Since 1998, Beacon Technologies has specialized in helping companies with high-end, custom, full-service web solutions. We act as consultants to our clients and we support the design, development, hosting, maintenance, and marketing of websites and web applications.

Now, in effort to reach out to a larger client base and support smaller companies, individuals, and entrepreneurs Beacon is offering its services in a packaged solution that will be more affordable to smaller businesses. We are proud to introduce you to Beacon Express.  With our Beacon Express division, all businesses can take full advantage of the internet and the experience that has made Beacon Technologies a recognized leader in web services.

Beacon Express provides:

• Custom Design
• Home Page plus up to 5 content pages
• Hosting
• Email up to 5 accounts
• Spam and Virus Protection with Barracuda
• Domain Registration and/or Transfer
• Google Analytics – monthly report
• Google Local & Yahoo Local Submission
• Unlimited updates to your website content
• SEO Friendly Design for visibility in major search engines
• No long-term commitment…cancel anytime

The best part might be the price.

Visit Beacon Express to learn more, www.beaconexpress.com.

Think about all of the ways you viewed Web sites earlier this century.  There was your Web browser of choice…either Netscape or Internet Explorer…and, well, that’s it.  Things were a lot simpler back then, believe me.  Starting out in Web Design in 1999, we had two browsers to code for, and one output:  plain old HTML.

Fast forward to today.  How many Web browsers do you have installed on your computer?  Maybe you have one, maybe you have 8 like me.  OK, I don’t use all eight on a daily basis, but they all come in handy when working with cross-browser compliance.

Now, how many ways do you view a Web site today?  If you answered “one”, you may want to think again.  Ever clicked on the “Low Bandwidth” link because you’re on a slower connection?  Ever clicked “Print this Page” and gotten a print-friendly version of the page?  Do you have a PDA that you use to surf the Web?  Have you ever subscribed to an RSS feed?

Now, let’s turn our attention to your Web site.  Today, it’s becoming the norm to offer your Web site’s content in all of the above ways, and more.  The more versions (or “formats”) you offer your site in, the wider the audience you reach.

“But I can’t keep up with that many formats of my Web site.”

What if you could?  What if you could write one set of content, and have it display in multiple outputs?  One of the great features of Cascade Server is “repurposing content”.  Simply put, you can maintain a single source of content, and publish that content to your Web site in multiple formats.  When you publish one page, multiple separate files publish out.

How is this done?  In Cascade Server, we set up a template for each of the desired formats:

• The Full HTML version is your normal Web site that your visitors are used to today, with full graphics, JavaScript, and Flash applications.
• The Lite HTML version would be a scaled-down version of the Full HTML version.  It may look like the Full HTML version, but may have less graphics, no JavaScript, and no Flash.  This helps the site load faster for users on slower computers or Internet connections.
• The WML version is used for PDA and other hand-held devices.  This format may have a logo, a simple navigation, and your page’s text with limited imagery.
• The Print version would have just your logo and your page’s content, formatted to fit on a standard 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper.
• Your Web page can instantly become a PDF brochure.  The page’s content can be pulled into a specialized template, and published as a PDF file.
• Your Press Releases can be published out in an RSS format, so followers of your Web site can subscribe to this feed and keep up-to-date with your news.
• Your site can even be published out in XML format for exporting your content to another system, such as a Google Site Map, or a database application.

With Cascade Server, we have the flexibility to output, or repurpose, your site in a variety of ways.  Remember, you want to reach the widest audience possible.  And now, you can reach out to those audiences by writing one source of content.

It’s not uncommon now-a-days to hear this weird jargon thrown around called ‘AJAX’, but what does it stand for?

I’ve yet to read a better history and break down than what Jeremy Keith wrote in his book entitled “Bulletproof AJAX“. So without further ado, I’m going to quote Keith a bunch:

“Jesse James Garrett is an information architect, author and founding partner of the San Francisco-based company Adaptive Path. In February 2005, he published an essay on the Adaptive Path Web site titled ‘Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications.’ In this essay, Garrett coined the term Ajax to describe techniques used by a new kind of Web application…. It was originally intended to be an acronym standing for ‘Asynchronous JavaScript and XML.’ ”

Keith goes on to explain that the acronym implies that asynchronous and XML are requirements within AJAX, which just isn’t true. (JavaScript is definitely required in most cases, but the AJAX behavior could be done through Flash or Java as well, just to name a couple.) “Jesse James Garrett later updated his essay, making it clear that Ajax is not an acronym.” The technology has been around before Garrett as well but coining the term made it possible for most of us to talk about a set of technologies, that when used together, create a new user experience. So think of AJAX more as a user experience than a certain set of technologies.

Garrett created the term AJAX so he could more easily have a conversation with clients and his developers alike. So why is the AJAX behavior different than your traditional development? 

Example
- Tradition: You login at a web site and notice your  browser has to think for a bit while it either refreshes your current page or goes to a new one. This makes you have to reload the same content or be forced to load new content.
- AJAX alternative: You login at a web site, it gives you a little notice saying that you’re now logged in. That’s it. No loading required on your end.

What AJAX does is allow the user to send and receive information back from the site without ever having to load content. It’s not that the technology is that much smarter, or psychic, but that all the loading happens behind the scenes, putting the burden on what matters the least, in the code. What matters most is the user and their experience on your site.

So why ask for it?

AJAX allows for a faster, smoother user experience. It’s becoming so mainstream lately that it’s making more traditional web development seem bulky and slow to use in comparison. Ever used Google Maps? Yep, all AJAX. Even the competition switched over to use their techniques – Mapquest and Yahoo, to name a couple.

It’s also pretty neat on our end too. This affords us with some pretty neat effects we can do easily for our clients’ sites, like animation.

Now that you’re just a little more knowledgeable on the subject, I hope your next web site will include a lot of AJAX implementation to give your users a smoother experience. Feel free to contact us for more information regarding AJAX implementation on your site.

Beacon Technologies’ close relationship with Google often grants us access to many of their education initiatives like the live Google AgencyLand webinars which are open to qualified Adwords companies and their clients. We recently attended one of these team trainings entitled “Five Rules of Consumer Engagement,” taught by Google’s Jim Lecinski and inspired by research conducted amongst Google customers in the Fortune 100. Lecinski asked the group an essential question to set the stage and because his answer will help many of Beacon’s customers, I feel it’s worth sharing. Q: How do you know when your company is ready to tackle the next phase of online engagement?

If you’re like most marketing directors, you’re feeling immense pressure to experiment with whatever hot social media tool everyone is talking about these days whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, or bebo. And although it’s true your brand shouldn’t fall victim to a trend; before you encourage customers to form an online community geared towards self-expression and entertainment, be sure you’ve mastered the first two phases – Digital Brochureware and Online Sales Channel.

In the mid-90s, companies mostly used their website as a place where potential customers could get more information, almost like an online brochure that made it easier for visitors to know what you have and what you do without having to hunt down a sales representative.

The next iteration of the web happened when companies started enabling their sites with eCommerce functionality, which was the next logical step; they now see what you have, let them buy something from you. A handful of brands led the way like Amazon and eBay and revolutionized online shopping; while others cling to their brick-and-mortar only strategy and have yet to develop an online sales channel. Perhaps their hesitation is due to regulatory reasons, but often it’s the hefty price tag of the necessary software to do it right that many shy away from, which is why Beacon recommends using BeCommerce.NET, our branded version of the AspDotNetStorefront for an eCommerce solution. Completely search engine friendly, BeCommerce.NET provides all the latest features, bells and whistles and integrates nicely with third party software like accounting systems, inventory control systems and in-site search. Depending on the cost of your products and/or services just a few online sales can justify your investment into this type of long term technology.

Lecinski recommends that companies only enter the third phase with social media sites, an initiative he dubbed “Creating a Community for Self-expression and Entertainment,” after they’ve focused on their financial goals first by offering the ease of doing business on the Web. Because no matter how exciting it is to have diverse groups of people engage with your brand and insert it into their daily fodder, you want and/or need to sell something, right?

According to a recent Luxury Vehicle study conducted by Google, customer conversion on the Web was 23 percent more likely if the dealer targeted clientele with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, i.e. paid placement on search but also utilized the power of boosting organic rankings. I have yet to hear of a Twitter campaign that resulted in that type of sales increase, although any online marketing tactic from email blasts to links into your site from Facebook can be tracked if your site is properly configured for Google Analytics. The lesson here is not to be blinded by the hype so that you replace your paid online advertising budget in your marketing plan with monies for social media efforts. Just have all your “fishing lures” working together and then use Google Analytics to gauge your plan’s total effectiveness based on online conversions, sales and in the case of some of our SEM clients, more foot traffic into stores.

And once you start thinking across sales channels, i.e. using the Web to drive traffic into stores and/or tracking traditional marketing success via vanity URLs, you enter into a league with best-in-class retailers who can access a single view of all customer data whether it comes from eCommerce, stores or call centers – everything is integrated in one database. Having this high level view paints a truer picture of brand engagement which will allow your company the opportunity to segment your multiple channel customers which are often your most valuable consumer group.

So don’t settle for tweets and chatter only, follow steps 1-2-3, focus on the right business decisions first and you’ll reap the financial rewards – contact Beacon to find out more about BeCommerce.NET, Google Analytics, email marketing campaigns and PPC.