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!

Over the years SEO has definitely changed on getting to the top in the search engines.

Below are a few of the things that you had to worry about before:
1. Meta tags
2. Links to other websites
3. Title Tags

The above items are still important but there are other things to consider now as well:

1. H1, H2 tags for important keywords
2. Pay per click advertising
3. Keeping content fresh
4. Blogging

These are just a few things to look at when you’re optimizing your site.
Please give us a call @ 877-569-0260 if you need help optimizing your site for the search engines.

Rich Internet Applications. They are the Internet’s inevitable future, but what advanced technology drives this advanced paradigm? JavaScript? No thanks. But this is not the time to escape to a fallout bunker, and hide yourself until the web’s nuclear winter is over. Flex is here, come to save the day.

Don’t get me wrong: JavaScript and Flex have a lot in common. One, JavaScript and Flex run at the client (browser) level. Two, ECMAScript is the basis for both the JavaScript and ActionScript programming languages. Heck, Flex even uses a teeny tiny bit of JavaScript to establish the application’s focus at run-time. But we can’t kid ourselves. JavaScript is not a very good language. There are some major differences between web browsers, particularly between Internet Explorer and, well, every other browser. Flex is just Flex. As long as you have the right version of Flash to support the code, the application will work. JavaScript is not very robust or error-handling friendly. Flash’s builder is a godsend, with everything you’d expect in a true application IDE: syntax checking and debugging tools. JavaScript RIAs use the innovative but wonky (if nothing but the fact that it uses JavaScript) AJAX idea. Flex has built-in support for true WSDL and SOAP support, net connections, HTTP services, and the like. It even gets better with the work of AMFPHP, which is a low load, low complexity juggernaut that makes data connectivity a snap. What would RIAs be without data connectivity? That is what makes them Rich Internet Applications, and not just Rich Applications.

So I encourage all web developers to try working with Flex. Test it out. You may even like it. And perhaps, given time, we never have to hear the words JavaScript and RIA in the same sentence ever again!

We have lately been working with a new programming platform called FLEX. This platform is made available by Adobe and works in conjunction with PHP, Ajax and mySQL to allow the programmer to create visually stunning, interactive sites and services.

I’ll get Scott to talk a little more about these services as he is more versed in them, but if you have an idea for a new feature for your site that requires a lot of form input, or customer interaction a FLEX-built application may be perfect for you.

Contact us today to learn more: 260-569-0260 or online at www.visionaryweb.com

Duffy Electric & Automation, Inc., is a full service commercial electrical and automation services contractor located in North Central Indiana. They also provide panel building, millwright, and machine shop services to their diverse clientèle.

Visionary Web has been Duffy Electric & Automation’s web development partner for nearly five years. Visionary Web created the company’s public website as well as a small employee intranet. Visionary Web provides regular consulting on website additions, search engine optimization, and pay-per-click advertising. Visionary Web’s sister company, Visionary Computers, also provides services to Duffy Electric & Automation.

We are excited to highlight Duffy Electric & Automation has a featured client this month. If you have electrical or automation contracting needs, please be sure to visit their website.

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.

Visionary Web will be hosting a business seminar on e-retailing on January 24, 2008 at the Wabash County Chamber of Commerce. Mark Sapusek, Visionary Web’s Director of Web Solutions will be the presenter.

Mark will cover topics such as: e-commerce and selling products online, merchant services, EBay, PayPal, Authorize.net, Security, and Shopping Carts. Mark will also take questions and provide insight from over ten years of experience in the industry.

The seminar is $59.00 and reservations can be made by calling the Chamber at: 260-563-1168. The seminar is part of the Triple Play Business Seminar Series sponsored by the Wabash County Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Small Business Development Center. Other sessions included a Guerrilla Marketing seminar in November 2007 and an upcoming seminar on Customer Service on March 27, 2008.

PHP made me upset today. I’ve noticed this issue for a while, and it’s been addressed in forums, but few know of what seems to be the second most common reason for it. First, check the symptoms of you ill-returned web document. Does it ever popup as a download dialog box instead of the usual I-trust-you-Zend handling? Did you then download it only to find it is nothing more than a blank page? Stop sifting through your http.conf file! Stop changing those permissions! Well, you could do all this, but it’s most likely not the problem. For me, it was the amount of memory I had allocated to PHP script execution, specifically the memory_limit value. Oddly as it sounds, sometimes giving your PHP a little more memory seems to clear up this problem right away. Works so far for me with all the times I’ve seen this issue. You can either change the value in your ini file as:

memory_limit = 32M

…in your .htaccess file like…

php_value memory_limit = 32M

…or directly in your PHP file if you wanted to.

ini_set('memory_limit', '32M');

Hopefully, this can help someone out there.