June 2015

APIs are nothing new. The application programming interface used by developers as routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications has been around for some time. APIs are used as building blocks that allow programmers to write an application much quicker and more efficiently than would happen without APIs. Despite APIs being around for quite some time, I can't tell you how many times this year non-developers have approached me to talk about APIs. APIs is no longer a topic just being discussed by developers but also by their managers and even the company executives.

After a few months of development, improvement and tweaking the beta-version, MotoCMS 3.0 is finally released along with the fully redesigned website, templates store and blog. This user-friendly content management system offers responsive templates with fully-rebuilt admin panel, visual content manager and tons of new widgets, plugins and features.

Alpnames becomes the second largest registrar for new domain endings

Wednesday 24th June 2015, Gibraltar: Alpnames smashed through the half million mark last night in terms of domain under management. As an ICANN accredited registrar specialising in new generic Top Level Domains, Alpnames manages nearly 8% of all new gTLD names registered to date making it the second most popular new gTLD registrar after the industry giant GoDaddy and recently overtaking the first and longest standing registrar Network Solutions (part of web.com).

Spring brought to South Dakota plenty of rain. The lawns are green, the flowers are in full bloom, and it seems we can't go beyond a couple days without a rain shower or thunderstorm. While water is usually plenty for my city, we do things smart around here and restrict water usage for our lawns year round. It's not uncommon in my part of the country to see the weather pattern quickly change from wet to dry. What once was green can turn brown in a hurry.

As they become increasingly digital, enterprises are recognizing the central role of content in supporting their underlying business goals.

The cloud is where you need to be. At least that’s what companies are being told these days. The hype surrounding cloud computing is difficult to ignore, and organizations are responding by moving to the cloud in droves. This surge in cloud adoption makes the whole movement seem more like a fad at times, but it’s important to note that cloud computing does bring some significant benefits to the table. In other words, there’s a reason businesses are jumping on the bandwagon. At the same time, all this transitioning to the cloud can lead to mistakes, especially when companies aren’t prepared for the challenges and pitfalls they may encounter.

If your content marketing initiative isn't working for you, you are not alone! While nearly 95% of small businesses and business-to-business companies have content marketing programs, many organizations are falling short of their goals. In fact, less than 10% of companies surveyed were happy with the results of their programs.So, why are companies still investing in these initiatives? Because, every business manager knows that content marketing is important to their success. They just don't know how to go about establishing a successful program.

When you want to create a new website, or want to re-launch your existing website, using a content management system can make the process easy for you. A CMS makes it easy to manage content and the look of your website.

You do not need to have any technical knowledge to use CMS for your site. Without any technical knowhow, you can manage the front end by adding images, integrating social media, publishing posts and adding links. You can also manage what goes on in the backend of your site.

CMS also gives you the option to build your site in a way that improves search engine ranking. If you don’t want your site to rank, you also have the choice of making this omission.

For the small to medium sized business (SME), there are many more eCommerce options available today. If you want to build an online store, you can expect to find a solution that will allow you to develop your shopping cart or eStore as part of an overall website, and provide a secured buying experience, payment gateways, product catalogs, email accounts, marketing tools, sales reports, and reasonable mobile optimization.

One such eCommerce framework is Bigcommerce, which is growing in popularity and expanding its reach. Bigcommerce developers can work with free or premium themes (some themes are priced at $140, and some are as much as $250).

Last week, we started a conversation on The ez Publish Show hosted by Netgen's Ivo Lukač. The we included Ivo, Digital Clarity's Marianne Kay and myself. The odd question that started the conversation: Did modern CMSs sacrifice good editor experience (EX) for improving customer experience?