Smooth Musings

In this episode of Smooth Musings, Todd Knowlton hosts Nick Wassenberg and Matt Reindel from Cludo to discuss the evolution of site search technology, the advantages of using Cludo's platform, and the future of search in the context of AI and user expectations. The conversation covers the importance of analytics, the integration of chatbots, and how businesses can leverage search technology to drive outcomes. The episode concludes with insights on preparing for the future of search and the role of human interaction in enhancing user experience.Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Cludo and Smooth Fusion03:00 The Evolution of Site Search Technology05:49 Advantages of Cludo Over Basic Search Solutions08:59 Future Trends in Search and AI Integration11:49 Connecting Search with Business Outcomes14:50 The Role of Chatbots in Modern Search18:08 The Future of AI Agents in Search20:47 Optimizing Content for Search and AI24:07 Final Thoughts and Wrap-UpSmooth Fusion website: https://www.smoothfusion.com/Cludo website: https://www.cludo.com/

In this episode of Smooth Musings, Todd Knowlton and Dylan Echols provide a comprehensive overview of Sitefinity in a demo-style format. They discuss the backend navigation, page management, dynamic content, and the user-friendly editing experience. The conversation also covers advanced features like personalization, A/B testing, and workflow management, highlighting how Sitefinity empowers users to manage their websites effectively without heavy reliance on developers. TakeawaysSitefinity offers a user-friendly backend for managing websites.The dashboard provides quick access to the latest published content.Content editors can easily create and manage pages without developer assistance.Dynamic content allows for efficient content management across multiple blogs or sections.Forms can be created using a simple drag-and-drop builder.Tags and classifications enhance content organization and retrieval.Sitefinity supports multiple sites from a single instance, reducing redundancy.Workflows can be set up for content approval processes.Personalization features allow for tailored user experiences.A/B testing helps optimize content and layout for better engagement.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Sitefinity Overview01:05 Navigating the Sitefinity Backend 05:53 Managing Pages and Content 12:03 Page Editing Experience 17:07 Dynamic Content Management 22:04 Forms and Content Blocks 24:42 Tags and Classification 27:21 Design and Templates 31:22 Administration and User Roles 35:09 Workflow Management 36:46 Marketing Features and Personalization

In this episode of Smooth Musings, Todd Knowlton and Jonathan Read from Progress discuss Sitefinity versions, their current version, and the importance of understanding its lifecycle phases. They delve into the features of the latest version, the significance of long-term support, and the transition from legacy technologies to modern frameworks like ASP.NET Core and Next.js. The conversation also covers migration strategies and tools available for users to adapt to the latest advancements in Sitefinity.

Introducing...the Proven Alliance, a collaboration of top Sitefinity Partners who offer world-class Sitefinity expertise, deep platform knowledge, and a proven track record of success. In this podcast episode, we will introduce these four Sitefinity Partners, the Proven Alliance, and how we work together and leverage our collective expertise to support organizations with new Sitefinity projects, redesigns, consulting, and training. Leading digital experience experts Flywheel Strategic, Smooth Fusion, truematter, and The Training Boss have come together to offer deep, targeted Sitefinity expertise to help organizations create powerful, modernized, and easy-to-use digital products. With skills and knowledge covering every aspect of the digital product experience, Proven Alliance is uniquely positioned to meet all your Sitefinity needs.

In this episode of Smooth Musings, Todd Knowlton interviews Sam Basu from Progress Software about the migration from ASP.NET to ASP.NET Core. They discuss the evolution of web development, how a CMS like Sitefinity fits into that evolution, and the benefits of migrating to ASP.NET .NET Core. They also discuss the options and resources available for migrating existing Sitefinity sites to the new platform. 00:00 Introduction and Background 02:18 The Transition from Classic ASP to ASP .NET 07:06 The Evolution of Web Development 11:59 The Advantages of ASP .NET Core 33:33 Migration to ASP .NET Core

Join the Smooth Fusion team in this podcast episode, the third and final part of the series of episodes covering the entire website process, from planning to launch. This episode discusses everything involved in launching a new website and what ongoing maintenance looks like after launch. We go into pre-launch preparations, like wrapping up development and performing quality assurance, and even dig into the NetOps and deployment preparations for your environments. Launching a new website can be stressful, but our efficient site deployment process makes the process as painless as possible for our clients. We also address ongoing maintenance and support of your enterprise site, which is extremely important if you consider your website a long-term asset for your company. Listen to learn about our launch process and hear our views on ongoing site maintenance. You will also get some great tips and insights to help improve the process of launching an enterprise website. 

In this episode, Todd and Jake discuss the differences between Sitefinity Insight and Google Analytics. They highlight the complaints and challenges marketers face with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), like its difficult navigation and UI. While Google Analytics definitely has its place in the marketers toolset, a tool like Sitefinity Insight is optimal for specifically measuring content effectiveness and tracking the customer journey — specifically how content impacts conversions.   In this episode, Todd and Jake will dicusss the key benefits of a tool like Sitefinity Insight and share how easy it is to set-up and use. Both of these tools are important to help marketers, but one of these tools does a better job at easily making data actionable and personalizing the website experience for your customers.

In this episode, the Smooth Fusion team discusses the implementation phase of an enterprise web rebuild. They cover topics such as getting organized for implementation, handling changes and requests, preparing for development, building content pages, approaching quality assurance (QA), SEO and marketing integration, and the final days leading to launch. The team emphasizes the importance of communication, thorough testing, and involving stakeholders throughout the process. They also highlight the experience and expertise of the Smooth Fusion team in guiding clients through successful web rebuild projects. This is a continuation of a series of episodes we are doing that covers the entire process of building an enterprise-level website. In Episode 1 titled, First Critical Phase of an Enterprise Website Rebuild, we discussed everything that happens before starting development on your website project. 

In episode 3 of the Smooth Musings podcast, Todd Knowlton has a discussion with Gary Evans, our Director of IT and Innovation, about the things to consider when hosting a Sitefinity website on Azure, a cloud computing software from Microsoft.  Smooth Fusion was one of the first to host Sitefinity on Azure. Gary has a lot of knowledge when it comes to maximizing website and database performance, and shares a lot of best practices to help companies get the most out of their hosting solution.  Along with the important considerations for hosting Sitefinity in Azure, you will also learn the advantages of cloud hosting, scaling in the cloud, security measures, data centers, and what hosting options Smooth Fusion offers our clients.

In Episode #2 of the Smooth Musings podcast, our CEO, Todd Knowlton interviews Lino Tadros.  Lino is the #1 trainer for Progress Sitefinity in the world and is a renowned technical expert in AI, machine learning, and IoT, especially when it comes to developing strategic roadmaps and helping companies get the most out of these technologies.    Lino is the CEO of The Training Boss, which is a software architecture and development training company geared towards companies that utilize enterprise software applications and technologies.  The Training Boss offers live and on-demand courses for Sitefinity, TestComplete, Znode, and Microsoft Azure as well as courses on AI.    Lino has been working with Sitefinity for 19 years and has extensive experience in consulting and training on the platform. He offers a variety of training classes specifically for Sitefinity users, including business, admin and designer, developer, advanced development, .NET Core development, Site Sync, and Sitefinity Insight. Lino emphasizes the importance of training to help users fully utilize Sitefinity and achieve their goals. He also discusses the power of Sitefinity Insight in understanding user journeys and optimizing conversions.    Not only is Lino a wealth of knowledge, he's got a great personality and brings a lot of passion, positive energy, and fun to his work. We were happy to have him join us on one of our first podcast episodes.  If you are interested in getting formal Sitefinity training for your team, you can contact Lino through his website, thetrainingboss.com.

In this first episode of our Smooth Musings Podcast, we explore what an enterprise website is, and the process that we call discovery and design. Discovery and design is a formal process that ensures all website requirements and goals are considered before starting the implementation phase of a software development project.   In this episode, we invited a mix of people from our team here at Smooth Fusion. They include: Our VP of Customer Success, Dylan Echols Our Director of Business Development, Stephen Collings Our VP of Production, Janae Allen Our Director of UX/Design, Brady Miller Our Director of Marketing, Jake Picken Our Director of IT, Gary Evans We skim the surface with everything that is involved in the discovery and design process and plan to cover these topics in more depth in future podcast episodes. The next episode in this series will cover what's involved during the implementation phase, and then we will have an installment about support and ongoing maintenance once a new website is launched.