Having established digital transformation in your organisation, it’s not too much to expect your new digital tools to perform well, right?
Here at Grandad, we’ve heard the tale of underperforming, problematic and unreliable CMS systems many times over and it always puzzles us as to why one of the most important, not to mention costly, systems an organisation can invest in can be the cause of so much pain.
Procuring the right CMS can be a minefield: open source, free issue, enterprise level, SAAS, PAAS…. the list of options and decisions can feel endless and unwieldy, especially if your mindset isn’t overly technical. Ultimately the decision comes down to your business goals and strategy - what do you want to achieve and how will your CMS assist you on your journey ahead.
Common Pain-Points
Many of our clients talk about over-complicated back-end systems and software that feels out of their control. Not a great combination when you’re often having to make fast changes with little time. As far as we’re concerned, if your CMS isn’t helping you to improve your processes or add value to your tasks, then it’s not worth having.
An effective CMS must be robust and future-proofed, able to scale with the demands from your business success and integrate successfully with legacy systems and services. This is where our supportive and scalable CMS platform YouCreate stands out as the solution to CMS pain-points. Sitting between free issue and enterprise grade systems, YouCreate starts with you, putting you and the needs of your business at the centre and giving you and your team full autonomy and complete control with a user-focused environment that doesn’t cost the earth or rely on excessive plug-ins.
We often hear woes from Wordpress users who, having been attracted by the open source environment, eventually come unstuck thanks to the excessive number of plug-ins required to achieve various functionality. Despite starting as an initially manageable off-the-shelf site, the plug-in heavy site soon becomes an unwieldy beast with out-of-date functionality, update restrictions and security risks.
If this sounds like you, then it's time to call the emergency services.
No site is an island….
But with a YouCreate environment it can be.
If you’ve gone for a wordpress or drupal solution, initially it will start as an easily-managed island, but as your business grows and evolves, so do the requirements of your website (and in the case of a wordpress or drupal site) it can quickly become a sprawling mass of API conduits and plug-in bridges that all require their own management or outsourcing. We’ve seen it time and again - an unruly spaghetti junction of composable architectures.
YouCreate however, will stay an island (and a rather beautiful one at that) with all user data, editor permissions and SEO optimisation available in a single place. Growing and scaling with the needs of your business securely as we extend, build and push the possibilities and features of the code.
Here at Grandad we build your site ourselves from our Brighton-based offices with a small and expert team (no outsourcing, no extensive chains of command). We manage the code and the functionality so that your YouCreate site is ready for however you need it to perform. No need to worry about bridge maintenance, or conduit clearance here. And If your business is scaling at speed and your needs are becoming more enterprise grade, the beauty of the YouCreate environment is that we can adapt and accommodate this.
YouControl - You're in the driving seat
If you’re still not convinced that a YouCreate CMS is the most effective digital pain relief for you, here are some key functions that will give even the smallest teams big wins with everyday website maintenance and top tactics for optimising their digital marketing. Giving you back your time… and sanity.
An innovative interface
Over-complicated interfaces will often hinder workflow, but a great feature with YouCreate is the drag and drop functionality and an innovative flexible block approach which makes creating web pages as easy as creating a Powerpoint slide. The flexible block approach means zero duplication of content - you simply drag and drop the content block onto as many pages as you need.
Big Wins for Assets
Time consuming asset uploads is another complaint that we hear a lot. Here, YouCreate technology will win you back lost time from endless re-sizing and uploads whilst optimising and boosting your image search rankings. Unnoticeable load times and a lower eco footprint on your web server are the hidden heroes, along with the ability to set the focal point of an image so you can rely on perfectly displayed images.
Setting Structure
YouCreate’s revolutionary navigation builder puts you in total control, allowing you to build and customise your site structure with publishing features that allow you to dictate where, when and how you publish your content.
And when it’s time to go live?
Simply drag and drop into your menu structure.
Personalised Comms
Personalisation is crucial in the world of membership - especially when it comes to engaging and converting your audience. YouCreate is your partner in crime in delivering personalised content based on the parameters you define by using Access Control levels. Together with the powerful feature to tag content types, you can create unique and personally relevant digital experiences that let your members know you’re putting them first.
Effective digital pain relief
So If your CMS relationship has flatlined, and you’re reaching for the emergency services, we strongly recommend that you arrange a time to talk to our digital specialists. We work with many CMS environments and know their wins and fails inside out, but YouCreate stands head and shoulders above the rest as a turnkey solution for delivering flexibility, support, speed and a real competitive advantage.
Meet us on Stand B8
Meet Paul and Emma at the Digital Excellence Memberwise event in London on 26th May to discover more about our bespoke CMS solutions. Alternatively contact us to enquire about how we can provide you with effective digital marketing pain relief.