MODx Evangelism: How Do We Get The Word Out And Convince Clients?

Here’s a weekly situation we have over here: a potential client walks in the door, and proceeds to describe his project. The project is clearly something that MODx can easily handle, and we get excited about it. But then the client says "MOD what now?" and proceeds to tell us that they’ve read that so-and-so.gov uses Drupal. And that they’ve read Joomla is the best CMS.

Clients are skittish about new things. We need tools to help convince them to give MODx a shot. I think the team’s been doing a great job with the MODx website, the logo sheet, and the upcoming events are smart. But we need more, and it needs to be organized in a way that’s easy to point a client towards.

Has anyone undertaken the task of going through the forums and collecting all the useful posts on why MODx is a better CMS choice than "X"?

I’d be willing to donate a few hours over Christmas break to do this, if anyone’s interested.

Does anyone else have any ideas on how we can get the word out about MODx?

This is a very interesting question!

I personally have been involved in a few discussions on how the MODx message and documentation is presented. I also have seen several posts that generally point to the fact that MODx is more of an arena for developers and NOT for general users. I also notice that many of the smart people here who are on top of the system and contribute to the development of snippets etc are not that interested in writing thorough documentation.

If you peruse all the Extras in the main page download area many of these tools have descriptive language that is vague or presented in a way that mainly code geeks can understand. I want to read a simple introduction on what a snippet/module/extra does, why it useful, who uses it, why it is cool etc. Then provide some samples, demos, images, clear instructions on how to deploy it and the thinking/steps involved in building a functioning snippet call.

Generally I find there is a disconnect between development and documentation with CMS platforms. I realize this is the nature of open source projects. But look at how Apple presents their software titles: you get panes like "what’s new", "what is XYZ", "XYZ in action, "resources", etc. In short Apple dies a great job of presenting titles, showing why they are cool, why you need it, what it does, etc, all in a visual way that people can relate to. They paint a picture and people respond "how cool! I can use that for my..."

I wish some of the MODx emphasis would focus more on the instructions and documentation. Some of the other CMS platforms are worse in this area though. I found Drupal overwhelming when you are considering what to use, what you need and how to put it together. Simple information overload with very little clarity.

I think both web designers and site owners alike would appreciate some well constructed introductory "here is This, this is why This is cool, users use This when they need that, here is how This looks, a working demo of This can be found here, to get This working you need to ..., here are samples of This that have been customized and here is a FAQ for this..."

Some of the core ingredients of MOX are better explained than others. Some just list parameters or only provide the briefest of documentation. I wish all the core ingredients and the extras would use a common system to present and explain everything. Look at the MODx Forum: so many of the questions that people ask are asked countless times one way or another. Documentation would greatly reduce this chatter and raise the collective understanding for all involved with MODx.

I like the way Chris Coyier of css-tricks.com presents things. He does a great job explaining both simple and complex topics in a nice manner the flows well. He also does screencast video tutorials that are excellent. His CMS focus is on Wordpress but his screencast techniques are great. I wish there was a series like this on MODx. I was considering trying my own hand at this. Somehow this got put on the back burner but I hope to get it done someday.

Your last sentance shows the major issue this has somehow got put on the back burner. Most of the developers on MODX are that developers for others and create snippets cause they need them and thing yea i’ll document that better soon, but it gets put on the back burner as the next project comes along.

But I agree MODX and us users do need to work on this.

Agreed, it’s hard to take the time to do the documentation. It’s important, though, if this framework is to grow and gain market and mindshare. I know everyone’s doing the best they can, I just wish we could do better.

I noticed some screencasts on one of the Facebook pages, but I couldn’t get them to play.

Just as importantly, I think a centralized thread or (better yet) a page that takes the best of the arguments for MODx compared to other CMS and CMFs would really be helpful on the "Selling Your Clients On MODx" front. Perhaps something with pretty graphs and so forth. Or even just "Why Developers Prefer MODx" with a bunch of anecdotal quotes from designers and developers.

I’m seriously thinking about spending a few hours this Christmas break and making up this proposed page. I know there has to be a lot of shops that would benefit from this, if they have (like us) been trying very hard to standardize on MODx as their CMS of choice.

If anyone has any particular thoughts, threads, comments, or (please!) CMS comparison charts that highlight MODx’s strengths... please contribute .

I’ve done some beginner tutorials and screencasts on my blog http://codingpad.maryspad.com. Look under the Beginner Series link and the MODx category. I agree that a lot more can and should be done to get the word out there but I also know from when I started that the word is definitely spreading, we just need to keep the momentum going. I’m also doing a column for the HostColor blog (http://blog.hostcolor.com/category/marys-corner/) that will be focused on CMSs and I will be tackling MODx a lot.

There’s definitely room for lots more to be done, and hopefully developers and users alike will contribute.

Good posts people!

I think part of the issue is that the documentation is all over the map. Bits here, bits there etc. We have a Wiki (sometimes with content missing), the forums, other sites, docs within the snippets (in a variety of locations.) Its not very consistent. Both in finding it and digesting it.

I think what would be great if there was some kind of consensus created for how the documentation is presented. In many cases this is left to each author. If everyone followed a basic recipe for presenting the documentation then everyone would spend less time digging around.

Good documentation serves several masters: developers, site developers, site designers, site admin, and general site owners. Good documentation helps market and sell MODx as well. Good documentation also helps users with determining if MODx is the right tool to begin with. So some initial extra work might reduce repetitive questions and frustration, which is all good as it would help reduce the negative remarks tossed at the system overall...

I completely agree on the documentation issue.

Wish I could help with that, but I can’t. However, I can help with marketing a bit. I’ll get started on that SuperThread that brings some ammo to any dev shops who want to offer MODx instead of "CMS X". Should have it done before new year’s ;-)!

One of the things about MODx that I’ve found very useful to convincing clients is showing them the Manager features that I’ve set up for editors on other sites. Seeing how easy it is to understand the relationship between pages and resources in the Resource Tree combined with the intuitive naming and limited knowledge necessary for entering content convince them every time. Every one I’ve demonstrated to has said - "Wow! That is so much easier than what we’ve been doing."

Why I as a developer choose MODx?

MODx lets Me control the output 100% and lets Me decide how much I want it to be involved in MY code.
MODx lets Me build sites by all SEO rules.
MODx is comprehensive and therefore secure (upgrade and patch easy).
MODx Core Team, Developers and The Community are very Active, Helpful, Sharing, Professional and Experienced.
MODx lets Me rebuild the Manager (using jQuery) from one config file/chunk.
MODx lets Me build up custom help sections and there is now system events for Manager UI Messages.
MODx lets Me create My own install folder with My favorite add-ons...

...There is no other CMS that gives Me as much freedom of choice for $0.00

Why You as a Client should let me use MODx?

I can offer You any Design and Style to match Your Graphical Profile.
I can offer Your Content the best possible indexing in Google and Search Engines.
I can help adjust MODx (editing and usage) for Your High Security Server, firewall and SSL-Encryption.
I will not offer You a feature which I or MODx (+ The Community) lack support of.
I will let You and Your Publishers edit information as simple and bullet-proof as You want to!
I can let You work and view Custom DB Tables, Google Analytics Data, Calendars etc. from inside the Manager.
Now let me run MODx from my USB memory stick here, so I can show You some cool features...

8)

// But what MODx really need is a web shop! Where people can buy EXPENSIVE caps, cups, mouse pads, pens and t-shirts!!

Clients are probably to some extent people like me, or a good percentage of them. We know enough to talk but probably should be hiring people to do the web sites for us. But I get no satisfaction in that. I come from a marketing background. And I believe if you would like thousands more clients--good qualified clients--convert the Dreamweaver people. They know the value of a great CMS like Modx. Dreamweaver’s forte was with helping folks code in languages like PHP. Not that they could not follow coding, but few can write great code beyond the simple things. But they do know how to generate code out of Dreamweaver. Modx, if you get beyond the basics, is for folks with good PHP skills.

So an example or two of actually taking the code generated by DW and showing how this code is placed in a snippet in Modx will be some of the best marketing that you could have. You need to connect the dots. Throwing PHP code at a DW refugee does not connect the dots. Making an example or two does.