We have quite a few clients that use blogs on their site. Here are just a few that I’m going to talk about:
Health Positive – http://www.healthpositive.com/blog
Brodbeck Seed – http://www.brodbeckseed.com/blog
Halderman Farm Management – http://www.halderman.com/blog
Health Positive: You’ll notice that a majority of the posts deal with massage therapy which is what Health Positive focuses on in their business. You’ll also see that they tag their posts which is helpful with the search engines because those could be used as search terms. So for example if someone searches for “Massage Business Marketing” then it’s possible that this blog would show up as a search result.
Brodbeck Seed: Brodbeck Seed focuses on Agronomy articles for their blog. Usually an article is posted each month with up to date happenings in the farming world. This information can be helpful/useful to the farming community.
Halderman Farm Management: Halderman focuses on land values, economy, leasing etc. with their blog articles. They also post articles in regards to their auctions as well which is just another way for people to find more information about a particular farm auction.
In conclusion all three of these companies use their blog in a very useful way for their consumers. Their articles can certainly help them with their search engine rankings for particular keywords. If you ever need a blog setup on your site please feel free to contact us @ 877.569.0260
It seems everyone is talking about Social Media or Social Marketing today. So what can you do as a small business owner who doesn’t have time to even keep up on your web site, let alone working on setting up a blog or a Facebook page? Well why not do all three at once?
This idea of writing something once and using it in multiple ways is what the web is all about! These new technologies are supposed to make your life easier not harder!
How do we do this?
Let’s start with our website.
By setting up a blog on your site you can have up to date content that is changed daily or weekly if you prefer. Different people from your organization can add different posts to different categories eliminating the need for only one or a handful of people managing the entire site. Administrators can approve blogs giving them editorial control.
The blog can then be added to the home page or your site or any page you wish providing new, updated content to each page of your site.
So the first step above takes care of two issues at once – keeping your site content up to date and providing a blog for your site.
The next step is to make a Facebook page for your company or a Twitter page for your company. Once this is done you can link your blog directly to both of these allowing your blog to update both!
How is that helpful?
Well now we have a blog that is being edited in one location and is updating itself, your site, your Facebook page AND your Twitter account.
If this is a strategy you would like to employ to update your site and get better results in the search engines and better communication with your customers – give us a call today – 360-569-0260 – we can help!
Seven Days to Save The Firehouse! On July 25, 2007 the roof at The Firehouse collapsed. Today kicks off our net campaign to raise funds to rebuild The Firehouse, North Manchester’s premier music venue. I’m donating because I want to see this fantastic place emerge again as a great place for young people, and old people, to experience great music. Please join me. Donate today! http://www.thefirehouse.net
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Visionary Web is currently seeking to hire a full-time Web Programmer. The Web Programmer will work on the web team developing customized projects including: web-based applications, web site enhancements, desktop applications, database-backed websites, and automation of web administration processes. The candidate must have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent. Strong working knowledge of HTML, XML, mySQL, SQL, PHP, VB, and MS Access as well as a strong working knowledge of Windows and Linux platforms is required. Desired skills include strong time management, ability to multi-task, ability to research and stay up to date on current and emerging technologies in the field and the ability to work effectively in a team and independently.
More details can be found on our employment page.
I was thinking today on the importance of community involvement and realized that our management team is involved in a ton of community and civic-related activities. We are involved with our local chambers of commerce, school boards, economic development, small business development centers, community theater, main street associations, Kiwanis, Key Club, and various other activities throughout our community.
Why is it so important for us to be involved in our local communities? We stay really busy at work, but we find time to be involved because the communities in our area support us. It is right for us to give back to them our time and our talents.
Being involved in the community is more than just “our job.” Being involved means providing our communities with the necessary things they need to grow. Growing communities mean more business, more business means more jobs in IT in our small towns and more employees for us. Being involved is reciprocal. You get back what you put into it.
Our team and our company are dedicated to the communities in which we live and work and to that end I hope that everyone becomes involved in their communities. It is a much better place to live when you have had a hand in making it a great place.
I talk about programming a lot. I can’t help it. It is my life. But now I feel obligated to talk about something of a non-programming topic. Like puppies. No, not puppies. It’s about writing. If you can’t tell by my writing here, I do enjoy writing and when I am not programming, I am always reading or writing short stories. It’s a great release that exercises the other part of my brain. Plus it gets my eyes off a computer screen for a while (and my eyes definately need the break). So there you have it. I do other things than programming. Next blog: probably something about programming again.
Well, I have talked about good programming practices before, and when I did, I talked about understanding error messages and learning to fix your code’s problems to become a better programmer. Well, now I’m talking about another type of error: your own. Understanding your own limitations and being able to accept other people’s help is the sign of a great programmer (and a great person). Know that you can’t do everything, and there are people out there who are better than you in certain regards. So don’t feel bad if you ask for someone’s help in developing a better layout or something computer-related that you THINK you should know. The sooner you realize that you don’t know everything the less time you’ll fake that you do and slow down the completion of any project you do.
My one and only complaint about my WACOM is the inability to fully mimic traditional art techniques with the stylus. Once the line is down the textures that are applied in the program of your choice is sufficient enough to get the idea across but not enough to sell the concept to an experienced artist (or a perfectionist like me).
At least three quarters of traditional art technique involves how one holds the pen, brush, etc. and the how one moves it to make the desired mark. The WACOM allows you to do the movements, to a degree, but allows no tolerance for how the stylus is held. I cannot hold the stylus like I would a block of charcoal but rather it forces me to hold it like a no. 2 pencil. The way the stylus fails in movement recognition is that it does not register the rotation or the stylus while drawing a line. During my days in architecture classes I developed the habit of spinning the pencil while drawing my lines. Doing this keeps the point of the graphite from being warn on only one side, thereby distorting your line. The act of spinning the pencil wears the graphite more uniformly and keeps you from having to re-sharpen more than is absolutely necessary. There are a few techniques in painting that call for you to rotate your brush while performing a certain length of pull to create different effects as well. This is where the WACOM and stylus fail in their mimicry of traditional art.
It could be related to the fact that I have not experimented with different nubs. WACOM does distribute 5 different nub styles that fit specific stylus types. These nubs may allow for the ability to spin the stylus and get that effect to translate to the computer, but I do not know. I know no one who has these nubs and have not found any reviews on their performance either positive or negative.
For several months we have been receiving Website Magazine (The Magazine for Website Success) in our office. I’m not sure how we originally started to receive it… although I assume somebody signed up for it. Anyway, I’m mentioning it today as the current issue (which we received this week) encourages readers to recommend the magazine to others.
This magazine provides a great deal of information on tools for web success. This month’s articles including topics such as blogging, search engine strategy, local search tools, building natural links, and site security. They also have several regular columns and news briefs.
As you work to grow the success of your online venture, I encourage you to check out Website Magazine. Reading the magazine will give you insights to consider as you continue to evolve your website.
Oh, and the best news??? If you qualify (basically meaning that you really are in the business), they will provide your subscription for free (they make their money from their advertisers).
Click the following link to apply for a free subscription:
Free Website Trade Publication >> Website Magazine
Cheers,
Andrew
