Site Launch: WingHouse.org

Wing House asked CWS to develop a new, contemporary logo that would reflect the character of the organization in a straightforward way. Our solution relies primarily on typography to give a sense of the personal, home-like atmosphere of the facility and its mission -- emphasizing the transitional nature of the care provided.

Similarly, the understated design of the website gives a calm, thoughtful presentation of the organization with a number of photographs to give visitors a good picture of life in the welcoming, supportive community that Wing House provides.

We've enjoyed working on this project for Wing House, and look forward to working with them again in the future!

SEMAR selects CWS as Web Provider

The Southeast Minnesota Association of Realtors^® has selected CWS to develop a new website for their online presence. The change will occur as the association transitions to a new MLS provider for real estate data in the SE Minnesota market.

Requests for proposals on this project were sent to several local companies and each was offered the opportunity to present a solution at last month's Board of Directors meeting. Last week, CWS was notified that we have been awarded both the design and hosting contracts for the job. We're excited to take on this new challenge and look forward to assisting SEMAR and its member Realtors with a smooth transition to the new MLS provider.

How to Create Buzz for your Website Launch

Over the past few months, we've been working with 300 Financial, Inc. on the launch of their new company (which happens tomorrow at 11am CST). As part of this launch, we've set up a pre-launch website to help create buzz around the event. The website itself is small but includes a few key features to create the right atmosphere. Every pre-launch website must include the following elements:

Date/Time of Launch: It's pointless to create a pre-launch website if you don't tell your visitors when you'll be going live. In this case, we created a countdown clock to the exact time of the official launch. This is important because it lets people know when they can expect to see your new website online. In addition, it forces your staff to commit to a specific date for website completion. This is the most important element to any pre-launch website, so don't forget it!

Create Excitement: In this case, the official website (soon to be unveiled) will allow a limited number of people to register for an informational meeting in Scottsdale. To handle the influx of questions about the new company, a blog was set up at 300financialnews.com to field some of these questions. This allows the pre-launch website to remain focused and uncluttered. It also allows people to start interacting, blogging, and talking about your new company before you officially "go live."

Email Signup Box: Since registration space is limited, people need to know the exact time of launch so that they can return to "reserve a spot in history." But why make them try to remember it? Instead, you can give them a simple way to sign up for notification when the site is available. Then on launch day, you can send an email message letting them know that your website is live.

Logo: Finally, placing your company logo somewhere on the page is an important element for any new launch. Building an identity for your new company can't start soon enough, and your prelaunch page is an excellent place to start establishing your brand.

We hope that you've found these tips helpful in creating your own pre-launch website. Following these simple steps can create some buzz for any new site and get you started in the right direction to a successful future.

From Garage Business to Household Name in 5 Years

You probably use it every day, but did you know Google is now a word in the dictionary? How can a search engine be so popular that it influences how nearly all businesses market themselves on the Internet? Google's secret was the development of a unique algorithm to not just index the contents of a page, but to help ensure that you get the most relevant results for a particular search. From this starting point, Google has evolved to become a household name and sets the standard for all search engines.

Google was started by Larry Sage and Sergey Brin in 1996. Initially named "Back rub," their search engine started to gain popularity on the Stanford University campus. In 1998, the founder of Sun Microsystems gave the two a check for $100,000 after a quick demo. Sage and Brin leased office space in a friend's garage and started Google.com. 1999 brought dramatic change and growth to Google as the company moved twice and got bigger.

By 2000, 18 million user queries every day were being answered by Google. By 2002, Google had expanded to advertising, search appliances, Google News and Froogle. In 2004, Google had indexed 6 billion items (plus 880 million images, 845 million Usenet messages, and a growing collection of book-related information pages). Google has continued to grow and expand its technology, now offering PDFs of public domain books for download, for example.

Google has made vast amounts of data accessible to the public, such as: years of historical film footage, U.S. Patents, Maps (Earth, Moon and Mars), pictures, video, music, and of course their staple: websites. Google ranks in the top 3 sites for internet traffic, so most internet marketers give serious thought to how Google will see their site.

Google is a big part of the Internet. The public uses it to search, and companies use Google to advertise, or to analyse the competition. Optimizing a site for Google to help your company show up higher in search results can have a big impact on your bottom line, and the effect can carry over to other search engines as well. This has become a fact of life in the web development industry and will continue to be so in the future.

Remembering September 11, 2001

Like many of you, I clearly remember the morning of September 11, 2001 . We were all busy working when we heard on the radio that the country was under attack. It was only a matter of minutes before websites like cnn.com and foxnews.com became overwhelmed with traffic and we had a hard time getting information on what was happening. We turned on the TV just in time to see the first tower fall.

I remember feeling shocked, mad, frustrated, and helpless all at the same time. We wanted to help, but didn't know how.

So, we did the only thing we knew how- we built a website.

Over the next few weeks, tens of thousands visited the website from all over the world and made comments, added victims' names, and offered support. It was truly an humbling experience for all of us. One special moment for me was when we were interviewed by the New York Times in 2002 for a story about Virtual Memorials.

Nearly 6 years later, I'm still proud of the video montage we quickly created that day. This is somewhat ironic, as I usually start to dislike something we create in a matter of a year or two. I guess this is proof that history really does remain timeless.

As of today, we have made the decision to lock the website from further comments and submissions. We feel that it is important to capture the moment in time and the thoughts and feelings surrounding it. Like all memorials, the website will remain online and viewable for decades to come.

Where were you the morning of 9/11? Do you remember it as well as I?

Site Launch: Chocolate-Time.com

As a gift or just a guilty pleasure, Chocolate Time offers high-end designer chocolates to tempt any palate. Located in Rochester, MN, Chocolate Time is a retailer of traditional, novelty, and designer chocolates and offers a variety of products from all across the nation.

CWS was chosen by Chocolate Time to design both a logo and a website.

The logo was crafted to reflect Chocolate Time's unique, elegant sense of style. It echoes the shop's impeccable interior and the attention to detail found in each hand-crafted artisan chocolate.

The website was designed under the same premise. A subdued, elegant look focuses attention on the products themselves, and the photos of mouth-watering truffles and turtles will leave you with a craving that can only be satisfied by taking a trip to locally owned Chocolate Time.

We have enjoyed working with John at Chocolate Time, and we look forward to working with him in the future!

Search Engine Optimization - SEO

Have you ever wondered how, when you search for something on Google or Yahoo!, that some websites are listed above others? Search engines list the results by examing their databases of website content to find the sites they consider most relevant to the search term. There are ways to help a website move up the list for a particular term, and that is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play.

Websites can use many different methods to get a search engine to notice them and list them higher. As more site administrators are becoming aware of this, of course, it is getting harder for a site to move up. It takes research and effort to get results.

Corporate Web Services (CWS) has a new program that allows our team to do this kind of research more quickly and make improvements. When using search engines, many people never go past the second page of results. With this new program, CWS can review a current website, advise and make changes to help a site stay high on the list and reach those crucial first two pages of results.

A second factor that influences the ranking of search engines results is the way that other websites links to yours. By analyzing how pages link to each other, an engine can both determine what a page is about (by comparing its content to the context of the original page) and how "important" the page is (if many other popular pages link to it) -- and thus deserving of a boost in ranking.

SEO can help get your website noticed -- by ensuring the site is relevant to your subject, includes key phrases, and is connected to related sites. There many other factors that can help your site's ranking; these are only a few. Contact us today for a detailed consultation.