Wow, it has been almost 10 months since the last post!  I'd love to update this blog every day (or even every week or month) but obviously things have been busy around here.  Here's an update on some of our recent projects:

Just Roughin' It  
http://www.justroughinit.com
Just Roughin' It is an adventure company located in Chandler, AZ.  Their expertise is planning awesome adventure trips and they needed a website refresh to keep up with their growing business.  We revamped the design and moved them on to the ExpressionEngine CMS to allow much more flexibility in their booking process.  Using the Structure module, they're now able to quickly manage their content which has saved them tons of time (and relieved many headaches).  They're a great company so if you're looking for a trip to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Olympic or Arizona, give them a shout and tell them we sent you.

Project Talent
http://www.projecttalent.org
Project Talent is a national longitudinal study that first surveyed students back in 1960.  The purpose of the website redesign was to reconnect with past participants for a follow-up study.  Once again, we used ExpressionEngine to facilitate the participant registrations as well as managing the content within the site.  The site has been a huge success with well over 500 participants registering in less than three months and more registering every day.  We partnered with Dreamten Studios for this project.

Medical Society of Northern Virgina
http://www.msnva.org
We were enlisted once again by Dreamten Studios to build the MSNVA website on ExpressionEngine.  At the core of this project was the MSNVA member registration and members only section.  We also created a jQuery calendar that interfaces with their events calendar in the admin section to create an easy to navigate MSNVA Calendar.

Pure Gear
http://www.pure-gear.com
Our friends at the Kitchen Collaborative hired us to implement a new website design into an existing Magento site as well as creating a blog that runs on, you guessed it, ExpressionEngine.  We were able to create an interface in which they could manage the homepage javascript slider on the Pure Gear shop from Expression Engine, allowing them to update content in a more user friendly environment than the Magento CMS.  Making stuff like this happen is why we have worked with the Kitchen Collaborative for years.

National Mentoring Partnership
http://www.mentoring.org
The National Mentoring Partnership has been a long time client and some great friends.  They recently had their website redesigned and we worked closely with them to upgrade their CMS from a custom solution to ExpressionEngine utilizing the usual suspect add-ons such as Playa, Matrix and Structure.  Our work with Mentor (as we call them) is never over and we look  forward to helping them refresh more of their web properties later this year.

So that's a taste of what has been going on around here the past 10 months.  I'm going to make an effort to keep this blog up to date with company news as well as marketing and business insights and tips.

As a small business owner, what you do outside of the office is as important as what you do in the office.  This year I decided to step up my game and participate in the 5th Annual Nation’s Triathlon To Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in Washington, DC.  This was my first triathlon but certainly won’t be my last.

Great people?  Check!  Flawless process?  Check!  Ok, so you should be set, right?  Maybe not.  Think about the bigger picture for a minute.  What is it you’re trying to accomplish with your online presence?  Not to be confused with presents, which are great (feel free to send us some, we’re partial to chocolate and gadgets), but we’re not talking about that here.  If you put a lot of thought into selecting your people and establishing your process, this question should already be answered.

So now that you have the right people in place, you want to start thinking about your process.  One of the biggest complaints we hear from clients is, “We have a facebook page, but nobody ever updates it.”  From end users we hear, “I tweeted about ABC Widget company and they responded three weeks later!”  These tools are only useful when used consistently and correctly!  So establish a good process, one that is reasonable to follow, and get that great person on it.

Online marketing is the hot topic these days, with agencies shouting to tell you how they can get you set up with Twitter, Facebook, Four Square and the rest.  For some companies, the rush to keep up with the latest trends has them overlooking some of the basics that are crucial to successfully market your product or service.  Don’t get me wrong, it is important to integrate these trends into your overall strategy, but make sure that foundation is solid first.

When people think about the iPad, one of two thoughts usually comes to mind… “This thing is a game changer” or “What’s the point?  Why do I need a supersized iPhone”.  Unfortunately I’ve been feeling a bit on the latter since the release.  The iPad is certainly interesting but I am yet to be convinced of how it can be used productively… until today.

If you didn’t already guess it from the name, or the color scheme, we’re a little bit tree-huggerish over here.  Not the ‘chaining ourselves to the tree’ type, just the ‘eco-friendly, so we can sleep at night’ types.  So we put together a quick list of 7 ways we go green, without spending lots of green.  Try a few out if you like, and share any gems you have in the comments.  After all, who doesn’t like to feel good and save money?