Heart Internet offers our customers access to an extensive library of free cgi scripts allowing them to install professional applications very quickly and with minimal effort. This article will cover the benefits of using our Content Management Systems (Joomla, Drupal, Typo3 and Nucleus) and why using them will help streamline the publishing of content online.

Quick and Easy to Update
Content Management Systems allow users to add new pages to a website with minimal effort. Your entire website is managed via your administration control panel where you can add new articles, images, polls and many other features via an intuitive interface.

Web Experience not Essential
Traditionally you would need to hire a web designer/developer to manage your website. Using a CMS eliminates the need to do this. Everything from the look and feel of your website to article management can be handled via your control panel.  It is also a very cost effective way of running your own website as everything can be updated and managed by yourself. If you are ever in need of help or guidance, you can check the CMS provider’s FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section of their website or try posting your problem over at their official support forums. A list of useful links can be found at the bottom of this article.

Automatic Navigation Generation
Menu’s will be created automatically when you add new pages/categories which will form the basis of your websites navigation, e.g. Homepage, Contact, Articles, etc. This eliminates the need to manually update your navigation each time you add a new section, saving you time, effort and preventing the risk of creating dead links.

Searchable
Using a CMS will allow your entire website to be searchable enabling people to find content fast.  The advantages of having a search system in place on your website will save users the time of having to trawl through static pages trying to find what they need. It makes for a much better user experience and is certainly less frustrating.

Scheduled Content
With most Content Management Systems you can post date articles allowing you to publish them on a certain time or day of the week.  This is especially handy if you need to publish content at certain times but you’re not available to do so – the CMS will update it for you.

Protected Content
A CMS can make certain pages viewable only to people you choose. For example, you can allow visitors to your website to view all of your basic articles but require registration for them to view premium content.

Consistent Design
Don’t worry about creating new pages for every article as a Content Management System will automatically produce them for you. The article page will be created from a single template and, no matter how much content you add, you can rest assured the look of your website will stay the same.

Extendable
Content Management Systems, such as Joomla, have an excellent resource of extensions allowing you to develop your website further and offer more functionality.  There are hundreds of extensions available, including Ecommerce, Forums, Galleries, Classified Advertisements and so much more. A link to the entire database of extensions can be found below.

Remember you can easily install your own CMS from our database of scripts that come with any hosting account.

Helpful Links

Joomla Extensions
http://extensions.joomla.org/

Joomla Community Forum
http://forum.joomla.org/

Drupal Forum
http://drupal.org/forum

Typo3 Documentation
http://typo3.com/Support.1228.0.html

Nucleus Support Forum
http://forum.nucleuscms.org/

We have updated some more of the CGI scripts you can install from eXtend 2.0, these include:

Drupal to 6.1
AgoraCart to 5.2

If you would like to install any of these onto your website please login to your eXtend Control Panel.

We have updated some of the CGI scripts you can install from eXtend 2.0, these include:

 - WordPress Blog to 2.5
 - Nucleus Content Management System to 3.32
 - Geeklog Blog to 1.4.1

If you would like to install any of these onto your website please login to your eXtend Control Panel.

Heart Internet provides our hosting customers with an extensive library of CGI scripts to help build, maintain and improve their websites. The following article will focus on our installable blogging software, WordPress and Geeklog and why maintaining a blog can be beneficial for your website.

What is a Blog?
A blog is an online journal that displays posts in chronological order.  It’s an ideal solution for people who want the ability to publish and share regular content online with as little effort as possible.

Search Engine Marketing
Google will rank a website that publishes unique, quality content regularly much higher than a website that is static and rarely updated. Thanks to blogs it has never been easier to keep your website fresh and increase your chances of appearing high within search results. If your blog is tailored towards your industry, your posts will be full of targeted keywords and related content and by having this will increase the likelihood of your website ranking higher with related search terms.

Attracting New & Repeat Visitors
If you’re publishing regular content, chances are you will be getting repeat visitors looking to read your news, this is especially effective if your content is unique, industry related and interesting. Attracting new and repeat visitors by running exclusive promotions, e.g. a sale or discount on some of your products, not only will this attract people to your website but also increase the likelihood of you making a sale though these promotions. Allow people to subscribe to your Blog via RSS, so they can be alerted when your blog is updated, this will send them directly back to your website.

Easy to Update
Once your blog is installed you can manage everything from an intuitive admin control panel.  From here you can easily and quickly add, edit and remove your posts, plus many other features such as changing the look and feel. Many blogs offer the ability to set a publish date for your content, this is especially useful if you are going on holiday and are unable to update your blog. Simply create your posts before you go and set the publish date for the period you are away, this way you’re able to maintain a regular supply of content.

Keeping the Costs Low
Wordpress has become much more than a standard blogging tool due to its thriving community of developers. WordPress is very extendable, you can easily add modules such as image galleries, videos and widgets yourself with minimum effort and no cost. WordPress even offers free themes, so changing the look of your website can be done quite easily yourself, eliminating the need to hire a potentially expensive web designer. WordPress and Geeklog run excellent communities who can assist you with your blog should you need any guidance. A list of helpful links can be found below:

WordPress Modules:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

WordPress Forum:
http://wordpress.org/support/

Geeklog Forum:
http://www.geeklog.net/forum/

We launched eXtend 2.0 last week and the feedback we have been getting has been very positive.

We have had quite a few questions about how to brand eXtend 2.0 so we have added a branding FAQ onto the Manage Control Panel Brands page in the Reseller Control Centre. Also if you just want to change the top banner in eXtend to be one of your own design than we have added an upload facility, so that you can do that easily.

If you are still on eXtend 1 I would recommend you move to eXtend 2.0 as soon as possible, all you have to do is preview your new brand on the link above and then apply it. Until you do this features in eXtend 2.0 will not be available for your customers.

Finally just a reminder that once you have moved to eXtend 2.0 you will need to update your web hosting packages to include the new features (such as Website Redirect and the new CGI scripts). We don’t add these automatically as you might not want to offer these features on all your package types.

We have made a major update to eXtend control panel today which we have been working on for some months. We have lots of new features including a new interface, file manager and many more CGI scripts.

If you are a Heart Internet Reseller we have soft-launched eXtend 2.0 so you can preview it, try the demo and create a custom brand if you want to. Once you commit a custom brand all your control panels will move to the new version. We will automatically move any Resellers who have not moved themselves on the 31st March.

If you would like some more information on this then please visit the eXtend 2.0 page or our news page.