Articles - Page 70

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

matt-garrepy

If you’re a business targeting visitors in non-English-speaking countries, providing multi-lingual sites is probably a necessity. Or, you may just see it as a nice-to-have that could potentially bring additional leads or revenue. Either way, building multi-lingual sites comes with its own set of challenges and considerations; it’s not as simple as clicking “translate”.
In this article we go through the main multi-lingual website best practices you should keep in mind when building foreign-language sites, to ensure that they are as optimal as possible. The most important aspect? To provide your foreign-language visitors with the same user experience as your English-speaking ones. Here are our top 7 tips:
1. Always have translations reviewed by a professional
Although using Google Translation may seem like a convenient idea, you could really alienate your visitors if your content doesn’t make sense or if it’s confusing. So even if you decide to largely translate content through a software, always make sure you get a language professional to review it before publishing it on your site. Only in this way will foreign-language visitors get the same understanding of your conent as English-speaking ones.
2. Pay attention to international SEO practices
Simply translating your content is not going to deliver the same SEO results as on your English site. Why? Because often different SEO rules apply to different countries.
There are several things you can pay attention to when adjusting your SEO:
<ul>
<li>Keyword: a simple keyword translation won’t do if that keyword isn’t actually going to be effective in that language. Make sure you do keyword research for every language site to ensure keywords have an appropriate volume of monthly searches and that they are relevant.</li>
<li>URL: think about whether your multi-lingual sites will be built completely separately or if you will build them as subdomains of your main site. Whether you choose one or the other will depend on how independent you want these sites to be of each other.</li>
<li>Search engines: Believe it or not, not every country counts Google as their most popular search engine. For example, <a href="http://returnonnow.com/internet-marketing-resources/2015-search-engine-market-share-by-country/">the most popular search engines in China, Russia and South Korea respectively are Baidu, Yandex and Naver</a>. So if you’re building a site for users in any of these countries, make sure that your SEO practices are in line with the major search engines there.</li>
</ul>
3. Keep all sites consistent
One of the most common mistakes when building multi-lingual sites is not providing the same user experience across them. This can lead visitors to feel like they’re missing out on key information if they’re using a non-English site.
It’s therefore very important to ensure that different sites look consistent and give visitors confidence that they are all reliable. A way of doing this is to use global templates across all sites, ensuring that they all have the same look and content. Global templates can also help you reduce your design efforts and costs significantly, and make it a lot easier to maintain web updates across sites.
The most important part is that all sites provide the same features and functionality, so all your visitors get the user experience they expect and require.
4. Use content that is culturally appropriate and contextually relevant
Just like it’s necessary to have a translator to ensure your translations make sense in whatever language, the same applies to images and icons. Are they relevant, appropriate and respectful to the culture in question?
This will require a level of knowledge or research on your part to ensure that you avoid images that could be offensive or uncomfortable to your audience. The aim is to connect with your visitors and provide them with an online experience that makes them feel positive about your brand.
5. Make multi-lingual site access easy and convenient
There is nothing more annoying than trying to find the functionality to change a site’s language and being unable to locate it. And believe me, if it’s too hard to find it, your visitors will just leave.
Access to multi-lingual sites should be clearly available in the locations where your visitors expect to find it: the top right of your global navigation bar and the site’s footer.
If you are only offering one language other than English, for example Spanish, you could simply include a button saying “En español”. If you are providing multiple foreign-language sites, a drop-down box is a more intuitive solution.
6. Make your checkout process familiar to the relevant countries
The checkout process is an often overlooked aspect of multi-lingual sites that requires attention too. Some eCommerce providers already provide country-relevant checkout functionality, but even if yours does, always ensure that it includes:
<ul>
<li>Appropriate shipping address formats according to the country (eg. different countries will have different zip/postal code formats)</li>
<li>Appropriate currencies that are automatically assigned according to the country the site is being accessed from. Bonus point if these can be adjusted by the visitor from a drop-down menu</li>
<li>Appropriate date and time formats (eg. the correct date format in the US is mm/dd/yyyy, whereas in Japan it’s yyyy/mm/dd).</li>
</ul>
7. Keep in mind text expansion
Finally, a challenge that many companies experience when translating sites is text expansion. Text translated from English into foreign languages often expands because of different grammar and syntax rules. For example, English text translated into Spanish expands by approximately 25%.
What this means is that, especially when using global templates, you may encounter difficulties fitting all content in on your foreign-language sites, so it’s important to plan ahead for this. Cutting down copy may seem appealing, but it should never mean that less information is available to your visitors. Ultimately, dealing with text expansion will involve a combination of trying to cut down your content and tweaking your design without making any major changes to the users' experience.
Do you know of any multi-lingual website best practices we forgot to mention? Let us know in the comments!
If you would like to find out more about how Agility CMS can help you, <a href="http://agilitycms.com/#demo-link">request a free demo</a> now.

7 Multi-Lingual Website Best Practices To Keep In Mind

mike-johnston

<a href="http://www.nopcommerce.com/?utm_source=cmscritics&amp;utm_medium=top-link&amp;utm_campaign=390-released">nopCommerce</a>, a free open source ASP.NET MVC based eCommerce platform, has recently released its 3.90 version. The latest version contains significant improvements in performance optimization, in marketing and content management functionality, and in the admin area UI and UX.
Many ideas for the product improvement are coming from <a href="http://www.nopcommerce.com/boards/?utm_source=cmscritics&amp;utm_medium=boards-link&amp;utm_campaign=390-released">nopCommerce community</a>, and it’s really great to see support from the partners and nopCommerce developers from all over the world.
Some of the 3.90 version highlights are explained below.
Compliance with PCI DSS 3.2 requirements
In order to fit PCI DSS 3.2, the following policies must be followed:
<ul>
<li>password attempt failure lock-out must be supported;</li>
<li>password must be changed at least once every 90 days;</li>
<li>password must be unique i.e. it's not allowed to submit one of the previously used passwords.</li>
</ul>
All of these options are integrated in nopCommerce and are fully configurable.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/11100x0-is.png" />
Extended discount functionality
In the 3.90 version, many marketing and content management features were improved.
One of the new enhancements is the discount requirement groups. These groups support complex requirements with multiple rules. The requirements are set using boolean logic. For instance, if a discount should be assigned to a particular customer role or in case a customer had spent certain amount, etc.
<a name="_crfwu4wvym4y"></a> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2.png" />
<a name="_cjvq5id9ybx1"></a>Moreover, the new nopCommerce version allows shoppers to apply unlimited number of discount codes to one order.
<a name="_t9me2l8cy7g9"></a> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3.png" />
Product stock changes tracking
<a name="_vmu09vp0j6eb"></a>In previous versions of nopCommerce, it was possible to check product stock quantity only on the main product info page, and stock changes could be tracked only by viewing each order containing this product. It was not really convenient, so a dedicated Stock quantity history tab was created. Now a store owner can find all the required information on product stock quantity, its changes, and orders with the product at one place.
<a name="_4d34og8"></a> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/4.png" />
<a name="_c9r2g6lb44i3"></a>
<a name="_39j80bwvqr0"></a>For products that are out of stock store owners will now be able to display an approximate number of days in which the product will be available again, instead of general “out of stock” message used in the previous versions.
<a name="_oy79xordtvoq"></a> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/5.png" />
Reward points usage delay
The new version eliminates the necessity of reward points activation immediately after they were calculated. A store owner can set up a period after which the earned points become active.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/6.png" />
<a name="_2cxmyvlykga1"></a>
Performance optimization
The speed of loading user agents was increased and memory usage was reduced, so now sites require much less memory. In 3.90 version, cache discounts between requests. Previously all discounts were loaded for each HTTP request.
Some other improvements
<ul>
<li><a name="_vfx8oo9a6pat"></a>Product reviews admin replies. The 3.90 version enables store owners to leave responses directly to each customer comment, so they are not getting lost in a single thread of all messages.</li>
<li><a name="_p7ww4ermmwhj"></a>Message templates with conditions. Now store owners can add conditions to message templates. For example, shipping address can be hidden in the emails when shipping is not required.</li>
<li><a name="_sot7dfjmuot"></a>Custom order number. An order number can now be customized. For example, it’s possible to add some prefix or date.</li>
<li><a name="_ab4l1ndjymiy"></a>Access limitation for plugins usage. In the new nopCommerce version, a store owner can limit access to plugins per customer role in ACL or in a plugin editing window. This option allows to show only needed plugins for different customer roles.</li>
<li><a name="_el9vevvxjzu0"></a>File attachments in the product return form</li>
<li><a name="_rrj2u7urph5g"></a>And more…</li>
</ul>
You can read the full release notes here: <a href="http://www.nopcommerce.com/releasenotes.aspx?utm_source=cmscritics&amp;utm_medium=release-notes-link&amp;utm_campaign=390-released">nopCommerce Release Notes</a>.

Overview of new features in nopCommerce 3.90

You’re launching a new business and you want to create a mobile application for you or your customers? Many tools exist to achieve it, but do you know the differences between them and what it implies for your business?
Indeed, you will have to choose between two main actors of the App creation market:
●The SaaS App Maker Solution (DIY)
●The Open-source App Maker solution (CMS)
When you create a new website or a smartphone Application, you can either decide to subscribe to a company which will provide you an access to their software and build what you want online in a renting optic, or you can download an open-source software that you will own and host on your server.
Off the totality of the web sites, more than 70% are created via a professional process by pro-developers platforms in open-source. These platforms offer great tools for building complex websites including custom design and CMS such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. One of these CMS actors stands out: WordPress, by powering more than 26.4% of the web with a total of 59.4% market share. On the contrary, only 3% of the websites are created via a SaaS process.
One can think using a DIY online tool can be a good option in term of quality and price ratio. However that's not the good approach when it comes to creating your marketing and communication tools. It's like launching a restaurant and choose to create your menu depending on what you can cook with this ready-to-use kitchen. That's the opposite way to succeed. The way that leads every business to succeed is to think “bottom-up”: What is the market looking for? What can I bring to my clients to differentiate my business in this crowded market? etc. and then to build the right solutions from the ideas that emerged. Obviously, cost saving is a good thing because your business needs to be profitable, but it must not be THE thing that leads your marketing strategy.
Thus, if you take a closer look, the DIY tools might not be the ideal solution for your business. As outlined by Dave Sloan, <a href="https://medium.com/@dave_sloan/why-hasnt-the-website-builder-market-been-platformized-by-diy-tools-748ec864d025">businesses have rejected DIY tools</a> regarding the websites market, and these data from Datanize highlight this rejection:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/picture1762x0-is.png" /> Top ten technologies used for creating websites (source: )
If this is the case for the website creation market, what about the Apps creation market? For now, the SaaS dominates this market in full expansion thanks to its ease of use and its cost that seems really affordable even for a small business.
But a connexion can be made between the website and the mobile app markets. Here are the three reasons why we advise you to use an open-source <a href="https://www.siberiancms.com/">app maker</a>.
1. Customization possibilities
A SaaS provider will give you access to all the features they developed on the App builder, so you will be able to develop your application using these features. However, if you want to add a new feature to your application, you must be patient because you won’t be able to add anything before they develop it. That’s one of the biggest mistake of the SaaS solution. So, if a client wants to add a feature to his application that the company hasn’t developed yet, you will have to tell him that it’s not possible…
The positive point of the SaaS solution is the simplicity of use of these app makers. Indeed, the DIY tools allow you to create beautiful applications with a great design without any design or technical development skills.
Nevertheless, many companies try the trial version of the SaaS app maker but finally decide to opt for an open-source app maker because of this lack of customization.
Indeed, with a CMS solution you have a total control on your application. As indicated in the name, when you download an open-source software, the full source code of the software is delivered to you and you can edit it on your own, so you have the features offered with the software, but you can build your own ones. For example, you have a restaurant and you want to add features for your client’s orders? Don’t wait, you can do it if you have the skills needed or you can contact an agency, an independent developer or a freelancer to develop it for you.
Some DIY online tools provide options for adding your own features and creating your own customizations, but most of the time these developments have to be shared with other users. When you own an agency, your clients' privacy is gold and sharing what you've done for a specific client is something that cannot be considered. You may prefer an environment that is secured, where you can create the specific customizations needed by your client rather than exposing all of these changes to other users or, even, competitors.
Keep in mind that if a software is downloaded and used by a high number of people, a community is created and developers can create and share new features with each other. It avoids dependence on the company which created the software, and makes of this open-source software a tool in constant evolution.
DIY online tools have one goal: simplification. 99% of the users have absolutely no technical knowledge and want to create simple solutions. The ones who want to develop more complex tools or even who have specific requirements understand quickly they have to use other services. Open-source app makers can be seen as easy-to-use solutions as well, however, thanks to the community behind, more tools are brought to you to extend the overall possibilities, providing you a larger range of features and options.
2. Reliability
When you use a SaaS App Maker, it means that you rent a software, you’re not the owner of this software and you only use it as a “tenant”. You will pay a monthly subscription and will be able to use it on your own within the barriers the company set up.
But what if the company decides to go out of business? What does your mobile application become then? You will basically risk losing everything because the app will be hosted on your provider’s server.
Even if you’ve published your application, once your provider shuts it down you may lose everything you built. And it will not be professional to explain to your customer that their website or application doesn’t work anymore because your provider is out of business and you can’t do anything against that.
An open-source app maker means that you own the software, so you will not be dependent from your provider as you would be in the case of an online platform. Even if the company goes out of business, you still have access to your application(s).
No worries, that does not mean that you’re all alone once you purchased the software! Basically, an open-source software is maintained by the team who created it, and they’re all open to help you if you have an issue with the software, unlike with the SaaS solution where the people’s “contribution” is only the technology and the design of the app creator they brought, so don’t wait for them for specific support for your project, you won’t get it.
With an open source App builder, the company which provides you the CMS will support you with the issues encountered. Hundreds of developers are also available all over the Internet if you want to fix any issue or add any specific feature. In addition to that, they often have forums, blogs, videos and much more so you can Google an issue to find a fix by yourself.
3. Build an asset for your company
Another important point in the choice of your provider: the propriety question. Indeed, when you get a subscription to a DIY tool, the software doesn’t belong to you so you don’t create a real added value for your company. To be clearer if you want to sell your company, the only thing you’ll be able to put forwards will be your clients because your application is your provider’s propriety.
No need to tell you that the best solution for your business is an open-source app maker. Indeed, you will own the software as well as the application you will have launched so no need to ask about the propriety question.
You should think about it as an investment and the risks behind it. You buy something that will bring you money back. By subscribing to an online platform, you only rent a product and you will have to give it back if the company stops their activity or if you want to go out of business and sell your company.
There are many reasons why you should opt for a open-source software, and if yours aren’t explained in this article, we would be glad to hear them! Whatever your motivations are, this is not by chance that the deviation of use for the website creation is so important between the open-source and the SaaS process. And the app building market will obviously follow the same path.
<a href="https://www.siberiancms.com/">Download Siberian CMS, free and open-source app maker</a>

Advantages of Choosing an Open-Source App  Builder

When deciding to build a new website, many businesses’ first question is: what CMS should I choose? But picking a CMS isn’t about choosing whatever the best CMS in the market is. Every company’s needs are different and, accordingly, different CMS platforms will be best for different companies.
Many companies also get stuck in the idea of whether to choose a proprietary or an open source solution, or to find a platform that is specifically catered to their industry. Although these can be helpful things to think about, they can also be counterproductive if they take away from choosing the best CMS platform for you. In fact, going for a platform that isn’t an obvious choice for your industry may lead to great ideas you hadn’t considered.
The key when it comes to choosing a CMS is to understand your unique requirements and those of your customers and to pick a solution that can accommodate these. In this article we bring you the top 7 questions you should ask yourself before, and not after, choosing a CMS solution:
1. What’s your budget?
The first question before you even begin your search for a CMS platform is, what’s your budget? This will help you rule out whatever options are off the table from the get go, and prevent you from wasting your time researching solutions that you will never be able to adopt.
Understanding the scope and size of your project, as well as of the CMS platforms available, is a good way of gauging what a reasonable budget may be.
2. What is the purpose of your site?
Once you have budget considerations out of the way, the next thing you should consider is: what is the purpose of your site? Is it intended as a long-term business website, or are you building it for a short-term project?
This question will be important when considering your site’s architecture; if you're thinking long-term, your site should be built in a way that is flexible enough for any future developments, growth and use cases. This approach will help you avoid any future unforeseen costs brought on by a badly planned content architecture.
If, on the other hand, you're building a short-term site, you may want to put all your efforts into making the site look exactly the way you'd like it to look right now, potentially saving time and resources that you would otherwise spend planning your content architecture. Keep this in mind when choosing a CMS, as different platforms may be geared towards different timelines and take different approaches to content architecture.
Another aspect to think about in regard to your site's purpose is whether you're looking only for a CMS, or for a CMS provider. Are you just looking for a tool that your development team can use to build your site, or would you prefer a provider that is able to guide you through the process, to provide support and to maintain your site for you? These are questions to keep in mind, as they'll come with different costs and platforms.
3. What are your performance and integration needs?
The nature of your site will determine what your hosting and integration needs are and it's important to think of these in advance. Particularly online storefronts tend to be integration-heavy and often require scalable hosting options to prevent the site from crashing during high-traffic streaks.
Even if your site is not an online store, it is still important to determine first what your performance and integration needs are and then choose a CMS solution that can accommodate these. This goes hand in hand with planning your content architecture; as long as you've mapped out your entire site you'll be aware of what particular integrations are needed. In the same way, thinking about your top use cases and expected traffic fluctuations will give you a better idea of what your hosting needs will be. Mapping all this in advance will help you make better CMS choices.
4. What are your internal resource capabilities?
Once you've established your integration and performance needs, it's time to think logistics. Who will actually build and maintain your website? Do you have in-house developers? Are your content editors technical or non-technical?
If you have in-house developers, keeping them in the decision-making process will be a key way to ensure that whatever CMS platform you choose uses programming languages that your developers are familiar with.
You will also need to work with your development team, agency or CMS provider to ensure that the site is coded in a way that reduces content editors’ reliance on developers as much as possible, especially if your content editors are non-technical. If every time you make an update to your website you need to rely on developers, you will waste precious time and resources, so make sure that your CMS allows you to do this.
5. How soon do you need your website?
What is your project timeline? Are you planning a long-term website and ready to wait a few months to ensure the site is optimal? Or do you need something quick within a few days or weeks?
If you need something fast, the best option may be to go for a pre-templated solution, although this will mean being quite restricted in terms of design. Picking a CMS that provides templates and that allows your team to quickly put a site together without relying on any external parties will be the best option.
If you’re thinking long-term, focusing on ensuring your design serves your unique business needs, and not the other way around, will enable you to build a more effective site and, ultimately, a more valuable tool in the long run.
6. What are your security requirements?
Security is always a concern for businesses building new websites, although how much of a priority it is will depend on the nature of your company. The key is to ensure that your site has the necessary security measures in place, without hindering on performance or user experience.
The general perception is that open source platforms aren’t as secure as proprietary platforms, which isn’t always the case. However, as a rule of thumb, make sure that the platform you choose can be made secure according to your unique needs and that it has the necessary certifications. Thinking about this in advance will prevent any unforeseen security hiccups along the way.
7. What features do you require?
Finally, when you have established all your above needs and determined a few CMS solutions that fit the bill, the best way to pick a winner is to look at their features. What are the main features that you need and which platform best aligns with them?
This consideration goes hand in hand with your website purpose and project roadmap. By looking at what you’d like your site to deliver, you can establish the key use cases and user journeys and determine what features are appropriate for each. This applies to future use cases and journeys too: are there any features that you would like to implement later on in the future? Which CMS platform is best aligned to your long-term product roadmap or vision?
We hope you found these tips helpful. What were your top considerations when choosing your CMS platform? Let us know in the comments!
If you would like to find out more about how Agility CMS can help you, <a href="http://agilitycms.com/home#request-a-demo">request a free demo</a> now.

How To Choose the Best CMS for Your Business Needs

There is a huge variety of Content Management Systems (CMS) available in the market – all of which seem to have similar offerings that include an assortment of useful and effective features to enable content and asset management. With such similarities between systems, how does one go about choosing the right system? How is it possible to differentiate the robust and reliable solutions from the underperforming ones?
Well, it isn’t easy – but of course there are some CMS’s that manage to stand out in the market. There happens to be one open-source platform that that takes these features and implements them in a way that enables easy and efficient content, asset, and document management – that is Pimcore.
Pimcore’s has several key qualities worth calling out so let’s get started.
100% FLEXIBLE, 100% EDITABLE
Pimcore provides everything you need to create and manage exceptional digital experiences. Whether it’s a marketing-focused landing page, multi-site web presences for international enterprises, or a web-based mobile app, Pimcore has the power to transform any design to a 100% editable content within minutes. With complete creative freedom, flexibility, and agility, Pimcore is an absolute pleasure for designers, developers and editors.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pimecore1920x0-is.png" />
HIGHLY PERSONALIZED DIGITAL EXPERIENCE
Pimcore seriously shines when it comes to web content personalization which is a key ingredient if you want to provide an exceptional user experience. You can get more leads and conversions by presenting each customer with content that best matches their interests. Pimcore is able to do this flawlessly with their behavioral targeting engine that delivers content to the right audience by defining segmentation rules and resulting content actions.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pimcore2920x0-is.png" />
MULTI-CHANNEL &amp; SINGLE SOURCE
From a single-source data repository, users can deliver content to any output channel: Desktop, Mobile, Print, POS &amp; CAAS. With this functionality, users can deliver all messages simultaneously by utilizing Pimcore's single-source publishing methodologies. Website editors will love that they can edit in just one place and reuse it in all communication channels.
MULTI-LINGUAL &amp; MULTI-SITE
Pimcore’s multi-lingual content management capability allows editors to create new content in any language and work in their native language to ensure consistent content in country and language-specific output channels. This is an amazing quality for organizations that are becoming increasingly international in terms of their staff and client base.
WEB-TO-PRINT
The Pimcore web-to-print framework provides the tools and functionalities to revolutionize traditional print processes. Web-to-print based on Pimcore stands for pure flexibility, a tremendously reduced time-to-market and still the highest amount of creativity. Instead of manually configuring a product catalog, you can use Pimcore to aggregate all product data and consolidate it into a comprehensive overview of the entire product base.
So, if you're looking for a content management system that is not only strong and reliable; but also, provide advanced features and scale as your company grows, then we highly advise you to check out <a href="https://www.pimcore.org/en/products/product/cms" target="_blank">Pimcore</a>.

Free & Open source: Personalized Web Experience Management with Pimcore

Do you work in the financial sector? Do you assist different companies in managing their finances? Do you provide various banking services online or work on the online loan market? Do you think of having a website that will present you as a highly experienced professional and help you get new clients?
If you have answered “yes” to any of the questions above, then we have two exciting pieces of news for you! The first is that everything you need is already out there in <a href="https://www.motocms.com/website-templates/motocms-3-template/59994.html" target="_blank">Income</a> – a professional website template that allows you to present financial services easily and smoothly. The second great piece of news is that you actually do not need anybody to help you. Sounds unbelievable, but it is true. Let’s check this template out and see what features it has in store for you!
Benefit #1. Income is easy to manage thanks to the unique website creator.
Drag &amp; Drop Website Creator from MotoCMS is the most important advantage of Income. Use this creator to construct your website, add new content sections, and arrange them on the page as it is necessary for you. Even a child can build a website with the ready-made content blocks, right? You are the one who decides what to do and how to do it! Just several clicks and your stunning website is ready! Its user-friendly design allows you to manage it yourself, even if you have no programming skills. With Drag &amp; Drop Website Creator from MotoCMS you can easily get carried away. How so? It is so much fun to play with content blocks, really! So stay focused while building the website of your dreams.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1-1.jpg" />
Benefit #2. Income is 100% responsive
Do your customers use mobile phones, tablets, or laptops to browse the web pages? Sure, they do. Do you have to worry about the way your website looks on all these devices? Not really, if you choose Income. This template offers 100% responsive design so you can be sure that your website can be accessed from any device. And, what is also not less important, it looks professional, adjusting to any smartphone or tablet.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2.jpg" />
Benefit #3. Income contains pages ready to hand
There is one more outstanding feature that makes your website creation process much easier. Income financial template provides you with 19 ready-to-use pages. It means you do not have to think of your website page design that should fit specifically the financial website. It does not matter what goal you have – offering your services or presenting your team – you can find a wide range of pre-built layouts for any need. Choose the page you like from the options you are given and here you are – a successful professional website for your business is ready!
Moreover, Income has 2 extra home pages! What can be better?! If you provide banking services online, then Banking Home Page is the one that you will definitely appreciate! If you work on the online loan market, Loan Company Home Page is the one that will represent your company to the whole world. Just choose the one that suits your business!
Benefit #4. Income means getting creative about your design
Is the design of your website important to you and you pay a lot of attention to all the tiny details? Do you like playing with fonts, sizes, and colors? Income financial template has everything necessary. You will be delighted to see such fascinating Google Fonts – the rich collection of text styles integrated into your admin panel. Moreover, such feature as Font Icons will help you create a unique project with icons in different sizes and colors. You may adjust graphic elements without loss of quality and your design will look perfect on any display. And with Color Picker you have an opportunity to work out the appropriate color palette for your website with just five main colors. How great is that?
Benefit #5. With Income, you know how to increase your clientele
Do you want to give some valuable pieces of financial advice to your customers? Or you just need a place to store some useful links for yourself?
Use such wonderful feature of Income as an opportunity to create your own blog. You know that a tremendous part of the world population is interested in business, especially in such particular topic as finance. You can post the information that is in high demand among people and customize it easy, using a wide range of widgets that are offered by Income financial template. You are sure to attract your target audience in this case.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3.jpg" />
Another reliable way to increase your client base is to intensively use the Subscription Form. This tool can get you new potential customers in a blink of an eye. Just let them enter their email and press the button Subscribe and they will follow you! You can allow them to leave comments and discuss the content you publish.. They may also get emails from you about the changes that occur in the business world in general and in your company in particular. Do not miss the chance to keep in touch with the visitors of your website and an opportunity to increase your target audience!
It is also handy that MotoCMS offers 24/7 Free Tech Support for one year. This is especially important if you want to consult a professional who will provide you with the lightning-fast solution.
As you see, Income is a very promising CMS template for everyone who wants to create a professional website for any financial niche with no third party. In conclusion, don’t forget that you can test this website template from MotoCMS free of charge within a free trial period and discover its potential in practice.

Get The First "Income" from Your Online Business

TYPO3 CMS version 8 LTS is now available. The release features major speed improvements and easier workflows for everyday tasks. The TYPO3 CMS core team will support this Long-Term Support version for three years. Built on PHP version 7, the CMS version delivers a great increase in speed compared to previous versions. PHP 7 is on average twice as fast as PHP 5.6.
Form builder
TYPO3 now includes a mature and flexible form builder, enabling editors to create complex forms. The user friendly interface makes it possible to create multi-column field groups and multi-page forms.The form builder provides full control over where form data is stored and sent. The builder must be configured only once per installation, using the popular YAML markup language.
Image processing for responsive images
Modern websites must be optimized for mobile devices, such as mobile phones and tablets. An important requirement is the possibility to present different image versions depending on the screen size (i.e. responsive images). In the new TYPO3 8 LTS, editors can interactively select and configure responsive image versions. Each image version can be individually cropped. Editors can even define focus areas, specifying what part of the image is most important.
Flexible options for multiple languages
One of TYPO3’s greatest strengths is the flexible support for multilingual web applications, including content inheritance between languages. TYPO3 8 LTS extends the multi-language features further: Editors are now able to define which content element fields will be inherited or overwritten when translating. While this could previously only be configured once, for the entire installation, it can now be defined for individual elements. The decision is up to the editor creating the content.
New rich text editor for text input
The rich text editor, the component that allows the editor to enter and format text, is one of the most important parts of a content management system. In the TYPO3 8 LTS release the legacy editor technology has been replaced with the state-of-the-art CKEditor. The effort involved in configuring the editor has been greatly reduced.
More features for editors 
Other features improving the editors’ workflow include search engine and user-friendly links in the core. Page titles, files, and extension records are now displayed instead of cryptic numbers.
Supporting more database engines and cloud solutions
Most content management systems use a database to store their data. In many parts of the PHP world, the database abstraction layer “Doctrine” is used to connect with databases of almost any type. Both easy to learn and popular, Doctrine is a framework known to most PHP developers. With Doctrine, TYPO3 CMS now supports a long list of database engines, such as MySQL as well as software popular with enterprise solutions, such as PostgreSQL (aka. Postgres) and Microsoft SQL.
The number of cloud-hosted websites has increased rapidly over the last few years. TYPO3 8 LTS is cloud-ready and can be installed on a variety of cloud solutions, such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
New features for integrators and developers
Many features have been implemented in the TYPO3 core over the last 18 months. In order to further improve the experience for developers, popular PHP standards and technologies, such as PSR-1 to PSR-7, Guzzle and Symfony, are being used.
Thanks to a modernized core, developers and integrators can now make the user interface even easier for editors. It is possible to add information about how to use a field on the current web site or generate a live preview based on the data entered.
When debugging complex HTML templates, integrators now have one-click access to the template files used when rendering individual areas of the web page. This simplifies and speeds up troubleshooting and template enhancements.
Long-term upgrades and support
TYPO3 CMS 8 LTS is a Long-Term Support release, and will be supported with maintenance and troubleshooting until April 2022 and regular security and important bug fix releases until April 2020. Existing installations can be upgraded directly from TYPO3 7 LTS. Any installation running a previous version must first be upgraded to this version.
Screenshots
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image_manipulation506x0-is.png" />

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/improved_validation546x0-is.png" />

More information about TYPO3 CMS is available at <a href="https://typo3.org/news/article/miles-ahead-typo3-v8-lts-is-here/" target="_blank">https://typo3.org/news/article/miles-ahead-typo3-v8-lts-is-here/</a>.

TYPO3 CMS 8 LTS now available

Are you already an experienced business shark well-known and respected in your field or are you just a newcomer in an unfamiliar world of business going to make your first steps towards tremendous success? It doesn’t matter when it comes to promoting your brand online. Your aim is one and the same – to attract as many customers as possible and to keep on capturing their close attention in order not to lose them with the lapse of time in this competitive world. Sounds challenging and almost unreal? Just at the first sight. You can make it a reality by using https://www.motocms.comhttps://www.motocms.com<a href="https://www.motocms.com" target="_blank">MotoCMS website builder</a>.
An Enormous Collection of Ready-Made Websites for Any Purpose
MotoCMS is one of the top vendors of website templates. Its rich collection offers more than 2500 completely designed templates covering over 60 topics concerning all conceivable business spheres. Are you a photographer or a lawyer, a teacher or a doctor, a scientist or a student? Do your interests lie in the sphere of web design or sport, charity or fashion, agriculture or politics? Is your business connected with consulting or industry, transportation or media, entertainment or alternative power? There’s definitely a template that will suit your very needs perfectly.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image06.png" />
SEO: an Indispensable Marketing Tool for Your Business
It goes without saying that having once created a website its owner means it to be actively used by customers. SEO is fundamentally essential to make your website easily found and profitable. The MotoCMS admin panel allows you to add meta tags such as descriptions and keywords, ALT and titles for images to your website so that search engines will notice it in the web and raise its rankings. It will provide you with a steady stream of quality traffic to your website and help grow your audience, drive sales and increase interaction with your content.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image05.png" />
Social Media Widgets: Share Content in One Click
Social sharing has become quite important nowadays. It’s undoubtedly one of the fastest ways to get your content noticeable. A <a href="https://www.motocms.com/website-creator/" target="_blank">website creator</a> offers you pro tools for social media promotion. Bear in mind that social sharing is free advertising. Millions of people are actively using social networking sites all over the world. Your potential visitors and customers who may have never come across your content will learn about your website as soon as shares, likes and tweets start to increase. It will enlarge your audience and give your constant and new visitors an opportunity for sharing your content on social media and following your accounts.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image03.png" />
MailChimp: Save Your Time and Efforts
Email marketing is a powerful tool for promoting your website quicker and without additional efforts. A MailChimp functionality within your website will make it possible to create a subscription for your website and send your users various emails with promos, news and any other info you like. You will be able to build your own online audience. It will allow you to send out email campaigns to a list of email subscribers. MailChimp acts as a bridge between your website and your MailChimp account, connecting the two together. You have just to create your list of subscribers. If your list is too long and your visitors and customers are interested in different kinds of content or products, you may have several lists for separate purposes not to bother your subscribers for nothing.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image02.png" />
Google Analytics: Learn More about Your Customers
Do you really know your customers? It’s not a piece of cake to predict your customers’ behavior trends, but it’s necessary when you are eager to promote your brand online. Google Analytics will help you keep track of all the traffic. You can find Google Analytics among other additional features in MotoCMS templates. It turns all the gathered data into insights about people and how they behave while using your website and helps to perform its meaningful analysis. Consequently you can immediately get a clear view of your customers and identify your most popular products. You can use this information to see what is and isn't working in your campaign. And finally decide if you are a top-of-table team at the moment or if it is high time for remarketing.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image00.png" />
Blog Functionality: Keep Your Website Alive
Firstly, your own blog on your MotoCMS is an incredible means of sharing the latest news and the most important information with your visitors. A complete set of professional widgets and tools will allow you to express your ideas in full. Secondly, it will give you a chance to get instant personal feedback. It’s of vital importance because any of your visitors (former, current or potential) will be able to read and respond to your posts immediately. Your only task is to keep your blog updated and informative.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image01.png" />
Start Promoting Your Online Brand with an Edgy Guide
Have you already decided to use MotoCMS? Or maybe you are afraid that you won’t cope with the task by yourself? Throw away even a shadow of a doubt with a <a href="https://www.motocms.com/free-ebooks/" target="_blank">special free eBook</a> – How to Build Online Brand from Scratch. It is a unique helpful guide which will pave you the way for a speedy resolution to any problem and in less than no time clarify each detail of the process.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image04.jpg" />
The eBook will teach you the ABC of creating your own website without third-party specialists and shows you the opportunities for the further development. Is it possible to avoid mistakes and create the marketing strategy that guarantees your business a better life? Surely. Should you hire a web designer or learn programming languages? There’s no need to do it anymore. You will be able to create your website by yourself with no coding and find out 7 ingredients to make your online brand truly original. Do you know the essentials of digital marketing? You will get acquainted with the basics of social media, SEO, email and content marketing and be ready to start your online promotion.

MotoCMS Has Everything to Promote Your Brand Online

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#ffffff

There are about 3 billion people on the planet.
But, roughly 205 billion emails are sent each day. That’s 2.4 million per second and 74 trillion per year!!
Considering how many businesses have active email lists, this means consumers are getting swamped with massive amounts of emails every single day.
Most of them end up in the trash bin, unread and completely ignored.
Now, if you’re like most business owners, you’re going to want to get the most return on investment possible for each email you send out.
So, let’s take a look at the five types of emails you should be sending, so you can make sure each message you send is worthy of opens and doesn’t go ignored by your list subscribers.
<h2>1.The Newsletter Email</h2>
The newsletter is the most popular type of email, with the vast majority of businesses sending them out regularly.
These tend to be distributed on a consistent schedule, usually on weekday mornings, and will include content that supplements the company’s blog, some important events and announcements about the company (keep this to a minimum – it’s not as interesting to your readers as it is to you), and links to content from relevant third parties.
Regardless of whether you have unique newsletter content, or curate it from other sources, it needs to be relevant to the interests and needs of your readers.
<h2>2.The Feedback Request Email</h2>
If you’ve ever shopped on Amazon, you’ve more than likely been asked to rate the product you purchased and give feedback.
Customers are asked to give their opinion everywhere they go, from retailers to dentists. They are asked for feedback so often they tend to be unaware of how valuable it is to the business.
This is why it’s important to make it compelling enough that they WANT to provide feedback.
An alluring subject line like, “Special invitation from ___” will stand out in their inbox and make them want to see what they were invited to.
Once you’ve got their attention, personalize the body of the email by using the customer’s name in the greeting, mentioning the location of where the product was recently purchased, and using the name again in closing.
Personalization has been proven to improve both click-through and completion rates, because it doesn’t look like a mass email blast sent to everyone on your list. It makes it feel like it’s exclusively for them, and makes them feel special.
If there’s one thing consumers like, it’s when a brand makes them feel special.
<h2>3.The Nurturer Email</h2>
This one is all about lead nurturing, and is typically a series of emails that go out over a certain period of time – usually several days or several weeks.
They’re all related, and serve as a way of moving leads through your sales funnel in order to convert them from readers to customers.
Not only does this help increase your conversions, but it also gives your engagements a boost. By including links back to your website content and strong calls-to-action, you can get people to interact with your brand without having to do much.
Automating this series of emails saves your team time, so you can nurture targeted leads with very little effort. Instead, you can focus on expanding your audience and getting more sales.
<h2>4.The Transactional Email</h2>
If you’ve ever shopped online, you’ve received this type of email.
If you have any type of commerce aspect to your brand, you’ve undoubtedly sent this type of email in the form of receipts and purchase confirmations.
Transactional emails are pretty straightforward, but they’re powerful enough that they have <a href="http://www.experian.com/assets/marketing-services/reports/transactional-email-report.pdf">8x the amount of clicks and opens</a> than any other email type out there.
Don’t waste that opportunity, though!
Take time to include some personalized content, links to recent blog posts, or some future purchase recommendations to keep your reader coming back for more.
<h2>5.The Milestone Email</h2>
Did you know birthday emails have over 480% higher transaction rates than promotional emails? They also generate 342% higher revenue than the promotional emails. <a href="https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2015/11/birthday-email-marketing-guide/">That’s right</a>.
Think about it: How many times have you gone over to Starbucks to cash in on your birthday drink? How many times have you made a purchase because of a birthday discount from other places?
These emails WORK.
Milestones you can celebrate with your subscribers include their sign-up anniversary or even your own company/brand’s anniversary.
Combine these with an exclusive, limited time offer or promotion, and watch your clicks and conversions jump through the roof.
<h2>Final Thoughts</h2>
If you want to give your business a boost, you should be incorporating these five types of emails into your marketing efforts.
But, you have to do them the right way.
If an email doesn’t look good on your reader’s device, or if it’s too hard to read, your reader is more than likely just going to delete it. If it happens enough, they’ll probably hit unsubscribe.
With the constant evolution and growing popularity of mobile technology, it’s imperative you optimize your emails AND website for mobile.
You’re also missing out if you’re not investing in some sort of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/dont-panic-the-ultimate-guide-to-picking-a-marketing-automation-tool/">email marketing automation tool</a>. Automate the menial tasks, and you can focus on growing your brand and running your business.
But, no matter what type of email you send – or how you send it – the bottom line is always going to be value.
Each email should provide as much valuable as possible to your audience, and demonstrate the importance of your brand. It should encourage interaction, and should be relevant to the needs and interests of your subscribers.
And because your user experience matters as much as the content, you want to make sure it’s easy for your readers to see your brand’s value through super easy-to-read, mobile-optimized emails.
What type of email do you find to be the most effective for your brand or company? Let me know in the comments below, or find me over at <a href="http://www.alexiapbullard.com">www.alexiapbullard.com</a>

If You Aren’t Sending These 5 Types of  Emails, You’re Missing Out

alexia-bullard

WordPress, Drupal and Joomla make up the big-three in content management systems, collectively they form the three most popular and widely-used CMS. Security wise, CMS are a goldmine for hackers, as they provide the building blocks for a large portion of all the world-wide web. The popularity of these systems means they are a prime target for hackers. Because of this, the systems have been developed over time to be extremely secure. All services are free and open-source projects that use extensions and add-ons to supplement core code to allow for additional features. Individually, they all offer a different take on security, but have similarities in that they are all based on the PHP scripting-language and support the use of relational database management systems, mainly utilising MySQL.
<h2>WordPress</h2>
WordPress is undoubtedly the most popular CMS on the planet, and for this reason it is exposed to a constant attention from hackers. The WordPress security team is made up of 25 experts, including lead developers and security researchers. A number that seems low, given the number of sites running off WordPress is around 75 million and accumulates up to 27% of the entire net.
WordPress offers enhanced security for members for their paid service – WordPress VIP. By paying for the VIP treatment, a dedicated group will do an in-depth code review to seek out vulnerabilities. They will also guide customers with suggestions for best practices in development to make sure that the site will continue to live on without significant maintenance costs or major issues.
The major security vulnerability with WordPress, and most CMS, is the entry points created using third party plug-ins and extensions, which make up 56% of known vulnerabilities in WP. Overall, the security is at the level it needs to be to protect such a vast number of sites, and security suggestions are updated frequently by the maintenance team to guide users on the best security practices.
<h2>Joomla!</h2>
Joomla is an easy-to-use CMS that appeals to those who may have limited experience and knowledge in managing content online, or who may be looking for a simple CMS solution. This means that even though Joomla’s core is highly secure, there is pitfalls users can fall into when implementing their system without appropriately configuring all system components. 
Documentation made readily available by Joomla encourages users to focus on what they can do to improve their system security, as opposed to just relying on the system itself. It is worth noting that Joomla has the least amount of individuals on their security team with just 13 people, but provides solid information to individuals using their services to configure security in the appropriate way.
<h2>Drupal</h2>
Drupal is considered to be the most secure of the big three, designed for the more tech-savvy users, it has the ability to cater for large amounts of complex content. The Drupal community is very serious about security and has a dedicated all-volunteer group of forty individuals, who work to improve and maintain the security of the Drupal project.
The scalability to large sites is what sets Drupal apart from the other two offerings, and the list of Drupal sites used for state, provincial and national governments is the perfect indication that the system is highly secure. Government sites including the White House, House of Representatives and all U.S. government departments use Drupla. I’m sure those in charge on administering those sites have received consultation from some of the leading experts in information security that Drupal is the best way to manage highly classified data online.
<h2>Statistical comparison</h2>
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system provides a reference-method for publicly known information-security vulnerabilities and exposures. The CVE is funded by the National Cyber Security Division of the United States of Homeland Security and is considered to be one of the most reliable sources of cyber security assessment. According to CVE data, if you compare market share to incident rate, Drupal comes out with the least number of incidents to market-share ratio and since 2005, Joomla has had the most amount of found vulnerabilities, with 327.
Drupal experienced a tough time in 2008 when security team had to deal with 75 known vulnerabilities and 52 in the following year. To put that into perspective there was only 29 vulnerabilities found in 2015 and 2016 combined, showing a determination to keep those numbers down by the security team in recent years.
46% of the total vulnerabilities found in Drupal consisted of cross-site scripting (XSS) – referring to a code injection attack wherein an attacker can execute malicious scripts into a legitimate website. A method used to bypass access control and gain unauthorised access. 39% of WordPress vulnerabilities were also due to cross-site scripting and 15% of total vulnerabilities for Joomla. 
Joomla’s vulnerability percentage is made up mostly of code execution flaws (54%) – vulnerabilities that allow the execution and injection of shellcode to give an attacker the ability to manipulate a system in to granting administrator privileges. Joomla has also struggled with SQL injection attacks (40% of total vulnerabilities) – in which SQL statements (database queries) are inserted into an entry field for execution by the attacker, giving them means to carry out such actions as dumping database contents to the themselves for further investigation. Both Drupal and WordPress fare much better in defending themselves against both code execution and SQL injection attacks.
With the right implementation of information security, it is valid to use any of the big three as a suitable CMS based on business requirements. A more robust and secure CMS such as Drupla may be more appropriate for large datasets and complex content management. For a different type of experience where ease of use and less amounts of complex data is used, Joomla or WordPress may offer a better solution. In any case, there is no 100% guarantee that a security breach won’t happen and the steps taken to secure the system are as important than the security of the systems themselves.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
Overall, Drupal offers the system with the most focus on security and the dedicated team of volunteers have done well to keep vulnerabilities statistics low in recent times. Whereas, Joomla offers the least amount of security based on statistics and the least amount of people working for their in-house security team. With the popularity that comes with WordPress it’s almost impossible to create a wholly secure environment, but with careful planning and cautious use of plug-ins it’s possible to increase security to a suitable level.

The Big Three: A Security Comparison of WordPress, Drupal and Joomla!

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/email_marketing_2805x0-is.jpeg" />Every business owner wants to expand and grow their client base, and email marketing is one of the most powerful tools for both getting and nurturing leads.
A few years back, there were a lot of marketers who loudly declared email marketing was a thing of the past. Yet, they were obviously wrong.
Email marketing is evolving as rapidly as the rest of technology, and helps ensure you get one of the highest returns on the resources you’re investing in your marketing efforts.
However, you know not every email is going to get opened. Some of them go straight to spam, and some are just ignored. And then BOOM, there’s the end of your email marketing campaign for that lead.
That’s why you’ve got to step up your game, and these four surefire tips for boosting your email marketing strategy are going to help you do exactly that.
<h2>Implement Effective Opt-In Options</h2>
In order to have effective email marketing campaigns you need…well…email list subscribers.
But, don’t go rushing out to buy lists. None of the people on those lists asked for you to send them content, and it’s hard for you to be sure they were okay with their information being shared with third parties.
If the people on your list are receiving content they didn’t sign up for, it’s very likely not relevant to them in any way. At best, they ignore it. At worst, it gets flagged as spam. If that happens too often, your brand reputation and server reputation will both take a hit.
Don’t let that happen.
Instead, build a healthy email list the right way:
<ul>
<li>Include incentivized email subscription opt-in forms on your website, complete with a compelling call-to-action. Placing the box near the top of the website is proven to be highly effective, and pop-up boxes can work well when done correctly. Let them know there is a CLEAR benefit to subscribing to your list and receiving your content.</li>
<li>Do some A/B split testing to determine if your particular website visitors respond best to single or double opt-in forms. Single forms don’t require the user to confirm their subscription, whereas double forms do. The former means you may end up with a lot of spam or false emails, and the latter means the user may completely forget to confirm. However, single forms are fast and convenient, and double forms are secure. This is why testing is important, as it helps you figure out what works best for you and your business.</li>
<li>Encourage your social media followers to sign up for your list, giving incentive such as giveaways, giftcards, whitepapers, eBooks, or other value-driven offers.</li>
</ul>
Remember: Quality is always better than quantity. You could have a list of a million followers, but they sure won’t do you any good if none of them are interested in your products or services. It would be better to have only a thousand subscribers that all want to purchase something from you.
Having a healthy list of prospective customers will boost your open rates and, in return, your sales.
<h2>Optimize for Mobile</h2>
If you haven’t taken the time to optimize your email marketing campaigns for mobile, you’re missing out on HUGE opportunities for building up your list and boosting your sales.
Over the past few years, <a href="https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/mobile-marketing-statistics-for-2016">mobile email opens have increased by about 180%</a>, and this number will only continue to grow as people check their email several times throughout their day.
That may sound great, but those opens aren’t going to do you any good if your emails and website aren’t optimized for mobile. You want the messages to be well-formatted to work on a variety of mobile devices, and the emails should load quickly and be instantly responsive.
When you create your next email marketing campaign, test the message on several different devices before you send it out to your list. Why waste your time on creating a great campaign if it’s not going to do anything to further your business?
Give that mobile optimized campaign a significant boost by adding texting to your business communications.
You’ve undoubtedly seen this as a consumer yourself: “Text COFEE to 55-555 for exclusive discounts from your favorite coffee shop.”
Encourage your subscribers to visit your site for exclusive offers and <a href="http://www.pardot.com/blog/content-marketing-101-creating-content-sells/">value-driven content</a>, using text to give your campaign a boost.
<h2>Add Video Content</h2>
Video content has rapidly expanded over the past few years, though incorporating video content in email marketing campaigns is still fairly new.
But, it’s no secret that consumers and internet users love videos – and that interest isn’t just limited to cute videos of cats playing piano.
In fact, <a href="https://fortunelords.com/youtube-statistics/">there are roughly 1,300,000,000 videos on YouTube alone</a>, with nearly 5 billion videos being watched on there every single day within an average month.
According to an <a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Product-Videos-All-Cool-Brands-Making-Them/1012536">eMarketer report</a>, four times as many consumers prefer watching videos about products or services they are considering purchasing, as opposed to just reading about them.
<a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7643-improve-email-marketing.html">Adding videos to your email marketing messages</a> tend to increase click-through rates up to three times and can bring about a return on investment boost of 40 percent.
Sounds great, right?
While there are some email systems that are unable to support video, you can just send an animated GIF thumbnail in the email message that has a button that looks just like a video. When that person goes to play it, they get redirected to a landing page that has the embedded video set to autoplay.
Not only have you just directed traffic to your site, but you’ve also kept them engaged with your content and seen your products.
<h2>Have Effective Website Design</h2>
If your site isn’t laid out in a way that lends itself well to following a sales funnel, it’s going to be pretty hard to get the conversions you need to boost sales or gain more list subscribers.
The design is actually the very foundation of a business website – if it’s too hard to navigate or too cluttered, people are just going to jump ship and head somewhere else.
You’re essentially driving your customers right into the arms of your competitor. But, by having your site laid out in a way that is conducive to sales, you can implement other aspects of email marketing, like your blog.
Once they get a feel for <a href="http://www.alexiapbullard.com/pet-b2b-blog/content-marketing-tech-companies">the type of content you produce on your blog</a>, they know what to expect from you and you can ensure them the exclusive content they will receive in emails is even better.
If your blog content is already great, imagine what the exclusive content has to offer them!
<h2>Final Thoughts</h2>
Email marketing is far from dead and, as technology increases, so does the various ways by which you can drive traffic to your site and grow a healthy email list.
As you can see, email marketing is truly the cornerstone to growing your business, regardless of which industry or niche your brand is part of.
Implement these tips and watch your list grow!
Do you have any comments or additional tips for those looking to boost their email marketing efforts? Let me know in the comments below, or get in touch with me over at <a href="http://www.alexiapbullard.com">www.alexiapbullard.com</a>
While you’re here, don’t forget to share this post!

4 Tips for Boosting Your Email Marketing Strategy

Miami, Florida – March 20, 2017 – dotCMS, a leading edge, open-source Java based content management platform, is proud to announce the launch of their new UI/UX with the unveiling of dotCMS 4.0. Built using Angular 2 JS and coupled with inspiration from the concepts of Google’s Material Design, this anticipated major version release introduces the dotCMS 4.x series, focusing on the redesign and advancement of the platform’s UI/UX.
“We’ve been working hard to create an updated product UI that takes advantage of some of the latest trends as well as emphasize what matters most: a better user experience.” said Jason Smith, dotCMS Chief Creative Officer. “This is only the first step of an agile process rollout as we continue to unveil the new redesign in the 4.x series throughout 2017.”
The first release in the 4.x series is inclusive of enhancements to the platform aimed at increasing usability, efficiency, and all around improved user experience. A notable enhancement in 4.0 is the single page app layout that allows for a consistent menu on all pages. The seamless experience a constant menu provides is an improved experience from past versions that required users to migrate between sections to complete tasks. This new improvement will be especially welcomed by content editors.
Users will notice new notifications at the top of the page with the single page app layout. These are comparable to the notifications on smartphones and inform users when tasks are completed. In addition, a new centralized “Actions Button” provides users quick access to their most recent content and widgets, pages, files, and personas. The “Actions Button” improves the editor’s ability to quickly access the platform and post new content, pages etc. Moreover, a fully manageable and customizable device preview allows editors to preview content on mobile in addition to desktop.
Smith emphasized, “We knew a new UI was important to our customers, especially content editors, but we wanted it to be much more than just a simple reskin.” Smith added in, “While we did update the look and feel, we also centralized tasks, added new ways for users to easily track their pending projects, and more. Launching our redesign as a series instead of all at once allows us to give our customers the efficiency that they’re looking for while constantly improving our product.”
dotCMS 4.0 is now available for download and can be viewed on the dotCMS demo site at <a href="http://www.dotcms.com/">http://www.dotcms.com</a>.
For more information on this release, please visit: <a href="http://dotcms.com/docs/latest/change-log">http://dotcms.com/docs/latest/change-log</a>
About dotCMS
dotCMS is a leading , open source content management platform for companies that want innovation and performance driving their websites and other content-driven applications. Extensible and massively scalable, both small and large organizations can rapidly deliver personalized and engaging content across browsers, mobile devices, channels, second screens and endpoints — all from a single system.
Founded in 2003, dotCMS is a privately owned US company with offices in Miami, Florida; Boston, Massachusetts and San Jose, Costa Rica. With a global network of certified development partners and an active open source community, dotCMS has generated more than a half-million downloads and thousands of implementations and integration projects worldwide. Notable dotCMS customers include: TELUS, Standard &amp; Poors, Hospital Corporation of America, Royal Bank of Canada, DirecTV, Nomura Bank, Thomson Reuters, China Mobile, Aon, DriveTest Ontario and ICANN.

New UI/UX Unveiled in dotCMS 4.x Series

You know these customers: they browse your site, add items to their cart, navigate to your checkout page and then, inexplicably, disappear never to return again.
If you’re wondering why your customers are leaving your site without converting, we can help. In this article we compile the 8 top tips to make your checkout pages as efficient as possible, so you can turn more of those hesitant visitors into conversions. We hope you find them useful.
1. Reduce the number of checkout steps
Making your checkout process as simple as possible is the best way to increase conversions. Whether this involves reducing the number of checkout steps or simply the amount of information required of customers is up to you, and each has its pros and cons.
Generally, a one-page checkout will be favoured by customers. However, this can pose limitations in terms of how much information you can collect from them before they drop off. For example, with a multiple step checkout you could capture customers’ contact information right at the start, even if they drop off during later checkout steps.
If capturing that information is a top priority, a 2-step checkout process could be the right option for you. The key thing is to ensure that you only require whatever information is absolutely necessary to make the process as seamless as possible.
2. Reduce the number of form fields
One of the ways you can significantly simplify your checkout process is by reducing the number of form fields that customers are required to fill out. Your forms should really only ask the most essential information:
Other than reducing the amount of information, there are other things you can do to simplify the process, such as automatically generating field information where possible.
An example is shipping and billing addresses. More often than not, these two addresses match, so why not give your customers the option to simply check a box and avoid having to enter the information twice?
The same applies to zip/postal codes. A convenient option might be to allow customers to enter it and automatically generate addresses that match that code in a drop-down menu.
3. Make account creation optional
An element that often leads to drop-offs is the need to create an account in order to make a purchase. Make no mistake; many customers will see this as a burdensome and unnecessary step that will only drag on the purchase experience.
A way of avoiding this is offering customers the option to check out as guests. That way all they need to do is enter their payment details, and they’re done. No annoying emails or confirmation links involved.
Another option is to place the registration option at the end of the purchase process, instead of the start. For example, you could place it on the confirmation or thank you page. This way you can ensure that those customers who are interested in returning to your site in the future are able to do so more easily.
If your aim is to get as many people as possible to create customer accounts, also avoid requiring too much information of them. A customer account shouldn’t be treated as a lead generation channel, but instead as a tool to provide your customers with a positive experience.
Making it easy but convenient for customers to create accounts will allow you to build up your mailing list and to nurture and encourage them to return as customers in the future.eCommerce checkout
4. Implement upselling and cross-selling
Checkout pages offer perfect opportunities to generate additional revenue through upselling and cross-selling. You can do this by offering customers the option to upgrade to more expensive versions of your product, or to purchase additional ones.
Displaying the upgraded or recommended products as one of the steps of the checkout process can be an effective way of doing this. You can also increase the attractiveness of the offers by giving them credibility, for example through “most popular” tags, positive reviews or discount offers.
A great way to up your cross-selling game is to take advantage of personalization tools. Personalization can automatically make relevant product recommendations based on categories, increasing the chance that customers will find that particular recommendation useful and make a purchase.
5. Ensure your checkout is mobile-friendly
Mobile commerce will account for 45% of total U.S. eCommerce sales by 2020, so it’s essential to ensure that your eCommerce site caters to these customers. If your checkout process is not mobile-friendly and easy to complete on any device, customers will simply drop off.
On the other hand, mobile checkout should never exclude any of the options or capabilities of the desktop site, such as product variants. The mobile commerce experience should be identical to the desktop one in terms of the ability to browse, purchase and pay for products.
6. Offer a variety of payment options
Increasing your checkout’s efficiency is ultimately about meeting your customers’ needs, whatever these may be. This includes ensuring that they are able to pay in whatever way is most convenient for them, whether it’s their credit card, PayPal or Apple Pay.
By providing additional options other than debit or credit card payments, you can spare your customers one of the most annoying parts of the online shopping experience: finding their wallet. Debit and credit card payments also require entering a billing and shipping address, which is just another obstacle between your customer and conversion. The faster your customers are able to complete their purchase, the more likely they are to make it.
7. Ensure a modern design
Possibly the biggest concern about online shopping that customers experience is security. Customers want to feel reassured that the sites they are shopping on are secure and that their credit card details are safeguarded.
Your site’s design can have a huge impact on your customers’ perception of your site’s security. An outdated-looking site will give customers the impression that your security is also outdated and will lead to a lot of them dropping off without purchase.
By ensuring your checkout pages are modern and responsive you can set your customers’ minds at ease and significantly increase conversions.
8. Provide round-the-clock support
One of the most frustrating online shopping experiences is attempting to make a purchase but being unable to complete it. Although more often than not this will lead to users dropping off, you could go a long way by offering live support (via chat or phone) whenever these issues do arise, as many customers will be happy to remain on your site if the issue can be solved promptly.
What’s more, providing this kind of customer support just when the customer needs it most will give them a very positive experience that may encourage them to return to your site in the future.
Do you have any other tips for effective eCommerce checkout pages? Let us know in the comments!
For more web strategy best practices, visit <a href="http://blog.agilitycms.com/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://blog.agilitycms.com/</a>.

8 Essential Features of Effective eCommerce Checkout Pages

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