Do I Need A Content Management System (CMS)? Thursday, April 14, 2010

As web developers, one of the most frequent questions that clients ask us is "Will we be able to update our website's content on our own?" The answer is "Yes." One of our specialties is creating custom content management systems (CMS), which enable "non-technical" individuals to quickly and easily update website content. There are some items to consider though, before jumping head-first into the CMS swimming pool.

Some website owners will request a CMS that will enable them to manage ALL the content on a website, and while we can certainly implement an off-the-shelf content management system, we usually take a slightly different approach. Quite often, a website will contain some pages that are updated frequently – pages such as "News & Events", "Press Releases", "Photo Galleries", etc. This same website will probably also have some pages that don't change for months (or years) at a time – pages such as "About Us", "Mission Statement", "Contact Us", etc.

To continue learning more about content management systems, click here.

What's That Smell? Don't Let Your Website's Content Get Stale! Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Business owners should be mindful that simply launching a new website isn't a sure-fire way to get visitors to that site; it is only the very beginning of a new online marketing endeavor. A major part of marketing your business via your new website is making sure that your site's content and copy is "fresh". Just as traditional brick-and-mortar stores continuously update products, store layouts, and in-store promotional displays, website owners must do the same in order to stand out amongst competitors.

Here are some items to keep in mind, related to keeping your website content fresh:

1. Keeping your website's content updated informs your customers that your business is keeping up with your particular industry. Don't give your customers the impression that your company is stagnant.
2. Your website is part of your public image. Just as you probably wouldn't want to let a brick-and-mortar business appear run-down, it's also important to not let your public image depreciate due to an abandoned online storefront.
3. Everything else being equal, offering fresher and newer content raises the bar over your competition.
4. Search engines sometimes penalize websites that have stale content, and this often leads to reduced visibility of your business. Original, updated content is very attractive to search engines.

To continue learning how stale website content can damage your online reputation, click here.

Recent Additions To Our Portfolio Thursday, January 21, 2010

Popcake^®

www.Popcake-NA.com

Popcake^® is the world's first fully automatic pancake making machine. The company, already having a presence in Asia, Europe, and Oceania, needed a new website designed and implemented for their newest endeavors in North America. They came to us to build their new site Popcake-NA.com.

The new website has a much-needed updated style and layout than its predecessor. Some of these improvements include a revamped "Menu Items" section that takes advantage of the jQuery Javascript library to render the various Popcake^®-inspired recipe photos. A small custom CMS (content management system) was also developed to enable the client to easily add, edit, and delete items located on their "News & Events" page.

Popcake-NA.com has already been mentioned on The Food Channel, and we're very excited to be part of the Popcake^® revolution here in North America.

To visit this website, follow this link: www.Popcake-NA.com. If you have questions or comments about this particular portfolio item, please feel free to contact us.

Leftover Chicken

www.LeftoverChicken.com

LeftoverChicken.com is the brainchild of Torx Media and Frances Daniel, the owner of Mrs. Marshall's Carytown Cafe. Ms. Daniel recently launched a new barbeque sauce (Aunt Fossie's Chicken BBQ Sauce) and needed a website to advertise and sell this new product. We recommended creating a website that featured the posting of free chicken recipes. The site, LeftoverChicken.com, uses these chicken recipes as a platform to gain SEO (Search Engine Optimization) traction.

The website receives a large number of highly-targeted visitors who use Google (and other search engines) to search for items such as "leftover chicken recipes" and "recipes for leftover chicken". As these visitors browse the evergrowing list of recipes, they will encounter links to purchase Aunt Fossie's Chicken BBQ Sauce via PayPal.

LeftoverChicken.com has already seen over 100,000 unique visitors, with 58 different countries being represented. 95% of all visits originate from organic search engine referrals (as opposed to pay-per-click advertising). This website is a perfect example of how a website's relevant and intriguing content enables search engines to do the heavy-lifting of advertising to highly-targeted customers.

To visit this website, follow this link: www.LeftoverChicken.com. If you have questions or comments about this particular portfolio item, please feel free to contact us.

Happy Holidays! Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Wow... we haven't updated our website in quite some time... probably because we've been very busy meeting all of our clients' deadlines before the end of the year. Clients come first, TorxMedia.com comes second. That's how we roll.

Because the end of the year is rapidly approaching though, we did want to take a quick break from our hectic schedules to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season! Thank you for helping us make 2009 a terrific and successful year, and best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2010!

- The Torx Media Team

10 Ways To Use Twitter For Your Business Friday, October 23, 2009

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year or two, chances are you've heard of Twitter. In the rare event that you haven't heard of Twitter, or that you've heard of it but aren't quite sure what it is, here's a quick introduction:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service. Unlike several other social networking tools like Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter participants are limited to 140 characters when creating a new "tweet". Other people will then subscribe to your updates and become your "followers". Conversely, you can become the "follower" of other Twitter authors as well.

As a business owner, you may be thinking, "What does all this Twitter nonsense have to do with me running my company?" Quite a lot actually. Here are 10 ways (in no particular order) to use Twitter for your business:

1. One of the quickest and easiest ways to use Twitter for your business is to simply post about your business. Use Twitter as a marketing tool, or as an outlet for public relations. It's also important to be personal at the same time though. Add some self-promotion updates, but mix it up with some friendly relaxed tweets as well.
2. Maybe you have employees who are already active participants in the world of emerging social media. Encourage your employees to tweet for the company. The reputation of your business will increase if more than one person is saying good things about that business.
3. If your business isn't suited for promotion via Twitter, you can still use it as an internal collaborative tool. Twitter probably won't replace a robust intranet, but it can certainly serve as a communications tool for groups of people working together on the same project.

To continue learning how Twitter can help your business, click here.

Recent Additions To Our Portfolio Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Macado's Restaurant and Bar

www.Macados.net

Macado's is a classic case study of a very successful company who had a near-abondoned website that was in need of some major renovations. Their restaurants have a very unique atmosphere and style, and we succeeded in bringing that style to their brand new website.

As opposed to the previous Macado's website, the new site is better organized and enables customers and fans to view Macado's menu to quickly find their favorite sandwich, or to discover new restaurant locations near them. Additionally, Macado's is now embracing social media by connecting with their customers on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr.

We designed and developed a few custom tools to enable Macado's staff to quickly add and edit content on their new website. The "News & Events" section is powered by a custom content management system, so that time-sensitive information can be updated easily without the need to rely on web developers to make those changes. The "Locations" pages are also controlled directly by the client.

The first Macado's was opened in 1978, and they now operate 16 restaurants in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

To visit this website, follow this link: www.Macados.net. If you have questions or comments about this particular portfolio item, please feel free to contact us.