Articles - Page 55

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

matt-garrepy

A new release of the WordPress app for iOS has been made available. Version 2.8 is the first in a while that does not solely focus on stability issues. In this new release, there are a number of key improvements and new features. For instance…
<h2>Quick Photo</h2>
A new “Quick Photo” button allows you to snap a picture of something and instantly blog about it. This is a huge step forward for the app and is a very cool addition. They are calling this app “action-centric” meaning that instead of selecting your blog and selecting what you want to do with the pic, you pick your action first. This should help speed up the process and get your blog posts up quicker.
Here's a quick look at how Quick Photo works:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/oxwall_nvhcur.jpg" alt="quick-photo-walkthrough" />
How do you access it you might ask? As you launch the app, you’ll notice there’s now a button in the bottom of your blogs list. Tap it to launch the camera and take a picture, when you’re satisfied you can add a title or a description (if you want, both are optional), and boom — you’re done! The function remembers the last blog you posted a Quick Photo to and will use that for future posts as well. Note: iPhone only for now.
<h2>Statistics</h2>
If you run your blog/website on WordPress.com, you will be able to quickly check your stats automatically. Currently, you can view everything from Daily Views to Clicks and Search Terms. If you are on the self hosted platform (WordPress.org), you have to have the WordPress.com Stats plugin installed first.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/socialengine_lglsax.jpg" alt="wordpress-ios-stats-screenshot" />
There are other changes as well such as localization improvements and bug fixes. You can read the entire release announcement here on <a href="http://ios.wordpress.org/2011/05/18/big-update-wordpress-for-ios-2-8-available-today/" target="_blank">ios.wordpress.org</a>

WordPress for iPhone and iPad sees big update with 2.8 release

mike-johnston

Adobe has announced that their new Omniture based SocialAnalytics application has entered beta testing worldwide. This new application, built within the Adobe Online Marketing Suite, which was unveiled earlier this year. Adobe SocialAnalytics works by monitoring and aggregating all relevant activity from social networks and online communities and identifying key business metrics and brand perception. Using the suite, you can monitor and measure all of your social networks (including blogs, forums and the like) in multiple languages easily.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/adobe_socialanalytics_dashboard-580x745.jpg" alt="adobe_socialanalytics_dashboard" />Here's some of the comments being made by current beta testers:
<blockquote>
“Through social engagement we can offer responsive customer service, enhance customer engagement and drive contextual messaging. With the ability to tie our efforts to key performance indicators such as onsite behavior patterns and customer satisfaction we can further optimize the social experiences we provide.” – Chris Jenkins, Vodafone
“We have thousands of conversations every day about our brands across multiple social channels. Adobe SocialAnalytics will help us get valuable insights from these conversations that we can use to better meet the needs of our customers and drive ROI.” – Liz Boone, General Motors
</blockquote>
Learn more about the <a href="http://www.omniture.com/en/products/online_marketing_suite" target="_blank">Adobe Online Marketing Suite</a>

Adobe SocialAnalytics now in beta Globally

When it comes to website creation tools, there are a few criteria that all online businesses compete on; price, an intuitive layout, and ease of use.
In recent years, <a href="http://www.jimdo.com/">Jimdo</a> has become one of the more popular website builders on the market for this very reason. This popularity has been based on its plethora of features, easy navigation, and powerful online store features.
According to the Jimdo site, almost 200,000 online stores have been created since Jimdo launched in 2010, with small business owners, creatives, and bloggers as its primary customers.
One thing that causes a lot of CMS to go downhill is the addition of new features. It can be easy to bloat a CMS with unnecessary tools or widgets but it looks like Jimdo has managed to avoid this pitfall.
<h2>Getting Set Up</h2>
Getting your Jimdo account up and running is a pretty simple process.
You just pick a basic template, insert your email, set a password, and you’re on your way.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sign_in_2663x0-is.png" />
From there, you’re taken to a menu where you can select your domain name. Jimdo has a few options here – a free subdomain, your own .com domain for €5 a month, or transferring your own domain over via their nameservers.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/domain512x0-is.png" />
<h2>Features</h2>
As I mentioned earlier, Jimdo places a premium on ease of use. The opening page takes you straight down to business – which is refreshing. Navigation is quite simple and, if anything, maybe a little too simple in places. I would have liked a few more layers of complexity for certain aspects, but this doesn’t hamper the overall experience.
It’s also somewhat ‘inflexible’ when it comes to editing some things. You can’t move some of the text windows, for example.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/editing_page672x0-is.png" />
Jimdo has a well designed and intuitive layout. It also has the kind of drag-and-drop functionality that has become the standard in sites like these. This is an editor with no lag and it ran incredibly fast on all of the browsers I tested it on. You should be aware that all your changes are made live to the site as you save each element.
A ‘preview’ button combined with a feature that only publishes your changes on full completion, might be better suited to the rookie site builder. As it is, every change you make goes live straight away.
<h2> </h2>
<h2>Intuition in Design</h2>
If you click on a picture, you can edit it. If you click on text, you can edit it with the rich text editor right there on the screen. Everything is very simple and works as you’d expect it to.
You can create your own template from scratch but the available templates are of a great standard and contemporarily designed.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/templates816x0-is.png" />
The design styles are clean and nicely put together but they might be a little basic for some people’s tastes and seemed a little ‘samey’ to me.
I also found that some templates were a little rigid in their layout but they are well designed overall.
<h2> </h2>
<h2>Options</h2>
Jimdo has quite a comprehensive settings page but all the premium features are listed on the free page’s settings, which means that you only find out you don’t have them after you click. A little frustrating.
All of Jimdo packages have a shop function with scaling features. The free package has 5 items, the professional package has 15, and the business package allows you unlimited items.
This online store function is one of Jimdo’s main selling points and it is quite well put together. However, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/">Paypal</a> is the only payment processing option available. This can be a big problem if you don’t want to use that site.
Domains and Email accounts: Jimdo offers an email service with its premium packages which is something none of its competitors offer. This makes the premium packages extremely good value as they don’t charge extra for this service.
App: Jimdo’s app is one of the best available when it comes to creating a website on a tablet or smart device. It’s available on both Android and iOS.
Widgets: All of the plans offer a wide range of Widgets (e.g. YouTube embed, image galleries etc)
<h2>Price Points</h2>
Jimdo is quite reasonably priced. To be honest, the Free option isn’t really worth the effort of setting it up. It’s fine for testing something out, but no business or blogger will realistically use this subdomain as it hosts advertisements and offers only a basic package of features.
You can easily upgrade from your Free package to the Premium or Business package and the added features make it well worth it.
Premium packages start at €5 a month for the Professional package (charged yearly). This allows you to have one domain name of your choosing, numerous SEO options, and a lot of space.
The Business package is a really good option at €15 a month. It seems pricey but you get a ton of features including two domains, unlimited email addresses, unlimited shop items, unlimited storage, discount codes, full SEO customization, and more.
The extensive features available in the Business package make it an extremely good option for the medium sized eCommerce company. For more on pricing, <a href="http://www.jimdo.com/pricing/" target="_blank">click here.</a>
<h2>Pros:</h2>
<ul>
<li>
Very quick and easy setup.
</li>
<li>
Fair pricing scale and lot of good features on their mid-range price option.
</li>
<li>
Offers email hosting with their premium packages.
</li>
<li>
Well designed app.
</li>
<li>
Wide range of widgets and features
</li>
</ul>
<h2>Cons:</h2>
<ul>
<li>
The platform is only compatible with Paypal, which limits your options drastically.
</li>
<li>
Lack of a preview button on page means changes are published live to the site.
</li>
<li>
Slightly inflexible page editor.
</li>
</ul>
<h2>To Sum It Up</h2>
Jimdo is a good website builder that’s just a shade away from being a great website builder. It falls down slightly with its Free package and the depth of editing available on the various templates.
Jimdo’s Business package really seems to be the best deal and it gives you everything that a potential online store could want – at quite a reasonable price for the various features on offer. So if you’re thinking about signing up to Jimdo, I definitely recommend trying going for this option. If you do, you’ll have an intuitive, powerful, easy to use website builder that is well worth the money you’ve paid for it. To sign up for Jimdo, just click <a href="http://www.jimdo.com" target="_blank">here</a>.
Have you tried Jimdo for your business? Why not share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

Jimdo Review

grainne-logue

cmsWhen it comes to email, it's a very personal thing. Some people want more features and others want less but overall, we all want three important things: reliability, solid spam filtering and an easy to use interface. In this article, I'm going to <a target="_blank" href="https://protonmail.com/">t</a>ake you through my ProtonMail Review and explain why they are now my email provider of choice.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-press-web-3.jpg" />ProtonMail offers a great interface and encrypted / secure email for the web and mobile.ProtonMail is an open source secure email provider based in Switzerland. They offer a very solid web based email client as well as apps for all major devices. ISince discovering ProtonMail, I've switched all of my CMS Critic email over to it from Gmail and I won't be switching back. Not only do I prefer the client and it's layout to that offered by Google but I also love the full email encryption.Furthering that, it's open source and as a fan of open source software and an avid user (all of my computers run open source operating systems) it was a natural fit.You do not need to provide any personal information to create a secure email account with ProtonMail and they do not keep IP logs that can be linked to your anonymous email account.Here's a breakdown of the security features included with ProtonMail:<ul><li>End-to-End Encryption Messages are always encrypted and transmitted in encrypted format between their servers and your device. If you are emailing other ProtonMail users they are also fully encrypted within their secure server network.</li><li>Zero Access to User Data The makers of ProtonMail have absolutely no access to your data. They use what they call a zero access architecture which means the data is encrypted in a way that makes it inaccessible to them.</li><li>Open Source Cryptography ProtonMail uses open source cryptography which means they use well tested, trusted encryption algorithms.</li></ul>If you want to learn more, you can visit this page: <a target="_blank" href="https://protonmail.com/security-details">ProtonMail Security Features</a>.<h3>Free or Paid? The Choice is Yours</h3>It's easy to sign up for ProtonMail and they offer a quick and easy to set up free offering. With it you receive the following features:<ul><li>500MB Storage</li><li>150 Messages per day</li><li>Limited Support</li></ul>They also offer two paid plans; Plus and Visionary which offer more advanced features and range from $4 – 25 USD / month.The Plus account includes:<ul><li>5 GB storage</li><li>Send up to 1000 messages per day</li><li>Labels, Custom Filters, and Folders</li><li>Send encrypted messages to external recipients</li><li>Use your own domain (ex: john@smith.com)</li><li>Up to 5 email aliases</li><li>Priority Customer Support</li></ul>The Visionary account includes:<ul><li>20GB storage</li><li>Up to 50 email aliases</li><li>Support for up to 10 domains</li><li>Multi-User Support (6 total)</li><li>No sending limits*</li><li>Labels, Custom Filters, and Folders</li><li>Send encrypted messages to external recipients</li><li>Early access to new features</li><li>Includes access to ProtonVPN</li></ul><h3>Getting a Free Account</h3>Getting a free account is easy, you can sign up with very little information. Literally, they just need you to select a username and password with an optional recovery email. For the purposes of this ProtonMail review, we'll set up a free account.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-1.png" />ProtonMail Review – Setting up an AccountOnce signed up (and verified by either having a code emailed or sent to your via SMS) your account will be created and you'll be redirected to your new inbox.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-3.png" />ProtonMail Review – The Inbox<h3>The Interface</h3>The same features you'd expect from any web based email are present along with those specific to ProtonMail.When sending a new message, for example, you have two new security based features available if you choose to use them; expiration time and encryption for non-ProtonMail users.To enable an expiration time, from the new message window, select the small hourglass icon in the bottom left and you'll be presented with this screen:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-5.png" />ProtonMail Review – Setting an expiration time for an email.To enable encryption for non-ProtonMail users, you can set a password which you would then provide to the recipient. To use this, you would click on the padlock icon in the bottom left of the new message window.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-6.png" />ProtonMail Review – Setting up EncryptionAlong with these inbox features (and the typical ones you'd expect from any email client) there are a number of ways to migrate to ProtonMail from your existing email provider.<h3>Migrating to ProtonMail</h3>If you choose to migrate over to ProtonMail, there are a number of ways to do so. ProtonMail offers an easy way to import your contacts which you can access from the contacts tab.Clicking import will present you with the following screen:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-7.png" />ProtonMail Review – Importing ContactsProtonMail supports importing CSV files from Outlook, Outlook Express, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, Eudora and some other apps. They also support importing vCard. (UTF-8 encoding).Importing EmailTo import email into ProtonMail, you'll need a paid account as their import/export tool is only available to paid users. Fortunately, however, the cost of a paid plan is incredibly reasonable and affordable for everyone. The Import/Export tool works for Windows and Mac users and allows you to import your email from another email account or from a local MBOX or EML file on your device.You can learn more about the app and how it works on the <a target="_blank" href="https://protonmail.com/blog/import-export-beta/">Import/Export tool page.</a><h3>Other Security Features</h3>Along with your typical settings which you can find by clicking the settings tab, you can also find information via the Security tab. This tab shows you past logins and current and previous sessions, amongst other things.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-8.png" />ProtonMail Review – Security and Session Management<h3>My Experience So Far</h3>Overall, I've found that I thoroughly enjoy using ProtonMail. I prefer their platform and the simplicity offered by the interface. There are, however, a few things I'd like to see added / improved upon which I'll get into in my pros/cons list below.Pros<ul><li>Simple Interface that is easy to use.</li><li>Encrypted email.</li><li>Price point is very reasonable for personal users and business users.</li><li>Highly secure.</li><li>Plenty of features.</li><li>Easy to migrate from other platforms.</li><li>Excellent help and documentation.</li><li>Available smartphone apps.</li></ul>Cons<ul><li>No scheduling option for emails to allow me to remind myself to reply to it at a later date.</li><li>In their mobile apps, there is no way to select multiple emails at once and mark as read or archive them in one go, things must be done individually.</li><li>No calendar with which to integrate.</li></ul>Overall, I think ProtonMail is an excellent option but I would love to be able to migrate my calendar over from Google and make the transition a complete one. For now, however, I'm stuck using it there until that time comes.Have I convinced you to try it? <a target="_blank" href="https://protonmail.com/">Go ahead and sign up and see for yourself.</a>

ProtonMail Review - Secure Email on All Platforms

Drupal has long been known for it's incredible extensibility and today we're focusing on two projects that make the best use of this strength. What follows are two of the best Drupal based projects we've seen so far.  Let's get started.
<h2>OpenPublish</h2>
First up comes an incredibly good project for those looking to use Drupal as a publishing platform and is called OpenPublish. OpenPublish is a project created by <a href="http://www.phase2technology.com/">Phase2 Technology</a> and is geared towards publishers looking to take advantage of Drupal's flexibility to create a unique and powerful publishing site.
OpenPublish works with:
<ul>
<li>Apache Solr (faceted search index)</li>
<li>Pressflow (Drupal performance enhancement)</li>
<li>Open source cache technologies for performance (e.g. Memecached and Varnish)</li>
<li>Content Delivery Networks like Akamai</li>
</ul>
Some key features include:
<ul>
<li>Semantic Tools like: Content autotagging, geotagging and map integration, topic hubs and content suggestions.</li>
<li>Monetization with: In-stream advertising and gated content,</li>
<li>Engagement options such as: Facebook integration, topic hubs, comments and talkback, multimedia and contextual highlights with apture.</li>
<li>Syndication and Promotion with: Featured Content, Social Bookmarking and Email forwarding and RSS Feeds.</li>
<li>Asset Management using: Source Documents and Image Management.</li>
</ul>
What does it look like?
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/imcreatorxx_bh2psk.jpg" alt="OpenPublish" />
More info: <a href="http://openpublishapp.com/" target="_blank">OpenPublish</a>
 
<h2>MediaMosa</h2>
Next in line comes MediaMosa. This projects is best described as software to build a Full Featured, Webservice Oriented Media Management and Distribution platform.
The main features of a MediaMosa platform are:
<ul>
<li>Delivery platform for audio, video (and in fact any other content)</li>
<li>Streaming of any format (e.g. Flash, H.264 MPEG-4 and WindowsMedia)</li>
<li>Transcoding based on FFmpeg</li>
<li>Flexible Metadata Element Sets</li>
<li>Access management functions on Media</li>
<li>Enhanced Still functions</li>
<li>Open Source under GPLv2 license</li>
</ul>
For more information, visit <a href="http://mediamosa.org/" target="_blank">MediaMosa</a>
Do you have a project that you think should be listed here? Let us know in the comments.
Keep checking back for the latest updates or join our newsletter to win prizes and stay up to speed once a month.

Best Drupal based Projects

Last week, our focus was on <a href="http://www.solodev.com/" target="_blank">Solodev CMS 8</a>, as we made our way through yet another featured week.
<a href="http://www.solodev.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/soldodev-logo-1_400x0.png" /></a> I got to <a href="/exploring-solodev-cms-8/" target="_blank">explore the enterprise platform’s core features</a>, its <a href="/solodev-cms-bringing-multi-site-management-to-healthcare-organizations/" target="_blank">presence within the healthcare industry</a>, the role it plays for <a href="/solodev-cms-powering-next-generation-local-government-websites-to-improve-constituent-services/" target="_blank">numerous local government bodies throughout the United States</a>, and the <a href="/solodev-cms-facilitating-successful-project-launches/" target="_blank">Solodev team's willingness to help launch large scale projects</a>.
As usual, the featured week gave me, and all our readers, an intriguing glimpse into a capable CMS.
<h2>A Walkthrough of Solodev CMS 8</h2>
To garnish that glimpse, here's a video walkthrough of Solodev CMS 8's features, led by Joe Forgét, Chief Innovation Officer at Solodev.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ws5LzRTK77g?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
To find out more about Solodev CMS, <a href="https://www.solodev.com/" target="_blank">check out their website</a>

A Video Overview of Solodev CMS 8

You might have heard of Ghost — an open-source blogging platform that launched in 2013. Ghost was founded by John O’Nolan, a former WordPress employee who grew frustrated with the complexities of the traditional blogging platform and decided to do something about it.
Today, more than a million people and businesses use Ghost, including Apple, Tinder, and Mozilla. This number is likely to increase now that the company has rolled out Ghost 3.0 — its biggest release since the first version of Ghost. Here is a comprehensive look at Ghost’s latest update, Ghost 3.0.
<h2>New and Improved Features</h2>
The core idea behind this latest release is to help publishers build and maintain engaged audiences. The new and exciting features introduced as part of Ghost 3.0 reflect this thinking.
<h3>Members &amp; Subscriptions</h3>
The most significant feature introduced by Ghost 3.0 is support for memberships and subscriptions. The feature is still in beta but is fully functioning.
A simple member signup system turns anonymous visitors into registered members, helping you grow a community of like-minded individuals. Ghost 3.0 allows you to set three different access levels:
<ul>
<li>Public content</li>
<li>Members-only content</li>
<li>Paid members-only content.</li>
</ul>
This is what a post with members-only access looks like on Nolan’s own blog:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot1-1_josxry.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - 1" />
You can have a combination of all three access levels, as long as your theme supports it. If you already have an audience elsewhere, you can give it access to your new site via Ghost’s imports and integrations function.
Ghost 3.0 has a Stripe integration, so taking payments for premium-membership benefits is effortless. Members can pay for your content via credit card or Apple Pay. You can create your own pricing structure. For example, these are the pricing tiers that Nolan chose for his blog:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot2-1_ka9xit.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - 2" />
The billing features are integrated with Stripe Billing API, not Stripe Connect. That means that if Ghost the company were to fold, your site and billing would still work as usual.
<h3>Full-Featured Headless CMS</h3>
Ghost worked tirelessly on improving its APIs (application program interface, a set of protocols for building software applications) and Webhooks (HTTP callbacks that let you create or set up integrations). The company’s efforts have paid off — you can run Ghost 3.0 as a decoupled headless CMS.
<h3>Images</h3>
Working with images on Ghost 3.0 is much easier than before. When you insert an image into a post, it automatically resizes and optimizes it for your theme. This new feature saves you a ton of time and ensures that pages with a lot of images load faster.
You can also add an image gallery with up to nine images at a time. Ghost 3.0 automatically organizes the photos to look their best.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot3-1_vkx3cg.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 Image Galleries" />
<h3>Drag and Drop Capabilities</h3>
Changing the layout of a post with Ghost 3.0 is a breeze. You can drag and drop any card, whether it’s text-based or image-based, within a post. The editor auto-scrolls as you move the cards up and down.
<h3>Bookmark Cards</h3>
Ghost 3.0 lets you add a bookmark card into your post, which simplifies the process of sharing links from sites with no automatic embeds.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot4-1_xra7k5.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - Cards" />
As long as you use a URL with the correct meta information, the bookmark card will show:
<ul>
<li>Page title</li>
<li>Preview image</li>
<li>Excerpt</li>
<li>Author</li>
<li>Publisher.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Admin Dashboard Updates</h3>
Ghost 3.0 also updated the admin dashboard. There’s a new site preview feature as well as an option to filter drafts and published posts depending on:
<ul>
<li>Author</li>
<li>Status</li>
<li>Date</li>
<li>Tag.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Themes</h3>
The default Ghost theme has been improved, with added support for dark mode. Also, Ghost added three open-source magazine-style themes and a new starter theme for developers to its marketplace.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot_5_ppuumt.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - themes" />
<h3>WordPress Importer</h3>
Ghost 3.0 has a migration plugin for WordPress, which allows you to export posts, pages, tags, and images into a set of files. Importing these files into Ghost 3.0 is a quick and painless process.
Ghost 3.0 doesn’t have built-in comments, but it integrates with many popular comment platforms so that you can migrate your WordPress comments easily.
<h3>New Integrations</h3>
Ghost makes it easy to set up integrations with multiple apps and tools. New integrations include Ulysses, iA Writer, and <a href="https://write.as/" target="_blank">Write.as</a>, whereas <a href="https://zapier.com" target="_blank">Zapier</a> integration has seen an update.
<h3>That’s Not All!</h3>
On top of the features mentioned above, Ghost 3.0 comes with new developer documentation. The company also launched a weekly newsletter that focuses on important stories, ideas, and publishing resources. If you want to see the full list of updates, take a look at <a href="https://gist.github.com/allouis/aae9e45748da87a6928ac814a04413bb" target="_blank">Ghost 3.0 changelog</a>.

Ghost 3.0 Brings Subscriptions, Memberships and More

laura-martisiute

To a cheering audience at Sitecore's North American Symposium (#SYMNA), Coveo announced they will now be offering a free edition of their popular search solution for Sitecore.
Coveo for Sitecore – Free Edition helps marketers harness the power of search to drive visitor engagement, by enabling them to build and manage compelling search experiences using their familiar Sitecore management console &amp; tools. Dynamic search pages and search-driven content can be quickly configured, delivering an engaging, consistent visitor experience across all browsers and mobile devices.
The Coveo solution ships with a rich JavaScript user interface, enabling Sitecore developers to build custom search experiences using Coveo’s framework and components. Coveo technology can also be applied to existing CRM and knowledge management platforms for a more effective search experience. To ensure each site visitor is always exposed to the site’s most relevant content, messaging and product offers, Coveo for Sitecore – Free Edition provides administrators with an actionable analytics dashboard and tools to easily tune the solution’s relevance engine.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitecore-coveo.png" />
I asked Coveo’s Chairman and CEO, Louis Têtu to explain why they chose Sitecore as their platform partner of choice and this was his reply:
<blockquote>
“Sitecore to us has been a great bet, they are well positioned in the space with their offering and have a great platform for web content management and from a technology fit perspective they fit well with us. Coveo is both competent in the cloud but also in the .NET environment and Sitecore architecture worked well with our product from the get go.”
</blockquote>
For additional details on Sitecore for Coveo, check out the video below:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yPTLKR2jvTc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Check out <a href="http://www.coveo.com/en/sitecore-search">Coveo for Sitecore</a> today.

Coveo Announces Free Edition of Coveo Search for Sitecore #SYMNA

CMS Summit 26

Find out at CMS Connect 26, August 4-5 in Montreal, Canada

What's ahead for CMS in the agentic era?

#ffffff

We just launched a new job database for employers and those looking for work, to post and apply for jobs. With the amount of traffic we get, we consider this a valuable addition to the site. If you are looking for work or are looking to hire someone, apply or get your job listed today on our Job Database.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/jobs.png" />
We have tons of categories and you get a two month listing with each submission. Check it out and let us know if you have any feedback!

New job database launched

It’s one thing to have a database full of customers, but it’s another thing to have a database full of customers who actually like you.
Successful customer relationship management is all about getting to know your customers and creating a personal relationship with them that goes beyond a few Twitter promotions.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigstock-successful-business-meeting-wi-75274462538x0-is.jpg" />
The idea is to make your customers want your product because you sell it, and not simply because they need it. This kind of brand loyalty goes a long way and it’s definitely something that you have to invest sufficient time and resources into building. Once you’ve built that kind of community around your business, you’ll reap the rewards in the long run.
If you’re still in the ‘dating’ phase of your customer relationship development, that’s perfectly fine – as long as you’re on the right track.
Here are 10 ways to know that you’re doing it right.
<h2>1. You Know How To K.I.S.S</h2>
‘Keep It Simple, Stupid’. If you know how to do this, then you’re well on the road to CRM success. Many smaller companies get carried away with their first CRM system and end up choosing a tool with a ton of unnecessary features. Talk to your team first and figure out what you actually need from your CRM, before choosing one based on what you think you need instead.
Once your CRM is up and running with the least possible hassle, you’ll have much more time to dedicate to your customers. I recently wrote a post that will help you to avoid the 10 most common pitfalls when choosing a CRM, check it out <a href="/10-pitfalls-to-avoid-when-choosing-a-crm/">here.</a>
<h2>2. You Understand The Importance Of Birthdays</h2>
It doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s always nice to get an unexpected ‘happy birthday’ on the big day. This is a tiny piece of information that you can easily obtain from your customers when they sign up, but it’ll have a huge impact on the status of your relationship. A quick ‘happy birthday’ email or birthday discount will really add a personal touch to your communications.
<h2>3. You Provide Your Customers With Quality Content</h2>
If you want your customers to trust you then you have to provide them with knowledgeable and credible information. It’s important to show that you have an in-depth understanding of your industry and all of your content (blog/social media) should be created to meet the specific needs of your target audience.
<h2>4. You’re Psychic</h2>
Well, not exactly, but you do know what your customers want before they contact you directly. How? You simply gaze into your crystal ball/computer screen and do some social media monitoring with a handy tool like <a href="http://www.socialmention.com/">Social Mention</a> or <a href="https://hootsuite.com/">Hootsuite</a>.
This is the best way to find out what your customers are saying in real-time; to collect valuable insights into market trends; and to get involved in online conversations about your business.
Also, if an issue does present itself (i.e. an unhappy customer on Twitter), you can nip it in the bud before it escalates and use that info to improve your offering overall.
<h2>5. You Care About Your Customers</h2>
If you want your customer relationship management to work, then you have to work at it – and this means listening to what your customers needs and fulfilling those needs. What it doesn’t mean, is bombarding them with irrelevant sales pitches and promotions every day of the week.
As great as you think your product/service is, it’s useless if it’s not useful to your customers.
Interact with your target audience, listen to them, and make them feel valued. What are their pain points? What challenges are they facing? What do they need from you in order to overcome those challenges?
If you work on really understanding your customers, it will make all of the difference when it comes to selling your product – because you’ll be armed with the information to ensure that it meets their expectations from the outset.
<h2>6. You Never Compete On Price</h2>
A sale achieved by competing on price is always a short term win. Your customer won’t see the true value in your product/service and will jump straight to the next lowest bidder.
If you really feel that your pricing is alienating some of your customers, then you can think about providing another version of your product/service with less features. This is the only advisable method to reduce your pricing. Never compete on price – it just doesn’t work.
<h2>7. You’re Different</h2>
You need to be able to vocalize the benefits of your product or service to your customers. It’s not just about what your product/service does, it’s about what it will do for them. This is the part where you really need to blow them away and set yourself apart from your competitors.
<h2>8. You Say Thank You</h2>
Sure, it’s the polite thing to do – but it’s also the profitable thing to do. Customer loyalty programs are a proven way to retain and grow your business; in fact, <a href="http://blog.accessdevelopment.com/customer-loyalty-statistics-2015-edition">62% of Millennials</a> say they’re essential.
By rewarding your customers for their support, you’ll also improve and solidify your relationship with them in the long run.
<h2>9. You’re Consistent</h2>
Consistency is key when it comes to managing customer relationships; your customers need to know what to expect from you and it’s your job to set those parameters.
For example, if you’re firing out 3 newsletters one week and none the next – then you’re not being consistent. It’s important not to spam your customers but it’s also important to communicate with them on a regular basis.
<h2>10. You Keep Your Promises</h2>
If you say you’re going to resolve a situation within a certain time period, then do it. If you say you’re going to call a customer back within a certain time period, then do that also. It’s crucial to follow through on any commitments you make to your customers if you want to gain their loyalty, trust, and business for the long haul.
<h2>Treat Your Customers The Way You’d Like To Be Treated</h2>
The most important thing to remember is that your customers are real people and they have specific wants and needs that they expect you to fulfil. If you can do this, then you’ll build customer relationships that last a lifetime – or at least until you retire and move to Barbados.
Do you have anything you’d like to add to the CRM tips above? Why not share them with us in the comments section below.

Customer Relationship Management: 10 Ways to Know You're Doing It Right

You've probably never used a CMS that had the word “bling” in it, let alone one that uses an icon of a rapper with a bling logo on a gold chain. Prepare to meet Bling Blocks, the latest comer to the CMS world.
Bling Blocks definitely walks to a different beat, and that's not just because their logo is cooler than WordPress's.
Here's what the new CMS has to offer.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/blingblocks400x0.png" />
<h2>The Big Idea:  No More Backend</h2>
The devs at <a href="http://www.beligum.com/">Beligum</a> wanted a CMS that was like no other. Like no other means that Bling Blocks has no backend (sort of). Some people will love that. Some people will, er, not love it.
<h2>Built on the Play! Framework</h2>
The CMS is Java, meaning you get a slick interface. It uses the lightweight <a href="http://www.playframework.com/">Play framework</a>, so it's also pretty quick as CMSs go.  
<h2>For Developers</h2>
Rappers, be warned:  This is a rocking CMS, but it's actually built for developers, not rappers. That means, hopefully for Beligum, the CMS will take on a life of its own as developers work, tweak, play, and use the system. 
<h2>Blocks</h2>
The CMS uses something called “blocks.” Basically, this means you can add portions of content, i.e., blocks, on your website. After adding a block of content, you can go in and edit it. Because they are “blocks,” you can pick them up, move them, drag them around, and place them where you want. It's WISIWYG plus blocks.
<h2>Responsive Heaven</h2>
One does not simply make a CMS in 2013 and not have responsive design. Behold, Bling Blocks is fully responsive. 
<h2>What's Next?</h2>
To jump on stage and give it a try, you can download Bling Blocks and let loose with your thing. Be warned, though. You'll probably hit bugs along the way. Beligum themselves confess: “We totally know there's still a ton of bugs in this 0.1 release, but hey, we release early and release often.”
<a href="http://www.blingblocks.org/en/">Read more about it.</a>
Download it yourself.
Watch a video:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pAUF9HqYCzQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
What are your thoughts on this Java-driven, backend-less, developer-oriented, block-heavy CMS? Does it have enough “bling”?

Introducing the new Bling Blocks CMS

daniel-threlfall

Love is in the air, but there are no poems or love notes being exchanged. Instead, the numbers are doing all the talking.
Ever since the release of version 1.6, <a href="http://www.prestashop.com/" target="_blank">PrestaShop</a> has been head over heels in love with statistics. As a result, PrestaShop users have been enjoying some unique stat-based benefits, all from the comfort of their PrestaShop back office (otherwise known as the admin panel).
So far this year, PrestaShop – an eCommerce platform with a <a href="/a-closer-look-at-prestashops-global-community/">buzzing global community</a> – has taken a number of big steps to improve itself, achieving <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/">nomination in two categories for the 2014 CMS Awards</a> in the process.
One of those steps was to make statistics an integral part of the PrestaShop experience. Let's explore how.
<h2>Real-time Margins</h2>
Perhaps the most interesting feature of PrestaShop's statistical relationship, is the real-time profit margin reporting.
The PrestaShop back office dashboard sports a number of useful graphs, including the “Net Profit” graph, which allows you to keep track of your takings in real time.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/profit.png" alt="PrestaShop" />
Merchants with busy online stores will naturally find this feature extremely useful. In fact, since the profit margins change minute by minute, it could even become an addictive graph to stare at.
Not only is this an immensely powerful feature, it's also completely exclusive to PrestaShop.
And yet, the stats love-in doesn't end there.
<h2>Intelligent Merchant KPIs Here, There &amp; Everywhere</h2>
Following the release of PrestaShop 1.6 back in July 2014, PrestaShop users have had the pleasure of seeing Intelligent Merchant KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) on numerous pages within their back office.
These indicators are handy, non-obtrusive metrics which appear on pages such as “Orders” and “Customers”, giving relevant stats where-ever they appear.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kpi700x0.png" alt="PrestaShop" />
For example, the Intelligent Merchant KPIs found on the “Orders” page display conversion rates, average order values and net profit per visit over the last 30 days, along with abandoned carts per day.
Meanwhile, the “Customers” page offers up gender and age demographics, as well as average orders per customer and newsletter registrations. All highly relevant information, presented in a simple way.
But still, the numeric romance continues.
<h2>Forecasting &amp; Yet More Integrated Stats</h2>
Forecasting is another notable PrestaShop reporting feature.
Located on the back office dashboard, the forecasting graph shows merchants their predicted metrics for traffic, conversions, average cart values, and sales. The forecast for each value is based off of current and previously recorded stats.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/forecast.png" alt="PrestaShop" />
Further to these powerhouse features, PrestaShop also offers statistics via a dedicated “Stats” page, where merchants can study their best-selling products, most valuable customers, newsletter registrations, and much, much more.
The back office dashboard, home to the real-time profit margin graph and forecasting feature, also hosts a wide range of metrics, including online visitors, active shopping carts, and more. You can even integrate Google Analytics to take things a step further.
So, I think it's safe to say that PrestaShop's relationship with statistics is a strong one.
With real-time features and relevant KPIs scattered around the back office, PrestaShop offers merchants a unique statistical experience that is not only pleasing to look at, but also genuinely helpful in terms of increasing revenue and understanding customers.

PrestaShop's Love Affair with Statistics

<blockquote>
Update: It has come to my attention that this software was actually forked from a free product called Offiria and is almost a complete copy (aside from a logo change). Offiria is free and available from <a href="https://offiria.com/">https://offiria.com/</a> for those interested in getting the software from the original source and for free!
</blockquote>
There are plenty of products out there that add social networking functionality on top of Joomla via plugins but to date, there haven't been any that have used Joomla as a framework to develop something uniquely different. Today, this changes. We recently were contacted by developers of a new social networking platform built upon Joomla called Undiscuss It  who have done just that.
While the name of the product might be a bit odd and confusing, the product itself looks quite promising.
Here are some screenshots of the system in action:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/undiscuss-it1010x0.jpg" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/undiscuss-it-21010x0.jpg" />
As you can see, the system is quite the departure from what we normally see from Joomla and we think there's definitely potential (with enough interest and support from users) for this system to evolve nicely.
Interested? Check it out at <a href="http://www.undiscuss.it">http://www.undiscuss.it</a> and let us know what you think in the comments!

Social Networking with Joomla just got better

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