What Is Sitecore? A Beginner's Guide To Learn Sitecore

Marketing has become a key element in any organization's success. It is at the center of all business activities and strategies, and keeps on transforming with years. With digitization, more businesses have moved online, for both showcasing and selling. Websites have become the medium in maintaining a company's digital presence, as well as the connecting platform between themselves and their customers. CMS or a customer management system is a software, which significantly simplifies the procedure to build and maintain websites efficiently. Sitecore is a leading CMS platform and this Sitecore tutorial is what you need to learn about it. Let's begin by decoding ‘what is Sitecore', leading to what is Sitecore used for, what is a Sitecore Developer, and how to become one.

What is Sitecore?

A widely used and popular enterprise-level CMS software, Sitecore is built on ASP.NET. Sitecore is used globally by organizations for building and managing websites. With Sitecore, marketers and content editors can easily manage tasks such as managing social handles, eCommerce, providing personalized experiences, blog posts, etc.

If we talk about past, Sitecore has shown exponential growth from 2011 to 2022 at 6,521%. Considering this growth graph, it comes as no surprise that becoming a Sitecore developer will benefit you in the future. And in the upcoming years, this graph is expected to grow.

Image Source- Chiefmartec

What is Sitecore Architecture?

There are three main products of Sitecore architecture and we have given an introduction to each of these here.

1. Sitecore Experience Manager (XM)

Also known as web content management (WCM), Sitecore Experience Manager is the core of the Sitecore platform. It is full of advanced features that aid in creating, personalizing, delivering, and managing content, depending upon the type you install.

2. Sitecore Experience Platform (XP)

Sitecore experience platform amalgamates experience manager (XM) with marketing and customer intelligence provided by xConnect and xDB. Both these bring forth additional server roles and storage mechanisms.

• xConnect - It is a group of services found between xDB and a trusted client, device, or interface, looking to search and collect experience data over HTTP.
• xDB - It is the storage services and roles that process and store experience data.

3. Sitecore Experience Commerce (XC)

Sitecore Experience Commerce is an advanced, integrated, and innovative commerce solution. Deployed in addition to the Sitecore XP, it integrates customer intelligence, personalization, multiple content management, and marketing to become an impactful enterprise-level solution.

What is Sitecore Used for?

If you are wondering what is Sitecore used for, then it is important to know that this CMS has become an important part of many leading companies today. Many Fortune 500 companies use Sitecore including Allstate, Massachusetts Mutual Life, Micron Technology, etc.

Sitecore has become a preferred name to build a robust, flexible, and secure website. It provides headless CMS integrations. Headless CMS integrations facilitate the developer to modify the backend or the frontend independently, without having effect on the other.

Top Features of Sitecore

Sitecore has a plethora of features that aid in regulating content aptitudes, from planning to reporting and creating optimized, and safe user management. Let's take a look at some of Sitecore's key features.

1. Easy to Use- With desktop-like interface, HTML editors, and WYSIWYG, Sitecore is rendered extremely easy to use.
2. Personalization & A/B Testing- Depending upon the visitor's needs and attributes, Sitecore changes the content in real time, making it a highly personalized experience for the customer.
3. Marketing & Email Automation- Sitecore provides an opt in/out subscription feature for emails, along with a drag and drop interface.
4. Enhanced Security- Sitecore's .NET framework incorporates firewalls, along with various other security features, making it a much safer and secure option as compared to other open-source code CMS.
5. Complete View of Visitors- Conversion rate increases as Sitecore allows us to get all the information about website visitors including their browsing history, attributes, and necessities.
6. SEO - Sitecore is the perfect platform to ensure successful website SEO, leading to increasing visibility and ranking.
7. Omni-Channel Insights & Automation- Sitecore's customer data platform is a powerful tool that facilitates in extending analytics and marketing capabilities beyond the website onto multiple channels.
8. Mobile Responsiveness- With Sitecore, developers can develop websites that have a mobile interface too.
9. Multisite Support- Sitecore flawlessly hosts various websites by inserting a new page node, and organizing them with a domain.
10. Integration Flexibility- Sitecore APIs and Connectors facilitate smooth incorporation into third-party systems and apps like BI dashboards and CRMs.
11. Multi-Cultural & Multilingual- Sitecore works perfectly with various cultures and languages.
12.  Developer Friendly- Sitecore flaunts a fluid nature that aids developers in building components with loaded front-end and back-end development configurations.

What is Sitecore Developer?

A Sitecore CMS Developer concentrates on the development and updating a company's Sitecore CMS and platform. These professionals have knowledge of both pre-packaged as well as customized products. A seasoned Sitecore Developer knows how to create key, personalized digital experiences swiftly, and deliver them all seamlessly to the target audience.

Earning a Sitecore certification will ensure you have all the right resources to succeed in this field. Once you complete your training and certification, acing any interview would be a piece of cake by studying Sitecore interview questions.

How to Become A Sitecore Developer?

To become Sitecore CMS Developer, you must have a bunch of skills in your hat. Additionally, a good knowledge span is necessary to ensure you are able to fulfill all your duties and job roles associated with the profile. Here is a list of skills you must gain-

• Understanding of key web development technologies like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
• Knowledge of the ASP.NET framework.
• Working skills of programming languages like C# and F#.
• Familiarity with Database (DB) management systems like SQL Server
• Understanding of CMS.
• Working knowledge of software development practices like agile methodologies and version control.

Conclusion

To completely understand ‘what is Sitecore', you will have to get started with the right Sitecore training and certification course. To become a successful Sitecore Developer, you will need the aid of a training that supports you in understanding all the key aspects of this CMS platform.

What Is Sitecore FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Que 1. Why do we use Sitecore?

Ans. Sitecore is used worldwide as a leading digital experience platform that contains some highly powerful marketing tools. It boasts a sea of features and perks. 

Que 2. What type of CMS is Sitecore?

Ans. Sitecore Experience Manager is an enterprise-ready SaaS CMS. 

Que 3. Is Sitecore like WordPress?

Ans. Sitecore is a proprietary platform and is meant for customer-centric, high-traffic brands that have unique demands. WordPress, on the other hand, is free for all and attracts users from all economies.

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