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Amaxus CMS Gets a Serious Upgrade

The Amaxus content management tool has been on the CMS market since 2001.  However, isn’t wasn’t until September, 2009 that the product was properly introduced to the web.  The platform has improved considerably with the release of Amaxus 4.0 and this version could be exactly what BoxUK needs to makes its web CMS a true competitor on the market.

Noteworthy Improvements and Features

Amaxus officially got its start about eight years ago and actually utilized an early version of the popular development technology now known as AJAX.  Since the initial release, the platform has undergone major changes through four version releases, each attempting to keep up with the rapidly evolving web technology and fast changing times.  Amaxus 4.0 currently focus on six main factors:

1. Streamlined User Interface – Amaxus has been designed from the ground up, focusing on usability to help the user get tasks done in a much easier way.

2. Universal Search Capabilities – Locating content and information on an Amaxus site is made simple by a built-in search system that performs much like a traditional web search engine.

3. Content Support – Axamus is capable of handling all types of content.   A content and classification module gives the CMS the ability to intelligently publish and manage content types that range from simple text and documents to rich media and databases.

4. Workflow and Versioning – Axamus offers all the administrative features you would expect from an enterprise CMS.  This includes content versioning and rollback, advanced workflow, a role-based permission system and more.

5. Control – With Axamus, you can manage far more than basic content.  You can also control functionality, site design and various other elements all through an intuitive graphical user interface.

6. Enhanced Search Engine Rankings – Amaxus offers a number of integrated features designed to help improve search engine rankings.  This includes an SEO checking tools customizable URLs and standards compliant page output.

Social Networking Capabilities

The Amaxus CMS puts a lot of emphasis on social networking and content distribution.  It also has several features to help you distribute your content to other sites.  Some of the most notable include the ability to publish an unlimited number of RSS feeds, automatically publish your content in the form of Tweets, and a REST API that allows you to publish content on popular social networking sites such as FaceBook and YouTube, as well as another tool that allows visitors to promote your content on social bookmarking sites like Delicious, Digg and StumbleUpon.

Conclusion

You can learn more about the Amaxus CMS by visiting the official website.  The site is easy to navigate and offers a tour on how the product can be used to power your own website.  It explains the features and benefits and also talks about the technology behind the platform and the advantages of its open-source nature.  In addition, the website offers a Showcase and Resources page that contains case studies and screen casts of the product for users who need a little more convincing.

Hot Banana: The Enterprise CMS

Originally launched in 1999, the Hot Banana CMS is an award-winning content management tool designed with the small to medium sized enterprise in mind.  It places a strong focus on content optimization and online marketing, but also has a broad range of basic content management capabilities, which helps it appeal to customers with varying needs.  Hot Banana is integrated with Lyris’ suite of marketing products, most notably EmailLabs, its flagship email marketing solution.  This CMS aims to satisfy three key demands: content management, website optimization and marketing automation.  If power and ease of use is something that matters for your project, then Hot Banana certainly warrants a closer look.

Website Optimization

Optimization is a key element of Hot Banana, proven by the fact that it contributes numerous resources to tracking site and campaign performance.  Its SEO tools play a key role in content creation and keyword analysis through a comprehensive editing interface and reports.  Some of the other optimization tools include affiliate tracking, metadata management, automatic Google Sitemap submission and updates, automated tagging and instant SEO-friendly output.  Analyzing your components for optimization is as simple as clicking and entering keywords into the appropriate field.  Hot Banana is one piece of software that allows you to enjoy CMS usability the way it was meant to be.

Marketing Automation

In the Hot Banana environment, marketing automation and optimization go hand in hand.  The software provides a robust web form builder that streamlines the creation of forms and management of captured data.  It also integrates with SalesForce and other popular CRM platforms as well as EmailLabs, which enables form data to be automatically migrated to customer databases.  In addition, Hot Banana aims to ensure marketing optimization with a press release manager, blog administration, and event and survey management tools.  While EmailLabs provides an open framework for integrating with other email marketing managers, Hot Banana has a nice set of default email marketing functions in its own right.

Content Management

A clean and well organized interface makes content creation a breeze with Hot Banana.  The software packs a nice selection of templates with options ranging from standard web pages and landing pages to multi-column email layouts.  From there, your page can be created using the WYSIWYG editor, which offers tools for HTML view toggling and keyword analysis directly from your browser.  Advanced metadata can be inserted via a separate table while all of your content items can be scheduled for publishing dates of your choosing.  Though Hot Banana has a user-friendly interface to work with, it actually conceals many hidden treasures beneath all the open-space, making you dig a little deeper to perform certain actions.

Conclusion

Hot Banana is geared toward small and medium sized organizations whom for marketing, branding and ease of use are essential.  The major downside to the platform is that its based on Cold Fusion, which automatically makes it a turn off for developers not familiar with the language.  Disadvantages aside, this Banana offers enough out of the box functionality to greatly benefit small teams and businesses with a strong internal focus.