Internet Marketing, Social Media, Business | StuckInTheFunnel

Choosing the Right Web Content Management System (CMS)

As the Internet evolves, more industry verticals have recognized the web as channel that can generate additional revenue, reduce operational costs, develop a deeper relationship with customers and broaden the reach of a brand.

The foundation of any strong web presence is a solid Content Management System (CMS). With the myriad of different solutions available, it can be difficult to select the right platform. Many companies have discovered that choosing the wrong CMS can result in a site that delivers results below expectations.

Guidelines for the Most Common CMS Decisions:

Open Source V.S. Commercial:

• Choosing an open source or commercial platform is usually the first decision that needs to be made.
• If your organization is considering Open Source and has limited experience in this area, it is important to keep the following in mind:
• Open Source does not necessarily mean “free”. There may not be any license costs, but there will be costs for systems integration, development and maintenance. These costs are often substantially higher with open source implementations as well.
• Open Source implementers generally consider a project to be “cash and carry” and do not offer commercial training, support and enhancements.
• The fact that anyone can contribute to an open source platform means that these systems may not deliver the security, performance, reliability and functionality of a commercial system.

Hosted Solution V.S. Custom Solution

• If your organization is considering a Hosted Solution, instead of a one-off solution, consider the following:
• Hosted Solutions generally do not permit custom functionality or integration to be built into your CMS, since you are sharing the same system with other organizations.
• The vendor owns the core code, so migrating your functionality to a new provider is virtually impossible.

Java V.S. Microsoft.net

• If you do not go the open source route, your technology choice will likely be between Microsoft.net or Java. When making this selection, take the following into account:
• Microsoft’s .Net Framework is considered a more modern version of the earlier Java technology which was developed primarily for Unix systems.
• Think about the future of your company’s technology and invest in one core focus, not 2. Products accommodating Java and .Net often result in either product deficiencies or far greater overhead.

Choosing the right CMS can be a daunting task, but given the prominence of the web in business nowadays, it’s crucial that you take the time to research diligently and decide on a platform that will be an integral part of your business for years to come.

Tags: Web Development

Thoughts on Adobe’s Acquisition of Omniture

On Tuesday of this week, Adobe acquired the web analytics company Omniture (Nasdaq:OMTR) in a transaction valued at approximately $1.8 billion.

Adobe’s acquisition of Omniture furthers its mission to revolutionize the way the world engages with ideas and information. By combining Adobe’s content creation tools and ubiquitous clients with Omniture’s Web analytics, measurement and optimization technologies, Adobe will be well positioned to deliver solutions that can transform the future of engaging experiences and e-commerce across all digital content, platforms and devices.

This is one of the most exciting acquisitions I have witnessed in my career. My initial start in web development began with Macromedia Flash 6. It seems like just yesterday that Adobe picked up Macromedia back in April of 05.

When Adobe acquired Macromedia, they obtained a set of tools that were ideal for publishing and controlling content on the web. Since that acquisition, the world of web publishing has changed. A business’s web presence is no longer a credibility statement; it is a central hub for their marketing objectives, both on and offline. Combining the publishing power of Adobe’s current program suite with Omniture’s ability to measure online conversion and ROI will improve the workflow and integration between the design, technical and marketing levels of an organization.

What I would like to see Adobe offer now that they Omniture’s tools in their pocket:

1. Improved Web Analytics for Flash – Flash has always been the black box in the browser when it comes to analytics. It would be great to see some integrated components or Actionscript libraries that allowed Internet Marketers to analyze user engagement for Flash interactions and content segments.
2. SEO Assistance Within Dreamweaver – Many SEOs write their XHTML code in a tool like Dreamweaver and use outside programs such as Web CEO or SEO MOZ to score its SEO friendliness. Imagine if the scoring system was integrated and flagged your code with suggestions as you were writing it? Talk about workflow efficiency…
3. Weighted Analytics – Generally analytics code is pasted at the bottom of your XHTML document. After a visitor hits the page, you are given a broad view of how they interacted with it (time on page, what they clicked, etc.)  It would be beneficial to give certain page elements a weighted score for reporting purposes. For example, if a user spent 5 minutes viewing a product video, that could be flagged with more weight than clicking a generic link on the page.

 

This is truly a huge development in the realm of web content publishing, internet marketing and web analytics. It will be interesting to see how things develop and how industry competitors respond. Will Microsoft’s Expression Studio start to include similar features? We will have to wait and see.

Save a Headache: Design With SEO in Mind

I have been called into many situations where a company wants to achieve that coveted first page Google ranking only to find that their website is poorly designed or outdated. On  top of that, I am told that they have no interest in changing their web presence except for their Meta tags. Ok, no problem, right? No. In fact, search engines do not place nearly as much emphasis on Meta tags as they used to.

If you find a web design firm that has appealing creative work, let them know that you would like your site built with SEO in mind, even if you do not plan on implementing an organic SEO campaign after its initial launch. It will save you money down the road when your budget permits an ongoing organic SEO campaign.

A few tips when building your new web presence:

Design is Important, but its Not Everything

A good design will convey your company as established and credible, but does that design convert visitors to qualified leads? A website is like any investment and should contribute to your bottom line. The days are over when a website was simply an informative credibility statement. Ensure that your messages provide visitors with takeaways that are conducive to producing leads. This can be in the form of an information packet download, presentation or registration for a webinar.

Content is King

Nowadays many sites are built on large scale CMS platforms like Joomla or Drupal. Smaller scale sites can be deployed with a common CMS like Wordpress. At the minimum, I would request that your website be built on the Wordpress platform. Search engines like continuous content updates (relevant content) and those platforms will provide update capabilities for you or your staff.

Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

If you find a killer design firm without an SEO specialty, hire an SEO consultant and a copywriter. The SEO consultant can perform crucial tasks such as keyword research, competitive analysis and architecture design. The copywriter can write keyword rich/compelling content based on input from the SEO consultant. The web design firm can then tie all of the elements together.

The Bottom Line

Ask the right questions of your web design firm up front and you will save yourself a great deal of headache down the road. Don’t be afraid to let the web design firm now that you may have additional consultants providing input on your site architecture. They should embrace it, especially if they are trying to provide you with the best solution to your problem.

Search Engine Optimization Tips for Newbies

SEO or search engine optimization knowledge is a critical aspect of online marketing. Whether you want to blog, run an online store or do anything else successfully online, you need to figure out how to get noticed by search engines so that people can find you. Understanding SEO is critical for anyone who wants to be successful in online enterprise.

An important aspect of search engine optimization is the fact that you need to invest time and effort into your website on a regular basis in order get traffic and keep traffic continuously increasing. If you allow your website to sit and collect cobwebs it won’t do much for you.

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Tags: Search Engine Optimization, seo, seo tips, social bookmarking, Social Networking

Marketing Your Website With Smart Design and SEO

As a Web Developer and SEO consultant I deal with many existing website owners who are looking to modify or improve their website. I also deal with many people who are looking to start their web presence with a new website. Through both of these interactions there is often a common theme; a misunderstanding or an attitude. I call this a misconception of reality, as often the reality of what the Internet can actually do for the persons business and what they think it can do differ massively.

Often it is presumed that by simply owning a domain and having a website built and published on the Internet, thousands of people will magically find the website, visit it and buy their products. “If you build it, they will come” should be removed from the vocabulary as soon as possible if you are to adjust attitudes to the underlying search technology. As a businessman in the real World, it is obvious that it would not happen outside of the Internet ether, so what is so different online? Maybe it was the Technology boom 10 years ago that caused a rift in understanding or maybe the buzz that caused the meteoric rise in the stock prices of Tech Companies, I can hear the thoughts of the small businessman, “surely this can be replicated for my business” – in answer I would say, “well, it is unlikely, but you should be able to achieve some results over time”.

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