Posts Tagged ‘Web Development’

When it comes to presentations and/or teaching, what is your favorite type or method? I’ve set through many a conference, client presentation, seminar, training session and other teaching experiences. Over the years, I’ve been the presenter/teacher lots of times; and one thing I have come to learn is that my least favorite of these experiences is sitting in room filled with people and listening to a monologue about the topic at hand.

So now, I often dread client presentations. Not because I don’t like being a presenter and feel that I am not good at it; on the contrary, I am quite comfortable standing in front of a crowd. What I dread about client presentations is that moment after you’ve presented everything and you’re awaiting their response. Did you nail it? Will the client be able to think as the customer, not as themselves? Do they agree that you know exactly how to take their product to the masses? Read the rest of this entry »

It is inevitable that I end up explaining the evolution of the web several times a week. Whether with clients, prospects, peers, family or friends, the web and social media have hit a point of intersection where advertisers and consumers are now in the same dialog. Even Googling and facebooking are terms my seven year old uses regularly.

In times past, the “mother-in-law test” as I called it (no offense, Grandma C.), was a litmus test to determine how simple an idea was. I would just ask, “Would your mother-in-law get that idea?” If the answer was “No.”, then the concept was either bad or overcomplicated. Well, here is my “mother-in-law test” for the state of marketing on the web today, so tell me if I have passed my own test. Read the rest of this entry »

I have to admit…I’m in love with Wordpress. I could probably be classified as addicted. Anyway, WordPress has been awarded the Overall Best Open Source CMS Award in the 2009 Open Source CMS Awards. Wordpress has been widely recognized as the best blogging tool for a while.  Great to see it win this award for its CMS capabilities too.

Check it out: http://wordpress.org/development/2009/11/wordpress-wins-cms-award/

Good thing inbound marketing and social media have no selling season.

As the holiday season approaches, the prime selling season for real estate and many other industries is winding down. Now that your Fall marketing push is coming to a close, it seems natural to take it easy in December and January with your traditional outbound marketing efforts. But what about your inbound marketing efforts?  Fewer prospects may be showing up at your sales office during the winter months, but it doesn’t mean they are not doing their homework online. If a prospect visits your Website, you’d better look alive if you want to be on their short list for consideration.

Here are some things you can do to “Winterize” your website and maximize your opportunities online to be in good shape when the selling season rolls back around next Spring. Read the rest of this entry »

Considering a new website for your real estate company? Or any other industry for that matter. Wordpress is an open source application you should definitely check out. Wordpress was originally designed to be a simple blogging tool but it keeps getting better and better. Hundreds of companies are now using Wordpress as a content management system (CMS) to power their entire Website. Some of the awesome benefits of using Wordpress for your blog or as a CMS are its cost (it’s free), ease of use, SEO friendliness, online community support and all the free plugins that allow you to easily customize and add enhancements to your site.

Whether you are a developer of a private community or specialize in general brokerage, there are plenty of great plugins that can really help your Wordpress Website.

Here is a list of 20 plugins we install on many of the sites we design for clients. Try them out and let me know if you have any questions about any of them. Read the rest of this entry »

In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, I remember the days of cold calling companies to offer Web site design.  The question was “do you have a Web site?” Many small businesses did not. Even if they did, many had no clue how to get to their site. If they could actually give me their Web address, I would often find their “site” was a directory listing page they shared with all their local competitors. True story. The call often ended with them telling me they didn’t need a Web site. And maybe they didn’t. Then, anyway.

These days, everybody knows they need a Web site and most companies have one. But they don’t always know how to get the most out of it. In other words they may have a Web site, but it may not work very well. Read the rest of this entry »

Web Hosting. Data Transfer. Disk Space. DNS. IP Address. PHP. ASP. Database. Open-Source. cPanel. Bandwidth. SSL. HTTP. Javascript. C+/++. Email…

Help! Most of us could care less about all the tech jargon. Just give me a Web site that works…right? Well, you have to understand that Web site design and Web hosting are two totally different services. But in order to have a Web site you must first choose a hosting plan. It seems like it should be a simple process. There should be a standard…an easy choice…a perfect fit. Right? Nope. Not really. Read the rest of this entry »

Interesting question. Our standard answer is “it depends.” Simply because there’s no such thing as a standard Web site. For example, building a Web site is a lot like building a house (of course we had to use a real estate metaphor).  Are you talking basic necessities, four walls and roof?  Or a McMansion to be showcased on the next episode of cribs?  Two-bedroom, one-bath starter?  Or mud rooms and master suites?

Web sites are a complex blend of strategy, content, aesthetic and technology.  And everyone’s needs and desires differ. So to assist in the process we have developed a few basic scenarios, or floorplans, as we like to call them. All of which come with an open source Content Management System, or CMS, that is yours rather than ours.  Nothing proprietary here.
Read the rest of this entry »

After 13 years of involvement with all aspects of marketing and web development, it seems the three-legged stool of Web development is getting a lot less wobbly and consumer habits, client needs and agency services seem to be far more in sync.  Until the last 12-18 months, it always seemed that getting all three of these constituents aligned was difficult because everyone had competing agendas. Agencies wanted portfolio work, consumer habits were still segmented by demographics, and clients were confused.  Enter social media.

Not that social media has fundamentally changed everything but it is a pink elephant in the room that got all three parties staring at the same thing. And if you look at what it has done, it has created two expectations from consumers that have forced the hands of clients and their agencies: transparency and real-time content.

So with the tighter budgets that most marketing managers are facing today, it seems that every call we get leads to a discussion on improving the user functionality, management capability, and ROI of their online efforts.

Here are 5 things that we are doing that clients seem to be responding great to these days. Read the rest of this entry »