What We (Developers) Like About WordPress 4.0

WordPress 4.0 and Beyond

Now that WordPress version 4.0 has been out in the market for a while, users, developers and the media have had some time to look at the new version and comment on the changes, new features and improvements. There is a lot to like about the new version of WordPress and, much to like if you are a developer who designs and executes projects for small and medium sized businesses.

As WordPress continues its evolution, it has gone beyond appealing to bloggers and sole proprietors and reached for a market that includes businesses looking to use this framework for content management and/or sales and marketing of products and services.

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Case Study: US Online Media Agency Gets Liferay Multi-Vendor, Personalized, Online Shopping Tool

This US online media agency selected Elegant MicroWeb to design and develop a portal for online shopping in an environment that offered products from multiple vendors. The objective was to offer customers a highly secured, easy-to-use online shopping cart and eCommerce solution. The solution would allow vendors to create an online store that would satisfy a variety of product categories and types.

Elegant MicroWeb analyzed business requirements and recommended Liferay Portal framework to satisfy business needs. The team developed administrative portlets for category management, product management, configuration management, order management and access rights to satisfy the needs of the business and the vendors who would create online shopping sites. The portal allows for personalization, product catalogs, product specifications, pricing, FAQs, product reviews and other relevant information and would be structured to allow secured access for different types of administration and user update. End users can leverage product catalogs, select items and leverage payment gateways to browse and purchase products.

Case Study: UK IT Consulting: A Relationship and Solutions that Span More than a Decade

Elegant MicroWeb has worked hand-in-hand with this U.K. based IT consulting company to create scalable IT solutions with an intuitive user interface, and to satisfy the high security, eGovernment and accessibility standards mandated by UK public sector IT standards. This company is a market innovator and a thought leader in stakeholder engagement, and in customer and client interact, market research, idea management and relationship building solutions. We provide support to help this business achieve its goals with world-class, quality solutions, architecture and software products that are flexible, easy to use and implement. Our team was there from project inception, studying competitors and markets, , and conducting feasibility studies, building prototypes, building and managing product road maps, and providing implementation and support.

We have worked with our partner for more than a decade, providing support and solutions for eConsultation, Event Networking Management, Idea Management, ePetitions and Stakeholder Management and Engagement solutions. Today, our partner uses these solutions to serve more than 40 public authorities in the U.K., and in Scottish and Welsh parliament, city councils and cities, national parks and numerous other renowned private sector companies.

Be a WordPress CMS Super Hero and Protect Your Business and Customers From Hackers

WordPress 4.0 and Beyond

There are different reasons why a website might be vulnerable to hackers or information hijacking and, content management systems (CMS) solution vendors like WordPress are constantly updating and patching security leaks. Customers and clients of the CMS WordPress solution will benefit from these vendor security patches and releases, it is important to be proactive in an effort to protect your business, your customers and proprietary and confidential information contained within your CMS systems.

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Volusion: eCommerce That Beats the Competition

ecommerce

While eCommerce markets change daily and social media and web sites explode into the eCommerce stratosphere, a software vendor in Austin, TX has rather quietly taken the eCommerce market by storm. Volusion has forged partnerships, released software development kits (SDKs) and launched new features, making it easier than ever for even small to medium sized businesses (SMEs) to enter and conquer markets with products and services and an integrated sales platform that allows customers to browse and buy on mobile and desktop platforms.Recently, Volusion targeted enterprise customers with its new product, designed to provide a unified shopping experience for online sales, mobile access, and retail sites. While Volusion originally targeted small and medium sized (SME) businesses, it is now making a play for larger businesses with a Mozu platform. The Volusion large enterprise market entry makes it easier for big companies to provide fresh content and utilize new features and partner products to improve payment gateways, provide online chat, expand product catalogs, launch related blogs and leverage other upsell opportunities like social media marketing and sales.

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WordPress is Not a Slam-Dunk! Pay Attention to Design and Planning and You Will Succeed!

WordPress 4.0 and Beyond

It is estimated that the WordPress framework is used in nearly 25% of the top ten million websites in the world. In February of 2014, it was reported that WordPress version 3.8 had been already been download by more than 20 million users. With its plug-in architecture and a popular template system, WordPress has become one of the most popular frameworks for small to medium businesses (SMEs) and specifically for Content Management Systems (CMS) and sites.While the free, professionally designed templates provide a great start for a business site, like most other technology projects, a WordPress project should not be considered a slam-dunk! If a business intends to use a WordPress site to attract and retain customers, it must consider and attend to a CMS WordPress implementation with the same attention to detail as any other technology or software project.

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Content First, and Mobile First: How To Factor Them Into Responsive or Adaptive Web Design

RWD

If your enterprise is considering Responsive Web Design (RWD) or Adaptive Web Design (AWD), it is important to understand that the decision process does not end with RWD and AWD. To successfully design, develop, configure, integrate and implement a flexible web design, the business must also consider the questions related to ‘Content First’ and ‘Mobile First’.’Content First’ and ‘Mobile First’ methodologies are designed to put the emphasis on content prioritization, and to ensure that important information reaches the users, no matter what device they are using. These methodologies are often part of a responsive design strategy, and reflect an approach that allows the enterprise to display important business information to users quickly and with established priorities. If the navigation menu or company message is not clear or if it does not load fast on a smart phone the business may lose clients, customer trust, credibility and revenue. Having a content first strategy will help the enterprise to establish and sustain trust by respecting the user’s time and attention.

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Responsive Web Design? Adaptive Web Design? If You Find It Hard To Decide, Don’t Despair!

EM-DEC-Blog-RWD

There has been a lot of discussion about Responsive Web Design (RWD) and Adaptive Web Design (AWD) in the trade press and among enterprise IT teams looking to convert web sites and apps to user-friendly, flexible mobile displays. One of the main issues facing the enterprise is to decide between RWD and AWD. Once this decision is made, it is difficult and expensive to turn back. This article focuses on some of the differences and benefits of each of the techniques.Responsive Web Design: True responsive design is fluid, and uses CSS3 media queries to respond to any screen sizes. With CSS3, you can create a flexible grid where text can wrap and images can shrink and adjust along with your browser.

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A Match Made in Heaven – AND it’s FREE! Volusion and FaceBook Stores

volusion

If you are a Volusion customer, and you are currently using the Volusion solution for your eCommerce store or online shopping cart, you will be pleased to know that you can use the solution to create a FaceBook store wherein you can sell your products and services. Volusion customers will be pleased to know that there is no additional licensing fee or charge for this product extension. Combining eCommerce with social media, internet marketing and social media marketing is a crucial part of online sales today and this integration enables up selling and cross-channel marketing campaigns. If your business has a license for the Volusion eCommerce solution, it is worth your while to explore the opportunities provided by the FaceBook store extension. Your Volusion developers can leverage the solution to design and create a professional store with numerous selling and marketing features, and you will not incur any additional software licensing fees.

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I KNOW You’re Smart! That’s Why You Are Going to Embrace Internet Marketing!

internet-marketing-services

You’re smart! I know you are! I know because you read my blog every month. Just kidding. The reason I know you are  smart is because you are online doing your research and trying to figure out how and why your customers shop and buy  and what your competition is doing to attract customers. And, because you are smart, I know that you understand the  value of internet marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing (SMM) and pay-per-click (PPC)  marketing and selling. You understand the critical business considerations and you want to apply the new and most  relevant technologies to leverage web marketing services, reach customers, stakeholders and partners and generate and  increase enterprise revenue.

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