At Top Left Designs, we made a strategic decision to use Adobe Business Catalyst as our core web development CMS platform for our client web solutions and have been a Premium Partner with Business Catalyst since 2008. As of 26th March 2018 however, Adobe Systems announced the forthcoming closure of BC in 3 years time. As such we will be only providing limited BC development for NEW website projects on this platform until a suitable replacement is found. All current client sites will continue as normal with full support.
In Business Catalyst we have found a solution that delivers a single system to our clients that integrates the most important elements of any web site:
- Easy to use CMS
- International based eCommerce
- CRM for building customer relationships
- Email Marketing for building business
- Internal Analytics to report on site performance
Adobe Business Catalyst is the only non-proprietary web solution CMS platform that we have encountered that offers site owners and developers a fully integrated and secure environment hosted from Adobe's own servers in fully secured data centres located around the world that is delivered as a turnkey solution bringing together all the key aspects of any online business website.
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Content Management (CMS)
Business Catalyst is an all-in-one Content Management System and Digital Marketing platform designed for Creative
Agencies. BC is powerful because it brings together all the core features you'd need to build most websites
including eCommerce, Events, Membership, Blogging, Directory & Forums etc. However what makes Business
Catalyst so popular is that no back end coding is required. Agencies can implement fully functional, scalable
and powerful websites simply by using the built-in modules, html/css and other front end technologies such
as Javascript and Liquid Markup. Agencies are now able to build highly functional websites on much leaner budgets.
Add and edit content
Content Management in Business Catalyst (BC) is a breeze. Lots of time has been invested into ensuring Business Owners have the tools available to easily manage content. Managing Events, Shop Products, Blog Posts or simple text and images on webpages is very simple. Creative Agencies can choose to implement the sexy and powerful ICE editor, or open up more powerful access to content including code view.
User Permissions and Access Control
User Role Permissions allow administrators to set and control what level of access each admin user has.
If you want more control over who can publish content then setting up Content Workflows allows content
to be managed by one some admins but needs to be approved to go live by administrators with a higher
level of access.
Content Tools
Content management needs to be simple yet powerful. Track who is making changes to content with Audit Logs. If you make a mistake don't worry use Version Control to Roll Back changes. There's powerful reporting and you can even schedule the release of content.
Manage your site anywhere
Keep an eye on your business performance from across the globe. Access the Admin Console on any device any time with HTML5 charts for reporting and tablet/iPad support for our WYSIWYG editor.
Search-engine friendly content
Search engine optimization is essential for any website, but begins with a system that supports best practices. Business Catalyst comes with the right features out-of-the-box, with 301 redirects, SEO friendly URLS, canonical URLs, customizable meta-tags, and integration with Google's webmaster tools.
eCommerce
eCommerce capabilities are built right into the platform, meaning you can set up a powerful, SEO-friendly online
store without the pain of custom coding or tedious configuration of a 3rd party system.
Sell physical products
Sell physical products with all the standard tools you'd expect including inventory management, attributes
& grouping. Integration options with popular shipping providers and payment gateway solutions make
the out of the box eCommerce solution powerful .
Sell digital products
Upload and sell digital products online. Provide optional added security by limiting how many times a customer can download a product or restricting whether customers can download from any IP address.
Easy billing and shipping integration
Business Catalyst automatically integrates with a range of global payment gateways, making online store
setup a truly turn-key experience.
Boost sales with discounts, vouchers and referrals
With powerful tools such as discount codes, gift vouchers, referral tracking, and affiliate programs, you
can help boost sales.
Automate recurring orders
Business Catalyst allows you to sell products with built-in recurrence, meaning you can sell on-going subscription services or recurring product purchases. Payment and invoicing is all automated.
Events
Everything you need manage and sell tickets to events including member pricing, seating capacity and more. With
Business Catalyst you can mix modules to get powerful results. For example using the membership module and
the event module you can create scenarios where logged in members receive discounted event pricing.
Event Management Tools
Once configured it's easy for Business Owners to add a new event. Automatically schedule reminder emails to attendees or trigger system emails with location details. It's all possible without a line of back end code.
Online payment
Take payment for events straight through to your integrated bank account. Offer discounts to logged in
Members and using some custom JavaScript build multi seat pricing, early-bird, table pricing and more.
Seating Capacity
Using seating capacity your event comes offline when the event is sold out.
What’s unique about Business Catalyst is the built in Email Marketing features which allow you to add attendees to an email list, send automated emails, follow up after an event and more.
Blog
Blogging tools are designed to be easy to use and easy for Business Owners to manage their content. Business Catalyst
includes all the features you’d expect from a powerful blogging platform, included out of the box in BC. Being
in integrated features you’re able to easily feed blog posts to any part of the website simply by dropping
a tag on that page or module. It’s pretty easy, no plugins, no widgets, no custom development.
Content Marketing
For marketers, it really gets interesting when you leverage from the integrated features and make them work together. This is where you’re able to provide powerful solutions for your clients that most other systems will struggle.
Why not team the Email Marketing module and the Blog module to blast out the latest blog posts that month automatically with no manual work needed.
Social Integration
Of course all the features of the blog include full integration with Social Media for comments and sharing as well as Tag clouds, archiving, SEO optimised and more.
Membership
Membership subscription websites are costly to develop in most systems. However Business Catalyst includes powerful
online membership features that open up the world of possibilities, especially when you team it up with Events,
eCommerce or a Webapp.
Take Payment for membership
Take online payment for Memberships with payment straight through to your connected bank account.
Recurring Automatic Membership
There's many options available including one-off payment or set up automatic recurring membership payments. There's no better membership solution to maintain member retention.
Membership Secure Zones
On successful payment the member sets their own login and password and is granted access to a secure zone.
Any content in Business Catalyst can be configured to sit behind secure zones. If recurring payment
fails for any reason access is automatically revoked and the member notified of the failed payment
by email.
Automatic Invoicing
Invoicing is automatic with the member receiving notice pending payment. All manageable for the Business Owner through the Business Catalyst CRM.
Built in Modules
Business Catalyst includes a whole suite of powerful built in modules that covers most website projects. When requirements
are custom our Partner Agencies turn to webapps to achieve the functionality. No more dealing with nasty 3rd party plugins, it’s all native to Business Catalyst, which means it’s supported.
Site Search Engine
Integrate a site search engine with a few clicks. Help visitors find what they're looking for faster. Customize a site search engine with a point and click approach. Create as many search engines as you like, simply choose the content you'd like to include, then insert the search module on a page.
Dynamic Menu Builder
Point and click menu builder let you keep your menus consistent, with a simple point and click approach. Just add your menu items and insert the module inside a page or template. Every time you add a new item, it's instantly visible on the website.
Photo Galleries
Easily create photo galleries and bulk update gallery items by dropping images in a folder. Client management
of images has never been so easy.
Forum Module
Deploy a fully functional forum to your Business Catalyst website all native to BC without the need for 3rd party plugins and services. No back end code required, just style the module design, layout and functionality as desired and go live.
News Module
Use the News module to manage company news items. An easy solution for customers to manage and update their
own content leaving the agency to focus on more important features.
Ad Rotators
Manage 3rd party advertising on your website using Ad Rotators and start building extra revenue through media advertising.
Build your own web apps – without coding
Business Catalyst’s “Web Apps” framework provides a powerfully simple way to build basic web applications using a point and click approach. From real estate listings to business directories, you can define mini-databases of “items” and allows users to add new items via an intuitive interface.
Customer Database (CRM)
Business Catalyst’s built-in CRM database comes integrated with all of our web form, eCommerce, membership, reporting
and content management features, enabling you to better service your customers - all without coding or configuration.
Web form builder
From basic contact forms through to surveys, donations and newsletter signups – Business Catalyst’s powerful web form builder helps you deploy web forms faster, without the need for server-side coding.
Simply select the fields you'd like to capture, then drag and drop to arrange their order.
Manage customers
Every customer interaction is captured into the CRM database and linked to the customer's unique contact record – meaning you can filter, search, and manage leads with just a few clicks.
Business Catalyst records data on online store orders, blog comments, secure zone access, contact forms, email newsletter engagement, and more.
Extend the database
If you have custom requirements for the database you can extend the standard fields to include your own custom fields making the CRM quite powerful for companies to manage their customers. Create Tasks, Meetings, Notes and set Reminders to other administrators to follow up leads.
Custom Apps
Business Catalyst includes all the standard modules most websites would need. However when you’re working on a
project that’s a little more custom then it’s possible to build your own apps and deploy them to a site.
Liquid markup
Liquid Markup is a template language used in Business Catalyst used to retrieve and output dynamic content directly into pages. It’s a powerful concept allowing web agencies to deliver targeted content to the user.
Marketplace
If you’re looking to save time and costs you can buy custom apps from the App Marketplace and deploy them to your site. Apps help you do more with Business Catalyst, such as Abandon Cart functionality, manage stock levels better etc
Webapps
Search and filter webapp content. Create any data field you need. There’s no design restriction of layout requirements.
Create fields for Images, Video Embed code, Links, Google Codes. There’s no restrictions. Set content to come
online and offline. Secure webapp content. Sell webapp content. Create RSS feeds from your content. Classify
different items to appear on different pages of the website. Get in depth data about who is viewing as well
as who is editing content. Weight content to appear in the order of your choosing.
Webapp features
Search and filter webapp content. Create any data field you need. There’s no design restriction of layout requirements. Create fields for Images, Video Embed code, Links, Google Codes. There’s no restrictions. Set content to come online and offline. Secure webapp content. Sell webapp content. Create RSS feeds from your content. Classify different items to appear on different pages of the website. Get in depth data about who is viewing as well as who is editing content. Weight content to appear in the order of your choosing.
Location
Easily build a locations webapp for your next project. By dropping pins on a Google integrated map website users can use proximity search to narrow in on their local listings.
Business Directory
Build a directory listing website of businesses that can be searched/filtered. Include a webform to capture leads, include images, videos, maps and more. Sell access to the directory using BC’s integrated modules or set up recurring billing and secure content to paid members. Business Directory websites are difficult for most systems. But not with Business Catalyst.
User Submitted Webapps
Just in case you’re not excited enough right now about webapps. With Business Catalyst you can configure so website customers can register and submit their own content straight into directory. Even with payment if required.
Other uses
A webapp can be used for just about any application where content needs to be managed. From as simple as an easy interface to manage banners on the home page through to complete websites driving by directory style content such as a real estate listing website.
Email Hosting
Email hosting is included with Business Catalyst providing an easy solution for customers to manage their digital infrastructure in one place with one login. A powerful solution for your company emails including secure access to IMAP and POP email as well as Webmail. Hosted and supported by Adobe, all included in your hosting costs.
DNS hosting
With Business Catalyst DNS is included in your hosting making BC a truly integrated solution for your digital assets. No need to have multiple suppliers, multiple costs and more points of failure. Consolidate your services and remove the headache.
Digital Marketing Tools
In today’s digital environment a website isn’t about static webpages managed by developers. The best Content Management
Systems put the tools and functionality in the hands of the business. With guidance and support from the agency businesses
are able to take more of a proactive approach to executing their Digital Marketing objectives.
Email Marketing
It’s 5 times cheaper to engage an existing customer than it is to find a new customer. That’s why integrated email
marketing has always been a unique selling point for Business Catalyst. It’s true other systems can connect to
third party email marketing programs but having it integrated means it’s much more powerful.
Automated & Sequence Email Marketing
Create an unlimited number of campaigns and send as many newsletters as you like. Extra emails cost less than 1 cent per newsletter.
Send Emails to Reports
Send email campaigns to Reports not only Lists. A powerful feature that allows you to send email campaigns to reports that you create in Business Catalyst such as “all females younger than 30 years old, that made a purchase online, from within Sydney, during the last 3 months”.
Tap into Business Catalyst’s built-in CRM database to extract targeted marketing lists. Lists can be based on past orders, web form responses, forum membership and more. Create lists manually by individually adding customers, or importing lists from other applications via a simple spreadsheet format.
Exclusions and filtering
Apply exclusions and filtering to your email lists. For example send an email blast to All Customers, Excluding Customers that enquired online in the last 12 months.
Automate Content in of email campaigns
Of the most powerful email marketing tools in Business Catalyst is the ability to consume content automatically inside of email campaigns. If your website includes a blog feature and you’d like to market that content to your subscribes BC enables you to send emails automatically with your most recent email campaigns automatically injected into the blast. Any content can be set up like this including shop products, new arrivals, on sale items and more.
All your email data in a single database
More data disparity nightmares and syncing data between systems because all your data is in one system (Business Catalyst) with one cost. Lower overheads, make management simpler, more powerful, and better visibility over analytics. 10,000 email credits per month included with your hosting plan makes it attractive and affordable.
Reporting & Analytics
Business Catalyst offers a powerful reporting suite of reporting tools – from web page views, online store orders through to whether a custom opened an email campaign and what they did online after they clicked through to the website. Business Catalyst records every customer interaction and give you the tools to track all data.
Dashboard Analytics
Every time you login, you’ll be presented with a bird's eye view of how your site’s performing. With key metrics, charts, and a live feed of customer activity, keeping your finger on the pulse of your business has never been easier.
Analyze everything from sales to visits to email marketing
From sales to visits to email marketing, quickly track your top performing pages, most popular online products, sales and order volumes, newsletter subscription and more. Everything you need to monitor, measure, and market your business.
Custom reports
The custom report builder allows you to easily set up any customer reports. Filter the data, export to PDF, use the email marketing tools to send the report to business managers or save the data as a new Email List. With an integrated and unique CMS like Business Catalyst the data is powerful.
SEO Optimized
With so much effort invested into digital marketing tools Business Catalyst needed to be SEO compliant and optimized. So that’s exactly what we did. Business Catalyst invests a lot of energy into giving all the tools and features you’d need to help your website rank well and stay there.
Easily manage meta data, manage URL redirects, domain redirects, full control over canonical URLs and more.
Mobile Friendly
Fully mobile compliant and compatible build your website to be mobile responsive or use the built in mobile template system to detect and load mobile content.
Support
Support services are important when it comes to keeping your website online.
Server Management
Unlike most CMS solutions the server management and upgrades are managed by Adobe support. That means there’s less overhead for you to manage servers, less costs in paying hosts, very little outages and you never need to worry about server upgrades or security concerns. Your hosting costs cover all of this. What’s more, when new features are developed and released there’s no extra cost or license required. You get access to the latest software all of the time in the latest high tech datacentres spread across the globe.
Email Support
Email Support allows you to log support tickets and get answers to your questions fast. No fuss responses to your queries logged though the support tab in your website
Live Chat
Live chat for Agency partners means you get instant response to your questions live without delay.
Free templates/theme
If you’re looking to get a website live fast and happy to choose from one of many website templates available in the system, you can choose a template and step through the template builder to quickly deploy a low cost website. There’s also many 3rd party solutions available to access templates/themes
Business Catalyst Integrations
Business Catalyst has native integrations with many popular services allowing you to leave the technical details to
Adobe whilst you enjoy point and click integrations with other services
Payment Gateways
BC supports a wide range of payment gateways internationally. It's easy to set up a payment solution and start collecting payments whether through the shopping cart, through events, or even recurring payments.
Find out more about supported payment gateways >
Shipping Providers
Set up integration with shipping providers and get real time shipping estimates direct from the shipping supplier. Simply choose the shipping provider you want to use and enter your account details. It’s that easy.
See what shipping providers are supported >Adobe Muse
Easily publish your websites created using Adobe Muse to Business Catalyst, no manual work required. In just a few clicks, you can create a new site with Muse and seamlessly upload it to Adobe Business Catalyst and share it with your customers.
Read More >
Social Media Integrated
Social media is important to most businesses and Business Catalyst has integrated a powerful online toolkit allowing you to add social integration to your website.
Share, Like, Comment and add social widgets to your website.
Keep sign-in convenient for your registered customers by offering them the ability to login with their Facebook credentials to any “Members only” secure zone.