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How to Adjust Session Lifetime?

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:53:29 +0400

In version 10.0 of Bitrix Site Manager and Bitrix Intranet we introduced the so called Live Session feature which automatically extends a session lifetime when users' activity in the browser is detected. Live Session also ensures that even if the browser session has expired, users won't lose any data they've been working on. However, the session lifetime can be a pain in the neck if you have to deal with several browsers and mailing agents during the day. Each time you session lifetime runs out, you'll be forced to login again. Every time.
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This blog posts contains several examples of how you can increase or decrease session lifetime in Bitrix Site Manager or Bitrix Intranet.
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How to Make Money with Bitrix: There's Always a Smaller Fish in the Pond

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:28:26 +0400

As a Bitrix Partner, you may have a number of large clients who might supply your company with a steady flow of service requests during the year. These clients usually require specific workflow schemes and unique designs for their portals and web resources. So, each time you get down to such projects, all you can work with is only a raw platform or a backbone that you gradually build into the things your client wants to have. These projects are usually long-term, and they can bring you both good money and horrible headaches.

However, there's always a smaller fish in the pond that everybody forgets about. And the smaller fish can be really big in quantity, and can bring you as much money as two or three large-scale projects during the year... without headaches! $)))

In 2009, we started delivering the so called turn-key solutions that help you quickly deploy business-specific solutions or personal websites (blogs). The number of the turn-key solutions has grown since that time and now we have the following solutions that you can choose among:

- Corporate Website
- InfoPortal (Media Outlet)
- Personal Website (Blog)
- Community Website (Social Network)
- Product Catalog (Online Showcase)
- Online Store (e-Commerce Solution)

The list of all turn-key solutions can be found here: http://www.bitrixsoft.com/products/cms/features/turnkey_websites.php

I would like to draw closer attention to the Media Outlet turn-key solution that became available with the release of version 10.0 of Bitrix Site Manager. This out-of-the-box media portal can be implemented for a large range of web projects that require massive or regular content management, news and RSS features, photo or video galleries and of course extensive usage of ad spaces and banners.

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Partner Testimonials: Offline Marketing Campaigns for Bitrix Products

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:29:35 +0400

Our partners are professionals in all areas of web project development, and naturally they are most comfortable doing both their own business and marketing operations in an Internet setting. However, one should not curtail the value of older methods of communications which can reach clients who are not so accustomed to online life.

Today we'll discuss a successful experience in off-line advertising which our Lithuanian partner shared with us. As it happens, offline advertising is quite an effective way of making yourself known.
Our long-time Lithuanian partner, Dreamsite, launched an advertising campaign in the first half of 2010, promoting Bitrix Site Manager on giant outdoor video screens managed by an advertising firm called ACM (www.acm.lt).

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HOWTOS: Customizing Personal Pages of Users

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:01:23 +0400

Among the questions that arise very often in webinars, forums, and in support queries is how to configure personal user pages, how to change the names on the menu tabs, and how to set up access permissions so that individual users can control their own personal pages. That is what I�ll talk about today.

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Partner Testimonials: Successful Business Models Implemented through Bitrix and Google

Mon, 23 May 2011 15:38:16 +0400

The question of how to make a site that sells is one that presents itself to any company or person who has decided to enter internet commerce. Sites that sell are not as easy to create as it may seem at first glance. There are many subtle details which can play big roles; just to name a few:

What site structure will find the optimal balance between customers and search engines? How can I give the user a clear path through the site and also ease indexing by search engines?
How can I design an interface for the main pages of the site that will avoid immediate refusal by visitors?
What design will present products or services in a way that will demonstrate their advantages immediately and clearly to the visitor?
What content optimizes the selling power of the site?
What website content management system can satisfy all the criteria of development and how can a competent developer be found to bring the project to fruition?

Inna Kozak, international development director of Bitrix, Inc., interviewed Andrey Yunisov, managing partner of WebProfiters, an internet marketing and web-analytics consulting agency which is also a Bitrix Gold Partner and Certified Partner of Google Analytics. Mr. Yunisov explained the nuances of developing his business and various aspects of building a site that sells effectively using Bitrix Site Manager.

Quick Company Profile

WebProfiters is a leading agency in Russia specializing in designing sales-oriented websites, whole-spectrum internet marketing, web analysis and research, and many related services, the quality of which is reflected by the many positive customer comments on the company's website. Since its foundation in 2009, the company has served more than 200 clients, the majority of which procured wide-ranging services starting from the conceptual design of the site to web analytics on the live site, always placing great emphasis on the client's ultimate goals for the site. WebProfiters clients include both large and small companies. The company became a Bitrix Partner almost immediately after its founding, and Andrey regularly appears at conferences connected with internet marketing and web analytics.

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How To Make Money With Bitrix?

Mon, 16 May 2011 18:17:29 +0400

I receive quite a lot of questions from different web agencies and freelancers eager to sign up for the Bitrix Partner Program. A lot of them ask what would be their Partner discount when they actually get their Partner Status approved? �We never make a secret of it. The answer is 40% off. The maximum discount rate on the Bitrix products and services available for our Partners is 50%. The more points our Partners get, the bigger their discount: http://www.bitrixsoft.com/partners/program/resources.php#tab-levels-link

�However, acquiring the product license with huge discounts and simply re-selling the licenses to the end-customers is not what we want our Partners to do, since it is not really in anyone's final interests. The main profit to be made is in the development of the projects, not so much the sale of the license. So the fact that Bitrix is willing to support partners' (approved) marketing initiatives and finance up to 50% of the costs when the license is only about 15-25% of the whole project is a very good deal.

Let's have a look at the following example, and this calculation actually represents real project costs (an Intranet solution implemented by one of our Eastern European Partners)...
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Partner Testimonials: Bitrix Software As a New Level For Business Opportunities

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:31:31 +0300

During a business trip in February 2011, Dmitry Valyanov, Bitrix, Inc. President, and Nikolay Shulgin, Bitrix Director for DACH Region, had a meeting with Sander Buijs, the owner and CEO of iWebware BV, a Bitrix Gold Partner. This meeting covered both business topics and less formal issues concerning cooperation and future plans of Bitrix and iWebware.

Dmitry thought it would be a good idea to make an interview with Sander for our website. The interview would help to spread the word about the Bitrix Partner Programs and how a middle-sized company can truly benefit from the Bitrix Technology. I have been provided with the interview script made during the conversation between Dmitry and Sander. I think it can be really useful for our new-comers and those companies who are still hesitating joining the Bitrix Partner Network.

Quick Company Profile

iWebware BV is a privately-owned company developing websites and designing online applications. It was established in 2006 by Sander Buijs. The headquarters is located in Tilburg, NL with a production office in Davao City, Philippines. iWebware currently has a total of 22 employees. The company has the Bitrix Gold Partner status since 2009. iWebware was recognized as "Bitrix Reseller of the Year" and "Bitrix Site Manager Reseller of the Year" for 2010.

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Bitrix reveals AMBER: a new concept in content management principles and ergonomics

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:13:25 +0400

We never stop improving the interface of our products, trying to make them as simple and convenient for daily use as possible. We pay close attention to the needs of our partners, web-developers and clients who create all manner of websites from the elegantly simple to the most robust and complex. Gradually, we have developed a concept that incorporates the best Web 2.0 principles and a modern GUI (graphical user interface) solution. This concept now has a name - Amber.

Site Mode / Start page with the Amber Toolbar

Bitrix Amber has two key elements:
(1) A concept involving a simple graphical user interface (GUI) that allows management of a website or intranet portal (i.e. enhanced ergonomics and usability of all Bitrix web applications and software products).
(2) A set of technological recommendations for developers and content managers, allowing them to build and manage web projects created on the Bitrix platform in a more convenient way (i.e. main principles, aids, and usage recommendations present inside the product).

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How to Distribute Tickets and Requests to Different Technical Support Groups: A Step-by-Step Guide

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:16:35 +0400

One of our partners had some troubles figuring out how to distribute incoming requests (support tickets) to certain departments and responsible persons. The original tasks were as follows:

a) request are sent by email or submitted via web forms on the site / portal, and are tuned into tech.support tickets;
b) there should be two major categories for the tickets to be submitted under: sales-related questions and technical questions;
c) all sales-related questions should be processed by members from the Sales Department;
d) all technical questions should be processed by members from the Tech.Support Department;
e) tickets which are supposed to be processed by the Sales Department members must not be displayed to the members of the Tech.Support Department, and vice versa.

The last point - making the ticket hidden to certain support members - was really a pain in the neck for our partner. So I suggest that we help them out Ok, to cut the story short, in this blog post I will write about how to create different Tech.Support Staff Groups (do not mix with general User Groups), how to assign responsible users for tickets according to a certain category, and how to restrict access to the tickets which are supposed to be processed by some other Tech.Support Staff Group members.

Before getting down to these issues, I think you'll find it useful to have a look at the HelpDesk module description, here. Also, you can launch Bitrix Intranet Portal in our Virtual Lab and try out all the things described in the post, below.

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How to create a custom gadget inside the Portal Dashboard: A Step-by-Step Guide

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:48:10 +0400

Bitrix Intranet Portal has a special component called "Bitrix Dashboard" that can be used to display gadgets on a single web page. There are a number of preset gadgets that show the company news, staff changes, upcoming birthdays, video files, and other information. Also, you can add Google gadgets that may display currency exchange rates, world clocks, measurement unit converter, translators, etc. However, when you need to create an additional gadget that will be displaying data from another information block (e.g. "Sports Events") and place it onto the Dashboard, you may find it a bit confusing about how exactly to do that.

In this post I will help you to understand how you can create a custom gadget and how you can include it into the list of all available gadgets on the Dashboard. The new gadget will be displaying information form a new information block (which can basically contain any type of information: textual, graphical, video, mixed). You may launch Bitrix Virtual Lab and, guided by the instructions below, you can follow me step by step in creating a custom gadget.

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