While it’s not easy to create a blog using Joomla due to some limitations such as not being able to set up an author box or social sharing, there are still those love to use this CMS because their blog extensions.

Joomla blogging tools are core solutions that can help you create an amazing blog like WordPress. There are many Joomla themes available in the market so all you need are blog extensions to help you create a compelling blog.

Best Joomla Blog Extensions

Here are some of the best Joomla blogging tools.

K2 – Free Joomla blog Extensions

This is the most popular blogging tool developed by Joomla Works. K2 was developed as a replacement for Joomla articles which brings some of the best parts of Drupal and WordPress to Joomla.

The best feature of K2 is its ability to let you import all your Joomla articles into K2 and make your content more prosperous with the addition of other fields like images, videos, podcasts, image galleries, other audio files and attachments.

Other key features include:

• Easy for everyone to use even for non-techies.
• Create and design different templates depending on your requirements and assign them to different categories.
• Easily create multiple authors.
• Can create custom fields and content types depending on your requirements.

EasyBlog – A Premium Joomla Blog Solution

This is another popular Joomla extension. EasyBlog is a premium extension with unique out of the box features. Users like EasyBlog because it keeps post editing history so you can restore to the previous version any time. It also has drop and drag content modules that can be inserted in your post to make it more attractive.

Users can enjoy:

• Embedding post on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Sound Cloud, Spotify, YouTube and other platforms.
• Add captions to each of the images that catch your audience’s attention.
• Pinpoint location on Google Maps.
• Has a well-managed media manager where you can manage videos, images, videos, files and other content.
• Fully responsive with lots of templates.

ZOO – A Powerful Blog Extension for Joomla

ZOO is not only a powerful blogging extension. It is also a flexible Joomla catalog system that can enable you to create content types with custom fields. It features 8 different catalog apps that can help you crate catalogs right away.

It has everything you need to start a blog like custom post types, item manager, media manger, template manager, element library, comment & tag system, front-end submission and editing and importers.

ZOO lets you:

• Create documentation site, cookbook, product catalog, movie database, business directory and many more with ZOO.
• Automatically generate slugs.
• Blacklist comments with the IP and more.
• Automatic image sizing and caching.
• Choose lots of templates.
• Show related post with dominant related items element.
• Configure email and receive comment notification direct to your inbox.

RSBlog – Premium Joomla Blog Extension

RSBlog is known for its remote publishing feature that lets you publish content by sending an email. It is a premium extension developed by RSJoomla team. Its fantastic out of the box features can give you an amazing blogging experience and feel in Joomla.

Key features include:

• Allows users to submit to your blog.
• Integrate Facebook and Twitter. When you publish your blog it will automatically be shared to these social platforms.
• Clean and neat dashboard that lets you operate and manage efficiently.
• Get RSComments plugin for free. It allows audience to comment on your content.
• Create multiple author blogs easily.
• Publish content from the frontend.
• Timeline layout.

CJBlog – Free Social Blogging Component

It’s not only a free blogging tool, it’s also a complete social blogging solution. Instead of writing separate content from scratch, CJBlog merely uses Joomla articles to the social blogging platform. The extension stores articles in as standard Joomla articles. This means that if you decide to discontinue use, you can just uninstall it and your article will remain as it was.

Key features include:

• Advanced tag system allows you to tag your articles and search.
• Reward your users with points to encourage them.
• Add the star rating to your existing Joomla articles.
• Users can add articles to favorites for later viewing.

What blogging extensions are you currently using? Do you have experience with any of the above mentioned extensions? Tell us by leaving your comments below.

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For many marketers, the stark reality is that content distribution can make or break your content marketing success. Without a good distribution plan, your investment in content creation can go down the drain because content is unnoticed.

Why does content distribution fail? Data from the research revealed that 65% don’t have time to distribute their content while 25% don’t know how to distribute it.

Content distribution problems can dress up as other issues. However, most of them can be summed up by these 5 core content fails.

No Documented Content Strategy

Many marketers don’t think they fall into this box. However, if you’re really honest with yourself you have a vague strategy in your head but not on paper. This is considered as a fail because it is not shared with other people in your organization. As a result, people who should know don’t or it is misinterpreted by others.

As a company or organization, you need to have a content marketing mission statement. It should contain (at the very least):

• Who the content is intended for
• The target audience
• To yield a benefit
• In order to achieve your goals

Lack Of Content Marketing Budget

Although many companies buy in to the benefits of content marketing, not all of allocate the needed budget to implement plans. According to research, average content marketers allocate 26% of their marketing budget to content marketing while the best content marketers allocate 40% of their budget.

Lack of budget for content marketing can lead to problems with social media reach, limited blog, website and intranet distribution, poor customer service and limited housefile access among other things.

No Clear Content Focus

To standout in a content driven world, you need to deliver value to your target audience. You have to meet your target audiences’ content needs and wants. If you know who your target audience is and what is relevant to them, you can deliver content that is useful and interesting to them.

When creating content, vet ideas around your team. The title should be attractive and clickable (but not a click bait), do your keyword research so that it shows up on searches, format for easier consumption, get input from through leaders and influencers and select the best headlines. Keep these in mind so as not to waste your creation efforts.

Low or No Content Engagement

It can hurt if content has low or no engagement from your audience. This can be a result of:

• Poor website loading – clients like webpages that load within 7 seconds.
• No communication options – according to Hubspot research, customers usually prefer social media, video conferencing and messaging,
• Not participating on existing communities – Facebook groups for instance.
• Not showing your real face – audiences like to interact with the people they are doing business with.

Wrong Content Metrics

Being able to evaluate your content marketing strategy is very important. Analytics can address issues and identify opportunities in your content marketing strategy. Key consumption metrics should include:

• Users – number of unique visitors to your site.
• Page views – records the total number of times a page is viewed.
• Unique page views – this is the combined page views generated by the same user during the same session. This will give you an insight to the number of sessions that page was viewed.
• Location – where do visitors come from? Knowing where your visitors come from can help you create tailor made content.
• Clicks – how many clicks does your email get and where do they go?
• New VS. Returning – new visitors vs returning visitors.
• Shares – how many people are sharing your content on social media?

There are many other metrics in content marketing. Some marketers make the mistake of relying on CTC or ROI as a marketing metric. They are great but they are not the end all and be all of content metrics.

Are you guilty of these content marketing fails? What did you do to remedy the situation? Tell us by leaving your comments below.

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In this article, we will talk about the platforms created by Microsoft Technologies then dive into Umbraco’s features, what it can offer. who it is for, and how it can help you succeed.

Kentico

Great for both large and mid-sized businesses, Kentico caters to multi-national companies like Hyundai, Twinnings, Mazda, and Allergan. Kentico doesn’t have several ERP and CRM integrations that are crucial for retaining valuable customer information. However, there are many useful options that can help solve this problem, our top choice is Kentico REST Service.

Sitefinity

If you need a CMS that can be readily combined into an existing eCommerce platform, Sitefinity has got your back. The principal selling point of this system is its interface that is not just user-friendly but also for beginners who doesn’t know much about CMS and how it functions. The only area it needs improvement is its technological advancement in terms of self-regulated marketing,  eCommerce, and personalization.

Sitecore

Where Sitefinity lacks, Sitecore makes up for it. Sitecore boasts of its technology in terms of personalization. It is the most used CMS by both minor and major SME’s and the largest companies all over the world. Specializing in automated marketing, eCommerce is just a part of their huge system. This system is best used by eCommerce businesses with high volumes, especially when marketing automation and personalization comes as an important factor.

Umbraco

Focusing on its checkout functionality, Umbraco is great for eCommerce websites who value their client’s user experience. Specializing in a fast, secured, summarized, and distraction-free checkout, it is admired by thousands of companies for its flexibility. This platform comes with 3 licenses to best suit your needs:

uCommerce

uCommerce is a .NET eCommerce system that provides a wide array of eCommerce options. The options to choose from are Free, Pro, and the Enterprise edition. If you need a comprehensive solution, uCommerce is your best bet. Its flexibility of multiple categories, inventory management, brand management makes it one of the best.

uWebshop

uWebshop got popular as an option to uCommerce. Starting at €299, it has a lot of functionalities that uCommerce lacks. From personalized layouts to unlimited shops, it offers more flexible opportunities for an eCommerce shop.

Tea Commerce

An uncomplicated platform that makes eCommerce hassle-free. It became popular with its several API developments, its license is priced at €349. Currently, more than 400 eCommerce websites use it to run their businesses.

The post .NET eCommerce Platforms Comparison —  Kentico vs Sitefinity, Sitecore, and Umbraco appeared first on Creativ Digital.

Sitefinity

Sitefinity can handle the needs of small, medium, and big corporates. Founded in 1981, it is one of the most popular CMS used today by marketers and developers. Sitefinity is a marketing analytics platform built to maximize the potential to succeed in today’s rapidly-changing world of digital marketplace. It gives developers and ITs the tools they need to support enterprise-level digital marketing, optimizing the client’s experience across different technologies and devices.

Basic installation: $30,000 – $50,000

Advanced installation with personalisation of content:  $60,000 – $100,000

Kentico

Specialising in eCommerce, Kentico is not anywhere far to Sitefinity. Often used as a central hub of digital operations, it tends to have more integration points. that translates to high project costs. Their website boasts that they are the only fully integrated ASP.NET CMS, Online Marketing, and E-commerce platform available today.

Basic installation: $35,000 – $60,000

Advanced installation with personalisation of content: $70,000 – $150,000

Umbraco 

One of the most user-friendly CMS is Umbraco. Used by both small and large-scale websites, it can be used to set up a website fast and cheap. Although Umbraco is not feature-rich and can only accommodate the basics, some websites who do not need advanced features can benefit from this as their pricing is one of the cheapest.

Basic installation: $20,000 – $30,000

Sitecore 

Built on Microsoft and recognized as the leading CMS in Gartner’s report of 2015 for Web Content Management Systems, implementing Sitecore can be quite a bit more expensive than any other CMS. It has a user-friendly WYSIWYG editor with an interface similar to Windows. Aside from full tracking and reporting on users’ behaviour, Sitecore also delivers targeted and relevant content to visitors using their latest technology.

Basic installation: $50,000 – $100,000

Advanced installation with personalisation of content: $120,000 – $250,000

Magento

Although a PHP based CMS, Magento is worth a mention and can be utilized by small retailers with their Community Edition and by international companies using their Enterprise Edition. Unlike Umbraco’s user-friendly interface, Magento is not for beginners. Extensive work is needed to configure offer functions, delivery options, and customised reports. Its all-embracing features and the ability for customization make it an excellent tool for marketers who have the resources to implement advanced technology. Magento is currently used by big companies like Zumiez and Burger King.

Community Edition: $20,000 – $50,000

Enterprise Edition: $60,000 -$150,000

Conclusion

In conclusion, the choice between using ASP.NET CMS and other web development platforms ultimately comes down to a careful consideration of the specific needs and goals of a business or organization. While ASP.NET CMS offers a robust set of features and capabilities, it may not be the most cost-effective option for every project. It is important to weigh the advantages against the costs involved in terms of licensing fees, customization, maintenance, and ongoing support. Additionally, businesses should take into account factors such as scalability, ease of use, and integration with existing systems. By conducting thorough research and consulting with experts, businesses can make an informed decision that aligns with their budget and long-term objectives.

The post Comparison of ASP.NET CMS and Its Web Development Cost appeared first on Creativ Digital.

The newest editing experience you will encounter with WordPress this year is called Gutenberg. Although not yet available at the moment, it’s important to be prepared for this coming change. How every WordPress user will adapt to this change is entirely dependent on their skills.

Is the update mandatory?

Gutenberg will be incorporated directly into the CMS’ system, which means that there is no way you can avoid the changes. But there is nothing to fret as a plugin developed by a WordPress core developer has your back. The plugin, called Classic Editor, promises to turn off Gutenberg for every WordPress user who doesn’t like the update.

What should you do before the update?

Before updating to WordPress 5.0, back up your entire website. This core update is irreversible, and therefore any incompatibility issues with any of your plugins or your theme are forever. Prepare to talk to your developer so you can identify which of your plugins are most likely to be affected and how your website can adapt to the change.

Once done, you can install Gutenberg on your website so you can get used to it. And if you’re ready, the update will be flawless and beneficial to you.

What’s so good about Gutenberg?

With Gutenberg’s clean interface, you get more screen space that provides a less distracting experience. One of the best features of Gutenberg is the new alignment options for images which is a step forward for large-screen users. With the update, you can now use WordPress on mobile with ease.

New users of the CMS will benefit from this update too because Gutenberg is very user-friendly for beginners. For plugin and theme developers, the ability to create their own custom blocks will provide them with the necessary tools to do such things easily.

With today’s post-lock feature, writers are prevented from overwriting each other. With Gutenberg, multiple writers can now work on the same draft at the same time.

What do you think of Gutenberg? Do you think the pros outweigh the cons of this update? Let us know in the comments.

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