Articles - Page 82

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

matt-garrepy

When it comes to marketing automation systems (MAS), there are <a href="/8-enterprise-marketing-automation-softwares-to-complement-your-cms/" target="_blank">plenty of options floating around for enterprises with big budgets</a>. Fortunately though, you don’t always get what you pay for in the world of software.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phone-793044_1280616x0-is.jpg" /> 
Breaking the bank for a fantastic MAS isn't a neccessity, because there are plenty of affordable and even totally free options out there — if you know where to look.
Take a look at these dozen options that are budget-friendly, user-friendly and offer features that can rival any marketing platform on the market.
<h2>1. SimplyCast</h2>
A marketing automation system rich with sophistication. Campaigns can be led even by those with minimal tech know-how.
Touted as a one-stop-shop marketing solution, SimplyCast offers personal profiles (and thus personal targeting), lead nurturing, A/B testing, API connection, a drag-and-drop interface, and much more. SimplyCast serves up a free version, while the lowest plan starts from just $499 per month.
<a href="http://www.simplycast.com/">Learn more about SimplyCast</a>.
<h2>2. Mautic </h2>
Prefer your marketing software to be open source? Look no further.
Mautic lets you decide between a free hosted account, or a downloaded version of their software which can be integrated with your existing website. In just three steps and five minutes, social media marketing becomes streamlined, leads are effortlessly tracked, and forms can be efficiently constructed, all with a MAS that’s totally customizable.
<a href="https://www.mautic.org">Learn more about Mautic</a>.
<h2>3. Customer.io</h2>
With customers like Shutterstock, Shopify and The Economist, Customer.io shot to fame by sending “human” messages to customers based on their behaviour on websites and apps.
Emails are sent when they’re most likely to be read, A/B testing is constant and it’s all about increasing the personal touch of a brand. Customer.io has a free plan, whereas paid plans start from just $50 per month.
<a href="http://www.Customer.io">Learn more about Customer.io</a>.
<h2>4. InTouch</h2>
Designed for smaller businesses, InTouch is a far cry from the gossip mag with the same name. It focuses largely on email marketing automation by utilizing web forms to snag leads.
Data mining is honed with automated follow-ups that are flawlessly timed. It’s used by companies such as Silicon Beach Business Angels and LinkedIn trainers. InTouch is available for free, with packages starting from under $20 per month.
<a href="http://www.intouchcrm.com/">Learn more about InTouch</a>.
<h2>5. Sales Autopilot</h2>
It does what it says on the tin. Sales Autopilot offers a free entry kit for small businesses with five modules that include email marketing, marketing on autopilot, e-commerce, multi-channel communication, and sales.
Customers like Rackspace, Amazon Web Services and PayPal have seen the use in its more advanced packages, making Sales Autopilot a solution for those in the big leagues, too.
<a href="http://www.salesautopilot.com/">Learn more about Sales Autopilot</a>.
<h2>6. Spokal</h2>
With a 14 day free trial, and a starter package at just $49 per month, Spokal is also popular with small to medium sized businesses.
This package requires a single user, and offers support for newer sites, startups and mom-and-pop joints. However, the pickings are far from slim. You’ll get options like rank tracking, social media analytics and sales lead notifications along with scores of other services.
<a href="http://www.getspokal.com/">Learn more about Spokal</a>.
<h2>7. Nurture</h2>
Nurture aims not just to identify and engage customers, but also to actually retain them for the long haul. Hence the name.
Surveys, smart segmentation, A/B testing, personalized conversations and “human touch” features are all bundled. Plus, Nurture can be configured to give real-time alerts for different triggers. Prices begin at $95 per month.
<a href="http://www.nurturehq.com/">Learn more about Nurture</a>.
<h2>8. Genoo</h2>
A playful name for a seriously sophisticated MAS.
Genoo has a 30-day free trial with standard plans from $199 per month. Yes, it’s a little costlier than some options, but still squarely in the low-cost category. Features include specialized WordPress integration (for existing WordPress websites), landing pages, email marketing, lead capture forms, as well as lead tracking and scoring.
<a href="http://www.genoo.com/">Learn more about Genoo</a>.
<h2>9. Leadsius </h2>
Another well known player in the world of marketing automation, Leadsius offers an “Always Free” option, with the next step up at $295 per month.
The platform is feature-rich thanks to complete lead management, contact databases, analytics as well as landing page and form building. Certainly a solid option for SMBs looking to get used to a proper, yet free MAS, before scaling up.
<a href="http://www.leadsius.com/">Learn more about Leadsius</a>.
<h2>10. Azuqua</h2>
Dun and Bradstreet, along with Hewlett Packard, are already using Azuqua for their marketing automation needs.
The platform comes with a cloud-native platform that’s fully integrated, and also offers solutions for professionals, enterprises and SaaS/IoT/data users. Prices are customizable yet competitive.
<a href="https://www.azuqua.com">Learn more about Azuqua</a>.
<h2>11. Jumplead </h2>
When you get a lead, you need to jump on it! Jumplead brings together lead tracking, email marketing, landing pages, analytics and more, all under the same roof. The platform boast a number of integration options, too.
Jumplead offers a free package called Explore, while the next step up, Solo, is just $49 per month. H Squared and Texoil are among Jumplead's clientele.
<a href="https://jumplead.com">Learn more about Jumplead</a>
<h2>12. Infusionsoft</h2>
InfusionSoft is a big player in the MAS industry, but their Essentials Package can be used for just $199 per month.
The CRM, sales and marketing suite gives small businesses full contact management and marketing automation suitable for ambitious organizations. More than 30,000 businesses benefit from InfusionSoft, including Mint Social.
<a href="http://www.infusionsoft.com/">Learn more about Infusionsoft</a>.
<h2>Marketing at a Steal</h2>
Who said marketing campaigns need monster budgets? There twelve solutions above prove that it's more about elbow grease than it is wallet size.
What are your marketing, engagement, and customer experience must-haves? Let us know in the comments below.

12 Free or Super Cheap Marketing Automation Systems

mike-johnston

It is with great pleasure that we announce the Third Annual Critics' Choice Awards will begin on June 15, 2014!  We have a host of new categories this year that will be announced on our awards site, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/">cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/</a> early next week so be sure to stay tuned for more details on that.
For those who are interested in trying to get nominations once they open on the 15th, use this handy badge and point your users to <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/">https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/</a> which is where the nomination forms will be posted on launch date (again, this is June 15).
Here are two versions of the nomination badge for you to use on your site if you wish to do so:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nominate_us.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nominate-us.png" />
Thanks and good luck to all!

Preparing for the Nomination stage - Critics' Choice CMS Awards

When it comes to selecting a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/cms-features?utm_medium=onsite&amp;utm_source=CMSwire&amp;utm_campaign=productpage&amp;utm_cid=70134000001AwxI">Web CMS</a>. (Web Content Management System) for your organization, there is no one right choice – but there is a lot that you need to consider.As a leader responsible for driving technical decisions, my advice is to focus on engaging your line-of-business managers and help clarify their business objectives, requirements, processes, and activities. Then, you can start thinking about your CMS.Recognize that how you manage content through all your channels is essential to determining how your organization functions. Continuously iterate between investments in content technologies on the one hand and efforts to improve operational activities that create competitive advantage on the other.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/select-cms_instagram-1080x1080435x0-is.png" />A Web CMS should make it easy for non-technical staffers to manage content on their own, without requiring IT support for day-to-day activities. But the underlying business problems and the nature of day-to-day activities are steadily changing. Here below are few tips to guide you in the selection of the right Web CMS solution that will suit to your needs.For more information about this topic you can also download the following <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/resources/whitepapers/a-buyers-guide-to-web-cms/view/whitepaper?utm_medium=onsite&amp;utm_source=CMSwire&amp;utm_campaign=productpage&amp;utm_cid=70134000001AwxI">eBook: A Buyer's Guide To Web CMS</a>.<h2>A Good CMS is Good For Business</h2>A Web CMS makes it easier for you to create, manage and maintain your website content. Let’s consider important reasons to manage your website using a Web CMS:<ul><li>Enable business users to manage and update site content.: A Web CMS helps you build and manage your website efficiently. With a user interface that’s simple for non-technical users, website updates are a cinch.</li><li>Protect your site against unauthorized or unintentional changes: A Web CMS includes security features that make your website less vulnerable to password compromises and security attacks. In addition, you can assign roles across the organization to segment who can update particular sections of your site. This prevents unauthorized or unintentional content updates.</li><li>Make your site run faster: A Web CMS can improve the performance of your website by optimizing</li><li>the way pages load and by using web farms to distribute requests to a pool of web servers.</li><li>Drive more organic traffic to your site: By providing tools for automated re-directs and advanced URL management, a Web CMS can drive more traffic to your website from search engines. Now that we’ve covered some of the benefits of a CMS, let’s consider how you can choose one that’s best suited to your organization’s needs.</li></ul><h2>How to Choose a CMS</h2>Choosing a Web CMS is a big decision. It’s critical to look for and understand the essential features that will address your business needs now and in the future.These essential features just below provide you with details of what to expect from a (good) content management system, beginning with baseline features and progressing to advanced features. But, if you need a closer look at each feature, download <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/resources/whitepapers/a-buyers-guide-to-web-cms/view/whitepaper?utm_medium=onsite&amp;utm_source=CMSwire&amp;utm_campaign=productpage&amp;utm_cid=70134000001AwxI">this guide</a>.<h2>The Essential Features of a CMS (From Basic to Advanced)</h2>Whether you need a brand new content management system, a more scalable system for your growing business, or are replacing a solution that no longer meets your needs, be on the lookout for these essential features:<ol><li>Ease of use: A Web CMS should offer design flexibility and allow content contributors to manage and customize the look and feel of pages, without specialized programming or design expertise.</li><li>Mobile readiness: It’s a fact of life, visitors are viewing your website from a mobile device. Select a Web CMS that provides tools and capabilities to create valuable experiences for mobile users.</li><li>Granular permissions and workflow: Creating, managing, editing, and auditing content is a continual process, so any Web CMS should provide several, easy-to-use content management capabilities, such as creating work ows for content staging and approvals.</li><li>Easy-to-use templates: A CMS should offer “templating” capabilities so you can create and easily duplicate content, as well as structural details such as page layouts.</li><li>Scalability and performance: Your Web CMS needs to load pages quickly and maintain high performance as the site grows.</li><li>Strong SEO and on-site search: Look for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools, so that your pages rank well in search engines, and a good site search feature to help visitors nd what they’re looking for.</li><li>Flexible delivery options: Select a Web CMS that can be deployed on on-premises or in the cloud.</li><li>Extensive service and support: Carefully evaluate the vendor’s service and support options to ensure that they meet your needs.</li></ol><h2>Make An Informed Choice</h2>When selecting the right Web CMS for your organization, there is no getting away from your history. Rarely are you going to be starting with a blank slate.You need to determine what’s working, what’s not working, and what needs to be fixed. Take stock of your existing IT investments and leverage what you already have in place.Remember you are on a journey. As a leader, be strategic in your recommendations and decision-making by optimizing for the best long-term fit. And, here is another eBook, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/resources/whitepapers/web-cms-selection-how-to-go-from-shortlist-to-final-selection/view/whitepaper?utm_medium=onsite&amp;utm_source=CMSwire&amp;utm_campaign=productpage&amp;utm_cid=70134000001AwxI">Web CMS Selection: How To Go From Short List To Final Selection</a>,that breaks down the selection process for both IT and business users and show you how to make the decision as a team.At DNN we provide a suite of solutions for creating rich, rewarding online experiences for customers, partners, and employees. DNN products and technology are the foundation for 750,000+ websites worldwide. In addition to our commercial CMS and social community solutions, DNN is the steward of the DNN Platform Open Source Project.To learn more about EVOQ Web CMS solution <a href="/contact">contact us</a> and we will help you achieve your business goal.

How To Choose a CMS: A Simple Guide

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.acquia.com/">Acquia</a>, the digital experience company, has announced the availability of Drupal 8 on its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/products-services/acquia-platform">Acquia Platform</a>, the renowned cloud solution for unifying content, community, and commerce.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/drupal8-logo-full-shadow.png" /> With digital experiences becoming more and more reliant on mobile, apps and IoTs, the need to provide relevant, consistent, and personalized experiences is paramount. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.acquia.com/drupal-8">With Drupal 8 under its arm</a>, Acquia are hoping to give brands the power to meet those demands.You don't have to take my word for it though. Dries Buytaert, Drupal's founder and Acquia co-founder and CTO, made this bold statement regarding the news:<blockquote>“I believe the combination of Acquia and Drupal 8 delivers the most important advance in the delivery of digital experiences the market will see in the next 10 years.Drupal 8 breaks the mold for dated content management models and liberates content from the page for the post-browser era. Now we have the power to deliver the right content, to the right audience, at the right time, on the right device.”</blockquote><h2>200+ Breakthrough Capabilities</h2>Many users from the Acquia community will have been waiting for this announcement with baited breath. Mainly because of the exciting prospect of combining Acquia with the most powerful form of Drupal to date.In fact, Drupal 8 serves up 200 breakthrough new capabilities, including:● Re-imagined authoring experience. Drupal 8 provides a new content authoring experience, designed to help authors quickly and easily create content.● Mobile-first. The entire Drupal 8 user interface has been made responsive, allowing content authors to publish content on any device.● Content as a service. Drupal 8 provides an API approach to content delivery, allowing content to be made available everywhere, including websites, mobile devices, native applications, digital screens, and the Internet of Things.● Simplified deployment. Drupal 8 incorporates many of the most widely deployed modules from previous versions of Drupal into its core, speeding time to web for site builders.● Multilingual support. Drupal 8 automatically downloads language translations in more than 100 languages, and provides enhanced support for managing global sites.● Developer productivity. Drupal 8 provides extensive enhancements for developers, including RESTful APIs, object-oriented development, simplified configuration management, improved unit testing support, and more.● Improved performance. Drupal 8 includes caching improvements that speed the delivery of personalized, dynamic content.Acquia's CEO, Tom Erickson, made these comments upon the announcement:<blockquote>“Our customers expect us to keep them at the forefront of digital transformation. Drupal 8 on the Acquia Platform provides broader capabilities for both simple and complex sites than any other alternative.Though Drupal 8 is still in beta, our team is focused on mitigating any and all risks with using it. We’ve helped many organizations go live already on Drupal 8 with the careful guidance of our expert developers and security specialists. We will be assisting with resolving key issues in our customer projects, ensuring their success as we have for the thousands of existing customers we have.”</blockquote><h2>“Drupal 8 For Our Future”</h2>Without doubt, Acquia has been the largest contributor to the development of Drupal 8, through release management, performance improvements, and sponsorship of key events.To further push their efforts, Acquia has embarked on a program called “Drupal 8 for our Future,” which is made up of the following initiatives:● Sponsorship and curriculum-creation support for programs such as STEM Fuse, which brings Drupal education to high school students nationwide, and 50 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.acquia.com%2Fabout-us%2Fnewsroom%2Fcoverage%2Fostraining-release-free-drupal-8-beginner-training-july-june-25-2015&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNH6j_dKzkwI0KvIY4Eh7rAsomKNhw">OSTraining Drupal 8 courses</a> that will be made available on Acquia Cloud Free for anyone in July 2015.● The creation of our own public Learning Management System for Drupal 8 training.● <a target="_blank" href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fu.acquia.com%2F&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNE6X4mfkyDEjBq8sF3O8yQXDw_1OA">Acquia U</a>, a 14-week paid intensive training program that creates Drupal developers.Acquia is also offering enablement and training based on role and previous technical experience. The Drupal 8 Readiness Workshop assesses the current state of Drupal sites and lends Acquia expertise to the creation of a Drupal 8 projects.Organizations can get started Drupal 8 on the Acquia Platform today by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.acquia.com/drupal-8">visiting the Acquia website</a>.Our CMS Directory can also be used to explore both <a href="/products/acquia">Acquia</a> and <a href="/products/drupal">Drupal</a>.

Drupal 8 Now Available on the Acquia Platform

Elementor Page Builder deservedly has won its popularity among customers on the web space. Not so long ago, this builder came up on the market showing up a new simple way of building great websites.
First things first, this builder is pretty much faster than others. That is why you enjoy real-time results from instant. Besides its simplicity, this builder comes as a truly open source solution that allows you to take a total control over your layouts. Moreover, Elementor has a plenty of handy widgets for even more enjoyable site’s building process.
Therefore, we decided to show you some great themes that have this page builder as a foundation. So, you could create a valuable website even without any professional skills. By the way, if you are a true Elementor-lover, feel free to go to the <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/elementor-marketplace/?aff=cmscritic">Elementor Marketplace</a>. There you will find a huge variety of different plugins, templates, whatever, to make your web project even more perfect.
<div>
<h2>24.Storcycle – Multipurpose News Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/69580-big-1_sk3avq.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/24-storycle-blog-multipurpose.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritics&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/69580.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritics&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
Being a great theme for various news and blog portals, it has a truly mobile-friendly design, multiple customization options, and a hassle-free installation. Here you get a plenty of good-looking demos that will help any blog &amp; news project look gorgeous. Premium site layouts, Jet Plugins package, header &amp; footer builder, and many other features are waiting for you in this theme.
<h2>JohnyGo – Multipurpose Home Services Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/62555-big-2_kkvdny.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/johnnygo.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/62555.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
This multifunctional template has over 15 perfectly suitable demos for any kind of business you have. So, whether you have dry cleaning, garbage removal, welding, window cleaning, or any other kind of home service, this Elementor theme will help you to create a professional-looking website. Also, here you get a powerful WooCommerce package, which allows you to turn your site into a great money-making machine!
<h2>Projexon – Construction Company Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/67927-big-1_naiqag.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/projexon-bright-construction-complany-wordpress-theme-67927.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/67927.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
It is a fully responsive WordPress theme that was designed for construction business niche. It comes with a pleasant look, simple documentation, friendly support, and tons of captivating pages for all occasions. Customize your homepage, add the whole range of your services, show up the team of your professionals, run an existing blog, and promote your company on the fly!
<h2>FrameMe – Photo Studio Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/66179-big-1_dzij49.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/frameme-photography-studio-wordpress-theme-66179.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/66179.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
Looking for a gorgeous theme for your photography studio? Try FrameMe! This is a high-productive photography WordPress theme with a truly stunning design and an advanced functionality! Thanks to its fully responsive nature, your future photo website will have a solid look not only on PC’s and tablets but also on various mobile devices. FrameMe is a great theme that will help you to present your photo studio as a pro.
<h2>Forceair – Air Conditioner Services Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/64814-big-2_ovospk.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/64814.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/64814.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
Forceair theme comes with an enhanced functionality and a wide range of effective UI elements. It has an intuitive mobile-friendly nature, versatile header &amp; footer styles, over 30 cool widgets for building pages, pleasant color schemes, and even more! This theme is pre-loaded with a clean code, hassle-free documentation, and a friendly lifetime support.
<h2>Grafique – Architecture Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/66049-big-2_in7vbg.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/grafique-architect-wordpress-theme-66049.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/66049.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
If you need a modern template with an elegant look to boost your architect project, this responsive and SEO-friendly template with Retina-ready visuals is your match. Choose from a diversity of header and footer styles, blog layouts, widgets, post formats, and more. This theme has everything you need for building a proper architect website.
<h2>ExtraOrdinarz – Advertising Agency Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/66888-big-1_fwh74l.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/extraordinarz-advertising-agency-wordpress-theme-66888.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/66888.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
Are you fond of professional advertising? If yes, this well-documented advertising agency WordPress theme is for you! Built with WordPress Live Customizer, it allows you to manage your site’s settings without reloading the page. To say more, it has a first-class minimalist design that is perfect for your kind of business. ExtraOrdinarz theme is pre-loaded with a plenty of well-designed modules and widgets. Therefore, you will create a profitable website in hours, not in days.
<h2>Digitallium – Analysts Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/66957-big-1_wgxwt1.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/digitalium-marketing-agency-wordpress-theme-66957.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/66957.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
This marketing agency theme will help you to get started working on your website on the fly thanks to its simple documentation and one-click installation process. Here you get a variety of Cherry plugins that will help you to showcase your services and team members, to add effective popups to your website, and even more! Digitallium theme boasts multiple header &amp; footer styles, various blog layouts, a diversity of Google web fonts, and a lot of outstanding plugins. It is just your best way to launch a high-profitable marketing website!
<h2>Kiddlez – Primary School Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/67321-big-1_fbj1em.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/kiddlez-primary-school-responsive-wordpress-theme-67321.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/67321.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
Looking for the best theme to promote your primary school? There is a solution! Meet this fully responsive, SEO-friendly, and well-designed Kiddlez! This theme comes with a bright variety of additional pages. Therefore, feel free to add all the necessary information about your school and to present the content in a catchy manner. Being WPML ready, it is pre-loaded with Jet Elements plugin, which will enhance your website with tons of useful features. In addition, Kiddlez theme has an effective 24/7 support.
<h2>Edem – Spa Resort Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/67555-big-1_hfbppg.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/edem-sophisticated-beauty-salon-wordpress-theme-67555.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/67555.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
It is a fabulous spa center theme that was carefully crafted to help you stand out in a beauty industry. This theme has a stunning design with captivating backgrounds and pleasant tones. Moreover, Edem template is truly intuitive and boasts multiple custom widgets, different headers and footers, a rich color palette, and many other features. Being Ecwid-ready, this theme allows you to launch a cool e-store on your website and to sell online with no effort!
These 10 pre-made bestsellers cover a plenty of business niches. That’s why we are sure that everyone will find a favorable theme in this showcase. Notice, that all templates here come with revolutionary Elementor Page builder and Jet Elements plugin. These two features together provide you with all possible customization options that you might need while building your site. Also, each theme has many unique features up to its design and purpose.
What do you think about Elementor Page builder? Have you already tried it? What is the most suitable Elementor theme for you? We are always glad to see your opinion in the comments!
</div>

10 Best Selling Elementor Themes for Building Your Business Booster

Being able to monitor and study the behaviour of your website visitors is vital – and with Squarespace analytics, you can do just that.
In short, analytics help you to understand your visitors, allowing you to cater to their needs. By knowing where your visitors came from, which pages they’re visiting, and which devices they’re using, you can make better informed marketing decisions.
So, let’s take a look at just how well “Squarespace Activity” – Squarespace's built-in analytics tool – presents you with the data you need.
<h2>Squarespace Analytics: Just How Useful Is It?</h2>
To access Squarespace analytics, you only need to head over to the Activity section , which is located on the left-hand sidebar on the Squarespace admin panel.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
The Activity section holds all of the Squarespace analytics options, and the best part is, there’s nothing extra to configure or install. Squarespace does everything for you.
Within the Activity section is seven further sections which give you a break down of your websites stats. Let’s take a look at these sections individually.
<h3>Traffic Overview</h3>
One of the most important sections of Squarespace analytics is Traffic Overview. Within it is an easy to follow graph, which enables you to monitor the amount of visitors your website has been receiving over hourly, daily weekly and monthly periods.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
Further figures indicate Page Views and Visitor Counts, which include both unique and robot hits. Squarespace compute these statistics every few minutes to give you a real-time view of your numbers.
<h3>Mobile Usage</h3>
It’s important to know which devices your visitors are using, so you can ensure that your website is looking as it should for those who frequent it. To help out, Squarespace enables you to check the number of visitors using either desktops or mobile devices via a graph.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
Once again, Squarespace gives you a very useful hourly, daily, weekly and monthly breakdown of which devices your visitors are using.
<h3>Subscribers</h3>
Squarespace also provides accurate RSS subscriber figures as well as a breakdown of where your RSS subscribers are coming from. The figures displayed are estimates of the number of unique active subscribers you have from each RSS feed on your website.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/4700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
These figures are presented on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, helping you to keep track of your subscribers over both long and short periods of time. Once again, a simple graphs is used to illustrate the figures.
<h3>Referrers</h3>
Knowing where visitors are coming from is important, and Squarespace recognizes this by providing detailed referral metrics. Using this section of Squarespace analytics, you can see how many visitors came to your website directly, as well as how many came through Google, Facebook, Twitter and so forth.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/5700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
These metrics can be viewed on a daily basis, two daily basis, three daily basis as well as on a weekly and monthly basis. This time, an easy to understand coloured pie chart helps keep things simple.
<h3>Popular Content</h3>
Using Squarespace analytics, you can also check which pages on your website are receiving most traffic.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/6700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
Once again, these stats are presented on a daily basis, two daily basis, three daily basis as well as on a weekly and monthly basis. A coloured pie chart is used again also, giving you a concise overview of the popularity of each page on your website.
<h3>Search Queries</h3>
You can also monitor search engine queries via the search queries section on the Activity page. This allows you to see how your content is being found in search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/7700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
The coloured pie chart makes another appearance, along with options to view the stats on a daily, two daily and three daily basis, as well as on a weekly and monthly basis. The same list of keywords are then displayed in a list below the chart for further analysis.
<h3>Detailed Activity</h3>
Finally, Detailed Activity allows you to view specific visitor and visit details.These details include the IP address of each visitor, the pages they visited, and the exact time in which their visit began.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/8700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
These detailed activity facts are ideal for tracking and monitoring individual visitors. A handy search bar even enables you to locate certain IP addresses. Unfortunately though – unlike the other Squarespace analytics sections – there are no time-based filtering options.
<h2>The Verdict</h2>
To give you an overview of the good and bad which 3dcart has to offer, check out the pros and cons below.
<h4>Pros</h4>
<ul>
<li>No configuration needed, Squarespace Analytics just works.</li>
<li>Graphs, charts and lists keep stats and facts neat, tidy and easy to understand.</li>
<li>Nice range of time filtering options within most sections which help you analyse data better.</li>
<li>Seven different sections dedicated to certain statistical data sets makes it easier to focus on certain stats.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Cons</h4>
<ul>
<li>Mobile Usage section doesn’t tell you which mobile devices in particular are being used.</li>
<li>Detailed Activity section isn’t as detailed as it could be, with no time filtering options.</li>
</ul>
Overall, Squarespace analytics gives you a highly impressive overview of your website’s statistics.
Because Squarespace have laid these facts and figures out so neatly throughout every section, you can come to a wide range of conclusions regarding your visitors extremely easily.
It could be argued that the lack of a time-based filter on the Detailed Activity page is a possible flaw – although the sheer usefulness and user friendliness of the other sections far outweigh this minor issue. So, the Squarespace analytics section definitely gets a thumbs up from us.
For further detail on Squarespace, check out our full <a href="/squarespace-review-the-long-awaited-commerce-solution/" target="_blank">Squarespace Review</a>. Also, you can explore more of <a href="/products/squarespace/" target="_blank">Squarespace via our CMS Directory</a>.
You can also start your <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/templates">14-day free trial of Squarespace</a> today.

How Useful is Squarespace as an Analytics Tool?

As <a href="/prestashop-1-6-1-released-with-performance-improvements-back-office-facelift/">PrestaShop continues to evolve</a>, I was fortunate enough to ask their Director of Product Marketing, Sabrina Marechal, a few questions regarding the platform's outlook on user experience.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gi_149548_vertical-logo-2015.png" /> With the release of <a href="/hands-on-with-prestashop-1-6/">Prestashop 1.6</a> and <a href="/prestashop-cloud-review/">PrestaShop Cloud</a>, the Paris-based eCommerce platform has reached new heights. Corners have been turned, and innovative ideas have been successfully implemented.This interview is part one of a three-part interview series. So, be sure to come back and catch the rest of my conversation with Sabrina Marechal!<h2>Introducing Sabrina Marechal</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sabrina2250x0.jpg" alt="Sabrina Marechal" />Sabrina Marechal joined the PrestaShop team back in November 2007 as a Communications specialist.As PrestaShop expanded, she built a Marketing and Communications department within the company gathering 20+ team members. By early 2011, Sabrina has moved to PrestaShop's US office in order to create a Marketing Department responsible for PrestaShop's expansion in the Americas.Today, with a fully cross-border Marketing team, Sabrina now focuses on expanding the platform's area of Product Marketing.<h2>The Interview</h2> KI: With the release of PrestaShop Cloud, the PrestaShop website was revamped. Can you tell us a little bit about how the current design compares to the previous design? What was the general thinking and reasoning behind re-designing the website from scratch?SM: PrestaShop Cloud is a very important step forward for us because it signifies a new approach to ecommerce. Our goal has always been to make ecommerce accessible to everyone. Thus far, we’ve had a product that limited financial barriers. PrestaShop Cloud helps us achieve even more by also removing the technical barriers associated with launching an online shop.Our new website design mirrors that approach. We completely redesigned the website with our merchants in mind, making the entire more user-centric when compared to our previously company-centric design. We put ourselves into our visitors and users’ shoes to reorganize the pages and make it simple to find what they’re looking for.KI: PrestaShop has a “Back Office” and a “Front office”. Can you explain the core functions of these two areas?SM: Sure! The “Back Office” is the admin panel of the store, much like the mission control center is for NASA. It’s where merchants manage all aspects of their business, the product catalog, orders, customers, inventory levels and statistics. It gives a complete overview of the shop’s performance in real time.The “Front Office” is an online shop’s storefront, it’s where visitors can browse products and place their orders. It’s crucial part of the website, because it’s how our merchants drive conversions. Since v1.6, we implemented best practices for better navigation and conversion, such as quick view, cross selling embedded in the “Add to cart” pop in, as well as a fully mobile-responsive design that allows customers to shop from any device.KI: For most merchants and CMS users choosing their platform of choice, having a user friendly admin dashboard is key. What are the main strengths of PrestaShop's Back Office when it comes to being user friendly?SM: In v1.6, we put an emphasis on two key changes, statistics and mobile-responsiveness. Our merchants wanted access to data about their shop, so they know exactly how it is performing. Aside from adding dashboard that provides an overview of a shop’s performance, we also added key stats in areas where they are most needed.And of course our mobile responsive design, makes it possible for merchants to run their shop on the go! However, my favorite feature is the global back office search. From products to its features and even software settings, type it into the search bar, and you’ll be able to find it.KI: Is there a desire to expand the Front Office with even more functionality, or is there a conscious effort there to keep PrestaShop from becoming too website-builder-esque?SM: In everything we do, the merchant is always our focus. We want to offer users everything they need to sell online successfully, it’s why we interact with our Community (merchants, developers and agencies) and test new ideas via our User Club.Ecommerce is our core and we plan to stay committed to that, even as we develop connectors to external features and services. For example, merchants wanted to connect their store to a blog, to drive more traffic and improve their SEO. So, we developed a WordPress blog module that integrates into their PrestaShop store.With our Community’s help (developing 3rd party modules), we can easily expand Front Office functions with as many services and platforms as possible. It’s one of the many benefits of being an Open source and modular based software.KI: Finally, in terms of user experience for PrestaShop users themselves, is there anything in the pipeline for PrestaShop which users may be seeing sooner rather than later?SM: Right now, our Product Team is focused on improving the back-office, by making it simpler and faster to launch your shop with PrestaShop and manage your business day to day.The onboarding is a very important part of the user experience and we need to introduce new merchants all the features so they can succeed. You’ll see some very nice improvements to the admin panel later this year!Find out more about <a href="/products/prestashop">PrestaShop through our CMS Directory</a>.

The PrestaShop User Experience: An Interview With Sabrina Marechal

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Spot what confuses your users with Hotjar & AI

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After discussing the many ways in which <a href="/6-ways-magnolia-cms-makes-content-creation-easy/"> Magnolia CMS makes things like content creation easy</a>, it's time to focus in on one of these features in particular – Magnolia Apps.
Magnolia Apps allow you to focus on one particular task at a time. Apps come in a variety of forms. Magnolia CMS is shipped with Apps like Pages, Assets and Contacts – but the true potential of Magnolia Apps as a whole lies within the Magnolia community.
Using <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/App+framework"> Magnolia's App framework</a>, individuals and enterprises alike can create Magnolia Apps of all types, with the option to share them with the Magnolia community. So, with a little imagination, the Magnolia community can produce all kinds of different Apps at will.
Since that's the case, lets take a look at some of the most important guidelines for building Magnolia Apps.
<h2>Choose the Right App Type</h2>
Magnolia's App framework provides ready-made App types, giving your App some functionality right out of the box.
There are two App frameworks available; the Content App and the Custom App. Both of App types have their differences, and so it’s vital that you select the best option for your App.
Here is a quick breakdown of both App types.
<h3> Magnolia Content Apps </h3>
A content App is a specialized App type that manages custom data sets. The content App provides a user interface that consists of a browser subapp and a detail subapp.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnew700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" /> 
Content Apps make it easy to organize items such as contacts or products. Many native Magnolia 5 Apps such as “Pages” and “Contacts” are good examples of content Apps. Because this App style is used often, the framework provides convenience classes to make building a content App faster.
<h3> Magnolia Custom Apps </h3>
If you need to implement things like graphs or charts into your App, you will find the content App framework is too rigid. Instead, you can use a custom App.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnew2700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" />
A custom App is also the right choice building certain types of simple Apps, such as displaying some system information or providing a simple configuration tool. However, while you can still configure a lot right out of the box, you will need to write custom App program code yourself. So, if you need flexibility to build your App, selecting a custom App type would be the right choice.
Find out more about <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Choose+the+right+app+type"> choosing Magnolia App types</a>.
<h2>Highlight Important Actions &amp; Features</h2>
An App’s user friendliness is hugely important, so your App’s most commonly used features should be easy for the user to see and select.
With Magnolia 5, the action bar – the grey menu found on the right-hand side of App interfaces – holds all the key features and functions. It’s wise to organise these features in a way which is helpful to the user.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag2.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" /> 
One simple yet effective way to achieve user friendliness in this sense, is to put commonly used actions at the top of the action bar. If they are to be used often, they must be available quickly.
Also, constructive options such as “Add Page” should be placed above destructive actions such as “Delete Page”.
Find out more about <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Make+important+actions+quick+to+pick"> how to highlight important actions</a>.
<h2>Give Users a Full Screen Option</h2>
Sometimes, users want to minimize distractions and focus in on certain tasks. Giving your App full screen functionality allows that to happen.
For example, writing site copy is creative work that requires concentration. Magnolia’s rich text editor helps the publisher in this case, by expanding to cover the entire dialogue width and height. This leaves only the white canvas in focus, allowing the text to take centre stage.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag3700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" /> 
Users will also benefit from a full screen mode when working on tasks which require long periods of time to complete. After all, nobody enjoys spending hours working within a small windowed interface.
Find out more about <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Allow+users+to+go+full+screen"> full screen Magnolia Apps</a>.
<h2>Take Care With Colors</h2>
Within the Magnolia App Launcher page, Apps which have something in common are grouped together as boxes, with colours helping to differentiate them.
Each App group box can be assigned a specific color, and those colors have a big impact on the way users first experience Apps. Poor color contrast in the App group can make an otherwise great App appear unprofessional.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag5700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" />
For example, white text on a yellow background is a colour pairing which you should avoid, as such colors make text difficult to read.
Instead, opt for safer colours like red or dark purple which won’t clash with text or other page elements.
Find out more about <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Choose+a+safe+app+group+color"> selecting safe Magnolia App colors</a>.
<h2>Don’t Forget About Mobile Devices</h2>
Magnolia 5 is a <a href="/magnolia-the-worlds-first-mobile-optimized-cms/"> mobile-optimized content management system</a>, which is something you should consider when you design your App.
Providing the same functionality for both tablet and desktop users is therefore important, although there will always be slight differences in the user’s experience.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag4.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" /> 
For example, only the first action in an action group is displayed right away on tablets via the action bar. The remaining actions are displayed only after a long press. Make sure that the first action in every group is an action that users need often.
Other useful differences, however, such as drag and drop functionality, can actually improve tablet user experiences, so use such features well.
Find out more about <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Be+a+good+tablet+citizen">designing Magnolia Apps for mobile devices</a>.
Using these simple practices as a guideline, you can create some truly excellent Magnolia Apps that are not just useful, but also user-friendly.
For even more guidelines on how to create a brilliant Magnolia App, check out <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Designing+an+app"> Magnolia's “Designing an App” guide</a>.
Also, be sure to check out <a href="/products/magnolia-cms/"> Magnolia CMS via our CMS Directory</a>.

The Best Practices for Designing a Magnolia App

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ian_truscott_crop1_200px_high.jpg" />As you may have heard, SDL recently <a href="http://www.sdl.com/aboutus/news/pressreleases/2013/sdl-acquires-bemoko-and-extends-leadership-in-customer-experience-management-offering.html">acquired mobile web solutions provider Bemoko</a> to enhance their Tridion content management system. To help us understand what it was that made this acquisition attractive to SDL, we decided to speak with VP of Product Marketing for SDL Content Management Technologies Division, Ian Truscott.
Why did SDL feel it was necessary to purchase bemoko as opposed to implementing their own solution?
 Good question. SDL already has a strong track record of customers using Tridion to deliver content to mobile devices.
In addition to the underlying platform capability to do that, we have been investing in a product strategy to deliver this single, multi-channel delivery tier for some time. For example, the 2011 product release included functionality that enabled the content author to preview and then edit in context content as it appeared on a selected mobile device – so this was our trajectory, toward a single multi-channel delivery tier.
What we found in bemoko was a complimentary technology that will accelerate the realization of that underlying strategy. We are probably best known for the strength of our content model (managing content variants, multiple sites and channel localization through the BluePrinting model) and we found that the way bemoko manages devices is very complimentary to that.
That complimentary fit was essential for us; our strategy dictated a single delivery tier – I refer to this as an experience tier – rather than a bolt on capability, a silo of technology/content or an additional thing for our customers to figure out.
In addition, an acquisition obviously brings talent to the organization – and in this case we have acquired some outstanding individuals that will be a key part of delivering this strategy.
Why bemoko specifically?
Our research revealed what I think most people assume about this space, there are a lot of niche players. What we found during that research was a wide variance in what mobile vendors offered in terms of the product/services mix.
As I touched on in your last question we needed technology that had a level of maturity that would accelerate our own strategy and people that would contribute and fit into the SDL culture. In the UK we have a saying that” you are judged by the company you keep” and in bemoko we found they kept pretty good company as a technology provider for brands such as Pizza Hut and Cable &amp; Wireless.
What does this new offering bring to SDL’s current feature set?
Put simply, on day one, it gives our customers an “out of the box” delivery platform that renders content optimized for the device (from a trusted partner with an investment in the integration) and analytics to provide insight into that experience.
Of course they all say that – so I think some of the highlights are the way it handles image scaling (something often forgotten in responsive design strategies), the way it manages device families, inheritance of capabilities and a focus on salability and security – all consistent with the needs of a typical enterprise Tridion customer.
That’s just day one – going forward – and this will start in our next major Tridion release at the end of this year – these capabilities will be baked into our next generation content delivery platform. A delivery platform that already includes the targeting and personalization functionality we have built or acquired through the FredHopper and Alterian acquisitions.
Can we expect mobile apps from SDL in the future that coexist with / allow interaction with the CMS?
This was already happening thorough our UX development strategy; significant parts of the product are already optimized for touch and this will continue. We anticipate a growing number of our users to be using mobile devices to contribute and manage content.
Will bemoko continue to operate under the bemoko name or will they disappear and become absorbed by SDL instead?
I think the rest of my answers give you a sense of the nature of this acquisition; we see the technology from bemoko in the core of our next generation content delivery platform – rather than as a bolt on.
What other future opportunities does this acquisition present for SDL?
Talking to our customers, they are moving from mobile being a side project, limited to some brands, markets, products or services – a content/technology silo – to being a part of their mainstream content and marketing operations. This obviously coincides with how their customers are engaging with them – access to the web is ubiquitous as we reach for whatever device comes to hand.
We therefore perceive a future for digital customer experience that is omni-channel, not simply that you can blast your content out and it looks pretty on a smaller screen – but that as a consumer you can move between digital touch points and maintain a consistency of conversation from device to device during that engagement – something that leverages all of the pieces of the CXM platform that we are building out.
Does this round out all of the necessary pieces that SDL needs to provide a solid solution for the consumer or are there still other pieces of the pie that you are looking to fill?
That depends on the pie! Joking aside, it really does depend on what is the customers need and therefore what would make up a solid solution for them. If we ring fence this conversation around the mobile web, then yes.
—end–
So there you have it. I fully expect we'll see more and more acquisitions coming down the pipeline involving other vendors within the next year or so as they scramble to ensure their products are mobile ready.
For more info, visit SDL online at <a href="http://www.sdl.com/products/tridion/">www.sdl.com/products/tridion/</a>

Interview with Ian Truscott of SDL about the Bemoko Acquisition

As a business owner, the most important technology you will use for your website is the Content Management System (CMS), which is the system you will use to create, manage, and edit the content that is on your website. It’s what gives you control over your website.
The best types of CMS are able to accommodate necessary updates in a timely manner, as well as the management of the entire website without you requiring help from an outside source.
Without a CMS in place, you will need to rely solely on your website developer to make any content adjustments to your website. This can create massive roadblocks, as you do not have control over your own website and cannot make the changes as you need them, when you need them.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-website-builders/">There are plenty of content management systems </a>available, depending on the purpose of your website, your needs, budget, and the platform you’ve chosen. It can be daunting to narrow your options down enough to pick one, but the following checklist will help you make that decision and pick the CMS that will best fit your brand, organization, and needs.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/macbook-laptop-ipad-apple-38519.jpeg" alt="apple, business, computer" />
<h2>Picking the Right CMS for Your Website</h2>
The right content management system depends on your needs and your budget. Go through the list of features outlined in this section, and then narrow your choices based on that.
If you’re working with a web developer, ask them which CMS they will be using for your website. If you’re using it on your own, request a demo from the vendor. Most of them will offer a free trial, so you can get a feel for the platform and determine if it’s the best choice for you.
<h3>1 . Is the CMS easy to use?</h3>
The more popular platforms boast complete ease-of-use, and many of them make it possible for website owners to use them without having to have advanced technical knowledge, like coding. <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/weebly">Weebly</a> and Strikingly are examples of user-friendly platforms that don’t require much technical knowledge.
You want to make sure the content management system you choose makes it easy to upload and update text, add images and video, insert links, and make other content updates. It should be easy to add, customize, or remove web pages.
Your CMS should be intuitive and user-friendly for both your most tech-savvy and least tech-savvy members of your staff. If it’s just you, you want to make sure you can use it quickly and without frustration, so you can concentrate the majority of your efforts on other aspects of the business and its marketing.
<h3>2 . Is the CMS SEO-friendly?</h3>
It won’t do you a single bit of good to purchase a CMS that adversely affects your search engine optimization efforts or your rankings.
You want to check out SEO-related features, such as:
<ul>
<li>How does the platform go about creating new URLs?
<ul>
<li>The URLs should show up as: www.thisisanexample.com/page/subpage , rather than gibberish–www.thisisanexample.com/page123wasd_12?id=xyz .</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Does the platform allow users to write unique titles and page descriptions?</li>
<li>Does the CMS come with or integrate any SEO tools?
<ul>
<li>The vast majority of CMS have plugins or extensions that allow the user to fully manage the website’s SEO, including page descriptions, titles, etc. Some platforms handle the technical SEO aspects for you.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>3 . Is the CMS within your budget?</h3>
Most content management system vendors will have the prices and packages listed on their websites, but there may be additional costs that need to be considered.
Some CMS have licensing fees, such as a one-time fee for purchasing the software license. Others have fees for updating, upgrading, or adding extensions / plugins.
When considering a CMS, ask the vendor what all of the fees are.
<h3>4 . How secure is the CMS platform?</h3>
Content management systems are one of the biggest targets for hackers and other types of cyber criminals, and the most popular ones have some serious security issues that need to be taken into account.
Do some research into the platform and the vendor’s past security issues. Find out what security features the CMS has in place, and learn <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/how-to-secure-your-cms-in-5-steps/">how to secure your CMS</a>.
In the event that the CMS does actually get hacked, what does the vendor do to rectify the issue and prevent further attacks? Find out what others users have to say about the security of the platform. If they are required to make regular upgrades before they can install security patches, you are better off going with a different CMS.
<h3>5 . Does the CMS allow integration of web analytics?</h3>
Regardless of which CMS you go with, you want to ensure the platform grants users the ability to track key <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/business-intelligence-and-analytics-what-you-need-to-know/">metrics and analytics</a>, such as conversions, page times, site visits, and more. You want to be sure your content management system integrates with analytics tools like <a href="http://www.google.com/analytics/">Google Analytics</a>. Some platforms, like WordPress, also have their own metrics and analytics systems to use in addition to these.
<h3>6 . Does the CMS platform offer technical support?</h3>
While there are many popular content management systems out there that may have all the features you're looking for, not all of them are the best when it comes to providing technical support to their customers.
Look for one that has multiple ways of contacting them, from email to phone numbers. You want one that offers support 24 / 7, or at least responds in a timely manner. You also want to look for one that has does not have a history of hacking, pages being lost, content being deleted, or site crashes.
<h3>7 . Does the CMS allow the use of multiple websites or pages?</h3>
If your business manages multiple websites, you want to pick a CMS that will allow you to integrate and manage all of them from one place.
This will allow you to edit these websites from that one dashboard, rather than having to log into multiple sites to get things done. Not only is this obnoxious, but it’s also time-consuming and takes away from you being able to conduct other business or do other types of marketing.
Additionally, you will likely want a website that allows users to have multiple pages and blogs, rather than just one static site.
<h2>Final Thoughts</h2>
There are hundreds of content management systems available, all with their own unique features and benefits. This checklist is a good place to start, and will help you narrow down your options when it comes to choosing the right CMS and vendor for your business and needs.

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Shaun Walker is the Co-Founder and CTO of DotNetNuke Corporation. In this interview, Shaun took some time so share with us his thoughts about how the product came to be, where he sees it going and some insight into his background. We hope you find it an interesting read. 
With that said, here's the interview.
Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background.
My name is Shaun Walker and I am the Co-Founder and CTO of DotNetNuke Corporation (DNN) and the creator of the DotNetNuke open source project. I started my professional career in 1992 as a
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/shaun_walker_color_headshot_small.jpg" alt="Shaun Walker" /> Shaun Walker
software developer and have worked in a variety of different software disciplines over the years including development, architecture, project management, and product management.
My first experiences with software development were in elementary school on the Commodore 64 and later on IBM PC’s and mainframes. My first professional experience was writing accounting and payroll software for school districts and municipalities on the DEC VAX/VMS environment using VAX BASIC. In the mid-nineties I made a switch to the Microsoft platform and gradually developed my skills writing desktop, client/server, and web software. In 2000, when Microsoft came out with its next generation platform, the .NET framework, I knew I was going to have to upgrade my skills so I downloaded a sample application that Microsoft had made available called the IBuySpy Portal and I proceeded to add a bunch of additional functionally to it over the next 2 years.
Can you tell us about how the idea of DotNetNuke was born?
My original idea was to create a web application for amateur sports clubs to manage their own team websites.  The idea was that the application needed to be simple and easy to use for non-technical folks and it needed to have the ability to host many different team sites from the same web hosting account (which is now referred to as a multi-tenant architecture). After working on the application for a couple years in my spare time, I concluded that I wasn’t going to be able do anything commercially with it due to the other commitments in my life. I also realized that most of the features I had created were applicable to not only sports organizations, but also to businesses, non-profits, etc. Essentially I had created a general purpose content management system. And since I had some experience with open source software in the past, I decided the best way to get value from the effort I had invested was to release my application as open source (this decision was made in spite of the fact that Microsoft was openly and publicly opposed to the open source software movement at that time). I packaged up the source code and posted it for download on December 24th, 2002. And the rest is history.
When &amp; how did the DNN Corporation come about?
From 2002 to 2006 I managed the open source project through my personal consulting company, based in British Columbia, Canada. In late 2003, the Web Platform and Tools group within Microsoft actually recognized the value of the work I was doing and offered to sponsor me for a year, which led to my pivotal decision to quit my full-time job and devote my full attention to the open source project. By 2006 the project had grown substantially with millions of downloads and hundreds of thousands of users, and I decided that it was time to get serious about creating a suitable legal entity to ensure the longevity of open source project and be the official steward of the DotNetNuke brand. DotNetNuke Corporation was incorporated in September 2006 as a U.S.-based company and Scott Willhite, Joe Brinkman, and Nik Kalyani joined me as co-founders. The first order of business was to establish a suitable revenue model which could provide the project with adequate resources to continue to grow and expand its footprint.
Over the years, DNN has seen a lot of competitors come and go, what do you think has helped the product maintain its popularity?
DNN has maintained its popularity by adhering strongly to a number of core principles. First, our software is available under a standard MIT open source license which provides the maximum freedom in both commercial and non-commercial environments. Second, the platform is architected in a highly extensible manner which allows third party developers to customize the application and add their own functionality. Third, there is a large ecosystem of third party ISVs building skins and modules, as well as System Integrators and Web Agencies who have based a significant portion of their livelihood on implementations of the DNN platform for customers.  And last but not least, we have been able to successfully maintain the fine balance between the free open source community and the needs of commercial businesses.  Our commercial product edition provides us with the resources needed to continue to innovate and build on the product and ensure the longevity of the free open source platform.
What led you to take DNN to the enterprise level it’s at today? What factors contributed to its success?
A common phenomenon for many open source projects is that they get adoption by software developers within large enterprise environments. This is largely because the cost and licensing is not a significant blocking factor as it typically is for commercial software applications. Once the open source software is utilized in these environments, it typically starts to evolve very rapidly to support some of the advanced functionality and more sophisticated use cases that exist in the enterprise. So rather than the software vendor having to “push” its product into the enterprise, open source software tends to experience a “pull” from enterprise users as they try to utilize it in a variety of scenarios. This results in the software adapting to meet the specific needs of enterprise customers and ultimately becoming an enterprise level solution.
The factors that contributed to the success of DNN in this regard was:
<ul>
<li>the MIT open source license,</li>
<li>the extensible architecture which could easily adapt to new use cases,</li>
<li>the availability of high quality commercial third party extensions which enterprise customers could immediately take advantage of to fulfill their business objectives,</li>
<li>and the presence of DNN Corp as an official steward and legal entity behind the open source project</li>
</ul>
How does the open source philosophy tie into how DNN operates as a company?
We prefer to operate under a philosophy that we refer to as the “abundance mentality.” This is simply defined as a belief there are enough resources and success to share with others. One of the fundamental ways in which we live and breathe this philosophy is by making our software available under a highly liberal open source license. However, it does not stop there. Every program or service we offer is intended to be a win/win with our community; we feel that the collective success of the various members of our ecosystem ensure our own success as steward. As the number of users and businesses utilizing DNN increases, so do the opportunities available to everyone. In economics terms, we do not believe in a zero-sum game; rather, we believe that as the ocean rises, all the boats will rise with it.
What do you consider the biggest achievement over the years for DNN?
For a software application to exist for ten years and continue to be highly relevant is definitely a big achievement in our opinion. DNN has been able to achieve that by being well-entrenched in a very dynamic and growing market sector, and by constantly investing in product innovation that allows us to adapt to the latest technology trends. This would not have been possible without our other big achievement, which is raising venture capital from some of the most reputable investment firms in the world.
The biggest failure?
Hindsight is 20/20. It is hard to categorize anything as an absolute failure as there are always important lessons to be learned from every mistake. That being said, I do believe that there may have been some benefit of incorporating DNN earlier in our evolution, solidifying a scalable company structure behind the project, and accelerating more quickly with the addition of more key resources. And another regret, which I believe is a common one for any serious entrepreneur, is not recognizing and capitalizing on emerging trends or opportunities earlier.
What do you see as the future of the product?
DNN continues to invest in product innovation and quality so that we can serve our diverse and rapidly growing customer base. Specifically, we are laser-focused on providing business solutions that enable customers to take advantage of the most significant and disruptive industry trends around cloud computing, social collaboration, mobile devices, and managing big data.
What separates it from the competition?
Our open source license, our large ecosystem of commercial ISVs and Systems Integrators, our focus on developing best-of-breed functionality for social communities and collaboration, and our modern cloud infrastructure allows us to differentiate ourselves from the competition.
If there was one thing you could have done differently, what would it be.
It is hard to pinpoint one thing that I would have done differently. Life is not a straight line; it is a winding path full of many unexpected surprises. I think it is important to plan, but it is equally important to be able to adapt. From a business model perspective, we learned very early on that there is no blueprint for how to successfully combine an open source software project with a commercial software business. So you need to be prepared for some experimentation and education in real-time as you pursue your goals. At the end of the day, all I can advise is that you stay true to your core values and trust your instincts.
Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
In five years’ time, I hope to see that the DotNetNuke platform is just as relevant and innovative as it is today. I see our product lines expanding to include more specialized solutions that solve specific problems for customers. Our footprint in the enterprise will expand significantly and I see our customers having a more intimate relationship with the corporation as we get deeper into the business of providing cloud infrastructure. On the product side, we will have a very comprehensive story around mobile and social, and I am sure there will be plenty of exciting new industry trends that we have not yet even anticipated that we will need to adapt to so that our customers can take full advantage of them in their business.
Thanks for your time today, Shaun
I appreciate the opportunity to share the story of DNN with your readers. Hopefully it will inspire them to pursue their dreams but also realize that opportunities sometimes reveal themselves while you are busy making other plans.
To learn more about DotNetNuke, visit their website: <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com/">DotNetNuke</a>

Interview with Shaun Walker – Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of DotNetNuke Corporation

LightCMS has capped off their 2015 with a small range of updates.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/lightcms.jpg" />The platform powers over 275,000 websites, and was the <a href="/the-winner-of-the-2014-peoples-choice-cms-award-for-best-cloud-cms-for-smb/">2014 People's Choice Award Winner for Best Cloud CMS for SMB</a>.This latest update brings about element CSS classes, gallery thumbnails, and a new responsive theme. Here's a closer look.<h2>Thumbnails &amp; A New Theme</h2>LightCMS' image element now includes settings that let you specify the dimensions for image thumbnails. These dimensions are set in the image element settings on the Basic tab. You can also configure aesthetic settings to do with shadows, hover effects, and much more. It's a minor addition, but it's the type of feature that helps the end result look as unique as possible.A new theme, titled “Vast”, has also been released. It's an ecommerce centric theme, and is available for use on any LightCMS website. You can use the design as is, or if you're an advanced user you can download the source files and use them as a starting point for a new custom design. It looks quite snazzy, too.<h2>Element CSS Classes</h2>Furthermore, LightCMS has unveiled a new feature for applying a CSS class to a specific element. Each element’s advanced tab now includes a custom CSS Class field.Developers and advanced users will know the value of this update right off the bat. Customization to the finer details of each LightCMS element will now be much easier to implement.These updates may be relatively small, but LightCMS is a platform that you can depend upon when it comes to regular improvement. Not a month goes by before they announce a set of new features, and I think that's worth commending.Here's hoping they keep it up throughout 2016.

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