Articles

publishing Article

Write.as is a no-frills ad-free publishing platform that lets you write down your thoughts, even if you don’t have an audience in mind. You can keep your posts private or share them anonymously, but you can also create a public blog. That being said, Write.as isn’t suitable for more complex blogging, content marketing, or building a website. Read on for our full review on Write.as below.<h2>Getting Started</h2>Getting started with Write.as is easy. You don’t even need to register for a member account. Simply click on the “Start Writing” button on the homepage to create a blog post without an actual blog.When you publish your post, it will open up in a web browser with a unique and anonymous URL. You can keep this URL to yourself or share it with others. Write.as automatically saves everything that you write, regardless of whether you have an account with them or not.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/write-1691172472611.png" />When you’re ready to start a blog, select “Get Started” to begin your free trial or buy the Pro plan. Either way, you don’t have to give your email address (but you can if you want to). Once you sign up, you can sync your anonymous posts to your account.<h2>Design</h2>Write.as has a clean design and interface, with zero unnecessary features. The text editor lets you write in plain text only, and you can choose from just three different fonts (serif, sans-serif, monospace). There’s also a word count function and a light/dark toggle.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/write-1691172472698.png" />To format your text, you need to use <a target="_blank" href="https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/">Markdown</a>, a plain text formatting syntax that lets you add headers, bold text, links, images, and so on. There’s no way to preview the post, which is annoying.Write.as is committed to simplicity, but it still lets you customize your blog. With Write.as, you can:<ul><li>Change the title of your blog.</li><li>Add a blog description.</li><li>Pick a preferred URL (write.as/username/, username.writeas.com, or your own domain if you’re on the Pro plan).</li><li>Add static pages like an “About Me” or “Contact”.</li><li>Group your posts with hashtags.</li><li>Select your desired publicity level (unlisted, private, password-protected, or public).</li><li>Customize how plain text renders on your blog (Markdown or MathJax).</li><li>Enable custom CSS and Javascript.</li></ul>Change the format of your site from a blog to novel (oldest posts, with no dates, are shown first) or notebook (latest posts, with no dates, are shown first).<h2>Usability and Support</h2>Write.as is minimalist in design and is therefore super easy to navigate. When you log into your account, Write.as brings you to a blank page so that you can start writing immediately.In terms of support, Write.as has detailed writing guides that cover everything from sharing your posts to formatting quotes to adding images to your blog. There’s also a Write.as <a target="_blank" href="https://discuss.write.as/">community forum</a>.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/write-1691172472758.png" />You can also ask for help on social media (Write.as is on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn) or via email (Write.as support hours are Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern US time). Customer support representatives typically respond very promptly — I received a reply to my query within four hours on a Monday morning.<h2>Key Features</h2>Write.as focuses heavily on privacy and security, which is why all blogs are unlisted by default. However, you can make your blog public and cross-post your posts to other social media sites (like Twitter or Tumblr) or read.write.as, a separate “read stream”.You can also see the number of people that visit your blog and where they come from, as well as determine your most popular posts, via the statistics function.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/write-1691172472813.png" />With Write.as, you can write a post via email and then send it to your blog. In this case, the subject line becomes the title of the post, and the body of the email becomes the post. This feature, which is only available to paying members, is useful if you want to post to your blog from your phone (Write.as has an app for Android and iOS, but they don’t support blogging).Speaking of email, Pro users get access to Write.as Letters, a beta feature that lets readers subscribe to your blog updates. New posts are sent out in the form of a beautiful email 15 minutes after publishing or when scheduled.Pro members can also host their photos via Snap.as, a Chrome and Firefox browser extension. The extension pops up a window to drag a photo to, irrespective of where on the web you are.When the photo is uploaded, the Markdown for it is copied to your clipboard. You can then paste it wherever you want the photo to appear.Additionally, <a target="_blank" href="https://snap.as/">Snap.as</a> lets you create shareable photo galleries and photo essays. Here is an example from Write.as founder’s, Matt Baer’s Snap.as account:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/write.png" />Write.as also offers <a target="_blank" href="https://submit.as/">Submit.as</a>, a paid add-on that enables you to collect submissions, review them, and then publish them straight onto an online publication.<h2>Pricing</h2>Write.as has three pricing tiers:<ul><li>Free</li><li>Pro</li><li>Teams.</li></ul>The free plan brings with it basic publishing features, total anonymity, and unlimited monthly views. It supports Markdown and MathJax and lets you publish three Write.as posts per month to social media channels like Twitter and Tumblr. However, you only get one free blog (you can purchase as many additional blogs as you want for just $12 a year).Write.as Pro ($5 per month when billed annually or $6 month-to-month) comes with a built-in audience, full customization features, and Snap.as image hosting. It also gets you three free blogs and early access to new features.Teams ($9 per user per month) supports unlimited writers and group publishing. It also comes with priority support. However, it doesn’t let you add extra blogs, cross-post to social media sites, or publish to read.write.as. If you have multiple teams, Write.as can create a custom enterprise plan for you.Payment options include credit card, PayPal, and cryptocurrencies. There’s a 14-day refund policy.<h2>Final Verdict</h2>Write.as is a distraction-free publishing platform that is less about the social media aspect of writing (the likes and follows that we all inadvertently seek) and more about getting your thoughts down fast. The platform’s simplicity is refreshing, but not ideal for complex blogging, especially if you don’t know any code. On the other hand, because <a target="_blank" href="https://write.as/">Write.as</a> is open source, technically-minded individuals can change it to suit their needs.

Write.as Review - No Frills, Ad-Free Publishing

laura-martisiute

Lately, we've been seeing a shift towards simple, responsive, minimalist blogging platforms. More and more, people are looking for solutions that help them focus on their writing and offer distraction-free environments that enable them to do so quickly and effectively.
For years, WordPress has been the star of the show when it comes to blogging, but lately it seems to be developing into a more complex CMS than it was initially intended for when it was first released. Scores of plugins, themes and addons have, according to some, turned it into a more bloated solution than is necessary for the simple task of blogging.
Some of the differences you will find with these solutions in comparison to other blogging platforms are the editing interfaces and the reduction in features to focus on the primary goal of blogging; the writing. As opposed to more complicated editors, they tend to use Markdown for writing blog posts. Markdown is an easy to use text formatter that converts plain text into HTML and produces very readable content using plain text. You'll see what I mean when you try one of these blogging platforms. It's very easy to use.
For those who are finding it hard to find a blogging platform that suits their needs or are looking to start a new blog, this post will offer you some excellent alternatives to popular platforms like Blogger and WordPress. Here is our list of the best minimalist blogging platforms available.
<h2><a href="http://postach.io">Postach.io </a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_postachio960x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_postachio" />
I had to put Postach.io first simply because it's my personal favorite and one that, in my opinion, offers the most unique approach to blogging. Postach.io lets you store your content in either Dropbox or <a href="https://www.evernote.com/referral/Registration.action?uid=1238466&amp;sig=2de3b5d66a8d847e2d62e1425282eab5">Evernote</a> or both. This lets you choose whichever interface suits you the most (Dropbox files obviously needing to be edited in a text editor and uploaded whereas Evernote has a built in text editor) and work on your content within.
Publishing a post with Evernote is as simple as connecting your account to Postach.io, telling it which notebook in Evernote will contain your posts and then simply writing in that notebook and using the tag “published” when you are done. This tells Postach.io to put the post up on your blog and that's all there is to it. To add images, simply attach them to the note and it will be inserted in your blog post instantly.
The nice part to using the Evernote connection for Postach.io is you can take advantage of the many awesome Evernote apps for mobile devices and tablets that already exist which makes blogging with it a true pleasure.
Postach.io also has perhaps the most features of any of the other platforms I've mentioned so far including:
<ul>
<li>A number of pre-designed and attractive themes.</li>
<li>The ability to easily embed tweets, vine videos, youtube videos, instragram photos, flickr photos, slideshares, about me pages and tons more.</li>
<li>Disqus commenting</li>
<li>Google Analytics integration</li>
<li>You can even share your posts automatically on Facebook or Twitter simply by tagging them in Evernote or Dropbox (you can even customize the tag you use)</li>
<li>A full integrated source code editing interface</li>
</ul>
While Postach.io is free, you can upgrade for $5 / month or $50 / year and get the ability to have multiple sites, multiple authors and a secure website.
Postach.io is a must see and I strongly recommend taking a look to see how amazing it is.
Price: Free
<h2><a href="http://www.medium.com">Medium </a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_medium794x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_medium" />
Medium is a very interesting and unique alternative. What's nice about it is that it is designed to help you find an audience and to help you write better content. With a very simple and easy to use interface, Medium is a pleasure to use and gets rid of distractions such as sidebars, widgets and plugins while focusing on allowing you to share your stories and quips with the world.
Rather than overwhelm you with formatting, Medium offers you just enough to do what you need to do and nothing more. This makes the writing process painless and so distraction free that you'll likely want to write more just so you can use the editor. It truly is a beautiful setup. Furthermore, you don't need to worry about whether your website on Medium is responsive. Everything scales to all devices so you will never need to worry about how it's going to look on your phone or tablet again.
It's also a <a href="https://medium.com/about/8304190661d4"> collaborative tool </a> that lets you share your drafts with others and collaborate with them to produce better content. You can even thank those who helped you proof read or add ideas to your content.
My favorite thing about Medium, however, is the way your content is handled once you hit publish:
<blockquote>
We think great ideas can come from anywhere and should compete on their own merits. On Medium, you can contribute often or just once in a blue moon, without the commitment of a blog. And either way, you’re publishing into a thriving, pulsing network — not a standalone web site, which you alone are responsible for keeping alive.
Through a combination of algorithmic and editorial curation, posts on Medium get spread around based on interest and engagement. Some get hundreds of thousands of readers — and not because they were written by famous people. Medium is not about who you are or whom you know, but about what you have to say.
</blockquote>
I've seen this in action on some of my own writings on Medium where people who I do not know have added comments and shared their thoughts with me. If you write great content, you have a great opportunity to find an audience on Medium.
Price: Free
<h2><a href="https://svbtle.com/">Svblte </a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_svbtle910x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_svbtle" />
Svtle is similar in some aspects to Medium in that the platform uses Markdown for formatting content and is very distraction free. If you can't tell by the screenshot of the Svblte.com homepage above that this is a minimalist blogging platform, I'd be surprised.
Svblte has been designed in a way to let you dump your ideas into the dashboard and save them as inspiration for future work. It lets you write very distraction free content using an incredibly simple editor with minimal formatting required. It also offers some features such as custom domains and avatars for instance. You can also customize the accent colors of your blog but that's about it. The intention, like most of the others in this list, is to reduce the distractions caused by themes and plugins and to simply help you get your content out to the world.
Your content also has an opportunity to get picked up and spread throughout Svbtle in a similar manner as Medium although they don't give much for details on how this works so I'm not super familiar with the process for curation.
Price: $6 monthly
<h2><a href="https://ghost.org/">Ghost </a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_ghost835x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_ghost" />
Ghost is quickly becoming a strong up and comer in the world of blogging and is following in the footsteps of WordPress in that it offers both a downloadable version of the platform to install on your own server or you can use their online blogging platform (similar to Medium, WordPress.com and others) and get up and running with no software to configure. The latter is a paid service, however, and costs typically would range between $5 / month and $80 / month depending on how much traffic and how many blogs you want to have. Pricing is pretty reasonable and you always have the option of downloading Ghost and installing it on your own server if you feel more comfortable managing the software yourself.
The writing interface that Ghost offers is unique from some of the others we've shared so far in that it offers you a split pane look where you write on the left and the right shows a live preview of the text as it's being formatted for comparison. See the screenshot below for an example:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2013-11-11_07_05_55-ghost_blogging_platform_features835x0.png" alt="ghost - writing interface" />
Some other differences between Ghost and platforms such as Medium and Svble is that it supports themes. My personal opinion is that themes can end up being a distraction for some people but if you are interested in them, there are already plenty of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.comhttps://www.cmscritic.com/themeforestcategory/blogging/ghost-themes?ref=cmscritic"> themes for Ghost </a> available.
Price: Free (if downloaded) or $29-199 / month (if hosted)
<h2><a href="https://www.silvrback.com/" target="_blank">Silvrback </a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/silvrback_kvkndg.png" />Silvrback is interesting in that its creator, Damian Sowers, aimed to fix the problems he saw with Medium and Svbtle by simply creating what he ideally wanted from a blogging platform for himself. He has now made this available at a reasonable cost of $29.99 / year in the form of Silvrback.
Here's how Damian describes his reasoning for creating Silvrback:
<blockquote>
I built Silvrback because none of the existing blogging platforms satisfied me completely.
Medium is great for readers but it is bad for writers. Readers are steered away to other articles/authors after they are done reading your article. Moreover, the analytics of Medium are extremely basic and you have no idea how people found your article. You really shouldn't use Medium if you want to build any kind of brand with your writing.
Svbtle is closer to what I wanted out of my blogging platform. However, it is taking the elitism approach and heavily restricting its users. I actually just received an invite to Svbtle but I have grown tired of their UI and I'm wary of any blogging platform that doesn't charge for the service. As the saying goes, “If you aren't paying for something then you aren't the customer, you're the product being sold.”
</blockquote>
Due to his lack of satisfaction with the other tools on the market, Damian created Silvrback with the following features:
<ul>
<li>A clean and modern UI (front and back-end).</li>
<li>Markdown powered and as simple as possible.</li>
<li>Support for custom domains and external analytics.</li>
<li>Hosted. People shouldn't spend any time configuring a server for a blog. Also, you shouldn't have to worry about traffic spikes crashing your server.</li>
<li>The platform should have brand awareness in mind (e.g. provide a better way to show and consolidate a person's distributed accomplishments).</li>
<li>Trustworthy. I don't want my efforts and content to be sold to advertisers.</li>
<li>Hacker friendly. Nice syntax highlighting.</li>
<li>Precise control over the journey of a new reader (direction of article discovery).</li>
</ul>
Silvrback was sold to Verde Places LLC, who currently own and run it now and continues to be updated regularly.
Pricing:
<ul>
<li>Annual: US$34.99</li>
<li>Quarterly: US$9.99</li>
<li>Monthly: US$3.99</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="https://write.as/" target="_blank">Write.as</a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/writeas-review-1_f8stqn.png" alt="Write.as Review - 1" />
Write.as is a distraction-free publishing platform that is less about the social media aspect of writing (the likes and follows that we all inadvertently seek) and more about getting your thoughts down fast. The platform’s simplicity is refreshing, but not ideal for complex blogging, especially if you don’t know any code.
On the other hand, because Write.as is open source, technically-minded individuals can change it to suit their needs. Read our <a href="/write-as-review-no-frills-ad-free-publishing/">Write.as Review</a> to learn more.
Price: 
<ul>
<li>Free</li>
<li>$5 month</li>
<li>$200 month</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://authpad.com">Authpad </a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_authpad.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_authpad" />
Authpad appeals to my inner coder for some reason. Perhaps it's because you can edit the styles directly from within the interface but if there's one thing that Authpad is, it's minimal. I would call this the blogging platform for pure minimalists. It's so fast it's ridiculous and, while the interface is very text heavy, it does the job its intended to do incredibly well.
Still in beta but with plenty of features including, as I mentioned earlier, the ability to directly edit forked styles from within the interface, this is sure to appeal to bloggers with a bit of a technical background as well as those looking for a very minimal experience.
There's not much else to say, Authpad is as basic as you can get and I strongly encourage you to check it out and see how simple blogging can truly be.
Price: Free
<h2><a href="http://pen.io/">Pen.io</a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_penio960x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_penio" />
Pen.io is a bit different. You don't get your own website per say but rather, you create a page for your article. You sign up with a URL and a password with no other information, click to edit your title, click to edit your content and that's it. If you need to add images, simply drag and drop them into the page. If you need a multi-page post, simply insert the “:page” tag to do so. There's nothing complicated about it, there's no real blogging aspect to it and there's no way to get back to it other than to find it on Google or remember the page url.
This is unique for those who want to quickly pound something out or feel the need to write but don't want the complication of setting up a blog so if you need an outlet for your creativity, Pen.io is there. Don't expect to find any help or assistance, however as the website is as stark as the article creation process and there's no help system at all.
Price: Free
<h2><a href="https://posthaven.com/">Posthaven</a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_posthaven883x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_posthaven" />
Posthaven was created by two of the founding members of Posterous, which was acquired by Twitter in 2012. After being “bummed” that it was shut down, they decided to start Posthaven and make it available forever to anyone who wants an easy to use blog platform. While the platform does charge a monthly fee, it offers a good set of features including:
<ul>
<li>Post by email</li>
<li>Post by web, with photos, music, video and documents</li>
<li>Private sites with passwords</li>
<li>Pages and links</li>
<li>Autopost to Facebook and Twitter</li>
<li>Image gallery upload and editing</li>
<li>Commenting with automatic antispam</li>
<li>Blog following with email notifications</li>
<li>Multiple contributors per blog</li>
</ul>
Currently, the fee to use Posthaven is only $5 / month and the founders promise to only adjust to cover server costs and nothing more. The goal is to maintain the service for as long as possible so users can avoid having their services shutdown constantly thanks to acquisitions and the like. One thing I do like is that if you decide to stop paying, the content will not be lost, it will stay online but you won't be able to edit or add to it until you restart your subscription.
Price: $5 month
There you have it.  Our list of Minimalist Blogging Platforms that let you focus on writing your content and getting it online in the easiest possible way with the least distracting interfaces.
Are you aware of one we missed? Please share it in the comments below and we'll expand this list accordingly. What are your experiences with these (or other) tools? Let us know in the comments below.

Blogging Platforms That Encourage You To Write

mike-johnston

You might have heard of Ghost — an open-source blogging platform that launched in 2013. Ghost was founded by John O’Nolan, a former WordPress employee who grew frustrated with the complexities of the traditional blogging platform and decided to do something about it.
Today, more than a million people and businesses use Ghost, including Apple, Tinder, and Mozilla. This number is likely to increase now that the company has rolled out Ghost 3.0 — its biggest release since the first version of Ghost. Here is a comprehensive look at Ghost’s latest update, Ghost 3.0.
<h2>New and Improved Features</h2>
The core idea behind this latest release is to help publishers build and maintain engaged audiences. The new and exciting features introduced as part of Ghost 3.0 reflect this thinking.
<h3>Members &amp; Subscriptions</h3>
The most significant feature introduced by Ghost 3.0 is support for memberships and subscriptions. The feature is still in beta but is fully functioning.
A simple member signup system turns anonymous visitors into registered members, helping you grow a community of like-minded individuals. Ghost 3.0 allows you to set three different access levels:
<ul>
<li>Public content</li>
<li>Members-only content</li>
<li>Paid members-only content.</li>
</ul>
This is what a post with members-only access looks like on Nolan’s own blog:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot1-1_josxry.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - 1" />
You can have a combination of all three access levels, as long as your theme supports it. If you already have an audience elsewhere, you can give it access to your new site via Ghost’s imports and integrations function.
Ghost 3.0 has a Stripe integration, so taking payments for premium-membership benefits is effortless. Members can pay for your content via credit card or Apple Pay. You can create your own pricing structure. For example, these are the pricing tiers that Nolan chose for his blog:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot2-1_ka9xit.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - 2" />
The billing features are integrated with Stripe Billing API, not Stripe Connect. That means that if Ghost the company were to fold, your site and billing would still work as usual.
<h3>Full-Featured Headless CMS</h3>
Ghost worked tirelessly on improving its APIs (application program interface, a set of protocols for building software applications) and Webhooks (HTTP callbacks that let you create or set up integrations). The company’s efforts have paid off — you can run Ghost 3.0 as a decoupled headless CMS.
<h3>Images</h3>
Working with images on Ghost 3.0 is much easier than before. When you insert an image into a post, it automatically resizes and optimizes it for your theme. This new feature saves you a ton of time and ensures that pages with a lot of images load faster.
You can also add an image gallery with up to nine images at a time. Ghost 3.0 automatically organizes the photos to look their best.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot3-1_vkx3cg.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 Image Galleries" />
<h3>Drag and Drop Capabilities</h3>
Changing the layout of a post with Ghost 3.0 is a breeze. You can drag and drop any card, whether it’s text-based or image-based, within a post. The editor auto-scrolls as you move the cards up and down.
<h3>Bookmark Cards</h3>
Ghost 3.0 lets you add a bookmark card into your post, which simplifies the process of sharing links from sites with no automatic embeds.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot4-1_xra7k5.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - Cards" />
As long as you use a URL with the correct meta information, the bookmark card will show:
<ul>
<li>Page title</li>
<li>Preview image</li>
<li>Excerpt</li>
<li>Author</li>
<li>Publisher.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Admin Dashboard Updates</h3>
Ghost 3.0 also updated the admin dashboard. There’s a new site preview feature as well as an option to filter drafts and published posts depending on:
<ul>
<li>Author</li>
<li>Status</li>
<li>Date</li>
<li>Tag.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Themes</h3>
The default Ghost theme has been improved, with added support for dark mode. Also, Ghost added three open-source magazine-style themes and a new starter theme for developers to its marketplace.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot_5_ppuumt.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - themes" />
<h3>WordPress Importer</h3>
Ghost 3.0 has a migration plugin for WordPress, which allows you to export posts, pages, tags, and images into a set of files. Importing these files into Ghost 3.0 is a quick and painless process.
Ghost 3.0 doesn’t have built-in comments, but it integrates with many popular comment platforms so that you can migrate your WordPress comments easily.
<h3>New Integrations</h3>
Ghost makes it easy to set up integrations with multiple apps and tools. New integrations include Ulysses, iA Writer, and <a href="https://write.as/" target="_blank">Write.as</a>, whereas <a href="https://zapier.com" target="_blank">Zapier</a> integration has seen an update.
<h3>That’s Not All!</h3>
On top of the features mentioned above, Ghost 3.0 comes with new developer documentation. The company also launched a weekly newsletter that focuses on important stories, ideas, and publishing resources. If you want to see the full list of updates, take a look at <a href="https://gist.github.com/allouis/aae9e45748da87a6928ac814a04413bb" target="_blank">Ghost 3.0 changelog</a>.

Ghost 3.0 Brings Subscriptions, Memberships and More

Quintype can be best described in three alliterative words; the “publisher’s publishing platform”. Everything in this headless CMS is directed at the dedicated content creator, and all aspects from the design to the UI to the UX are focused on the content.<h2>Getting Started</h2>Getting started couldn’t be easier. You can get a free trial from the homepage and from there you’re taken to your Workspace. The Workspace is the hub from which all of your content can be created, pushed and managed to any scale.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/q1_b9rpsg.png" />It really is very simple but it’s far from basic. The Workspace places top priority on posts and the content management, which isn’t as common in a CMS as you’d think.Getting into the application was incredibly easy and well designed. There were just a few short clicks between signing up and getting right into the central hub of the site.<h2>Design</h2>The design you’re met with when you enter the Workspace is reflective Quintype’s entire aesthetic – simple, easy to use, and content focused.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/q2a_kaasrn.png" />Quintype is incredibly intuitive to use and everything follows a WYSIWYG formula that never feels clunky or under-utilized. Everything just seems to flow. Want to change the header? The steps are clear. Want to add a hero image? Two clicks and you’re in.The basic template I saw on the trial I used was eminently readable and well put together.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/q2_yuwylb.png" />Quintype have more expansive design features available once you subscribe to their service, which they say will help you establish your brand guidelines and “deliver custom design templates”. The templates shown on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.quintype.com/">their site</a> are of a high quality with a design aesthetic that could suit any size of business and any style of content. Simplicity and a content-first approach sums up the approach of this CMS to their templates and layouts.The backend, where all the real hard work takes place, is focused entirely on managing your content and making it as easy as possible to get your stories in place.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/q3_hfuyum.png" />Their text editor is clean and easy to use, with an ability to layer in different images, hyperlinks, quotes, tables, slideshows, and question and answer sections. All of these are tool tipped and easy to use with clear instructions. It makes creating and polishing content incredibly easy and it comes out in a lovely, crisp layout that’s very easy to read. From a design perspective, Quintype is really sharp.As Quintype is a headless / decoupled CMS. clients also have complete control over their front end development.<h2>Usability and Support</h2>Quintype is one of the easiest to use sites I’ve tried in quite a while. It’s intuitive without losing finesse. It’s a powerful CMS that places a lot of focus on the articles and stories. In my opinion, the placement of the content as the primary focus on the homepage of the Workspace offers a key differential from the likes of WordPress. Everything felt like it was in easy reach or just a short click away.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/q4_n5sdsr.png" />Everything you could want to access is clearly labelled and presented with as little jargon or proprietary language as possible. Do you want to add Facebook or Twitter integration? Just go to Settings and Social Sharing. Within three clicks, you’ll be ready to set yourself up.Quintype has an extensive FAQ and Help section that covers everything you could need when you get started. I had an extensive look through everything and it seemed to cover every base you could reasonably expect to query. The answers were detailed and clear.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/q5_qlr87r.png" />If the Help Section isn’t doing it for you then they have multiple support languages and online chat support. In addition, you’ll receive regular emails with helpful tips and tricks for using Quintype after signing up and you can also book a free demo to run through how to get started. These aren’t like those annoying emails you often get when you sign up to an app either; you know the kind that basically just want you to level up to a pro plan? Nope. The emails I received from Quintype offered genuine and quality support and really helped to enhance my user experience and motivate me to use the app.The readily available free help and support and the effort that these guys put into making sure you know exactly what you’re doing from the get-go is commendable.<h2>Key Features</h2>Quintype’s scalable server capacity is a key feature of their offering. Sometimes a viral article or piece of content can stretch your web server to breaking point and beyond. Quintype’s scalable servers react to large traffic events by increasing your bandwidth as and when you need it.Their custom ad monetization service looks really interesting too. They have a mix of native advertising and custom ads that are in line with your branding, with the overall aesthetic being key.I also really liked their different product offerings. There really is something for every content vehicle, large or small. Their AccessType feature is heavily geared towards reader subscriptions with metered paywalls, pay per article, recurring payments, multiple levels of access, coupon codes, gift subscriptions, and more.It’s a spectacularly powerful service that immediately puts them in the same sphere as a service like Patreon, except with better fee structures and more control. It’s a massive potential upside for them.<h2>Pricing</h2>Packages start from $99 depending on your needs.<h3>Pros</h3><ul><li>Easy to use.</li><li>Clean design and intuitive UI structure.</li><li>Very clean and professional templates with potential for custom development.</li><li>Different site-packages for different website needs such as Bold, MeType, AccessType and Ahead.</li><li>All with their own styles and individual features.</li><li>Scalable server capacity to handle viral stories without changing your entire hosting package and all the costs associated with it.</li></ul><h3>Cons</h3><ul><li>The pricing structure isn’t viewable on the site for understandable reasons this early in their business but it may put off some potential clients.</li><li>The templates aren’t endlessly customizable in the same way as WordPress which isn’t a bad thing in my opinion but might not suit some.</li></ul><h2>Final Verdict</h2><figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXzlMw8Zfk4"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mXzlMw8Zfk4" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure><a target="_blank" href="https://www.quintype.com/">Quintype</a> is an excellent, powerfully built CMS that scales to any business’s needs. It’s clean design and content focused aesthetic is perfect for companies with multiple editors and writers who need one place to manage their workflow and production. It’s one of the best content management systems I’ve seen of this type and it has the potential to make a big splash as it grows its user base.Other great articles to read:<ul><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/superdesk-digital-newsroom-review/">Superdesk Digital Newsroom Review</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/9-essentials-your-enterprise-cms-should-deliver-in-2019/">9 Essentials Your Enterprise CMS Should Deliver in 2019</a></li></ul>

Quintype Review - A True Digital Publishing Platform

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To facilitate technological innovation within media organisations, nonprofit software developer Sourcefabric z.ú. has launched a new roundtable to help news agencies share development costs and improve the tools that deliver their journalism to clients.
Called the <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=0c90aef04e&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">Superdesk Wire Club</a>, the forum will serve as a development steering committee for news agencies that use Superdesk, our open-source newsroom management solution. Through the club, members will identify features or functions that are of shared interest and then decide on collectively funding their development. Founding members of the Superdesk Wire Club include <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=cf036374a2&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">Norwegian news agency NTB</a>, <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=73c25bda85&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">Belgian news agency Belga</a>, and the <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=7b6c354dc1&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">Australian Associated Press (AAP)</a>. Additional agencies are expected to join soon.
“This is about people talking to each other, but it’s also about coordinating solutions,” says Karel Petrák, Sourcefabric project manager and Wire Club organiser. “What do Superdesk users need and want most? The Wire Club will help us answer that question.”
Since Superdesk’s public release in early 2016, nearly a dozen publishers have adopted the CMS or are transitioning to the software, including some of Europe’s leading news agencies. Every month, the platform delivers more than 300,000 news items to over 80 million readers on four continents. Because Superdesk is built on <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=e01c897b52&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">open-source code base</a>, users can collectively make improvements; the Superdesk Wire Club will facilitate this collaboration.
Geir Terje Ruud, NTB’s chief development officer, said: “It's a good idea to build a system for cooperation between customers and users on systems like Superdesk. If we, as customers, can pull or push in the same direction, development will be faster, more efficient and definitely closer to the needs of the customers.”
Tom Wuytack, Belga’s CIO, added: “The Wire Club will allow us to sit in the driver’s seat to ensure that further evolution of the Superdesk software remains relevant for Belga. It will also give us direct insight into useful innovations and integrations from other agencies.”
With journalism still facing difficult economic times, news agencies have begun to cooperate to improve efficiencies and address shared technological challenges. For instance, a group of six European news agencies – led by Dutch agency ANP – is working to develop a system to determine <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=6e63ab7d4c&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">what content users find most engaging</a>. Another initiative, a collaboration between the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur and STT, the Finnish news agency, aims to help news agencies track and match content to reader preferences.
But the Superdesk Wire Club is one of the only forums in the world for news agencies to partner on the development of a common newsroom CMS.
Aslan Aslanov, President of the News Agencies World Congress, says disruptive technologies – particularly social media and mobile platforms – have made technological cooperation among media organisations all the more vital. Any network that brings news agencies together “can help agencies find significant solutions to [shared] challenges,” he said.
Wolfgang Nedomansky, Managing Director of<a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=97dfd378cc&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank"> MINDS International</a>, one of the world’s leading networks of news agency CEOs, CTOs, editors and business professionals, concurs. “Efficiency and collaboration are keys for the success of news agencies in the future,” <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=dec3935257&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">he says</a>.
Club membership is open only to news agencies. With many of the world’s news agencies facing a variety of<a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=ba79ccd16e&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank"> commercial, political, and technological challenges</a>, the club’s initial aim is to strengthen this key part of the media industry.
Sourcefabric’s Karel Petrák says: “We want our news-agency partners to have a seat at the Superdesk development table, and the Superdesk Wire Club is one way to do that.”

Sourcefabric launches initiative to help news agencies develop a common newsroom CMS

Sourcefabric z.ú., Europe’s largest developer of open-source technology for the news media, is doubling the size of its Prague headquarters and merging its German for-profit subsidiary, Sourcefabric GmbH, with its Czech commercial arm, Sourcefabric Ventures s.r.o.
Established in April 2010, parent organisation Sourcefabric z.ú. is a nonprofit developer of open-source software and digital solutions and works to strengthen the editorial and economic independence of media organisations worldwide. This mission-driven development is supported with income generated by Sourcefabric’s subordinate commercial companies, along with donations and project-related funding.
After the organisational merger is completed, global commercial activities will be centered in Prague, where they will be managed by Sourcefabric Ventures s.r.o. The German market, and Sourcefabric’s numerous German customers, will remain a key priority going forward.
With independent media organisations facing a variety of technical and economic challenges, Sourcefabric’s software has been developed to improve newsroom efficiencies. For instance, by automating certain tasks in the news production and distribution processes, news organisations powered by Sourcefabric solutions can free up editors’ time to produce quality journalism.
The core technology powering that vision is Superdesk, a content management and newsroom workflow system <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=4d0ccd629f&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">developed in partnership</a> with leading news organisations – including the Australian Associated Press (AAP) and the national news agency of Norway (NTB). Since Superdesk’s public release in early 2016, nearly a dozen other publishers have adopted the CMS or are transitioning to the software, including some of Europe’s leading news agencies. Every month, the platform delivers more than 300,000 news items to over 80 million readers on four continents.
Among Superdesk’s strengths is its open-source code base, which allows partner media organisations to collectively make improvements, share development costs, and redistribute needed resources for other journalistic endeavors.
To facilitate this innovative media partnership, Sourcefabric has just launched a news agency collaborative called the <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=f0808fc581&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">Superdesk Wire Club</a>. The goal of this new forum is to bring together Superdesk clients from around the world to guide the system’s future development in line with the particular needs of news agencies. Founding members of the Superdesk Wire Club include Norwegian news agency NTB, Belgian news agency Belga and Australian Associated Press.
Beyond Superdesk, Sourcefabric’s software is used to strengthen journalism and foster media innovations in some of the world’s most restrictive environments. Other tools in its portfolio of solutions for independent media include:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=b940f3acb1&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">Superdesk Publisher</a>, a native extension of Superdesk used to manage news websites and other forms of digital publishing. Current Superdesk Publisher projects include two independent news organisations in the Balkans – <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=413f4a4da9&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">Insajder.net</a>in Serbia, and <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=0907d51779&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">Vijesti.me</a> in Montenegro – and <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=ad432ca08b&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">Brasil247</a>, one of Brazil’s leading independent media outlets.</li>
<li><a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=f7ffcec5c5&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">Airtime Pro</a>, an all-in-one Internet radio automation and broadcasting platform used by DJ hobbyists as well as professional radio stations around the globe.</li>
<li><a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=2816c58efb&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">Live Blog</a>, a live online blogging tool, is being used by major media outlets (such as German news agency dpa) to diversify coverage and develop new revenue streams.</li>
</ul>
To broaden its range of media activities, Sourcefabric has partnered with Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), which invests in independent media in challenging environments. A Sourcefabric-MDIF joint venture, SFS Ventures s.r.o., <a href="https://sourcefabric.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b1ad01fc31dc6604968e6439&amp;id=3e44573a93&amp;e=651952ac7d" target="_blank">recently acquired a majority stake</a> in Poland’s Eurozet radio station.
Sourcefabric’s renovated headquarters will occupy two floors of Štenc House, an Art Nouveau building near Prague’s Old Town square that housed a printing press and artist studios in the early 20th century.
“Our client base is expanding, and so, too, are our ambitions. Quality journalism is the lifeblood of democratic societies, and open-source technology is the backbone of quality journalism,” said Sourcefabric Managing Director Sava Tatić. “Our goal, therefore, is to ensure that journalists everywhere, operating under any circumstance, have the tools they need to do their work.”

Sourcefabric z.ú. to Expand Global Headquarters and Streamline Commercial Operations

CMS Kickoff 24

Don't miss CMS Kickoff 2024, January 16-17 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Seats are limited.

The #1 global event dedicated to CMS

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Penzu is a private, 100% customizable online journal that is used by millions of people across the world. In this Penzu Review we're going to take you through the various features and functionality of the product to provide you with an overall idea of the strengths and weakness of the offering.<h2>Penzu Pricing</h2>There are three tiers of pricing for Penzu – each offering a different set of features but for the majority of people, the free offering is going to be more than enough. Here's a breakdown of the current pricing from their website.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-pricing-table_kpyp6y.png" />Penzu Pricing TableIn the grand scheme of things, if you do decide you want the full selection of features, $50 / year is pretty darn cheap so it's definitely NOT out of reach for the average person which is nice.<h2>Penzu Features</h2>Each pricing tier offers a different selection of features and while I feel that for the average user, the free option is quite extensive in it's feature set.. the Pro and Pro+ both have quite an impressive set of features as well.Here's a screenshot of the feature breakdown in each tier:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-feature-chart_rrnfsn.png" />Penzu Feature Chart<h2>Getting Started with Penzu</h2>Getting started is easy, just click the Get Started button and fill in the information required and an account will be instantly created for you.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-getting-started_zaysi3.png" />Penzu – Getting StartedOnce you've filled in the info above, you'll be taken to a wizard that has been designed to help you begin your writing experience with Penzu.The first item the wizard prompts you for is your first entry, which suggests that you write about why you are starting a journal in the first place. You can skip this if you choose using the Skip this Step link underneath the entry box.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-getting-started-wizard_zwz4mr.png" />Penzu Getting Started WizardOnce you've filled in your first entry (or clicked Skip) you'll be taken to the next screen where you can customize the font (or other options if you've purchased Pro or Pro+).<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-customizing-your-entries_q6foix.png" />Penzu Customizing your EntriesNext up, you are asked if you want to change the Journal cover color and if you wish to password protect your journal.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/customizing-your-journal_tibpe7.png" />Customizing your JournalFinally, once you've finished all of your customizations (which are pretty basic in the free version) the wizard will complete and you'll be taken to the main screen of your journal.<h2>Your Penzu Journal</h2>This will be the main screen where you write all of your entries and manage your journal.There are limited options here but that's OK because Penzu was not designed to waste your time with themes, plugins and such that other tools like WordPress offer. It was designed first and foremost as a writing tool to help you gather and share your thoughts.<h2>Settings</h2>You can access basic settings (such as the few that you saw in the wizard) by clicking on the gear icon on the left.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-settings_kzu2yx.png" />Penzu Settings<h2>Using the Penzu Editor</h2>The editor is very nice and easy to use with a few interesting options. You can click on the paintbrush icon to open up a background selection tool which allows you to choose a background (if so desired).<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-background-selection_cwe8i5.png" />Penzu Background SelectionYou can also choose pad styles which will change how your journal entries themselves look. For example:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-pad-styles_z98c7l.png" />Penzu Pad Styles<h2>Journal Prompts</h2>You may notice within the editor there are a number of icons you can choose from. The light bulb icon within the editor inserts a <a target="_blank" href="https://penzu.com/journal-prompts">Journal Prompt</a> which is described in the help section as:<blockquote>a simple statement designed to inspire you or offer you an idea of what to write about.</blockquote>This is an example of what a prompt looks like:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-journal-prompts_bczpw6.png" />Penzu Journal PromptsYou can switch prompts by clicking on the refresh icon (two arrows in a circle) or, if you are a Pro user, you can click Select and browse the prompts to find some inspiration. For Pro users, there are over 1,000 hand picked prompts to choose from – which is a pretty impressive amount!<h2>Penzu Time Capsule</h2>The next icon you'll see is an hour glass and activates a feature called Time Capsule. This cool feature allows you to email an entry to your future self and is a pretty neat option to have if, for instance, you set goals for yourself in your journal and want to send yourself a note 3 months down the road to see if you achieved them (for example).<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-time-capsule_xvdwto.png" />Penzu Time CapsuleThere are lots of things this can be used for. You can use Penzu as a way to set reminders and notify yourself on a certain day to do something or perhaps you want to send yourself motivational content down the road. Either way, it's an interesting and handy feature.<h2>Other Editor Icons</h2>The remaining icons allow you to tag your content (pro users only), upload images, format text, view entry versions or activate Zen Mode (distraction free writing – for pro users only).<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-editor-icons_dwgqnq.png" />Penzu Editor Icons<h2>Support / Help Options</h2>There are plenty of support options available which can be located by clicking on your name in the top right of the screen. Their FAQs are quite extension as is their help section and given the simplicity of the tool, there shouldn't be much support needed to use it. It is, however, nice to know it's there.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/penzu-support-help-options_u7zpvh.png" />Penzu Support &amp; Help Options<h2>Conclusion</h2>Penzu is an impressive and interesting journaling platform. I found myself drawn to the simplicity of the tool and how it removes the user from the sometimes overwhelming feature overload found in some modern tools. I like the pricing of the tool and think it's more than reasonable for the features offered and the integrated features such as Time Shift, Journal Prompts and more really add to the uniqueness of the platform.I'm giving it a 5/5 on the basis that it not only serves it's purpose as an excellent journaling platform but also because it goes one step further with thoughtful features and options that you might not even realize you need.You can learn more about Penzu or sign up for an account here: <a target="_blank" href="https://penzu.com/">Penzu Website</a>If you found this review helpful, check out our other reviews such as this: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/ghost-pro-review/">Ghost Pro review.</a>

Penzu Review

When it comes to tracking down the best ad network, it can be tough to weed through the garbage. There are quite a few out there that pay very little and aren't worth your time. For that reason, I've put together this guide to the absolute Best Ad Networks for Bloggers.
CPM, for those who are unaware, stands for Cost per mille (latin / italian for thousand). Don't ask me why CPM became the term of choice as opposed to CPT (cost per thousand) but it is what it is. ?
This means that for every thousand visitors you get to your website, you earn a certain dollar amount. A good ad network will pay over $10 CPM. A poor one will pay under $1 CPM. So for instance, if you had 100k visitors to your website and were with a good network that paid $10 CPM, you would earn $1000. $10 multiplied by 100 (because each thousand earns you $10).
Here's a quick video explaining it for those having a hard time:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V4kMIUuSOqs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Make sense? Cool.
<h2>Why Should You Trust My Opinion on the Best Ad Networks?</h2>
Before I get into who the best ad networks are, let me explain why you should trust my advice on which one to choose.
My wife runs a popular food blog called <a href="https://www.thekitchenmagpie.com" target="_blank">The Kitchen Magpie</a> which receives in excess of 1.5 million monthly visitors. As such, we needed the best ad network to help monetize this quantity of page-views. We had to weed through quite a few in order to find the best of the best. We have tried most of the networks out there before ending up with AdThrive (which we were actually invited to).
Between my wife and I, we've both been blogging since 2009 and do so for a living. That means we're 100% full time employed by our websites, no other jobs. We make all of our revenue from advertising and working with customers on sponsored content, videos, etc. Therefore, we are very much driven to make sure we earn as much as we can from our websites. I hope that helps set the tone for this article a bit and gives you some confidence in my recommendations. Now lets get on with it shall we?
Note: If you are looking for the best ad network that allows you to become part of Google's AdXchange (meaning you earn more as Google advertisers will have an opportunity to bid on your inventory) then check out the first 3 choices in this list. AdThrive is the strongest and largest player on the block here but is solely focused on blogger websites. The same goes for Mediavine. Ezoic, however, has lower entry requirements (10k visitors per month minimum) and also allows you to join Google's network making it the easiest path of entry for most websites (they are also not blogger specific).
<h2>#1 – AdThrive</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/adthrive.png" alt="Best Ad Networks - Adthrive" />
AdThrive is, without a doubt, the absolute best ad network for CPM based advertising for bloggers. We've been working with them on The Kitchen Magpie for a while now and no network has even come remotely close to earning as much as we do with AdThrive. I know at one point they had a waiting list of bloggers wanting to join their network and I do know they are picky about who they choose, primarily because they want the best of the best in order to keep their advertisers happy. You can sign up on their website if interested and see if you are accepted.
According to Comscore, AdThrive is now ranked #20 out of all internet entities in the world. AdThrive publishers reach upwards of 92.5 million unique viewers monthly, which is more reach than massive companies like Snapchat and Pinterest! In addition, AdThrive publishers rank #1 in Food, #1 in Family and Parenting, #1 in Lifestyle, and #2 in Home. These are some impressive stats! (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/adthrive/photos/a.760734290738765.1073741828.307243179421214/1165759476902909/?type=3" target="_blank">source</a>)
<h3>Benefits:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Hands down, AdThrive has THE best staff. Ever. 
These guys are not only incredibly smart and helpful but they are also the most well versed staff in the advertising arena. I've thrown question after question at them and they don't just answer them, they go above and beyond to help improve your site earnings. I've even had them go so far as to help with site problems that had nothing to do with advertising. They are THAT good. No word of a lie. They offer courses to help boost your RPM and they work night and day to get better and better at what they do.</li>
<li>Huge earnings. 
We've tried all of the other ad networks and nobody has come close to paying as well as AdThrive. Our earnings are far and above what we were making elsewhere so if you are lucky enough to get on board, I wouldn't suggest leaving. Yes, we've tried Mediavine (#2 on our list) as well but they didn't come close to earning as much for us.</li>
<li>Google Certified Ad Partner. 
This one is big. There are only a couple of ad optimization companies in the entire world chosen for Google's prestigious Certified Partner Program. Being certified means that AdThrive's practices, policies and results are Google-approved. This means you won't be running ads that are going to cause you to be penalized or that aren't Google compliant.</li>
<li>Community Engagement. 
AdThrive offers a Facebook group where they offer tips and tricks and their publishers can get together to discuss strategies, troubleshoot problems and more.</li>
</ul>
Website: <a href="http://www.adthrive.com/" target="_blank">AdThrive</a>
<h2>#2 – Ezoic</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/images_ldzift.png" alt="Best Ad Networks - Ezoic" />
CMS Critic uses Ezoic. Read on to find out why.
We use Ezoic and there's a reason why we use them as opposed to AdThrive. Where AdThrive is strong is within the US market. When it comes to monetizing US traffic, nobody beats them in my opinion but when you run a tech blog like this one with a variety of topics that appeal broadly and not just do a specific demographic, AdThrive isn't the best choice.
Basically, if you have less than around 60% of your traffic coming from the US, you'll want to go with Ezoic. They've got an easy interface, excellent staff and they are also part of the Google Ad Network. Furthermore, they have a lower entry requirement and aren't as picky on geography).
Ezoic is a Google Certified Publishing Partner just like AdThrive, the main difference here is that they accept blogs with traffic that is around 10k visitors per month. As I mentioned, they also don't limit you based on US traffic so if you have a blog like this one, where we have a wide variety of traffic from many geographies and the US only accounts for around 30% or so of the traffic, then Ezoic is the choice for you.  What I like about Ezoic is that they have a solid interface that incorporate Adsense as well as a backup plan for the instances where they can't fill your ads.
They are definitely the best ad network for sites like ours and those of you with slightly less traffic.
Website: <a href="https://www.ezoic.com/" target="_blank">Ezoic</a>
<h2>#3 – Mediavine</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mediavine.jpg" alt="Mediavine" />
Mediavine is also one of the best ad networks for bloggers because they offer solid earnings and support. If you aren't able to get on with AdThrive, I recommend checking out Mediavine, especially if you are in the food, travel, fashion, lifestyle or entertainment niches as they tend to do well. From my experience, Mediavine didn't offer as high an earning potential as AdThrive but your experiences may vary. They definitely have a large network of publishers and advertisers so you can't go wrong giving them a try and seeing if they are the right fit for your needs.
<h3>Benefits:</h3>
<ul>
<li>They are publishers too. 
The folks behind Mediavine are also publishers that own The Hollywood Gossip, TV Fanatic and Food Fanatic websites. They test their solutions on their own websites first before offering them to their network of publishers, meaning you get tried and tested solutions.</li>
<li>Solid earning potential &amp; sponsored opportunities. 
Mediavine publishers make good money. I am aware of a large number of big bloggers that are with Mediavine that earn a living from their advertising revenue so they certainly don't pay poorly. They are a great alternative to consider if you are in the market for a CPM ad network. They also offer sponsored opportunities that come their way. They also offer sponsored opportunities for influencers.</li>
<li>Community Engagement. 
Mediavine has an exclusive Facebook group where publishers and Mediavine employees work together to network, troubleshoot, discuss strategies and more.</li>
</ul>
Website: <a href="https://www.mediavine.com/" target="_blank">Mediavine</a>
<h2>#4 – Monumentum / Blogher (Geared towards Women)</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/momentum-logo.png" alt="Monumentum" /> 
Monumentum, otherwise known as the Blogher publishing network, is another very large and popular advertising network for bloggers. It is, however, primarily geared towards women so if you are a male blogger, you are most likely out of luck. We were with Blogher for a while with The Kitchen Magpie but left to be exclusive with AdThrive. During that time, it was a pretty solid network so definitely worth checking out.
<h3>Benefits:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Advertising and Sponsored Content opportunities 
Momentum by SheKnows Media is a very large network of primarily female bloggers that has been around for many years. Momentum also offers their bloggers sponsored content opportunities, however I'm not sure how often or how many they have.</li>
<li>Great exposure through the Blogher Conference 
They are the force behind the Blogher conference which is one of the largest blogging conferences in North America and a very popular destination for bloggers from around the world. There are some great keynote speakers and tons of opportunities to network with potential clients so it's a great opportunity to connect. If you are with the network of couse, even better.</li>
</ul>
Website: <a href="http://www.blogher.com/momentum" target="_blank">Momentum</a>
<h2>#5 – Adbuff</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/adbuff_blog_large.png" alt="Adbuff" />
Adbuff is a good option to consider if you are not a blogger or prefer not to go with one of the other networks above. They are slowly gaining momentum and becoming more and more popular (and recommended) due to their claim of high CPM rates and 100% fill rate so it's definitely one to try out and see how it performs.
<h3>Benefits:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Realtime reporting dashboard 
Adbuff has a realtime reporting dashboard with stats that are updated every second, so you can make informed decisions in real time. For those of you that are stuck on numbers, this is a big benefit over some of the other networks that offer next day stats.</li>
<li>100% fill rate (as advertised) 
A few things about fill rate. It's great that networks like Adbuff offer 100% fill rate but I just want to point out that it doesn't mean much if your CPM is super low. You can have 100% fill rate at 0.05 CPM and you are basically making 5 cents for every thousand visitors, which is next to nothing, so keep that in mind. If your CPM is reasonably good, however, then you want the highest fill rate possible. Adbuff offers both 100% fill rate and make the following claim “Our CPM rates for banner ads are among the highest of any CPM ad network today. We pay the highest CPM rates to publishers with traffic from US, Canada, UK and Australia.” – While I can't speak to how accurate this statement is, if they pay as well as they claim, you should be making good money in no time with them.</li>
</ul>
Website: Adbuff
<h2>#6 – Media.net</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/352a103d80664e0a922fe61c806b47d0600x0-is.png" alt="Media.net" />
Media.net is one of the largest advertising networks in the world but it's not exclusively geared towards bloggers. If you are looking for a solid network with good earnings but are not happy with AdThrive or Mediavine, this one is a good alternative. Media.net was recently purchased by a large conglomerate as well for a whopping $900 million making it the third largest ad tech deal ever. That's a hefty amount! Media.net is part of the Yahoo! Bing network and has a very large pool of advertisers in it's arsenal.
<h3>Benefits:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Huge network of popular publishers. 
Some of the world's largest publishers work with Media.net. Names like Elle, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Forbes, Reuters, Better Homes and Gardens, Esquire and a whole lot more. With brands like that using their network, you can bet they are with them for a reason. This also means, however, that you are fighting some tough competition for the top dollar, so be aware of that.</li>
<li>Large array of ad options. 
Media.net offers a huge array of ad placement options including in-content ads, mobile docked ads, contextual ads, desktop interstitial and more. This means you have a large number of possibilities for ad placement when it comes to your website.</li>
<li>Excellent reporting mechanisms. 
Media.net offers a solid reporting dashboard that lets you monitor your ad impressions on a near real-time basis. The reporting interface allows you to view earnings with drill-downs by sites, ad tags, and date range. This means you can monitor the revenue impact of your ad customizations and spot trends quickly.</li>
</ul>
Website:<a href="http://www.media.net/" target="_blank">Media.net</a>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
There are a ton of “best ad networks for bloggers” articles out there. The sad reality is, most of them are full of it. A large number of these articles are there to drive sponsored content for advertising networks. If you look around, you'll see that next to none of them mention the first three networks above yet the bulk of bloggers who are earning big money use them. Suspicious isn't it? I didn't write this article to make money referring people. I wrote this article to give you actual advice. 
I'm not a huge fan of many other networks. I've tried the ones listed by the other bloggers out there and honestly, most of them are pretty poor and don't offer much at all for bloggers. They are mostly generic ad networks that offer low paying CPM so they aren't ones I'd typically consider. However, that doesn't mean they won't work for you so if you can't find any within my list that will work for you, perhaps give them a try.
If you truly want to start earning top dollar for your blog, take my advice and try to get on with one of these networks. I welcome your comments below; whether you agree or disagree. Also, I'm happy to help answer any questions you have, simply leave me a comment and I'll keep an eye out for them. Best of luck and I hope you find the best ad network for your needs.

Best Ad Networks for Bloggers and Others

I've always loved the concept of Ghost. It's the (relatively) new kid on the block compared to WordPress and having competition is healthy. Recently, I ran CMS Critic on Ghost for a brief period using their paid Ghost Pro option, here's my Ghost Pro review and why I moved back to WordPress.For those unfamiliar with Ghost Pro, it's basically an offering from the makers of the Ghost blogging platform that is fully hosted and managed by their support teams. <a href="https://ghost.org/pricing/">Pricing</a> ranges from around $29 to $199 per month (when billed annually).The initial appeal of trying something different led me to run this site on Ghost Pro for a period of about 4 months (January until May 1 this year) as a trial. During that time, I came across a number of positives and a number of negatives. Sadly, the negatives outweighed everything else so I ended up moving back to WordPress (which the site is now running on again as of this article).<h2>Positives</h2><ol><li>The editor is simple and easy to use and makes Gutenberg look like it was developed by monkeys (and not smart ones).</li><li>The speed at which you can navigate the dashboard, publish a post and perform tasks is significantly better than WordPress.</li><li>The fact that I didn't have to rely on any plugins for SEO unlike WordPress which pretty much makes Yoast or something similar mandatory (and you can argue with me on that if you like but you'll still be wrong as far as I'm concerned).</li></ol><h2>Negatives</h2><ol><li>Ghost does not have a media library therefore every time you write a post, you need to re-upload any images for it. This means that if you write quite a bit about WordPress and typically use the logo for your featured image, for example, you'll be uploading that logo every time for each post. This is just silly and poor management of images and disk space.</li><li>NO ftp or SSH access. I can somewhat understand the no SSH part but for the hundred dollar a month range, not being able to use FTP and grab files or upload files to my server simply makes me mad. I don't want to have to email (and wait for) their support every time I need to do this.</li><li>Support is slow. If you are on the middle plan ($99 monthly if you don't take an annual plan) you only get support Monday to Friday so if your site goes down (on a HOSTED AND MANAGED PLAN mind you) you will be out of luck until Monday. Someone tell me I'm crazy for thinking this is ridiculous. Furthermore, their support is just slow.Here's a scenario to help you understand:  I emailed Ghost Support on a Saturday asking for an image export so I could move back to WordPress. I received a reply at 6:30 Monday morning asking me to do a security verification (no prob, did that and replied back literally 1 minute later).  I didn't get a reply back from them again until almost noon. That's 5 hours. The export I wanted was 3 gigs and doesn't take 5 hours to prepare. Sorry but for “premium” support, that's too slow for this guy.</li><li>They can't do much of anything. This may sound like I'm just being an ass but seriously, I use push notifications and since there's no plugin for Ghost, I needed to install some javascript and then upload a service-worker.js file to the root of my website. This is the only way to get it to work properly with my push notification provider.Here's the response I received from Ghost Support: “Thanks for reaching out! We're not able to load files into the root directory of your site.“I was then told I could add it to my theme and upload it which would then make it accessible at the root of my website, so I asked if they could do that for me. The answer was no.Hm, so what can they do for me then for $99 month?</li></ol> Now let's discuss why I feel so entitled as to think that they SHOULD be able to do these things for me. It's simple. I'm with <a href="https://www.bigscoots.com/portal/?affid=1002">BigScoots</a> as my hosting provider of choice when running WordPress and I don't think there's anything I've ever asked them within reason that they've ever said no to. In fact, I'm pretty sure they've done things for me that I totally didn't even expect so why should it be a different experience with Ghost Pro. In short, it shouldn't.<h2>Conclusion</h2>Ghost itself is a solid blogging platform with some great features and an excellent editor but when combined with the hosted offering, Ghost Pro, there are too many shortcomings to make it something worth investing in.

Ghost Pro Review

For those of you who've recently updated to WordPress 5.1, you may be screaming in frustration due to an issue getting back to your dashboard once the upgrade is complete.
Numerous users are reporting issues with this particular screen below creating a loop and preventing them reaching their dashboard.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot-2019-02-22-at-81110-am.png" /></figure>
If you click continue on the screen above, it redirects to your homepage and a second attempt to enter your dashboard will reach the same screen.
<h2>The Fix</h2>
The only way to fix this is to log into your cpanel or hosting provider back-end and find the object-cache.php file located in the /wp-content/ folder and rename it to object-cache.php.bak.
Once you've done this, retry accessing your dashboard. You'll get the same screen telling you you are up to date. Click continue and you should now be able to access everything.
I have to say I'm rather shocked that this major issue slipped by the QA process but hopefully Automattic will get their butts in gear and resolve it quickly.
Let me know if this helps and if so, spread the word for others!

WordPress 5.1 "No Update Required" Bug - We've got the Fix!

The latest version of WordPress is out for public use. This new version brings a long needed feature to the popular open source CMS, Site Health.
<h2 id="what-is-site-health">What is Site Health?</h2>
The new Site Health feature will start showing notices to administrators of sites that are running outdated versions of PHP, leading to potential security risks. It will also perform checks on new plugins to ensure that they are compatible with the existing version of PHP. If they are not, WordPress will prevent installation (and possible site breakage).
This is a big step in the right direction for WordPress and I'm hopeful that even more features are introduced to the Site Health feature as it matures.
Other improvements within this release include:
<ul>
<li>Speed and performance improvements for the Gutenberg editor.</li>
<li>Multisite metadata – 5.1 introduces a new database table to store metadata associated with sites and allows for the storage of arbitrary site data relevant in a multisite / network context.</li>
<li>The Cron API has been updated with new functions to assist with returning data and includes new filters for modifying cron storage. Other changes in behavior affect cron spawning on servers running FastCGI and PHP-FPM versions 7.0.16 and above.</li>
<li>WordPress 5.1 features a new JavaScript build option, following the large reorganisation of code that started in the 5.0 release.</li>
<li>And more!</li>
</ul>
For a full list of improvements, see here: <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-5-1/">https://wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-5-1/</a>

WordPress 5.1 is Out - Brings Site Health and More to Bloggers Everywhere

As an advertiser or marketer, you have a lot on your plate. And it’s not just you; <a href="http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/03/10/the-drum-launches-webinar-tackle-overworked-marketers">53% of marketers</a> say they have “too much to do with too little time.”
You’re probably looking for ways to streamline your work and get marketing results faster. You don’t want to spend hours monitoring and analyzing metrics like time on page, bounce rates, etc. to determine the quality of traffic coming into your site.
And you don't have to anymore.
The <a href="https://www.finteza.com/en/integrations?utm_source=www.cmscritic.com&amp;utm_campaign=0773.en.finteza&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_term=finteza.wordpress.plugin&amp;utm_content=learn.more">Finteza WordPress plugin</a> provides a faster and better way to track traffic quality.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/finteza-1.png" /></figure>
It saves you hours you’d have wasted monitoring multiple metrics to determine traffic quality. It does this by analyzing visitors’ behaviour on your pages, showing you what percentage of them — from specific sources — are relevant and non-relevant.
Finteza displays traffic quality this way:
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/finteza-2.png" /></figure>
The colours in the traffic quality bar represent the following:
●      Green represents quality traffic.
●      Yellow indicates visitors coming from proxy servers, VPN, Tor Browser, etc.
●      Red symbolizes traffic you don’t want; it covers traffic from spammy IP addresses or hackers and visitors trying to falsify request parameters and cookies.
●      The grey colour represents traffic from social networks, instant messengers, and search engine bots.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/finteza-3.png" /></figure>
You can also dig deeper by tracking the quality of traffic from specific sources like Facebook Ads, Instagram Stories and so on.
For example, here’s how the tool shows the rate of quality vs inferior traffic from Facebook Ads for a certain site:
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/finteza-4.png" /></figure>
This way, you get the real gist of how much quality traffic is coming from every channel you’re spending your advertising and marketing budget on.
Even more, the plugin is free; you can download it <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/finteza-analytics/">here</a> or simply search for the Finteza plugin from your WordPress admin dashboard and install it.
To use the Finteza WordPress plugin, you’d need to get a website ID which you can easily register in the plugin’s settings page.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/finteza-5.png" /></figure>
Once you’re registered, you can begin tracking your site traffic quality right away.
<h2>In conclusion</h2>
You need a web analytics tool that gives you blatantly accurate reports. The more accurate reports you have, the better you’re able to allocate your marketing spend. And the better you’re able to allocate your marketing budget, the more revenue you’re able to make.
Get your <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/finteza-analytics/">Finteza WordPress plugin here</a>.

Track Your Referral Traffic Quality Via the Finteza WordPress Plugin

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Newscoop, the open-source content management system for publishers, has a new release available. This version was released to improve articles and comments within the system as well as improving support with PHP 5.4.This video introduces the system, but doesn't showcase the features. You can check out the system yourself with a demo from their website:<figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EZF916Cet4"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3EZF916Cet4" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure>A list of some of the new features and changes in this list:<ol><li>Overhauled media archive Multiple file upload, faster search and new features!</li><li>Drag-and-drop front page management Use lists to add articles to your front page (or other site area) and re-order your front page.</li><li>Intelligent image renditions Use Newscoop to crop images and display perfectly in different areas of the site.</li><li>Dynamic Maps Points of interest from multiple articles can now be displayed on a single map on your website.</li><li>Video and picture slideshows Slideshows can be attached to articles and can be managed through the Media Archive.</li><li>Citizen journalist and community management tools Newscoop allows visitors to sign up for a profile, comment on articles and even follow topics.</li><li>Two new adaptive CSS themes, the New Custodian and the Rock Star Theme manager allows you to switching from one theme to another with one click.</li><li>Improved SoundCloud plugin Upload audio to the web's best audio sharing service and use it as your sound archive.</li><li>Related Article Lists Create thematic and semantic links to group articles.</li><li>Better comments We've improved the UI and made it pluggable into services like Disqus.</li></ol>Here's an example of one of the many themes for Newscoop. This particular one is called Zen and is mobile responsive.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ipad-820272_1280_3_ovbrqs.jpg" alt="newscoop" />For more info on Newscoop or to try the demo, check out their website: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/">http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/</a>

New Release of Newscoop Improves Articles and Comments

Weglot - The easiest way to translate a website

The easiest way to translate a website

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