Articles - Page 92

Agentic AI Is Coming. Is Your DXP Ready?

dsfaltudo

More and more photographers are using the web as a showcase for their work and, as a result, there have been numerous products released to make this easier. Today, we're going to announce which of these products you selected as the winner of the 2015 Award for Best CMS for Photographers. This year, the competition was between Format, <a href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> and Zenfolio but, of course, only one product can be crowned winner.
It's with great pleasure that I announce the winner of the 2015 Best CMS for Photographers award is…
<a href="http://format.com/" target="_blank">Format</a>!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-cms-for-photographers300x0-is.png" />
Congratulations to the team at Format for all of their hard work. It's clear you've made an excellent product that's garnered the attention of our readers. Format has an amazing interface that integrates everything you need for your website from blogging to portfolios to any layout you could want. Check it out today, they have a 14 day free trial (no CC required) that you can use to see if it's the right fit for you.
Check them out at <a href="http://format.com/" target="_blank">Format.com</a>

Announcing the 2015 Winner of Best CMS for Photographers

mike-johnston

If you want your shiny new CRM to actually work for your business, then you have to get your employees onboard.
But sales teams traditionally enjoy dealing with actual humans – not technology. So, what if they’re not interested?
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/apple-606761_1280550x0-is.jpg" />
The truth is that motivating employees to embrace your new CRM can be a tricky endeavour for many businesses, but it can be done.
The key is to show them that the new software will make their working day easier and not harder. Once your team can see the benefits of the new system, they’ll be happy to embrace it.
So how do you make your employees fall in love with your CRM?
<h2>1. Involve The Whole Team From Day One</h2>
If your employees feel like they’ve been involved in the decision making process, they’ll be far more willing to accept this new development.
It’s essential to gain their input right from the beginning, to ensure that your choose the best CRM option for your business. After all, they’re the people who will be using it everyday.
<h2>2. What’s In It For Them?</h2>
You need to portray the new CRM system as the solution to their problems, and not a problem in itself.
You can do this by arranging demo’s and Q&amp;A’s to run through the benefits of the software. Once your team can see how the CRM system will help them to streamline their working day, they’ll be much more receptive to the idea.
<h2>3.Provide Sufficient Training</h2>
Depending on how complex your new CRM system is, you may need to dedicate a few training sessions to ensure your staff are up to scratch.
It’s important that you commit to proper training or your team will get frustrated and lose interest pretty quickly.
<h2>4. Consider A Trial Period</h2>
Even if you’re convinced that you’ve chosen the right CRM system, your staff may not agree.
If possible, consider trying it out on a trial basis to ensure that they’re comfortable using it.
<h2>5. Don’t Bombard Them With Features</h2>
Give your team some time to get to grips with the basic features of the CRM first, otherwise you risk scaring them off completely.
This phased implementation approach will allow them to gradually get on board with the new system and also identify any issues that crop up in advance.
<h2>6. Celebrate Successes</h2>
If your initial users share their experiences and success metrics with the rest of the team, this will show them that the CRM does actually work – rather than simply telling them that it does.
Additionally, when certain milestones are passed, be sure that the whole team knows about it.
<h2>7. Incentivize Employees To Use The CRM</h2>
Everyone loves an incentive, and your sales team definitely will. Whether it’s a free vacation day, a cash bonus, or a mystery prize – providing an incentive will definitely get your team motivated to start using your CRM properly.
Some CRM systems also use gamification to boost sales performance and morale.
<h2>8. Spring Clean Your Data</h2>
Your employees definitely aren’t going to want to use your new CRM if it’s jampacked with incorrect and duplicate data; it’s no fun trawling through 5 listings for one customer, and they won’t do it twice.
Simply assign someone to keep your data up-to-date and this won’t be an issue.
<h2>9. Integrate Your Systems</h2>
Your employees probably already use a number of applications on a daily basis, and by integrating these with your CRM you can avoid creating extra work for your team.
This can really be a massive time-saver and your employees will thank you for it.
<h2>10. Stick To Your Guns</h2>
Whilst it’s important to listen to input from your team, it’s also important not to pander to one or two individuals refuse to adapt to the new CRM.
As soon as you give one person special treatment, the rest will follow suit and no-one will be using it.
I once had a manager who refused to acknowledge any sales unless they were logged in the CRM, so reps had no choice other than to use it. Something like that may seem a bit sneaky, but it worked for him.
By adopting a company-wide ‘no exception’ rule, you can ensure that everyone gets on board and gives the CRM system a chance.
<h2>Give And Take</h2>
Once you work with your employees, rather than against them, you should have no problem winning them over. Remember, they just want to get their work done in the most efficient way possible – so it’s your job to prove that your new CRM will help them with that.
Have you recently implemented a new CRM in your business? Why not use the comments section below to let us know what worked for you.

10 Ways To Make Your Sales Team Love Your CRM

grainne-logue

After the publication of my <a href="/pulse-cms-review/" target="_blank">Pulse CMS review</a>, the friendly team over at Pulse have agreed to giveaway five totally free licenses.
<a href="http://www.pulsecms.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pulse-logo-large.gif" /></a>
Pulse CMS is a flat-file platform, requiring no complicated database set up. You simply download it to your desktop, upload it to your server, and it's ready to roll.
It boasts WYSIWYG editing, themes, analytics, built-in backups and blogging functionality.
<blockquote>
“Pulse is a supremely simple CMS. The flat-file platform is incredibly lightweight in more ways than one. The back-end is plain and easy to use, while its themes are uncomplicated”. – <a href="/pulse-cms-review/" target="_blank">Read the full Review</a>
</blockquote>
<h2>How to Win a Pulse CMS License</h2>
One Pulse CMS license is worth $29, and there are five licenses up for grabs.
To be one of the five winners, all you have to do is <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/status/687298174499852288" target="_blank">Retweet this Tweet</a>.
The five winners will be announced here on the blog in one week.

Giveaway: 5 Pulse CMS Licenses Up For Grabs

According to the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pulsecms.com/">Pulse CMS</a> website, “Pulse CMS is the easiest way to build and deploy a responsive, content managed website”. That bold statement is quickly followed up by a reference to the platform being a flat-file CMS, meaning that it can be quickly downloaded and uploaded to any server with no database setup process standing in the way.With work on the platform officially starting back in 2009, Pulse isn't exactly new to the CMS scene. At the time of writing, Pulse CMS powers just over 3,700 websites.The platform boasts WYSIWYG editing, themes, analytics, built-in backups and blogging functionality.So, does Pulse live up to its own hype, or does it flat line? Let's find out.<h2>Initial Thoughts</h2>The Pulse website is sleek and straightforward.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1769x0-is.png" /> The homepage has a download and buy button, screenshots, feature highlights and some customer testimonials. All good things, all well presented.Remaining pages are equally clear and simple. I was looking forward to (hopefully) seeing that simplicity spill over into the software itself.<h2>Getting Started</h2>Downloading Pulse takes a matter of seconds. Thereafter, you simply need to extract the files from the .zip folder and upload them via FTP. That's all it takes.What that then gives you, is a functioning Pulse website right out of the box, with example text and stock images. Not bad for two minutes worth of work.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-2867x0-is.png" />The default theme is basic, but that's not a bad thing. The design would fit well for most small and medium sized businesses.To access the admin section, you just need to type “/admin” at the end of your URL.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-41221x0-is.png" /> The admin section is yet again highly simplistic. Maybe too simplistic, since there's no actual home page or anything worth looking at other than a menu.On the plus side, since there isn't a whole host of configurable options or menus, getting lost shouldn't be a problem.<h3>Adding Pages</h3>To add a page, you'll need to head to the admin section, then “Pages” and then “New”.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-6.png" /> When adding the page name, you'll need to specify that it is indeed a page by adding “.txt” to the end of it. Otherwise, Pulse will assume that you want to create a folder instead. I'm not a fan of this.There are faster and easier ways of making the distinction, and I think the Pulse team should look into that. Two separate buttons is one way to go; one for a new page, and one for a new folder.After you do create a page, you can then start adding code in order to populate it.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-51016x0-is.png" />Pages can be made up of “Blocks” which are accessible from the admin home page.Existing blocks include the homepage template, about sections and contact sections. If you want to make use of an existing block, you'll need to reference it when creating or modifying a page.New blocks can be created with the help of a WYSIWYG editor. So essentially, you code the finer details of a page via the Blocks section, and then reference them on the Pages section to bring it all together.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-7987x0-is.png" />The WYSIWYG editor is fairly basic. You can add HTML, images, files and links. Fonts and text can be formatted too, but not to a major extent. Some further additions like a font color pickers and a spell check tool would be nice.If you ask me though, I'd rather page creation was more linear. I'm not convinced that dividing the process between Pages and Blocks is all that useful.A WYSIWYG editor within the page section without the need to reference blocks would be far easier for those who don't know how to code.But in fairness, if you do know how to code, page building with Pulse a piece of cake.<h2>Extras</h2>There are some useful extras offered up by Pulse.<h3>Blogging</h3>A blog page comes built in with every Pulse CMS. However, you can also embed a blog into your Pulse CMS website by using a Block reference, too.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-8.png" /> By heading to “Blog” section on the admin panel, you can view your list of blog posts, and click “New” to bring about a new post, which can be done once again using a WYSIWYG editor. Each blog post is able to host comments, too.Nothing fancy, but it does what it gets the job done.<h3>Backups</h3>As for backups, Pulse has that handled out of the box.Every time you use Pulse (in other words, whenever an edit is about to be made), it checks if a backup exists for that day. If not, one is created.Pulse takes a maximum of one backup per day, and stores the five most recent backups in the ‘content/backups' folder. Now that's what I call handy.<h3>Themes &amp; Plugins</h3>Pulse serves up four, free themes and three premium ones. They're all fairly simple looking, which is a good thing, although they aren't going to be winning any web design awards, that's for sure.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-9958x0-is.png" />There are six Plugins, including Google Search, Recent Blog Posts and Static Calendar. It would be nice to see some more variation here. Pulse isn't exactly bursting with features, so I'd hope that they're focused on broadening their plugin library.<h3>Stats</h3>Pulse CMS boasts built in statistics. Simply clicking the “Stats” button on the admin panel brings up a small amount of metrics.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-101084x0-is.png" /> Top pages, top referrers, weekly traffic and daily statistics for bounce rate, page views ans visitors, are all presented. It's not going to rival Google Analytics, but it's definitely a nice feature to have lying around.Further features include the ability to create a gallery and a form for your Pulse website.<h2>Getting Help</h2>As far as support goes, there is a decent amount of documentation on the Pulse website, plus a community forum. Although, the forum isn't exactly buzzing with activity.There is a “Help” button on the backend, but it resides at the bottom of the screen, in small, faint font. Plus, it only leads to the documentation section.The only way to actually reach out to the Pulse CMS team, is through a contact form on their website.Although Pulse is still a relatively small project, I'd like to see a well populated FAQ section, and perhaps some video tutorials.<h2>Pricing</h2>Anyone can download Pulse and try it out for free, but if you want to use it on a live site, a license must be purchased.Thankfully, a copy of Pulse CMS will only put you back $29 – and that comes with lifelong free updates, too. A set of five licenses is available for a discounted $75.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-11.png" /> Now, I usually like to apply some pressure on vendors when it comes to price. I often bemoan the lack of low-level price plans for those looking to experiment, and for those with startup projects. but Pulse hits the nail on the head with its pricing, if you ask me.<h2>The Verdict</h2>Pulse is a supremely simple CMS. The flat-file platform is incredibly lightweight in more ways than one. The back-end is plain and easy to use, while themes are uncomplicated.But that simplicity isn't all good news. There's a lack of customization options across the board, meaning that you'll need to rely heavily upon your coding skills to get things looking pretty. That means more effort, and more time.Handy extras like blogging, stats and plugins help round off Pulse a little more, but there's no doubting that its a product in need of further third-party input.On the upside, Pulse successfully covers the basics very well indeed. It's quick, responsive, and capable of hosting small and medium sized websites for a range of uses. For its price, it's a very stable solution.<h3>Pros</h3><ul><li>Pulse boasts a speedy and uncomplicated setup process.</li><li>Generally quite easy to use, the backend is extremely quick.</li><li>Coding pages and blocks can be done quite easily from the backend.</li><li>Four free themes &amp; six free plugins.</li><li>Backups made automatically every time Pulse is used.</li><li>Blogging functionality.</li><li>Built-in analytics.</li><li>Seems to be a platform with a small but growing community.</li></ul><h3>Cons</h3><ul><li>Only four themes to chose from, none of which are spectacular. Plugins are similarly few and far between.</li><li>If you don't know how to code, you won't be able to customize much at all.</li><li>Relatively minor usability issues, like having to manually add “.txt” to a filename in order to tell Pulse you want to create a page and not a folder.</li><li>Support options could be better.</li></ul><h2>Final Thoughts</h2>I like <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pulsecms.com/">Pulse</a>, but it bugs me that I don't love it.And actually, that lack of love is less to do with general usability and functionality, because overall, Pulse does a good job on both those fronts. It defines itself as a small and simple CMS, and that's what it is. I get that.But such products are usually bursting with personality in one way or another. A quirky admin panel home page would be one example, perhaps with some site stats on display, a welcome message, or something along those lines. Pulse doesn't offer anything of the sort.Instead, I feel like Pulse is rigid. It does exactly what it says on the tin – and absolutely nothing more.My advice to the Pulse team would be to focus on streamlining every-day processes on the back end (like page creation), and then think about adding a human touch to what is currently a very robotic platform.

Pulse CMS Review

This year we had strong competition in the Best Free CMS category with great products like Grav CMS, Joomla! and October CMS in the running. Obviously, free content management systems are incredibly popular and we have numerous listed in our CMS directory for those looking for a good option. There were literally thousands of votes cast in this category but the winner quickly became evident.It's with great pleasure that I announce the winner for the 2015 Best Free CMS award is…<a target="_blank" href="https://www.joomla.org">Joomla!</a><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-free-cms300x0-is.png" />I know, you're completely surprised and blown away that Joomla! won this aren't you ? Let's face it, they have a very strong community and tons of supporters. There's a reason it's one of the top three most popular content management systems in the world. We would like to congratulate the Joomla! development team on their win.To learn more about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.joomla.org">Joomla! visit their website.</a>

Announcing the 2015 Winner for Best Free CMS

Your CRM is about more than just software; it’s about establishing a strong and trusting relationship with your customers.
And yet, many companies set-up their CRM without actually implementing a CRM strategy at all. Which is puzzling.
<img alt="Screen Shot 2016-01-08 at 12.43.35.png" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/rPptQ64Jn91Ck44Ja49nJlNb2MOfAAK4yC4jdnRiO_AL7VKkMOQ77-8TP5aaaaKn_2F5jEyCKqr4bKWf32qbTuOIPS3OkNIMoQMmd_GfSc9jZq0C1V1EXWllcNMim-MGPBaZssz2" />
In today’s increasingly digital world, clients expect your attention 24/7. Thus, it’s essential that your business is equipped to meet these demands.
To help you create a winning CRM strategy, I've put together these ten simple steps that are designed to develop and strengthen your customer relationships for the long haul.
<h2>1. Develop A Vision For Your CRM Strategy</h2>
It’s important to gain input from your employees to find out what they expect from your CRM.
Once you’ve gathered enough ideas, you can see which tie in best with your overall business objectives and take it from there.
<h2>2. Put Together A CRM Team</h2>
Your CRM team should include mix of employees from each department within your organisation that uses the CRM system.
Whether it’s sales, marketing, finance, or customer support – their opinions and experiences will help you to develop your CRM strategy into a winning strategy.
<h2>3. Empower Your Employees</h2>
Your people are the driving force behind your business and it’s essential that they’re equipped with the correct training required to fulfil their roles. Your front-line staff should always be at the top of their game, and it’s up to you to empower them to do so.
These employees are the face of your organisation and they must be trained to represent the values of your company. With regular customer satisfaction surveys and incentives for employees who go the extra mile, you’ll keep your customers happy and your staff motivated.
<h2>4. Make Processes More Efficient</h2>
Go through the customer sales cycle with a fine tooth comb and streamline everything. Prepare templates in advance, automate follows up, and get rid of duplicate data. If something doesn’t need to be there, take it out. If you can skip a step, do it.
The aim of the game is to make life easier for your customers and streamlining your processes is a key part of doing so.
<h2>5. Make Customer Support More Accessible</h2>
Your customers are online 24/7, so your business needs to be too. You should provide customer support on multiple channels such as Twitter, Facebook, phone, email, and online chat.
Remember, if your customer can’t complain directly to you, they’ll just complain about you instead.
<h2>6. Promote Collaboration In Your Organisation</h2>
By regularly capturing and sharing customer data, your employees can stay up-to-date all on customer interactions and provide an even better service.
Gaining access to this customer relationship data will also enable you to continually analyze, assess, and improve your business operations,
<h2>7. Understand Your Customers</h2>
Before you can connect with somebody, you need to know who they are. Ask yourself (and your staff) the following questions:
<ul>
<li>
Who are your customers?
</li>
<li>
Where do they come from?
</li>
<li>
What do they do?
</li>
<li>
What do they like about your product/service?
</li>
<li>
What do they dislike about your product/service?
</li>
<li>
Are they satisfied?
</li>
</ul>
This kind of information will allow you to forecast and plan efficiently, and also provide valuable insights which are crucial to successful customer relationship management.
<h2>8. Market Your Product/Service Correctly</h2>
Don’t spam your customers.
Use targeted direct marketing to send messages that will won’t be ignored, up-sell higher quality products/services, and cross-sell any other products or services that will suit their needs.
<h2>9. Focus On Customer Retention</h2>
It’s important to reward loyal customers and a great way to do this is with a customer loyalty programme. With something like this, you can thank them for sticking around – but also incentivise them to keep sticking around.
Don’t forget about generating referrals either; once you have a loyal customer base in place, this can be an excellent way of expanding it even further.
<h2>10. Measure Your Success</h2>
Once you have your CRM strategy up and running, don’t let it go stale.
It’s important to keep up with your customers and constantly update and improve your strategy to meet their needs.
<h2>People First</h2>
Once you’ve built a successful CRM strategy, you’ll also build customer trust and loyalty. This will help you to retain your current customers and win over new prospects to grow your business.
Remember, customer relationship management is about people rather than technology – and your CRM software is simply the supporting act. Once you have a strong team in place, your business will be able to utilize your CRM software to its full potential.
Do you have any good CRM strategy tips of your own? Why not share them with us in the comments below.

How to Build A Winning CRM Strategy (In 10 Steps)

Over my many years monitoring the CMS / Website Builder space, I've seen a number of solutions come and go. I remember when products like Concrete5 launched and how much of an impact it made on the market. Few products, however, land on the market with such an impact as PageCloud. What I found surprising wasn't the 2.2 million dollars in seed funding they raised before launch but rather the impressive $1 million plus presales they managed to achieve before the product even went live.
If you haven't seen a demo of PageCloud, you may not understand why people are so excited about it. Rather than try to explain it myself, I think this video below from TechCrunch Disrupt will do a bettter job:
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/127926346?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If you watched the above video and didn't get excited about the possibilities, I'd be surprised. I've had my finger on the pulse of this market since 2007 and I have yet to see a product that initially impressed me so quickly. With such a significant amount of buzz surrounding PageCloud, I was eager to reach out and get more insight into the reasoning behind the product, where it came from and where Craig and his team plan on taking it. Read on to find the results of that conversation with Craig.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background? What experience have you had in the web design / development space prior to PageCloud?
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_0878300x0-is-hidpi.jpg" />Well I got my first computer at age 9 and from then I was hooked. By age 16 I knew what I wanted to do with my career – build products that people loved. The great thing about thinking of your career as a child is, it’s not about money or adult concerns. It’s simply about ‘how do you want to spend your life?’. By the time I got to University age, I had a portfolio of software I’d written as a hobby, that got me my first job as a professional developer at age 19. So I quit school and never looked back. That first gig was unusual in that there were 2 designers for every developer. All the lessons they taught me would be a guiding influence for the rest of my career… PageCloud represents the 7th startup I’ve been a part of. 2nd time as a founder, and 5th as an executive.
What spurred you to enter the website builder market /What do you feel was lacking before your product came out?
10 years of frustration! In using the products that everybody used, I intuitively knew they were broken. Too few people could figure them out, when compared to desktop publishing, which is essentially the same problem. My philosophy has always been “walk up and use” – that you shouldn’t need a computer science degree to use software on a daily basis. Setting up hosting, DNS, CMS’s – all that is too much for most people to put up with. Though, PageCloud started just as a hobby for me. I personally never wanted to hand-code HTML again. It was really just solving a personal problem. Only as I was leaving another startup and looking around for my next phase, did I start shopping the product around to judge response. And things blew up from there.
To what do you attribute the success of your presages? 
There’re always 2 attributes to being successful in business: 1) you need to have something that actually makes a difference to peoples’ lives. Not incremental, but substantial. 2) almost more importantly, you need to be able to package it up and demonstrate that to people in a compelling way – and reach them at scale. In other words, product + marketing. I’d like to say the product sells itself, but no product does. During our pre-sale campaign, we got really good at reaching people and demonstrating the product in a way that made people feel something. The TechCrunch stage demonstration was the perfect packaging.
Can you talk a bit about how your product has been received since the official launch?
We’ve gotten beautiful voicemails and emails about how PageCloud has changed things for people – that they are now able to create and share on the Web where they never could before. It has exceeded expectations. Of course, there’s a lot of feature feedback and things people would like to see. That’s normal. I find it interesting how we are immediately compared to the giants (WIX, WordPress, SquareSpace) who are pushing 10 years old and billion dollar status, and we have been in market for about 6 weeks. It’s a blessing and a curse. But we are off to a great start.
What is your target audience?
The market is a spectrum. Our sweet spot is sites between 1 and 20 pages, for professionals and small to medium sized businesses. In other words, most of the internet. While the biggest (enterprise) sites get most of the web traffic, in terms of publishing, the vast majority of pages are on the long tail of sites. Professional designers stand a lot to gain – there are so many world firsts baked into the technology that is a designer’s dream. Like being able to copy layers straight out of PhotoShop and paste them right onto a web page.
What makes your product the best choice for said audience?
It’s not what we do, but how we do it. I’d say simplicity, but everyone says that, so it’s meaningless. There are really 2 industry changing advances: 1) spot edit: the ability to press and edit button, drag something around or make a quick change, and hit save. There is nothing on the planet that can match this speed and ease. 2) create from scratch: while we have templates like everyone else, the main point is the ability to not be restricted by them – in most other CMS’s you can’t even move an image one inch to the right – the templates won’t let you without writing code.
How do you plan to compete against the big players like Squarespace, <a href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> and Wix?
We deliver the Web the way people have always wanted it – as familiar as desktop publishing. There’s not much of a comparison on that basis. We’re only 6 weeks into market, so we’re fast and furiously adding capabilities, but the fundamental principle is our advantage. At 14,000 paying customers 6 weeks in, we’re growing quickly, despite all these alternatives.
What should we expect to see from PageCloud in 2016?
You’ll see the product mature to parity with some of the other CMS features people like to see that weren’t in our Minimum Viable Product. At that point, people will get the best of both worlds. CMS feature sets in a PageCloud experience. We are also working on our own app store and canvas (template) store, to open the platform up to 3rd party developers.
What do you think of products like The Grid? Do you consider them as the future or more as gimmicks?
The Grid has some awesome features. My favourites are intelligent color selection, and font selection. However, it’s based on a belief that people don’t want to create their own vision, they just want a robot to do it for them. Our belief is that people have an innate desire to create and share – like they do on the desktop. Different philosophies.
Any final thoughts you'd like to share.
We are just getting started!

Interview with PageCloud CEO & Founder, Craig Fitzpatrick

Open Source CMS are extremely popular choices for many users. With huge communities and plenty of support from developers around the world, they are a great choice for those looking to learn content management systems or to contribute as developers. This year, we had three very popular CMS competing for the Best Open Source CMS award; MODx, Concrete5 and Django CMS.
Of course, only one can win and it's with great pleasure that I announce that the winner (by a significant margin of several hundred votes over the competition) is…
<a href="http://www.django-cms.org/en/" target="_blank">Django CMS</a>!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-open-source-cms300x0-is.png" />Congratulations to the developers and community that supported Django CMS on their win. For those of you who have never had a chance to try Django, there's never a better time than the present. Head on over to their website and give them a whirl, you might just find yourself a new favorite!
Their website: <a href="http://www.django-cms.org/en/" target="_blank">Django CMS</a>

Announcing the 2015 Winner for Best Open Source CMS

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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.phpfox.com/">PHPFox</a> has kicked off 2016 with some promise. Last week, <a href="/phpfox-4-2-on-the-horizon/">I reported on their upcoming PHPFox 4.2 release</a>, which promises a number of improvements.Now though, they're unveiling <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.phpfox.com/">a totally revamped knowledgebase</a> to help get new users up and running, and to help existing users out of any trouble they might face.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox-emblem.png" />Let's take a look at what that means for the average PHPFox user.<h2>A Complete User Manual</h2>So far, PHPFox only have a User Manual uploaded, but they claim to have Developer Documentation on the way, too.On top of being responsive, the documentation page looks well populated, and it's also easy to navigate thanks to page-trees on the left and an alphabetical menu on the right.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfoxdoc867x0-is.png" /> Interestingly, documentation is now totally downloadable, segment by segment. Users can choose to download each article as a PDF or even export it to Word. Quite handy.This may seem like a slightly trivial update, but in fact, a strong level of documentation is what can set two products apart. As I've been harping on about for months now, <a href="/the-world-of-cms-highlights-from-2015/">the online community building space needs to inspire itself</a>, and improvements like this are encouraging to see.It's the relatively small and simple moves just like this one that make the entire platform that much more approachable.To find out more about the new PHPFox knowledgebase, <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.phpfox.com/2016/01/07/introducing-our-new-knowledgebase/">check out their official announcement</a>.

PHPFox Introduces New Knowledgebase

<a target="_blank" href="http://modx.com/">MODX</a> has pushed out a new update for its in-house hosting service, MODX Cloud.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/modx-color.png" /> The cloud hosting service provides MODX users with an environment to build websites using MODX servers across the world, the most recent of which was unveiled in Frankfurt, Germany.This latest update brings about improvements to the backup process. Let's take a closer look.<h2>Backup Retention Schedule Tweaked</h2>MODX has updated the backup retention schedule for each Cloud instance.Users can set them to as low as a single nightly backup, or increase them to up to 30-days of retention on a rolling basis. For safety purposes though, there's no option to disable backups completely, which is nice. To adjust the schedule, users only need to click on the name of the Cloud from the Clouds view, click the Backups tab, and then position the slider.Saving is automatic and the schedule will be adjusted for the next round of backups later that same night. Pretty smooth stuff.MODX itself is built to handle a range of project types, from multi-domain global presences to a mobile API. I'm sure this update will come in handy for all those working with the PHP-based platform, no matter the size of their project.To learn more, check out the <a target="_blank" href="https://modxcloud.com/userguide/using-modx-cloud/backups.html">Backups in MODX Cloud</a> section of the MODX User Guide. To find out more about this update, check out the <a target="_blank" href="http://modx.com/blog/2016/01/07/better-backups-in-modx-cloud/">MODX Cloud blog</a>.

MODX Cloud Gets Improved Backup Process

Finding a CMS that's powerful enough to offer a host of features geared towards communities can be a challenge. Fortunately, there are some great contenders in the market and these awards are a great way of highlighting some of the strong contenders. Today, I am pleased to announce the winner, selected by you, of the Best CMS for Communities award.
Contenders this year included Evoq Engage, Cartella by Ingeniux and Black Monk. After tabulating the votes, the winner this year is…
<a href="http://www.blackmonk.com" target="_blank">Black Monk</a>!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-cms-for-communities300x0-is.png" />BlackMonk helps online publishers to create, manage &amp; monetize portals, magazines, newspapers, business directories, or online communities. Convert passive content consumers into active content creators and cultivate a community around your content and brand. BlackMonk supports social &amp; organic community development features like social sign-in, review &amp; ratings, comments, forums, classifieds, content sharing &amp; more.
Congrats to the team at Black Monk on their win. Check out <a href="http://www.blackmonk.com" target="_blank">their website</a> for more info.

Announcing the 2015 Winner of Best CMS for Communities

More and more businesses are now recognizing the importance of content marketing, but many of them are still struggling to put this discipline into practice effectively.Whilst these businesses can see the value in producing high quality content to attract and retain customers, they often just don’t know where to start. As a result, they end up with subpar and generic content marketing plans that produce subpar and generic results.A well executed content marketing strategy will set you apart from the pack and help you to build a loyal customer base – which will lead to higher conversion rates.In this post, I’m going to debunk a few common content marketing myths that could easily lead you astray, so that you can focus on converting your site visitors into those customers.<h2 id="1.-if-a-social-media-platform-exists,-you-have-to-be-on-it">1. If A Social Media Platform Exists, You Have To Be On It</h2>It’s better not to have any social media presence than to have 5 or 6 accounts that you’ve completely neglected. A poorly set up and rarely used social media account isn’t going to reflect well on your business.Each social media platform will attract a different audience and offer different functionality, so you really need to do your research and focus on the platforms that are most applicable to your business. Think about where your customers hang out and follow them there. If they’re not on Instagram, then you don’t need to be there. If your customers are on Twitter, then you need to pile your resources into that channel.<h2 id="2.-social-media-is-a-waste-of-time">2. Social Media Is A Waste Of Time</h2>Hold up, I know I said you don’t have to be on every social media channel out there – but let's not go overboard. Social media is an essential part of your content marketing campaign and there’s no getting out of it.Regardless of your industry, if you want to truly build relationships with your audience and get the most out of your content, then you need to be active on social media. Think of it as the soft sell; your social media platforms will allow you to nurture your prospects so that they’ll eventually convert into loyal customers.<h2 id="3.-you-need-to-create-as-much-content-as-possible">3. You Need To Create As Much Content As Possible</h2>No, you don’t. You need to create as much quality content as possible. The whole concept of content marketing is about creating content that is of high value to your audience, and if you start churning out 10 pieces of mindless drivel per day it won’t be long until you endure the wrath of a Google Panda Penalty.But that isn’t the only reason to focus on quality content.If you create content that actually appeals to your readers, you’ll encourage brand loyalty and trust – which is essential when it comes to increasing your conversions. Not to mention the boost it’ll give your organic search ranking, which will also have a healthy effect on your conversion rate.<h2 id="4.-all-of-your-content-should-be-self-promotional">4. All Of Your Content Should Be Self-Promotional</h2>Sure it should, if you want to lose all of your customers.Doug Kessler, Co-founder of Velocity Partners, wisely said that, “Traditional marketing talks at people. Content marketing talks with them”. You need to spend less time talking about your business and more time engaging with your customers.Remember, content marketing is about giving your audience that they want, and they don’t want to be bombarded with promotional content every single day.<h2 id="5.-everything-should-be-automated">5. Everything Should Be Automated</h2>This doesn’t apply to content marketing any more than it applies to real life. You have to put in the groundwork yourself if you want your content marketing to take off, and you have to stay sitting in the driving seat if you want it go keep going in the right direction.Marketing automation is a necessary evil and there is tons of excellent software out there to help you streamline the content marketing process. However, it’s important to remain authentic. Your content campaign should never be entirely automated or you’ll appear both unprofessional and impersonal to your audience as a result.<h2 id="6.-only-one-metric-matters">6. Only One Metric Matters</h2>Many businesses make the mistake of only focusing one key metric, rather than looking at the bigger picture.Businesses who want to improve sales will instantly focus on conversion rates, but items such as click-through rates and traffic sources are just as important in terms of optimizing your content marketing campaign.This data will give you a better understanding of your audience and help you to make informed decisions which will increase your overall conversion rate.<h2 id="7.-email-marketing-is-dead">7. Email Marketing is Dead</h2>When I was sitting in an email marketing lecture a few years ago, the lecturer asked us to raise our hands if we thought email marketing was dead. And of course, I raised my hand (yup, I was that student).I had just started learning about digital marketing and I really wasn’t in the email marketing camp at all, I simply didn’t think it was that effective – mainly because I usually sent any promo mails straight to trash.The lecturer simply gave me a knowing look and said he’d ask the question again at the end of the week. But I kept my hand down the second time around.Within the space of that week, I realised that email marketing was rapidly evolving and fast becoming one of the most important tools in a content marketer’s toolbox. And that’s still true today.Email marketing has become one of the best ways to promote content, engage with your target audience, and convert them into customers. Recent data from McKinsey<a target="_blank" href="http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/why_marketers_should_keep_sending_you_emails"> </a>has even shown it surpassing social media in terms of effectiveness; the study revealed that email is almost 40 times better than Twitter and Facebook for acquiring new customers.<h2 id="8.-content-mills-are-awesome">8. Content Mills Are Awesome</h2>Remember what I said earlier about the importance of quality content? This is exactly why you need to steer clear of hiring from content mills.Firstly, businesses only hit up content marketplaces if they’re looking to pay peanuts. Secondly, contractors who work for peanuts generally aren’t very good. And if they are good, they’re not going put in much effort if you’re paying content mill rates.You need to hire quality writers if you want to get quality content and see actual conversions. If your budget is tight, it’s better to invest in a few exceptional articles rather than a ton of them that don’t hit the mark.<h2 id="9.-you-can-just-copy-your-competitors">9. You Can Just Copy Your Competitors</h2>This isn’t going to work. When you do your competitor analysis, you can assess what you’re up against and see what works for them – but that doesn’t mean that you can clone their content marketing campaign and expect it to work for you.There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ model, and you really have to carve out your own plan based on your specific company objectives and target audience. By creating buyer personas, you can develop content that will appeal to your specific target customer and draw them in. In fact, I’d argue that creating a content marketing strategy for your business is more about knowing your customers than knowing your competitors.<h2 id="10.-your-blog-posts-have-to-be-really-long">10. Your Blog Posts Have To Be Really Long</h2>It’s been proven that longer content tends to do better in terms of ranking and engagement, but that doesn’t mean that you have to churn out a thesis on your blog every single day. Shorter articles have their place and can still rank really well.Some customers will also prefer to read articles that are short and sweet, so it’s better to add some variety to your blog and test both to see what works.<h2 id="11.-your-content-is-only-working-if-your-sales-increase">11. Your Content Is Only Working If Your Sales Increase</h2>If you can’t see direct conversions from your content, it doesn’t mean it’s not working. For most businesses, your content will help you to build loyal audience who are then more likely to convert in future. And it’s important to see the value in these indirect conversions.<h2 id="12.-b2b-marketing-is-the-same-as-b2c-marketing">12. B2B Marketing Is The Same As B2C Marketing</h2>You can’t use a B2B content marketing strategy on a B2C blog or your readers will never come back. Seriously, you’ll bore their socks off.B2C content strategies need a entertainment edge, visuals, a ‘lighter’ vibe, and shorter articles. Whereas, B2B content is more of the ‘how-to’ variety with more of a focus on stats and longer pieces. B2B readers want informative and actionable content that they can use to improve their businesses.That said, don’t forget that your B2B customers are people too and they’ll enjoy a bit of humor just as much as their B2C counterparts.<h2 id="13.-content-marketing-is-all-about-seo">13. Content Marketing Is All About SEO</h2>Nope, it’s about people. SEO is important but it’s not where your main focus should be. Once you stop creating content for people and start creating it for bots, you’re on a downward slope to a town called Customer Zero.After all, how is your content going to ‘go viral’ if no-one is interested in reading it in the first place?<h2 id="14.-content-marketing-is-just-a-trend">14. Content Marketing Is Just a Trend</h2>I think we can safely say that this isn’t the case.Content marketing is a discipline that has become a staple in the marketing industry and it has definitely proved its worth. The only change we might see, is when content marketing starts to be referred to under the more general ‘marketing’ umbrella as it becomes more and more recognized and the disciplines merge.<h2 id="15.-content-marketing-is-easy">15. Content Marketing Is Easy</h2>It takes a lot of work to develop a strong content marketing strategy and it can take a few months before you start to see any real results.In comparison to traditional advertising, you won’t see instantaneous results from your campaigns, and you really need to be in it for the long game to reap the rewards.<h2 id="who-ya-gonna-call?-–-mythbusters">Who Ya Gonna Call? – MythBusters</h2><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/3jxYbdnTjMc2UGVhw1Qq68Qdx6wdwbtVq_eljsgtTrrDlIzasY78EkB5PH2pHlK0QGz5rH3sLuy8JvnD9DSied_BeCqOEPTqiDYveC4Z2TJZsZaEvkOGs5tmvLRNx9hg-KWZs14Q" alt="Screen Shot 2016-01-03 at 03.25.32.png" />As you can see, there are quite a few misconceptions floating around in the content marketing world and hopefully this post has cleared up a few of them for you. Just remember that it’s not always a case of ‘everyone else is right’, and sometimes you have to come up with your own way of doing things to find out what works best for your business.If you have any other content marketing myths you’d like to demystify, why not share them with us in the comments below.

15 Misguided Myths About Content Marketing

Requests come in every day to me from people looking to find the perfect software to start a social network and today, it looks like I won't have to answer those questions anymore. Why? Because you, our readers, have chosen what you consider to be the best of the best in this category. Today, I am pleased to announce the winner of the 2015 Award for Best Social Network Software.
The contenders this year were SocialEngine, MooSocial &amp; Boonex Dolphin but the winner, by a huge margin is…
<a href="/social-engine" target="_blank">SocialEngine</a>!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-social-network-software300x0-is.png" />
SocialEngine is an excellent social networking solution with two different offerings including a cloud edition. For those of you looking for a great solution, it looks like our readers are unanimous in their selection of SocialEngine.
Congrats to the developers. Learn more about <a href="/social-engine" target="_blank">SocialEngine</a>.

Announcing the 2015 Winner for Best Social Network Software

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