We offer you the best in web site design and creation. Creating a website is much more than making a “pretty” or “cool” looking design, or for that matter, creating a bunch of pages and linking them together! Successfully designing a website entails not only ensuring its attractiveness but also its usability. We consider a lot of factors when creating a website. Some of them are: Who is your audience? Keeping your audience in mind is a subtle yet important detail of the design process. For example: are you creating a web site for members of the elderly community? If so, you might want to present your text in large type and ensure that the colors you use are easily visible. Do you intend to appeal mostly to a particular gender group? A “male” website usually incorporates stronger colors and harder edges, whereas a “female” website may incorporate softer colors and softer lines. A “unisex” website will incorporate both of these in a tasteful way. How easy is it to navigate through your website? Research has shown that ease of navigation is one of the top reasons why Internet users will return to a site. And users will likely leave a site for another if they do not find what they are looking for with 4-6 clicks. How quickly will the web page appear for people using mobile devices and slower connections? Close on the heels of ease of navigation is download time. Does your web site take into account the many people using mobile devices? If you would like a multimedia, content rich Flash website, you may need a corresponding non-Flash low-bandwidth version of your site, this way you are not excluding those people still using low-bandwidth connections.

We have been creating Content Management Systems for web sites before Content Management Systems or CMS became such a huge buzzword. What is a Content Management System? A Content Management System is a tool that lets you manage the information on your web site without having to know anything about HTML or web development. Perhaps you’d like to change the text on your home page, add a press release, or update your client list. Use a Content Management System to manage all of the information that appears on your site, without having to bring in your web developer. Why do you need a Content Management System? To be honest you might not need a CMS. Some businesses have web sites with sections, navigation, content, etc. which do not require changes often. In these situations it may be more cost-effective to request a web developer to make a change for you when you need it rather than invest in a CMS that you may not use very often. For those companies which have ever-changing content, it is essential that the website be updated DAILY. It has been shown that people who visit a website over and over again do so because the content is fresh and changes often. Would you go see the same movie at the same movie theater over and over again? No, but you would visit a theater often which offered the latest movies. This holds true for your website. If this is your business model, then you would benefit from an investment in a CMS where you can update your web site as often as you want.

Why should you consider starting an eMail campaign in the face of all the spam that’s going around? Because sending eMail to users that have requested it is not considered spam, and that is what we recommend. As long as the people you are trying to communicate with have requested the information, eMail is the major vehicle of today’s communication. Consider slipping a brochure under someone’s door vs. sending them an eMail. They find the brochure after a long day at work and they may be interested in the information presented, but consider the effort required to respond at that moment. With so much else going on, no one is going to stop everything, pick up the phone or reply via mail to your brochure. By contrast, consider an eMail sitting in their inbox – if they are interested in your products or services, the mechanism to act upon that interest is immediately available and is just a click away. Also, consider the spread of your information – eMails may be easily forwarded to other interested parties by your subscribers, ever tried giving a flyer you found under your door to a group of your friends? So how can you build your subscriber base? Try not to let someone leave your website without identifying themselves. Research has indicated that consumers are prone to giving up personal information in exchange for things like access to content of interest, discounts, free stuff and better customer service. Consumer web sites use games, surveys, and polls to get an opportunity to request that someone enter their eMail address. Business oriented web sites use information and the access to it to gather people’s information. If your business has information it wishes to share with an interested audience, why not request that they give up their eMail address to receive updated information on something they are obviously interested in. This opens the door for further dialog between you and a potential long-term client. eMail campaigns have been referred to as offering the “Rubber Band” effect. If you send out an eMail and the recipient opens it, you have an opportunity to instantly snap them back to your website. Direct Mail, Radio, Television and Print campaigns do not offer this kind of immediate response opportunity. Additionally your eMail campaigns can be tailored to meet the needs of your audience. How can WE help? In today’s Internet-friendly world, there is value in sending out eMails in HTML format. The eMail will be visually more effective than a lot of plain text that your audience may not bother to pore through. Additionally, you have the ability to draw attention to certain pertinent areas. Your HTML eMails will also typically use the same layout as your website thus creating a coherent effect of branding and visibility. Most importantly, an HTML eMail will include a link back to your website. But as great as they sound, HTML eMails should be created with care – taking into account different bandwidths, large or small images, the overall size of the eMail, the different eMail programs, etc. Let us take care of creating a well laid out HTML eMail for you – and feel free to use it in your next campaign.

Custom software development encompasses programs of all sizes. We not only provide our clients with simple add-on components but we also provide full scale application development. Below are a few examples of custom applications built from scratch or highly modified aspects of an open source CMS.

These days, having a website up and running does not mean that people will visit it. Often we use traditional methods of promotion such as event flyers, corporate brochures, business cards, posters — basically printed materials. Printed materials come in all shapes and sizes. Time has proven that the printed word can be very powerful to convey an idea or message. When developing company or brand identity it is important that all of the company’s communication assets are in visual synchronicity. This means that if you hand out flyers at a convention encouraging people to visit your website, it is imperative that the visitors know beyond a doubt that the company they see on the flyer is the same company being viewed on their computer. Why is this important? For starters it gives the company an image of having a solid foundation, a company that is sure of its identity. If you were to view an array of materials from a company which does not have visual cohesion the image that company is pusing is wishy-washy, not sure of their own identity. If this is the case, how would you feel about trusting them? When we see a cola ad on TV, on a billboard, anywhere for that matter, it is obvious who the advertisement is for. Besides all mentioned above, if your ad slogan, design and everything is amazing it is pointless if the person does not know what company the ad is for. When we develop printed materials, we ensure there is obvious brand recognition. It is vital that the your message is obviously coming from you.