Tuggle’s has been in business in Rome since 1990, and in that time has moved from a primarily brick-and-mortar operation to selling almost exclusively online. Most of those sales were coming from eBay, however, and the store owner wanted to sell directly to customers.

Using the popular open-source shopping cart system Magento, we were able to implement a functional, easy-to-use, secure store without breaking the bank.

Here are some of the features we incorporated into the Tuggle’s web store:

• Large, eye-catching photos on the home page that show what’s possible with wallpaper
• Featured products feed on the home page
• Shop by category, price or manufacturer
• Volume discounts for customers purchasing a large number of a particular item
• Display how many of each item are in stock
• Show both the MSRP and Tuggle’s lower prices
• Multiple photos for each item in the store

After we set up the design and functionality of the store, the Tuggle’s staff has been busy adding new products, including wallpaper, murals and decals. So head over to Tuggles.com if you need to spruce up your walls!

We’re pleased to announce we have launched the new Bussey’s site, and we couldn’t be happier with the results.

The first step was the design process, which really was a collaborative effort with Mr. Bussey. Here’s what he wanted:

• A rich design that evoked earthiness and nature
• Colors to match his brand, which is brown and green
• A focus on fresh flower sales
• Easy access to information about wedding flowers
• A prominent place to spotlight sympathy and funeral flowers

After we settled on a design, it was time to start building the store. Since Bussey’s was already selling online with the national flower brand, the client understood how to use e-commerce. But there were some special considerations unique to the floral industry we had to take into account. Here’s a rundown of some of the features of the Bussey’s online flower store:

• Shop by occasion, type and price
• Ability to specify delivery date and add a card message
• Choose standard, deluxe and premium versions of floral arrangements
• Offer storewide coupons, or coupons on specific products or categories
• Home page banners to highlight holiday flowers
• Wish lists and wedding registries
• Address book so customers can easily save addresses of those they often send flowers to
• Powerful reports and analytics for site administrators
• Secure payment processing

Soon after launching, Bussey’s was able to shut down their previous template-based website and switch to using the new site exclusively, and had great success offering a 20% off coupon on Thanksgiving flowers.

If you need flowers to mark a special occasion or send your condolences, or if you’re looking for a great local provider of wedding and bridal flowers, check out the new Bussey’s Flowers, Gifts & Decor website.

• Device recognition. Accessing the site is simple. Thanks to device recognition, there’s no need for bank customers to memorize a separate web address. In addition, we designed the mobile version of the site to be visually appealing and functional, whether it is accessed from an Android phone, a Blackberry, or an iPhone.
• Concise, drop-down menus. Mobile users can access any portion of the site from Personal Banking to Investment Services in a single window. This cuts down on load times and keeps you in the same browser window, eliminating the need for constantly going back and forth between windows.
• Quick contact information. We also added the ability to call River City Bank right from the webpage. Rather than searching through an entire menu for contact information, it’s right there at your fingertips.
• Custom Design. Our designer expanded on the same theme of the web version, giving the mobile site continuity and reinforcing the bank’s brand image.

Dr. Lavonne K. Fore is one of Rome, Ga.’s most popular orthodontists. As tech geeks, we were impressed by her state-of-the-art practice on North Fourth Avenue. Did you know Fore Orthodontics uses a fingerprint sign-in system? Or that patients can play video games while they wait? It was clear after visiting Dr. Fore’s office that her website should be as fun and modern as she is.

The website we created for Dr. Fore is bright and cheerful, in shades of blue that complement the newly-updated Fore Orthodontics logo. The design focuses on letting prospective patients know why they should choose Fore Orthodontics, while also making it easy to find resources about orthodontic treatment. From the front page of the website, it’s easy to learn about Dr. Fore’s qualifications, see examples of common bite problems and read about treatment options for everyone from kids to adults.

After the design was complete, we optimized the site for search engines, so Dr. Fore will appear as high as possible in search results from sites such as Google and Bing.

But our work with Fore Orthodontics wasn’t limited just to forebraces.com. We also helped them launch a YouTube channel, where they have been busy adding videos of their patients talking about their braces. We customized the Fore Orthodontics YouTube page, got them started by uploading some videos and taught the staff how to add videos and optimize their tags and descriptions to be easily searchable. In the short time the page has been active, it has gotten nearly 2,000 video views.

The patient testimonial video on the Fore YouTube channel was created by SAI Digital, with music and title screens. We edited lots of footage of patient interviews to best highlight why patients should choose Fore Orthodontics.

On the other side of the social media realm, we created custom tabs on the Fore Orthodontics Facebook page. Dr. Fore and her staff were already active on Facebook, but they wanted to include information about the practice for those not familiar with them. Now, when non-fans visit Facebook.com/ForeOrthodontics, they see a custom page that explains the benefits of Dr. Fore’s practice, along with contact information and easy access to a map to the office. Other tabs we created include a before and after photo slideshow of several Fore Orthodontics patients, and pictures of the types of braces Fore Orthodontics offers. We also integrated their YouTube account, so new videos automatically display on their Facebook page.

Working with Dr. Fore and her staff was a real pleasure. They were excited about learning to update their new website, and enthusiastic about working with social media like Facebook and YouTube.

So if you’re looking for a great orthodontist with a passionate staff, visit ForeBraces.com. And tell ‘em SAI Digital sent ya.

Chieftains is a museum of Cherokee and Native American history in Rome, Ga. The museum is housed in the historic home of Major Ridge, one of the signers of the Treaty of New Echota, which resulted in the forced removal of the Cherokee along the Trail of Tears. In fact, the Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home is one of only a few private entities to be certified by the National Park Service as a site on the Trail of Tears.

Major Ridge is the “face” of Chieftains, and the museum staff wanted to make sure his history was front and center on the website. But it was also important that potential museum visitors could easily find information about operating hours and admission. Our design was able to include both a focus on history and a focus on visitor information.

The centerpiece of the website is a dynamic calendar of upcoming events at the museum. Using a content management system, Chieftains staff can create calendar entries that automatically display on the events area of the homepage. Plus, the program will make a page for each event, with more details about time, location, admission, etc. They can even set up recurring events to show up every week or every month. And once an event is over, it automatically gets removed from the website.

In addition to sharing information about upcoming events at the museum, the Chieftains staff wanted to be able to post news articles about special exhibits, promotions, fundraisers and more. Our staff set up a blog area on the website and trained the museum staff to create and update articles.

The museum staffers working on the website were thrilled with the simplicity of the events calendar and blog areas, and have already added several new events and articles to the site.

SAI Digital didn’t just create a new design; we also helped organize the large amount of content that was on the museum’s old site. By breaking up the content into shorter pages and subpages, we made it easier for site visitors to find exactly what they need on the site, whether that’s information about field trips, facility rental, Cherokee history or becoming a museum member.

Chieftains is a neat place with a lot of history, and a great resource for Northwest Georgia. We were very happy to help the museum create a website that encourages more visitors and more members, and shares the rich history of local Cherokee culture.

AVFN is a federal grant-funded project designed to bring better and faster technology to Northwest Georgia and Southeast Alabama. The Network will provide the opportunity for large capacity, high speed broadband availability within the network area of Northwest Georgia and Eastern Alabama. AVFN will encourage business development and benefit a variety of users throughout these regions including government agencies, educational institutions and medical facilities. With AVFN, the region will have competitive, top-tier broadband service that any company can use to provide connectivity to its clientele without the high cost of privatized networks.

We were pleased to have the opportunity to educate not only the residents in the proposed service area about the incredible opportunity that is forthcoming, but to help potential vendors from across the US apply for the ability to offer broadband access to a wider client base.

The site itself was intended to be simple in design and function, and the overall look and feel reflects the modern feel of the project as a whole. The main goal of the site was to supply important and detailed information and resources for news agencies or other researchers who may need more in-depth information about the AVFN project. At the same time, the site also needed to provide details about the grant itself for general public knowledge, and what this project would accomplish.

Our staff was able to filter and generate the entire site’s content from the AVFN Grant proposal and study. We also created several FAQ pages to answer some common questions that the general public might have about the project in order to clearly define what the project will provide and how it is funded. For potential vendors, we built an admin portal that allows vendors to register and view up-to-date RFPs. Our programmers built a versatile content management system to allow the staff of the AVFN project easily upload RFP PDFs. When these PDFs are uploaded in the admin panel, they are automatically updated on the front-end of the site that registered vendors can access. We also built a messaging system into the site that alerts any registered user of new and updated RFPs.

We also created an interactive map that allows user to see the broad scope of the project. The map highlights areas that are already developed and those that the are coming thanks to AVFN.

If you are curious about the AVFN project, visit the site to see the unique opportunities coming to the Northwest Georgia and Eastern Alabama area.

We are excited to share our recent work of creating a highly functional website for Outdoor Living Studio based in Rome, GA. 

Outdoor Living Studio is a team with over 30 years of experience in designing the perfect outdoor living spaces. They create custom packages for each of their clients, turning the outdoors into exciting and relaxing atmospheres. Apart from designing and building each unique space, Outdoor Living Studio adds creative finishing touches with landscape, furniture, pottery, and other outdoor garden accessories.

When the team at OLS approached us about their website, they already had a clear vision of what they wanted the site look like. In fact, they worked with a contract graphic designer to create a mockup of the website look and feel. We were excited to start work on this project because they had already accomplished one of the big hurdles of the development process.

After a few tweaks, we were able to easily create a custom website based on the work they had already done, but we were also eager to find ways to mirror their home studio on the web. If you ever had the privilege of visiting their unique space, you know that most of projects they provide to their clients are on display when you visit their office. Visitors can tour the space to get ideas and visual aids of how projects they want might look and feel.

We ultimately settled on creating the same visual atmosphere online with unique photo galleries on almost every page. This function allows users and potential clients to see visual examples of all  various and impressive projects they have produced, and they can do this all from the comfort of their computer screens.

The interesting challenge with the photo galleries, was that OLS wanted the ability to  manage the website themselves after it live. This meant that all the photo galleries could be managed by someone other than a programmer. We built a back-end dashboard that easily allowed the client to maintain it on their own.

The company itself was newly formed within the last year. The management team brought together a combined 7 decades of experience  working in the manufacturing aluminum cable trays. During that time, they saw majors ways in which they could improve production and customer experience. When their company was bought out and sold, they decided that now was the time to start their own company and implement innovative and improved manufacturing processes and products.

These product improvements include unique interlocking clamps, one-size-fits-all cover systems, and state-of-the-art welding technologies. They also made great service improvements with short lead times, detailed packing labels, and pre-shipment pictures to easily ensure that every product ordered is clearly defined at all times. A new and helpful improvement for all involved.

To mirror these ground-breaking improvements, the founders of USP approached our team with several requests that were sure to make for a challenging project, but end with great results and reflect their innovative manufacturing processes and products. Overall, USP needed a site that would speak to everyone involved in their trade:  business owners, contractors, architects, and engineers. This is because while the contractor or client will be the one paying for the product, the electrical engineer is the one who must select and submit product specifications for approval.  They needed to appeal to both the decision maker looking for value, and the engineer looking for high function and access to specific data.

They also needed features on their website to include:

• Interactive US map of sales reps and distributors
• Access to NEMA, UL cable tray standards
• Datasheet Manager
• Online PDF Briefcase

These needs were all met, but one of the most complex parts of this website was the development of USP’s online database of data sheets for all trays, covers, connectors, and components manufactured by the company. USP boasts almost 400 standard products and is also able to expand their catalog numbering system on-the-fly to accommodate custom part orders.  Our team responded by building a visual navigation path and a database of documents that anyone at USP can easily update with a simple PDF upload.  Using an API, the database controls were integrated into the content management system so that the USP staff has the ability to easily manage updates themselves and all in one place.

When a PDF datasheet is uploaded onto the website from the backend admin portal, it not only uploads the PDF that users can then add to their briefcase and download, but it also converts the data into a jpg image to conveniently and automatically display the information onto the individual product page uploaded on.  A javascript magnifying glass was also constructed to allow customers to zoom in on the areas of detail.

Using cookie management, users are able to navigate the data sheets and save to a briefcase without registering. They can then gather all needed documentation and download as a single zipped folder of desired datasheets complete with proper cover sheet for order placement. The resultant PDF preserves writable fields so that customers can indicate their own specifications for order and permit approval.

As products are added or changed, USP has the ability to expand and modify all documents without hassle or programming knowledge. This is extremely important for a growing company!

This was definitely one of the most complex, custom designed sites that SAI Digital has created for a client. We are extremely proud of each of the unique features on the site, from the overall design and branding to the custom-created database. Check it out and see for yourself what we can do when a client has a big dream at USTray.com.

The law firm of White, Choate, Watkins and Mroczko, LLC is located in both Cartersville and Calhoun, GA, and provides representation to local and national business and individual clients throughout North Georgia and the metropolitan Atlanta area. The firm’s attorneys practice in all levels of State and Federal Court.

The law firm’s six practicing attorneys provide legal advice to their clients in virtually all aspects of Civil Litigation, Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation, General and Commercial Litigation, Civil Rights, Criminal Law, Residential and Commercial Real Estate, Zoning and Land Use, Estate Planning, Family Law, Wills, Probate, Corporate and Business Law and School Law. By providing their clients with a full range of services, they are able to support them in almost any legal situation they may encounter.

The website project provided a great opportunity for the company to redefine themselves on the web. Having a website that was closing in on 10 years old, they constantly felt hampered and stifled by the limited use and outdated look & feel of their old site. All the Firm’s information was out of date and the site’s content had very little information that was helpful to anyone in need of their services.

With our help, the firm now has a fresh, modern look that they can easily maintain over time.

The first change was enlisting the help of Sabrina Wilson, of Blue Dawn Photography, to take contemporary photography of the attorneys, staff, and office building. These images were the driving force for the new site and they accent every page with views that are familiar to everyone who knows and has worked with WCW.

For the attorneys, we were able to flesh out their own pages to include more accurate and defined resumes, as well as integrate information from around the Internet about each lawyer. This includes each lawyer’s Martindale-Hubbell rating, their LinkedIn profiles, and a downloadable v-card so you can quickly and easily add each lawyer’s contact information to your electronic address book. We also included a photo directory to allow future and present clients to easily find each lawyer at WCW.

SAI Digital also worked with the firm to develop a more comprehensive listing of the firm’s Practice Areas on the website. Not only can users see a more accurate and defined Practice Area, but within each Practice Area category is a helpful sidebar list of which practicing attorneys can most help them with the specific need; a valuable asset to anyone who quickly needs to find what they are looking for.

The site also features a news portal that is maintained and updated by WCW itself.

So be sure to visit wcwattorneys.com to see if you can find the right attorney for you!

With over 10 years of combined experience, Langston Creative Systems is a team of electrical wiring experts who also pride themselves on giving the perfect artistic touch to any home entertainment, business space/conference room, solar power equiping, or home/garden lighting. They are able to create a functionality or feature for any lighting, security, or entertainment needs.

This website posed interesting challenges when meeting the CEO Sean Langston’s two requests in the design of the site. The first was to appropriately highlight the impressive aesthetic works created by Langston Creative Systems. The second was to create a website that stood apart from most of their competitor’s fairly standard websites. This led our team to the idea of creating an entirely unique and custom website that is modern and driven primarily by large, sweeping imagery that highlights a range of impressive services offered at Langston CS.

Each page on the website features a full-screen “hero” image that clearly and effectively portrays the type of work you can expect from Langston CS. We brought the navigation bar to the bottom of the page to emphasize the impressive imagery. We also created small description boxes on each page to complement each image rather than compete with it.

As our pièce de résistance, we fulfilled Sean Langston’s additional request for visually appealing and animated elements to greet visitors when they arrive at the welcome page. Instead of hindering the site with clunky flash elements, we opted to use a simple Java script to make Langston CS’s logo turn in opposite directions while visitors remain on the page. This simple, yet dynamic enhancement really brought the whole website together, and is a feature we are immensely proud of.

In addition to all of the web design, we had the opportunity to create the new logo for Langston Creative Systems and design their business cards. While we typically do not offer logo design, it was hard to pass up helping rebrand such a great business. Much like the website, both the logo and the business cards were created with the intention of setting Langston CS apart from their competition and making a statement as bold and impressive as the projects they create.

Check out their website, fully designed by SAI Digital, at langstoncs.com or become a fan on their facebook fan page (created and managed by SAI Digital).

Site Features

Steele Agency created several new features for RJ Fricks Voila! to create a social and marketing image for the company.  We provided a space for print articles featuring the design talents of Ramona Fricks and her team in the Company News section.  These articles showcase the final product that RJ Fricks Voila! offers, as well as providing a space for reviews of the team’s work.

Future clients can also check out  a gallery of work by Ramona and her team on the Our Work page.  Here, clients can get ideas from Ramona’s past designs, and potential clients can get a feel for the range of design styles that RJ Fricks incorporates into their spaces.

To integrate a complete web presence for Fricks,  Steele Agency also created a Facebook page and a Twitter Feed for the company.  These pages allow the company to communicate with their clients on a regular basis.  Announcements of new collections and upcoming events are the highlight of these pages, improving the functionality of the Fricks web presence.

Virtual Room Building

One of the more exciting features of the site is the integrated E-preview software.  With this console, users can go into the Fricks online catalog and choose furniture by dimensions, room type, or style.  The furniture the user chooses can then be placed into a virtual room planner.  Inside the room planner, the user is free to move furniture and accessories around, while keeping everything to scale.  This is a great tool for designers and their clients to visualize the final product.

Upcoming Features

We still have a few things in the works for this multi-use website.  A fun feature that we’re planning to release soon is a “Where’s Ramona?” page.  Ramona Fricks travels all over the world, moves her team into a client’s house, and after a few days:  Voila! The Fricks team completely changes the look and feel of the space.  For this feature, we plan to integrate Google Maps to the site, where users can click on the map and see before and after photos and videos via Flickr and YouTube.  This exciting avenue for customer interaction and connection will be a great way for users to get the full Fricks experience!

Be sure to take a look around the RJ Fricks Voila! Website, and tell us what you think!  We’re proud of our work, and we hope that you enjoy browsing the gorgeous designs and spaces that Ramona and her team have created.

Slick Web Presence

Kuglar needed a site that would display his credentials and contact information for opposing counsel and interested parties in a slick, impressive manner. Our graphic designer worked directly with the attorney to create a new logo for the firm, which we then integrated throughout the site. The website is a mix of modern design with old-school functionality, something that Kuglar was insistent on. From the main page of the site, viewers are able to navigate to a variety of other areas without a lot of hassle.

Site Functionality

Not only does the Kuglar Law website promote the firm to potential and  future clients, it is also a  functional platform for current clients and opposing counsel.  It is imperative that Kuglar’s credentials and experience are accessible to opposing counsel, courtroom officials, and members of the press during the discovery and trial phases of various claims.  We presented all of the necessary information in a clear, concise manner, while still keeping in tune with the modern feel of the site.

Other Features and Future Development

While it’s often said that “necessity is the mother of invention,” in the case of Kuglar Law, LLC, it might be fair to say that “necessity is the mother of development.”  Kuglar needed the site to be live within 24 hours after his initial request for a web presence, and we were able to deliver.  All elements of design and functionality were taken into account, as were the client’s request for a modern look and impressive feel to the site.  We also developed a LinkedIn page for Craig Kuglar, Esq., to further solidify his web presence.  The website itself is database-driven, and we are working with Kuglar Law, LLC, to develop future updates and portals for Firm and Client use.

Integrated Online Quotes and Online Application

Dynamic Product Map

State Mutual Insurance covers people all over the United States; however, not all products are available in all areas.  To remove confusion from the process of purchasing medicare supplement products , Steele Agency created a Dynamic Product Map of the United States which shows product availability.  Now, users can easily see what products are offered in their state with a simple rollover, as well as when products are expected to be available in their state.

 

Plan Comparison Charts

Search Engine Optimization

RCB's old website

Over the course of the last few months, we’ve pulled our collective brain power and skills together to bring River City customers an effortless and more inviting website, including:

News Portal/ Email Alerts

The major addition to their site was a news portal, appropriately titled Bank Notes, that River City Bank can now use to inform and update customers on the latest banking and financial information to glean tips and insights from River City Bank’s distinguished experts.  Since many customers are logging into their e-banking daily or weekly, a regularly updated news section is perfect to offer relevant information that changes over time.

Corresponding with the news portal, we retooled River City Bank’s email newsletter to highlight the articles available in Bank Notes. Along with the now quarterly email newsletter, customers can sign up for specific email news alerts including: Business Briefs, Economic Outlook, Financial Planning, Trust & Estate Planning, Saving Smartly, and Identity Theft Protection.

River City Ramblers

Another integral part of the website that has been developed more thoroughly is the River City Ramblers page. For those that don’t know, River City Bank has a senior world travel club that any River City Bank member over 50 can join. Along with an up-to-date calendar of yearly events and most recent newsletter, we developed a custom Google map detailing every stop the Ramblers have made along the way and where they are heading soon. We also couldn’t make a custom map without including a unique Rambler Flag map marker to make it extremely easy to see their travels.  This section will grow over time to include memoirs, photo galleries, and planning tools for members.

Homepage

The biggest change and developed area of the website is the homepage. Here are the best and most useful new features:

• Easy to find log-in for account holders and bank customers.
• A Calendar of Events that automatically pulls upcoming dates for bank holidays, future events, and River City Rambler travel days.
• Custom icons to bring attention to River City Ramblers, Switch to River City, and Join Our Mailing List
• “Did you know?” information box. River City Bank has so many amazing features (like refunded ATM fees and same day deposits, to start)  that it only seemed natural to help inform customers and visitors. So, every time you visit the homepage, you’ll learn something new about what makes River City Bank different.
• All the most recent articles from Bank Notes feed directly onto the  homepage under their respective categories.

Artwork

Another unique feature River City Bank offers is their impressive space and interesting ad campaigns which we couldn’t help but to incorporate into the site.

To help draw attention to River City Bank’s inspiring architecture, the talents of the lovely Sabrina Wilson of Blue Dawn Photography were employed.  She was able to integrate the visual impact of the physical location with their new online presence.

We also decided to pull inspiration from a SMART checking ad campaign and use customized piggy banks as a continuous theme throughout the site to celebrate all of the diverse ways to save, invest, and spend with River City Bank products.

________________________________________

So if you’re a River CIty Bank customer or not, we invite you to explore their site and look and all the unique features that we had a hand in enhancing. And who knows, River City Bank might just be the place for you (and we think it might!)

Blue Ridge Area Heath Education Center (AHEC) is a non-profit organization that serves a variety of functions and is run through federal and state grants as well as private contributions.  In order to continue growing their resources, they must constantly collect and report data on the people and organizations they serve.  We saw immediately a deep need for online forms and databases that would allow routine processes to be performed by their users and seamlessly integrated into the internal database saving time and preventing error.

A glimpse of their old website

The client estimated that developing this system saved them approximately 80 hours of labor each semester, or about 160 hours a year, and while we love building really cool things that look great, this fact filled us with more satisfaction than anything else.

The Blue Ridge AHEC site contained many database-driven elements including:

• multi-level access and data entry/maintenance roles,
• user communication and reporting tools
• real time database interaction by non-technical users
• multiple security and referential validation systems
• online forms importable to client local database
• file storage and retrieval
• online quizzes with performance review and results storage and sorting functions
• embedded multimedia included videos and slideshows manageable by non-technical staff
• search functions by keyword, category, and other fields as needed.

Often, a sitemap is completely separate from the look and feel of a business website.  So, while the sitemap is a critical starting place to get you thinking about your web project, it doesn’t dictate that your site will be “boring”. On the flip side, a website that is graphically appealing or full of pizazz may still come off as a smoke and mirrors magic trick if the user does not know what information is available or how to find what they are looking for.

Visualization

A sitemap can be viewed in two ways:

1. A list format – this is like a table of contents in a book.

   Think text book:  the information is grouped by chapter and each chapter has a few subsections.  In the web world, we call the chapters ‘superpages” and the sections “subpages”.

2. A graphical map format – this is more like a mind map.

   Surprising, this can be dangerous. It looks great to present the end user with a visual map of your website, but during the planning phase of a website, it might become too easy to leave areas of your map too vague or to navigate a user through a series of pages without providing them a “map back” to main content.

Most important for anyone planning a website creation or redesign:  Not throughly planning out your website beforehand is an expensive disaster waiting to happen. Even when you are using great CMS technology.

Users love a new and engaging experience, but from the business world they expect a few constants:

• An “About Us” page: This should always be near a top-level page if not a superpage. It can be named something more clever as long as users will understand that the page is about your company.
• At least one top-level superpage devoted to your company’s products or services.
• A “Contact Us” page: Many times, users only go to your website to get up-to-date contact information. Remember, younger people are much less likely to use a phone book. Make this easy: don’t put up walls around the information your readers are looking for.

A Conceptual Template

• Home
• About Us
  • Our History
  • Our Staff
• Our Services
  • Service A
  • Service B
  • Get A Quote
• Submit Your Order
• Latest News
• Contact Us

Search engines have become increasingly good at recognizing legitimate businesses verses imitators by viewing a website’s sitemap and analyzing the content of each page. A well-structured site means that when a user searches for your company name, or related products and services in your area in order to buy and submitting orders for a specific product, your website is more likely to rank highly.

In fact, depending on your market, your Homepage, About Us, and Contact Us might all be listed in a search engine result so that users have one-click access.

XML Sitemap and SEO

Sitemaps are crucial when planning a website, but they do not have to be set in stone. One important aspect of the technologies we use is the ability for our clients to grow their website. This means that as a company expands and adds a service or adds a second type of service or product,  corresponding pages can easily be added to the website and and the content modified appropriately:

• Home
• About Us
  • Our History
  • Our Staff
• Our Services
  • Service A
    • Type I
    • Type II
  • Service B
  • Service C
  • Get A Quote
• Submit Your Order
• Latest News
• Contact Us

If a site has been structured correctly, search engines will pick-up on the addition and re-index your site accordingly. One last important step in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the existence of a properly formatted .XML sitemap that lives off-menu in the root directory of your website hosting server.

Check out Steele Agency’s XML sitemap.

As you can see, its a complicated array of URL’s and priorities, where superpages are given top priority and blog posts are given lower priority, which tells search engines to list your Homepage, About Us, and Contact Us pages first in their search listings.

Because this is one thing all the major search engines agree upon, there is a standard protocol for generating and submitting these links, and thus a we can build functions into your website that automatically update and submit a properly formated XML sitemap.

Final Notes

• When building a sitemap, start with a structure that is unlikely to change, but that will allow room for growth.
• Do not get in the habit of changing top-level pages, as Search Engines will take note and assume your content is unreliable and rank your website – and thus your digital presence – poorly.
• The sitemap can contain sections, for example, adding a top-level page call Blog or Recent News is understood as meaning that articles will be posted and displayed in that section.
• Every user experiences your site differently. Some may like your menu navigation and the way it reflects the organization of your content; however some people may prefer a simple organized list posted somewhere off-menu, for example: View Our User-Friendly Sitemap

In 1984, Owens Sporting Goods became “The Team Specialist,” offering customized sports uniforms, apparel, footwear, and equipment for baseball, football, lacrosse, basketball, soccer, wrestling, volleyball, and softball teams. They have also become one of the Southeast’s Elite Nike Team Dealers. They also provide in-house designing, screen printing, and embroidery, proving that Owens Sporting Goods can truely outfit any team from head to toe!

The sight features a simple setup that will grow over time. For now, the site includes a exciting image viewer that helps capture the excitement of sporting events and games. It also features a dynamic calendar of events highlighting deadlines, holidays, and general information. There is also a blog area  that will feature a host of guest writing coaches to connect with other coaches all across the Southeast.

The New Brinson-Askew.com website

We are overjoyed to announce that the newly redesigned, Brinson-Askew.com has officially gone live.

The law firm of Brinson, Askew, Berry, Seigler, Richardson & Davis, LLP was founded in 1975 in Rome, GA. The Firm provides representation to regional and national business and individual clients based throughout North Georgia and the metropolitan Atlanta area, so it was important they they project a professional image and a site that can be found easily through search.

The Firm’s nineteen attorneys practice in all levels of State and Federal Court, with experience before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia located in Rome and both personal and firm accomplishments that went overlooked on their old website due to navigation issues.

This three-month journey resulted in a website transformation featuring an updated look and feel that is highly navigable and user-friendly. This multi-user, scalable, content management system highlights Attorney and Firm accomplishments, works with an extended web presence to reach greater traffic and increases findability through the use of optimized content and appropriate metadata.  We coordinated new and contemporary photos for the professional staff with the help of the lovely Sabrina Wilson of Blue Dawn Photography.

The old Brinson-Askew website

The site now features a highly functional news area that any of the attorneys can update with ease. We connected the news article categories with the Practice Area pages, so that when visitors are searching through the practice area portion, they can also find relevant news from the firm’s work in that area. This allows the newsworthy information to be found in many useful ways on their site.

With our extended connections, we were able to locate a writer with legal experience to update fifteen practice area pages that had lived without content for many years, saving our client time and optimizing content for search friendliness.

We built a custom blog area for the Worker’s Compensation Employee practice area. This is consumer-driven area of law, and the firm now has a more direct way to reach out to those who need information, education, and a trusted attorney to represent them well.

We consulted with interested attorneys on LinkedIn profile optimization so that each attorney is able to can be more easily found through search engines. We also built a contact form that can ensure we convert that increased web traffic into viable leads.

So visit their site, take a look around, and who knows… you might just find the lawyer you need today.

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PHP is a hypertext preprocessor, meaning that its function is to produce something functional; in this case HTML, the markup language that web browsers understand. This allows dynamic information to be reached or calculated and then translated into something a browser understands in real time. Without this capability, websites would be very static, non-interactive, and incapable of providing unique experiences for each viewer. Imagine a world without web-based client logins, bill-pay, or online forums like Facebook and Twitter.

Order Of Events

PHP is a scripting language that is hosted on a server and is executed by the server stack when a website is accessed.

PHP can grab information stored in databases, talk to other computers and programs, and execute its own internal mathematical and logical functions in real time and produce the HTML website you see on your screen. In fact, this page you’re viewing now was highly preprocessed using PHP the moment you visited the page!

PHPrimer

A standard static webpage has the form:

On a web server, a preprocessed web page looks more like:

where $data may refer to information from a database or even a function that adds numbers together. Static HTML is incapable of this functionality. Most importantly, a user’s web browser only sees the result of the executed function. For example, if $data was a function that calculated the number of city residents that ordered a particular meal from a certain restaurant, then the browser would only see:

A simple diagram and a simple example, but a powerful tool in the web arsenal.

]]> http://saidigital.co/2010/01/what-is-php/feed/ 0 http://saidigital.co/2009/12/jowers-sklar-insurance-website-goes-live/ http://saidigital.co/2009/12/jowers-sklar-insurance-website-goes-live/#comments Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:59:18 +0000 admin http://saidigital.co/?p=1138 Newly redesigned website, JowersSklar.com went live Friday, December 18th.  Jowers-Sklar Insurance now has an expansive site that maintains the vast catalog of insurance available through the company. Whether an insurance need is for business or personal (or daycare or rental equipment) JSI has it!

JSI has been around since the seventies, founded by Samuel Dewey Jowers, Jr. The company as it is known today came together in 2003 when Marc Sklar (Dewey Jowers’ son-in-law) became part owner. Though their name has changed over the years, they are still located in the same location since its inception, 706 E 2nd Avenue, and still brag on high levels of customer service.

The site has many exciting features, including online quote requests, claims, and download-friendly applications,  but there’s one in particular that we’d like to highlight. We pride ourselves on not just building great websites, but building them in way that the client can continue to build it long after we finish.

Though there is already a large list of the types of insurance offered on the site, JSI has the ability to add additional products and pages with ease.  We even created some custom code to make it even easier. On every page, customers can click to know more about that particular type of insurance by clicking on an info tab on the side of the page. These change automatically from page to page depending on what product is being discussed, but we have gone a step further.  This area is also designed to automatically change when a new type of insurance page is created.  This “meta-programming” ensures that the site stays consistent, but allows our clients to grow and expand without having to worry about the finer details.

The area highlighted in green is the area that will always change, even when the business owners update the site themselves.

Cornerstone is known for transforming the ordinary, and in addition to the new website, visitors can also find Cornerstone Concrete on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flikr for project videos, updates, pictures, and more.  Every page of the new website is capable of client updates and changes on the fly and visitor comments are automatically cycled to the home page as they are accepted.

Visit CornerCrete.Com today to see if they can meet your decorative concrete needs!

Contact us at Steele Agency if we can help you with a dynamic web presence.