Acclaimed Web Development & Online Marketing Blog

Content management systems are quickly becoming a necessity for medium-sized and large businesses.  Small businesses with basic websites can still get away with paying for maintenance, but larger companies need more maintenance and need to rely on employees, such as office managers, secretaries and receptionists to do some of the basic maintenance.  They also need to be able to strictly enforce website standards among all their sites and pages on those sites.  The easier way to do that is to use templates within a content management system because a good cms will not allow basic users to change the websites look and feel (the templates), but it will allow them to update the content.

Some of the content management systems you may have heard about are Drupal, Geeklog, Joomla 1.5, Mambo, PHP-Nuke, phpWCMS, phpWebSite, Siteframe, TYPO3, Xoops and Zikula.  Those content management systems are open source, so they are free to use if you know how to install and customize them.

Evaluating Content Management Systems

These points will help you evaluate cms and decide which one is right for your business.

1. Support
In our opinion, this is the most important factor in deciding between content management systems.  Not all open source applications are widely used or supported.  Is there are website for the cms?  Does it contain a knowledge base and support forums?  Is the support up-to-date?  Are their new releases and bug fixes made available to the public on a regular basis?

2. Add-on, Plugins and/or Modules
What kind of extensions are available for the cms?  If it doesn’t come with all the features you need, will it be easy to upgrade in the future without having to hire a programmer to custom code changes to the software?

3. How widely used and accepted is the software?
Are there tons of articles when you search google for that cms or are articles on the cms “few and far between”?  If not a lot of people are using the cms, there is either one of two reasons – either the system is so new you might want to wait for others to test it and for some of the early bugs to be worked out or no one is using it for a good reason – either it has a lot of bugs, it doesn’t have great support or there are just better cms out there.

4. How often are the same old bugs being found without any real solutions?
For example, our experience with php-nuke is that when it has errors in the code it produces blank pages because the code simply stop without finishing loading.  Php-nuke 8.1 is the newest release and it’s still producing blank pages without good error messages to tell you what the underlying issues might be.  Do your research or have your web developer do it for you.  There are loads of articles in google about blank pages in php-nuke.  Php-nuke also seems to have sketchy support, so it is not our cms of choice and not the one we recommend to customers.

5. Have security issues been reported?
Do your research or ask your web developer about reported security issues?  The last thing you want is a cms that isn’t secure or has security holes.  If there is a specific security hole in a piece of software and there is no patch to fix it, your web developer more than likely can not fix it and having an SSL certificate will not fix it either.

Our Pick

For our money, Joomla, Drupal and Zikula have the best support, a huge variety of great extensions and are the easiest to use, but do your own research and follow the advise of your web developer.

Acclaimed Web Development & Online Marketing offers all of these content management systems, as well as, custom-designed content management systems that are offered to larger businesses with a bigger budget and special business needs.  Contact us for a free presentation!

Request a quote to get started today!

Website applications are a necessity in today’s world.  Hotel and resort websites need to have a booking engine.  Real estate agents and realtors need to have real estate listings on their websites.  Non-profit organizations need to have ways to collect donations and sell merchandise to help their cause.  Other applications can help facilitate communication and add functionality and features to websites, such as

• Online Auctions
• Classifieds
• Discussion Boards
• Photo Galleries
• Polls & Surveys
• Calendars
• Mailing Lists
• Advertising Banner Systems
• Links Directories
• Live chat

Other online applications can be used internally, as part of a company intranet or a password-protected, membership-only website to help improve project management, customer relationship management, documentation and support.  These applications can make sure businesses run more smoothly and give you a way to make money online if you password protect an online product that consumers would be willing to pay for.  Some examples of website applications that can be used internally by businesses are :

• Project Management Applications like dotProject
• Wikis for documentation
• Online Course Software like Moodle
• Support Ticket Systems like osTicket and PHP Support Tickets
• Online Help Desk Systems like Help Center Live and PerlDesk

Having an online project management system that all employees can log in to with their own username and password can change the way you do business.  For service companies this can be a great way to make sure everyone knows what is expected of them and when and does their part.  Wikis are becoming a great way to put documentation online and allow more than one employee to contribute.  This makes it easier to transition to new system and between employees.  Online courses and support and help desk systems can be used to provide support to employees or clients and customers to make life a lot easier for businesses that have a lot of support issues. Certainly software and hosting companies have already been taking advantage of these applications for years, but they can be useful in any service industry.

Of course, there are also the basic e-commerce shopping cart applications that every retail website should have and content management systems that are becoming a mainstay for every business.  Content management systems (cms) are fast becoming a business necessity because they relieve the average business of having to outsource website maintenance or pay for employee training and higher wages.  A content management system makes it possible for any Internet-savvy employee to update the website.

Acclaimed Web Development & Online Marketing offers all of these website applications and more.  We offer content management systems that range from less-expensive, open source applications, such as Joomla, Drupal and php-nuke to more customized systems for our larger clients that include customized programming and database development to handle their unique business needs.

Request a quote to get started today!

Promoting your website through social media marketing can be a lot of work.  It’s no wonder that many companies outsource the job, but if you are just starting out or have a small budget you can still promote your company using social media marketing. These are the steps you can take to become your own social media expert.

1. Content
The best way to promote yourself online is to provide interesting, original and informative content. It’s important for search engine optimization and email list subscribers. It’s also important in social media marketing. You have nothing to market without original content. A blog is a great way to continually add value-added content in a meaningful way for the search engines and for returning visitors.  A blog gives you something to talk about on search media marketing sites too.

2. Create a facebook page
Create a page for your business on facebook. Facebook pages can be promoted with an ad on facebook. Make sure you put information on your page to make it interesting.  As an example, here is a link to Acclaimed Web Development & Online Marketing’s facebook page: http://cli.gs/9TsTt7

3. Setup a Twitter profile for your business
Setup a Twitter profile in your business’s name or in your name so you can become known in your industry.    Follow people who are exports in your industry.  Here is an example: http://twitter.com/acclaimedwebdev

4. Post updates to your facebook page, twitter and bookmarking sites
Post updates for your fans and for the search engines by posting at least once daily to facebook, your twitter account and to bookmarking sites such as digg, Delicious, Stumbleupon and others.

5. Create a linkedin profile for you and your business
Create a linkedin profile to show off your skills with other professionals and network online with old clients and co-workers.  One of the extra benefits of linkedin is the ability to use your company profile to market yourself to potential, new employees.

6. Use groups on facebook and linkedin
Use groups to share information with other in your industry and find new customers by starting and joining groups that would be of interest to your target audience.

Social media marketing, much like email marketing, is a great way to keep your message fresh and new and in front of your customers and potential customers on a daily basis.  Your facebook fans will see all you updates on their facebook homepage on a daily bases, so you are only limited by the interesting and relevant information you have to share with them. While customers can get annoyed with receiving marketing emails from you on a daily basis.  A status message on facebook or twitter is much less intrusive as long as it is interesting and informative.

If you’re not sure how to get started or feel it’s just too much work for you to do on your own, Acclaimed Web Development & Online Marketing offers professional social media management services.  Request a quote to get started today!

I’m still surprised by the number of small businesses today that still don’t have a website. A recent research study released two days ago from the UK showed that 46% of Britain’s small businesses are still without a website. Even more alarming is that 47% of firms that were still off-line believed that a website could NOT benefit their business. This errant thinking was in direct contrast with a further study that showed that 80% of similar businesses with websites gain revenue from those sites.

It feels a lot like the whole ostrich/sand analogy. I’m not sure how companies of any size these days can justify not having an online presence. Even without going as far as eCommerce applications or social media marketing, having a website seems to be the most elementary of requirements for doing business these days.

Having a small brochure-type website truly is better than having no website at all.  If you aren’t on the web, potential customers are currently using your competition because they can’t remember you phone number or email address and they can’t find your non-existent website.  Social media marketing has quickly become another alternative to having your own website.  Facebook, for example, is a great way to connect with customers and potential customers and allow them to share your message with their friends.  Retaurants, retailers and many other businesses are now using facebook to keep their message current and in front of customers.

Phone books are very quickly being completely replaced by internet searches.  Without an online presence, many customers will never be able to find out.  Do you feel like websites just don’t work in your industry? Have you had a website that just didn’t work and you’re fearful of trying again?  A basic website should be a part of every companies successful marketing plan, but having a website is not enough.  You have to use internet marketing to put your website in from of potential customers.  That includes, not only social media marketing, but email marketing and search engine optimization and paid search marketing.

Acclaimed Web Development & Online Marketing can help you develop and brand your new website and marketing it on the internet and bring targeted traffic to your website.  We can also design print marketing materials to advertise your business.  Request a quote to get started today!

I have a confession to make. I love free apps for my iPhone! I hate paying even $0.99 for iPhone apps because there are so many great free ones out there. I’ve been doing some research to find the best free twitter iPhone apps and these are the five that I think everyone should have.

1. Twittelator

   Twittelator is the best all-around free twitter app I’ve found for the iPhone.  It allows you to do custom searches and it saves the search each time you do a new search. It gives you quite a few different categories of tweets to browse, which Twittelator calls Groups, including featured Tweets, your own tweets, friends’ tweets, everyone’s tweets, favorites and more.  It gives you twitter profiles with stats too.You can not only use follow, unfollow and favorites from this app, but you can also bookmark twitter accounts that you aren’t sure you want to follow but you want to be able to find again.  The one thing it seems you can not do easily is retweet.

   According to the info icon in the free version of Twittelator, Twittelator Pro has even more features for those of you that don’t mind shelling out a few pecos.  Pro gives you the ability to use dingbats and upload your location and search nearby.  The most important feature is that it allows you to control multiple twitter accounts on your iphone.  It also allows you to email and retweet tweets unlike the free version. Twittelator Pro is $4.99 in the iTunes app store.

2. Twitterfon

   Twitterfon has a simpler interface than Twittelator and not quite as many Groups of tweets to read, but it does have a lot of the features you would look for in an all-around Twitter app.  The tabs available in Twitterfon are:

   • Friends – To read the tweets of the people you follow
   • Replies – To read tweets that are public replies to you and include @yourtwitterusername in them
   • Messages – To read your direct messages
   • Favorites – To read tweets you’ve marked as favorites
   • Search – Twitterfon includes a nice basic search that allows you to search for terms of interest.

   All of the above tabs let you know when you have more messages.  The best part about Twitterfon is that once you click on a tweet you are given a lot of options.  You can reply, favorite, retweet or visit the included link in the programs built-in browser.  You also have the options to see the tweeter’s profile and stats, follow them or unfollow them and see their public timeline.  These are actually the features that may make Twitterfon a better Twitter app than Twittelator.

3. Retweet

   Retweet is just exactly what the name suggests.  It is an app to see tweets that have been retweeted and retweet them yourself.  It keeps a count of the number of times a tweet has been retweeted too.  It allows you to see tweets from the last 30 minutes, 3 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours.Cons – Retweet doesn’t have a lot of added functionality which does make for a very simple interface, but some of the lacking features stand out as things I really need to have when using this app, like the lack of ability to favorite a tweet that’s been retweeted.  Maybe I would like to come back to a tweet, but I don’t think it would be of interest to everyone.  Instead, if you want to come back to a tweet you find in this app you almost have to retweet it, so you can find it again in your own updates.  I would just suggest being careful when using this app so you don’t overload your followers with retweets.

   Pros – It is a very helpful app for finding materials that others have found interesting enough to retweet and materials you want to share with your followers.

4. TwitterTrend

   TwitterTrend is an app that finds the hot, rising and emerging trends on twitter. Right now, it is telling me that Adam Lambert and American Idol are hot, iPhone app is rising, and “consumer prices fall” is emerging. Here is what Twittertrend says about it’s algorithm:

   • Hot: Most popular topics in the last 24 hours
   • Rising: Fastest rising topics in the last few hours
   • Emerging: New topics just emerging in the last few hours

   This is a great app for finding out what people are talking about on twitter.  Using this tool allows you to make sure your tweets or blog posts are relavant to current events.

5. Twitterlink

   This is a pretty cool little app once you figure out how to use it. You install it on your iPhone then create a javascript bookmark to this app in safari on the iphone. Then, it allows you to find sites you want to tweet in safari and launch them from your Twitterlink bookmark. The cool part is it automatically gives you a short URL to tweet.  This twitter app has only one function, but it is an important function and it does it well.

Other apps you should be using with Twitter:

1. ShoutNow - Put your voice messages on twitter as a link.
2. pic.im – use this tool to tweet pictures you have on your iPhone.

Are there any other twitter iPhone apps you’d recommend?  Let us know by posting a comment.

One of the most important aspects of setting up a website for many companies is making sure they get a professional-looking, consistent design for their website. In house print graphic designers are often unfamiliar with how to design for the web. Who do you trust to create a professional website for your brand, especially if you’re setting up your first site or your redesign with a small budget?

What if you could search through hundreds of websites and pick the perfect layout knowing the colors and images could be changed to match your company’s colors and branding? Maybe you know exactly what the site should look like, but you’re having trouble describing it to others or maybe you have no idea what the layout should look like but you’ll know it when you see it. Looking through a gallery of templates might just be the perfect place to find what you are looking for in a new website design.

Acclaimed Web Development & Online Marketing offers hundreds of pre-made photoshop templates and themes to choose from. Among our professional website templates are corporate identity templates, WordPress themes, logo templates and icon sets. For content management systems, we have joomla templates, mambo tempates, php-nuke templates and drupal templates. We offer professional shopping cart templates for oscommerce, zencart, magento and CRE loaded.  We also offer flash website templates and flash intro templates.

There are many benefits to using a pre-made template.  Among them is receiving all of the development files and having to ability to setup a professional website yourself if you have the necessary Adobe software to edit the photoshop and flash files.  Another benefit is the ability to get a website completed and launched faster than if you were to have a website custom designed.

Once you purchase a template you like, request a quote to have us customize the entire template for you including logos and other images and all the colors and text. If you prefer a package that includes your own domain name, hosting, email and a shopping cart, blog or static site with maintenance services, order now.

Has your site been up and running for a few years and now it’s looking a little old and in need of a fresh look? Have sales or donations started to dwindle and now you’re wondering why your website is no longer converting visitors into buyers? Maybe your site needs a website review from a professional.

A website review includes design, usability and accessibility reviews, as well as, an on-page search engine optimization review from a third-party web design company. A review of an e-commerce site should include going all the way through the shopping cart checkout process and making recommendations about how to make the buying process as little work as possible for the buyer.

Your Intended Audience

A website review should be done with your intended audience in mind, whether they are buyers, students, sponsors or researchers. We will also look at whether your intended audience is mostly made up of a specific gender, where they live, income and any other factors that you know to be specific to the majority of your audience.

Acclaimed Web Development & Online Marketing can do a free website review of your existing website and send you the results within three business days.  We can also make suggestions about how you can start marketing your website online or improve and enhance your existing internet marketing efforts.  Contact us for more information. Acclaimed Web Development & Online Marketing will be here if you need help making the recommended changes, redesigning your website or improving your Internet Marketing programs.

I am a big believer in multi-channel marketing. I have always said market your products and services online and in print and if appropriate, radio, television, bill boards, etc., but now I believe there are so many ways to market yourself online that the phrase Multi-channel Internet Marketing is what we are going to be hearing more about in the future.

Nothing beats being number one on the first SERPs (search engine results pages) for the phrases your customers are searching for, but search engine optimization is supplemented and even improved by having a complimentary paid search engine marketing campaign and vice versa.

Email marketing is another way to keep prospects “on the hook” and customers coming back to your site. It’s a great supplement to other forms of internet marketing because it does what no other form of internet marketing can do. It allows you to not only target customers, but allows your customers and prospects to ask for your advertisements and opt-out if they are no longer interested. If your customers can get your advertisements in the form they want them, at a time when they are most likely to read them and only as often as they want them, they are more likely to look at your advertisements and remember them when they need your products or services.

The newest addition to our arsenal of internet marketing services is social media marketing.  Marketing on social media sites can allow you to reach millions of customers through sites like Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Delicious and Linkedin.  Posting your messages on these sites allows your follows to repost your content allowing you to get a lot more links to your website and blog, so social media marketing has search engine optimization benefits as well.

In marketing, one of the most important pieces of advice I can give is to always keep your company name and your brand in front of people’s faces.  All the methods of internet marketing can be used together to show that your company is well-established and experts in your field.

Social media marketing and blogging can take up most of an internet marketers time.  I’ve been doing some research lately to find tools to make social media networking and blogging more efficient, less time consuming and more fun.  I just wanted to tell you about Five Tools I’ve found that I think are awesome.

1.  WordPress for iPhone Application
I’ve seen some sad excuses for iPhone Apps when it comes to trying to find anything that will actually help you be productive away from your PC or laptop, but this tool looks like it’s going to be a winner.  It allows you to add multiple blogs, see as many of your recent posts as you want, edit local drafts and post right from your iPhone.  I’m so excited about finding this app.

2. Blog Carnival Submitter
I just found out about blog carnivals and then I found out about this tool that’s only $27 and lets you post your blog to as many blog carnivals as you can find for your industry.  This is a new product, but so far it looks promising.  Check it out:

http://www.blogcarnivalsubmitter.com

3. Setup your own facebook blog application with Blogfuse.com
This site is a tool for creating your own facebook application for your blog.  It’s an interesting way to potentially get your blog out in front of 60 million people.  Of course, you first have to get nine of your friends (you make ten) to install the application on their facebook, so you can submit it to the Facebook Application Directory.  You can also promote your application with an ad on facebook.

4. Ping.fm
I use this site to update all of my social networks at once.  I’ve actually signed up for more social networks because I handle them all through this easy to use website.

5. Firefox Shareaholic Add-on
This Firefox Add-on makes it really easy to share anything you find on the internet.  The best part is it takes up very little space in your existing address bar rather than adding yet another toolbar to the top of your browser window.  Download the shareaholic firefox add-on now.

What happens if you get traffic to your site, but visitors aren’t converting to buyers?

It may be time to consider whether your website has usability issues and do some testing.  Usability testing is something that can be done and should be done on all websites, especially if you find that a large percentage of customers are leaving your site at the same stage of the buying process.  It may be that they are all leaving from the homepage because they can not find what they are looking for or there may be leaving at a certain step in your shopping cart that is causing them concern or confusing them.

At the very least basic A/b testing should be done.  A/b or split testing is testing changes in one variable against the control or starting variable.  Multivariate testing or multi-variable testing is testing of more than one component of a website.  Multivariate testing is recommended over a/b testing for testing a live, fully-functional website, but both types of usability testing can be useful and help eliminate detrimental usability issues.

Google Analytics is a free website statistics program that comes with Google Optimizer.  Google Optimizer is an inexpensive way to tset your website.  If you need help with your usability testing, we will be happy to do it for you.