Articles - Page 90

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

matt-garrepy

DotCMS has announced the release of version 3.5 of their popular java based open source content management system. In keeping with the customer experience management trend, this new release brings numerous personalization tools such as personas, targeted content and more to their customers.
“We designed our Rule Builder, personas, targeted content and personalization capabilities fully intending them to be readily usable by everyday digital marketing teams, without requiring developer muscle,” said dotCMS CTO, Will Ezell. “At the same time we didn't forget developers. Supporting our everything-is-content philosophy, targeted content, rules and personalized digital experiences can be fully customized or extended using dotCMS built in APIs for more complex interactions or integrations with third party systems.”
“With dotCMS 3.5, we're breaking down traditional barriers in digital experience management. We're now delivering features that are not usually available or easily accessible to marketers in other systems,” said, Tim Brigham, dotCMS, CEO. “We have a proven track record of being able to balance dependencies among technical and non-technical stakeholders in digital experience management. The flexible features sets presented in dotCMS 3.5 are a demonstration and proof of our commitment to empowering the entire digital team with the tools they need to get results.”
Check out the video below showcasing some of these new features:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p1cH0HNePuA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As DotCMS is an open source product, you can download this release and test these new features out for yourself from here: <a href="http://dotcms.com/content-management-system/targeted-personalization-cms">http://dotcms.com/content-management-system/targeted-personalization-cms</a>

DotCMS 3.5 Brings Targeted Content, Personas, Personalization Tools and More

mike-johnston

<a href="http://www.elcomcms.com/">elcomCMS</a> is a <a href="/elcomcms-cms-lms-intranets/">CMS, LMS and intranet solution</a> suited to enterprise and large-scale companies.
<a href="http://www.elcomcms.com/"><img alt="Elcom_13" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elcom_13-1.jpg" /></a>
The Australia-based software giant powers over 1,000 global site deployments, including Hyundai and Woolworths.
I recently had the chance to sit down with Tim Kirkman, elcomCMS' Product Director. He walked me through the core features and functions of ElcomCMS, and I got it all on video.
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/l2nuvn9hYQo"></iframe>
To find out more about elcomCMS, <a href="http://www.elcomcms.com/">check out their website</a>.

A Video Walkthrough of elcomCMS

If you have website idea, <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/">Squarespace</a> can now guide your hand from start to finish, thanks to the newly launched <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/domains">Squarespace Domains</a>.
<a href="https://www.squarespace.com/"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/squarespace-2.png" alt="squarespace" /></a>
Squarespace is a powerful cloud-hosted website builder. It boasts a range of sleek templates, and is popular with photographers, designers and artists.
<h2>Buy &amp; Build Your Domain</h2>
By searching for a domain name on <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/domains">Squarespace Domains</a>, Squarespace will respond with the availability of it across a huge range of domain extensions. They have everything from .com to .dentist.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-2-1.png" alt="sshot-2" />
You may notice that they're selling each domain for $20 per year, which may sound pricey (because it kind of is). But Squarespace has an explanation.
<blockquote>
“Starting at $20, every Squarespace Domain includes a beautiful ad-free parking page and <a href="https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205812438" target="_blank">WHOIS privacy</a> at no additional cost.
Unlike some other registrars that offer deceptively low entry points with high recurring fees, we aim for transparency. That’s why your domain will always renew at the same price.”
</blockquote>
The WHOIS privacy is a nice extra, but I'm not entirely sure that it makes up for the inflated cost. Sure, plenty of registrars hike their prices after the first year, but not all of them do.
I suppose the biggest benefit here is the start-to-finish feel that Squarespace now has.
You can find a domain, buy it, and then get to work on building it immediately. It's all in-house, and the only other thing you need to worry about is linking up with Google Apps, which Squarespace supports. After that, you have everything you need to launch a business.
As for domain transfers from other registrars, Squarespace say that feature is coming soon.
To find out more about this announcement, <a href="http://blog.squarespace.com/blog/introducing-squarespace-domains">check out the Squarespace blog</a>.
And as usual, be sure to explore more by visiting the Squarespace hub on our CMS Directory.

Squarespace Offers End-to-End Website Building with Squarespace Domains

<a href="http://www.opentext.com/">OpenText</a>, the Canada-based business software giant, just acquired a suite of customer experience management products from HP.
<a href="http://www.opentext.com/"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/download-1.jpe" alt="download" /></a>
They already offer enterprise-grade content management solutions, big data analytics, digital asset management, and plenty more.
<h2>HP TeamSite &amp; Co</h2>
OpenText spent $170 million on a number of products from HP.
These include; HP TeamSite, a web content management tool left over from the purchase of Interwoven, HP MediaBin, a digital asset management solution, HP Qfiniti, a workforce optimization solution for enterprise contact center management, as well as HP Explore, HP Aurasma, and HP Optimost.
The products all come from the HP Engage line, which has been up-in-the-air, so to speak, <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/10/30/bye-bye-hp/">ever since HP split into two companies in 2015</a>.
Although there are plenty of side dishes, it's fair to say that TeamSite is the main course. It's a highly functional CMS and CEM hybrid, and it will be interesting to see how OpenText handle it going forward.
<h2>A Bit of a Bargain?</h2>
Since these products were never really given a home after HP's split in 2015, it's pretty clear that they always intended to sell.
It also seems that, perhaps because of HP's eagerness to sell, OpenText has bagged themselves a bargain. This becomes apparent when you consider that SiteCore recently accepted over $1bn for a majority stake in its software from <a href="https://www.eqt.se">EQT</a>, a private investment firm.
According to <a href="http://www.opentext.com/who-we-are/press-releases?id=DFE27860219443C99EFEA452B6442C20">OpenText's press release</a>, the financials work out quite nicely for them indeed:
<blockquote>
“The Customer Experience software business being acquired is expected to generate between $85m and $95m of annualized revenues, be immediately accretive and be on the OpenText operating model within the first 12 months after closing.”
</blockquote>
In terms of how they will implement their newly acquired products, OpenText will likely use them to complement their existing software portfolio, particularly its Customer Experience Management and Cloud offerings.
But as I mentioned earlier, it will be interesting to see exactly how that happens.
Visit our <a href="/opentext">OpenText hub on our CMS Directory</a> for more information.

OpenText Spends $170 Million on Suite of HP Customer Experience Products

One of my biggest pet peeves in the marketing world are inexperienced marketers that use out of date tools for website information. Rather than ask for proper analytics screenshots or reports directly from the source, they rely on third party websites with inaccurate information as their basis for whether they partner with the website or not. Let me make one thing very clear and I will pull no punches with this comment: Marketers that use tools like Alexa and similar tools as their one source of information should reassess their marketing strategies.
<h3>Alexa is obsolete</h3>
I don't believe in beating around the bush about products that produce misleading information. The simple fact of the matter is that Alexa is obsolete. Not only does it inaccurately report data, it does so in a way that can be detrimental to your ambition and drive as a website owner. I've watched many people beat themselves up because they've seen sites with far less traffic and far less presence on the web achieve Alexa rankings far lower than theirs. This has driven these people to the point of breakdowns trying to figure out “why they are failing.”
The problem with this is that this ranking system is absolutely obsolete. For years, Alexa has assigned randomly ridiculous rankings to all kinds of sites with absolutely no reasoning behind it and with no logic whatsoever. The result: websites with significantly more traffic end up with worse rankings and marketers who use Alexa as a measurement of a websites success, choose to go with less popular sites with far less reach. This means marketing money is being wasted and used inefficiently. All of this occurs thanks to misrepresentation of data.
A smart marketer is aware of these facts, they don't try to use tools like Alexa, Compete and similar because they know the data they are going to get is simply inaccurate. Those are the marketers that are on the up and up. The old school crowd that still thinks Alexa is an important source for information are the ones you want to be wary of because they are also the people that are more likely to undervalue your work and offer you far less than you are worth for projects they have in their laps.
<h3>Determining your worth</h3>
So how then do you determine your true worth? Well, it's tough to do but fortunately, companies like <a href="http://www.tapinfluence.com/">Tapfluence</a> have their own system of determining this. They pull your Google Analytics, your social profiles (including follower counts) and use it to not only determine what they feel you SHOULD be charging for your work (posts, tweets, instagram shares, etc) but they also encourage you to negotiate offers that come in through their service.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/tapinfluence_software-1024x636.png" alt="tapinfluence_software" />
I'm a big fan of the way Tapfluence encourages influencers to get more for their effort rather than accepting less. This is the type of encouragement people who own their own websites need. Tapfluence isn't the only service like this out there, they just happen to be one of the ones I'm familiar with.
<h3>How about Klout?</h3>
I'm not a big fan of services like Klout either for similar reasons. Klout uses only social media to determine value and this is a misnomer given that blogs are far more important than social media contacts. Twitter has gone downhill as far as impact goes and has turned into a jumbled mess more than something that adds a lot of value and measuring tweet performance just isn't really all that useful.
When it comes to the power of marketing, content on blogs and similar places is still king and still offers more lasting impact than a quick tweet ever will. For this reason, services like Klout that exclude things like website analytics really don't feel like the right way to go as far as I'm concerned.
<h3>Ok, what about Compete?</h3>
Compete is similar to Alexa. They take random guesses at your traffic and attempt to establish reports on how well your website is performing. The issue is that these reports are also usually very inaccurate. This, again, leads marketers who don't know any better (sadly, there are quite a few of them) to assume the data is correct and take their business elsewhere. I've seen many instances where comparisons of websites that have traffic stats I'm familiar with produce very different data through Compete.
<h3>So what's your solution Mike?</h3>
The solution is simple, if you are a marketer and are looking to determine how much traffic a website is getting and other detailed information like bounce rate, page views and the like.. approach the source. Do not attempt to use third party services to “guesstimate” how a website is performing, get screenshots from the source themselves.
A good website owner will not only be excited to provide you with this data, but they will also be eager to provide you with more information, rather than less, giving you a much better look at whether they make a good partner for your campaign. Stop using tools like Alexa, Compete and Klout to figure out things that you can find out quickly and easily just by asking the person behind the scenes. That is where the true information resides and you will find that switching to this method of acquiring business partners will not only increase campaign performance but also help you build excellent relationships you can build on in the future.

Why Alexa Can't Be Trusted

Kit , a very interesting messaging based CRM company, has been acquired by eCommerce company, Shopify. Kit Pro manages your social marketing so you can focus on other aspects of your business. Just connect Kit to your store, then text with Kit to accomplish your marketing tasks. Kit works with five online marketplaces.
For those who are unfamiliar with Kit , here's a video showcasing how it works:
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/116822439?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The announcement of the acquisition was made on the Kit blog by CEO, Michael Perry:
<blockquote>
Today I am excited to share that Kit has agreed to be acquired by Shopify. We are thrilled at the opportunity to continue to build the future of commerce as part of the Shopify team.
I couldn’t be more thrilled and proud of what our small team has accomplished together over the years, and am truly thankful to all our customers who have been on this journey with us.
Our shared commitment to help small businesses grow and succeed is what makes Kit and Shopify such a great fit. Shopify is going to drive, support, and help us build what we envision deep into the future. Together we will make commerce great ?
On a personal level, I have been working in the SMB world since I was 7, and feel very fortunate that I get to work everyday on something I care deeply about. I am grateful for the amount of support I’ve received that allows me to do so, and I will continue to dedicate my life to this. I am ready for the next chapter and the opportunity to grow Kit at Shopify.
</blockquote>
To learn more, visit <a href="https://www.kitcrm.com/">Kit</a>.

Kit CRM acquired by Shopify

123-Reg has accidentally wiped out all of their VPS servers, along with all the customer websites that had the misfortune of running on them.
I hate to say “I told you so”, but I told you so; with my recent article on <a href="/avoid-123-reg/">why you should avoid 123-Reg at all costs</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/158x106-123-reg-logo.png" alt="158x106-123-reg-logo" />
Unfortunately for some, sticking with 123-Reg has cost them their websites, and perhaps even their businesses.
<h2>That Wasn't In The Script</h2>
Some time on April 16th 2016, 123-Reg ran a script to show them the number of active machines against the master database. A routine event, I'm sure. But the result was anything but.
Here's what 123-Reg said happened next:
<blockquote>
“An error on the script showed ‘zero-records' response from the database for some live VPS. For those customers, this created a ‘failure' scenario – showing no VM's and effectively deleting what was on the host.
As a result of our team's investigations, we can conclude that the issues faced having resulted in some data loss for some customers.”
</blockquote>
That's an excerpt from an email they sent out to customers. Essentially, what they're getting at is; they deleted all the websites on their VPS servers. Pretty horrifying stuff.
<h2>Gone, And Maybe Forgotten</h2>
At this moment in time, nobody but 123-Reg knows how many websites were actually deleted. Their statement above seems to indicate that everybody using one of their VPS plans (Which start from $170 per year) can expect a total wipeout.
Although, the same email indicates that they may be able to restore some instances:
<blockquote>
“We have recovery running on the VPS servers and some are restoring to new disks. We have also begun copying recovered VPS images to new hosts and we expect some VPS to be back up and running throughout the night and in to tomorrow.”
</blockquote>
However, in what would appear to be a contradiction,123-Reg recently took to Twitter to urge customers with local backups to try and restore their own websites.
<blockquote>
Customers that have a local backup of their VPS are advised to rebuild their servers following these instructions <a href="https://t.co/e7y8s1q8l1">https://t.co/e7y8s1q8l1</a>
— 123-reg (@123reg) <a href="https://twitter.com/123reg/status/722005372026761216">April 18, 2016</a>
</blockquote>

A worrying sign indeed.
So if you're currently asking yourself if 123-Reg will be able to restore your lost website, I'm afraid it's looking like nobody knows the answer just yet. Not even 123-Reg themselves.
<h2>Twitter Turmoil</h2>
Following this hosting horror show, 123-Reg customers vented their frustration through Twitter. Here are some highlights.
<blockquote>
Oh. <a href="https://twitter.com/123reg">@123reg</a> appear to have managed to wipe every VPS they host, and are telling customers to do their own rebuilds: <a href="https://t.co/jPKz0gwEwE">https://t.co/jPKz0gwEwE</a>
— Jamie Hoyle (@mightyshakerjnr) <a href="https://twitter.com/mightyshakerjnr/status/722010721266110464">April 18, 2016</a>
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
Spoke with <a href="https://twitter.com/123reg">@123reg</a> earlier today regarding VPS issues. Was told a week minimum for email update and more than likely all data lost. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/123reg?src=hash">#123reg</a>
— Outlines Design (@Outlines_Design) <a href="https://twitter.com/Outlines_Design/status/721799835607789568">April 17, 2016</a>
</blockquote>


<blockquote>
Surprise the <a href="https://twitter.com/123reg">@123reg</a> story isn't bigger – hundreds of websites offline, some businesses ruined because of hosting error <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/123reg?src=hash">#123reg</a>
— Mr Don Brown (@DonBrownEsq) <a href="https://twitter.com/DonBrownEsq/status/722017038844235776">April 18, 2016</a>
</blockquote>
 Some attempted to introduce humour into the digital disaster:
<blockquote>
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/123reg?src=hash">#123reg</a> Twitter cover photo – satire is a living, breathing entity <a href="https://t.co/QyBfiSYeqA">pic.twitter.com/QyBfiSYeqA</a>
— Forever Aloe Vera (@aloeveragelshop) <a href="https://twitter.com/aloeveragelshop/status/721797011654238209">April 17, 2016</a>
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
<a href="https://twitter.com/123reg">@123reg</a> With all my t-shirt selling websites offline all I can do is try to amuse myself. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/keepthefaith?src=hash">#keepthefaith</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/123reg?src=hash">#123reg</a> <a href="https://t.co/SH8nQuIsig">pic.twitter.com/SH8nQuIsig</a>
— Ryan Montgomery (@nearlyanartist) <a href="https://twitter.com/nearlyanartist/status/721737624633942016">April 17, 2016</a>
</blockquote>

Personally, I'm not sure what else can be said about 123-Reg. They have a long history of being unreliable, the Internet is filled with angry ex-customers, and now they have deleted customer data out of existence.
I didn't trust 123-Ref before today, and I doubt many people will by tomorrow.
<h2>Have You Been Affected?</h2>
At this moment in time, thousands of business and website owners are wondering about how they can move on from this fiasco.
Many have left their stories on my previous article on 123-Reg, but I'd love to hear more about what's going through the mind of 123-Reg users right now.
Are you websites gone? Has it affected business? Will you be leaving 123-Reg? Let's talk in the comments below.

123-Reg Accidentally Deletes Thousands of Customer Websites

A new release of CMS Made Simple (CMSMS) has hit the web. This is a maintenance and security release for the 2.x series of CMS Made Simple and comprises of a number of fixes.
Some of the items fixed in this release include:
<ul>
<li>Implement the HTTP_HOST fixes and parameter cleaning fixes introduced in 1.12.2</li>
<li>Fix for endless loops caused when calculating page alias in some utf-8 environments (Some WAMP environments)</li>
<li>Fixes and improvements to the distributed .htaccess file(s)
<ul>
<li>Our distributed sample doc/htaccess.txt has more security improvements</li>
<li>We no longer distribute .htaccess files in subdirectories</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Fixes a problem with the system verification code</li>
<li>Optimize the LoadContentFromId() method to be typesafe, and more efficient</li>
<li>Fixes to the Uninstall/Re-install of Navigator</li>
<li>Fix News so that no errors are returned if no results match the specified filter.</li>
<li>Fixes to the installation assistant with relation to PHP7, and improve the README files.</li>
<li>Minor fix to FileManager when moving a folder.</li>
</ul>
For those interested in additional information, visit <a href="http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/2016/04/Announcing-CMSMS-2-1-3-Black-Point/">CMS Made Simple</a>

CMS Made Simple 2.1.3 Released

Call Tracking + AI 

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

#ffffff

The world of CMS just got bigger. <a href="https://pagekit.com">Pagekit</a>, a free and open source CMS, has opened its doors to the public.
<a href="https://pagekit.com/"><img alt="pagekit" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pagekit.png" /></a>
But that's not to imply that Pagekit is untried or untested. In fact, Pagekit has been in development for over two years, attracting over 2,400 Github Stargazers and 20,000 registered website users in the process.
So even on day one, their community is thriving.
Let's take a look at why so many people were interested in Pagekit even before its launch.
<h2>A Look at Pagekit 1.0</h2>
It may be brand spanking new, but Pagekit is already offering up some fierce functionality, <a href="https://pagekit.com/blog/2016/04/13/pagekit-1-0-is-here">as detailed on their blog</a>.
That includes:
<ul>
<li>Intuitive user interface inspired by the Material design guidelines</li>
<li>A site tree to manage content and site structure in one single interface</li>
<li>A powerful users and permissions system</li>
<li>A built-in Marketplace to install and share themes and extensions</li>
<li>A pre-bundled Blog with comments</li>
<li>A Media manager to upload and manage files</li>
</ul>
All the essentials are there, and then some.
The drag-and-drop site tree is an interface that we're seeing more and more of across the content management system marketplace; and for good reason. It's a very user friendly way of managing pages and menus.
<img alt="site-tree" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/site-tree.gif" />
Pagekit also has another feature that caught my eye. Their editor sports a half-half interface, split between markdown and a live preview.
<img alt="editor" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/editor.gif" />
This split editor was made popular by the blogging platform Ghost, and I for one think it's a positive thing that the idea is spreading. Because it's a darn good one.
<h2>An Open Invite to Developers</h2>
Pagekit is open source, and they're eager to get more developers involved in their growing project.
Their extensions and themes total to eighteen at this moment in time, and they can all be found on the <a href="https://pagekit.com/marketplace/">Pagekit Marketplace</a>. Naturally, they want that number to increase dramatically.
To help get developers started, Pagekit has made “<a href="https://pagekit.com/marketplace/package/pagekit/theme-hello">Hello theme</a>” and “<a href="https://pagekit.com/marketplace/package/pagekit/hello">Hello extension</a>” available, to be used as blueprints. They have also published <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2tvrbIClcDXv9AH4kBmwog/videos" target="_blank">video tutorials</a> and <a href="https://pagekit.com/docs">documentation</a>.
I'm always excited by the launch of a new and ambitious platform. And Pagekit seems to be just that.
It looks elegant, and I know it has a hard-working team behind it. You can be sure that I'll be re-visiting Pagekit with a hands-on editorial very, very soon.
<a href="https://pagekit.com">Explore and download Pagekit</a>.

Introducing Pagekit

Many businesses seem to lump email marketing and marketing automation into the same boat, without actually differentiating the two. Both systems allow you to market your product/services via email, both allow you to capture leads and onboard new customers, and both include the word ‘marketing’. 
So what is the difference between Email Marketing and Marketing Automation – and is there one at all?
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2016-04-09-at-20_11_45.png" alt="Pixabay" />
The answer is a resounding yes. 
Email marketing is designed to track your email marketing interactions only. In contrast, marketing automation tracks and influences buyer interactions/behaviors to guide them through the sales funnel.
<h1>Email Marketing</h1>
Whilst email marketing is not a comparative alternative to marketing automation, it’s still a tool in the marketing automation process. 
Often, smaller companies will start off using email marketing and then start to employ marketing automation once the company grows in size. With an <a href="https://markthemarketer.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/73-astonishing-e-mail-marketing-statistics-you-need-to-know/">impressive ROI of 4,300%</a>, email marketing is a proven method of building relationships with new customers and increasing loyalty within your current customer base.
Using email marketing, you can:
<ul>
<li>Create newsletter and emails via pre-designed templates.</li>
<li>Measure the results of email marketing campaigns via opens and click-through rates.</li>
<li>Segment leads.</li>
<li>Nurture leads.</li>
<li>Send mass email bursts and deliver batch emails to groups of contacts.</li>
</ul>
Email Marketing might be for you if:
<ul>
<li>You’re a small business.</li>
<li>You have a small target market – if you have a small target market it’ll be easier to segment your email marketing efforts.</li>
<li>You only require simple and generic emails/newsletters.</li>
<li>You already have a steady stream of incoming leads </li>
<li>You’re on a tight budget – if you’re a small business then you may not have the money or resources to invest into upscaling to a marketing automation system, and you may not need it yet anyway.</li>
</ul>
But you may have issues such as:
<ul>
<li>The process can be time-consuming, i.e. if you have a large and diverse target market.</li>
<li>Your sales team may get frustrated with the quality of leads; you can’t dial down on how warm or cold you leads are as you’re simply relying on click-throughs and open rates.</li>
<li>You lose track of your leads and where they are in the buying cycle, so you miss out on a lot of potential sales opportunities.</li>
<li>You can’t tie your revenue to your email marketing results, so it’s not very measurable.</li>
</ul>
<h1>Marketing Automation</h1>
Marketing Automation is the perfect solution for medium to larger sized businesses with a diverse customer base. The more varied your audience is, the more beneficial it will be to take a highly targeted approach to your marketing. 
A solid marketing automation platform will provide you with basic capabilities such as lead capturing, lead nurturing, landing page development, site visitor tracking, a centralized marketing database, CRM integration, and data analysis/reporting. 
Your marketing automation tool should help you to determine what stage of the buyer process your customer is at, and then get them to the next stage, and the next – until they convert into a sale. This comprehensive tracking process allows you to see exactly what’s working and not working in your marketing campaign.
Marketing Automation might be for you if:
<ul>
<li>You have a diverse and extensive customer base, i.e. you sell different products or services to a range of different demographics.</li>
<li>You need to push out tailored, targeted, and more relevant content.</li>
<li>You have the resources to manage your marketing automation processes and create daily content.</li>
<li>You have a drawn-out customer buying process that takes longer than a few days.</li>
<li>You want to manage campaigns across multiple channels. </li>
<li>Your sales people aren’t happy with the quality of leads they’re receiving.</li>
<li>You need a better means of measuring your marketing results that ties in with revenue.</li>
</ul>
Any potential issues you’ll have with marketing automation will all boil down to whether or not your business is ready for it in the first place. We recently outlined why some businesses aren’t ready for marketing automation <a href="/small-business-isnt-ready-marketing-automation-system/" target="_blank">in this post.</a>
<h1>Have You Made The Switch?</h1>
Have you recently moved from email marketing over to a full marketing automation approach? 
If so, we’d love to hear more about what marketing automation software you’re using and how well it’s working for you. Why not leave us a comment below and fill us in on your own experience?

Marketing Automation Systems Vs Email Marketing Systems: What's The Difference?

grainne-logue

When looking for website themes, the popular page is often the first place we go.It's simply human instinct to believe what works for everyone else will work for us too, right? I mean, if thousands of others like a theme, that must mean it's a good one.Well I can see some flaws in that argument.The idea behind the popular page is a sound one, and it seems logical to check there for the best themes. However if you had the idea of using one of those themes, it's very likely that your website will end up looking very similar to other websites.<h3>Reference, Not Choice?</h3>After reading my above comments, that phrase may not seem quite right to you.Why would you even want to use the popular page as a reference if it's not a good place to select themes from?Well the popular page is full of great themes, that's true. And each of those themes are considered popular for good reason. So I would highly recommend anyone to check out the popular page often to see what works for other people and to see what's trending.The themes found on the popular page can give you great inspiration for new ideas as well as show you which ideas are tried and tested.Study the themes that consistently appear on the popular page. What sets them apart? Is it merely a good color scheme, or a popular brand name?A lot of times it's a mix of the two along with various other features, such as great forum support along with back-end user friendliness.So, it's okay (in fact I actually encourage it) to explore the popular page and browse the various themes, yet you shouldn't often choose your theme from the popular page. But trust me, it's certainly for good reason.<h3>Choice: What it Comes Down to</h3>Many themes from the popular page will almost guarantee that your website will end up looking similar to thousands of other websites out there. And if a theme is built for a specific industry, you may even be building your website to look like that of a competitor's.As a theme on the popular page is much more likely to have been chosen by others, you'll want to try and avoid them to the best of your ability.Instead, try looking into themes that aren't used as often, and yet host the same features as those that are found on the popular page.The popular page, while a great place to go to see what's trending and to keep up with any new developments along with some examples of what to strive for, isn't a place to choose your own theme from. Instead make it a goal to put up a theme on the popular page instead of simply using one already made popular by other people.Have you ever found a gem by avoiding them popular themes page? Share it with us below.And also, be sure to check out our theme directory, which is filled with the best theme vendors around.

Finding A Theme: Why You Should Avoid the Popular Page

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.boldgrid.com/">BoldGrid</a> is an interesting beast when it comes to building quick and easy websites. Whereas standard website builders are often custom coded from the ground up, BoldGrid is built to extend and take advantage of the already excellent code behind the world's most popular CMS, WordPress. How does it work? I recommend you start by watching this quick video that gives you an introduction to the tool:BoldGrid is available for no charge when you sign up for hosting through one of our preferred hosting partners, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boldgrid.com/">InMotion Hosting</a>. It comes with your account and is quick and easy to get started with. When you first log into your new WordPress website on InMotion, you'll be greeted with this screen asking you which path you wish to take (choose wisely!):<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-1.jpg" alt="boldgrid review - 1" />Once you've selected which option you prefer (in this case, I chose First Time Users), you will be greeted with another screen that explains the process. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-2.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 2" /><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boldgrid.com/">BoldGrid</a> uses something called Inspirations, which are essentially just fully themed sites with all of the default pages, etc created automatically for you. It also provides you with the option to either install one of these Inspirations to your live site or to create a Staging site and install it there. The staging option is quite useful in allowing you to fully customize your new site before deploying it to the world. This is incredibly helpful for theme development and something I'd love to see as a default WordPress feature. As far as I'm concerned, this alone makes BoldGrid a great choice for beginning website designers and users. BoldGrid inspirations comes come in various categories which you'll select from the next screen: <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-3.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 3" />Once you've chosen an Inspiration category, you'll choose the look for your new site. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-4-1.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 2" /> Upon selecting the look, you will be allowed to preview the site as it would be displayed on desktop, tablet and phone. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-5.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 5" /> You will then choose whether you'd like BoldGrid to create a default set of pages for you or whether you wish to start with none. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-6.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 6" /> In my case, I went with installing to a staging site, as mentioned, so the next screen is slightly customized to this choice and informs me that the staging site is ready for viewing and that I can now begin the customization stage of the design. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-7.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 7" />  I'm particularly fond of the fact that BoldGrid includes a tutorials set which you can see referenced in the screenshot above. This is excellent for those new to designing a website and something I'd recommend taking the time to partake of. If you choose not to use the tutorials from the beginning, you can always access them later in the Tutorials menu shown below.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-11.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 10" /> Now for the customization screen, you'll be working with the familiar WordPress customizer (unless this is your first time with WordPress, in which case, it's quite easy so not to worry). <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-8.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 9" /> Within the customizer you can modify the majority of your site, from the colors to the logo and much more. It's all pretty straight forward and as mentioned, you can of course use the tutorials if you become confused. I won't get into how much customization you can do but let me just say it's pretty extensive. Once you've finished with the basic customization, you can then choose to modify individual pages using the easy to use BoldGrid visual designer. To access it, simply edit a BoldGrid page and it will load automatically. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-9.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 11" /> Hovering over the various icons you'll see a number of options presented such as Edit Content, Clone Page, etc. You can also use the drag handle to move the various blocks around the page into new areas if you choose. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-12-1.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 12" /> BoldGrid also includes a number of “Grid Blocks” as they call them. Grid blocks are chunks of content or modules that you can add to your page. Here is an example of some of the available ones: <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-10.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 13" /> That about covers the design aspects of BoldGrid. Once you've finished the design, you'll be ready to start working with content. BoldGrid includes a couple of handy features to make that process easier as well including the ability to use the Grid Blocks, mentioned above, within one of your posts should you wish. Of particular interest, however, is BoldGrid Connect Search which you can find under the WordPress media menu. Within this area, you can search for freely usable stock imagery. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boldgrid-screenshot-13.jpg" alt="boldgrid review 14" />This is especially handy if you want to avoid purchasing stock photos and wish to find some free images that are relevant to the post you are writing.<h3>Conclusion</h3>BoldGrid does an excellent job of capitalizing on an already successful product, WordPress, by offering valuable enhancements. I would not, however, recommend it for experienced developers who will likely find it not as appealing as editing code directly. It is definitely, I would say, almost a must have for everyone else, however. If you are interested in getting started with BoldGrid, you can do so here: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boldgrid.com/">BoldGrid</a>

BoldGrid Review

It's time to update WordPress again.
WordPress 4.5 has just landed, and it brings about some useful updates that make content editing easier, and customization a little smoother.
<img style="max-width:400px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wordpress-logo-stacked-rgb_400x0_1-1.png" alt="wordpress-logo-stacked-rgb_400x0_1" />
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wordpress-4-5-customizer-experience/">I praised WordPress 4.5 back in March 2016</a>, when features were still being tested in the beta stage.
That was in contrast to my <a href="/wordpress-4.4-beta-bare-bones/" target="_blank">coverage of WordPress 4.4, where I labelled the update as a bare bones excuse for a semi-major update</a>, and also through my article entitled; “<a href="/how-wordpress-needs-to-improve-itself/" target="_blank">How WordPress Needs to Improve Itself (In 6 Ways)</a>“.
WordPress has continued its tradition of naming its major releases after Jazz musicians, with this version getting the title of “Coleman”, after Coleman Hawkins.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DKWO3pamtbQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<h2>Inline Links &amp; New Customizer Features</h2>
Adding links to text is something that happens two or three times throughout most articles before you hit the Publish button.
Before today, you would highlight the desired text, then click the “insert/edit link” button on the toolbar. This would bring up a window, allowing you to paste your URL in.
Now, there is no window. Instead, a small inline popup appears, allowing you to paste a link in, or type in the title of existing posts on your website.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/illustration-short-inlinelinks.png" alt="illustration-short-inlinelinks" />
So, internal linking is a little easier, and linking in general is much improved thanks to this subtle interface change.
As for Customizer, you can now use it to preview your website via different screen sizes. You can test how your website looks on desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/illustration-short-responsive-preview.png" alt="illustration-short-responsive-preview" />
Furthermore, you can now insert your logo into your theme (if the theme supports it) directly through Customizer.
By my estimation, that's two very welcome, and very overdue Customizer features.
<h2>Formatting Shortcuts, Smart Image Resizing &amp; More</h2>
WordPress 4.5 also brings about some nice formatting shortcuts. For example, typing “—” on a new line inserts a horizontal line, as shown in the GIF below.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/editing-shortcuts-big.gif" alt="editing-shortcuts-big" />
Also, resized images (WordPress automatically resizes images when you upload them) now load up to 50% faster with “no noticeable quality loss”. That sounds pretty sweet to me.
The other features of WordPress 4.5, which are mostly “under the hood”, bacn be found on WordPress's <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2016/04/coleman/">official blog announcement</a>.

WordPress 4.5 Streamlines Editing, Enhances Customizer

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