When I started at LogicalSolutions.net approximately 4 years ago, our .Net content management system had only recently been put in place and was fairly basic. Prior to that, the sites we built had used an ASP based management system which similarly supplied only basic management functionality. Fast forward 4 years, and logicalCMS, as we now refer to it, has grown into a feature-rich, advanced tool for managing websites and web applications. It is a solid foundation upon which we build most of the sites we implement for our customers. The best part is that it supplies a core set of functionality for every site, while forming the base upon which we can add custom and more advanced features that meet the specific business needs of each client.

There are a few key features of logicalCMS that make it an excellent tool upon which to build a website. These features have been present throughout the evolutions of the product and include:

  • Centralized content data stored in a backend database
  • Decentralized management of site content through a web browser, nothing to install, ever
  • No technical knowledge of HTML or programming required
  • Cost savings through increased productivity and less reliance on technical staff
  • More timely, relevant content
  • No up-front or annual fees for the CMS, includes a full, perpetual license to use the CMS as part of your site, even if you don't host with us
  • SEO Friend URLs
  • Ability to add new pages to your site anytime, anywhere
  • Complete Site Map control - add an unlimited amount of new pages at any level of your site
  • Manage admin user accounts and roles, no limits on the number of admin users
  • Dynamic generation of Search Engine Friendly menus and URLs
  • Complete SEO control from URLs to meta information
  • Built in content search
While this all sounds like a lot of great features, we know that we constantly need to enhance and evolve the product to keep up with changing technology and the demands of our customers. We’ve already launched two version upgrades to the CMS this year, and have another planned for later this year. Both of these upgrades have been slight overhauls to the underlying data structures behind the CMS, and provide some additional enhanced features. Version 2.1.0 of the CMS was released back in February of this year and included these major upgrades:

  • Content preview capability
    • Edit site content and preview it in the site before publishing it live
    • Publish content edits directly to live or leave in preview only and publish any time in the future
    • Control content permissions allowing some admins to edit preview only and others to handle publishing
  • Redirect site navigation menu items to pages outside of the site
  • Complete template control on a per section or per page basis. Assign section or page level designs through the admin
  • Site Page Roles - control which admin roles can edit a section or specific pages
  • Google sitemap generation – automatically generate sitemap files and have them submitted to the major search engines
  • Site settings – define settings and strings that can be reused throughout your content
  • Forgot password page
Almost as soon as we wrapped up these enhancements, we started working on the next version, 2.1.1. In this update we took on the challenging task of adding a number of standard components to the CMS. These are the things that we have learned throughout the years most customers are looking for in their websites. These can now be included with a new website as needed for a small additional charge. This new version included the following components and other enhancements:

  • News component
  • Jobs component
  • Newsletter subscribe component
  • Events component – both list and calendar views
  • Resources component
  • Order form component
  • Photo Gallery component
  • Ability to have dynamic links to site pages, easily inserted from a drop down list
  • Automatic menu generation can be turned on or off
  • Even more SEO friendly features – different values for Page Title, Navigation Name, and page URL, provide page content and priority and update frequency for sitemap files
  • Control search results page visibility
With all of these great additions, logicalCMS has really come a long way so far in 2009, but we’re not stopping there. We have another version update planned for later this year. That will include another set of components as well as some other features, things like: a Blog component, a Forum component, LightningEmail integration, a Poll component, and a multi file upload add on for the photo gallery component.

With all of the great advancements we’ve made with logicalCMS this year and in the past, it might be time you consider an upgrade to your site if you aren’t using a CMS or you have a much older version of logicalCMS. All of these new features will help you to better manage your website and help you to set your site apart from your competition. A website with well-managed, current content, and a sound internet marketing strategy is the one that will stand out from the crowd and logicalCMS is the tool that will help you get there.