Wordpress:

One of the most widely used blogging CMS (Content Management Systems) software, Wordpress has always been focused on making a blogger's life easier with an intuitive administrative backend, a multitude of theme options, and most notably, a vast library of extensions (plugins). Lately, Wordpress has been taking it a step further and embracing the use of its CMS as a site-wide CMS, though it is still a blogging software at heart. Some of the most useful plugins for this popular CMS are:

1. All in One SEO Pack – One of the most popular Wordpress plugins, for good reason, this simple-to-install module instantly optimizes your site for search engines, even without touching the multitude of options. For the more adventurous, you can customize just about any part of this plugin to suit your needs. Some highlights are canonical URL's, automatically generated META tags, and avoiding duplicate content due to categories and archives. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/

2. Sociable – Automatically add your site's content, specifically blogs, to 99 different social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Reddit, or Delicious. A must have for anyone who runs a blog and wants to make it easy for users to share your amazing content (You do have amazing content right?). http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sociable/

3. WP e-Commerce – A fully featured shopping cart plugin for Wordpress that is both powerful and secure. Designed with the Web 2.0 market in mind, it can be configured to have a drag-and-drop shopping cart and has a focus on usability, aesthetics, and presentation. Perfect for small bands and record labels, clothing companies, crafters and artists, and book, DVD and MP3 stores. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-e-commerce/

4. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin – As the title would suggest, there are several modules to do this task, but this is one of the best. Geared to give you a list of posts that are related to the post currently being viewed by a user, it uses a very advanced algorithm and can be controlled by using templating. Other features include caching, related posts in RSS, and related pages. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/yet-another-related-posts-plugin/

5. Featured Content Gallery – Allows you to create beautiful rotating image galleries geared towards showing off your 'top stories.' Easy to setup and use, this plugin is a great way to visually capture your audience with what is currently hot on your blog. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/featured-content-gallery/

Drupal:

Fully featured, massive, active community, and one hell of a learning curve. Drupal is one of the most complete and vast fully fledged CMS software out there. The fact that it is free and open source is just icing on the cake. However, access to that comprehensive system and its large array of modules comes at a price, as Drupal is notorious for being difficult to pick up and learn, with an administrative backend that can be daunting at first. But for those who hang in there, you are rewarded with a system who's core, in conjunction with the many modules, can get you 80% there for most projects you will ever set out to do, if not more. Here are some great modules to help you build the next Facebook.

1. Administration Menu – Honestly, this should be part of the core Drupal install, as this pull-down menu is virtually indispensable. This should be one of the first modules, if not the first module you install on your new Drupal site. Period. It gives you deep access to the large body of menus and settings for your Drupal site, including 3rd party modules. This one is a no brainer. http://drupal.org/project/admin_menu

2. Views – One of the most popular modules for Drupal and for good reason, Views gives you a slick GUI to create a “view” of any data (referred to as a node in Drupal) that exists on your site. Want to make a page that shows your blog posts? Use a view. Want to make a block that lists your top selling products? Use a view. Want to.... well, you get the idea. Unless you're just making a vanilla blog or “brochure” site, you're going to need Views. http://drupal.org/project/views

3. Content Construction Kit (CCK) – Another very popular module that gives users the ability to add custom fields to nodes. For example, if you want to have a field that holds an image for a blog post, you could use CCK. What's more, users have submitted hundreds of predefined CCK Fields for a wide variety of data such as dates, images, addresses, phone numbers, etc. Rather then defining an address, city, state, and zip code field, simply use the Address CCK and it's already done for you. Many of these CCK Fields have built in validation as well, which is incredibly useful. http://drupal.org/project/cck

4. ImageCache – A fantastic module that allows you to setup presets for image processing. For example, you could setup a product thumbnail preset, making any image you gave it 150 x 150 px. There are a multitude of options and filters that can be applied as well. Have a wide variety of image size ratios? Not a problem, ImageCache can scale and crop in a way to ensure that images end up the same size, but without distortion or stretching. http://drupal.org/project/imagecache

5. Organic Groups – Ever wanted to start the next Facebook or MySpace? With Organic Groups, you'll be well on your way. This module gives your users the ability to create groups that have their own unique page, message boards, and other content. The group creator has full control over who can join their group, and the customization options are incredible. If you want to have any sort of community features, Organic Groups is a must. Furthermore, this module is very well supported by other major modules, further extending its usefulness. http://drupal.org/project/og

There you have it, an introduction to some valuable extensions to two of the most popular CMS software packages on the planet. Think I left something out? Of course I did! There are thousands of these things, but lets hear your top extensions in the comments.

Typography is an art form and designers spend their lives studying it. For those that don’t have a lifetime to spare or just like typography, we’ve compiled a list of extremely helpful, fun, and interesting typography sites that also happen to be free.


1. Typedia
Finally. An encyclopedia completely dedicated to typography. We know you’ve been waiting impatiently for one. On Typedia you can learn about the anatomy of type, explore type faces and type face families, read blog postings from typedia, and join in BadaBoom BBon the forum discussion. The best part, you can look up all things type – this includes typefaces, font foundries, and designers.


2. What the Font
Have you ever spent valuable time flipping through all of your fonts trying to figure out what font is used in a client logo? I have, and if you have, then you will understand the value of this tool. What the Font allows you to upload a file and it generates a list of possible font faces that are used. There is also a "What the Font" iPhone app.


3. I Love Typography
I Love Typography is my favorite typography blog, but it is actually much more than a blog. The posts are usually inspiring, and if they’re not inspiring, then they are educational. I have spent many uninspired days looking through I Love Typography for inspiration. As well as being a great blog, there are also free wall paper downloads and a store that sells products that only typography lovers would appreciate, like a t-shirt that reads “Helvetica de neue haas grotesk” are sold.


4. Typetester
Typetester is a really handy tool that allows you to compare what fonts are going to look like in a web browser. You can compare different font faces, sizes, leading, tracking, alignment, word space, decoration, color, background, color, and number of columns. It’s a handy tool when you are trying to make font decisions in the design phase of websites.


5. Designer Plaything
Designer Plaything is another tool that allows you to experiment with different typography and color options on the web. Unlike typetester, on Designer Plaything you can also change the page and article background colors. This site gives you a better idea of what a site containing long paragraphs of type will look like. Esthetically and functionally, I prefer Typetester, but Designer Plaything has its benefits.


6. Vertical Rhythm
This is a tool that helps the designer compute CSS that has consistent vertical rhythm. To learn more about what vertical rhythm is, take a look at this article about vertical measure.


7. Color Contrast Check
This is another tool that is helpful for designing typography for the web. Color Contrast Check does exactly what its name implies - it allows you to check the color contrast between type and background colors.


8. PHP + CSS Dynamic Text Replacement
This is something that I am really excited about, a JavaScript-free version of the Dynamic Test Replacement method. It allows you to take a standard web page and dynamically create images to replace the page headings using PHP and CSS.


9. Fawnt
Fawnt is plain and simple, a resource to browse, find, and buy fonts. They have about 10,000 to look through. Better get started.


10. Fontstruct
This is a fun site where you can not only buy fonts, but you can also create and sell your own. Use Fontstruct’s free font creator, upload it to their gallery, and try to sell it.

There are a lot of misconceptions and preconceived notions about social media, so we thought we would put together a myth buster list and throw out a tip here and there for ways that you can make social media benefit your brand. We compiled these myths from various resources and our collective experiences.

Myth 1:
Social Media is free. Yes, most social media sites are free, but the time it will take you to create an effective social media presence is far from free. Very far. To have an effective social presence, you have to put the time and effort into your various social outlets. Creating interesting and relevant content is key and can be time consuming.


Myth 2:
Social Media is a fad or doesn’t work. Many people feel like the efforts they put into social media accounts have been timed wasted. If you are one of those people, chances are you put time into the wrong activities. Social media creates an opportunity for marketers to bring the message to the place where consumers are spending much of their day already, but often companies just use the same sales pitch and message as if marketing is news. Its not, and you should lead with your specific knowledge and cultivate an attitude of being a brain trust.

Myth 3:
It’s all about the tools. While it’s a little about the tools, it’s more about figuring out clear and concise goals. (“more leads” wouldn’t be considered concise) The tools are just that. Tools to help you measure the campaign size, strength, and how people are reacting to what you are saying. The question is how many fans, followers, feeds, or subscribers would it take to make a successful campaign.

Myth 4:
Social media will replace real networking or marketing. Social media and social networking compliment the traditional networking and marketing that you are engaged in. Having a diversified, well-rounded marketing plan is the best strategy. Stick with what has worked and try new things such as social media to get new data and exposure.

Myth 5:
You can’t build media meaningful relationships online. Building relationships online is a way to connect face to face with your target audience. Whether or not it results in sales, it stills give you the opportunity to have open, honest communication, which can lead to very valuable insight about your product or company. Also keep in mind that running to set up a twitter account and then only using it once in a while to announce a tradeshow or discount will not produce meaningful relationships.

Myth 6:
It’s for the kids. While myspace may be crawling with high school kids, sites like facebook and linkedIn are geared toward an older audience. In fact, according to facebook’s statistics, the fastest growing demographic is 35 and above.

We have recently completed a product demonstration multimedia presentation for Labnet International. They wanted to put together an online sales tool for the new Multigene Thermal Cycler.

Labnet's MultiGene Gradient Thermal Cycler is now launched and they have received positive feedback on the presentation from dealers and customers alike.

These sort of multimedia presentations are very affordable and offer a sophistication that compliments a product's quality. We especially find them to be useful for products of a technical nature such as medical equipment, scientific instruments, and products that require programming and setup.

Recently, I was looking at some promotional materials for Outlier Solutions and I stumbled upon some interesting things that I decided to share. Promotional products can be a fun and effective way to establish or enhance customer relations, with new and existing customers. Promotional items keep your company’s name and contact information out in the open, handy for customers to find and helping to introduce your company to potential customers.

According to the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), promotional products is an 18 billion dollar a year industry. A survey that PPAI conducted with business travelers in the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport revealed some other interesting statistics about promotional products and how customers use them. Here are a few of the statistics from PPAI’s survey:
- 55% of people said that they kept their promotional products for more than 1 year
- 76% said they could recall the advertiser’s name on the promotional item they were given in the last 12 months
- 75% said they kept promotional items that were useful

Promotional items can be used as a thank you to your loyal customers. In my own search I keep coming across the saying “everyone likes freebies”. There is truth to this, giving current loyal customers a nice promotional item will help make them feel appreciated by your company.

Epromos.com's blog “Everybody Loves Free Stuff” has compiled a lot of interesting promotional ideas. Some of these ideas are traditional promotional items like plastic bags and coffee mugs that showcase a creative design, and some of the items are more unique, like the laundry detergent kit that includes a piece of fabric that must be washed to reveal the message. Be sure to look at “Everybody Loves Free Stuff” for a lot of creative promotional and guerilla marketing ideas. Look at the Promo No-No page for a laugh as well.

The lesson I have learned, giving away a coffee mug, as typical as it may sound, can be an extremely effective way to build positive relationships with your customers and hopefully to recruit a few new ones.

Designing an e-commerce store takes much more planning and execution than launching a standard web site. Understanding this at the outset, just as with any large project, helps to ensure at the time of launch everyone in the organization is in sync (to the extent that this is ever possible).

Usability, functionality, and design should all be woven together at the planning stages. The goal is to give your customers an overall positive experience. While we (the web design firm) could create a very intuitive web design, we can’t help the product get shipped on time or know that the internal MRP system needs to have certain data fields complete without good planning and knowledge sharing.

According to a survey conducted by Internet Retailer 60.3% of web retailers have redesigned their e-commerce site with in the past year. This statistic showcases that Internet retailers are realizing how important the design of a site is to how successful an e-commerce store will be. Our advice is to embrace the web standards but trust in the competence of the user. In other words, if people can navigate virtual worlds they can get through a few wrong turns in the product shopping process.

There are different ways to approach the design of an e-commerce store. Some companies believe that rich media content deserves more emphasis, while others think that simplicity is the answer. A store can be successful using either approach, however there are some important things to focus on.

In the survey by Internet Retailer 68.9% of the companies redesigning their e-commerce store said that better product and page organization was the main focus of the redesign. Customers are not likely to spend much time searching on a site so organization is key. It is the company’s responsibility to make it easy for the customer to find their way around the store. ECmmerce101’s blog gives 4 good tips for organizing your website. They are:

1. Make sure the information on each page is balanced. Not too much, not too little.
2. Be sure the information you include on each page is relevant and in the correct order.
a. Tell the customers who you are
b. Tell them what kind of business you run
c. Tell them what you offer
d. Display the total cost
e. Explain the necessary steps to complete the purchase
3. Have good categorization and trust your categorization. Trust your customers to understand your categorization.
4. Don’t punish your customers for navigation mistakes. Make the store easy to move through, making sure the customers do not feel lost in the store.

Another good idea is to make the store easier to navigate is to include a search feature. This allows customers to search through the products offered based on size, color, functionality, product number, etc. This is also a great marketing tool as we mentioned in an earlier post.


Outlier Solutions
At Outlier Solutions we know it’s important to implement good design in all of our projects, but understand that extra planning is needed when designing an e-commerce store. We believe that designing to meet web standards is important. According to the Web Standards Group, designing to web standards helps to deliver the greatest benefits to the greatest number of web users. Standards also help to ensure long-term visibility of any document you may publish on the web.

We have found that including a simple search function into a web site's design can bring lots of interesting marketing data. Many visitors who come to your site and don't find what there looking for may think they are just missing it and will plug their keyword search phrase in and hit go just for the heck of it.

At this point two good things happen hopefully. The best option is they find what they were looking for. But even if they don't (maybe because you don't offer that service or product) they have left you with a quick note about what they were looking for.

Outlier Solutions can build a search function into your website that serves as a helpful tool to your visitors, and will retain all of the keyword searches people conduct on your site. After a few months you can begin analyzing this information and seeing products that people associate with your company or brand that you may consider offering. You also get to see what visitors refer to your products as and can adjust your marketing copy accordingly for better user experiences as well as better search engine placment.

Did you know you can allow your customers to track packages from YOUR website? Well its true. As a part of the UPS Business Solutions Tools you can allow your customers to put their tracking number and track the package from your web site. It isn't even necessary to have an ecommerce installation. Just a tracking number.

This can drive additional traffic to your site and help customers continue to learn more about you. The way it works is Outlier Solutions can design a web page that conforms to the look of your site and then we embed the tracking application. A customer enters the tracking number and the results are given all directly from your site.

Outlier just recently completed a project where were able to allow customers to search by simply using a 6 digit sales order number as opposed to the 18 digit UPS tracking number. This was a huge convenience for both our client and their customers.

Web design elements can be integrated with databases to help with maintenance, functionality and most importantly better marketing data.

For example, many web sites have email forms that they use to gather all the necessary information required to create a proposal, or to direct a customer to the correct support material. This information is typically sent via email and then once the information is recieved, thats that.

But there is a better use for this information. By using a database driven form (instead of an HTML form) you can capture this customer information automatically.

The web request is still sent via email but then the information given is also stored in a database that can later be exported and reviewed. Our web design clients have found that incorporating this type of database driven feature helps them turn their email requests into useful marketing data.

Outlier Solutions also uses database driven web pages to create corporate blogs (such as this one), product catalogs, sales representative listings, and event calendars.