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ai12z Takes AI Visibility from Scoreboard to Playbook, Turning AI Search Insights into Action

matt-garrepy

DotNetNuke has become one of the most popular and formidable open source .NET contenders in the CMS market today and we recently had an opportunity to discuss a bit more about this company and their products with Navin Nagiah, CEO of the DotNetNuke Corporation.
CC: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to be with DotNetNuke?
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/dotnetnuke-corp-ceo-navin-nagiah-e1280177961566-100x100_oezy7u.jpg" />
NN: I am an Electrical Engineer by education. I have been an entrepreneurial executive for the last 16 years. I have been involved in three technology startups prior to DotNetNuke Corp.  Of the three, one had a good exit, one not so good, and the third, the jury is still out.  This is my fourth technology startup, and by far the one with the most potential.
Prior to DotNetNuke, I was the CEO of an open-source ECM Systems Integrator, where we did custom implementations of Plone, Alfresco and Liferay.  I was introduced to DotNetNuke by Larry Augustin. I really liked the founders of DotNetNuke, especially their passion and desire to ensure DotNetNuke left a strong imprint in the software industry.  In addition, the market opportunity was huge. I made the move to DotNetNuke, helped raise our Series A funding, and have been delighted with our progress since.
CC: Is this the first CMS project you've been involved in?
NN: This is the first CMS project in which I have been directly involved.  However, in my previous company, as a leading open source ECM system integrator, I watched the Plone, Alfresco and Liferay communities at close quarters.
CC: What was it about the DotNetNuke project that drove you to accept the position as CEO?
NN: The key factors for me were the passion of the founders to ensure DotNetNuke left a strong imprint in the software industry; the thriving community that is DotNetNuke; the massive adoption of the software; and, the size of the addressable market.
CC: What other activities does DotNetNuke Corporation partake in? Is there any involvement with other projects outside of the CMS arena?
NN: The company’s sole, razor sharp focus is on ensuring the success of DotNetNuke as a product, as a project, as a community, and as a company.
CC: What is your company's primary target market and why?
NN: Our primary target market is companies that have greater than 100 employees and for whom their DotNetNuke web site is mission critical or very important to the success of their organization. We sell to a broad range of industries, with no vertical market making up more than 15% of our total sales, with key markets that include government, education, financial services, and technology. Our customers are worldwide and use DotNetNuke for public web sites, extranets, intranets, and web applications. Our customers share a common need for a feature-rich, robust, stable, easy-to-use, and extensible WCM platform to build their web sites and web applications.
CC: What advantages does your platform offer?
NN: We provide all the features that excellent WCM solutions provide today such as a content approval workflow engine, granular user permissions within an extensive security model, extreme scalability, web controls using Telerik, document management, rich taxonomy and folksonomy systems, advanced support for Google Analytics, and distributed caching with web farm support. However, what makes us different and better is essentially two things:
Extensibility – The ability to plug-in and remove add-ons to your web site or web application quickly and inexpensively.
Our Vibrant Ecosystem – A vibrant and rich ecosystem of ISVs who provide thousands of commercially supported add-ons at a low cost, hundreds of System Integrators who can help you custom build your web site whether your requirements are simple or complex, and numerous hosting providers who specialize in hosting DotNetNuke.
CC: Why should people consider using DotNetNuke for their next project?
NN: For Microsoft shops (of which 46% of companies worldwide are according to Forrester Research) which are building a web site or web application on ASP.NET, DotNetNuke provides tremendous advantages. The reasons DotNetNuke is such a great solution include:
First, the product provides a feature-rich web site straight immediately upon installation and is easy to deploy and  maintain.
Second, even if you have features that are not available out-of-the-box, your first option is to buy commercially supported features for a few hundred dollars from the more than 8,000 software add-ons available on our online marketplace, Snowcovered.com.
Third, if your requirements are so complex that your specific feature is not available online, our WCM platform is also a rich web application framework with a published API that makes it easy for you to custom-build and plug-in your own add-ons to add features.
Fourth, some of our customers report up to a 600% reduction in development time using DotNetNuke versus developing a web site directly in .NET.
CC: What specific features does DotNetNuke have that separates it from other popular open source CMS products on the market today?
NN: We are the leader in the Microsoft .NET ecosystem.  We power over five times more web sites worldwide than the next biggest .NET based WCM product.  We have the largest and most vibrant open source community in the .NET ecosystem with nearly 800,000 registered members.
The big reason for our success is we are an extensible platform with more than 8,000 commercially supported add-ons that plug into our platform.  The add-ons are available on our marketplace, Snowcovered.com, and are commercially supported by the nearly 800 ISVs who developed them.  While, there are other add-ons on other stacks with extensibility, none come close to having 8,000 commercially supported add-ons on their platform.
In addition, we make it easy to plug-in and remove add-ons, essentially giving a user the ability to switch on and switch off features or change the appearance of their web site easily.
CC: Can you provide some examples of popular sites that are powered by your product?
NN: We currently power more than 600,000 web sites worldwide. One is the Australian Football League (AFL) which gets about 2.5 million unique visitors a month. DotNetNuke also powers the web site of The Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest tower and the web site for Microsoft’s Open Source Foundation, CodePlex.
Pfizer launched Robitussin using DotNetNuke and ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy), a US Government agency funded to research and promote advanced energy technologies, uses DotNetNuke. The United Nations Public Administration Network is also built on DotNetNuke.
If your readers are interested in learning more about sites that use DotNetNuke, they can download case studies about ExactTarget, York County, Virginia, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and Green Resources by visiting the DotNetNuke case studies page. They may also be interested to see the winners of our Community Choice Awards, which include Rehab, The Silkroad Project, and Sake Social.
CC: Of the number of current installations of DotNetNuke, what percentage would you say are running on your Professional Edition?
NN: There are well over 2,000 installs of the Professional or Elite Editions of our product.  Given that this is just our second year of commercialization, our business traction has been phenomenal.
CC: What type of support offerings does DotNetNuke Corp. offer?
NN: We currently offer two versions of our product: the DotNetNuke Professional Edition, which comes with web-based support, and the DotNetNuke Elite Edition, which comes with both web-based and phone support.  More details are available at:
<a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Products/EditionComparison.aspx">http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Products/EditionComparison.aspx</a>
These Editions also have product features such as a content approval workflow engine, more granular user permissions, a document management system, a developer license for Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX, and enhanced web farm support that are not available in the open source version of our product.
CC: We often find it interesting to hear about the different ways that the term “Content Management System” is defined by the people directly involved in the CMS market, how do you define a CMS?
NN: Linguistically, it means any system that helps you manage content – creating, storing, indexing, archiving, publishing, and distributing content.  I think both ECM (Enterprise Content Management) and WCM (Web Content Management) are content management systems.
There is a distinct difference between the two today.  ECM is what is internal to an organization. It is about managing information and processes inside a company. It is about document management and records management.
WCM is about managing the publishing and distribution of information.  In one sense, WCM is about revenue and ECM is about net profit or the bottom line.  WCM is about maximizing reach, while ECM is about internal process efficiency.
However, as people use web applications and portals for managing internal information such as document repositories and Web 2.0 tools such as wikis for collaboration and content creation, it is possible the lines between the two systems will blur over time.
CC: Of the various programming platforms available, what makes .NET the best choice in your opinion?
NN: .NET is the most mature, scalable enterprise development platform available. Microsoft has made a large investment to ensure they provide a complete solution stack including a rich programming API, a highly functional IDE, a database engine, a web server, and more. On other platforms it is common to have to source components in the development stack from multiple parties, resulting in greater integration challenges and life cycle support complications. Although the .NET framework is over a decade old now, Microsoft continues to innovate and enhance it with the latest industry development techniques and practices. We are especially excited to see the introduction of the WebMatrix beta which offers a great toolkit to get Microsoft web site developers up and productive quickly.
CC: What are the future plans for the DotNetNuke project?
NN: Our objective is to ensure that DotNetNuke remains the first choice as a web content management system and web application development framework for users and developers in the .NET ecosystem.
We are investing heavily in further enhancing the richness of our platform with more advanced features so we are attractive to both end users and developers.  We are making a big push in content localization to meet the needs of our users in Europe, Asia, and all areas of the world where multi-language support is critical.  We will also be adding features that are important for running larger and more critical web sites such as content staging, SharePoint integration, and enhanced management tools.
In addition, we will be making a strong play fairly soon in the cloud, in other words, providing on demand web sites and web applications.
Finally, we continue to work with Microsoft to further simplify the ‘install and deploy process’ of our application so we can attract users and developers from outside .NET to embrace DotNetNuke and the Microsoft stack. For example, we worked closely with them on the introduction of the Web Application Installer and the Web App Gallery to ease the download and installation of DotNetNuke.
CC: What can we come to expect from the next major version? Are there any major enhancements that are being worked on?
NN: You will see the next major version in a few weeks.  The major enhancements we are working on are in the areas of Content Staging and Content Localization.
CC: How can people contribute to the project should they choose to do so?
NN: There are many ways to contribute to the DotNetNuke project, depending on an individual’s skill set and interests. At the non-technical level there is always the ability to write documentation or provide assistance in the community discussion Forums. There is also the ability to provide content and feedback through the many community services offered such as blogs, issue tracker, feature request manager, or the open source Forge. For more technical individuals, they can submit an open source extension to our Forge, they can become a team member on an existing Forge project where they can contribute source code and development assistance, or they can develop and sell their own DotNetNuke add-ons on Snowcovered.com.
CC: Thank you for your time.
If you are interested in learning more about DotNetNuke, you can do so on their website: <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com">http://www.dotnetnuke.com</a>

Interview with DotNetNuke Corp. CEO Navin Nagiah

mike-johnston

The CMS Critic team –  otherwise known as Mike Johnston and myself – were recently in Basel, Switzerland for the <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/conference.html" target="_blank">Magnolia Conference 2014</a>.
It was set to be Magnolia’s fifth annual conference, and as <a href="/magnolia-5.3-blends-cxm-with-cms-to-deliver-best-of-breed-software/" target="_blank">Magnolia 5.3</a> had just been unveiled, we were quite excited to see how things panned out.
Mike and I covered both days of the conference in detail. <a href="/day-one-of-magnolia-conference-2014-personalization-apps-a-roundtable/" target="_blank"> Day one</a> was focused on personalization, apps and a roundtable discussion, whilst <a href="/day-two-of-magnolia-conference-2014-the-unconference/" target="_blank"> day two</a> was all about the unconference.
On top of blog coverage, we also <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic" target="_blank">live-tweeted</a> the event from the ground.
Now though, I’d like to delve into the finer details of Magnolia Conference 2014. 
<h2>A Cutting-edge Reception &amp; Some Fine Food</h2>
On day one, attendees were welcomed to the conference by receiving their name tags, before being offered some food and drink, and an impressive Magnolia goody pack. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia.png" alt="Magnolia Conference 2014" /> Included within the pack was everything from conference programs, to three-way USB cables to <a href="/day-two-of-magnolia-conference-2014-the-unconference/" target="_blank"> unconference cards</a>.  
 What got everybody excited though, was the Magnolia-branded Swiss Army Knife, which were also handed out at the reception. It was a cool, unique and memorable conference freebie which got everybody talking. 
 Somehow, the concept of an all-in-one gadget seemed to suit Magnolia's brand, especially when you consider their <a href="/magnolias-open-suite-approach-maximizing-choice-future-proofing-digital-investments/" target="_blank">open suite approach</a>.
<blockquote>
You can get cool stuff at conferences, but <a href="https://twitter.com/magnolia_cms"> @magnolia_cms </a> takes it to another level. Swiss Army Knife anyone? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash"> #mconf14 </a> <a href="http://t.co/ZirGz6XbdG"> pic.twitter.com/ZirGz6XbdG </a>
— Kaya Ismail (@EmployTheNet) <a href="https://twitter.com/EmployTheNet/statuses/481695871210639360"> June 25, 2014 </a>
</blockquote>
There was a friendly and bubbly vibe coming from both attendees and Magnolia officials throughout both days. It was a homely atmosphere, which definitely helped encourage attendees to move between tracks freely. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/14541403134_1cd2b18455_b700x0.jpg" alt="Magnolia Conference 2014" /> The online environment was great too. Attendees were joining in with the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash" target="_blank">#MConf14</a> hashtag, retweeting eachother, posting pictures and so forth. Activity on the hashtag was displayed on screens around the venue.
Now, Swiss Army Knife or no Swiss Army Knife, conference food can be a deal breaker. Thankfully though, Magnolia kept everybody well fed. 
 For lunch, a buffet was held in a separate location, not too far from the Pathe Theatre. Pasta, fish, lamb, potatoes and a wide range of desserts lined the buffet table. I certainly had no complaints. Later, at the Magnolia after-party, equally delicious finger foods were offered. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/food.png" alt="Magnolia" /> Speaking of the after party, that too held up a pleasant atmosphere.  
Granted, the Church setting was – for lack of a better word – unorthodox. However, the presence of a bar along with a projector showing a live World Cup 2014 fixture quickly made everybody feel cosy. 
<h2>A Third Day of Activities</h2>
Many were under the impression that Magnolia Conference 2014 was a two-day event. Not so.
There was actually a third day of activities on offer for all who attended, completely free of charge.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/14356290189_78bbb8235c_b700x0.jpg" alt="Magnolia Conference 2014" /> Attendees could engage in Yoga, mountain biking, hiking and even a Basel scavenger hunt. Once again, this was a rather unique offering, and one I felt rounded off the entire event very nicely indeed. 
 Overall, I can only speak positively of what I saw from the Magnolia Conference 2014. The company's representatives were friendly, the venue was comfortable and the freebies on offer – including all the free activities – were nothing short of fantastic. 
Here's hoping Magnolia Conference 2015 is even better!

Magnolia Conference 2014: Reflections of an Attendee

<a href="https://www.agilitycms.com/" target="_blank">Agility CMS</a> has rolled out an update along with several bug fixes to polish off 2015.
The cloud-based, enterprise-grade platform was the focus of a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/search/?q=agility+cms&amp;sort=-date" target="_blank">featured week here on CMS Critic earlier this year</a>. I personally got to explore the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/fun-fitness-community-outreach-why-working-at-agility-cms-looks-truly-awesome/" target="_blank">community feeling within the Agility camp</a>, as well as the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/why-agility-cms-doesnt-partake-in-feature-bloating/" target="_blank">platform's aversion to “feature bloating”</a>.
Here's a look at what's new.
<h2>Media, Documents, Reports &amp; More</h2>
Notably, Agility's “Choose Files” fly-out has been updated with a “New Folder” button.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/media-and-docs-flyout-new-folder.jpg" />
This fly-out appears when a user chooses to upload and insert a new image within a Rich Text Editor, for example, or chooses to upload/insert an image within any module.
According to Agility, this update gives users the option to create a Media folder for easy organization without having to navigate to the Media &amp; Documents Section. Much simpler.
Also, Reports within the Legacy content manager are now available in Beta. These reports include; Recent Changes, Ready to Publish, Domain Status and Configuration Status.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/new-reports1.png" />
The Save Validation pop-up has been updated too. It now includes an itemized list of all fields that have been edited but not saved. So, when a user navigates away from a page, module and other Agility CMS elements, they will be made aware of exactly where their unsaved changes are.
Furthermore, Agility CMS has unveiled a fair few bug fixes that come bundled with this update. Those bug fixes revolve around URL validation, page re-ordering, multi-language copying, and more.
To find out more about Agility CMS, <a href="https://www.agilitycms.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>, or check them out through our <a href="/products/agility-cms/" target="_blank">CMS Directory</a>.

Agility CMS Caps Off 2015 With an Update

Nibbleblog is a blog platform that uses XML databases as opposed to MySQL and others. It is small, weighing in at less than half a megabyte and easy to install with a simple 1 step installer. Today, I bring you my Nibbleblog Review.
Some of the main features of this blog engine include:
<ul>
<li>Video posting (for video blogs)</li>
<li>Multilanguage support</li>
<li>XML database, no MySQL or similar DBMS needed</li>
<li>Plug-in support</li>
<li>Template and themes support</li>
<li>WYSIWYG Editor ( elRTE http://elrte.org )</li>
<li>Simple file manager ( elFinder http://elrte.org/elfinder )</li>
<li>SEO Optimized</li>
<li>Open Source. Free under the GPL license</li>
</ul>
Not bad for less than a meg is it? Is it worth checking out? Read on to find out more.
The default look of the blog once installed is pretty good. You get a decent looking template with a single right sidebar ready to be customized for your needs. Heck, for the most part, you could probably get away with just using the template as is if you just wanted a quick and easy blog that's ready to go.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-02-26-at-11_18_37-am-580x372.png" alt="Nibbleblog Review" />
There aren't many options for available templates / themes available ( 3 total ) but for those who are willing to put a little bit of work into customizing (or just using one of the 3) this is not a major detractor.
The dashboard is very well put together and is snappy and responsive:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-02-26-at-11_18_56-am-580x313.png" alt="Nibbleblog Review" /> It's clean and easy to navigate with all of the options on one page.  Working from the top down, you get your content editing functions first.
Adding a post is easy to do with a resizable Wysiwyg editor:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-02-26-at-11_19_52-am-580x376.png" alt="Nibbleblog Review" />
All of the typical options are available and work as expected. Overall, it was a pleasant experience to use this editor.
What I especially liked is the next option available.. Video blogging.
Adding a video post is very, very easy. Simply add the URL and the system goes out and grabs the description automatically.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-02-26-at-11_21_04-am-580x394.png" alt="Nibbleblog Review" />
You can of course modify these should you wish to do so. You can also add tags.
Here is what a published video post looks like with no modifications, just plug in the URL and publish:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-02-26-at-11_21_40-am-580x525.png" alt="Nibbleblog Review" />You also have the ability to modify your user profiles within the system as well, including adding your social network links:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-02-26-at-11_22_39-am-580x454.png" alt="Nibbleblog Review" />
Last but not least, the settings page allows for a good set of configuration options. In the top section, you will find the basic blog configuration.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-02-26-at-11_22_56-am-580x344.png" alt="Nibbleblog Review" />
The next are your more technical settings:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-02-26-at-11_23_05-am-580x306.png" alt="Nibbleblog Review" />
Next come permalink settings (including suggested htaccess rules, which is a handy option), comment options and theme selection.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-02-26-at-11_23_15-am-580x359.png" alt="Nibbleblog Review" />
Plugin management is well done with an easy drag and drop interface:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-02-26-at-11_23_37-am-580x439.png" alt="Nibbleblog Review" />
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
After testing our their demo, I was impressed with the amount of functionality that is present in this tiny software package. Not only does it feel snappy and user friendly but it just works as one would expect.
I think this product is a great option for those looking for a quick and easy to setup blog. It would be nice to see more themes and plug ins but this only comes with the community expanding more.
If you are a developer, a curious user or just someone who wants a quick and easy to set up free blog alternative to traditional platforms, check out <a href="http://nibbleblog.com/">Nibbleblog</a>. I think you just might like it.

Nibbleblog Review

Whether you’ve already been running your virtual store for some time, or are just getting started, your business efficiency is likely to be a constant top priority for you. There are many details in operational and sales management that can make it or break it. In this article, we cover some free and out of the box features of <a href="http://www.nopcommerce.com?utm_source=online-store-increased&amp;utm_medium=mainpage-link1&amp;utm_campaign=cmscritic">nopCommerce</a>, an open source ecommerce platform, that support both of the functional areas, and help increase your store efficiency with no investment required.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-1.png" />
<h2>Inventory management functionality</h2>
Inventory management is one of the most important store efficiency factors. Too much stock locks your capital. Too little might cause missed opportunities for sales. Either way affects the customer experience.
nopCommerce inventory management tools helps in different ways: first, you can define whether or not to display stock availability and stock quantity on a product page, as well as to not show products at all if they are out of stock; this prevents customers from disappointment of buying items that are not available.
Second, you can set up notifications that will be sent to your customers when a product is back to stock; this ensures you don’t lose your potential shoppers.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-2.png" />
Next, <a href="http://www.nopcommerce.com?utm_source=online-store-increased&amp;utm_medium=mainpage-link2&amp;utm_campaign=cmscritic">nopCommerce</a> allows merchants to track inventory in real time, which also prevents from oversells of sold out goods.
Some business owners prefer to use drop shipping, they don’t keep inventory on hand, instead, their suppliers hold and manage the inventory, pack and ship items. The nopCommerce platform supports such business model and provides opportunities for vendor management, including separate vendor admin panel where your partners can view and manage their orders, sales reports and more.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce3.png" />Besides the above mentioned features, the platform allows to track different product variants and stocks distributed across several locations.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-4.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-5.png" />
Inventory management helps to track and forecast sales, which means you avoid to keep too much or too little and can significantly enhance your store efficiency.
Various payment options
According to PAY.ON, the right mix of different payment methods can boost merchants’ sales by up to 40%, due to maximized conversions and reduced drop-outs. This is especially important for those who sell internationally, as payment options vary greatly country to country, and customers from all over the world have their own preferred payment systems.
nopCommerce supports several payment methods out of the box, such as, PayPal Standard and Direct, or Purchase Orders, as well as partners with the industry leading payment providers and supports leading payment gateways that can be found in nopCommerce <a href="http://www.nopcommerce.com/marketplace.aspx?utm_source=online-store-increased&amp;utm_medium=marketplace-link&amp;utm_campaign=cmscritic">marketplace</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-6.png" />
Note that for better customer experience, it is also recommended to display icons of the payment systems that you use on your page (for example, at the footer).
Shopping carts tracking and management
Current Shopping Carts list enables store owners to view all existing shopping carts of all customers and from all stores on one page. The list contains all products that were placed in carts, but not purchased. Information about these abandoned carts and their management can give additionally as much as 20% of a monthly revenue. There are can be different strategies to stimulate the customers that didn’t complete their purchases, such as gentle disincentivizing email reminders, or more pushy messages with time-limited special offers. nopCommerce platform allows to set up different message templates as well as discounts.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-7.png" />
Marketing and sales tools
Online merchants have a broad toolkit at their disposal to increase shop efficiency by increasing sales and order values.
One of the effective practices is publishing special deals, bestsellers and new arrivals on your home page. Many online surfers don’t know what exactly they want or are not aware of new product models. Your goal as an online seller is to reach out to that segment and show the customers what they are missing out on.
Another good tactic for growing sales is cross-selling: suggest your customers something that compliments the product they are already interested in. This practice is not only beneficial for store owners, but may also significantly increase shopping experience. When a primary product requires complementary items, such as batteries, getting them in one go makes a customer free from hassle of looking for them once the product lacking them is delivered.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-8.png" />Store owners can also boost customers loyalty and guarantee their repeated purchases by setting up a reward points program. A Reward points program allows customers to earn points for certain actions they take on a site. In nopCommerce, reward points can be used as one of the payment methods. This option is displayed in the Payment Method area of the checkout. Exchangeable reward points can be used together with other payment methods such as credit cards, gift cards and more.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-9.png" />Most of the shoppers prefer to read product reviews before they make a decision whether to put their money into it. Reviews can make your potential customers more confident, so the more reviews you have, the more convinced a shopper will be in taking the final step. Reviews built trust in your store and your products, as well as increase a store’s online presence. Product reviews functionality in nopCommerce allows customers to leave ratings and comments, while store administrators may approve and delete the entries.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-10945x0-is.png" />Conversion rates, hence a store efficiency, might also be improved by using different checkout page strategies. One of them is adding a gift wrap/message options. This might seem a “little thing”, however, it does not only add a personal touch and helps the shopper save time, but also adds to the order value. nopCommerce checkout attributes support a variety of checkout opportunities to complete purchase process in the best way.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-11912x0-is.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-12.png" />Don’t forget about SEO to drive more traffic to your site. Check that your URLs have actual product and/or category names that are easily understood by your target audience, try to avoid including item numbers or category IDs in the URLs. Optimize your product description properly, it is not recommended to optimize your products for secondary details such as SKUs, colors or sizes, rather include brand names and model numbers in your title tags, meta descriptions, image alt tags and header tags.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nopcommerce-13.png" />
Last, but definitely not the least important way to increase the efficiency is optimization of your marketing efforts by segmentation of your customers. Segmentation helps to aim your marketing at each particular group, which means saving you time and money, moreover you can focus your efforts on the most profitable customers. You can segment your audience based on location, personal profiles (e.g. age, gender, income, occupation, etc.), lifestyles, buying behaviour. Create different customer segments using customer roles functionality and set up tailored messages and campaigns for your groups.
—
<a href="http://www.nopcommerce.com?utm_source=online-store-increased&amp;utm_medium=mainpage-link3&amp;utm_campaign=cmscritic">nopCommerce</a> platform has many features to support a store operational and marketing efforts. When used properly, it can bring significant revenue hike and slashed operating costs. So if you’re looking to increase your online business efficiency, start by exploring all the possible ways to leverage the ecommerce platform’s in-built functionality.

Online store increased efficiency: nopCommerce features for smarter operations and marketing

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/writingtools.png" alt="improve your writing" />
You've heard it ad nauseum — content is king. Yes, it's still king. Every Internet factotum must also be a connoisseur of content. If you're not exactly feeling all Stephen King about your writing prowess, there's still hope. It comes in the form of seven outstanding web tools that can kick your writing up to the next notch. You may not be publishing a bestselling novel anytime soon, but, hey, Internet content trumps action thrillers any day.
<h2><a href="http://www.keybr.com/"> 1. Improve your typing speed with keybr.com </a></h2>
Hunt-and-peck techniques will slow your writing way down. The only way to focus on improving your typing speed is to concentrate on it. Keybr.com is the tool that allows you to monitor speed and progress. You will probably notice an improvement in your typing speed in just a few weeks of using the tool.
<h2><a href="http://onelook.com/"> 2. OneLook gives you that perfect word. </a></h2>
There are times when you're looking for just the right word for a particular instance. Not just any word will do. OneLook can probably guess what you're looking for. Just type in a wildcard search, and you'll come up with a list of possibilities. They claim to have indexed 19,500,236 words. I didn't even know that many words existed.
<h2><a href="http://docs.google.com/%E2%80%8E"> 3.  Google Docs for easy, fast, and solid content storage. </a></h2>
Chances are, you already using this king-of-all-cloud-based word processors. If nothing else, Google Drive and its integrated products provide a great online storage and collaboration site. Good Docs is extremely handy as word processors go. One of the best features? It's always saving your work as you go. No more letting loose with cries of anguish when your software goes poof, taking your literary genius to a cyber grave. Google Docs has your back.
<h2><a href="http://wordcounter.net/"> 4.  Count every word with WordCounter.net </a></h2>
Don't scoff at the simple. Several times during the course of a work day, I hop over to WordCounter.net. Since I am often creating meta tags and meta descriptions for SEO clients, I need to keep track of those 160-character limits. Also, most online writers are confined to word limits for article length. WordCounter gives you an instant word count, character count, sentence count, paragraph count, sentence length average, and keyword density. Brilliantly simple.
<h2><a href="http://www.articleformatter.com/"> 5.  Strip away anger-inducing formatting using Article Formatter. </a></h2>
This close cousin of WordCounter is also very handy. If you receive content from a variety of sources and want to paste it into your website or CMS, you've probably faced the frustration of carry-over formatting junk. More often than not, you can't simply copy/paste a Word doc into a WordPress editor template without putting some messy in your code. Article Formatter is in the business of stripping away those pesky bits and presenting you with copy/paste ready text. CTRL-V with confidence.
<h2><a href="http://evernote.com/"> 6.  Evernote – a digital brain for remembering everything. </a></h2>
Evernote's remarkable capabilities as a note-taking device need to be sung louder. I use this app on my Mac, iPhone, and iPad all the time. When I'm away from my own devices, I can just log onto Evernote's web server and access all the files that I've stored there — pictures, audio, text, Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, tables, video clips, and web pages. Its power for writers is that it can instantly tuck away those aha-moment article ideas, turns of phrase, or web pages that apply to an article you're researching. I seriously don't know how I did it before Evernote.
<h2><a href="http://bywordapp.com/"> 7. Focus better and become more creative with Byword. </a></h2>
Byword is quick and beautiful. Several notable writers, all Mac-users I must say, use this writing tool as their favored mode of creating content. Maybe it's something about the sleek design and delightful UI that serves as a catalyst for inspiration. Who knows?
Just reviewing these tools gets the writing juices flowing. Maybe the real solution to writer's block is to use one of these tools. Give it a try, and you'll probably find that content flows faster, swifter, and better than ever before.

7 Online Tools to Improve Your Writing

daniel-threlfall

<a href="http://www.adobe.com/" target="_blank">Adobe</a> has enhanced its marketing offering by releasing a totally free iOS app aimed at streamlining the creation of social graphics. They've called it, “<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1051937863" target="_blank">Adobe Post</a>“.
The app provides images and templates for marketers to “remix” and modify. That includes applying filters, adding text and experimenting with color combinations. It's ideal for designing promotional images for Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/tumblr_nzh2i3wqys1uks4puo1_1280.png" /> Although this isn't a direct addition to <a href="http://www.adobe.com/uk/marketing-cloud.html" target="_blank">Adobe's Marketing Cloud</a>. it will be a substantial enhancement to any marketing team looking to bolster their efforts on social media.
Here's a video to help you get to grips with Adobe Post.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O9bH91A5YJY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h2>Streamlining Social Graphic Creation</h2>
The Adobe Post home screen presents a range of templates made for social sharing, all of which are ready to be re-purposed. Adobe has promised to update existing designs, to keep things fresh.
Design Filters are a core feature of the app, acting as a combination of photo filter, typography, layout and colors; all of which come together to transform your current design into a new one in a single tap.
Furthermore, Adobe Post automatically suggests optimized color combinations. It extracts colors from your chosen background image and suggests variations that will look complimentary.
Adobe underlined the market which they're targeting with the release of this app <a href="http://blog.post.adobe.com/" target="_blank">via their blog announcement</a>:
<blockquote>
“This past year, we’ve been talking to many small businesses, non-profit organizations and entrepreneurs and the message is clear: consumers need a simple app to create professional looking graphics so they can better engage with their social media followers.
…We crafted and tailored Adobe Post so that anyone can stand out and communicate with impact.”
</blockquote>
I've already downloaded Adobe Post, and after some tinkering, I can confirm that it's pretty awesome. It allows even a one-man-band project to push out a professionally designed and totally customized social graphic within seconds.
It's going to help close the gap between the smallest and largest brands on social media platforms like Instagram, that's for sure.
For now, it seems only iOS users can reap the benefits of Adobe Post, although I doubt it will be too long before Android users get the same treatment.
The free app is available now <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1051937863">in the Apple store</a>. To find out more, check out the <a href="http://blog.post.adobe.com/" target="_blank">Adobe blog</a>.

Adobe Post: Adobe Empowers Marketers With Free Social Graphic App

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

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

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

#ffffff

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

How to Choose the Best Website Building Platform for Your Agency

<a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank">Wix</a> is a popular, cloud-based website builder which powers millions of websites worldwide. 
 With Wix, individual users and business owners can create a beautiful, professional web presence – with no coding skills required.  
 Founded in 2006, Wix has over 550 employees, boasting five offices across the globe. Recently, I got the chance to chat with the Director of Communications at Wix, Eric Mason. We spoke about what Wix offers, how it stands out in a competitive market, and even managed to find out some of Eric's favourite Wix-powered websites.
<h2>The Interview</h2>
<h3>1. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your background as well as how you came to be at Wix.</h3>
I came to Wix from my own small business, Wigdawg Marketing and Communications, where I helped organizations, small businesses and non-profits shape their message and brand, and then get online to launch their companies, drive sales, build community, motivate and educate. 
During that time I was lucky enough to build and design sites on nearly every major platform as well as coding sites from scratch too. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/eric_mason_color350x0.jpg" alt="Eric Mason" />
In March of 2012 Wix launched the industry’s first HTML5 editor, a true WYSIWYG drag-and-drop web canvas that allowed for maximum flexibility without the need for coding. I knew immediately it was going to be a game changer. I’d spent years watching first-hand as frustrated entrepreneurs and small businesses had to be satisfied with either limited blocky template style builders, or forced to spend significant resources in money, time or technical education (and often all three) to truly launch their vision on the web.    
I had a real desire to continue to work with, and provide meaningful solutions for entrepreneurs, non-profits, small businesses, students, etc… who aspire to share their vision and dreams. Wix provides me that opportunity each and every day. 
<h3>2.What is Wix?</h3>
Wix.com is a leading cloud-based web development platform with over 50 million registered users worldwide. Built around our industry leading HTML5 drag-and-drop editor, Wix offers a true What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) creative environment where users can create their unique web presence all without need for coding or technical expertise. 
Because Wix is built in layers it’s something more powerful than a “template” site builder (though we’ve 100’s of beautifully designed templates) and is increasingly becoming a one-stop shop small businesses with integrated ecommerce, business management tools, marketing and contact management capabilities, and a vibrant app market eco-system.  
 Wix was founded on the belief that the Internet should be accessible to everyone to develop, create and contribute. Through free and premium subscriptions, Wix empowers millions of businesses, organizations, professionals and individuals to take their businesses, brands and workflow online. The Wix Editor and highly curated App Market enable users to build and manage a fully integrated and dynamic online presence. Wix's headquarters are in Tel Aviv with offices in San Francisco, New York, Vilnius and Dnepropetrovsk.
<h3>3.What is your personal favorite feature of Wix?</h3>
I get really excited about new features. Like, little kid excited. Part of this is because I know how difficult they are to build and execute. This experience is magnified when, for example in the case of our recently announced animations or anchors feature, I see how fun and easy our developers and engineers have made the process for users. Drag, drop, click, customize, go! The delight factor for me is really high because I know it’s going to be off the charts for our users.  
 My favorite feature recently was the launch of our new “beyond responsive” mobile solution. Everyone is considering mobile these days as more and more of our screen time is spent on our phones and on the go devices. Our team developed an algorithm that converts the full sized version of your HTML5 website into a mobile optimized version in a single click. We then allow you to enter a mobile editor and hide and manipulate elements of the mobile version customizing it even further for your mobile visitors. Your full size site remains unchanged in this process. 
 We do all this while maintaining a single source code making it great for SEO too.  It’s a unique and nuanced solution. While lots of platforms give you responsive sites by simply re-stacking blocks of content, the Wix mobile solution allows true flexibility and freedom to shape the mobile experience for your users. That’s powerful and is directly in line with our overarching goals for any product or feature we release. 
<h3>4.What differentiates Wix from the other website builders on the market?</h3>
Wix is a significantly different product and company than anything else on the market for several reasons. We’re a product and technology driven company, and were also user and customer focused in everything we do. As I mentioned earlier Wix is the only real fully flexible drag-and-drop editor on the market. Wix has hundreds of beautifully designed templates but we’re unlike any template site builder. 
 While all the others are built in blocks limiting creative expression, or needing extensive code, time, resources to customize, Wix and the Wix Editor are built in layers, fully flexible, and fully customizable. It’s more than just a technical difference but a philosophy of giving users the most robust tools without the need for coding. You see this cascade throughout the organization and right into the sites that are designed by our users too. People build amazingly unique, beautiful and functional websites when given the tools to do so.  
 As a technology company Wix has a rapid and ambitious continuous development methodology and roadmap. This is supported by an R&amp;D methodology where developers, who represent 50% of the total employee base, have complete ownership and ongoing responsibility for monitoring and improving the new features they create. This enables Wix to stay on top of a constantly changing technological landscape and quickly commoditize the continuous innovation in web design and interaction into new features offered to users.  
 As a customer focused company, this continuous development cycle is tied closely to our users feedback, support infrastructure and community. Our constant advancement and improvements to the platform are a direct reflection of listening and interacting closely and continually with our users. 
<h3>5.What kind of customers choose Wix as their website builder of choice?</h3>
We see all types of small businesses, artists, photographer, students, solo-preneurs, etc… gravitate towards Wix. Of course we fit a real need for those looking to do-it-themselves, but need to have a fully functional, scalable, beautiful and professional web presence. 
Ecommerce is critical for many of these businesses and in addition to our easy to use native Ecommerce engine; Wix has several other options through the app market. What this means is any business can design their site and then pick a suite of apps, Ecommerce to social and more that fit their specific needs.  
 We’re also seeing an increasing number of more experienced and tech-savvy web folks migrating to Wix as they come to discover the power of our drag-and-drop editor to build quickly and easily. That’s exciting to see. Website designers and developers are showing up too. If I’d had Wix’s HTML5 editor back when I was running my own businesses building sites for clients I could have easily tripled or quadrupled my business overnight. Others are figuring this out as well and we’re seeing more and more web professionals leveraging our tools for their clients.   
<h3>6. What are some examples of the best Wix built websites out there? Please share links.</h3>
As mentioned above, all sorts of people build websites and manage their businesses with Wix. We just crossed the 50 million-user milestone and highlighted 50 great websites to celebrate.  Check those out <a href="http://www.wix.com/blog/2014/06/flaunting-50m-users-with-50-kick-ass-wix-sites/" target="_blank">here</a>. 
 On our Explore Page you’ll also find examples of great Wix built site.
 Finally, we publish an ongoing series called “<a href="http://www.wix.com/blog/?s=Own+it!" target="_blank">Own it!</a> Our Template Your Website” where we show the amazing flexibility of the Wix editor by highlighting a variety of websites all created from a single template. As the evidence shows, Wix users were able to use any single template to design individual and powerful sites with a distinct vibe. 
<h3>7. What types of integrations does Wix provide with other platforms (ecommerce, analytics, etc.)?</h3>
Wix launched its <a href="http://www.wix.com/app-market/" target="_blank">App Market</a>, just a few months after the HTML5 editor in 2012. The Wix third party SDK – see dev.wix.com – allows any developer to seamlessly integrate their HTML5 apps into Wix platform via the Wix App Market. Once integrated, our users can add these third party apps to their personal websites. 
 To date we have more than 200 curated native and third party apps that greatly expand the capacity of Wix built sites. Some of the more popular apps include, Google Apps, 123Contact, Search, Instagram, Google analytics, Shopify and Ecwid Ecommerce packages, chat and social apps, business management apps, and many more.  
 With more than 50 new apps in the pipeline, expanded functionality is coming online all the time. And of course, we insist all apps in the market are easy to use and integrate seamlessly into Wix built sites. We recently announced the WixHive API which captures a variety of actions or “activities” taken by a user's website visitors such as contact information, messages, purchases, bookings and more. 
 The activity data for each site is stored and managed in a centralized database dedicated to that site, and can be accessed by installed apps and the site's owner through a dashboard.  Formerly stand-alone apps will now share the gathered data, giving site owners the ability to make business decisions, manage customer relationships and take other actions based on the strength of the integrated insights.
<h3>8. What type of support do you offer your customers? Phone, email, live chat, 24/7? Please share the details.</h3>
Wix support begins directly inside the editor. Throughout, we’ve got links to helpful videos and tutorials to assist at any stage of a users web creation process. Our continuous development cycles means that we are always monitoring where there might be issues and work diligently to address those quickly and efficiently.  
 In addition Wix offers online support through our Answers area, forum support, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/wixmypage" target="_blank">video tutorials</a>, <a href="http://www.wix.com/about/contact-us" target="_blank">phone support</a>, and finally email support via support@wix.com.
Sign up to create your <a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank">free Wix website today</a>.

Interview with Eric Mason, Director of Communications at Wix

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

ButterCMS - Productivity Enhancements for Content Editors and Developers

<img alt="Sitecore7" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitecore7.png" />
Sitecore is a major player in the web content management (WCM) playing field. We've kept a close eye on this CMS for a long time, tracking their improvements and success. Just today, Sitecore announced the release of Sitecore 7, which is the latest iteration of the company's unified software suite.

<h2>Sitecore 7:  Introducing Search Based Architecture</h2>
Sitecore 7 is a big jump forward for their already-advanced suite of products. In fact, the new system marks a milestone in the industry as a whole. Sitecore 7 now has a search-based architecture, which means that the system can be highly tuned to the specific needs of audiences. When CMOs and other marketing professionals possess firm control of the entire range of customer interaction, they are thus able to define and refine the approach to match an audience exactly.
<h2>Less Limits. More Power.</h2>
Sitecore is a customer experience management software (CXM) in addition to a lot of other integrated systems. One major drawback of marketing CMSs or CXMs is their constraint on content and the scalability limitations. Sitecore 7 has completely redefined the playing field with their search based architecture advancement. The search technology is pluggable, meaning that users can select the Lucene/SOLR engine they prefer.
Already, Sitecore is a leader in CXM/CRM technology. They offer one of the only unified solutions in the industry. This enables companies to provide multichannel marketing integrated with CMS, marketing, engagement automation, analytics, business processes, external tools, and databases. The unified software is massive — sure, it requires a learning curve — but it's also very powerful.
By “power” we mean limitless content, too. Chris Odom, a developer for one of Sitecore's clients, sang his praises of the system: “There is no limit to the amount of content we can store.” Another component of Sitecore 7's power is its customization due to the search based architecture. Odom says, “Our marketers can be confident that they can deliver what customers want without worrying about losing customer interest or revenues due to content that wasn’t robust enough, or relevant enough or recent enough.”
<h2>The Power of Search</h2>
It's that search based architecture we keep coming back to that helps to set Sitecore 7 apart. Search is the way we live our lives, from Google queries to that Crtl+F keystroke to find content in a document. Customers and marketers alike will benefit from having a search based system. As Sitecore's SVP of Product Marketing explained, “More ability to seve up exactly the right item at the right time to the right person.”
We think that more CXMs will be drifting toward search based architecture in the years ahead.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
The bottom line is this:  Sitecore 7 helps marketers better engage their audiences. A good CXM allows a company to better serve their audience. Improved audiences are solid customers. Sitecore 7 is a win-win-win for everyone involved.
Once again, Sitecore has proven that they can produce a system that lets marketers engage with their customers rather than get bogged down in content management and data manipulation. The new Sitecore 7 software suite is a powerful way to supercharge customer interaction, while possessing a powerful backend system.
<a href="http://www.sitecore.net/Landing/Global/Q2-2013/MCOT-XC-Sitecore-7.aspx" target="_blank">Read more about Sitecore 7 here.</a>
<a href="http://www.sitecore.net/" target="_blank">Visit Sitecore's website.</a>

Sitecore 7 Released, Boasting Advanced Search Based Architecture

You have been thinking about launching a website for your business for ages. But you do not know where to start. 
You have been scheduling meetings with programmers and web designers for quite some time already. But somehow they still can not grasp the concept of your website. 
You would like to have a full control over your website once it is online. But coding, programming, and web development lie far beyond your area of expertise. 
But, but, but – what an annoying word, isn’t it? Have you recognized yourself in any of these sad situations? Then we have great news for you! All the situations mentioned have an excellent solution called <a href="http://www.motocms.com/website-templates/motocms-3-template/59995.html" target="_blank">Evolution Universal Business Website Theme</a>. Let’s examine this multipurpose template from MotoCMS.
With Evolution, Creating Your Website Turns Into a Game
Is there any chance you played with constructors as a child? Remember those interlocking plastic bricks you put together to built pyramids and such? If yes, then congratulations – now you understand the basic principle of Evolution. Simply by moving around the ready-made blocks, you can create the layout for any web page you want in a few seconds. This is achieved thanks to the build-in page editor that MotoCMS is so proud of. No coding skills whatsoever. No tedious hours trying to figure out how to change that one button you do not like. Seems too good to be true, doesn’t it?
Evolution contains one more fascinating feature that can interest both doctors and designers. Do you belong to one of these groups of professionals? Then you will definitely find two child themes of Evolution extremely helpful. These child themes are developed to completely minimize the time you need for the successful completion of your first website. The child page for medical establishments looks positive and refreshing. It helps your clients relax while filling in the contact form, subscribing to your newsletter, or reading about the services you provide. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/evolution-medical-child-page.jpg" />
The child page for designers boasts clear layout and user-friendly navigation. Its primary aim is to focus all the attention of your visitors on the visual representation of your completed projects. So, take the page you need and create a website just by moving blocks around. Why not becoming a programmer for one day to create the website you need (or have always wanted)?
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/evolution-web-design-child-page.jpg" />
Another important feature that makes Evolution one of a kind is its 16 ready-to-use pages. This set of pages is developed to facilitate the process of creating your website to its full extent. All the pages you would need to create a multi-page website are right there at hand. “Home”, “Contact us”, “Services” etc. – your job is just to pick the pages that fit your business project and put them together. Yes, this easy. Just like playing a game.
Evolution Guarantees : Your Website Looks Professional
Now you know how to build a website in a blink of an eye. But this may bring up one crucial question, namely – will this website look professional? And here is another great piece of news. Evolution is developed by the top professionals in the programming world. Thus it boasts amazing functionality and outstanding design. No one will ever tell a difference between your website and an expensive website done by a dozen of programmers. 
For starters, Evolution is 100% responsive. Why is responsivity this important? Well, visitors of your website may use different devices to view the content you offer. And all the visitors expect to enjoy the full functionality of your website. Thanks to the 100% responsivity of Evolution, your website looks the way it should on any existing device. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/evolution-responsive-design.jpg" />
SEO-integration is another professional feature of Evolution. When you opt for Evolution, you choose a full range of instruments to make your content SEO-friendly. And SEO-friendly content, as we all know, leads to high rankings on Google. And the rankings correlate with the size of your client base. With Evolution, enlarging your clientele does not seem as hard as it used to be, does it?
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/evolution-seo.jpg" />
Evolution also allows you to start a blog. It can be of special importance for businesses that are relatively young. But businesses that want to attract clientele as fast as possible can also use blogs intensively. Blog functionality gives you a chance to publish original content on a regular basis. And as you probably already know, this is one of the most effective ways to improve your SEO ranking.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/evolution-blog.jpg" />
With Evolution, You Have Full Control Over Your Website
Let’s imagine that your website is ready and successfully running online. Would you like to have full access to its functionality any time you want? Wouldn’t it be nice to update certain information when you feel like it, e.g. services list?
With Evolution, you can enjoy the full control of what is happening to your business website. It is up to you to decide when your online business needs a slight rebranding or an intensive marketing campaign. Only you decide when to add certain content blocks to your online project. For example, this can be a description of a remarkable event, like opening a branch office, to your “About us” page. To cut the long story short, with Evolution you need no outsourcing to adjust your web project to your current needs.
And in case you have a question or two about Evolution, you can always rely on the 24/7 MotoCMS Technical Support Team. This team consists of top consultants. They all would be more than happy to offer an optimum solution to your issue in the twinkling of an eye.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/evolution-support.jpg" />
So, enjoy the carte blanche that MotoCMS gives you with Evolution! 
To help you with launching of your online business even more, MotoCMS prepared a special gift for the readers of this article – an exclusive 30% OFF promo code: cmscritic30. Use it on the checkout to <a href="http://www.motocms.com/website-templates/motocms-3-template/59995.html" target="_blank">get your Evolution with a personal discount just right now</a>.

Creating a Business Website Easy: Evolution from MotoCMS

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