Web Content Management Products

How to Justify the Purchase of a New Web Content Management System

Thursday, February 18, 2010 by JanJaap Kolleman

In today's economic environment business and marketing professionals are having a difficult time justifying technology spending- and that includes the purchase of a brand new web content management system.

The justification for this major investment might seem hard to make, but delaying the purchase or piecing together an in-house solution can cost you more in the long run and severely impact your brand. Here are four rock solid points to help you make the business case for an investment in an enterprise web content management system (WCMS).

1. Demonstrate Increased Revenue

By streamlining and centralizing content creation, a new or revamped WCMS boosts your revenue by allowing content reuse and re-purposing across multiple websites, channels, and, if you're a global enterprise, in multiple languages. Additionally, a WCMS simplifies workflow and provides robust analytic measurement capabilities to keep you focused on the timely updates of content that makes you money rather than wasting it.

A best-in-class enterprise web content management system will also have an integrated suite of online marketing tools that will help you achieve business objectives, like increasing conversion rates and building brand loyalty. Here are a few examples:

Brand management tools

Email campaign tools

Target audience marketing

Website personalization

Another revenue generating benefit of a top-rated WCMS is faster time to market. Imagine launching a multichannel marketing campaign or a new product in just a few days, rather than a few weeks or even months. What would this mean to your business in terms of increased sales or leads/

2. Demonstrate Decreased Operational Costs

With the right WCMS, you will spend less money on updating your website and avoid the inefficient practice of copying and pasting content across various pages. Centralized design elements and templates can be created once and then instantaneously integrated across your website. WCM helps you save money on labor, protect your brand and get it right the first time. Most enterprise web content management systems are easy to use. One of the major reasons organizations invest in web content management is because it empowers content creators (marketing teams, for example) to create, manage, modify, and publish content themselves- without IT involvement. Consider the savings of hundreds of IT hours on an annual basis, not to mention the increased efficiency

3. Calculate Probable ROI

Due to the economic environment, the concept of ROI is on the tip of everyone’s tongue when discussing technology investment. Don’t worry: an best-in-class enterprise web content management system almost always provides a sizable ROI. In addition to saving costs and boosting your revenue, a good WCMS interface comes with a high degree of usability. This means you can accelerate and simplify projects such as site development, implementation and content creation.

4. Think Beyond ROI

In addition, a WCMS can provide benefits that supersede ROI. Next generation web content management systems can really help to protect brand equity online and across multiple channels. For large companies, branding remains one of your most important assets and good customer perception is integral for continued success. A next generation WCM system allows you to build and maintain your brand with minimal hiccups. Even if you come up with initial ROI figures that are lower than you want, maintaining your brand equity and providing the ideal user experience across multiple channels is enough to make the business case for updating your WCM strategy today.  

The Impact of Social Media on Web Content Management (WCM)

Thursday, December 17, 2009 by JanJaap Kolleman

Managing Social Content

Twitter, Facebook, Google Wave, LinkedIn, FriendFeed – the list of sources of social content is never-ending. It wasn’t long ago, when organizations didn’t take social content seriously, let alone tried to manage it efficiently and productively.

Not anymore. Having realized the impact of social media on their businesses, some organizations have chosen to manage their social content in the same way they manage their business content. Some do it with the same enterprise web content management system (WCMS) they use for managing their corporate websites, intranets and extranets. Others use separate applications. The bottom line is social content must be effectively managed... lest there be consequences.

Regardless of how you approach this, the fact is that social content is everywhere and it cannot be ignored. Social content is very dynamic and changes rapidly, not at the same rate as your other content. However, if you use your WCM system to manage social content, there are several advantages to this model. A next generation web content management system will have this functionality, along with other interactive marketing tools.

Advantages of Using an Enterprise WCMS to Manage Social Content

One of the advantages of using an enterprise web content management system to manage social content is workflow and approvals. It is undeniable that social media may be a bit of a scary beast to many organizations. Using your WCM system to filter user-generated content is possible, while not always effective. Your social content workflow may be different from others you employ in the company, but it will give you the desired safety and comfort when dealing with social media. As a result, you’re not falling behind the social media curve, but all your content is safe.

Archiving and compliance is another reason for using a web CMS for managing social media and social networks content. It may not be stored in the same repository/database as your other content, but having a strategy and tools to archive your content is crucial, especially in environments with heavy legal and other regulations.

Social media may be treated as one of your publishing channels, just like web, print, mobile, etc. If you already use an enterprise web content management system for publishing to those channels, you may as well consider using the WCMS for social publishing.

While social and web publishing are still moving along the separate tracks, I think in the near future we’ll see them merge, and social content will be managed the same way as any of your other content (web, documents, digital assets, etc.).

Collective Intelligence: Wisdom of crowds, ignorance of masses?

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 by Remco van Rij

Collective intelligence is a form of intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals and is closely related to crowdsourcing (Wikipedia)

Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call. (Wikipedia)

It all begins with the principle that ‘WE’ is smarter than ‘ME’. The first digital natives now joining the workforce (them who grew up with Internet and an always on lifestyle) understand this much better than their previous generation, which are the current decision makers. Collective Intelligence is a disruptive trend as it deeply impacts an organisation’s traditional way of doing business.

Companies are busy with streamlining and improving their team collaboration via web conferencing and and instant messaging. On the other hand they are investigating things like Wiki’s, blogs and feeds to stimulate interpersonal productivity and interaction.

Consumer social software (web 2.0 stuff) becomes part of our mainstream workplace. We want to have access to all information, but of course only the relevant content. Internet will have to focus more and more on personalizing online content.

Collective Intelligence deals with these four topics:Internet Centric Computing, because systems must be accessible over the internet; this also implies specific architectures (like SOA) to gain access to business applications.

Internet Centric Computing, because systems must be accessible over the internet; this also implies specific architectures (like SOA) to gain access to business applications.
Portal technology is necessary to provide a uniform interface with data from different sources.

Collaboration technology is obvious.
Business Process Management to streamline the various processes, as these processes go beyond the company walls they must the chaos-tolerant.

Companies have to design a strategy to find and involve their target groups and offer them persuasive, profiled and personalized content. With SDL Tridion’s Global Web Content Management System many of these topics can be addressed. It is your product, your service and the world is waiting for it. Start increasing conversion rates!

Five steps to make it personal

Thursday, December 10, 2009 by Maria McCann

All visitors, even anonymous ones, want information that relates to their interests. If they don’t find it on your website, they will look elsewhere. If they do, they'll keep coming back.

According to Gartner (source: a Framework for Creating the Future Customer-Centric Web, Feb 2009) by 2012, organizations that lack customer-centric web strategies will soon trail competitors that have them.

I'm often asked how you should you go about implementing website personalization. So here are my top 5 tips.

Know your audience
It is vital to address specific customer needs, but content needs to be manageable as well. Segmenting customers into groups with matching characteristics will address both of these requirements. You can match these segments or target audiences with products and services that meet their needs.
Target audience marketing can be tricky. It is important to identify the unique requirements of each target audience. If you want to reach a global audience, for example, the best conversion will be found if content is presented in the right language and relevant local information is served (e.g. customer case studies from the region).
A next generation web content management solution will help with mapping target audiences to a global business model. It will provide a method of organizing content and managing multilingual variations intelligently and easily.
Profile your visitors
Marketers recognize that the success of their marketing campaigns depends upon delivering the right messages to the right people at the right time. Relevancy is king. The marketing team must profile audiences according to meaningful criteria and tailor communications to the attributes of each audience.

The most successful profiling is based on rich, detailed demographics of targets, so that recipients feel you are addressing them directly. To serve your target audience with specific content that relates to their interests, you need to identify what these interests are. Building visitor profiles is the basis for personalization.
Match your content to the visitor
Profile information should be used to provide your website visitors with tailored content that is appealing and persuasive, whether they are registered users or anonymous. Cookies can be used to store information about an anonymous user’s interests for future visits. Previous searches can be used to route relevant information to the visitor.
If a visitor signs in, you can take advantage of explicit profile information that they have given you directly, such as their contact details, areas of interest, location or demographic information, to present relevant information.
Closing the loop
Closed loop marketing is a form of interactive marketing where customer responses and behavior are used to direct and refine marketing strategy and tactics. There is a ‘closed loop’ when collected customer data (from surveys, promotional entries, coupon redemptions etc.) and browsing behavior or a purchase are used to build a customer profile. These profiles provide the basis for further marketing initiatives. The recipient profile is enriched and adjusted, based on responses to the campaign and the campaign is consecutively adjusted to the recipient profile – there is a feedback loop.
Implementation checklist
Before you rush into implementing a personalization solution for your online marketing communication, it is wise to consider some related factors:
- Privacy policy – do you clearly state that you are collecting implicit and/or explicit information about visitors and how you will use this information? Have you complied with the legal requirements for all the geographies in which you operate?
- Security – do you have security measures in place to protect personal information?
- Integration – does your website communicate with your CRM and other customer information sources? Do you have a central place that holds a single view of your customers, their interests and their behavior?
- Analytics – do you have an overall view of all your offline and online marketing activities in one place? Can you drill down to uncover what works and what doesn’t, which content is read and which isn’t? Our survey found that only 53 percent of companies always measure ROI.
- Infrastructure – a website must be reliable to evolve as the preferred channel for any type of customer centric interaction. Is your platform stable, responsive, convenient, easy to navigate, consistent and proactive?

Online Interaction Matters

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 by Sonja Keerl

As little as ten years ago, online communication tended to be purely one-sided. Websites presented themselves as a brochure-ware monologue to the visitor. As marketers, we usually did not know who visited our websites and what people were looking for. In the majority of cases, we were not even in control of our internet presence. The familiar old statement that we knew we were wasting budget, but had no idea which bit, was as valid for the online channel as for all the others. For our audience, the message was clear: “Love it or leave it, sink or swim”.

A lot has changed since then and by now, marketers are in control of any strategic web presence. Today we have the means to measure and validate our efforts, giving us the chance to prove that we are indeed spending our money in the right spots.

The internet penetration has reached up to 75.5% in Japan, closely followed by North America (74.2%) and the European Union countries (63.8%). Worldwide, we are looking at an internet population of over 1.7 billion! We know that for many potential customers, the first point of contact is our corporate website and not anymore the local branch office or store.
How does this make a difference?

When we walk into a store. we scan the interior, glance over the products and form an opinion within seconds. The nice friendly shop assistant greets us with a warm welcoming smile.

Whilst we browse through the shelves, said shop assistant observes. We are being checked out: gender, age group, style, income range – and neatly put into a target group drawer.

If the shop assistant establishes that we, the unknown guest, might be a potential buyer, he or she will approach us and start to actively interact. “How are you doing, how may I help you? Is there anything you would be interested in in particular?” And most likely we will be glad for the help, advice and recommendation.

In this standard shopping scenario, the key aspect around which the success is defined, is the shop assistant and his skills to interact with people. Because we humans are social beings, this interaction comes naturally to us and both parties are (usually) comfortable with the interaction.

This human factor is absent in the online world and if you want to run a successful website or even online store, it is down to you to make up for this lack of social interaction.

A couple of years ago, if you looked at engaging sites, like the flagship Amazon.com, you were surprised by how well it met your needs. Unfortunately for online businesses today, users have raised the bar: According to the SDL Tridion research ‘What the Customer Wants’ 66% of all online users expect to find products and content specific to their needs. It is considered state of the art, not a welcome surprise anymore. During the course of the next few articles, we will look at some possibilities on how to narrow the social gap.

The online population is impatient– within seconds they decide if your website suits them and has the potential to meet their needs. If you fail in these crucial seconds, they are gone – most likely to your competitors. You have to make sure, that within seconds, just by gazing over your website, people understand what it is about and where to find what.

Never forget, that even if you do not sell online, your website may still for a large amount of potential customers be the first point of contact. This is just as valid if you maintain an online shop: Many customers browse online for wares first before buying the goods offline the old fashioned way. According to eMarketer, for every $1 in online sales, the internet influenced on average $3.45 of store sales. That is the average. What a good website can do, you can hear from Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren: “Every dollar spent online influences $5.77 spent in the store over the next 10 days.”

Once you are past the first impression phase, you have to enter the observation mode. The lack of skilled staff watching your users, you can counteract with tracking and profiling based on the visitor behavior. Whilst this is a very nifty thing to do, there are a few hurdles that will have to be overcome before making full use out of this technology – we will look at some of these in detail in later articles.

With regards to the direct communication, there is only one mature element to gather information: the online form. As Maria Peacock from CMS Wire says, “web forms are the one thing that consistently stand between the customer and the product, as well as between companies and their profits.” Based on forms, you can learn much about your audience – and if you decide to store this information, you will be able to really add value to their online experience. The good news here, according to a recent survey by SDL Tridion, 74% of visitors are happy for you to store their information, if it pays off for them.

Interaction and customer experience management are key strategic areas for any marketing department. Visitors of today expect you to care. They expect you to come up to them and directly ask them “So, how do you do and how may we help you?”

If you genuinely do, it will pay off for both sides

The New Definition of Multichannel Marketing

Monday, November 16, 2009 by JanJaap Kolleman

How would you define multichannel marketing? I define it as the use of multiple media pathways to reach and influence a target audience. Traditionally, multichannel marketing includes some combination of the following pathways, aka channels:

Online (Website & Email)
Direct Mail
Telemarketing
Broadcast Media (TV, Radio, etc.)

Like an apothecary mixing a potion, the Marketer will select the right mix of channels to achieve the desired results. The savvy Marketer will select the channels based upon campaign objectives, business type (B2B or B2C), the product or service being offered, and the characteristics of the market segments and audiences being targeted.

Today, multichannel marketing can certainly include any of the above, however the channels to choose from have not only increased in numbers, they have evolved. What has emerged are two very distinct species; one surviving, the other thriving:

Offline Marketing
Online Marketing

The Ascension of the Online Marketing

It wasn’t that long ago that the typical corporate website functioned a lot like a digital brochure. Not anymore.

For many organizations the website has become the center of the marketing universe and a primary driver of corporate revenue (directly and indirectly). The website has evolved from a “channel” into a “platform” for online marketing... a hub for emerging channels that exist almost entirely within the online realm:

Email Campaigns
SEM & SEO (Search Engine Marketing & Optimization)
Directory Listings (free and paid inclusion)
Banner Ad Campaigns
Whitepaper Syndication
RSS Feeds & SMS
Mobile
Blogs
Social Media & Networks

New Tools for a New Era

The evolution of web content management is being driven primarily by the evolution of online marketing. As a result, next generation web content management (WCM) systems are entering the market.

Next generation web content management systems are essentially becoming online marketing platforms. In addition to managing online content, they will also support multichannel marketing. Moreover, they will align with business drivers and include functionalities geared toward achieving marketing objectives, such as increasing conversion rates and building brand loyalty.

A best-in-class enterprise web content management system will include:

Brand management tools
Interactive marketing tools
Email campaign tools

Rethinking Multichannel Marketing

The term “Multichannel Marketing” does not necessarily need to be redefined. Rather, it’s our collective perception of what multichannel marketing consists of that warrants redefinition. No longer does a campaign require both online and offline media to be considered “multichannel” - successful multichannel marketing campaigns are now being conducted 100% online.

SDL Tridion is a leading provider of enterprise web contentent management systems (WCM) and online marketing solutions.

WCM Allows Company To Provide Ideal User Experience On Global Scale

Friday, November 13, 2009 by Brad Davis

As a general practice, we don't post press releases to the SDL Tridion Blogosphere. The IHS story is an exception becuse it is a perfect example of a company moving beyond basic online content management and selecting a next generation web content management system as the foundation for their online marketing strategy.

IHS To Implement World-Class Web Sites With SDL Tridion

IHS, a leading global source of critical information and insight, has selected the SDL Tridion enterprise Web Content Management system (WCMS) to manage its global network of websites. With full implementation planned for the second quarter of 2010, IHS is undergoing a massive online overhaul that will merge 45 business unit-specific sites and domains into a single enterprise-level Web experience.

"We've had several substantial acquisitions at IHS in recent years," says Kevin Spiller, director of Web development and strategy at IHS. "This created a difficult situation for getting people to the right information or demonstrate the full value of IHS. We knew that it was integral to reorganize our Web content in a system that helps to maintain a robust global presence. Starting with 14 different WCM systems, we whittled the selection down to three. SDL Tridion was the best fit for a company like ours with a wide range of customers."

The IHS Web site reaches users and customers across a diverse array of business units. From engineering, geology and oil prospecting to supply chains, military, security and financial analysis, its goal is to provide potential users from many industries with an ideal experience across the site. IHS plans to accomplish this by using SDL Tridion's workflow, translation management and website personalization features. As Spiller explains it, IHS wants to implicitly understand where users are coming from and what they are seeking.

"We're planning on using SDL Tridion to ensure that our Web experience flows seamlessly across all channels," says Spiller. "Whether we are providing data or taking more of an advisory role, it becomes important that users and customers understand the breadth and diversity of our business solutions. SDL Tridion provides a personalized user experience that will accomplish that goal while protecting our brand and localizing updates. This allows more flexibility on a bigger Web site that meets all of our governance needs."

"SDL Tridion is very pleased to welcome IHS as a customer," says Jan Jaap Kolleman, CEO of SDL Tridion. "In many ways, the IHS site is an exemplary case that demonstrates the scalability of our enterprise web content management system. Our software will help them streamline their Web presence by transforming marketing sites into a large, global Web presence that reinforces the IHS brand. Now, a subject matter expert in Europe can update content directly for local users in a specific industry while sharing design, layout and branding elements with the rest of the Web site. For a company that's rapidly expanding such as IHS, this capability becomes an invaluable tool for growth over multiple years."

About IHS (www.ihs.com)
IHS is a leading global source of critical information and insight dedicated to providing the most complete and trusted information and expertise. IHS product and service solutions span four areas of information that encompass the most important concerns facing global business today: Energy, Product Lifecycle, Security, and Environment, all supported by Macroeconomics.

How cheap is open source in the real world?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by Remco van Rij

As closed source software vendor, SDL Tridion is of course not blind for the trend within companies to add open source software to their short lists. If it is either as part of a dictated policy (e.g. governmental organizations) or for financial arguments. But for both reasons it is essential to get insight in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) to make fair and wise decisions in the end.

In many blogs, on websites and in articles, you can read academic studies on this. But the real proof of the pudding is of course in the eating! And the taste is not always as sweet as expected... Therefore I would like to share with you some real life experiences you can take notice of.

When starting with Open Source, and coming from a closed source enterpise product like SDL Tridion Enterprise Web Content Management System, then you need to deal with at least one of the following habits in your organization.

Your business and IT people are used to:

work with fully supported and 'fit for purpose' Web Content Managements products
get good and timely answers on their requests, issues, changes and enhancements
be able to get experienced consultants on-site when necessary

And what did your people experience during the open source implementation? They found out that:

Former standard functionality has to be customized (like SDL Tridion's BluePrinting)
support is not (timely) available
experienced consultancy is scarce and certainly not for free
Motivation drops after first enthousiasm at the start

Already before go-live of the new open source solution, the TCO advantages that were predicted are dissapeared. And what is left is a demotivated organization with a sour IT project that cannot execute its plans and actions to fight competition via the web.

My advice: Let the functionality and flexilibity that you need to gain business advantages lead the way in your decicion making. And then start evaluating the price and benefits of your futureproof Enterprise Web Content Management System!

An Introduction to Web Content Management (WCM) Strategic Planning

Monday, November 9, 2009 by Brad Davis

Strategy without tactics is inertia.
Tactics without strategy is chaos.

3 Questions to Ask Before Starting a New Web CMS Project

Sometimes it's a good idea to return to the basics. Here are three fundamental questions I have found most helpful when tasked with developing a strategic plan, web content management or otherwise:

1. Where are we now?
2. Where do we want to go?
3. How are we going to get there?

Sounds simple, right? Maybe, but these three questions can form the foundation of a very complex web content management plan.

Where Are We Now?
Assess the current situation

Conduct a comprehensive assessment of your online marketing operations from your website design to methodology for managing online content. Start by asking the right questions, worry about answering them later.

How are our websites performing with respect to traffic and conversions?
What is the flow of content from creation to delivery?
What are the WCM roles of business, marketing, and IT?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of our online channel?
How long does it take to roll out a new online campaign?
How is content translated and localized?
How is consistency of brand and message maintained across multiple channels?
What is the web experience of our online visitors?

If you know exactly where you are, it's much easier to get to where you want to be.

Where Do We Want To Go?
Set well defined objectives

Sure, you want a cool looking website that does really cool things. More importantly, however, I bet you want a website that will help you achieve online marketing objectives, like increasing conversion rates. Be as specific as possible.

How Are We Going To Get There?
Develop a plan

Before looking at web content management vendors and technology, craft a step by step plan that will take you from where you are to where you want to be. Standard elements of a strategic plan include:

Strategy
Tactics
Timeline
Budget
Metrics

When the time comes to look at web content management products and solutions, consider how well they will integrate with your strategic plan. Give more weight to WCM features and functionalities that will best help you achieve your defined objectives.

The selection of an enterprise web content management system and vendor should be a very deliberate process. The WCM industry is currently undergoing rapid change, from both technology and vendor landscape perspectives.

For more information about WCM planning and solutions, please feel free to contact SDL Tridion. SDL Tridion is provider of best-in-class enterprise web content management systems. Positioned as a "Leader" by both Forrester and Gartner, SDL Tridion ushers in next generation web content management by integrating a suite of ROI focused online marketing tools.

The Future of Web Content Management: Evolution or Extinction

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 by JanJaap Kolleman

"The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
- Mark Twain

What will a future enterprise web content management system (WCMS) look like? What kind of features will it have? What business solutions will it offer? Or will web content management go the way of the Dodo bird and the dinosaur, doomed to extinction?

I think it's pretty safe to say...as goes the web, so goes web content management. So what will the web look like in 5, 25, 50, or 100 years from now? To even begin to explore this question, we must first look at what the web is made of: Content. Content is the life blood, the very essence of the web. And one thing I am quite certain of is that Content will never become extinct. That is, as long as human beings continue to exist.

My crystal ball tells me that the web and web content management (WCM) will not become extinct. Rather, they will evolve into new creatures that look completely different than their predecessors. What won't change, however, is the concept of Content. Content will always need to be created, delivered, managed, and leveraged to achieve business objectives.

To Much of a Good Thing?

There was, of course, Content long before the web. Lot's of it. But the world wide web of the Internet let the genie out of the bottle and Content has gone viral, growing at an exponential rate. Today virtually everyone, consumers and business alike, are creating and publishing content to the web. With the meteoric rise of easy-to-use web content management systems, Web 2.0, user generated content, and social media, the quantity of Content is growing faster than the national debt.

The shear volume of "noise" emanating from the web poses significant challenges to business trying to market their products or services... and the noise is only going to get louder.

(Relevant) Content Is Still King

In both B2B and B2C marketing, Content is what we use to convince our target audiences to buy what we are selling. Success requires that we filter the noise and be heard. To be effective, Content must be A. Persuasive, and, B. Consumed by those most likely to purchase our products and services. These are two very real business needs driving the evolution of web content management.

Two basic tenets of the theory of evolution are "Adaptation" and "Survival of the Fittest". What makes a web content management vendor fit? Many factors beyond basic financial stability, including the ability to align enterprise web content management solutions with business needs and drivers. Web content management vendors who fail to evolve and stay fit are doomed to extinction.

The Art of Persuasion

Best-in-class enterprise web content management systems will provide tools that increase the persuasiveness of Content. An example would be functionality for website personalization. Personalization of online content is a surefire way to get more members of your target audience doing exactly what you want them to do. It breaks through the noise and makes them feel like you're speaking directly to their needs.

Marketing to your Target Audience(s)

Target audience marketing is delivering persuasive content to those most likely to purchase your product or service. But first you have to find them and secondly you must get to know them. Enterprise web content management systems at the top of the evolutionary chain are well prepared to assist with these tasks by providing a platform that includes a suite online marketing capabilities. Examples include search engine optimization (SEO) and interactive marketing tools, an integrated email marketing solution, and functionality for gathering visitor intelligence.

Next Generation Web Content Management

Best-in-class web content management systems are evolving into online marketing platforms with the ability to deliver content across multiple channels. The good news is that you don't have to wait for a next generation web content management system, they exist today. Evolution is an ongoing process, so be sure to select a WCM solution that is fully scalable and "future proof", meaning a system with the genetics to adapt and evolve with your changing business needs.

About SDL Tridion: SDL Tridion is provider of best-in-class enetrprise web content management systems. Positioned as a "Leader" by both Forrester and Gartner, SDL Tridion ushers in next generation web content management by integrating a suite of ROI focused online marketing tools.

From Web Content Management to Unified Marketing

Monday, November 2, 2009 by Remco van Rij

Welcome to my very first blog! With my blogs I would like to share with you my experiences in my working life as a Sales Executive of SDL Tridion, the market leader in Web Content Management Products for web sites. I want to address topics, subjects and issues I see during client meetings, that you could relate to your own situation.

What does the current economic climate do to companies? I have seen cost cutting, reorganizations, shrinking budgets and closing down offices. All things a company can do on the cost-side to survive this crisis. But what are they doing on the revenue side? Especially in these days, it is important to find and be found by your customers and prospects and stay ahead of competition. Just web presence is not sufficient anymore...

The successful companies are the ones who have a consistent brand image thru all their communication channels. They are able to offer profiled and personalized content because they know their customers, prospects and website visitors. It sounds easy, but it takes some effort to reach this level.

These companies make a difference against their competition because they build and protect their image with brand management tools and apply website personalization. This makes all their communication and campaigns more effective and will lead to increasing conversion rates.

Well, how does your company build and protect its brand and is able to target the right audiences?

10 Ways to Improve Website Performance

Monday, October 26, 2009 by Brad Davis

1. Implement and Maintain Current Web Content Management (WCM) Technology

It wasn't that long ago when a basic function calculator could be purchased for $9.99. Today, walk into any drug store and you can purchase the same calculator for $1.99 or buy a super deluxe scientific model for $9.99. With most technology products you get more for less over time. The same principle applies to enterprise web content management.

The web content management market and industry has changed considerably over the last few years and continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Best-in-class enterprise web content management systems are now at the core of successful online marketing strategies and do much more than simply manage online content. These systems now include interactive tools that will help you achieve online marketing objectives, such as increasing conversion rates.

To keep your organization ahead of the game and maximizing business results from your online channel, plan on upgrading WCM technology every three to five years.

2. Frequently Update Website Content

Adding fresh content on a regular basis to your website will improve your search engine rankings plus has the extra benefit of keeping customers coming back for more. Use dynamic content to deliver an enhanced visitor experience, build brand loyalty, and drive conversions.

3. Personalize Website Interactions by Using Landing Pages

One of the quickest and easiest ways to increase the personalization of your online channel is to incorporate the use of more landing pages. Landing pages should generally be directed at one target audience with one message and have one call to action. By segmenting your target audiences you can channel them to the landing pages with content that best fits their profile. Personalized content increases conversion rates.

4. Conduct A/B Testing of your Website Content

I am the first to admit that marketing is as much an art as it is a science. And while there are best practices for virtually every marketing tactic, the truth of the matter is that we never know for sure what will work and what won't work. That is until we've tried it. When you find out what works, do more of it. A best-in-class enterprise web content management system will have A/B testing with functionality that makes this kind of testing simple.

5. Use Old School Segmentation for Target Audience Marketing

Segment your Target audiences into groupings that make sense for your business and deliver persuasive content tailored to each group. Best-in-class enterprise web content management systems will have this capability.

6. Personalize the Website Experience

Website personalization is very similar to Segmentation, however here you are personalizing the web experience for individuals rather than groups. Next generation web content management systems have the ability to deliver personalized content to individual website visitors based upon explicit and implicit behaviors.

7. Integrate Web Content Management with Other Systems and Platforms

A best-in-class WCM system should easily integrate with CRM's, ERP's, email campaign tools, and other software and solutions. Integrating your enterprise web content management system will significantly improve efficiency, help marketers deliver more relevant content to their target audiences, and assist with website optimization, testing, and analysis.

8. Establish a Social Media Presence with Cross Links to Your Website

Develp and execute a social media strategy. At a minimum, set up Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In accounts with links to and from your website. Post relevant content to these social media sites on a regular basis.

9. Engage Customers Across Multiple Channels

While the website is at the center of the interactive universe and effectively managing online content vital to success, it pays to reach out to customers and prospects across multiple touch points including email, print, mobile, and RSS. Leverage multiple channels to drive traffic to your website. The best enterprise web content management systems will have online interactive marketing tools as well as multichannel marketing functionalities.

10. Measure, Analyze and Improve Website Content on a Regular Basis

I read somewhere that "whatever it was that made you successful today will not make you successful tomorrow". I'm not sure if that quote fully applies here, but I like it anyway :) Regardless, in my humble opinion, quality is an ongoing process, not a final result.

Use website analytic tools, learn from the reports they provide, and take concrete steps to improve your metrics. Measure, Analyze and Improve on a regularly scheduled basis (like monthly or quarterly). Oh, did I mention that the SDL Tridion enterprise web content management system provides an excellent set of website analytical tools?

The Business Case for Web Content Management

Saturday, October 24, 2009 by Brad Davis

Justifying Web Content Management (WCM)

It’s certainly no secret that in the current harsh economic environment marketing professionals are having a difficult time justifying technology spending -- and enterprise web content management systems are no exception.

The justification for this major investment might seem hard to make, but delaying the purchase or piecing together an in-house solution can cost you more in the long run and severely impact your brand. Here are four concrete tips and explanations to help you make the business case for an investment in an enterprise web content management system (WCMS).

1. A Web Content Management System Increases Revenue.

By streamlining and centralizing content creation, a new or revamped WCMS boosts your revenue by allowing content reuse and re-purposing across multiple websites, channels, and, if you're a global enterprise, in multiple languages. Additionally, a WCMS simplifies workflow and provides robust analytic measurement capabilities to keep you focused on the timely updates of content that makes you money rather than wasting it.

A best-in-class enterprise web content management system will also have an integrated suite of online marketing tools that will help you achieve important business objectives, like increasing conversion rates. Here are a few examples:

2. A Web Content Management System Decreases Operational Costs.

With the right WCMS, you will spend less money on updating your website and avoid the inefficient practice of copying and pasting content across various pages. Centralized design elements and templates can be created once and then instantaneously integrated across your website. WCM helps you save money on labor, protect your brand and get it right the first time.

Most enterprise web content management systems are easy to use. One of the major reasons organizations invest in web content management is because it empowers content creators (marketing teams, for example) to create, manage, modify, and publish content themselves- without IT involvement. Consider the savings of hundreds of IT hours on an annual basis, not to mention the increased efficiency.

3. Create an honest ROI calculator.

Due to the economic environment, the concept of ROI is on the tip of everyone’s tongue when discussing technology investment. Don’t worry: an best-in-class enterprise web content management system almost always provides a sizable ROI. In addition to saving costs and boosting your revenue, a good WCMS interface comes with a high degree of usability. This means you can accelerate and simplify projects such as site development, implementation and content creation.

4. Save 70% - 80% by Purchasing an Enterprise Web Content Management Solution

Gilbane found that site development based around a content management system saves a company 70-80 percent on cost when compared to in-house development.

Content creation in a WCM system looks and feels like standard applications such as Microsoft Word™ and blogging platforms. Gilbane found that this ease-of-use cuts training times by up to 90 percent. With an out-of-the-box commercially available enterprise web content management system, updates don’t get bogged down in IT departments. Marketers and other communicators can create and re-purpose content as easily as making or editing a Word document.

Beyond ROI

In addition, a WCMS can provide benefits that supersede ROI. Next generation web content management systems can really help to protect brand equity online and across multiple channels. For large companies, branding remains one of your most important assets and good customer perception is integral for continued success. A next generation WCM system allows you to build and maintain your brand with minimal hiccups. Even if you come up with initial ROI figures that are lower than you want, maintaining your brand equity and providing the ideal user experience across multiple channels is enough to make the business case for updating your WCM strategy today.

For more information about justifying web content management and building a case to purchase a new enterprise web content management system, SDL Tridion produced an excellent whitepaper titled ROI for the online channel. Please feel free to download free of charge by clicking on the link.

Maturing (or just changing?) Content Management Landscape

Friday, October 23, 2009 by JanJaap Kolleman

Continuing on our "crystal ball" conversations about the present and future of content management, let's take a look at how the content management landscape is changing with the not-subsiding merger and acquisition/market consolidation activities and the rise of mid-market and smaller vendors. That's not to mention commercial and free open source CMSs and the (at times) cloud-friendly SaaS Online Content Management options.

As the CMS space is maturing, we see not only Web Content Management products change, but also the vendors themselves evolve.

Who would've thought 5 years ago that we will see architecturally different RedDot and Vignette under the same ECM vendor umbrella, and the traditional proprietary vendors will be facing competition from OSS CMS vendors.

Although there's still considerable uneasiness about "cloud" computing and storage, more and more vendors and customers are making strides into this direction. More organizations are looking to educate themselves about the pros and cons of the "cloud."

Then, we have this whole new beast of social media, social networking and social collaboration changing the way we do web content management... But let me save that for a future post.

Forrester Reviews Top Web Content Management Vendors and Systems

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 by Brad Davis

Searching for an Enterprise Web Content Management System? Start Here.

In an earlier blog post, I suggested that you begin the web content management vendor selection process by doing some research and developing a "short list" of vendors to evaluate. If you're like most organizations, you will probably begin with a Google search using phrases like:

Web Content Management Reviews
Web Content Management Vendors
Enterprise Web Content Management System
Global Web Content Management
Best Web Content Management

Search on a WCM related phrase and you'll get a mind blowing number of results-over 184,000,000. And most of these will be from WCM companies who want to sell you their wares. Of course that includes your friends at SDL Tridion :)

Want Factual, Unbiased WCM Research? Go Straight to Forrester.

Forrester Research, a renowned web content management industry analyst, publishes a report that evaluates leading enterprise-class web content management vendors and their solutions. Their latest report is "The Forrester Wave™: Web Content Management for External Sites, Q-2 2009". The detailed report is used by many organizations to develop their "short list".

About the Forrester Report

Forrester evaluates 10 web content management vendors across approximately 115 criteria, which they grouped into three primary categories:

Current offering
Strategy
Market presence

Results are summarized in a clear concise manner with easy to read charts, diagrams and tables. If you are looking for a best-in-class enterprise web content management system from a leading web content management vendor, this report is definitely a "Must Read".

Download the Forrester Report for Free

Click here to download the web content management reviewed report by Forrester, compliments of SDL Tridion, a leader in enterprise web content management and online marketing solutions.

Selecting the Best Web Content Management System

There are hundreds of web content management products, systems, and solutions on the market today from hundreds of different vendors. Hopefully, you will find the Forrester report helpful in narrowing the playing field and developing a short list of enterprise web content management vendors to evaluate.

Which enterprise web content management system is right for you and which vendor should you select? This depends upon the specific needs of your organization. In any case, be sure to select a financially strong company with the ability to provide excellent web content management support and service.

Beyond Web Content Management

In addition to looking at the features and benefits of different web content management systems, I would also suggest that you take a look at how they will help you achieve your online marketing objectives, such as increasing conversion rates. Look for web content management software tools that will assist with online brand management, target audience marketing, email campaigns, and website personalization.

The bottom line: Top web content management vendors will help you do much more than basic online content management. They will help you realize the many benefits of web content management, the most important of which is ROI.

Quality & Compliance Management For Your Online Presence

Thursday, October 15, 2009 by Brad Davis

Online Brand Management

Enterprise and global organizations want to present their brand, image and vision clearly and consistently. But with thousands of pages, in dozens of languages, for many different brands and products, this may seem like an impossible task. The good news is it doesn’t have to be.

Safeguard is a web content management software tool for SDL Tridion’s Enterprise Web Content Management System. It’s a powerful solution that provides website quality and compliance management- with just a few clicks of a mouse. This means you can deliver consistent, high-quality websites that comply with your own internal standards, industry best practice standards, and regulations.

To learn more about Safeguard and how it can simplify online brand management and improve the quality of your online presence visit: www.sdltridion.com/products/web_content_management/safeguard/

The Challenge of Website Management

Effective online communication requires the orchestration of many different factors. Ask yourself these questions:

Is all published content accurate, up-to-date and search engine optimized?
Do all of your sites have consistent branding and messaging?
Do your websites meet accessibility and legal requirements?
Are local websites presented in the right language?
Are digital assets managed according to company rules?
Do your websites comply with global and regional standards
Are you tracking and bench marking site-wide performance?

Safeguard monitors your entire web presence, in any country or language. Easy-to-use dashboards provide detailed information on your online performance, reporting any quality and compliance breaches so you can fix them and maximize your online business results.

About SDL Tridion

SDL Tridion is a recognized leader in web content management and has received top rankings by leading industry analysts. In addition to enterprise web content management systems, SDL Tridion is also an online marketing solutions company that provides:

Brand management tools
Interactive marketing solutions
Email marketing software
Website quality and compliance software
Global web content management tools
And much more

SDL Tridion provides enterprise web content management systems. Visit us at www.sdltridion.com

The Evolution Of Web Content Management

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 by JanJaap Kolleman

Hmmm... let me see. SDL acquires Tridion. Autonomy acquires Interwoven. Open Text acquires Vignette and RedDot. It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that something’s up, but it might take one to gain some insight as to what it all means. And, while these acquisitions have certainly been game changers, they are only one piece of a much bigger puzzle.

Best-in-class enterprise web content management systems must now do more than simply manage content. According to the Forrester Wave™: Web Content Management for External Sites Q2 2009:

"WCM EVOLVES INTO A KEY COMPONENT OF PERSUASIVE CONTENT ARCHITECTURE"

"Web content management (WCM) has come of age. Enterprises continue to invest in WCM projects, but they no longer use it to merely store content and publish online. Instead, they want to accomplish specific business goals, such as increased sales conversion rates and improved customer service."

Forrester makes an excellent point, however specific software functionalities are required to achieve the goals they refer to. To stay on the leading edge of the wave (pun intended) it seems to me that a "smart" web content management company would offer solutions that include:

Online brand management
Multichannel marketing
Website personalization
Target audience marketing
Search engine optimization (SEO)

Why? Because these marketing tools align with drivers that help organizations achieve real business objectives like:

Increased website traffic
Increased brand loyalty
Increased conversion rates

At the end of the day it's results that count. It seems to me that when evaluating web content management vendors, one of the key questions to consider is "How well will they help us achieve our online marketing objectives?".

So, if enterprise web content management is evolving what is it changing into? And what is the future of the WCM industry, market, vendors, products, and solutions? My crystal ball is just getting warmed up. How about yours?