The Changing Face of Software

The right software can greatly enhance the productivity of business users. However, traditional tools are not always suited to the modern business landscape, where people may work from home or a local Starbucks as easily as a cubicle. Likewise, associations and nonprofits may have committees and boards who lack access to the same physical network, creating a barrier to collaboration.

Software as a Service

Fortunately, the last two years have seen a remarkable level of growth in decentralized, Web-based applications, often described by the term "Software as a Service" (SaaS). Because this type of software is accessed through a Web browser, it's available to anyone with an Internet connection. Even better, many of the most useful tools are available at no cost. When there are fees, SaaS applications have an additional (and significant) advantage over traditional offline software. Pricing usually takes the form of a subscription which can generally be changed or canceled at will, making the cost of commitment very low.

Alternatives to Existing Software

With a driving interest in technology (not to mention enormous resources), Google is a leader in providing excellent tools for free. One of its most notable offerings is a collection of applications called Google Docs. This system provides an online alternative for creating and editing text documents, spreadsheets and presentations. It can open and save standard Microsoft Office documents and makes it very easy to share them with others for review and collaboration. Google provides a number of other tools (nearly all free) which provide Web-based alternatives for email, calendars, and even payment processing.

New Opportunities

Web-based software also offers new possibilities for accomplishing tasks that traditional office applications don't handle well. For example, many people resort to email for group communication when it's really better suited to one-on-one correspondence. Services such as our own GroupLoop.com, a committee management tool, aim to solve this problem by organizing discussions and providing specific features for certain kinds of communication like RSVPs and reminders. A business-oriented group chat application called Campfire provides an excellent way to hold a discussion in real time while maintaining a permanent, searchable archive. Blogs and email newsletters provide much more economical and timely methods of communicating with members than traditional printed mailings.

Integration

A common question when considering the adoption of new technologies is how well they may integrate with existing systems. Specifics vary, of course, but in general this is an area that SaaS vendors have worked hard to address. Many services provide open access for developers to write software that extends features or provides access to data so that systems can work together. New data standards are making exchanges of information easier than ever. For example, using Google Calendar to schedule events automatically makes a data feed available that can be used to display those events on a website.

Privacy and Security

Many business users are also concerned about the security of data hosted by Web-based applications. Working this way does mean giving up a certain amount of control. However, it's worth noting that the network-level protection offered by service providers like Google is typically far more robust than what an average business employs to protect its data. The same common-sense guidelines apply to Web applications as offline ones, such as choosing strong passwords. Many providers make their services available over encrypted connections for additional security. It's always a good idea to review a service provider's policies before trusting them with sensitive information, and when the Web browser becomes a platform for delivering software, it's also critical to keep up to date on patches.

The Bottom Line

The modern software landscape offers many new ways of delivering both existing and innovative services through the Web. Adopting SaaS technologies can be an excellent way to gain efficiency while reducing software costs. With a generally low cost of commitment, there's almost certainly at least one area where Web-based software can benefit your business. If you're able to identify such an area but can't find software to meet the need, CWS specializes in developing custom Web applications and we encourage you to contact us for a risk-free discussion.

Site Launch: AlgalBiomass.org

With rising gas prices and the record-breaking cost of oil, research in alternative energy sources is becoming ever more urgent. A number of organizations have formed to advance the cause. The Algal Biomass Organization, is one such group -- a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of algal biomass production technologies through research and education.

Tom Byrne (of Byrne & Company Ltd.) looked to CWS for a solution to make these research efforts known worldwide.

Throughout the site you will find an array of information dealing with algae production technologies, including events, summit details, and what the Algal Biomass Organization is doing to expand and develop new technology. You will also find documents available for download that have been submitted by independent researchers.

We have enjoyed working on this project with Tom Byrne and the Algal Biomass Organization, and we're excited to see important research being done in the field of alternative energy.

Memorial Day Holiday

Our office will be officially closed on Monday, May 26th in observance of the Memorial Day holiday.

For our international customers, here's a brief history of this U.S. holiday:

Following the end of the Civil War, many communities set aside a day to mark the end of the war or as a memorial to those who had died. These observances eventually coalesced around Decoration Day, honoring the Union dead, and the several Confederate Memorial Days.

According to Professor David Blight of the Yale University History Department, the first memorial day was observed in 1865 by liberated slaves at the historic race track in Charleston. The site was a former Confederate prison camp as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who had died while captive. A parade with thousands of freed blacks and Union soldiers was followed by patriotic singing and a picnic.

The name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882, but did not become more common until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967.

The crew at CWS will be honoring this tradition and spending the day with our friends and family. Our support team will respond to an emergency if needed. If there is one, please call (888) 426-7793. If you have a non-emergency issue, let us know by sending us an email.

May your travel be safe, and your good times plentiful.

Best Wishes,
The CWS Team

Site Launch: OhThoseGuys.com

In 1997, Savage, MN based Total Promotions was created as an ASI company that supplied corporate apparel and promotional items to small, medium, and large businesses. In 2001, they purchased the domain OhThoseGuys.com. In 2005, they officially changed their name to OH Those Guys. Now, in 2008, OH Those Guys still sells the same quality corporate apparel and promotional items; but with the addition of their athletic supplies, team apparel and spirit wear division "OTG Athletics," they were in need of an online facelift.

After viewing a Rochester based sporting goods website, OH Those Guys gave us a call.


The new site needed to incorporate both divisions of the company. The abstract shapes and sports photography created an edgy feel for the sporting goods division, while the soft blue gradients and inviting corporate photos appealed to the needs of those looking for corporate apparel.

However, OH Those Guys and OTG Athletics are not limited to just corporate and team apparel. Throughout the site you will find a variety of content ranging from team order forms, suggested links, and a blog, to a page that offers fundraising services for free to non-profits, charities and benefits.

It was a pleasure working with Bill from OH Those Guys and OTG Athletics, and we look forward to our continued relationship as we further increase their visibility online with our search engine optimization services.

4x4parts.com - Less Talk More Walk

Alan recently posted about emailing customers who have abandoned shopping carts in an e-commerce website. One of our clients thought this was a great idea -- Automotive Customizers (4x4parts.com) added this feature to a project already in development. Last week we took their new site live. If customers begin the checkout process and don't complete it, they will receive a helpful email asking if they encountered any problems. This is a great way to focus on user needs. It's obvious when someone walks out of your brick-and-mortar store, but with the anonymity of the Internet, a site owner could be losing sales over a simple issue and never know it.

Automotive Customizers is based in Florida and specializes in supplying aftermarket Nissan parts to 4x4 enthusiasts. We have a long-standing relationship with their team, and the site was due for an upgrade. Both the front and back end systems were completely redesigned, and we built a number of custom features specifically tailored to their business.

One of these tools allows users to specify what Nissan vehicles they own in a profile. This allows administrators to verify that customers have ordered the right parts for their vehicles, saving headaches for both customers and staff. They can also use this information to identify which customers own a specific vehicle in the event that something special is available for that model.

My favorite feature is the lightbox photo gallery where customers can upload photos of their customized trucks. In the previous version of this site, users were restricted to uploading a very small image. The new gallery allows a much bigger image to truly show off all of those customized vehicles. Just one more user-focused feature to illustrate Automotive Customizers' commitment to their customers.

Drop by 4x4parts.com to check out the new site. Our thanks to the AC team for a great project.

Now Hiring: Web Developer/Programmer

Corporate Web Services is now accepting applications for a Web developer to join our highly motivated design team. This person will be an integral part of our web development efforts and will be responsible for creating custom Web-based solutions for our customers. Good communication skills are a must. This is a full-time position. Compensation is based on experience.

Corporate Web Services is a leader in providing web development services on a national basis. As a developer with CWS, you'll have the opportunity to work in a fast-paced environment with opportunities for both personal and professional growth.

Applicants who meet the qualifications below should apply online at our website. This position is located in Rochester, MN.

Development

• Able to code, rigorously test and deploy Web applications.
• Pursues best practices and standards-based development
• Able to work with clients to effectively determine project requirements
• Familiar with standard Web development tools including Photoshop and Dreamweaver (additional software is always a plus)
• Understands basic relational database design concepts.
• Strong working knowledge of at least one of our standard development platforms, which include LAMP (php), ASP.NET and Ruby on Rails.
• Strong working knowledge of HTML and CSS

General

• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to work independently
• Ability to prioritize and balance simultaneous projects
• Attention to detail in all areas
• Desire to learn

Ask CWS: Should I buy links to my web site?

I have received a couple of questions about paid links and whether one should consider them. As you may know, inbound links are an important element in search engine optimization. However, the priority should be to have quality links to your web site and not just quantity.

The offers that I have seen claim to be from many web sites and websites that they own. To be honest, links from a lot of web sites can help only if the sites are truly different (content, design, and links) and are on different web servers.

Google even has guidelines about paid links and link schemes. One article states that:

"Examples of Link Schemes can include:

• Links intended to manipulate
  PageRank
• Links to web spammers or bad neighborhoods
  on the web
• Excessive reciprocal links or excessive
  link exchanging ("Link to me and I'll link to you.")
• Buying or selling links that pass
  PageRank"

Google and the other search engines have started to seriously focus on the issue. In cases where they have good reason to suspect links being bought and sold, both the selling and the buying web sites are usually dropped in rankings or have a penalty which downgrades the ranking. This may mean nothing to the big company that has 1000's of web sites, but most small companies have one site. To be dropped in the rankings for a domain means, transferring to a new domain, or reworking your links and that can be a long process.

Google does not forbid paid links. They have this to say about links for advertising:

"Not all paid links violate our guidelines. Buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web when done for advertising purposes, and not for manipulation of search results. Links purchased for advertising should be designated as such. This can be done in several ways, such as:

• Adding a rel="nofollow" attribute to the tag
• Redirecting the links to an intermediate page that is blocked from search engines with a robots.txt file"

I have read posts and emails that say there are ways to hide the paid links, and experts show that the search engines cannot see all of the paid links. Google has made it easy for just about anyone to report paid links. They have an anonymous form to point out a web site that someone suspects of buying or selling links. There are two way to do this:

1. Sign in to Google's webmaster console and use the authenticated spam report form, then include the word "paidlink" (all one word) in the text area of the spam report. If you use the authenticated form, you'll need to sign in with a Google Account, but your report will carry more weight.


2. Use the unauthenticated spam report form and make sure to include the word "paidlink" (all one word) in the text area of the spam report.

Paid links can help a web site move up in search engine rankings. A sudden increase in inbound links can looks suspicious to the search engines and hurt your ranking. In SEO there really are no set rules to abide by right now. The search engines all operate under slightly different guidelines and what they like and don't like can change more than daily. Most SEO experts frown upon doing something that is questionable now and could cause a drop in rankings later.

What does this mean for me and my web site? Well, some paid links can help your rankings, be very wary of getting a lot of paid links. If a company offers to have links on a number of "their" web sites for a fee, remember that a sudden increase of links from a couple of web sites may look suspicious to the search engines. Trading links are not the best way to go, but if you are doing your own SEO, it is the most cost effective and safest way to build links.