Frequently Asked Questions

The Tymbrel Platform is a suite of online business tools designed to allow business owners to manage a successful website in-house 24/7. These built-in tools make it easy for non-technical users to add and edit pages, content, and images to their websites. The Platform also includes intuitive tools that allow users to optimize content for search engines, sell products online, create subscription or member areas of the website and much more.

Tymbrel is a proprietary website management system that bundles sophisticated online tools into an easy-to-use, all-in-one, no-hassle software and hosting package.

WordPress is a free and open-source blogging tool and a content management system based on PHP and MySQL, built around a plugin architecture and a template system.

One of the primary differences is this: With Tymbrel, you will not need to source 3rd party plugins, perform manual system maintenance, or apply security patches in order to use the system. All of these things are required when you work with WordPress.

With Tymbrel, you also have access to unlimited technical support, training, and all future system enhancements at no additional cost.

All Tymbrel websites are also hosted on enterprise-level servers, whereas websites using WordPress can be stored on any server anywhere (a challenge if you lose track of where that server is!). The Tymbrel enterprise-level servers ensure your website is always available, fast, and in an optimal position to rank high on Google.

WordPress websites are typically self-hosted, and require regular, on-going maintenance to the platform. With WordPress, functionality – outside of basic blogging and page editing – is not included, but available via 3rd party add-ons. Website performance is variable, and depends on the hosting provider. The typical cost of maintaining a WordPress website varies, and depends on the complexity of the setup, system update frequency, etc.

The summary: Tymbrel sites perform better, are more secure, load faster, are easier to maintain and are typically more cost effective once launched.

Traditional or 'static' websites do not automatically resize when viewed on a tablet or smartphone. You see people pinching and shifting their screens to read a webpage.

With responsive website design, your website is designed to automatically reconfigure itself to look great on all devices, including tablets and smart phones. Every CMSIntelligence website is responsive.

Your website needs to 'live' or be hosted somewhere. Hosting is like the rent you pay to live in house. A server is like the house. So, your website is hosted (lives) on a server (house). All the files related to your website (ie. images, content, design, forms, etc.) are hosted in one location, just like furniture in a house. When people visit your website, it's like they are visiting your house, where they can see and experience everything in your home.

A content management system (or CMS) is the 'engine' or software that non-technical website owners can used to update their own websites without having to write code. Not all CMS platforms are built the same – many are complicated and limiting. The Tymbrel Platform is different. It's designed simply, to be used intuitively, like you'd use a smart phone. You get the benefit of really sophisticated back-end tools that are super easy to use in the front end through your Dashboard.

The Tymbrel Platform is always evolving. Many of the upgrades we make are in response to requests from current users. So, if you have an idea to improve the platform, please contact our team. The more input we receive from individual users, the more we can improve our services for everyone!

Don't worry...there's lots of help available! We recommend taking a look at the Help files first. They're accessible through the Help button on the top right of your Dashboard (the icon with the '?'). You'll also see a 'Training' App in your Dashboard, with how-to videos for each of the built-in Apps. If you're still experiencing difficulty, feel free to contact our Support Team.

Updates to the Tymbrel Platform occur regularly. Updates can include improvements to the existing Apps, security patch updates, performance updates, and general maintenance. You will not notice minor updates at all, as they occur 'in the background.' For major updates, you will receive an email (make sure you've signed up to our mailing list) or announcement when you next login to your Dashboard. Major updates are always accompanied by a training video. Platform updates will not affect your website negatively – but they will improve its performance and provide you with additional functionality.

You can pay for your CMSIntelligence Turn-Key Website package online by credit card. We currently accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express.

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We can work as fast as you want! If you give us all the information we need today, we can have your site ready to launch in 3 days. However, you can also take a bit longer if you want. Really, it depends on you.

The basics of the Tymbrel Platform (ie. how to change text on a webpage) are so intuitive that you'll be fully competent after the introductory training. Then, as you work with the Apps, you'll gain confidence and competence rapidly. We've made the platform so easy to use that we often never hear from customers after their introductory training!

Our system handles all the technical components and code, as well as design aspects like contrast and readability, for WCAG compliance.

It is also set up to support compliance with respect to content, providing ample Title Tag fields for images and links. This makes it easier for people using assistive technology to make sense of your content, because it provides them with information about images and links they might otherwise be unable to access.

Compliance with content is an ongoing process, and is in part reliant on the person entering the data. For example, if you use video on your website, the addition of subtitles or a transcript would help make your website WCAG compliant.

In most CMSIntelligence designs, rotating slides are used at the top of the home page to allow you to have up to 4 different images rotate automatically every 3 or so seconds. In some of the CMSIntelligence designs, there are rotating messages that accompany the slides, allowing you to craft specific marketing messages or calls-to-action.

When you scroll down a page on a traditional website, you'll notice that the top or 'header' area with the navigation buttons disappears. A 'sticky header' is designed to 'stick' to the top of the page and always be visible, no matter where you are on the page.

Yes. Please contact us for a customized quote.

A positioning statement is a succinct statement of what your business does. It gives your website visitors a clear idea of whether you have the products or services they are looking for.

A benefit statement is a succinct description of how your service or product can help or solve a problem for your customer. Typically, it will offer a 'solution' to an unspoken question.

A call to action is a statement that asks the website visitor to do something. For instance, if your goal is to have the website visitors call you, it is important to prompt them to do so. Use wording that is enticing to visitors, like 'Click here to save 15% on your order'.

SEO stands for 'search engine optimization'. SEO is a key factor in ranking well in Google. If your website is not SEO'd, potential customers may not be able to find you when they search the keywords that describe your business. SEO can be applied to content, code, server speed, off-site links (like social media), and more.

All CMSIntelligence websites are optimized in three ways.

• Code is optimized to provide fast loading times.
• Content is optimized for keywords.
• Additional (meta) information is optimized for search engines.

To track your website visitors, we recommend installing Google Analytics. You can get a FREE account by visiting www.google.com/analytics. Once your account is set up, refer to the 'Help' file in the 'Settings' App for further instructions.

Keywords are the words and phrases that are entered into a search field of a search engine, such as Google, to find websites that match what the searcher is looking for. The keywords you choose for your website should reflect the core offering of your business. Some keywords get hundreds of thousands of searches a day while others will get very few. At the same time, some high traffic keywords are very competitive online because many businesses are trying to get referrals and traffic from users when they search for those keywords while others are not.

It's important to put some thought into which keywords you will use for each page of your website. With the Tymbrel Platform, each page can be specifically targeted with it's own keywords. There are some free online tools that you can use to help you understand how many people are using a given keyword and how much competition there is online for the keywords you are using. However, there is no black and white answer to the best process for finding the most effective keywords – research is important, learning from trial and error is to be expected and a commitment to doing the other things that Google looks for (like regular new content, etc.) is very important.

Yes. The monthly subscription fee is mandatory for all CMSIntelligence Websites. Paying this fee allows you to access the Dashboard of your website to make changes, add new content, etc. (Read more.) Although we do not have contracts, you must pre-pay for a minimum of one month of service.

The monthly fee covers your subscription to use the CMSIntelligence Website Management Platform 24/7, as well as hosting of your website on Amazon Enterprise level servers. The fee also covers unlimited technical training and support about how to use the Tymbrel Platform, on-going platform improvements, new Apps and added functionality, and security and maintenance updates. We like to say it also includes 'peace of mind'...your website is safe and in good hands with us.

No. The SimpleCart App built into the Tymbrel Platform provides you with a sweet e-commerce option. (However, keep in mind that to process payments online, you will have to set up an account with a 'payment gateway', such as PayPal or Stripe. These companies will charge you a transaction fee for every order processed.)

Our SimpleCart App gives you a number of payment gateway options to select from. All you have to do is set up an account with the company you prefer to work with (ie. Stripe or PayPal, for instance). Then, simply enter the account identifier code into the SimpleCart App settings. It's really simple!

Nope. There is no cancellation fee. However, your mid-month cancellations are non-refundable.

The Tymbrel Platform is lightning fast. Unlike most hosting providers, Tymbrel is powered by the Amazon Cloud, allowing fast, consistent speeds, regardless of the traffic load. It's the server that the big guys, like Netflix, trust.

No. Because your website is hosted on Amazon Web Services, it will be fast and available regardless of traffic levels.

All data on Tymbrel Platform websites is backed up on our Amazon Web servers daily. However, our ability to restore your website is dependant on your contacting us if you want your website reverted or restored. So, if you somehow lose your website data, just let us know; we can restore it for you for a small fee.

Although we have a 10-year record of no security breaches or hacks into our system, we perform regular and thorough security checks and updates to avoid any of these kinds of problems.

If your website is on the Tymbrel Platform, it's already running faster than it would be with most other providers. Google stats tell us that our sites load faster than 96% of sites worldwide. The only thing that may slow your website down is if you add new content to the site that is not optimized. Please make sure to watch the videos in the Training App to help you with things like optimizing image size through the built-in image editing tools (by scaling them to web size, for instance), and be careful if you're linking/embedding external sources (like live videos).

CMSIntelligence Websites are hosted on enterprise-level servers from Amazon Web Services. Infrastructure is managed on both the east and west coasts of North America.

CMSIntelligence websites are designed to run on the Tymbrel Platform only.

If you decide to cancel your Tymbrel Platform subscription after the first month, you will be provided with an export of your website*, which can be set up elsewhere by a web developer. *Available on request only.

If you're using a third party solution that provides and embeds code, you can easily insert it on your web page via the HTML (Source Code) view on the page editor. If you require assistance accessing the template files, please contact a member of our support team.

Currently, API access is closed to developers. Our development road map does include opening this up in the future, but no release date has been set. Please contact us if you have more questions.

If you would like to use your own website design on the Tymbrel Platform, you have a few options.

• You can contact us and request an estimate to have your design set up.
• If you're comfortable with HTML/CSS, you can request template access.
• You can apply for an Agency Account to receive full access to the Tymbrel Platform.

Yes. The built-in Access App allows website owners to give Dashboard access to additional users.

Email and phone support is available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm EST.

If you believe there is a 'bug' is the Tymbrel Platform that is causing problems on your website, please submit a Bug Report through your Dashboard. Bug Reports are evaluated by our programming team as soon as they are submitted.

Yes. We can purchase a domain on your behalf and register it for you. Please contact us for details.

You will need to set the domain nameservers to point to The CMSIntelligence server. With some domain registration companies (ie. GoDaddy), this is very simple, for others, it is more complex. We will provide you with the information you need to update the domain settings.

The first step is to do a WhoIs Look Up to find out where the domain is registered and to whom. Then, depending upon what information you find, you'll have to contact the current owner or the company that the domain is registered with to get access to the domain. If it is registered in your name, with a current email address, go to the login page for the registrar and click on the password retrieval option. Once you are able to login and manage the account, you should change the settings ensure that the name to which the domain is registered is yours, with a current email.

Email services can be managed in a few different ways. If you simply need your emails automatically forwarded from one email account to another, you can set this up via the Settings App in the Tymbrel Platform Dashboard.

If you require a hosted email solution, we recommend using GoDaddy or Google Apps ($5/m per user) or Zoho Mail (free up to 10 emails. Basic account only. Paid options available). We can assist you with setting up your email, if you so choose.

In some instances, users can experience email delivery problems using Zoho mail.

If you're experiencing this issue, Zoho Mail recommends that all users create what's called a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) DNS record. This record gets attached to your domain name and tells other systems that it's being sent from a trusted source.

Setup Instructions:

If your domain name is managed by CMSIntelligence, you can adjust these settings quickly by logging into the Dashboard, then click on 'Settings' and then 'DNS Manager'.

Once you're on this page, click 'Add New' and then fill in the information as listed below:

Name: @
Type: TXT
IP: v=spf1 mx include:zoho.com ~all

For additional information, please visit the Zoho Mail knowledge base.

Emails and domains are two separate, but related 'products'. We like to think of the domain as the 'path' through which email flows. If you would like an active email that uses your domain (ie. myname@mydomain.com), then the email must be 'linked' to the domain. This is done by verifying that you own the domain and then setting up an email address through an email provider (ie. Zoho Mail, GoDaddy, Google, etc.). On the other hand, if you don't own the domain, you are not able to set up the email address.

Any support issues relating to your email should be taken to the support department of the provider you are working with (ie. Zoho Mail, GoDaddy, Google, etc.). Because email is a separate 'product' from the website, it is not included in our technical support.

Social media integration is when a link is put on your website to take the visitor to your social media account OR when a 'feed' is added to the site to pull contently dynamically (ie. as in a Twitter feed). You can also add social media buttons to each page which will allow people to forward, share, pin, etc.

Yes. We have a number of options for connecting social media to your website: hyperlinks to your social media accounts, integrated dynamic feeds (for Twitter, for instance), social media buttons on the pages (for sharing, pinning, etc.), insertion of Facebook like feeds... and more. Just ask us!

Firstly, when we set up your new website, we'll incorporate icons and links to your social media accounts for you. Then, we'll ask you if you want any other type of integration and will use our 'SmartCodes' to make it happen. It's easy!

Integrating your website with social media provides your website visitors with more ways to connect with you, share your content, and be aware of news and updates from your business. It also provide an additional level of SEO (search engine optimization) to your website.

Yes! The easiest way to track these visitors is to set up a FREE account with Google Analytics. By doing this, you will be able to add a tracking code to your website (help files provided inside the Tymbrel Platform on how to do this) which will collect data on the behaviour of visitors to your website. Inside the Google Analytics dashboard, there is a tab called 'Acquisition'. This will provide you with detailed information on what social media websites visitors are coming from.

If you're using Twitter as part of your online strategy, it's easy to display a feed of your latest 'Tweets' directly on your website. Some of the CMSIntelligence website designs have a pre-defined place for this. This means visitors coming to your website can also see what your business is sharing on social media (and hopefully follow you!).

Social media is important for SEO because it helps with incoming and outgoing traffic. Incoming traffic can be from websites like Facebook or Twitter where someone has clicked on a link that was shared. Outgoing traffic comes from links you provide to your profiles as well as sharing buttons. The more traffic you can receive from social media the more SEO credit you will receive from the search engines.

Currently Twitter is the only feed that has a built-in tool for adding feeds. If you want to include a feed from Facebook, you can do so by following the instructions on this page.

Yes, absolutely. We have a flat fee for 'branding' any social media site. So, your Twitter account or your Facebook page will have the same branding as your website.