Web Design in Winston-Salem by Matt Blalock » –

We’re full of ideas. Find your best idea.

Matt — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 07:30:06 +0000

Fellew Hackers: let’s manage and evaluate our business ideas.

Promotional Minisite

Matt — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:09:50 +0000

Presentation

A single front-page and slider mechanism was used to introduce visitors to the position available. The concept of a story or dialogue was the heart of the position.

Core

The core of the website is built using the WordPress CMS.

Data Collection

A data collection software, utilizing a MySQL database, to receive and sort resumes and cover letters.

Advanced Reporting

Detailed reporting tools we’re implemented for the adiministration side allowing team members to review and organize applicants.

The problem

A Winston-Salem based publishing company needed a highly flexible promotional website for intern recruitment. Flexibility and ease to update and make changes to the website was a major concern.

The solution

We were able to quickly put this website together, including all graphical elements, and begin promoting it. From the time we sat down to discuss the options and necessary pieces to the time the website was ready, we had spent less than six days and less than 150 man-hours. The client was ecstatic. The project was finished in half the time and 50% under budget. Maintaining an ongoing conversation with this client, I was able to understand everything she needed. The promotional mini-site was designed and built from the ground up using the WordPress CMS and jQuery. Other technologies employed for the project include: XHTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, and SSL.

Tools for Running a Small Business or Startup – Managing a Team

Matt — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:45:45 +0000

Managing a team in a small business can be a pain. You’ve got stuff to do, why waste your time making sure everyone’s doing the right thing? There are some great tools to help you manage those teams.

Assign tasks, manage projects, develop new ideas… here are some great tools to help you do that… for very reasonable costs.

Basecamp — Excellent (albeit basic) tool for working on a team or directing employees remotely. Now you can actually move to the beach and still be the boss! Pricing: $24/month

activeCollab — Many similar features to Basecamp, only it runs on your own server and you purchase rather than license it. Many big fans. Pricing: $249+.

clockingIT — Totally free. Can be a little confusing starting off, BUT! it has some very powerful time tracking tools built in. A great group chat and direct team messaging allows you to communicate instantly with everyone on your team.

MindMiester — Fantastic tool for “mind-mapping”. Dopy name, cool methodology. It helps you figure out and map ideas and plans. Think of it as a fancy white board with a fantastic memory. Pricing: Free for one user and 3 maps, $9/month for unlimited use.

WebOffice — Conduct online meetings, instant team monitoring, manage documents, a complete online office solution. Pricing from about $50/month for small teams.

Tools for Running a Small Business or Startup – Accounting and HR

Matt — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:19:27 +0000

The bain my my existence: accounting. There are hundreds of options out there, here are the best – I’ve used or tried them all at some point.

Teams I’m usually working with are small, so these tools are cheap and easy to use. Nothing fancy. Probably not the best tools for large organizations (50+ employees), but they are more than enough for small teams.

LiteAccounting — basic 5 invoice package is FREE! Pretty easy to use and for only $8/month you can customize invoices and your customer account login.

GoBootstrap — Helps you fill out forms, remember to pay estimated taxes, get the most deductions possible, generate graphs to see how your business is doing and more. Plus it’s totally free!

GoToBilling — An online application that manages invoices and payments, marketing, customer relationship management and quite a bit more.

PayCycle — A great tool for small business payroll. When compared to the cost of an Accountant or the time of doing it by hand yourself, totally worth it at $45/month.

paylocity — Online payroll, human resources, time tracking and tax services. Similar to PayCycle + time clocks and scheduling tools.

Pulse — Cash flow management app for small businesses. Excellent visual representation of your data.

Zoho Invoice — Manage invoices and payments, format invoices and quotes, set up recurring invoices, plus tons more. Pricing starts at FREE!

Zoho Recruit — Post jobs, accept resumes, and review applicants. Totally free for up to 5 openings! Very easy to use and quick to get started with.

Boosting conversion rates 45%

Matt — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:30:27 +0000

“In stock. Order by 1pm and it ships today!” Sounds great, right? Too bad, you’re wrong. It’s not that great. Well, we thought it was. Tests showed it did better than just saying “In Stock” – and we took that at face value. An improvement is an improvement, right?

“In stock. Usually ships in 24 hours.” Sounds lackluster, yeah? Well, wrong again. Changing “In stock. Order by 1pm and it ships today!” to ”In stock. Usually ships in 24 hours.” increased one eCommerce company’s website conversion rate by nearly 45%. Turns out, that’s what Amazon.com says too.

This phenomenon was immediately attributed to familiarity, but that is assuming that this company’s customers also shop at Amazon.com – I’m betting most of them don’t. Does it matter? Not really.

Simple changes sometimes make the biggest difference.

A Roundup of VPS Hosting

Matt — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:00:36 +0000

Web hosting is a tricky business – there are a many, many options out there designed to fit a wide range of needs, but like with most things, there are trade-offs.

Shared hosting is usually cheap, but the resources are limited and support more than lacking. Further, there are many security risks involved with shared hosting.

Dedicated servers are powerful and customizable, but a certain level of technical knowledge can be required to run them, depending on the hosting company you choose.

What happens, then, when your site is too big and gets too much traffic for a shared hosting plan, but doesn’t require the resources (or expenditure) of a dedicated server?

If you find yourself asking these questions, then you should look into VPS hosting.

Virtual private server (VPS) hosting is a flexible, scalable, and economical hosting solution that can fit the needs of almost any kind of website. It’s a perfect solution for those who have outgrown their shared hosting plans but don’t really need to move to a dedicated server. It can also be a perfect starting point, as well, as pricing usually begins at only $20 per month.

One thing to note before we dive in to examining the features and benefits of a VPS – the specs on a VPS vary widely from host to host. To see if a certain host offers a certain feature, make sure to ask the provider.

So What IS VPS, Anyway?

In answering this question, maybe it’s better to examine how VPS hosting fits in to the overall offerings of most hosting companies. Shared hosting is just that – your site is hosted on a computer with a bunch of other sites, and each of you share the same resources, including RAM, disk space, and CPU.

Your site uses what it needs if it’s available, and if it’s not – well, that’s the limitation of shared hosting. Likewise, a dedicated server is also self-explanatory – your site is the only one hosted on server, and you have all the aforementioned resources available at your beck and call.

Dedicated hosting is therefore for those large sites with big databases and lots of traffic, whereas the limitations of shared hosting’s usually prevent it from housing that kind of site. Dedicated servers are also relatively expensive, while one can get a shared hosting plan for under $10 per month.

A Look at VPS Resources

So that’s it, then – a VPS is ideal for most businesses, right? Well, yes…and no. A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a flexible solution that falls in between shared and dedicated hosting, not only in price but also in the way it functions.

Like a dedicated server, a site hosted on a VPS gets its own RAM and disk space; however, like a shared server, it uses the same processing capacity (CPU) as a certain number of other sites. So, while your site’s performance isn’t reliant on shared RAM and disk space, it is dependent on a shared processor. Moreover, the distribution of processor share varies from provider to provider.

Do I Need a VPS?

The answer to this question is a definitive “maybe.” Is a VPS for you? Shared hosting, well, you get what you pay for: not much. A dedicated server is probably overkill and a waste of money. Wasting money isn’t something I really suggest, but I do suggest you make sure your website is online all the time and a VPS is a great way to do that.

Where do I get a VPS?

Well then, now you’re probably convinced a VPS Small Business hosting is for you, who do you buy it from?

Slicehost - http://www.slicehost.com/ – from $20/month – I use it to host this website. It’s excellent.
Mediatemple – http://mediatemple.net/ – from $20/month – I’ve used it with clients, their support is fantastic and they’re great folks. I highly recommend them.
Linode – http://linode.com/ – From $39/month – An excellent host provider with very flexible solutions.

Modern Furniture Co.

Matt — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:43:30 +0000

Homepage

Designed and developed a homepage marketing campaign for Modern Furniture Co. of High Point, an online retailer of modern furniture.

Design

A 5 week homepage schedule for rotation each week promoting new brands Herman Miller and Risom as well as bringing attention to old best sellers.

Recycling

I provided the client with a reusable homepage template and instruction guide to save design costs at my own expense.

Response

Introduction of Herman Miller was a huge success. Initial sales blew away projections and sales of bestsellers increased by more than 5% through cross promotion.

Bath & Body E-mail Campaign

Matt — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:00:57 +0000

Emotion

Developed an emotional response Valentine’s e-mail campaign “Save the Bears”.

Design

Designed a series of direct e-mails supporting the campaign.

Speedy

Client came to me in mid-January seeking designs for a month long campaign leading to Valentine’s Day. Designs we’re e-mail ready in 3 days.

Response

Campaign averaged a 13% click rate and a 76% open rate – the company’s most successful campaign ever.

The problem

The company’s name has been witheld at their request. Bath&Body needed a new designer to develop e-mail campaigns for their Valentine’s Day specials.

Over 40% of their annual sales are in January and February – so it was no time to experiment. Their designer left without notice and they we’re left in the dark.

The solution

I developed the entire campaign “Save the Bears” in less than two days and implemented the campaign in one day (albeit, an all-nighter). A series of 10 e-mails we’re designed and deployed for the campaign all featuring the lovely Bathe Bear. The idea was to promote early purchasing and speedy delivery in time for Valentine’s Day.

The campaign maintained a solid 13% click rate – the company’s highest in more than two years! The campiagn was a wild success. The company is now in the processing of developing the Bathe Bear as a company mascot to be given away during 2011′s Valentine’s Day with high-value orders.

The 10 e-mails and associated graphics we’re developed in Fireworks CS3, Illustrator CS3, and Photoshop CS3. HTML was prepared using Fireworks and Coda in XHTML and inline CSS. All e-mails we’re tested in over 40 e-mail inboxes and passed with 100% cross-browser and e-mail support.

Tickle Affiliate Program

Matt — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:05:43 +0000

Security

Considering the wealth of information available, security was taken very seriously. High level SSL certificates were used.

Website

A powerful software application was customized and implemented for local eCommerce company for a commission based referral program.

Economical

Developed on the economical Post Affiliate Pro platform, the entire project was far under budget.

Advanced Reporting

Detailed reporting tools we’re implemented for both merchants and affiliates enabling users to quickly analyze revenues and costs.

The problem

Tickle, a Winston-Salem based eCommerce company needed a highly customized affiliate program software application to track affiliate leads, sales, and issue automatic affiliate payments.

Security was a prime concern as daily transactions can be high in volume and value. Advanced technologies were needed to prevent security breaches and fraud.

The solution

Upon determining the needs of the program, I researched and developed a solution based on the powerful affiliate software Post Affiliate Pro 4. I knew security and fraud prevention were essential, so I prepared a high ranking SSL certificate for use on the entire website.

There were several features not already included with the software application, which I developed and implemented, including some advanced URL rewriting technology for URL disguising, more advanced merchant and affiliate reporting tools, and and automatic affiliate payment system through PayPal.

The promotional mini-site was designed and built from the ground up using the Smarty template engine and jQuery. Other technologies employed for the project include: XHTML, CSS, Perl, XML, PHP, MySQL, and SSL.

Vewd.org

Matt — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:39:42 +0000

Identity

The brand’s total identity was planned and developed over a period of about 5 weeks. A bright orange and a simple gray were selected as the brand’s colors.

Website

The website promotes documentary photography and publishes industry news in a magazine format. Advanced advertising modules we’re integrated for targeted user advertising.

Advanced User Area

It was determined that a software was necessary to economically accept submissions for publication – one was developed in PHP and MySQL.

Platform

The website was too large to be accommodated on WordPress, my preferred platform, Expression Engine was used instead. It is a powerful CMS for large websites.

The problem

I felt the circle of people who are responsible for exploring and representing the entire world’s perspective was too narrow. Vewd aspires to broaden and diversify this circle by bringing in new names, ideologies, and ways of capturing and sharing the world we witness- and are a part of.

The solution

This was the biggest project I undertook. The project took more than 500 hours of work over a period of nearly 6 months to develop. A custom Expression Engine platform was utilized for easy updates and allow for complete control.

I developed custom Flash galleries to accommodate the beautiful photos as well as protect the photographers’ copyrights.
We developed a professional and simple method for accepting online submissions of work with a custom PHP/MySQL application.
The entire website and media is developed and maintained in a “cloud” platform for speed and reliability.
Advanced SEO techniques we’re utilized to get the magazine to the top of Google.

Visit the Site

Click Here

Results

Today, nearly two years later, the magazine is well-regarded in the documentary photography community. It ranks very well in Google – 5th for “documentary photography” and first for “documentary photography magazine”. It regularly has a PageRank of 4 or higher.

The magazine has been featured in online design magazines, blogs, communities, as well as mentioned in Newsweek, The New York Times and National Geographic.