I’m getting ready to make a big move across the country and as I read tons of moving “how to” articles, I’m amazed at how similar the “to do” lists are to what you should consider when building a new website:

1. Plan, plan, plan! Before you make the very first step toward a redesign, start making lists… What is the budget of the project?  Who are the stakeholders of the project?  What is the purpose of the redesign?
2. Inventory–  Take good stock of everything on the current website.  What works?  What doesn’t?  What needs to be enhanced?  Are there any dynamic or interactive applications that need to be ported to the new site?  Are there any existing back-end integration points that need to be evaluated?  Beacon can help you with a current site “content matrix”, which will track all current pages and where they will reside on the new site.
3. Find a good partner– Most people can’t make a major move (or build a great website) without help.  In addition to a company that does excellent web development, consider whether you’ll need assistance with graphical design, web marketing and hosting.  A great thing about Beacon is that we are a one stop shop for all this and more!  Also be sure to check references– we’ll be happy to provide you with a list of our happy customers…
4. Decide on a single point of contact– Even if you hire a web development partner, you’ll need a dedicated internal resource to serve as the primary point of contact to handle all questions and decisions as they arise during the development process.
5. Decide if your current vehicle can make the move– Is your current website platform robust enough to support today’s technologies (video, social media, interactive features)?  If not, you may want to consider starting with a new, more sophisticated platform and moving the existing content to it, rather than just changing the face of the existing site.
6. Consider what you’ll need in the transition– Most redesign projects require at least a little time where the current site has to be “frozen” (no new updates), so that content can be moved from the live site to the new design.  Consider how long it is feasible for the site to be unchanged, whether there is an ideal time of year/month for this to happen, and if there are any areas that absolutely must be updated daily.  Inform your web development company of these items as soon as possible (ideally at the outset of the project).
7. Make sure you haven’t forgotten anything! I cannot emphasis enough how important it is to test your website before it goes to Production.  Our project plans usually leave at least two weeks for the client to test the website and sadly this step is often overlooked or rushed due to the client’s busy schedule.  Although we pride ourselves on our careful system testing process, there’s just no substitute for the client carefully evaluating every single page of the new site.  Take the time, it is worth it!
8. Announce it to everyone! Just like you shouldn’t forget to tell friends and family about your move, be sure to have a communications plan to announce the new web site release to your customers, distributors, associates, partners, etc.  If there will be any change in functionality, be sure to prepare them for this change and give precise directions on its impact to them.

Best of luck with your “move”!

Many of us today work with PCs on a daily basis and are constantly being made aware of security and performance issues with them.  Sometimes we are made aware by being a victim and wonder what could I have done to prevent that or how can I keep the issue from occurring again or even mitigate the collateral damage next time.

I found an interesting article for some of the security/performance issues that we all face and it discusses some actions to take to help with the problems.  There were some things that I already knew but the explanations were  insightful just the same.  Some of the maintenance actions I rarely do because I guess I never stopped to think about the consequences of not doing them.  After reading the article I have a better appreciation of those rarely performed maintenance items.  Maybe they won’t be so ‘rarely performed’ anymore.

Check it out for yourself: Security and Performance Issues from Iolo Threat Center

Beacon is proud to announce the launch of the Honeymoon Compete micro-site.  The client is a travel service provider specializing in honeymoons and destination weddings. The new site features basic information, contact forms and a company blog. Along with website design and development, Beacon also provides hosting services for Honeymoon Compete.

When using Google Analytics, it’s a no-brainer to track goals like e-commerce purchase points, contact confirmations and newsletter sign-ups. These conversion points are common and provide valuable data about your site. When visitors successfully navigate through a desired path and take an action you want them to, it’s important to understand everything you can. That’s why Google Analytics also provides goal funnels. However, I’m not here to discuss the obvious. I’m here to talk about event tracking.

Although Event Tracking isn’t a new feature in Google Analytics, it is often overlooked. In order to gain a clearer understanding of how visitors interact with your site, try to find the less obvious places to track. These can include playing a video, clicking on an application, downloading content and many others. Actions that do not take users to a new page are prime candidates for event tracking. Google Analytics can track these events with the use of the _trackEvent() method. Adding the following to the source code of a page, object, video etc. will track the desired event.

_trackEvent(category, action, opt_label, opt_value)

The four components of _trackEvent() method are:

Category -chosen name for the tracked items
Action -a string individually paired with each category that defines the type of interaction such as views, clicks, or downloads
Label – an optional string used for additional attributes
Value – an optional integer used to provide numerical data about the event

The data is sent to Google Analytics and reports can be accessed almost immediately. This useful feature is something we implement and report to our clients. We aim to track everything. Are you tracking everything?

If your business uses WordPress for blogging or as a content management system, there are some great plugins out there to make life easier. Here are the top 10 WordPress plugins that I love.

1. Headspace 2 – HeadSpace manages meta data and other SEO functions. It allows you to tag your posts, create custom titles and descriptions that help your page ranking.

2. Simple Facebook Connect – This plugin comes with many different options. You can give your visitors the ability to comment using Facebook Identity (with FB avatar support), login with Facebook credentials and register using Facebook. It also allows you to automatically publish new posts to a Facebook Profile or manually publish posts to a Facebook Profile or Application/Fan Page. And if that weren’t enough, check out the other available buttons and widgets available through this plugin!

• Share button and Shortcode
• Connect Button Widget and Shortcode
• User Status Widget and Shortcode
• Live Stream Widget and Shortcode
• Bookmark Widget and Shortcode
• Find us on Facebook button Widget and Shortcode
• Fan Box Widget
• Fan Count Chicklet and Widget

3. TweetMeme – The TweetMeme button plugin simply adds the TweetMeme button to your posts and feed. It keeps a running total of how many times your content is tweeted. (See example on this post!)

4. Akismet – This does a great job of keeping your WordPress site free of spam. When a new comment, trackback, or pingback comes to your site it is Akismet runs hundreds of tests on the comment to determine whether or not it is spam.

5. WP Click-Track – This plugin automatically posts and rewrites links in your content (pages, sidebar, posts, etc.) in order to include a tracking element. It also allows users to create stand alone trackable links that can be included in posts. It also provides extensive reports right within the WordPress dashboard.

6. Category Order – This seems like a simple plugin but there have been countless times where I’ve needed categories to be in a specific order that wasn’t alphabetical or by ID. This little plugin allows you to easily reorder your categories the way you want via drag and drop.

7. Google Analytics for WordPress – Even though you can use Google Analytics on a WordPress site without this plugin, it’s missing a whole lot of features that this plugin offers. This plugin includes:

• Google Analytics Custom Variables
• Google Analytics API integration
• E-Commerce integration
• Event tracking

8. cformsII – CformsII is the best form plugin I’ve used. Its creators are actually the authors of one of my favorite cooking blogs. This amazing plugin has an incredible amount of features and flexibility. You can create detailed custom forms, style them individually and place them in sidebars, posts or pages.

9. AddThis – AddThis is my favorite share plugin because  it automatically optimizes itself for each person who visits your site. AddThis custom fits each menu with the services they’ll normally use. This plugin also has an automatic interface for iPhone users. The plugin allows a customized share button to be placed in a sidebar or on each post. AddThis.com also provides detailed analytics so you can see how your content is shared across the Web.

10. YD Recent Posts Widget – This WordPress plugin installs a new sidebar widget displays your most recent blog posts along with images. It is very customizable allowing different settings on the home page and other blog pages.

Last Tuesday, July 13th, Beacon launched the redesigned United Anesthesia website. The client is thrilled and had this to say:

“Thank you so much! Phenomenal job!”

Check it out at www.unitedanesthesia.com.

The new design was created by Frank Stovall at Stovall Art. Our two firms partnered very well for the Redesign project and Frank sent us this comment “Looks Fantastic! Great job TD & Beacon!”.

Thanks to everyone for your great work on this project!

We have a lot of projects going on right now, but I always like to stop and highlight projects that we have completed for our customers.  Recently, we completed two projects that our development team produced using ASP.NET and Cascade Server.

News Application: Cascade Server

This project was the first for this new higher education client that was referred to us by Hannon Hill.  The entire university’s site is in Cascade Server, and they contracted with us to enhance the News Releases function to include the following:

• Ability to add images with captions to the news detail pages;
• Addition of article categories and authors;
• Redesign the main news listing page to list stories by year and month using a collapsible function.  A new search feature was also installed, integrated with their Google Mini search appliance;
• New category listing pages that allows users to create a page that only displays stories tagged with certain categories;
• Modification to the display of the news stories on the homepage;
• Addition of RSS feeds, including a full listing and an RSS listing for each category;

This was a very complicated implementation that one of my CMS developers handled like a pro.  Many thanks to her for patience during development!

Dealer Locator:  ASP.NET and Cascade Server

Beacon teamed up with G-Force Marketing (here in Greensboro) and a client of theirs (a well-known retailer) to build a product promotion site, where potential customers can go use a dealer locator that we created using ASP.NET and AJAX.  The user can search by zip code or city to find a dealer nearest them, and thanks to AJAX, can easily sort the search results.  The client can log into an Administration section to maintain the list of dealers.  They can also use Cascade Server to maintain other content across the site.

Credit for the front-end development goes to our summer intern, who churned out a great-looking site.  One of our transactional developers did all of the ASP.NET and AJAX development to make the whole thing work, and our Graphic Artist helped out with some of the graphics.

Thanks to everyone for their hard work on both projects!  Being able to tell success stories like these is what we’re all about.

One of the greatest resources I believe in for local SEO is the online directory. Local search testing has been done and it supports the fact that the more geo citations you have, the more trust search engines will have in your site for local search results.

But with so many local directories and search engines, where do you start? And how do you prevent yourself from becoming spammy? Well, fortunately these directories, from Google Places (formerly Google Local) to Super Pages, all pull their data from a few business listing databases. Now, don’t get confused. The bigger sites like Google and Yahoo still maintain their own database, but they also utilize the sites below to round out their index. And luckily for all of us, the big databases like Super Media and Express Update USA allow you to update and add your submission FOR FREE. Can’t beat that.

Now, I’ve taken the liberty of doing all the research and condensing the data of “who shares what with whom” into the flowchart below.  Take a gander and save yourself some time!

And to make things even easier, here are links to the “Add Listing” pages for the above directories:

• Super Media
• Express Update USA
• Bing
• Dex
• Google
• City Grid Media
• Localeze
• Acxiom

Special thanks to localtype.com and Bruce Clay in creating this post.

Executing great Search Engine Optimization tactics to your website is much like personifying the perfect date.  Practice the tips below and I guarantee you will see fireworks at the end of the night and a higher page rank from the search engines.

1)      Choose the Right Target Market: Dating Translation: If you are about the age that I am and are looking to settle down with Mr. Right, your dream house, your Volvo C70, and your white picket fence, make sure you are dating men who are also ready for a commitment.  I wouldn’t recommend dating the bad boy from your circle of friends who has a new girl on his arm every time you see him.

The most important part of marketing your company is knowing exactly to whom you want to sell.  Your website is your biggest marketing tool to acquire the conversions you desire, so make sure that you direct your SEO strategy to gain relevant traffic to your website.

2)      Use Correct Title Tags on Each Page: Dating Translation: Always wear appropriate attire when going on a date.  If Mr. Right decides to take you to a go-cart track for the afternoon, I recommend wearing comfortable and casual clothes; now is not the time to pull out your Nine West heels and BCBG sequin dress.

Your title tag is the first impression the search engines have for your web page, so make sure that the title clearly reflects the content displayed on the page.  Also, you would never wear the same outfit on the first few dates, so never use the same title tag on more than one page.

3)      Use Appropriate Keywords on Each Page: Dating Translation:  Always be sure to answer the questions he may ask you with the appropriate answers.  For example, if he asks if you are dating anyone, your answer should be “No,” not “My heart will always belong to my favorite teddy bear Mr. Snuggles.”

One spends so much time and money focusing on the application of the right keywords on each and every page of your website.  Be sure you emphasize your content on what visitors of your demographic are searching for, not what you think the content should be.

4)      Reduce the Excessive Use of Keywords: Dating Translation: Do not talk constantly about your ex while on a date with Mr. Right.  If he asks about the last person you dated, explain briefly that the door to that part of your life is closed, and you are living in the present.  Do not continue babbling about how great Chester was.  After all, he was a 30-year-old man who still lived at home with his parents, thought MC Hammer Jam Pants were still in style, and believed that Justin Beiber will become the next patron saint.

Once you have chosen the right keywords to implement in your website pages, be sure you do not overuse them. It is very important to apply a good ratio of these keywords, so you do not appear to be “stuffing.”  Such is a quick way to find your website blacklisted on the search engines.  If you keep reminiscing about Chester, you will find yourself with a permanent reservation on your couch Friday nights watching the next Lifetime Movie Premier.

5)      Have an Effective and Relevant Linking Strategy: Dating Translation:  If you have a crush on a guy in your circle of friends, I recommend telling one or two of his best buddies that you like him to ascertain that the message finds its way to Mr. Right; however, telling everyone in his neighborhood and purchasing a billboard on I-40 East might not be the smartest move to inform him of your interest.

Implementing a linking plan to increase your website’s page rank is an excellent way to increase the amount of traffic browsing your website.  Even so, if you post links on irrelevant websites, you will not only be spending money, but also lots of unnecessary time because you are not going to receive the conversions you are seeking.  Similarly, the fastest way for Mr. Right to recognize the tip that you like him would be to tell those buddies with whom he spends the most time.  It would be a waste of your time to tell his old middle-school, baseball team buddies you discovered on Facebook that you like him because fifteen years later, they have little or nothing left in common and rarely if ever speak to one another.

Good luck, and may the SEO/Dating gods shine down upon you this year!

University of Houston News Releases

The University of Houston is a new Cascade Server client of ours.  The entire university’s site is in Cascade, and they contracted with us to enhance the News Releases function to include the following:

·  Ability to add images with captions to the news detail pages.

·  Addition of article categories and authors.

·  Redesign the listing page (http://www.uh.edu/news-events/archive.php) to list stories by year and month using a collapsible function.  A new search feature was also installed, integrated with their Google Mini search appliance.

·  New category listing pages that allows U of H to create a page that only displays stories tagged with certain categories.

·  Modification to the display of the news stories on the homepage.

·  Addition of RSS feeds, including a full listing and an RSS listing for each category (http://www.uh.edu/rss)

Sealy Mattress Promotion (http://www.sealymattresspromotion.com/)

Beacon teamed up with G-Force Marketing (here in Greensboro) and Sealy (some of you sleep on them) to build a Sealy Mattress Promotion site, where potential customers can use a dealer locator that we created. The reward for filling out the form (at the moment) is a $300 coupon towards a mattress. The user can search by zip code or city to find a dealer nearest them, and thanks to fancy AJAX, can easily sort the search results.  G-Force can log into an Admin section to maintain the list of dealers and upload their logos.