I want to make an offer to anyone reading this: Do you have an idea for a killer web site, but you're just not a web developer? Let's face it; a great web site can easily cost many thousands -- or tens of thousands -- if it's a complex site (and, that's just for the development alone). To build and deploy a successful web site, you generally need:

• a domain name, web server, and hosting account
• web development, design, and coding skills
• marketing savvy, and knowledge of SEO best practices
• an array of related knowledge / expertise (e.g., social media skills, video marketing, list building, etc.)
• knowledge about what is possible and what isn't, and the experience to know the difference
• key relationships with various other resources valuable to the process
• time to do it all!

For many entrepreneurial-minded individuals, the cost hiring a good web developer represents a major barrier to moving forward with a million-dollar idea. Or, maybe you're already running your own bricks-and-mortar operation, but you think that you'd like to begin selling merchandise online -- and, again, the cost of web development is holding you back from pursuing this new expansion. If either of those scenarios is sounding familiar, then here's my offer to you:

Drop me an email at Jim [at] MarketingPortland.com, outlining your big idea or your expansion plans. I can't promise you anything in return, unfortunately -- not even confidentiality! But, I will promise you this: I'll read it, consider it seriously as a business proposal, and write you back. At the very least, you'll get 100% honest feedback. But *if* it resonates strongly with me, then *maybe* we can pursue it together as partners. In other words, *maybe* I'll take on your web development project in return for an equity position in your project. I don't have money to put toward such things. But, I do already possess all that is necessary (as listed above) to develop and launch a really great new web site.

A few notes, before you fire off your ideas to me: First, don't take it personally if I don't want to partner with you. I've always felt that, for whatever I'm involved with from an entrepreneurial standpoint, I really have to believe in it in some especially profound way. So, I've passed on numerous ideas that were solid, outstanding business ideas. I've also passed on a number of ideas that likely would've been profitable, but just weren't types of businesses I wanted to be involved in. And, yes, I've passed on things because the other person was ... well, bizarre (or, you know, strange or something). (I'm sure you, dear reader, are not weird. But, I'm just being honest.) In all likelihood, for most of the legitimate ideas I pass on, I'll offer feedback that'll be valuable to you -- whether it's pure marketing advice, a few key observations, or a referral to another resource.

Second, this is probably only a good idea for people who know me already. I can't imagine that many entrepreneurs out there would dare submit a non-confidential million-dollar business idea to a complete stranger. But, hey, you never know. If you're hesitant about approaching me for this reason, well, what can I say? Maybe friend me on Facebook and get to know me there for a while before taking a chance of divulging your life's dream to me. It's not my intention to take your idea and pursue it without you. But, I don't want to hassle with all of the legal mumbo-jumbo of protecting myself, either. So, where you're concerned, it's just got to be 100% a matter of trust -- a pure leap of faith.

Well, that's it for today. Got a million-dollar web idea but don't know how to bring it to life? Well, if you trust me, drop me a line and let's talk about it! What will come of this offer? I have literally no idea(!) -- just putting it out there to see what comes back.

A few friends and associates may know that I've been up to some intense Joomla! development over the past several months. In fact, we have a major Joomla project underway at the moment that we're looking forward to launching and discussing (at length) here on this portfolio/blog. It's pretty exciting stuff, and will represent quite a demo site for potential clients to review (a fact I'm really excited about, as it's a massively technical implementation).

In the meantime, I thought I'd demonstrate a much more straightforward Joomla! implementation. This is a web site called HealthyGourmetChefPDX.com, which is roughly 90% complete as I write this. My wife, Wendi, is a health coach and personal chef here in Portland. We'd decided recently that May 1 should represent the official launch of her personal chef business here, so naturally she wanted a web site.

The result is a relatively basic implementation of the new "Diametric" template by RocketTheme (a Joomla design and development firm). I like it because it demonstrates rather well just how quickly one can get a nice Joomla site developed and launched (provided one has the text, graphics, and know-how to put it all together quickly). I'm sure we'll tweak things as we move forward with this site, but it's all largely there (and, really, is meant to be more of an online marketing brochure-style site, although with some slick features).

As far as the techie side goes, I'd say it was a fairly easy install and configuration. I'm not so thrilled with RocketTheme's RokTwittie (Twitter) feed application (although, to be frank, I'm not really a big Twitter fan, anyway -- perhaps the topic of a future blog post). So, this is the one module that, as you may notice, is not yet fully configured.

A few other notes, for anyone searching for RocketTheme Diametric fixes / tips:

• Favicon: As in other templates, this one likes the Favicon file to appear in the root of the theme, as opposed to the root of the site. So, pop your .ico file into the theme root and you'll be jake, okay? Also copy the file to your administrator folder, if (like me) you care to see your favicon on the back end, as well.
• Logo Element: As usual, you'll need to customize this PNG file to your liking. Don't forget that you can easily move it left or right (although it looks nice centered). I only mention this to remind people that modules and menu items are easily positionable in Joomla!
• Slow-Loading Images: If you're having trouble with molasses-speed images on your RocketTheme web site, try turning off the "Smart Load" feature. Ostensibly, this "feature" is there to help speed things along -- and indeed it probably does do this for anyone non-savvy enough to load up a web page with megs and megs of imagery. But, if you think of things like optimizing photos beforehand (which, I hope is the case for most designers), then you probably do not need "Smart Load." The web site being profiled here is nearly non-functional with Smart Load enabled!
• Page Titles: Okay, this is a tricky one! Here's something hilarious: Do a search online for "Diametric - April 2012 Template Demo" (including the quotes). There are nearly 2,000 (so far) results for this! This means that there are ~2,000 Joomla administrators who do NOT know how to customize the page titles. But, I don't blame them... It's a really tough setting to find, buried deep in the system. Here's a hint: Go into your MENU module and check in your home menu settings. Look for "Page Display Options." I'm fairly sure this is where I found "Diametric - April 2012 Template Demo" lurking, and was able to delete it from my entire site.

Well, if I think of any more tips / tricks for that template, I'll return and update this post. Aside from that, stay tuned for a major Joomla!-reveal in the coming weeks!

Ahh, new business cards -- edgy, yet succinct and to the point. See what you think!

You may notice the inclusion of the Joomla and Wordpress logos on the card. These reflect my decision to make a stronger commitment to these two platforms. As of now, there aren't any portfolio projects highlighting Joomla sites, but we've been busy developing a major one that we'll likely post here within a month or so. I have a little more to say about Joomla, but will save that for another post.

This is a companion post to our previous post on video marketing. Below are Marketing Portland's essential 11 best practices for video marketing.

1. Account Name: Use a brand name or, even better, relevant keywords.
2. Format: Upload in as high-res as you can.
3. Titles: Natural-sounding, but incorporate keywords.
4. Descriptions: Begin with a link back to your site (including the "http://" part).
5. Tags: Always use them, and include your top keywords.
6. Sharing: Share vids on your site and social media accounts.
7. Linking: When linking, link to your vids using thoughtful anchor text.
8. Length: For SEO purposes, 3-5 minute vids are fine.
9. Content: Make entertaining / informative as you can.
10. Music: Don't use copyrighted background music.
11. Watermark: Superimpose your site URL on vids, or include in the credits.

Ready to begin your video marketing program? Give us a call today at (503)891-7153!

(Photo, above, by Watt Dabney on Flickr, Creative Commons.)

For years now, video has exploded in popularity, and it's only going to continue. In this article, I'm going to offer a study of this phenomenon, and how it could positively affect your business.

Routinely, when I meet with clients, I ask them: "What's the number one search engine in the world?"

Usually, they reply, "Google."

"Right," I say. "Now, what's the number TWO search engine?"

This question usually throws them. Some say Yahoo, naturally. But, they're wrong; it's Youtube! (Oh, and, guess who owns Youtube? Why yes ... it's Google! Stick around and I'll expand on why that's an enormously important fact.) Youtube's stats speak for themselves:

• More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years
• 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute, or one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second.
• Over 4 billion videos are viewed a day
• Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month
• Over 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
• Source: Youtube's stats page (here)

Let's Back Up a Bit

To begin our study of the importance of video marketing, I'd like to show you a typical results screen from a Google search. In this screen, I simply searched for "construction contractors." Here's what came up:

It's not important for you to be able to read the text on that screenshot. Simply notice the screen: At the top, there are the paid advertisements in yellow. Off to the right, there is a map with some dots (representing contractors). Below that on the right are more advertisements. And, the main results listing for this search appear in the center of the page. For this search, the top results are the typical listing of seven companies appearing on the map. You'll see this listing of seven highlighted companies on many searches.

But, how do they get there? Are those seven listings "organic results," or have those companies paid for that visibility?

This is where it gets a little confusing for some. You see, those seven companies do represent "organic" results allright, but only insofar as they haven't paid Google to be there. They're there because they (or their marketers) have done a number of things better than their hundreds of competitors.

Like all search results, this represents a dynamic equation, to be sure. But, a few contributing factors include:

• good SEO practices
• positive reviews
• appearance on other search engines that Google finds influential
• synergistic factors involving other web sites
• positive reviews on various review sites (e.g., Yelp)
• thorough information appearing on critical sites (e.g. Google Places)
• keywords often appearing in the domain, business name, or link titles
• and, likely, a number of other issues

Sure, But Where Does Video Fit Into That?

IMHO, video is an important part of the above mix. It fits square into (1) good SEO practices (privided it's done right), (2) appearance on other search engines, (3) synergy with othe sites, (4) the thoroughness with which a site's non-Google profiles have been populated (more about this in a moment), (5) keyword strength (potentially), etc. So, basically, it's a strong background factor to all of these. It's a piece of the formula, in other words.

For example, I want to focus in on that concept of thoroughness for a moment. Take Google Places, for example. This is Google's basic registry for all businesses in the world. Knowing that Google owns Google Places, isn't it logical that Google pays special attention to this listing listing? I think it is, and I've seen the differences between those who have paid special attention to it and those who have ignored it. It seems to be the case that businesses get a little extra "Google juice" for going the extra mile in terms of their listings on sites like Google Places. By "going the extra mile," I'm talking about being as thorough as possible. And, in the case of Google Places and a number of other directory sites, that means including some of your own video marketing in those profiles.

A lot of clients come to me because they're a little stuck concerning SEO. And, yes, we can and often do run through their sites and update the on-site things over which we do have control (meta-tagging, title-tagging, proper ratios of text to HTML, keyword use, etc.). But, while those things certainly help, quite often I feel that many businesses nevertheless eventually hit what I call an "SEO plateau." To me, this means that you're doing about as good as you're going to, unless something changes. And, that something could be quite a range of things. But, the one thing that you really do have some control over is expanding into video marketing.

I talk a lot about synergy with clients and, while that's a tough subject to define precisely, consider the following scenario:

For the sake of this example, let's assume you can get a great domain name, loaded with keywords reflecting your city and your business type. For example, "PortlandPizza.com" (which happens to be the domain name of an actual pizza restaurant here in PDX). That much of this example is, coincidentally, a true thing. But, the rest I'm going to make up as part of a way to illustrate a point:

• Okay, you're now PortlandPizza.com, which is your primary site
• Let's say you also grab "PortlandPizza" as your Youtube channel name (and upload numerous vids)
• Let's say you also grab it as your Facebook business "page" name, and then embed those Youtube vids there, as well as on other assets such as a blog
• Lets say you take pains to grab this account name all over the web, in numerous places (e.g., Gmail handle, Youtube/Flickr account name, etc.)
• Now consider that all of these accounts will have profiles, mostly pointing back to your domain with live links. Additionally, the your site points out to them all and/or embeds things from them (e.g., maybe you use a Flickr set for photos, etc.)
• Consider that all of your profiles also contain your most important keywords (e.g., "pizza, portland pizza, pizza delivery" etc.)

Now you should begin to see what I'm talking about in terms of "synergy." And video is probably the best way I know of to really kick-start and facilitate that synergy!

Add to this the power of having super anchor text in this example, which is like bonus points. In case you don't know, anchor text is the text that's used to make the link -- that is, the text that's actually underlined as the clickable link itself. For example, there are three basic kinds of links you might see to a standard web page:

1. "To visit our pizza shop's page, visit www.JoesPlaceOnHawthorne.com" (most common -- just gives the link to the page)
2. "To visit our pizza chop, click here"
3. "To learn more about our delicious pizzas, visit our site."

So, in the above example, the anchor text is:

1. www.JoesPlaceOnHawthorne.com
2. here
3. delicious pizzas

What that helps communicate to Google:

1. The brand name "JoesPlaceOn Hawthorne" is associated with the URL "www.JoesPlaceOnHawthorne.com" (Google Juice? A little, in terms of branding, but nothing for pizza.)
2. No extra information communicated to Google -- just a normal link. (Google Juice? No. Doesn't hurt or help.)
3. JoesPlaceOnHawthorne probably sells pizza. (Google Juice? Yes, the best of the three offered here, but also the least common and toughest to get.)

Ergo... To get more mileage from the anchor text phenomenon: IF you're building a new web site and/or getting account names on FB, Youtube, etc., think about this stuff first, before you buy any domain names and/or secure usernames on other sites. Here's why:

1. "To visit Marketing Portland's page, visit www.MarketingPortland.com" (Google Juice? Yes, it tells Google that we do marketing, and we will pretty much always get this from others because simple listing our address gives us the desired anchor text by default.)
2. "To visit our Marketing Portland, click here" (Google Juice? No, but we haven't lost anything, either.)
3. "To learn more about our marketing programs, visit our site." (Google Juice? Yes, although we didn't need it because we almost always get it from scenario #1, above.)

I spent longer than I'd planned on anchor text, but I hope it illustrates why usernames and URLs are important. But, let's take a look at another typical search result that shows why video is great marketing. This time, I'll search for "how to make a salad":

Ahh, interesting! This is actually exactly what I wanted to show, only with a twist. As you can see, the results lists actually include three video stills, with links to the vids. Each of those three videos includes most of the keywords from our "how to make a salad" query. This illustrates why it's important to pay attention to how you title your videos, as you may well wind up directly on a Google search page instead of being found via a Youtube search.

I'm glad I went on a bit about anchor text, above, because I think it's actually relevant here, as well. You might ask, for example, "How did Google come to select those three particular videos from the millions out there on salad making?" Well, that, too is a complicated thing. But, if I had to guess, I would certainly not downplay the importance of anchor text in that formula. I would bet that quite a number of links have the words "How to Make a Salad" as the anchor text that links to the URLs. So, you have to think about this in terms of your roll-out of your video strategy.

Another lesson here (this is the twist I mentioned) is that all three videos in this case are non-Youtube vids, which means that Google does in fact pay attention to a broad array of video sites. I've seen many, many Google results screens that link to Youtube, of course, but the best practice for video seems to be in uploading your vids to many places. (We used to use TubeMogul for this, but now the site is called Oneload, which is free for personal use, and $75+/month for commercial use. A few other sites do this, as well -- major time-savers!)

When Your Competitor Gets National Attention

BTW, In that "PortlandPizza.com" example I gave, I was reminded of one other critical note. First, I want to point out that they are, in fact, the #1 organic search result on Google for the term "portland pizza." However, it's also true that the results page begins with Google's signature seven-company listing of map links -- and they're definitely NOT among this seven. This begs the question: Why not?

Well, it's surely a complicated matter, and may or may not be fixable for this company via a foray into video. But, it's important to note that, no matter how hard you try to optimize for a given word or term, and no matter what means you may employ, success is never absolutely guaranteed. One phenomenon I've personally seen a few times happens when one of your competitors happens to pull in national attention for the same term you're optimizing for. This might mean a front-page story on Yahoo, or a huge mention on a top-tier national web site. I mean, if you're working to optimize for a term like "Portland Pizza" and your competitor (who does zero video) happens to be profiled in the New York Times as "Best Pizza in Portland"... well, let's just say that you'll have an uphill battle, to say the least, regarding besting those people in the organic listings (video or no video).

This scenario actually happened to one restaurant near my home. I recall seeing a front-page Yahoo link to "America's Best Pizza" on Yahoo, and the story just happened to include a link to a restaurant just up the street from me. That restaurant IS in the seven-member Google map listing on page 1 of the results, and I expect they'll stay there for quite some time, riding solely on the power of that high-profile coverage. Supposedly, it's pretty darned good pizza, though. So, maybe they deserve it.

Every now and then, I have to run through the work archives for something extraordinarily old. Thankfully, we keep impeccable digital files here, and have been doing so since at least the mid 1990s. So, it's no big deal to reach way back for something, even if just out of curiosity.

Today, I happened to see this old advertisement (shown above) from the mid-1990s. This is back when we called ourselves "Desktop and Editorial Express," which we thought was pretty clever, since our last name is Dee, and since we were really into desktop publishing and writing / editing / communications. Later, we called ourselves "Dee Publishing" for a while. But, most of the time, we just referred to ourselves as our own names, Jim and Wendi Dee, for freelance / contract work.

Aside from my nostalgic reasons for posting this, the ad reminded me of two things. First, we've been doing this sort of work -- marketing, communications, and web sites -- for a long time. This is why our list of services is rather extensive for such a small company. I guess we just don't feel as though we ever really forget how to do things once we learn them. In the same computer file folder as that ad, I even found backups of some of the first web pages we ever authored, back in 1994!

The second point I wanted to note related to the word "editorial." Wendi and I both earned degrees in English, and then cut our professional teeth in major, world-class publishing houses. Wendi worked in the publications department of the national headquarters for the Better Business Bureau; I edited business and legal journals for Prentice Hall. Working for years in an atmosphere like either one of those places, where visibility is national and professional expectations are extraordinarily high, is extremely valuable -- both to us, personally, in terms of the appreciation we feel for having had the opportunity, as well as to our clients.

In all forms of marketing communications -- from advertising to direct mail, to the web -- clear communications are absolutely essential. Rarely do clients come to us with their copy pre-written and edited (unless, of course, the project is a book or magazine layout). Quite often, clients need help articulating a message. Such articulation is a major part of the value proposition that Marketing Portland brings to the creative table, so to speak.

Here's an illuminating story for you: Recently, we were asked to team up on a large web-based project with another agency. As part of that bidding process, the client wanted hourly rates for all involved. Now, we've been doing client work for a l-o-n-g time and, to be honest, we've always preferred project-based billing rather than hourly billing. (I'll get into my reasons for this in a bit.)

For the purposes of this article, let's just say that we quoted them X dollars per hour for our part. The other agency in this scenario quoted an hourly rate of 2X dollars per hour. Upon our submitting this information, the client was presumably accepting of X, but totally wigged out at the 2X rate, and ultimately walked.

In their heads, they'd made a rational business decision. But, in reality, they botched it. Here's why:

I can tell you with 100% certainty that, had the client selected only our firm at X per hour, it would have easily taken us more than twice the hours to complete the job, as compared with the 2X per hour firm. It was a new platform for us. Sure, we had the necessary skills to work on it, and wanted the work. But, with experience comes efficiency, and we hadn't yet built up either of these qualities with respect to this particular platform.

So, basically, what I'm saying here is that clients often save money by hiring the more ostensibly expensive consultant (provided said client is hung up on hours versus results). Ergo, this kind of hourly-focused business thinking is a huge mistake.

Yet, it persists in the marketplace. And, let's be 100% honest about why this is. It breaks down to two simple rules of nature:

1. Clients, in general, seek to accomplish the results they want for the lowest possible price.
2. Meanwhile, contractors seek to earn the highest potential profit that they can from their clients.

The problem is focusing on the means rather than the ends. So, the solution is for clients to vet their employees and contractors properly. Ask them: "What is your experience doing what we're proposing here?" Ask them, "How efficient are you with respect to this kind of project?" Ask for specific answers, and those worth their fees will prove it.

Of course, a client would need to be savvy enough to ask the right questions, and to judge the answers well! But, the end result could be a true win-win for all involved (meaning, the 2X/hour consultant gets to do his or her specialty, and the client actually saves money overall). As a bonus, the process itself becomes more efficient, as all are focused on the goal rather than the process (thus removing various administrative burdens for both the client and consultant).

Every now and then, I have to run through the work archives for something extraordinarily old. Thankfully, we keep impeccable digital files here, and have been doing so since at least the mid 1990s. So, it's no big deal to reach way back for something, even if just out of curiosity.

Today, I happened to see this old advertisement (shown above) from the mid-1990s. This is back when we called ourselves "Desktop and Editorial Express," which we thought was pretty clever, since our last name is Dee, and since we were really into desktop publishing and writing / editing / communications. Later, we called ourselves "Dee Publishing" for a while. But, most of the time, we just referred to ourselves as our own names, Jim and Wendi Dee, for freelance / contract work.

Aside from my nostalgic reasons for posting this, the ad reminded me of two things. First, we've been doing this sort of work -- marketing, communications, and web sites -- for a long time. This is why our list of services is rather extensive for such a small company. I guess we just don't feel as though we ever really forget how to do things once we learn them. In the same computer file folder as that ad, I even found backups of some of the first web pages we ever authored, back in 1994!

The second point I wanted to note related to the word "editorial." Wendi and I both earned degrees in English, and then cut our professional teeth in major, world-class publishing houses. Wendi worked in the publications department of the national headquarters for the Better Business Bureau; I edited business and legal journals for Prentice Hall. Working for years in an atmosphere like either one of those places, where visibility is national and professional expectations are extraordinarily high, is extremely valuable -- both to us, personally, in terms of the appreciation we feel for having had the opportunity, as well as to our clients.

In all forms of marketing communications -- from advertising to direct mail, to the web -- clear communications are absolutely essential. Rarely do clients come to us with their copy pre-written and edited (unless, of course, the project is a book or magazine layout). Quite often, clients need help articulating a message. Such articulation is a major part of the value proposition that Marketing Portland brings to the creative table, so to speak.

Commonly, when a client wants a new web site, they have at least some idea of a style they'd like to achieve. They may not have a vision in place for specifics like color or fonts or graphics. But, they usually do have an overall kind of vibe they're after. For example, most serious business-types (lawyers, CPAs, financial people, etc.) know in advance that they need a "professional" look. Similarly, a fashion store may want a "trendy" look, and a tattoo shop may prefer an "edgy" look.

In the old days, it was tough to get your site done the way you wanted because you had to find someone with two sets of well-developed skills -- web development and design. That's always been the interesting (and, to me, fun) thing about the web; it's really an intersection of creative and analytical talents. (I actually enjoy working with both sides of my brain!)

Sooner or later, the culture evolved into a scenario in which the techies could (if they so chose) sequester themselves off into one analytical area concerned purely with code, and the designers (if they so chose) could concentrate purely on design and other more creative aspects of the web. So, to a lot of people, this has been a real win-win. And, one could argue that the wild success of platforms that support this (every major CMS -- like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal -- at the moment) has quite a bit to do with this splitting off of specialties.

Okay, so what does this mean to me?

Good question. It means you no longer have to find that magic, often elusive, combination of design and technical talent in your webmaster. You can simply tell him or her (hopefully us here at Marketing Portland!): "Hey, I'd like to hire you guys to do my site, and I'd like to see 4 or 5 sample designs that have a [fill in the blank] look."

The upsides of this type of design are that:

1. it's usually a time saver. Provided the template designer used clean, easy to customize methods and code (and most are easy to work with), you benefit from effectively skipping the whole custom design process. Keep in mind that your webmaster will still require time for customizations. But, overall, it'll be a much quicker process as compared with a custom design.
2. you're afforded more choice. In the old days, you'd usually be limited to the range of designs that your designer might have come up with. Today, you can shop around!
3. you get to choose from fully-designed templates. In the old days, you'd generally choose from a few sketches produced by a single designer. Now, you get to review fully-designed themes. So, you get a clearer picture right away of how things will look when finished.
4. it saves money. Naturally, a quicker process usually translates into cost savings for you!

Do I Have to Use a Template?

Certainly not! Even if you're using a CMS that requires a theme, most CMSs today make it fairly easy to use your own design as the template. Marketing Portland's web site is a custom design, but we've used this same design with Wordpress and one other CMS so far with no problems.

If you're ready to explore a new web site, or a redesign of your current site, let's talk about which CMS platforms and design templates might be right for you. Again, we can also do 100% custom design work, and/or work with a designer of your choosing as well. It all depends on your preferenes and, of course, budget.

Back in the 1990s, I worked for years as a proposal writer at Deloitte. (See here for details.) While I'd been in the corporate world for years by then, this was the first time I recall having an idea that HTML technology could really prove handy for organizing documents itnernally within an office.

So, I established a simple public folder on the company network, and began organizing files I found myself needing regularly into a handy visual index of sorts. The project grew into a personal portal to pretty much all of the information that would come in handy for people in my position, and the others there eventually saw the utility of it as well. I called it "JimNet". Little did I know at the time, this was called an "Intranet" -- basically, a web site meant for internal access.

Later, I learned that the firm (coincidentally) was at work on a similar project -- although worldwide in scope. It was built on the Lotus Notes platform, which I believe is still around today. While I recall the global effort being absolutely klunky, the training that came along with the rollout did nonetheless illuminate a number of concepts that rang true. One in particular was that corporations tend to suffer from what was termed "silos" of knowledge.

Picture, if you will, a high-level arial photo of several miles of farm land. In the landscape, you see vast fields and, every now and then, a silo. The image is meant to illustrate how individuals within an office (or offices within a multi-location company) tend to develop private repositories of information and processes. It's fairly easy to grasp how this is an inefficient practice, as so many people (and, collectively, offices) are essentially "reinventing the wheel" with respect to numerous files, processes, etc. Not only that; there's usually a huge waste of paper, as well.

In terms of reinventing the wheel, consider the case of a real estate firm looking to sell a house. Without an intranet system, some marketer puts together a flyer, and then sends that flyer via email to all of the agents who might need a copy. Each agent then files it on his or her machine, in who knows what kind of disorganized mess of a hard drive that no one else would ever be able to sift through if needed, and maybe keeps it up to date and maybe not. Also, remember that the file is only available from within the office. If an agent is out at a showing, there's no remote access. Multiply that by 20 agents, 20 computers, and 50 homes for sale, and you can see the file disaster immediately.

Enter the Intranet. In an Intranet scenario, a webmaster creates a private web site. It can be internal on a network, of course. But, for enhanced use, let's assume that it's on a web site somewhere, only behind a password-protected area. So, now the marketing person posts the fyler there one time, and it's instantly available to all agents, both inside and outside the office, 24 / 7. Oops... type on page 4? No worries... The file is fixed, and replaced once, thus always having the most up-to-date version in one convenient place.

Let's look at another common pet peeve ... wasted paper! Consider a typical board of directors at a nonprofit organization. Ever serve on a nonprofit board? I sure have. And, quite often, that means you'll get one of the old dinosaurs -- the "board book." Jus what you need as a busy executive, right? -- a huge binder with the bylaws, the minutes, the D&O insurance info, the strategic plan, the budget, the directory of other board members, the economic impact studies, and on and on and on ... Oh, and how wonderful that, at each meeting, you receive a new stack of papers that has to be inserted, or that replaces certain pages. And you think to yourself, "Wow, I actually donate money to this group to participate in this?!

Enter the Intranet. Suddenly, you post all of this information one time, and your board members can go fetch it whenever they like. And, since it's all password protected, it's easy to control access. If a board member leaves, no worries... Your webmaster just deletes that user. Likewise, if another joins, he or she gets a new username and password. I've personally done this before, many times! And it's wonderful. Everyone loves being relieved from the big old nasty binders (which, by the way) no one has to lug to meetings any longer.

As a web development company, we've done many of these systems. They're used for HR administration, for communicating with investors, as CRM systems, and for internal "command central"-type screens, complete with all of the functionality you've come to know via the web. The screen atop this page, in fact, is an internal one I use for myself. It basically houses about 200 pages of text that I find myself needing regularly, links to a whole bunch of web-based utilities I use regularly, a few custom calculators I need, all of my contacts, a notepad area, and much more. Most of my experience here is basically standard web technology, although I've certainly used a number of larger systems such as Microsoft Sharepoints (which I really wasn't a fan of at the time).

Actually, I really prefer just normal customized web sites, password protected. I find that PHP has easy-to-work-with file management, for when that functionality is needed, and most other tasks are easy to acomplish as well via normal web developmet means. Again, the only real difference is that it's a private, password-protected site. Need one? Give us a call!