 billion as of 2018. According to Facebook data, their number of monthly active users on the mobile platform is nearing 2 billion. It’s safe to say that mobile traffic now surpasses desktop, which is why it’s important to tap into the consciousness of these digital natives through prioritizing mobile. In particular, you can study how you can better take advantage of the call-to-action button on social network mobile apps. These are more able to generate better conversions than their web platform counterpart. Thus, your marketing strategies should be tailor-fit to attract all of these mobile users.</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Chatbots are crucial for CRM success. Customer Relation Management, or CRM, is an essential element of business success. This is especially true when addressing the social media aspect of your business. On this platform, Chatbots have proven itself to be very capable in creating real-time engagement to address your customers’ needs. Social media sites have already announced chatbot functions on their platform, so its effectiveness has already been measured and deemed worthy of use. With a Chatbot deployed to deal with your customers’ first line or level of concerns, you have something that works 24/7 without using real-time human effort for customer service. It’s also a cost-effective way to manage some aspects of your marketing strategy. Since chatbots seem to be in its infancy stage, you can surely expect more out of it in the coming years with improvements in AI research.</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Investing in influencer marketing. Influencers have varied backgrounds – celebrities, fashionistas, savvy moms, articulate and engaging children and everyone in between. What they have in common is their amazing ability to convince people to try a particular product or service. Thus, investing in influencer marketing should definitely be something you should consider to generate significant returns out of your social media marketing efforts. The key is in finding that perfect influencer that hits the target for your niche. The choice isn’t based on popularity alone. Rather, you want someone who has a wide reach and has developed his/her audience’s trust when it comes to things that he/she patronizes. Social media influencers might seem like a steep investment, but the dividends will pay off in the long run. Brands that count on influencers to get the word across enjoy up to 10x more in their conversion rates – a number that’s pretty hard to beat, strategy-wise.</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Paid content that’s also personalized. Paid content such as sponsored ads is a worthy investment if you want your business to have a wider reach on social media. It’s a good way to be better noticed on social media, especially since there are a million other businesses that create a lot of noise on the same platform. However, it is important to factor in personalization to your paid content. People are generally resistant to random ads on social media, and platforms have responded with new algorithms that match ads to the users who are more likely to appreciate seeing it on their feed. This goes for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. With this in place, your task is to personalize your content in such a way that your audience immediately sees its relevance in their lives. Social media platforms are already doing you a favor with these new algorithms that bring your target market closer to you, so you’d best focus on crafting your content to capture their attention and create conversions as a result. As a tip, you can also apply the use of analytics to truly understand your data and therefore find out how you can better apply what you know to reach your target users.</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Automation = real and lasting solutions. With so many competitors all vying for the attention of users numbering in the billions, working smarter is more effective compared to working harder. In this line, automation presents itself as strategy that does away with manual effort so you can spend more time concentrating on other more important aspects of your business as a digital marketer. The good thing about automation being so prevalent these days is the cost has gone down significantly. Having said that, you really have no excuse to avail of it for better success in social media marketing.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Variety Wins in Social Media Marketing</h2>
With all these new trends coming out, it is safe to say that a general rule to follow when drafting a solid social media marketing strategy is to have a focus on variety. Nowadays, it is never enough to focus all of your efforts on just one strategy. The gains you can generate by casting a much wider net is hard to ignore, especially in a digital platform wherein all the tools are right there in front of you for you to take advantage of. At the same time, it pays to remember that while everything is about technology these days, the heart of your marketing strategy should be the people you want to reach. Trends come and go, but the people – your target market – will constantly remain the same for the most part.

6 Social Media Marketing Trends You Need Implement, Stat

BloomReach, Inc., the Digital Experience Platform company, has now begun arming enterprises with a superior weapon in their battle against the Amazons of the e-commerce world. Today at the DMEXCO trade show in Cologne, BloomReach launched their DXP for Commerce that gives retailers, brands, distributors and manufacturers the ability to quickly offer a highly relevant and personalized digital experience. They can enhance their commerce environment with AI-powered search, intelligent merchandising, and highly agile content management. The DXP for Commerce keeps customers engaged, increases revenue per visit, and drives customer loyalty. It also integrates with leading commerce platforms to form a complete e-commerce solution.
“These are scary times for both B2B and B2C enterprises,” said Raj De Datta, co founder and CEO of BloomReach. “Amazon, Alibaba and other disruptors pose an existential threat to their business. Historically, executives have looked to a commerce-led architecture to compete. These architectures, however, don’t provide the velocity needed to beat the Amazons of the world. The answer is a move from monolithic e-commerce platforms to microservices-based architectures that empower not just the web, but all digital touchpoints. This provides a twofold benefit: more control over the customer experience, now highly personalized, and the ability to innovate quickly. Our new DXP for Commerce is designed to offer all this and more as well as on top of existing platforms and integrating with legacy systems.”
“Traditional commerce platforms don’t handle content management well, nor do they meet 2018 expectations for site search and digital merchandising,” said Patrick Finn, Head of Global Channels at BloomReach. “Surmounting these challenges requires an experience-led platform with the trifecta of a super CMS, AI-driven search, and an open architecture to build quickly and get to business outcomes. At BloomReach, we’re delivering that with DXP for Commerce and bringing it to market with a world-class set of partners.”
“We are seeing major demand for a new approach to commerce-enabled digital experiences globally across industries,” said Dirk Hoerig, founder and CEO of commercetools, a leading cloud-based commerce platform provider. “Brands want to experiment with new channels and business models, but all-in-one content and commerce platforms stifle agility and innovation. Our headless, API-based approach makes it easy for brands to create powerful digital experiences that can also deliver optimum shopping experiences with platforms like BloomReach’s DXP for Commerce.”
Besides commercetools, who are exhibiting alongside BloomReach at the DMEXCO trade show in Cologne, the DXP for Commerce integrates with commerce platforms from Elastic Path, SAP Commerce Cloud, Skava, Symphony and others.
BloomReach has lined up a global ecosystem of first class digital agency and system integration partners to help businesses implement the integrated offering. These include Accenture Interactive, Authentic, Avionos, Dept, diva-e, Gorilla, Incentro, Object Edge, Osudio, SapientRazorfish, Shift7 Digital, Valtech, XumaK, and Zaelab.
“Delivering engaging digital experiences is essential”, said Brian Grady, CEO of Gorilla. “The Bloomreach DXP for Commerce enables us to create differentiated solutions for our clients that can be fully integrated with the leading digital commerce platforms.”
Victor Terpstra, CCO at Osudio: ”BloomReach DXP for Commerce adds true value to existing commerce solutions: by applying AI in on-site search and online merchandising tools, online retailers can create a significant revenue uplift whereas brands can add stories to their products by combining BloomReach CMS capabilities with existing commerce implementations.”
<h2>About BloomReach</h2>
BloomReach software enables highly personalized digital experiences for retailers, banks, distributors, manufacturers, public service agencies and other enterprises.  BloomReach has combined a super CMS, AI-powered digital merchandising, site search and SEO into the world's first open and intelligent Digital Experience Platform. The BloomReach DXP stimulates customer engagement and loyalty, even as it boosts conversion and increases revenue.
With a global network of certified partners, BloomReach serves hundreds of enterprise customers such as Neiman Marcus, Staples, REI, Mailchimp, FC Bayern München, and the UK’s NHS. Founded in 2009 and backed by NEA, Battery Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures and Salesforce Ventures, BloomReach is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices worldwide.
Learn more: <a href="https://www.bloomreach.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.bloomreach.com</a>

BloomReach launches DXP for Commerce so enterprises can beat Amazon

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