Integrating with Facebook into your website – specifically Facebook Platform – is full of advantages. For one, it allows your visitors to log into restricted areas of your website using only their Facebook account – if they are logged in at Facebook, they are logged in on your website, making it easier for them to access your content while you maintain control.

Facebook is also full of user information and personalization tools so you can create a better, more individualized experience for your users (http://developers.facebook.com/docs/guides/web/).

Larry Boeldt at The Code Project has published his own ASP solution http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/94067/Classic-ASP-Integration-with-Facebook-Websites-Fea. This tutorial teaches ASP programmers (do-it-yourselfers and professionals alike – all the scripts are cut and paste…) how to integrate Facebook features like Authentication, Social Plugins, and more into their websites. Of course, that includes websites built with DMXReady CMS and CMS Suite.

It also is interesting in the fact that despite all the naysayers out there, ASP is actually here to stay. As of this writing, Larry’s post had over 130,000 page views and the script was downloaded over 1,500 times! (In other words, reports of ASP’s death have been greatly exaggerated.)

Facebook Authentication vs. Members Only Manager

Of course, DMXReady CMS Suite comes with its own authentication software, namely Members Only Manager. So why would you use the Facebook solution over this one? It’s very possible that you do not. Connecting via Facebook allows you to access personalized information from your visitors (if they allow it) to provide them with a better social experience. But you are also providing Facebook an indirect way to track your website. Since Facebook “follows” its users to your site and registers each authentication, it can do things like estimate the number of users your website has based on the number of Facebook members who visit your site.

So if you do not want to install what is essentially a Facebook tracking cookie on your website, then Members Only Manager is your best bet. For many users though, sharing website user information with Facebook is a small price to pay for a slick interface and integration with Facebook Platform and all its features.

Check out Larry’s post here, and adapt to DMXReady CMS Suite as necessary:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/94067/Classic-ASP-Integration-with-Facebook-Websites-Fea

Since Bill Gates wrote his first line of code, the goal of improving software has been simple: make it faster, easier, and better for people to do what they want to do with their computers.

Flash forward 35-odd years, and it almost seems like the software developers of the world are out to do the complete opposite. For example, in this day and age, you shouldn’t need to be a computer science major to build a basic website – or install a Content Management System for that matter!

One major source of frustration for companies on Windows servers who want to move to a Content Management System (CMS) is the fact that most are PHP-based. Joomla, Drupal, and others run on Linux servers, not Windows servers.

DMXReady CMS Suite on the other hand is an ASP CMS, so it runs natively on your Windows server including Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008, guaranteed. (If you don’t have your own server, you can also run DMXReady CMS Suite on popular web hosting services like GoDaddy, 1and1 Hosting, Rackspace, Hostgator, etc.)

Not only that, DMXReady CMS Suite has a whole host of plug-in applications like Members Only Manager and Contact Us Manager pre-loaded. You simply turn them on and off on the pages you want – no more fumbling with applications that don’t quite work together!

Best of all, DMXReady CMS Suite is easy to use. It comes with several design options built in or you can easily skin it as well, using any third-party design template. It also comes with pre-formatted business website templates. That means you don’t have to create pages or worry about mapping out your site from scratch – just fill each pre-built page with your own content and images, and click ‘Save’!

And like any CMS, updating and adding new content is a snap using any standard web browser. You also have the flexibility of modifying it right down to the code level – this ASP CMS has 100% customizable source code.

In short, you get everything anyone would need to run a modern and professional business automation CMS website.

ASP vs. PHP – What is Better?

You’ll hear many programmers around the Internet going on about how PHP is better than ASP. Usually their arguments run along the lines that because so many more people are using PHP, it is by default better.

This is simply not true. There are several reasons why you would choose ASP over PHP. Many programmers prefer ASP because it is easier to code (and is much less complex than .Net) – in fact if you are a beginner yourself, ASP is often the best choice because you can learn faster. It’s a great choice for website owners who either want to learn how to code themselves, or who want to “set it and forget it” when it comes to building and launching a website.

But as mentioned above, if you’re already on a Windows server, ASP is your best bet in web software. And when it comes to ASP CMS, nobody does it better than DMXReady.

Try the online demo right now and see how easy it is to use DMXReady CMS Suite!

Landing pages are great things, though they can get a little unwieldy – especially if you already have a big website. It gets even more complicated when you have landing pages for multiple ad campaigns like QR Codes, Google AdWords, banner links, and more. With split testing, different offers for different markets, different price codes, etc., that can easily add up to thousands of pages. If you’re editing straight HTML pages with Dreamweaver and uploading them to the server, managing all those pages can quickly become a logistical nightmare.

But not with DMXReady CMS Suite. First of all, you don’t have to use Dreamweaver at all – everything including the code can be modified in your own Admin pages using any standard web browser. (That being said, you may prefer to do the initial design template using Dreamweaver or some other HTML editor. But the point is, you don’t have to fire it up every time you create a new page.)

Most importantly though, with DMXReady CMS Suite your pages are neatly listed and labeled in one spot so you can easily manage your pages. Editing, adding new pages, deleting old ones, or disabling suspended pages/campaigns becomes much, much easier!

Also, with the built-in Site Builder, you can break down and organize your campaigns any way you want. You can also modify different templates to use with different campaigns or even product types. The possibilities are endless – you can create different variations for each catalog/category/type/product/campaign/etc., all with unique menu navigation, content, and css skin.

For example, if you find that your purple widgets are selling better with the contact information along the side, and the red widgets are selling better with the contact information at the bottom, no problem – you can use a different page layout/template for each. Again, this makes it much easier to manage your landing pages, customizing each page to suit its own individual strengths.

Even though (or perhaps because) it is meant to be a full website CMS, you couldn’t design a better landing page management application. You have full customization control over every aspect of your landing pages, no matter how complex or different each individual landing page is.

Best of all, you can use DMXReady CMS Suite on your current domain* and it won’t interfere with your main website. The Suite will run in the background, making your landing pages easier to manage without affecting your website in any way.

In short, DMXReady CMS Suite gives you:

• Ease of use – all pages are listed right in front of you
• Flexibility – create as many different templates as you need for your landing pages
• Greater organization – break down each campaign by project, department, type, product etc. by creating your own organizational system
• Built-in Admin pages – do it all online using any standard web browser – no more firing up Dreamweaver or messing with FTP programs!
• A full CMS landing page management solution that runs on your domain, but doesn’t interfere with your current website

Read more about DMXReady CMS Suite here, and check out the free online demo: http://v2suite.dmxready.com/?page=features

Want to Keep It Separate? You Can…

Some people are worried that if you host your landing pages on your current web domain, there is always the chance that your visitors will stumble upon them accidentally. Perhaps an even larger worry for these people is that Google could find duplicate content on your landing pages and might penalize your page ranking for it.

You can address these concerns by moving your landing pages to a separate domain – and still use DMXReady CMS Suite.

Say for example your current website is XYZCompany.com and you have a landing page campaign to generate traffic to your pages advertising a newer, better, purple widget. You can set up a separate website called XYZCompanyPurpleWidget.com and install DMXReady CMS Suite as your landing page manager. Here you can create as many pages as you want – with as much duplicate content as you want – and never get penalized. In fact, you could no-index the whole website, and not lose any link juice or page ranking on your main site.

Then no matter how you direct your website visitors to those pages, you can rest assured they are getting the targeted content you designed just for them without Google – or stray visitors – stumbling upon it accidentally.

This is also a great solution for those with hosting packages that do not support Windows/ASP.

http://v2suite.dmxready.com/?page=features

*DMXReady CMS Suite requires a Windows or cloud server that will support ASP.

CMS Templates for Business and Non-Profit

More and more business owners are looking for a website solution that they can build themselves, allowing them full control and avoiding huge web designer bills.
With DMXReady CMS Suite (v2), business owners win on both counts.

DMXReady CMS Suite offers a brand new approach to website building: CMS templates. We’re not just talking traditional HTML design templates here, but turnkey CMS website solutions complete with:

• dynamically controlled navigation menu, site map and pages
• content management tools for super fast content editing using ANY web-enabled device including laptops, iPad/android tablets, smart phones, etc.
• built-in business automation, ecommerce, CRM, and SEO apps – all ready to go

No programming required – web owners can simply upload the software to their existing domain and start adding their own content using any standard web browser. Plus DMXReady provides full documentation as well as other resources like an Online Knowledgebase and links to other trusted information. With all the tutorials and support available, do-it-yourself website design has never been easier.

This is a system that brings everything you need for your business into one integrated website solution.

DMXReady CMS Suite comes with 10 pre-built website templates for a variety of businesses and organizations including Software Vendor, Design Company, Charity, and more. All you have to do is choose the template that most closely matches your business, add your own content, and you’re ready to go.

Why Now is a Good Time to Upgrade Your Website to DMXReady CMS Suite

There are many, many different scenarios in which DMXReady CMS Suite can help businesses, non-profits, and individuals get the most from their website.

For example, imagine you own a consultation business. Currently, you might have a typical brochure-type website that gives basic information to the customer, but still relies on you to do most of the work.

But with DMXReady CMS Suite, you can take the CMS template and create a dynamic online experience for your customers, plus cut down on the amount of work you have to do. Your website becomes like your personal assistant!

Automate contacts – Send auto replies, direct emails to different departments/people, and mass email everyone on your customer list about early bird specials, new products/services, or perhaps a monthly newsletter.

Centralize your info – Provide information about the company as well as hard-to-find information for your customers, relevant news, video tutorials, and more.

Use third-party apps to extend functionality – For example, if you do all your bookings using Google Calendar, you can display it on your website with one line of code you cut and paste – great for marking important dates relevant to your business, like launch dates or upcoming information sessions. You can also add other social media apps like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube and others to your CMS website instantly.

Accept money/payments through the website – Instead of handling thousands of dollars of cash, you can automate service contract payments, charge for work and materials, and create other payment systems by connecting directly to your PayPal Merchant account.
Using one of the built-in CMS templates, you can also:

• Publish photographs and videos as a portfolio or for tutorials
• Write a blog about your area of consultation
• Password-protect some or all of your website for subscription-based and/or “customer-only” content
• Create a staff directory

Demo DMXReady CMS Suite For Yourself!

Take it for a test drive at: http://v2suite.dmxready.com/?page=cms-templates

In case you didn’t hear, Google bought reCAPTCHA in 2009. This a good fit for one of their current projects (i.e. digitizing the world’s books) but it also aligns with their views on preventing spam and fraud. You can read all about the purchase at the Google blog here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/teaching-computers-to-read-google.html

A big plus for Classic ASP programmers is that Google is going out of its way to support us. In its documents, it has provided the code needed to use reCAPTCHA on your own website. http://code.google.com/apis/recaptcha/docs/asp.html How often in this day and age to you see big companies like Google rolling out the red carpet for Classic ASP developers? (Yet another sign that the news of Classic ASP's death have been greatly exaggerated...)

As before, you still have to sign up for reCAPTCHA to get their API keys http://www.google.com/recaptcha/whyrecaptcha (and then enter them in the code), just like you would Google Analytics. But once you do, you can use reCAPTCHAs on all your websites to cut down on any spambot activities plaguing your site.

Happy Anti-Spamming!

The DMXReady Team

Ever wonder how WordPress is able to generate friendly URLs in HTML? Ever wish you could pull that off yourself for your own Classic ASP website?

Rewriting your dynamic URLs does have certain advantages. The most obvious is that it makes it easier for your website visitors to understand what page they’re on. For example, “www.yourdomain.com/shirts.html” makes more sense to the average person than “www.yourdomain.com/catalog.asp?item=23”.

However, it is important to note that it doesn’t much matter to Google – its Googlebots will be able to find and index your pages whether they are dynamic or static (although Google does recommend keeping links short and parameters few to avoid Googlebot confusion…) There is some debate as to whether rewriting links will boost your SEO. Generally, most SEO experts recommend rewriting those URLs if for no other reason than to add your keyword and keyword phrases into your links.

The question then becomes, how do you rewrite URLs using Classic ASP?

We’ve come across one way to do it that works quite well – so well in fact, we used the general method for rewriting URLs in our own DMXReady CMS. Note that this method requires you to have IIS 7 and the URL Rewrite Module Go Live release installed. This tutorial is written for ASP.Net, but it is equally effective for Classic ASP.

http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/461/creating-rewrite-rules-for-the-url-rewrite-module/

Here’s another method that does the same thing by modifying the web.config file. Example #3 details how you can mimic WordPress’ Pretty Permalinks, but there are other methods described here too.

http://cloudsites.rackspacecloud.com/index.php/How_do_I_rewrite_URLs_from_ASP/.NET%3F

Happy URL Rewriting!

The DMXReady Team

No matter what size your website, security is always an issue. Although there is little you can do against a full-on attack -- even top banks and even national defense computers are cracked from time to time -- there is plenty you can do to stop the casual attacker.

Have you tried Evernote yet?

Evernote is gaining popularity as a universal note-taking application – “multi-platform” is how the company describes it. You can do screen captures, save images, voice record a note, write down notes, bookmark web pages – essentially any information you want to capture, you can do it with Evernote.

The multi-platform descriptor is quite apt, because you can literally sync all your notes and access them from any device: your Mac or PC, your BlackBerry, your iPhone/iPod Touch, your netbook, your iPad… so no matter where your working or what device you have handy, you can store an Evernote.

This could be an extremely useful tool for web designers. You can use it to bookmark web designs you like, web tools and applications that are interesting, jotting down notes, or organizing photos and images. If you’re on the road in a client meeting, you can write down your meeting notes and forward it to yourself. One example Evernote gives is taking a picture of a whiteboard you’ve been working on, and saving that as a note!

If you work in a company or with other designers, you can sync your notes together for a nominal charge ($5 per month each, or $45 each per year) so you can all be on the same page – literally.

We’ve found it to be pretty useful. But check it out for yourself at:

http://www.evernote.com/about/home.php

Is your website outdated?

If it is, you could be in serious trouble. Sales will decrease, if you are selling products. Phone calls will decrease if you are selling services. Link juice will decrease, if you’re selling (or giving away) information.

Think about it. How do you feel about visiting an outdated site? Will you be willing to buy their products or services? Probably not. The reason is that we need some level of trust, especially from people we don’t know (and may not even live in our city) before we’re going to plunk down money on something they say they will deliver.

If we don’t have that trust, we won’t do it. And the outdated site is one clue that something might not be quite right…

This isn’t just a slow erosion either – like the “broken windows” theory, you could find your business going south right quick.

It’s easy to see on other people’s websites that they are in desperate need of an upgrade. It’s always more difficult to see it on our own sites, simply because it is hard to be objective about it.

However it can be easier if you break it down into some simple “it is, or it isn’t” features that can help you decide whether or not it’s time to update your website.

Broken Links – If you have links on your website to other sites, periodically go through and make sure they are all working. Some people assume that visitors will let them know when a link is broken. Chances are, however, they will not. Dead links could lead to dead sales for you.

Your Top Selling Products or Services Aren’t Featured – If you are known for your purple widgets, but all you can see on the first page is yesterday’s red widgets, there could be a problem. Worse yet, there are products or services on your website that you no longer offer. Make sure your website reflects your business.

Your Portfolio is Old – Do you have sample projects dating back to the 1990’s on your website? Not only does this show neglect, people might start to wonder what you’ve been doing all these years! Update your website to include your most recent projects, and even feature one or two on prominent pages like your Home page, About page, and blog.

You Are Getting Fewer Visitors (and Conversions) – Check for these signs: a drop in website visitors, a drop in conversions, a drop in time spent on your website, a rise in your bounce rate – these can all point to dated content and/or design. It can also be a sign that Google is dropping you in the page rankings. That’s never a good thing, and you want to stop that from happening now. A redesign and some basic SEO techniques will help keep Google AND your website visitors happy.

Your Website, Well, Just Looks Outdated – You’ve seen those vintage websites, haven’t you? Old designs are easy to spot a mile away... unless it’s your own. Ask some trusted colleagues, friends, and family (yes, in that order) to take a quick peek and offer honest feedback. Better yet, hire a web professional to do a full website review for you to point out where your website is lacking. (DMXReady offers this service here… http://www.dmxready.com/?product=project-scoping.)

How about you? What turns you off from a website and makes click the “Back” button faster than you can say “The X-Files”? Click on the Post Comments link above and let us know!

The DMXReady Team

Recently came across this little guide to Classic ASP:

http://manas.tungare.name/articles/asp/

It’s actually a great resource for the beginner, detailing how Classic ASP all works. In fact, it may be too detailed for the average user. But it is so well laid out that you can easily skip the “technical” parts (like setting up the virtual directories if you’re working directly on a server) and get to the programming.

A well-thought out tutorial that’s easy to understand and contains lots of great examples.

The DMXReady Team