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How to Find a Good Gaming Server Host, and Keep Them

Art — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:35:26 +0000

It’s time for you to go pro. No, we don’t mean playing World of Warcraft for money, though we couldn’t fault anyone who did. We mean running your own gaming server. You’ve got some game that you want to dedicate your own machine to, and you want it done right.

This means that you can’t settle for it being on your home machine: it’s good to have it the server right in front of you, but you don’t have the resources to make sure that, for example, the power always stays on, or the network never, ever hiccups. You also wouldn’t mind an expert at the wheels if something seriously goes wrong.

Where to begin?

In a literal sense that is the first question you want to ask. Before you go anywhere with any prospective host, you need to ask them whether or not they will host this kind of server. Even if you are on your own machine, some hosts won’t allow this for reasons ranging from network stability to security. Contact them and get a solid answer. Make sure you get a guarantee that they will try to give you warning if, for some reason, they can no longer host you.

The next thing you want to do is get your own machine. For this type of service even a Virtual Private Server isn’t good enough. You run the possibility of using resources like mad, to the point that you shouldn’t be surprised if you need more than one machine. For the most part forget about using any type of cloud services as well. Even if you’re permitted to, you run the risk of racking up a fortune in service-hour fees. If you must use the cloud, keep it to something that you’re not going to use every few seconds, like nightly backups of data.

Make sure that you hop your server up right from the start with all of the juice it will need. Get your RAM, your dual or quad-core CPU, and whatever else you need. Even if you choose to start low, make sure that you have room to expand easily.

Finally, depending on a lot of factors related to your game’s popularity, you might want managed service. This all depends, though, on precisely what “managed” means from them. This brings us to the next point.

Get the right services

If you are running some type of 24/7 game, then you need a 24/7 service to match that. If your machine crashes, your players are not going to want to hear that they have to wait until 9AM for someone to reboot it. Make sure that round-the-clock service is available for your machine.

More specifically, make sure that this service includes everything that you might need. Some hosts will say that they will respond all night, but by this they mean that they can only answer basic technical questions. Make sure that they have someone who can be there to hit the button on your machine. Unmanned data centers are a half-decent substitute. They will handle basic server reboots, but they won’t handle what will happen if there’s a bug in your kernel and you need some hands on deck to get your server back up and running.

To that point, make sure that if you need to upgrade your server that they can do it as quickly as possible. Again, 48 hours in the gaming world is something akin to an epoch. Most hosts typically have, for example, the RAM that you need on hand. What you want is someone who can install it on a moment’s notice.

Clipping coupons

While on some level you’re probably going to incur some high costs that you aren’t going to be able to do anything about, there are some ways to make sure that your wallet doesn’t get too badly ruptured.

If anything is going to kill your bank account it’s going to be bandwidth. There are ways that you can minimize this hit. First, ask your host if they send you warnings if you look like you are going to go over your monthly allotment. If they don’t do that, make sure you at least have web analytics you can fall back on, and ask for assistance in maybe setting that up to warn you.

You can also ask if throttling is a possibility. While this may not be too popular with your players, an hour or two of downtime here or there is preferable to getting shut down entirely. Some will do this network side, others will have the software necessary to do it server side. Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance in getting this set up.

Also ask your host if they ever sell off unneeded hardware. Some hosts, to recoup their own costs, will sell off hardware from servers no longer needed at a pittance. If you let them know that you would like offers sent your way, they will often drop you an email once a new piece of equipment becomes available.

Good managed care can go a long way

A last thing you’ll want to look into goes back to what we said above. “Managed” care of your server can mean different things to different hosts. Some go so far as to offer different types of debugging and server optimization. Some of these could be immensely useful to you.

For this type of care you’ll probably want to go with someone who charges a certain per-hour fee. While there are many tech workers out there who will gladly take it upon themselves to see what they can do for you out of a combination of go-the-extra-mile customer service and the personal challenge of trying to solve your complex problem, you don’t want to assume either of these. Charging for this help by the hour gives them all of the incentive they need to find an efficient solution to your problem.

Talk it out

Finally, this is one case in which one you’re setup, it doesn’t hurt every now and then to just drop a note to your host to make sure that everything is OK. If it is, they’ll say so. If it isn’t, this is a good way to catch little problems before they become big. Either way, this will help you to maintain a strong relationship with your hosting provider, and keep the game afoot.

A News Rundown About the Great Growing Cloud

Art — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:59:37 +0000

Cloud technology is evolving so quickly that it’s near impossible to keep up with all of its developments. We’re not even going to try ourselves. Let’s instead do a brief news summary of some of the biggest recent advances in this field.

China flies further into the cloud

Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced this week that they will be building a 7,500 square meter cloud data center facility for Range Technology Development, a Chinese cloud provider. The press release stated that this is a reaction to expanding customer needs, both private and governmental. It further stated that the data center will be designed to fit “carbon emission reduction plans” in the country.

Here’s why this is a very interesting development. While this isn’t the first introduction of the cloud to China, this is a technology that may soon run the risk of running afoul of Great Firewall standards. While crafty users have always found a way around China’s notorious censorship, now, more than ever, the country will need to provide to businesses a more sanction method of getting outside of it in order to remain competitive.

Cloud technologies are becoming increasingly distributed. The trend of advancements in this field is for farmed out bits of the web to become smaller and smaller. This is going to make it all but impossible for state agencies to keep a lid on what kind of data goes in and out. How they will deal with this problem once they realize the breadth of it is an open question.

Cloud9 goes dark but stays on

The unexpected state-wide blackout that hit California in early September had one positive benefit: it wound up being an effective test run for how well the cloud would handle disaster-level situations. While the news article detailing how well Cloud9 dealt with it very much reads like a company-written press release, there’s no reason not to believe that it’s accurate. If that’s the case, the answer to this is “blazingly well.” The article states that not a single customer was affected by the outage.

Let us remember that this was the whole point behind the design of the internet in the first place: to make a network so robust that even a nuclear strike couldn’t disable it. In that sense, cloud technology is one of the developments that is looking to further realize this original idea. We could very well be entering an era in which downtime seriously starts to become a thing of the past.

WeVideo introduces cloud-based video editing

This is a simple concept, but one that has the potential to seriously take off. WeVideo has launched the first cloud-based collaborative video editing web site. It’s difficult to say for certain from a glance, but it looks like they thought of all of the basics. The site seems easy to use while still containing enough editing options to create high-quality videos. It’s already set to work well with different types of smart phones and tablets, and to make sharing on social networks easy.

Nevertheless it’s the underlying idea that’s exciting. Even for the experienced user, video editing can be hard, laborious work. Using the cloud to allow editing by multiple users seems like the kind of idea whose time has come. We’ll keep a close eye on it and see if it is.

CloudLinux doubles in size

CloudLinux Inc. announced recently that its operating system, CloudLinux OS, is now being run on more than 5,000 servers, double the amount of just six months ago. CloudLinux bills its product as the only commercially supported shared hosting Linux OS. It has the notable feature that each user account is put into its own Lightweight Virtual Environment. This allows the administrator to put up safeguards that prevent a single bad user from impacting the entire server, the most common problem on shared hosting servers. In that way it’s much like virtual private servers, and is designed to work with them, but without the level of virtualization that makes it appear like you are the only user on that machine.

With simple shared hosting starting to get squeezed out by all of the other hosting services providing more reliability at not much more cost, this is a development worth watching. If this OS succeeds, expect to see others start to adopt some of CloudLinux’s tricks.

App developers find a Buddy

What Buddy Platform, Inc. has opened up for beta use is simultaneously expected and exciting. As the number of portable devices grows and along with it the number of desired apps, programmers need to pump out their material faster. Buddy helps in this endeavor by providing for developers APIs of common application functions such as user accounts, photo albums, location-based services and so forth. The APIs would be in the cloud, accessed by the apps.

The short-term gain from this is that applications, especially those from budding freelancers and small IT firms who have limited resources but have ideas that are based on thinking outside the box, will come more frequently and be of higher overall quality. The long-term gain is even more fascinating. If this trend sticks, it means that programming will become even more distributed, opening up more opportunities outside of traditional IT business channels.

Trying to capture the cloud

For our last news item we come to an article which proves that cloud technology is operating by a new set of rules. Marketing research firm Research and Markets (couldn’t they have chosen just a slightly less redundant name?) has added to their list of research publications the Frost & Sullivan report “Cloud Data Analytics: Technology Penetration and Roadmapping”.

As cloud technology rapidly develops, trying to get accurate cost-benefit data is going to prove increasingly labyrinthine. Even just trying to determine who is using your technology at any point will be difficult. What Frost & Sullivan is offering is surely going to be something that you’re going to see more often. Even hosting providers can’t tell just from looking at it exactly where the edges of the cloud are anymore.

Vdeck – Robust Features, Simplified Functionality

Art — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 20:14:07 +0000

A powerful control panel should facilitate the completion of complex Web hosting tasks within a simplified user interface. Vdeck does this successfully while also providing a robust feature set that is unmatched by equivalent competitors. This control panel is perhaps one of the most versatile on the market, having compatibility with virtual private servers, shared hosting configurations, and dedicated servers. All of the actions that webmasters are expected to perform on a daily basis can easily be completed within the Vdeck administrative interface, which is neatly categorized and organized into efficient modules that centralize various web hosting duties. The following review briefly discusses some of the most appealing aspects of the Vdeck control panel.

Flexibility and Compatibility

Although popular control panels such as cPanel are mostly known for their ease-of-use, and are therefore commonly used by novice webmasters, Vdeck differs in this respect because it is flexible enough to be a perfect solution for nearly any size business. Whether you’re a small business owner or the CEO of a large corporation, Vdeck can accommodate your needs and preferences effectively. Vdeck includes all the tools and resources needed to efficiently manage an entire online store, or a small business portfolio site, without the need for any additional modifications or plug-ins. Vdeck is also compatible with a variety of operating systems, and can be used in nearly every hosting configuration . Since Vdeck can be used with any hosting type, it is possible to carry it with you throughout the years as you progress in your online business endeavors.

Traffic Analysis and Promotion

Vdeck improves webmasters’ ability to thoroughly analyze traffic statistics and trends, by providing several integrated traffic analytics software that can easily be installed on websites within the control panel. By having the ability to analyze and monitor web traffic in real-time, and generate monthly, weekly, and daily reports, it is possible to maximize the efficiency of a marketing campaign and improve overall promotion efforts. Vdeck includes a simplified script installation utility that can be used to quickly and easily install web hosting scripts, such as content management systems, with a single click of the mouse. Many of these scripts will aid in administrative tasks such as performing search engine optimization duties and organizing website content.

Expandable Functionality

Although Vdeck is considered to be a control panel, it has the open-source expandability that is commonly seen in content management systems such as WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal. The functionality and features of Vdeck can be expounded upon using custom scripts and extensions, many of which are already available for free through Vdeck developer’s forums. Vdeck makes it easy to add custom Cron jobs that automate repetitive server and site administration tasks such as posting content, clearing comments, and creating site backups. Vdeck is also easy to learn how to use, because there are a lot of helpful tutorials and videos posted online by experienced Vdeck users. By networking within the Vdeck community you can gain access to programmers that are capable of creating custom modules within Vdeck for specific website and server management purposes.

‘Tis the Season to Prevent Online Fraud

Art — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:17:46 +0000

Whether you’re a small business with an online presence, or a multi-million e-commerce enterprise, online fraud doesn’t discriminate. Even as individual protecting personal investments, with the holiday upon us, it’s imperative to remain vigilant to prevent online shopping fraud. Regardless of your angle, as a website owner you should lead by example, and provide visitors with adequate information to protect them from becoming a statistic of online fraud.

The Survey Says…

A web host industry report recently out from Webroot, a leading Internet security service firm, offers troubling results for most web host security analysts. According to the recently conducted survey of over 2,660 participants, over 50% plan to do at least half of their holiday shopping online. The number of online holiday shoppers increased from 38% in a similar survey conducted last year. Perhaps online merchants are capitalizing on the convenience of customers being able to shop from home or taking five on a quick lunch break, combined with the alluring Black Friday online only specials.

High Ranked vs. Trusted Websites

An interesting find in the Webroot survey indicates that 59% of the participants would rather trust the top listings generated from an online search engine rather than typing in an established company’s website, compared to 38% in 2009. This is troublesome for website owners because if their respected search ranking isn’t listed within the first couple of pages of displayed results, potential customers will never even land on a trusted site. Furthermore, fraudulent sites have taken advantage of some online shoppers’ naivety to become a high ranked website, yet be a scam in every other sense of the word.

Weak Wi-Fi Hot Spots

With the increased number of online holiday shoppers, comes the increased potential for online fraud. Often busy individuals take a break from a hectic schedule to “browser shop” using a personal laptop hitting a local Wi-Fi connection; however, often these enthralled shoppers don’t realize they are connected to an unsecured Wi-Fi hot spot. A caveat: submitting any credit card or other financial information is a very risky transaction unless via a secure connection.

Multiple Domain Hosting for Improved SEO

Art — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 05:53:58 +0000

Keeping track of all of your scheduled tasks as a webmaster can be extremely difficult, especially when you own several web sites and you have to continuously log in and out of various hosting accounts. Search engine optimization is hard enough when you only have one site to focus on, but when you have several, all of which are separated in different control panels, the process is simply tedious and counter-productive for serious webmasters. Multiple domain hosting is offered in nearly every type of hosting environment, from dedicated to shared and everything in between. The following information outlines the most notable benefits that multiple domain hosting has to offer for improved search engine optimization.

Centralized Organization

Maintaining a good SEO campaign requires detailed organization and precise planning. Multiple domain hosting lets you associate all of your SEO campaigns with a single hosting account, which makes it easier for you to schedule mundane administrative events using cron jobs and other tools within the hosting control panel. It can be extremely easy to become confused when trying to manage several different sites in separate control panels. And in many cases you may inadvertently perform a task for one site’s SEO campaign that was intended for another. Having a centralized control panel for all of your sites will ultimately save you time and frustration in the long term.

Monitoring Progress

Most people gauge their success as a webmaster and SEO professional by how much web traffic their able to pull from the search engines. Fortunately, all web hosting accounts gives you access to basic traffic analytics that can be used to view detailed reports about the daily, weekly and monthly traffic levels of your web sites. However, with multiple control panels to log into, even simple tasks like checking the amount of web traffic can become confusing as you try to keep each site’s statistics separate while also grasping the bigger picture. Multiple domain hosting lets you view all of your sites’ traffic statistics within the same control panel, making it easier for you to monitor your SEO progress for all of your campaigns simultaneously.

Cost Saving Benefits

Of course, multiple domain hosting also eliminates the multiple hosting bills at the end of each month, which can add up to a ‘small fortune’ if you own more than 10 web sites. With the additional money leftover each month you could purchase a piece of software or a guide that could drastically improve the SEO attributes of your site in the near future. Multiple domain hosting can cost anywhere from $10 per month to $300 a month, depending upon the hosting type you choose. Although dedicated hosting costs more than any other type of multiple domain hosting, most professional webmasters feel as if it is well worth the additional cost because of the amount of server resources that are available, and the freedom you are given over the software configuration of your server. If you only have a few sites that you need t manage SEO campaigns for then you may want to consider a VPS or shared hosting plan.

How to Track Search Engine Optimization Progress

Art — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:40:01 +0000

Search engine optimization is a complex field of study that often takes years to master. In fact, most people never master it because it is a constantly evolving art form that changes every time the search engines adjust their algorithm. With so many changes taking place each year it can be very difficult to track the progress of your search engine optimization efforts, and to attribute any positive results to a particular action or strategy yo have been using. Thus, it is very important to actively track your progress using the following methods, in order to get the most out of your efforts and figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Analyzing Traffic

Every SEO expert is after one thing – search engine traffic. Unfortunately, search engine traffic can be inconsistent, and it is very difficult to accurately predict traffic levels that originate form search engines. Instead of predicting traffic levels, you need to be analyzing previous traffic levels and comparing your traffic results with the your actions during the previous weeks. The ultimate goal is to understand how your actions are affecting traffic levels, in order to harness the techniques that work and utilize them to their full potential. You should learn how to use a good web traffic analysis software to make reports of your daily, weekly and monthly traffic levels. As you study each report your job is to find a correlation between traffic levels and your actions.

Trying New Techniques

The main problem that most search engine optimization experts have is tracking the correlation between their actions and subsequent search engine results. In SEO there is always a time delay before results can be seen, which is why it can be difficult to figure out what is working and what could be causing you to lose Page Rank. The key to dining the right techniques is consistency and persistence. You have to maintain your plan of action for at least a month, and then study your traffic analysis for the following weeks to see what the effect was on your search engine rankings. If you change your strategy too much and you don’t let the changes take affect, then you won’t be able to figure out what you did right when traffic does begin to arrive.

Checking Search Engine Rankings

Checking your search engine rankings can take away from your productivity and give you false hope or false discouragement. Sometimes backlinks can take weeks to get indexed, during which time your site could move sporadically in the search engine results. When this happens it is often referred to as the “Google Dance.” Instead of focusing on search engine rankings you should continuously execute the techniques that have been proven to work, like building backlinks and filling the site with high quality content. By focusing on the actions more than the results you are guaranteed to see a better outcome and your hard work will almost always pay off.

Using the Control Panel to View Traffic Statistics

Art — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:10:48 +0000

Keeping track of the traffic statistics of your website is absolutely imperative, especially when considering all of the variable that exist when trying to optimize your site for future visitors. In order to know what to focus on, you have to know what is working. Without a solid outlook on the progress of your site it will be nearly impossible to advance and give the visitors what they want. With in depth traffic analysis you can tell what is hot, and what is not, thereby gaining complete control over the popularity of your site and it’s pages.

There are many ways to track traffic statistics. Sometimes people simply track the amount of clicks that go through a certain link. Other times webmasters use integrated tracking systems within their content management system. But perhaps the easiest and most reliable way to check traffic statistics is to use a site-wide script that is installed and viewed through your web hosting control panel.

Traffic Tracking Scripts

Most web hosts include installation utilities that can be used to install commonly used scripts that enhance the functionality of a site. For example, the Simple Scripts utility lets you install dozens of tools and scripts on your site with ease, such as WordPress. However, many people become confused when they try to install Awstats or Webalizer using Simple Scripts, because it is usually not found in this interface. This is because most web hosting control panels include an entirely different section of the control panel for traffic tracking. This module is called the log section, where all of the site’s statistics are kept.

Installing a Traffic Tracking Script on Your Domains

In the log section of the control panel is a module called “Choose Log Programs” (or something similar, depending on the particular web host). Click on this module and you’ll be brought to a screen in which you can install Awstats or Webalizer by checking the corresponding check boxes next to each domain name. It is important to realize that traffic statistics will not be enabled for these domains for up to 36 hours, at which point traffic data is generated every 24 hours for the webmaster.

Awstats or Webalizer?

The most recommended traffic tracking script is Awstats, and in recent years Webalizer has really fallen behind in popularity. Awstats is seen as being a better option simply because it provides a more detailed analysis, and allows you to structure reports in a more personalized manner. For example, the user can export monthly, weekly, or daily traffic statistics. Awstats is the premier traffic tracking script available today, and can be found in the control panel of almost every reputable web hosting company.

Awstats presents four main kinds of stats – Unique visitors, visits, page visits, and hits. The unique visitors statistic is the most important as it signifies the amount of people that have visited your website.

X-Cart Reviewed– eCommerce Shopping Cart Solution

Art — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:21:26 +0000

A good shopping cart is perhaps the single most important feature of an eCommerce hosting plan. Having a user-friendly, convenient shopping cart is one of the best ways to convert targeted traffic into sales. One of the best new shopping cart solutions on the market is X-Cart. X-Cart is offered in several versions, including a free version and a more extensive X-Cart Pro edition. Some of the more appealing aspects of X-Cart is that it can be tried for free, it is a server-based solution, and it comes equipped with all of the features needed in a competent shopping cart software. In this review, we’ll cover some of the more notable features of X-Cart and offer a comprehensive overview of it’s capabilities.

Administrative Interface

The administrative interface of X-cart is categorized into six main sections; Administration, Affiliates, Management, Your Profile, Authentication, and Help. All of these sections can be accessed with ease from the main interface, in the web browser of your choice. Although the navigation and functionality of the software is relatively simple once it is setup, it may be difficult for the novice user to configure the software to match their server’s needs. It should be mentioned however that users do have the option of having the software configured for a fee of $50.

If you’re new to eCommerce web hosting, then it may be optimal to spend the $50 to avoid any hassle involved with installing and setting up the software. Most users find the installation and setup fee is worth the amount of features offered by X-Cart. Once the software has been configured, you can install it on any hosting account you’d like, and there are no limitations to it’s uses. If you’re having trouble finding a web host, you could also refer to the list of recommended web hosts on X-Carts site.

Category Manager

One of the more notable features of X-Cart is the Category Manager, which is a user-friendly administrative toll that lets you effectively organize your product catalog. With the Category Manager you can add as many categories as you’d like. You can also add subcategories by simply adding a slash to the category directory. For example, you could add a Horror sub-category in the “Movies” category by typing – Movies/Horror. This aids in site organization by providing a feature that is usually seen in content management systems, but rarely employed in shopping cart solutions.

Traffic and Sales Analysis

X-cart also offers a unique traffic analysis tool, providing detailed reports of the shopping carts use. For example, the conversion funnel report shows you the specific point in time when potential customers abandoned the shopping process. The software tracks the habits of customers as soon as they enter the site, noting which products they add to the cart, how long they shop, which products they view, and other crucial statistics. This information can be very useful in optimizing your site for maximum sales.

Expandability

One of the best aspects of X-Cart is it’s expandability. The user can expand the abilities of the software by adding modules that improve the overall functionality of the shopping cart. The amount of modules you’ll receive will depend upon the version of X-Cart you purchase. Although the software is fully customizable, novice users may find it somewhat difficult to edit the templates and design of the software without prior training. Fortunately, the software includes reliable and extensive support.

Incorporating SEM and SMM into Your Marketing Campaign

Art — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:36:43 +0000

Webmasters are increasingly integrating SMM (social media marketing) right alongside their SEM campaigns. This has become a very feasible practice due to the prevalence of next generation web technologies and social networking. Let’s take a closer look to find out how an SMM campaign can be effectively incorporated into your search engine marketing strategy.

SEO Outside of the Box

Search engine optimization has long been viewed as the most affordable way to boost rankings, increase traffic and sales. However, this crucial SEM technique has been heavily underrated in its ability to aid in traditional public relations efforts. This method can be used to harness the power of press releases, online news rooms and article syndication to encourage organic search engine rankings. For example, by incorporating URLs or tracking codes into a press release, an SEO campaign can be easily transferred into a vehicle that prompts direct responses while optimizing at the same time.

SMM Avenues

Though SMM is still coming into its own, it is quickly evolving into a popular method and effective component worthy of SEM. With MySpace and Facebook pages now showing up frequently in search engine results, SEM experts can no longer deny the impact of social media and social networking platforms. SMM can deliver a wealth of benefits when integrated correctly, including branding. In addition, popular content syndication sites such as YouTube and Flickr provide opportunities for distributing an organization’s media assets to a larger and much more diverse audience. The same can be done with traditional content through blog and micro-blogging platforms such as Plurk and Twitter. SMM extends its benefits in so many ways as social networking sites are quite effective for ORM (online reputation management) at the very least.

A Measure of Success

Choosing the right metrics tool is key for measuring the overall efficiency of integrating SMM into your marketing scheme. The vehicle you choose will help you more precisely gauge your audience and set benchmarks as well. Traditional media often depends on surveys and focus groups to gather insight on the effectiveness of an add or campaign. For online marketing, web analytics tools and services have proven to be far more accurate and affordable. The market for online measurement solutions is growing rapidly, now offering common services that include comprehensive details of search engine visibility, PPC impressions, and most importantly, conversions. In this model, conversions may consist of sign ups, downloads, lead generation and sales. It may also include offline activities such as leads tracked via toll-free phone, website address or promotional code.

Marketing Wrap-up

As it relates to SEM and SMM, integrated marketing calls for a company to take advantage of its existing assets and enhance its web presence through increased exposure, leads and sales. There are many benefits to be reaped when grabbing hold of the two methods and utilizing them effectively. In the end, this could be the one merger your business needs to climb to the top of the pile and stay there.

SaasS Content Management with Clickability

Art — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:12:53 +0000

Previously known as cmPublish, the Clickability Platform is a CMS with a different approach on content management. Developed by CMS provider Clickability, this platform is delivered on an on-demand basis, as well as full service with the company’s “Innovation as a Service” solution. Aside from content management, the Clickability Platform also offers analytics, email campaign, web 2.0 and advertising among other functionality. While there is obviously far more to the Clickability Platform than content management, this is indeed the focal point of the package.

Core Technologies

Though a licensed commercial product, Clickability Platform is based on powerful open-source technologies such as PHP, MySQL and Java. It utilizes Apache as its web server and Velocity for the templating system. Even though you have to pay for a license, the leveraging of various popular open-source tools makes Clickability Platform a cost effective CMS product.

Clickability Content

The main content entity in the Clickability environment is the item. Authors have the ability to create content items by selecting various types of content from the navigation pane. This CMS gives you a number of different content items out of the box, including jobs, blogs, press releases, case studies and FAQs. Furthermore, custom content types can be created as well. The templating system is a major part of the process as it allows you to actually get the content on your web pages. These templates can be tailored to display numerous types of content in different sections of a single page. While this feature caters to beginners, Clickability Platform also has something for developers with advanced creation environments and other customizing assets such as stylesheets.

Additional Features

Clickability Platform certainly isn’t short on features. The package bundles streamlined content management capabilities alongside a host of SEO tools, Web 2.0, capabilities and the following list of features:

Newsletters – Publishers can create a newsletter of content and automatically distribute it to subscribers. They can also manage mailing lists and have the ability to provide subscribers with double opt-in capabilities.

Advertising - Adverting functionality is tightly integrated into the Clickability Platform. This allows administrators to create and maintain campaigns as well as all the details that go along with them. Because ads are considered content pieces, they have targets that provide administrators with a way to track and keep up with the history of their performance.

cmSideKick – Clickability Platform allows you to run your website in the browser and the intuitive cmSideKick in a second frame. cmSideKick is a utility that enables you to perform deep analyzation of statistics, allowing you to view your site in the administrator mode or selective views to modify certain areas. This is one tool that you are likely to put to great use in the Clickability environment.

Conclusion

Clickability has come a long way since its days as cmPublish. However, it has managed to maintain all the basics of content management and received some nice upgrades to compliment the emerging technologies and web trends. Clickability Platform is definitely a enterprise CMS solution and can help to satisfy the needs of businesses of all sizes.

Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » analytics

How to Find a Good Gaming Server Host, and Keep Them

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A News Rundown About the Great Growing Cloud

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Vdeck – Robust Features, Simplified Functionality

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‘Tis the Season to Prevent Online Fraud

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Multiple Domain Hosting for Improved SEO

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How to Track Search Engine Optimization Progress

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Using the Control Panel to View Traffic Statistics

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X-Cart Reviewed– eCommerce Shopping Cart Solution

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Incorporating SEM and SMM into Your Marketing Campaign

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SaasS Content Management with Clickability

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