Weboo can turn your on-line presence from a web site that is occasionally updated, hard to change, and a chore to manage, to a flexible system with massive growth potential and the ability to achieve your organisations on-line goals.

Content Management Systems (CMS) can assist your business to achieve these goals. Weboo are CMS specialists. With over 6 years experience with a wide range of CMS solutions, Weboo can assist your business to get a web site that meets your needs.

Content Management Systems (CMS) offer the following benefits to small and medium sized businesses:

• Easy to use. No longer do businesses have to learn code to maintain their web site, CMS use a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) approach to managing content. Microsoft Word is an excellent demonstration of a WYSIWYG program as it prints on paper what you see on the screen. CMS use WYSIWYG editors in the same way as Microsoft Word by enabling web site editors to see their changes as they will look on the web site before they apply them.
• Image and file management. CMS make adding a photo of a new staff member, photos of your last job, or the annual report, easy. Simply upload the file to your web site via the CMS, and link the file to the appropriate page. Images can also been seen and positioned via WYSIWYG editor.
• Fast additional functionality. Do you want to make money from your web site with an on-line store or offer visitors the ability to sign up to a newsletter? CMS offer a plug-in system for adding new features and systems to existing web sites quickly.
• Security and Updates. The internet can be a dangerous place and there are thousands of hackers trying to gain access to private information. As the updates are released they are applied to your web site as part of the maintenance agreement and your site continues to be extremely secure and benefit from additional new features or bug fixes.
• Vendor-independent flexibility. If you find Weboo doesn’t offer you the extraordinary level of service you expect from your web site professionals, or you want to work with other web site professionals, you are welcome to. Weboo does not own your web site, it is created by Weboo using open-source software. This means you can have other web site professionals work on your web site. Unlike other companies, we will not ask you to sign any licenses or lock you into exclusivity agreements with us.
• Templates. Professional businesses update the look and feel of their web site every 1 or 2 years on average. Often this is important to show web site visitors the organisation takes the web site seriously and the changes often incorporates current design and web technologies. Using CMS, updating the look and feel of your web site is easy. The CMS has a template systems which enable the whole site to change its look and feel. Changing the look and feel or your site is now a cost-effective and time-efficient process which offers your business the ability to change with your market.

Weboo can deliver the following aspects for your web site:

• Professional look and feel thanks for a large selection of ready-made templates or custom-built templates from world-class designers based on your logo and style guide.
• Easy to update and modify. Weboo includes a minimum of 2 hours training with all of its web sites to ensure your business can quickly make the most of your new web site.
• Lower cost than traditional web sites. Due to the flexibility and ease of use, the CMS costs less to setup and less to maintain than traditional web sites. Plus, leveraging open-source software means the cost is dramatically lower.
• Flexibility to work with the best web site development business, not the one that manages or owns your web site.
• Fast development and implementation. Weboo’s web sites are quickly developed and implemented enabling customers to begin utilising their new web site sooner.
• Support. Weboo offers some of the best customer support in its field. If we are unable to answer your query, we will work with our customer to investigate and resolve their question.
• Expansion. As your web presence expands, Weboo can offer you the fastest method to incorporate new features in to your site whether this be standard features like a blog or advanced features such as the latest advertising or payment systems.

To find out how Weboo can assist you to maximise your web site’s online presence and gain all of the benefits listed above, email or call us, we look forward to hearing from you.

Many customers of Weboo want to know how to make their site popular without the need for effort or on-going work. Unfortunately my response to these questions is “You can’t”. Tonight I have decided to write an article about SEO and in particular content with the hope of helping Weboo’s clients and Weboo’s readers.

Firstly, there are currently millions of web sites on the internet. Millions of these sites are not updated frequently and millions more are updated so infrequently that no one would bother visiting the site occasionally to see if the site has changed. Search engines deem these sites to be updated ‘infrequently’. When a search engine considers a site to be irregularly updated they don’t bother sending their robots to crawl the web site and therefore the search engine does not update its records about the web site often. This leads to a web site being considered static and the likelihood a person would want to visit this site therefore is reduced. The result is a web site is not crawled or updated or visited often therefore its content is less useful than a web site that is updated frequently.

You may think this point is fairly obvious, and you’re right, it probably is. But you would be amazed at how many people want their web site to be number 1 on the search engines yet they don’t want to create and upload any new content. If you think about the web sites you visit frequently, they are sites which always have new content. These sites usually have a dedicated team who update them, they often have advertisements, and they usually are easy to find on search engines.

Now you’re probably thinking “Ian’s right but does he realise how hard it is to come up with content and find the time to update a web site”. You may be surprised when I say it took me nearly a year to create Weboo’s web site, and it has taken me 6 months to begin prioritising this blog and adding items frequently. I know how hard it can be to decide and stick to adding content to a web site frequently.

Therefore I have come up with the following checklist for people who want to have a successful web site which ranks well on the search engines and captures a lot of visitors:
1. Create a web site.
2. Set the meta information correctly and register it with search engines.
3. Create an easy method for web site maintenance such as utilising a CMS or blog.
4. Think about your new site and decide how much effort you can afford to spend on maintaining it.
5. Collect a bunch of information for possible content, I keep a spreadsheet of possible topics I can write about.
6. Start with small pieces of content and regular updates on a long cycle.
7. Decrease the cycle if you want your web site to become a web site people regularly visit.

A web site with a CMS can work particularly well if you would like to post news items. If you want more order for your content or the ability for people to participate in your content, I suggest you try using a blog.

There are many other aspects of SEO which I could discuss today but I think this will do. In future SEO fundamental articles, I intend to discuss the benefits of blogs, the need for correct linking, and I hope to dispel some of the methods people use to promote their web site which you shouldn’t waste your time on because they don’t work.

If you would like assistance with your web site or blog please contact Weboo.

If you would like to share your thoughts and ideas on this post with me and fellow Weboo readers please click the title of this blog post then add your comment in the form at the end of the article.

Recently I heard about a conference called Future of Web Apps or FOWA for short. This conference is in America and involves staff from popular and influential web businesses giving presentations. Businesses who present include Digg, Yahoo, Google, Amazon, New York Times, and the list goes on. These presenters offer insights into what these organisations are currently working on and what they think is going to be the next big thing. Naturally I was very interested to attend except the cost and time requirements are not feasible for me.

Once I heard about this conference I found out about similar conferences such as the Mesh Conference in Vancouver and SXSW in America. Both of these conferences attract people who are successful in the field of online business and offer inspiring insight into overseas trends and business ventures.

So I began investigating if I could access the information presented at these conferences and I quickly learnt that podcasts of most key note presentations are available after the event from their web sites. Many of the podcasts are professionally recorded and edited.

Of course these podcasts do not replace attending the conferences as often presentations are not uploaded afterwards (so if a speaker refers to a slide or graph you have to use your imagination) and not all of the content from work shops, meetings, and networking sessions, is available.

If you are involved in a particular industry which has conferences that you are unable to attend, I suggest you investigate if they offer podcasts. They are usually free and offer the next best thing to being there.

Have you found any conferences which offers podcasts? If so, please add a comment and inform our listeners so they can benefit from your knowledge.

This blog entry will discuss how fast the web responds to events from the ‘real world’ and how understanding the market and leveraging associated technologies can ultimately lead to heightened growth and brand awareness.

Last night I attended the Future Music Festival at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The event ran for about 10 hours and included music by some of the worlds leading electronic music artists such as Ferry Corsten, Carl Cox, Infusion, The Egg, Felix Da Housecat, Nick Warren, etc. The event attracted roughly 20,000 people from their late teens to early 30’s.

I hadn’t been to an event at this venue before and I was excited as I knew the music and weather were going to be good. I made sure my mobile phone was charged and my camera’s memory card was empty. I was destined to utilise my geek toys to their maximum and hopefully create some happy memories for myself and my friends.

As the day wore on I began to take photos and decided to play with my camera’s built-in video capture facility. I was surprised at how well the feature worked and that was when I got the idea of putting some videos of the event on the internet.

I had seen videos on the internet of other live events before. Usually the videos are good but capture only snippets of the action and usually without context. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that taking a video of an act performing their trademark song will make a popular video on the internet.

So, as the closing act, Ferry Corsten, rolled around and started belting out track after track, I grabbed my camera and headed to the heart of the action – the front of 20,000 people underneath a massive, state-of-the-art lighting setup – where I captured the video which would ultimately lead to this blog story.

At 10 pm the event finished, I left and headed to my car for the 40 minutes drive home. I was worn out but eager to see how my videos had come out. So at 11 pm I downloaded the first video off my digital camera, viewed it on my computer and within 15 minutes I was uploading the footage to youtube. Once the upload had begun I went to sleep – I was exhausted!

The next day I woke and finished uploading a few images and some other videos to the internet. By the time I finished and got around to reading my emails I found a few alert emails from youtube reporting the video I had uploaded last night had received some comments. As you can imagine, I was impressed. This meant people had found my video without me having to be awake or even try to publicise it.

I was happy with the comments, someone commended me for uploading the video so quickly, and other people loved the moment the video captured. I was extremely impressed at how quickly people found the video and that it had already been viewed over 200 times.

I have been thinking about this phenomenon all day. As more and more comments appear on youtube and the number of views of the video increase, I began to think how easy it would be for businesses to quickly promote themselves to like-minded people.

It is no surprise that video online is taking over the internet. I think this case study highlights the success I can have without any forethought of planning. Imagine if I had intended to publicise this video and had added it to this site, forums which discuss electronic music, emailed it to my newsletter, etc. This small video could have been easily seen by thousands of people.

So my little 1 minute and 3 second video of last night’s performance has now nearly been online for 24 hours and has recorded 8 comments, been added to 19 youtube users favourite lists, and been viewed 784 times.

If you are interested to see the video, find out how its statistics are going, or read the comments I refer to please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y09lw7SLBHg.

I have included the video below in case you would like to view it:

Recently I have been visiting a few new sites and online tools. These tools and systems have drastically improved my productivity and hopefully they can improve yours.

Google Spreadsheets
Google has created an excellent product called Google Spreadsheets. I have recently been using this to track the work remaining on work-related projects. The system also has unique collaboration features. I share these spreadsheet with my co-workers so when they update the spreadsheet I immediately see the changes and vice-versa. This feature is extremely powerful and something which standard spreadsheets do not offer. The system is also easy to use and exports to numerous standard spreadsheet formats.

http://docs.google.com

Google Reader
Have you heard of RSS feeds? RSS or Real Simple Syndication is a method for web sites to output the latest information in a file format which can be interpreted by software or other web sites for the purpose of consolidating news from different sources. For example, I read or ‘subscribe’ to a variety of RSS feeds from the ABC Australia, Google news, various technology and internet-related web sites. I can quickly and easily browse all of these RSS feeds using a RSS reader. The best RSS reader I have found so far is Google Reader. It has an easy to use interface, good sorting and management features plus I can easily mark all the items I am not interested in as ‘read’ so I can quickly see any new ‘unread’ items as they appear.

http://reader.google.com

Digg
Many people don’t know about Digg so I will quickly explain the idea behind it - Digg is a web site which has a large active user base. Members of the Digg user base can post articles they find interesting on the internet to Digg’s website. The user base review these articles and ‘digg’ the article (approve it) or disapprove it if they want to. The Digg front page shows only the articles that have been digged (or dugg) a lot. Therefore, when I check Digg I see articles which a large user base deem interesting. The articles on the front page change frequently as new items are always being added to Digg.

http://www.digg.com

Zazz
I’lll admit, this is the web site I check every single day without fail. I eagerly await its daily newsletter and I frequently wait until mid-night to see what has been put on Zazz for the new day. Why, you are probably asking, does Ian put this much effort into a web site with too many letter ‘z’ in it?

I check Zazz every day because every day Zazz has a new product to sell. You see, Zazz is a store which stocks 1 product each day until the end of the day or when the product is sold out. Zazz specialise in technology and geek-related products. So far I have purchased from Zazz:

• A web cam
• A graphics tablet
• A iPod charger
• A 1 Gigabyte USB memory stick
• A bluetooth earpiece for a mobile phone
• A wireless mouse and wired mouse

Many of these products were purchased for well below their retail prices and shipped to me for a small fee. What’s more, purchasing from Zazz is also easy making purchases at 6.45 am in the morning, when I first see what Zazz are selling, quick and easy.

http://www.zazz.com.au

Have you found any other excellent web sites which you think visitors would like to know about? If so please add a comment.

Recently a friend of mine suggested I listen to an audio book by Robert Kiyosaki, the author of ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ and other popular finance and investment books. After copying the files to my MP3 player I realised that the book he was suggesting, called ‘Choose to by rich’, was actually 12 CDs! This was a bit of a shock although I persevered and I was very happy I did.

I drive to work, it is about 30 minutes there and home so this gives me about an hour a day to listen to my MP3 player. This meant I should be able to finish all 12 CDs in roughly 2 weeks. Well I began listening and found this audio book was actually read by the author. Immediately I found Robert Kiyosaki to be a very inspirational speaker and I found myself really enjoying the audio book.

After listening to ‘Choose to be rich’ I began branching out. So far I have listened to:

• A number of Robert Kiyosaki books.
• Coversation Power (it was average and out of date)
• A short history of nearly everything (16 CDs!)

In my brief experience I have found audio books to average 4 CDs in length which means I can complete one per week. I have a preference for audio books which are read by professionals rather than the ones read by their authors. Professionals tend to speak more clearly and the momentum of the speech is retained throughout the recording.

I have found audio books enable me to maximise my time. Instead of listening to music or the radio I find I learn something new every time I go to work and every time I come home. I really miss my audio books when my MP3 player is flat.

If you have any spare time I suggest giving audio books a go. There are many interesting topics out there and they cover a huge range of topics. Many online download stores are now offering audio books such as iTunes as well as specialty stores like Audible.

Have you listened to any good audio books lately? If so please add a comment below and tell me about them.

Weboo specialises in utilising open-source solutions to offer clients state-of-the-art websites and systems with cutting edge functionality without the high purchase price or software licensing restrictions of proprietary software.

By utilising open-source solutions, Weboo has found it can deliver fast, effective solutions to many different types of customers by tailoring each solution specifically to the client’s needs. Plus, utilising open-source solutions allows access to a large pool of add-ons, a large user-base, fast product development, and frequent security updates.

Examples of websites Weboo has created are:

• http://www.coreconsulting.com.au
• http://www.fantasyballersleague.com/
• http://www.camcare.org.au
• http://www.terrafirma.com.au
• http://www.boost-products.com/

Weboo can also assist with creating web sites for internal business use such as intranet systems, client management systems, and knowledge management systems such as document management systems and knowledge capture systems.

Weboo utilises a proven approach to web site development which consists of the following steps:

1. Initial discussions with the client to gain an understanding of why the website is being developed with the aim to generate a website strategy.
2. A detailed quote is provided to adequately capture the purpose, scope and method of implementation for the website. This ensures expectations and goals are clarified in writing.
3. The website layout is generated and clarified with the client.
4. The design is implemented into the system which will manage the content, images, files, etc. The client is invited to provide feedback and begin using the system for the creation of content and testing.
5. The design is released to the intended audience, often the public.
6. Further tweaks, refinements and enhancements are applied such as search engine optimisation.

This method has been proven to ensure all parties are involved throughout the website development and it helps to ensure the result meets the client’s requirements.