Articles - Page 58

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

matt-garrepy

Postach.io is a blogging platform with a difference. The whole premise of Postach.io is to negate the need for users to use a separate blogging tool, and it works with the note management system – <a href="https://evernote.com/">Evernote</a> – to achieve this. Postach.io turns Evernote into a content management system, which allows users to sync notes directly to their Postach.io blog. My inside scoop on Postachio.io will show you how it works and to help you decide whether it could work for you. Read on for the full review.
<h2>Signing Up</h2>
To sign up to Postach.io, you’ll need to select your Postach.io domain name, and insert your full name, email address, and password. If you don’t have Evernote, you will also need to set up an Evernote account. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/postachio-review-1_crfcpl.png" alt="postachio-review" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/postachio-review-2_cr1wlc.png" alt="postachio-review" />
Once you have your Evernote account set up, you’ll be asked to log in and write a test post which you’ll tag with ‘published’. This post will then automatically sync with Postach.io.
<h2>Usability</h2>
Once you’ve signed up, you can access your blog in two ways. You can log in via Evernote to write blog posts or log in to Postach.io to manage the blog. This sounds a little awkward, but it’s actually fine because you’ll likely be using Evernote most of the time anyway. 
There are two main menus on Postach.io which are easily found. The first one is displayed when you log in, on the right hand side of the page. This menu offers navigation to the Sites, Account, and Help sections.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/postachio-review-3_xyytlo.png" alt="postachio-review-3" />
The Sites section allows you to manage your websites, the Help section offers some useful FAQs and the Accounts section allows you to control your billing. Evernote is a freemium service so you can only manage 1 account on the free option. If you need to add more than this, you’ll have to upgrade to a premium account. The pricing is quite reasonable and starts at $5 a month for 5 websites – with a 2 months free option if you sign up for a year. This package gets you your own domain, password protection, premium themes, source code access, and priority support. However, if you’re a premium Evernote user then you should be taking that cost into account too.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/postachio-review-4_sbknuu.png" alt="postachio-review-4" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/postachio-review-5_q0w5ts.png" alt="postachio-review-5" />
The second menu on Postach.io will take you to a menu for managing Details, Themes, Add-ons, and Source Code. To view this menu simply click on the edit button on the Sites section and you’ll automatically be directed to the Details page, where you can select a customer domain, change your Evernote notebook title or author, add social links, and other extras such as adding a cover photo and bio.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/postachio-review-6_rgsniu.png" alt="postachio-review-6" />
<h2>Add-ons</h2>
There are now 5 add-ons available which is a big improvement from the 2 available when they first launched. These include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Disqus, and Google Analytics. For some reason, Postach.io developers decided that you have to actively add Disqus to allow comments on your blog. It seems odd to me that this isn’t the default setting, but it’s simple to add it in this tab. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/postachio-review-7_k8udov.png" alt="postachio-review-7" />
<h2>Themes</h2>
The themes available are all professional looking and quite sleek, but if you’re particular about your website design then you might not be too happy because there are only 15 to choose from, however you can customize these if you upgrade to a premium account. 
What you may not have known – if it weren’t for this blog post – is that you can also upload your own theme via <a href="https://github.com/postachio">GitHub</a>. So, that solves that issue. Or, if you’re of the tech savvy variety, then the Source Code section will allow you to customize your site to look exactly how you want it.
<h2>So, what’s the scoop?</h2>
If you’re already a regular Evernote user, then I highly recommend trying out Postach.io. It’s a great extension of Evernote and it’ll really streamline your content management process. However, I think it might feel like unnecessary hassle for anyone who isn’t already using Evernote on a daily basis. There are tons of blogging platforms out there, and it’s important to choose one that fits in well with your current content management process. 
To sum it up, this is a great platform for Evernote users and anyone thinking about adding Evernote to their workflow. If you love Evernote, you’ll love Postach.io.
Are you thinking about trying Postach.io, or have you already signed up? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.

Postachio Review

mike-johnston

Brands and their local retailers are moving to digital faster than ever. Weekly promotions, coupons via print offers are being supplemented by digital postcards (landing pages). There is an immediate savings from the hard cost of print and when paired with changing consumer behavior mobile and online shoppers – digital marketers know where to put their brands money. In order to drive additional traffic to their core websites, brands are building promotional <a href="https://rallymind.com/blog/how-to-scale-landing-pages-effectively/">local landing pages</a> to deliver offers. Using localized landing pages, brands are capturing more in-depth information about their local consumers, determining what promotional messages are most effective and gathering key demographic and redemption information to further segment their audiences for future promotions. Why Online Coupons and Offers? According to <a href="https://www.inmar.com/press-release/2017-marks-the-demise-of-print-at-home-coupons-as-digital-redemption-climbs-67-percent/">Inmar</a>, while digital coupons and offers only represent approximately 12 percent of all coupons redeemed, they regularly convert at higher levels between 5 and 20 percent compared to .4 percent for print coupons. In fact, <a href="https://retail.emarketer.com/article/emarketer-forecast-us-consumers-slow-let-go-of-paper-coupons/58fa7500ebd4000a54864b2a">eMarketer reports</a>, “52 percent of adults used a digital coupon in 2017.” Using online targeting and corresponding loyalty program information, retailers are able to better deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. Utilizing a landing page allows brands to more accurately target their local audience and deliver more actionable information on a landing page. Major brands, using landing pages to market weekly promotions and offers, also find they are able to localize offers and experiment by region or market to test which campaigns perform the best. So where are consumers actively looking for offers and promotions? A recent <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2015/digitally-disrupting-the-habitual-shopping-routine.html">Neilson study</a> shows, “50 percent of digital coupons and offers are found on brand sites and apps.” With significant investments in core websites and location pages, brands and their local retailers are more determined to drive additional traffic to engage customers and increase revenue. The Mobile Shopper The mobile phone has had a significant impact on the way people shop. Whether shopping online or in a store, shoppers are using their phones to look up competitive pricing, search for coupons or offers or seek additional information like reviews or more in-depth product features before making a purchase. A <a href="https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2016/05/10/72-shoppers-research-smartphones-buying/">Nielson report</a> finds that “60% of shoppers use their smartphone to find a product first.” Using websites and promotional landing pages, specific to promotions, allows brands to influence shoppers who may not have any particular product in mind. Mobile shoppers in particular can be influenced prior to shopping when they have the ability to send promotional codes or coupons to their phones. Neilson also found that “59 percent of pre-shopping activity was focused on finding sales and coupons.” Using printed ads and email marketing containing specialized mobile-friendly promotional landing pages allows marketers to further increase the success of their campaigns. 

Using Landing Pages to Drive Traffic and Brand Awareness Locally Promotional landing pages are a “creative canvas” allowing brands to inform consumers about the unique benefit the product(s) fulfills. Great page design and visually appealing photos and video conveys the brand benefit in an engaging way while offering incentives to purchase such as a coupon, promotional code, product detail or signing up for future offers and incentives. The key to successfully using promotional landing pages is the ease of designing and publishing promotional landing pages to a single site or multiple local sites. The RallyMind platform has found that brands with 40 or more local or <a href="https://rallymind.com/brand-to-local/">regional landing pages</a> receive 12 times more leads. Nearly every action taken by visitors to the landing page(s) is tracked and made available via API access, allowing marketing teams to make key decisions on campaign direction and advertising channels. Also, <a href="https://rallymind.com/">RallyMind</a> has made it easy to deploy landing pages with a simple spreadsheet thats integrates A/B testing, giving brands even more data to track and drive sales and marketing decisions.

Landing Pages Are The New Print

Last month, Adobe announced its decision to discontinue the popular website building app Muse. This decision has upset thousands of creatives all over the world and an onset of social media outcry has ensued, with a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/adobe-systems-adobe-do-not-discontinue-muse">petition</a> to reverse the decision.
Adobe is trying to migrate Muse users over to Dreamweaver in the short to medium term, but this move won’t be appreciated by its core users for a number of reasons. For many long-standing Muse users, Dreamweaver just doesn’t stand up to the task of replacing their favorite app and they’re pretty cheesed off at the implication. Well, they’re cheesed off in general. So let’s examine why.
While the news of Adobe’s decision was an unpleasant notification, it came as no surprise to veteran Adobe product users. The impending discontinuation of Muse is the latest in a line of web app obsoletion following the demise of the incredibly popular Macromedia acquisition GoLive in <a href="https://www.macworld.com/article/1133181/golivedead.html">2008</a>. The Muse discontinuation seems to be a hard turn away from WYSIWYG web development, which mirrors what happened with Adobe GoLive when it went the same way.
Muse had initially attracted a lot of users on the back of its simplicity of use as an “InDesign for web development”. When it was initially launched in 2012, Muse was marketed as a program that would allow users to create bespoke, adaptive websites (it added responsive elements in 2015), without having to write a single line of code. Muse later allowed third party plugins to add blogging and eCommerce functionality. The WYSIWYG functionality of Muse allowed designers and other visual creatives to make a step into web development that would have previously required pretty extensive coding knowledge at the very least. This was Adobe’s in-house answer to the DIY website market that demanded ease of use, ease of design, and seamless transition from construction to page. In this regard, it was incredibly successful.
Muse allowed design specialists to bring their designs to life online without the need for specific web development skills and the interface. This was much more intuitive to Muse users than learning how to code in the traditional way. When third party plugins brought blog functionality, eCommerce, animation, social media integration, and other items into Muse’s healthy array of templates and multi-platform functionality, it became a vital part of design-focused agencies and SMBs. This discontinuation hurts these businesses immensely as many of them have built their businesses around Muse’s ease of use.
Is this a move by Adobe to consolidate Dreamweaver as the one stop shop for all aspects of design? It’s hard to say. It could be that Adobe is looking down the track at future web standards and deciding that a WYSIWYG heavy app will be too difficult to maintain. Or it could be that they don’t want to isolate the web development part of their business. It wasn’t too long ago that Muse was being <a href="http://www.developerdrive.com/2011/09/will-muse-kill-the-web-development-industry/">touted as a possible industry killer</a> for back-end web development.
Either way, the fallout from Muse’s discontinuation promises to have a profound effect on the front-end, WYSIWYG, website building market.
<h2>The Great Migration</h2>
Adobe’s discontinuation of Muse isn’t a hard deletion of the app and the company has been very vocal about this. Muse will still be accessible to everyone who currently has it in the CC package but it won’t be updated for bug fixes or to stay in line with new web standards from May 20th, 2019. Any sites built using Muse won’t be deleted if they’re hosted on third party servers but any sites hosted on Business Catalyst (which Adobe allowed for free for short periods of time) will have to be re-published to another hosting platform to remain live after March 26, 2020, when Business Catalyst hosting is no longer available.
In reality, this discontinuation will force a lot of people to migrate their sites and businesses away from Muse. It’s much easier to move a site to a platform that offers similar functionality to Muse than it is to learn CSS or HTML to the level required to sell your services professionally.
The first step here will be platform migration. <a href="https://www.devhub.com/platform-migration">DevHub</a> offers a comprehensive package and this is a vital service if you have multiple sites to migrate to a new server or CMS. The end of Muse will see a large volume of potential users leaving the platform to find sites and programs that mirror what Muse used to do. <a href="https://rallymind.com/">RallyMind</a> is a good option due to our WYSIWYG roots and the “centralized control” function which allows you to manage overall design layout and personalize each of your migrated sites landing page using a Google Sheet.
Adobe’s decision-making in the discontinuation of Muse has certainly <a href="https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2470082">provoked anger amongst users</a> and it will be interesting to see what effect this will have on the company’s position at the top of the food chain in the design world.

The End Of Adobe Muse And What It Means For Users

Today, Pixel &amp; Tonic, the team behind Craft CMS is excited to announce the long-awaited release of Craft 3 and the Craft Plugin Store. Craft 3 has been highly anticipated in the Craft Community as the platform has been completely rewritten, redesigned, and refactored for better performance and more out of the box functionality. Craft 3 is more than 3X faster than its predecessor and includes hundreds of new features and improvements notably:
<ul>
<li>Multi-Site – Run multiple sister sites from a single Craft install at no extra cost. It's Craft's localization features, only better.</li>
<li>Image Editor – The ability to crop, rotate, flip, and set focal points on all your images directly in the Control Panel.</li>
<li>In-line Asset Preview – Quickly view your photos and assets everywhere in Craft CMS by pressing Shift + Spacebar.</li>
<li>Debug Toolbar – Allows developers to learn everything there is to know about how requests are being processed.</li>
<li>PostgreSQL – Similar to MySQL, but better in every way.</li>
<li>The Craft Plugin Store – Quite possibly the most anticipated feature in Craft 3. The Craft Plugin Store is an online marketplace that allows web developers to purchase Craft plugins directly through the Craft Control Panel. No more having to visit third-party sites to discover, purchase, and download Craft plugins. The Craft Plugin Store also utilizes <a href="https://craftcms.com/news/introducing-craft-id" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Craft ID</a>, an online portal for Craft customers, where they can securely store payment and license information enabling every Craft-related purchase to be made through one secure transaction.</li>
</ul>
The addition of these features and upgrades demonstrates Pixel and Tonic's continued commitment to creating a modern content management framework that is enjoyable to use for development professionals and content creators alike. Craft 3 allows developers, designers, and content teams to create bespoke websites that look and function to their speci­fic needs without having to wrestle with the CMS.
Learn more or grab a copy here: https://craftcms.com/

Craft CMS Announces the Release of Craft 3 and the Craft Plugin Store

I've been with Google for quite some time on their G Suite offering but recently, for some silly reason, I thought moving to Microsoft's Office 365 so I could use Outlook would be a good idea. Boy was I wrong. Let me walk you through why.
Many years ago, I, like many people, had a Hotmail account. Sometime around 2008 or 2009 or so (when I launched this site) I managed to add my mike at cmscritic dot com email address to this old personal Microsoft account. Now, this normally wouldn't matter unless I was trying to use that same email for Office365 for Business, which is what I wanted to do. So I decide I'll just remove it from that old account and use it exclusively for my business Office365 account. Should be easy right? Here's where the problems arise.
In my divine wisdom, I decided to switch things over so I now have an Office365 Business account to manage my CMS Critic domain and offer me email services. Now, let me get to why this does not work.
Ok, as mentioned, I now have my email attached to two accounts; a personal Microsoft account and an Office365 account. Following along? It's confusing a bit, I know..
Here's where the problems occur. I haven't used the personal account in years so now any time I try to log in to any Microsoft login link (or use Microsoft to log into any third party website or service) other than office365.com with my CMS Critic email, I get this:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot-from-2018-04-02-08-00-14_oaa9yq.png" alt="Here's why Google beats Microsoft" />
That picture, btw, is a super old one from when my wife and I first got married. Now, you'd think that going through the verification process would allow me to get in and remove my work email from this account and / or delete the account entirely. Well not so fast.
The recovery process asks a huge number of questions both personal and ridiculous ranging from “Tell us the last few emails you sent, to whom they were sent and their subject lines.”
Who on earth is going to remember this information from years ago on an old account? Not this kid. I can barely remember yesterday let alone 5+ years ago. So of course, the verification process fails and I receive an email telling me so. This is all still not the main issue. In fact, I don't care about recovering my old Hotmail account at all. All I want to do is either log in and remove my work email from it or have someone from Microsoft do it. This should be easy since I can, in fact, prove that I own my CMS Critic email address since I'm the only one with access to it.
So I move past the verification process and think to myself, OK, I'll call Microsoft and explain it to them so I start with the obvious, I call Office365 Business support, whom I am now paying a monthly fee to and whom you'd think would want to keep their business customers happy. After explaining the situation numerous times to the representative, I am told they cannot help me, I need to call Office 365 Personal support.
I think to myself “That's odd since I don't have an Office 365 personal account” but I call anyway and go through the whole explanation process again. Guess what? I'm told they can't help me either and that, since they have absolutely no support for Microsoft accounts (being that they are Microsoft, this makes lots of sense), that I need to write a post on their answers.microsoft.com website with my issue.
Frustrated, I head on over and do so. I write in extreme detail since this is a hard thing to describe. I wait two days, I get a reply back from a “support” person telling me how to remove an account from Outlook. &lt;forehead slap&gt;
Way to read the post guys.
I then head to <a href="https://twitter.com/MicrosoftHelps">@MicrosoftHelps</a> on Twitter and explain the entire process again. I am referred again, in a loop, back to Office 365 support or to call Microsoft Accounts team.
The entire time, I've repeated that I simply want my work email removed from an old personal account. Not a single person has taken the time to find the right person for me or connect me with them or even stay on the line to make sure I am getting a solution. Not once has anyone actually tried to fix it. It's been one brush off after another.
So here I am, back to square one. Nobody can figure it out, nobody can assist and nobody really wants to. Microsoft has proven to me once again why I should continue to not use any of their products.
So back I go to Google for my email needs and I will continue to run Linux until the day I die because frankly, Microsoft simply can't fix anything.

Here's Why I'll Never Use Microsoft Software Again

MODX Revolution 2.6.2 has been released. This new patch release fixes a number of bugs and offers a few enhancements to the system.
Here's a list of the changes in this release:
<ul>
<li>Display context name and key in Context dropdown</li>
<li>Only save properties modified from the default for an element in Property Sets</li>
<li>Replace usages of each() to avoid deprecated warnings in PHP 7.2</li>
<li>Prevent adding ./ to filepath when in root of a mediasource</li>
<li>Fix error with getonline processor on systems with only_full_group_by sql_mode</li>
<li>Prevent logging errors for comments or empty tags</li>
<li>Fix typo preventing verbose CURL option from being set in modRest</li>
<li>Prevent http headers from being overwritten in modRest</li>
<li>Fix sending messages to wrong recipients in message/create processor</li>
<li>Stop sending too much data on package install request</li>
<li>Add events permission to Administrator policy on new installs</li>
<li>Remove max width from the tree sidebar</li>
<li>And more.</li>
</ul>
For a full list of changes, check out their <a href="https://modx.com/blog/modx-revolution-2.6.2">announcement post.</a>

MODX Revolution 2.6.2 Released

A new version of SocialEngine PHP is now available. If you haven't used it yet to build a powerful social network, you can do so by visiting the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/social-engine">SocialEngine website</a> and signing up.
Fixed in this release:
<ul>
<li>Fixed – Issue with SDK and Windows local development for language packs.</li>
<li>Fixed – Added default “everyone” privacy value for “view_privacy” for SocialEngine official plugins where it was missing. This impacted imported sites.</li>
<li>Fixed – Removed 2CO from the admin payment gateway list as social networks are on the 2CO prohibited list. The gateway is still in the files for any experts that may want to work with it.</li>
<li>Fixed – Profile video browse UI as it was cutting off details and username for long titled videos.</li>
<li>Fixed – Issue with hashtags with a “null” value. (This is not a common issue and most would not have it)</li>
<li>Fixed – Added phrase “From %s %s”;”From %s %s” for Recent Messages widget.</li>
</ul>
Also, do be aware that this version requires your server have a minimum PHP 5.6.31 or above.

SocialEngine PHP 4.10.3 Released

A new and interesting-looking game, Ash of Gods: Redemption, is now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/ash-of-gods-redemption_wpmtgo.jpg" alt="Ash of Gods Redemption" />
Ash of Gods: Redemption is a turn-based RPG that combines tactical combat, CCG elements and a constantly evolving story.
Rogue-like Storytelling means that every decision you make will need to be pondered carefully as any character, even your main one can die permanently. Even this, however, won't stop the game from progressing.
The game uses a blend of turn based strategy and card RPG where the cards drawn will determine how you progress and the strategies you employ. Everything including the character classes has an impact on your battlefield tactics.
It also features PVP and PVE Multiplayer opportunities for those interested. Unlock new characters and cards, upgrade them to build your own unique strategy and tactics. Create your own clans, join forces with friends and participate in the battles together.
Sound interesting? Check out the trailer below:
<h2>Ash of Gods: Redemption – Trailer</h2>
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7dHuZbpxL10?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
You can buy the game from <a href="https://www.gog.com/game/ash_of_gods">GOG.com</a> or Steam.

Ash of Gods: Redemption out now for Linux

Semrush - Be an SEO hero

Be an SEO hero with Semrush

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Looks like Salesforce has intentions to get even bigger (if that's even possible) by acquiring software maker, Mulesoft. This acquisition is estimated to cost Salesforce about $6.5 billion dollars, a hefty price but according to Salesforce, well worth it.
MuleSoft currently provides one of the world's leading platforms for building application networks that connect enterprise apps, data and devices, across cloud and on-premise.
Salesforce intends to have MuleSoft power the new Salesforce Integration Cloud, which will enable all enterprises to surface any data–regardless of where it resides–to drive deep and intelligent customer experiences throughout a personalized 1:1 journey.
More than 1,200 customers, including Coca-Cola, Barclays, Unilever and Mount Sinai, rely on MuleSoft to change and innovate faster, deliver differentiated customer experiences and increase operational efficiency making this a very intelligent buy for Salesforce.
“Every digital transformation starts and ends with the customer,” said Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce. “Together, Salesforce and MuleSoft will enable customers to connect all of the information throughout their enterprise across all public and private clouds and data sources—radically enhancing innovation. I am thrilled to welcome MuleSoft to the Salesforce Ohana.”
Learn more about the acquisition here: <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/company/news-press/press-releases/2018/03/180320/">https://www.salesforce.com/company/news-press/press-releases/2018/03/180320/</a>

Salesforce to Acquire MuleSoft in $6.5 Billion Dollar Deal

Workbooks, the UK-based leading CRM vendor, today announces the launch of its new events module. The module helps mid-market organisations create and publish an event online, manage the registration process from start to finish and ensure a smooth on-the-day management.
<h2>Your events, managed</h2>
The events module extends Workbooks capabilities to managing events of all types – from stand-alone training courses and seminars to multi-stream conferences – helping marketers provide a seamless experience for their prospects and customers.
The new module builds on the functionality of the existing Workbooks campaign record and event management web portal. It brings efficiency gains to every aspect of event management, from audience segmentation and event promotion to managing attendees – paying or not – and speakers. And all from a single, fully integrated platform.
<h2>Fast-growing platform</h2>
The new module is the latest in a series of fresh features to be added to Workbooks' cloud-based CRM applications over the past year, including marketing automation, web analytics, contact information-gathering and integration with Zapier, which allows customers to link their CRM with over 750 apps such as Xero and Wufoo.
Workbooks is developing fast and is increasingly seen by mid-market organisations as the automatic choice of CRM provider.From planning to ticket printing
Every aspect of event management is covered by the new module:
– Create event – with the option of allocating products, which can be individual items, such as a ticket, or a bundle of products, such as a table for 10 people at a dinner; – Create individual sessions within the event; – Manage delegate status; – Manage all communication to the target audience and delegates, whatever their preferred communication channel; – Manage orders and invoices and track payment, as well as manage international tax rules (for VAT etc.); – Website integration – publish events on the website, with the option to purchase tickets or any other event-related product; and – Print tickets for the event.
Workbooks CEO John Cheney said: “This new addition to our suite of CRM applications streamlines every aspect of event management and it's highly configurable so our customers can adapt it to suit their specific needs.”
“The new module offers a great alternative to RegOnline or Eventbrite with the added advantage of being part of a fully integrated CRM solution, with all the benefits this brings in the areas of efficiency, insights, reporting and communication. No need for re-keying information, transferring data from one system to another. Everything is available at your fingertips in one platform: Workbooks.”
“We think it's a game-changer for SMEs and growing businesses looking to maximise their return on investment for events.”
The events module is available to Workbooks users from Spring 2018.

Workbooks extends its CRM and Marketing Automation offering with a new events module

There's a new bug-fix release of Bludit available for download. Version 2.3.3 brings with it some fixes to address a few bugs discovered after the latest release.
For those who are not familiar with Bludit, it's another flat file CMS with a slick user interface that has been gaining popularity of late.
Here's a screenshot of the admin interface.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/bludit-admin_xlgzwx.png" style="max-width:696px" />
Interested in giving it a try? Check it out here: <a href="https://www.bludit.com/">https://www.bludit.com/</a>

Bludit v2.3.3 Bug-fix Release Now Available

Flextype, a Open Source flat file content management system, is now available for download.
Flextype claims to be easy to install, upgrade and use and offers API's for plugin, theme and core developers.
Here are some of the features of this new CMS:
<ul>
<li>No installation needed, just copy files to your server!</li>
<li>No database required, flat files only!</li>
<li>Use your favorite editor to write your content with Markdown syntax.</li>
<li>Lets you define custom fields for any of your pages.</li>
</ul>
Check it out here: <a href="http://flextype.org/">http://flextype.org/</a>

Flextype - A New Flat File CMS has been Released

Targeted landing pages provide an excellent way for your sales and marketing teams to generate leads and create user personas. A well-designed landing page can lead to a huge increase in conversions for your business, but building one can be an overwhelming task at best. Here's how to build a landing page that works.
There are so many design options available that many business owners struggle to find the “perfect fit” and paralysis by analysis becomes a very real thing. With the 100s of possible ways to build a landing page, how do you combat this indecision and create a landing page that actually converts users? 
First, let’s examine the key elements of any successful landing page. 
<h2>Identify And Address The Need Of The Visitor</h2>
Research by <a href="https://www.statisticbrain.com/attention-span-statistics/">Statistic Brain</a> has shown that a user will generally spend around 8 seconds on a landing page before deciding whether to hang around. Every landing page should have one clear purpose and this is where your UVP (unique value proposition) comes into play. Your UVP should be the first thing visitors see when they click on your landing page. This is something you really need to spend time on, i.e. test, test, and test again until you find the UVP that provides optimal conversions. 
If you’re not sure what your UVP actually is, here are a few ideas to take into consideration:
<ul>
<li>Customer needs: what need or want does your product meet or fulfil?</li>
<li>Your niche: what do you offer that your competition doesn’t?</li>
<li>Target audience: who are you targeting with your USP and have you identified their personas?</li>
<li>Clarity: is your USP clear, concise, and direct?</li>
</ul>
<h2>Common Landing Page Uses</h2>
Here are a few common landing page usages that your UVP might be based on:
<ul>
<li>Promote an event</li>
<li>Gain subscribers</li>
<li>Drive newsletter signups</li>
<li>Offer a free trial</li>
<li>Host a competition</li>
<li>How-to guides</li>
<li>Price discounts</li>
</ul>
Remember, your ad is what gets your user to your landing page. Your UVP is what hooks them once they’re there. If what you’re offering isn’t good enough, or clear enough, your users will click out of your site as quickly as they clicked on to it. 
<h2>Provide A Solution To What Your Customers Need</h2>
The focus of your landing page should always be on the potential customer. Your key aim to is to tell your visitors what you do/offer, why they will benefit from what you do/offer, and how your product or service can ensure they receive those benefits.  
If someone has clicked on an ad to reach your website, then it means that your ad sparked their interest. Why? Because you’re promoting a solution to a key concern, want, or need that they have. It’s imperative to ensure that your landing page provides a solution to this need or you risk alienating your visitors. 
Synchronizing your marketing content and landing page/s is extremely important. For example, if Joe see’s an advert promoting a cure for hair loss and ends up on a landing page for synthetic wigs, he isn’t going to be very impressed. The design of your page must also match the email/ad campaign that’s linked to it. 
Here are a few things to watch out for this this regard.
<ul>
<li>Always try to use the same fonts, colors, and images where possible for familiarity.</li>
<li>Use the same keywords and phrases in your landing page and marketing copy.</li>
<li>Make sure your offer/product is immediately visible on your landing page (i.e. your UVP).</li>
<li>Ensure your content provides the solution your visitor has been promised by the ad they clicked on.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Encourage Conversions</h2>
Once you’ve hooked your visitors, it’s time to convert them into customers. A clear and concise call-to-action (CTA) will get you over this hurdle. A badly written CTA will get you nowhere, fast. Yet research from <a href="https://smallbiztrends.com/2013/08/b2b-small-business-websites-lack-call-to-action.html">Small Biz Trends</a> has revealed that almost 70% of SMBs don’t have a CTA at all!
Upon reviewing 1000s of CTAs over the years, we’ve found that the following tips are the key to getting users to pay attention and convert:
<ul>
<li>Make your CTA stand out: place it above the fold and also in various places around your landing page if possible. Users shouldn’t have to keep scrolling to find out where to convert.</li>
<li>Design: your CTA should jump out of the screen with big fonts and colors that helps to contrast it from the rest of the page. The rest of your page should be simple. The “cleaner” your design is, the less distractions the user has and the more likely they are to focus on your CTA. Ideally, your CTA should be the only clickable link on this page.</li>
<li>Make it an extension of your USP: your CTA should be a natural extension of your USP. Your USP sells your offer and your CTA provides a way to act on that offer.</li>
<li>Use buttons where possible: buttons are easy to use and it’s pretty obvious what they mean. It’s a literal call to action.</li>
<li>Use clear and concise copy: only ask for the bare minimum of information required if you’re trying to get visitors to sign up for an ebook or newsletter, or anything really. Asking for too much information decreases the likelihood that they’ll complete and submit the form. </li>
</ul>
“My favorite technique was just asking for a username rather than a full account sign up at first. It's the foot in the door principal — ask people for something small (a username) before showing them fields for more personal things like email and password. Once they fill in their username, they feel like they've already invested some time in creating the account and might as well finish.” – Alexi Schiff, cofounder of Fetch Notes (<a href="https://blog.kissmetrics.com/54-quotes-from-startups/">source: kissmetrics</a>)
<h2>Let’s Look At The Most Efficient Way To Design Your Landing Page When You Have This Information Nailed Down</h2>
If you only have one or two landing pages, then a regular landing page builder (such as <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wishpond">Wishpond</a>) might work for you.  If you’re dealing with 10, 100, or 1000s of pages, you need something much more advanced – and that’s where automatic landing page software such as <a href="https://rallymind.com/">Rallymind</a> come in. Regular landing page builders such as Instapage are fine if you’re only dealing with a few pages, but can you imagine trying to create over 100 pages with it? And what if you need to make a minor change to all of those 100 pages? I feel stressed just thinking about it. 
Automatic landing page builders allow you to create optimized landing pages by using tags. This means a lot less work for you as a business owner because you no longer need to create landing pages for every possible thing that visitors could be searching for on your website. Rallymind is an even more innovative service that’s powered by Google Sheets to allow you to create and manage 1000s of landing pages at once. So updating your content becomes as easy as updating a spreadsheet. 
Rallymind uses a process called “centralized control” which creates a master template for the design layout and then personalizes each landing page using a Google sheet. Using one Google sheet, you can fill out all of the variations required to bulk update your landing pages in real time. So instead of taking weeks to simply update a few fields, Rallymind saves the user both time and money by making the process much more streamlined, cost efficient, and accessible to non-techies. You can also easily clone temples for new campaigns and perform A/B tests with the various plugins available.
<h2>And Finally, You Can Never Have Enough Landing Pages! </h2>
More landing pages = more conversion opportunities for your business. The main reason that most companies only have 1 or 2 landing pages is simply because they aren’t comfortable with creating them or confident enough in the results that can be achieved. Using a landing page builder like Rallymind, you can create 100s of landing pages in less time than it takes to create 10 of them with a regular website builder and then test them to see what’s working and what you need to work on. So if you’re looking for some peace of mind before putting the work in, it’s definitely worth adding Rallymind to your toolkit.

How To Build A Landing Page For Your Business

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Call Tracking + AI 

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