The Sprocket Report
Jim Kendall, business columnist for The Daily Herald, related a too-common story in his post yesterday. He went to the website listed on a business card he received and found an out-of-date copyright, stale blog “news” and a phone number that didn’t work. “Is this business alive?” Kendall wondered. What does the look of your website say about your organization?
DIY Sprocket Solutions
On the 12th anniversary 9/11, I am reminded of the importance of compassion, respect, and validation not just from the every day Joe putting information out into the world, but also from the businesses, brands, etc. who are involved socially on the internet. Because there are times, both in life and in business, when we as people have to take a step back and assess the situation in front of us. We have to be cautious of our approach to sensitive situations and we have to remember that, although we are speaking through a brand, we are still speaking to other human beings during a very sensitive time.
But Our Clients Are the Real Winners
Sprocket Websites is proud to announce that we have been nominated for a 2013 Chicago Innovation Award in the category of website design and development. Sprocket's unique use of of-the-shelf technology and creative flair empowers businesses, not-for-profit organizations and governmental departments to do great things online while being good stewards of their budgets.
The Sprocket Report
Labor Day advertising always seems to feature some burly guy or gal wielding a massive wrench or mallet. Certainly physical labor is hard work, but those of us who wield keyboards and spread sheets work pretty darn hard as well. Even wrenches have been improved to make the job easier, so why not use technology to make your job easier, too?
DIY Sprocket Solutions
Customers. You've worked hard to build your business and you should have found out by now that there is a necessary component to your success. Customers. The common denominator between a giant rise to profit and the greatest plummet to failure. Customers. Here's my point folks, sometimes we build and build and build -finally get to that "hey, we're successful" part -and then seem to forget exactly who it was that put us in that position in the first place.
The Sprocket Report
Your teens insist on having the latest look in back-to-school clothes so peers can see at a glance that they are hip, cool or whatever the current slang for “up-to-date” is. Website designs have trends, too. Is your site embarrassingly unfashionable? Take a look at these three trends.
DIY Sprocket Solutions
We all know by now that being social these days seems to be translated into the average number of comments you give or receive on social media on a daily basis. Whether we like it or not, this is the new norm. Connecting via tweet, blog post, comment, tag, etc. is the new phone call or drop by that we used to give to check in on our friends and clients. Social shifts aside, this digital world is an opportunity for business owners. Online marketing, specifically on social media, is a free admission fish tank full of free bait to dangle in front of fresh fish -I mean customers... The problem is this: there are only so many hours in a day. There, I've said it. The secret is out. You may not have the time to successfully market your business on social media while simultaneously running that same business. Luckily, there are other options.
The Sprocket Report
The annual web hosting invoice was still unpaid after 30 days so we called the client up to see if there was a problem. He was genuinely perplexed. “But I already paid that last year! I have to pay it again?” Website marketing is still new enough that many small business owners are still deeply suspicious of the costs. Here are the answers to some common FAQs.
DIY Sprocket Solutions
In the name of all things social media, I thought I'd catch you all up on what's going on in Facebook's slice of the universe this week. Turns out, Facebook has decided to introduce a social plugin that allow users to embed posts on their blogs and websites. What are embedded posts?
Datacenter Upgrade Boosts Capacity 150%
We work with PowerDNN to host our clients' DNN websites. We chose PowerDNN because they are the world leader in DNN infrastructure and hosting. Still, there's always room for improvement and we're happy to report that PowerDNN recently improved by doubling redundancy and increasing throughput capacity. Translated from geekspeak, that means they've reduced the chances that your website will go down when something freaky happens to one of the many moving parts. One less worry for us when we're taking care of your website.