Brochure web sites are a companies online brochure.
The web site may be no more then 3 or 5 pages. The
site should be designed to do three primary things:
introduce the viewer to the company, clearly explain
the services offered by the company and have a clearly
displayed
call to action. The call to action may be a
phone phone number, an online form to fill out or
in some instances a live chat function where the viewer
and connect instantly to the company. Think of a businesses
Brochure web site as a marketing tool that can be
handed out at any time; while standing in line at the
grocery store, or waiting for a table at a restaurant,
or at your child's school function. It's the closing
line of "take a look at my companies services
at www.mydomain.com." Click on the thumbnail to view the site.
Content Management Systems (CMS):
Content Management Systems (CMS) is a collection of
tools designed to allow the creation, modification organization
and removal of information from a Web site. In short,
these are sites or parts of sites that can be easily
edited by the owner. It can be a complete site or portions
of a site. For example, a CMS was added to the St. Petersburg
Museum of Fine Arts. Their education department wanted
to have a lesson plan area where school teachers could
view and download art lesson plans. A module was developed and added to their current site.
Through this module, the education department staff could add lesson plans
including formatted text and images. They could edit
or delete the plans. A tracking functionality
and lesson plan survey to view stats was included. Click on the thumbnail to view and example of the application. To enter the admin are use "guest1" for the user name and password.
Database Driven Applications:
Similar to Content Management Systems (CMS), database driven applications are server-side HTML embedded scripting language which are written in a to create dynamic content that interacts with databases.These applications may be found in membership directories or email forms that when submitted send out emails and put the form information into a database. In this example, the International Tanning Coop wanted a module where a viewer could search a membership list by either city or zip code. The application search zip codes by a mile radius and returned a list of salons within those zip codes. It also was written so that only member salon's showed phone numbers, web site URL and a link to a dynamic Google map link. Click on the thumbnail and try a search.
Web Site Redesign:
Old
Site
Redesigned
Site
Rarely is the first launch
of a web site the finished edition. As businesses
evolve, so do business web sites. It has been our
experience that the first launch of a web presence
is merely the start to an ongoing process of updating
and adding content. Redesign usually takes place after
there is feedback that the site isn’t working
or confusing, or the time has come for a fresh look.
eCommerce/Shopping Cart Site:
Shopping carts are more common today then ever before.
The ability to have a web store is more affordable
now then ever before as well. There are a number of
"out of the box" shopping carts that are completely
customizable with additional modules that allow for
product tracking, customer mailings or exporting data
to Quickbooks to name just a few.
After much research and the testing of different cart
applications, TecTao Designs now recommends the use of
MIVA Cart and affordable high end shopping cart that
interfaces with many of the popular card processing companies
such as Authorize.net. Pricing for shopping carts start
at $600 and go up depending on the amount of customization
required. Additional costs would include hosting for
MIVA (usually under $400 per year) bank charges, card
processing gateways. Click on the thumbnail to view this site.
Search Engine Marketing Strategies:
Search engine
marketing emphasize a number of different strategies
to get viewers to a site. A companies web site is
a store or office that is open 24/7, but if a visitor
can't find your, you are limiting access to only those
who already know you exist.
Search Engine Marketing Strategies include the following:
Search
Engine Optimization (SEO) - making a site search engine
friendly so that when pages are indexed they can be
found when a web surfer uses pertinent search words
or phrases.
Indexing
a site to the leading search engines and directories
by submissions and xml site maps.
Using
PPC (pay per click) campaigns.
Monitoring
search engine placement to see how a site is positioned.