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CMS Systems For International Websites: Why, When, What And How?
April 24th, 2014 by TOPer
When involved in projects relating to the translation of a website I often face challenges when it comes to getting hold of the existing content on their website in order to calculate costing.
In this post I answer the why, when, what and how CMS systems can benefit your website when it comes to international expansion.
Why?
CMS system as it will make managing your site more efficient in the long run. Think of it as a library where you can store all the content of your site in a searchable and navigable way.
The variety of CMS systems which can be picked straight off the shelf is extensive and has meant that the level of technical knowledge involved in website development has reduced overall. In most cases you can say goodbye to all that code. Goodbye HTML! Goodbye CSS!
When?
For international versions of your website it is definitely worth investing in a system which accommodates multilingual content. You will be able to manage the different language versions of your site quite effortlessly; switching between them with ease.
If you are developing a completely new website from scratch then it may be advisable to research CMS systems which accommodate multilingual versions from the get go. You might not be planning on going international or translating your site for a while but ensuring that the right capabilities are available from the very beginning will make things a little easier down the line.
What?
Now you know why and when to make use of a CMS system for your international website, you need to consider what features the system should have in order to be best suited for multilingual versions of a site. The following is a quick checklist to consider during the decision process:
Unicode (UTF-8) support for all characters and languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean
Right-to-left language support for Arabic and Hebrew
Import/export functionality as XLIFF, Java or other formats such as XML
Version control which can handle updates to the written content and clearly identify them
Staging/development site for quality assurance checks prior to the site going live
Gemma Birch<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<span itemprop="name">Gemma Birch</span>
</span> which gives more detailed advice on picking The Ideal Content Management System for International Websites.
How?
CMS systems which all have different features that may benefit you in different ways. In this section I will briefly outline the top seven CMS systems which come up time and again in the literature, all of which have the capabilities of managing multilingual websites.
Please bear in mind that this list is not exhaustive.
(To Learn more and get setup using WordPress as your content management system go here:http://www.youtube.
Originally established as a blogging platform in 2003, WordPress has quickly become one of the most popular open-source CMS systems in the world with over 60 million people using it ! Visit wordpress.org<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization">
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<link itemprop="url" href="http://wordpress.org">
</span> to download a CMS which you have complete control over. Use the hundreds of free templates as a start and customise using the thousands of plugin applications which are available through the active user community and forums.
Read more about WPML in one of my past posts here.
Drupal
--IFRAME--
(Absolute Beginners Guide to Drupal-http://www.youtube.
Drupal also has an active user community who use the forums on a regular basis to offer advice to others based on their experiences.
For international websites Drupal offers advice to users wanting to set up multi-language sites, however due to the varying nature of users requirements the best thing to do is consult the forums. One thing which arises over again in the literature is the ease of exporting and importing content from the backend of the CMS for translation purposes (a common issue which crops up !).
Joomla !
--IFRAME--
(Here's how to build a complete Joomla 3 website, step-by-step, no steps skipped. This is the updated version of my last tutorial.Enjoy !-http://www.youtube.
The award winning CMS, Joomla !, prides itself on its user-friendly interface and easy set up. However, when it comes to eCommerce sites Joomla ! lags behind slightly. Sure you can download and install several plugin applications which will power your online store, but this does not come included in the basic package.
Search the Joomla ! Extensions Library for applications which can help with launching, managing and translating your international website.
CSV or XLIFF files are translation friendly. Winner !
ExpressionEngine
You will have to fork out some money in order to access the add-ons available to customise your website, but with this is does mean that you are able to develop add-ons specific to your own purposes.
When it comes to creating multi-language sites in ExpressionEngine you can find some useful advice for beginners here. Unlike some of the other CMS systems out there, ExpressionEngine has an inbuilt feature which allows users to export their content in CSV format in order to be translated. All you need to do is remind your translation agency to keep the HTML coding intact in order to reimport the translated content to your new international site.
Concrete5
This WYSIWYG, open-source CMS system is lesser known than its major competitors but it certainly has some features which users will find extremely valuable. Rather than managing everything from a central dashboard, the different areas of a site can be accessed through widgets which can be dragged and dropped to wherever they are best suited. Again there are a range of add-ons and themes, but not as many as alternative systems out there.
For international sites there are three add-ons which you could benefit from.
If you want a CMS which allows full creative reign over your website then MODx<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization">
<span itemprop="name">MODx</span>
</span> might be the option for you.
OS or Android powered products.
The MODx<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization">
<span itemprop="name">MODx</span>
</span> community have actually developed quite a few different optional applications to help when going international.
MODx<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization">
<span itemprop="name">MODx</span>
</span> users to manage their international content quite easily.
SilverStripe
The structure of the SilverStripe CMS is accessible to both beginners and programmers alike. Acting more like a desktop application this system might be better suited to the needs of those less techie users. The community forums also boast about the easy installation of the system which comes with some great tutorials to help you on your way.
WordPress because everyone else is ! You need to do your research to ensure that all of your requirements are going to be met. Choosing the most popular solution may not be the right one for you so definitely weigh up your options first.
Published by TOPer on Apr 24, 2014 under SEO news-2014
Use Feature Formats to Improve Your Content
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(Content format is indeed is essential. Thanks, hope to see more videos on this.)---:)
Instead, there are feature formats; predefined styles of writing that follow a consistent style.
The names given to the common feature formats vary from person to person, but the overriding styles remain the same. Understanding these common feature formats is crucial to producing good articles and pitching content ideas to publishers.
This post is designed to introduce you to the common feature formats with the hope that it will help you to:
Structure and write articles with a consistent format throughout
Plan content based on feature formats
Pitch your work to publishers more effectively
Avoid mixing feature formats and ending up with a mess
Before I begin I must make a quick nod to journalist Chris Horrie<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<span itemprop="name">Chris Horrie</span>
</span> who taught me everything I know about journalism and wrote up in-depth notes on feature writing on the University of Winchester<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization">
<span itemprop="name">University of Winchester</span>
</span> website.
Confessional Interview
This format is for the interviewee to express their personal experience from a position that is of interest to your audience.
This type of format typically involves the writer carrying out an in-depth interview with a person of interest. The interview notes are then written up in the voice of the interviewee. This gives the impression the interviewee is writing up their experience from their own, unique perspective.
Content idea: My battle with a Google Penalty.
Feature Interview
Feature interviews are great for building and maintaining your profile in an industry. It can show that you have friends in high places and can be used to document your own learnings about industry news with other people of importance.
Profiles are objective, unbiased presentations of a person or entity. Feature interviews can be creative.
Content idea: Daniel Bianchini<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<span itemprop="name">Daniel Bianchini</span>
</span> (interviewer) and Paul Madden<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<span itemprop="name">Paul Madden</span>
</span> (interviewee) sit down for a coffee and chat about link building in 2014.
There are two questions that a consumer review needs to answer:
What is it?
Is it any good?
To produce a consumer review piece of any quality you should aim to review all of the options available and provide a genuinely useful insight into the product or service you are reviewing. Aim to send the reader away with some information that will make their choice easier.
Content idea: Linkdex vs. the other campaign software packages.
Comment/Analysis
A good comment or analysis piece should be centred around a topic is current and of interest to your audience. It can be written in the voice of the writer or in the voice of the organisation/publication.
The political satire cartoons in broadsheet newspapers can be classed as comment features.
Things to avoid: Try not to start a comment or analysis column and then give up after a few days or weeks. This feature format works best when you publish at the same time on a regular basis, so that your audience learns to rely on your point of view.
Content idea: White.
A news feature is essentially the news behind the news. News features are usually longer, more in-depth articles compared to standard news stories. A typical news feature would be written as a follow up piece to a breaking news story that offers more detail on a specific angle (or set of angles).
Examples of news features can be seen in all national newspapers and many magazines. The key thing to look out for is their link to a recently published piece of news. Another hallmark of the news feature format is its heavy use of graphics and image-led content to help tell the story.
Things to avoid: Try not to use images and graphics for the sake of it; any use of images or graphics should add to the news feature and the story being told.
It is crucial that a well-written profile focusses on who the person is and how they got to be where they are; there is no need for a profile to cover what the person thinks, this is not an interview !
Research the facts, plan the piece and explain who the person is and how they became who they are today. Profiles work best when they are about someone who the audience is interested in, particularly if your audience aspires to become like that person.
Things to avoid: Try not to introduce opinion and unnecessary information, keep the profile clear and based on facts.
Content idea: From Rand Fishkin<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<span itemprop="name">Rand Fishkin</span>
</span> to Mr Moz !
The easiest way to describe an investigative piece is as a news story the writer has initiated.
In investigative journalism the writer goes out and sources the information required to uncover a new story.
Perhaps one of the best examples of this was in 2009 when Daily Telegraph journalist Holly Watt received a disk containing the expenses claims of hundreds of MPs. Tasked with deciding whether there was a news story within, Watt went about entering each of the claims into a spreadsheet.
Watt realised she had already entered the address of a house further up in the document; the address had already been the subject of a previous claim and was being claimed for twice.
This simple piece of investigation led to the publication of one of the most controversial and well-reported news stories of the past decade.
Things to avoid: The only thing I can recommend is that you avoid ignoring investigative writing and reporting. Investigative writing requires true hard work but, if done correctly, can be the making of you !
My favourite type of feature article; observational writing is all about painting a picture of what you are experiencing using words.
An observational article is as close as journalism comes to being like a piece of artistically creative work.
Things to avoid: Try not to stray too far from the realms of observation; tell your story through what you experience rather than through what you expect or analyse.
Content idea: What is a night out at Brighton SEO really like?
The final feature format is the response piece.
This article, in-fact, could be considered a response piece.
The hallmark of a good response piece is that it responds to a demand and speaks directly to the audience it is targeting. In this example, the article I am writing now is planned to address a perceived demand for expert advice on producing content.
Note that I am addressing the reader and writing in my own voice.
Things to avoid: Try not to write any old rubbish; attempt to at least understand demand and encourage feedback and questions when producing this type of article.
Content idea: This article was my idea !
Published by TOPer on Apr 24, 2014 under SEO news-2014
5 Ways You Can Avoid FOMO When Developing a Website
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I've only had terrible experiences with HostGator. Do yourself a favor and stay away from it. Great video though. Thank you.
All of us have fears that can keep us up at night. Especially when it comes to developing and optimizing a website.