Hot Off the Press

New Contract Wins

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:12:00 GMT

So far its been a great year and we have been very fortunate with the clients that have contracted us. Recently, we just signed:

Colorado Department of Health: Immunize Colorado

Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking

Omni Bio Pharmaceutical Inc

Alliance Commercial Partners: Veneto Condos

Mitchell Enterprise Group

Stellar Senior Housing Experts

Small Business Philanthropy, Turning Giving into Growth

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:41:00 GMT

Last year, I had the opportunity to contribute an article to ICOSA Magazine, a website that we launched the new online version of earlier this year.

Check out the full article here.

Solid win this week

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:38:00 GMT

I currently sit on the Board of Directors of a Denver-based organization, Ethiopia Reads. Earlier this year we completely revamped their website (gratis) and have been working on some additional marketing & advertising strategies to get the organization the exposure it deserves.

Yesterday afternoon I got a very nice email from Google entitled, "Welcome to Google Grants!" with a nice little welcome packet.

As a grantee, Google provides us with a competitive $120,450 in advertising budget per year through their Google Adwords product. This is pretty awesome.

I have some new ideas coming for the ER website as well as how we are going to rock out this campaign. So excited.

If you are unfamiliar with the Google Grants program and are affiliated with a non profit in any way, you should check it out.

Colorado Ballet Celebrates their 50th Season

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:13:00 GMT

As one of our clients, Colorado Ballet, celebrates their 50th season, they asked us to participate in a commercial down on the 16th Street Mall in Denver. We figured it would be us saying how much we enjoyed the Ballet and congrats on the season . . . well it was; except we had to wear tutus while we did it.

So us and another 50 to 100 folks took turns in front of some cameras to help them with footage to create a series of commercials that will air throughout their entire season this fall. Not sure what all stations it will be on and if we even made the cut, but there is something incredibly empowering about wearing a tutu...

Oh yeah, here is a photo:

Myself, Carol, Erick, & Chad

Graffiti Wall

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:54:00 GMT

We have some wall space that we've been trying to fill for a while. I had a brainstorm and thought it would be a nice break from sitting in front of a monitor all day to be able to paint a little. So I bought our office a blank canvas and here are the rules:

Paint anything
Respect what others have painted
Only paint over someone else's stuff if you are able to play off it
All skill-levels welcome

We'll see what happens over the next few weeks, I'll post updates as I see things develop.

Avocado Farm?

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:51:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, Carol decided that we needed some greenery in the office. Instead of buying plants for the office, she slowly consumed several avocados at home and one-by-one brought us each a couple of seeds for us to grow our own plants on our desks.

So for the past few weeks, each of us has cared for at least one and up to three seeds in either shot glasses or plastic cups. We have had a few comments from clients walking through seeing shot glasses everywhere, so I just wanted to set the record straight that we are just experimenting with some low-level horticulture.

Here is the progress so far...

The best of my three...nice split, but been pretty lack in activity the last week or so...

Carol's = first to show solid green

Chad has nice splitage and some sparse downward growth

Erick's has some narrow splitage, but solid downward root growth

Steve's has some amazing curling root growth, however, I think he needs to upgrade from the shot glass

Waller's for sure has the most impressive root structure...might be time to start adding soil

So what does this have to do with web design? Nothing, but perhaps eventually we'll have our clients over for some home-made guac.

Happy Birthday Waller

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:19:00 GMT

Today it was Waller's birthday, Carol baked a cake and Chad got some Transformers birthday hats along with some superhero temporary tattoos. The plan: when Waller ducks out for the first time to go to the restroom, we would all hide in the conference room, put on hats, light candles, and surprise him when he got back.

However, once setup, Erick decided to open the door himself to go throw away the cellophane from the packaging and the whole master plan failed. Oh well, we got some killer cake and all was well.

Happy Birthday Waller.

What Affordable Quality Means for You - Part 2

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:39:00 GMT

To continue from my previous post about "Affordable Quality" when it comes to our web design business, I would like to touch on some points of what the Quality part of that sentence means:

Design to Web Standards

We stay up on our game when it comes to following industry trends and standards to make the web more accessible. This translates to our product looking great on all kinds of browsers (both on desktop and mobile browsers), being search engine friendly, and to screen readers for people with different accessibility needs.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel

Whenever possible we use technologies that already exist and have been well tested. This way you aren't paying us to explore new territory and taking risks. For some, they might want the newest eye-catching thing, but for most businesses and organizations we come across, they want the web to just work for them and be cost effective. Big corporations can afford to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on risky ventures, we find our clients enjoy working with tried and true processes that work the first time.

Knowledge Share

A lot of web companies rely on outside contractors, freelancers, and offshore (and cheaper) labor; we don't. We find this directly impacts the quality of our work because our team is very in tune with each other as well as we constantly share new knowledge through daily conversation, lunch n' learns, and specific team presentations. We keep an in-house knowledge base of various solutions that have come out of tough problems - when an issue comes up that one of us hasn't seen before, they can always check the knowledge base prior to asking if anyone has come across it before. This saves time and allows for expertise to flow freely between our team.

Attention to Detail

We think in pixels. What the heck does that mean? It means that after building a couple hundred custom designed websites, logos, brochures, and other design assets, our vision has been permanently altered to seek out the tiniest matter on the screen. We work to make sure that our sites are clean, aligned, balanced, and easy on the eyes.

When we hired our first full-time designer, Steven Waller, 4 years ago, I used to give him a hard time because I would look at proofs and comps and find little things that were a pixel off here or there - he was always bewildered that I could pick that stuff out at a glance. Now he keeps our newer staff in line with the same hard eyes. This same attention translates to how we code, how we architect, and in general, every task we do throughout the day.

Project Management Software

Keeping track of revisions, requests, input, and project communication can be tough. We use a well known piece of software called Basecamp as well as Backpack and Highrise to manage information between team members and clients. This makes sure that we don't have to double-communicate and that small tasks and to-dos are not overlooked in the hustle.

Dedicated Support System

Making sure that you get responses to your support needs is very important. That is why we have a dedicated support email address for our clients, emailus@hotpressweb.com. Anytime a client emails that address, our team is notified and the next person available can jump on it. They can easily assign the task to another team member and all communication regarding that issue is tracked in our ticketing system. This allows us to monitor performance and make sure that we are meeting our clients demands.

So those are some of the ways that we ensure all of our projects are produced at the highest quality possible, yet still stay affordable for growing businesses and organizations.

The Cunningham Foundation's 2nd Annual Hope Ball

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:04:00 GMT

We first came across the Cunningham Foundation in 2006 when Steve and I were officing out of our house across the street from Strings Restaurant. They were the very first organization that we ever said, "hey, why don't we donate you a website". So we did that in 2007, ended up going to Ethiopia with them that year and then again in 2008, and helped put together their first Hope Ball in 2009.

So many of the connections, experiences, and friends that we have now can be traced back to us making that decision to give back 4 years ago. That brings us to 2010 - we just wrapped up the 2nd Hope Ball event and it was incredible.

The collaboration that took place to get 180 people in a room together all dressed up to learn and support the Cunningham Foundation was absolutely magical. We had about 10 artists that donated works, Colorado Ballet gave us tickets with a backstage pass, Accommodations Vail donated 2 nights and a spa package in Beaver Creek, and countless other giving folks contributed items.

Governor Bill Ritter made an appearance and emphasized how important the work Noel & Tammy are continually doing as well as the ripples of inspiration and change they have made by inspiring others.

Yours Truly, Tammy Cunningham, & Governor Bill Ritter

We flew my close friend Max Dean (college roommate now famous) and his girlfriend Brenna Whitaker to perform, wow. Vesta Dipping Grill, Jing, Strings, 240 Union, and d Bar Desserts all provided the deliciousness for the evening.

I could go on and on about this great event, but at the end of the day, I just want to say thanks to all those that made it happen and that we dearly appreciate your support.

Myself and Steve getting some appreciation

What Affordable Quality Means for You - Part 1

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:33:00 GMT

Something we developed as one of our core principles of our business some time ago was the idea of "Affordable Quality" and we never really brought up what that means.

It finally occurred to me that this might mean to some that we do good work for cheap prices. Well - in my history in business, there isn't a lot of great stuff that comes out of cheap.

So I want to tell you how we do it - its not because we are cheap, we are affordable because:

No receptionists

When you call, we answer our phones ourselves. This might sound crazy (or not), but we strive to give out our direct phone lines so that you can get the answers you need as fast as possible and you aren't paying for our convenience when you sign a contract.

No account managers

Everyone produces. Everyone here knows how to make websites and has professional experience. We work on a single platform which allows everyone to get their hands dirty and produce. This also makes it easy for everyone to help you which makes access to support easier.

No fancy office

We moved out of spiffy office space downtown because we wanted to pay reasonable rent and have plenty of free parking for our customers when they visit. Steve and I used to have covered parking downtown for about $300/month for two spots - that costs rolled to our clients and we didn't like it. When you hire us, you are paying for expert labor, not perks.

No advertising

We just don't do it. Traditional advertising for small businesses is just too expensive and not track-able. We market heavily through our network and word of mouth. Instead of dropping thousands on one-time hits, we always try to think of innovative ways we can get our name in the community by doing good things - like building websites for charities or volunteering our consulting services in trade for sponsorship credit.

No accounts payable

We use software to track billing and accounts efficiently so we don't need extra staff to keep track of our money flow. Using affordable web technology saves us thousands on CPAs or in-house accounting staff. This efficiency also makes billing easy for our clients as everything for your account is tracked online and can be paid from your desk.

So that's how we stay affordable, but what about this whole idea of quality, well, stay tuned for Part 2.

May 2010 Social Media Workshop

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:33:00 GMT

Social Media - Let's Start the Conversation

Monday, May 24, 2010 from11:00am - 1:00 @ Strings Restaurant, 1700 Humboldt St

Social Media is a topic on many companies and organizations’ minds these days. How to effectively and efficiently take advantage of this low cost marketing tool is an important question being asked. Although Social Media has an initial low cost, the time and effort that must go into it to be successful needs to be considered before jumping into Social Media. Sign up to learn how to navigate the social media, while enjoying lunch at Strings. Please call Brent at 303-825-0732 or email her at brent@hotpressweb.com if you have any questions.

2nd Annual Website Contest

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:37:00 GMT

Today we are launching the second annual HotPress Website Giveaway, in which a Colorado-based non-profit will receive a Website and hosting services valued at $10,000.

Designed to recognize those organizations committed to improving our local and global communities, the HotPress Website Giveaway will award a Colorado non-profit with a custom-built Website with a complete suite of online marketing tools that non-profits need to reach donors and supporters. In addition, the recipient organization will receive a year of free support, training and hosting.

How It Works

To participate in the HotPress Website Giveaway, individuals must fill out an online nomination form at www.hotpressweb.com/giveaway and describe how the free Website will help the non-profit further its mission. People can nominate their own organization or another deserving non-profit. HotPress Web staff will then select five semi-finalists and share each organization's story on the Giveaway web page. Finally, HotPress Web will hold an online voting process in which the public will select the $10,000 Website recipient. Finalists and the winning recipient will be announced on the Giveaway web page and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/hotpressweb.

Nominations must be received by 5 p.m. MST on Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. The contest is open to any 501(c)(3) registered non-profit organization with operations based in Colorado. For complete details on the HotPress Website Giveway, visit www.hotpressweb.com/giveaway.

Good deeds lead to success for HotPress

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:35:00 GMT

We were featured in the Denver Business Journal today in a full article in the Strategies section for our work and contributions to the Cunningham Foundation and where that has led us within the Denver business and nonprofit community.

You need a subscription to the DBJ to view the full article, but here is a link to the teaser if you don't have a subscription:

Click here to read the DBJ feature

Denver Business Journal 2009 Top 25 List

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 04:55:00 GMT

Today, for the second year in a row, HotPress Web made the Denver Business Journal's Top 25 List of web design companies. We are proud to be on the list again and look forward to many more years in Denver.

Coverage in the Denver Post Colorado Business Column

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:38:00 GMT

We were happy to find a press mention in the Denver Post's "Colorado Business" column about our engagement with the Colorado Ballet. We are excited about the opportunity to be working on the Ballet's website and look forward to the June 30th launch date.

Link to the Post's column

Scholarship for Athletes Gets a More Powerful Website

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:55:00 GMT

Long time client, Scholarship for Athletes (SFA), recently made the upgrade to our HotPress Platform business management system. SFA is the only consulting firm for student athletes and their familes. Essentially they act as a sports agent for high school students looking to pursue collegiate athletics for scholarships.

Ross Greenstein, SFA's President & CEO, is a strong believer that technology, specifically web-technology, is a key ingredient to his company being successful. We have consistently provided services to streamline his business operations including:

Content Management System (CMS)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Email Marketing

Prior to the Platform being available, all of these services were separate applications, each requiring their own login, training, and support. The applications did not "talk" to each other seamlessly. Now that we have upgraded the SFA website to the Platform, everything is integrated and in one central management system.

Now, some of this might start to sound like tech talk, so lets take a step back and talk in some business terms as to what we accomplished here.

First, you need to be able to keep the content on your site fresh.

Content is how you tell people what you do and what you are all about. It might be a page with text, images, and video. Content's goal is to inform your potential customer about what you do. In Ross' case, inform high school athletes and their families about the challenges that lie ahead and what SFA does to alleviate these challenges and get their students the best scholarships possible.

In order to make sure his customer's have the best information, Ross needs to update his site often to keep his content fresh and interesting. Great quality content with service information, testimonials, and industry leading partners, begins to establish credibility with his customer.

This is how easy it is for Ross to update pages on his site:

Second, capture information from your customer to contact them.

Once a visitor has filled out a form on the website, an email gets generated and sent to a member of SFA's staff. They need to have basic contact information along with anything else that is relevant for new potential customers. Our system automatically grows your database, so anytime a customer interacts with the website, we add that to their record.

This part is the Customer Relationship Management portion of the Platform:

Third, follow-up with your customer with email marketing.

Like I said in the previous section, Ross' customer database grows automatically, so when it comes time to send emails to his customers, he can do that in the Platform as well. He can send out general blasts, or he can segment his customers based on information that they have disclosed through one of his forms or a staff member has notated in their customer record.

Here is an example of how the email system works:

In conclusion . . .

Upgrading SFA to our HotPress Platform has streamlined their website updates, customer data gathering, and email marketing into one system that is easy to use. The possibilities are endless on how you can use the tool set to benefit your business.

Project CURE Website Muscles Through Bad Economy

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:53:00 GMT

The economy is on everyone's mind. Companies and nonprofits alike are worried, marketing dollars are shrinking, businesses are going under, grants and donations are disappearing, and sales are declining.

My opinion is that you can let this attitude and climate affect you or you can put your horse-blinders on and focus on your business or organization and step it up a notch, actually a few notches. Become more innovative, find new partners, and use new, cutting-edge tools to leverage your competitive advantage in a harder market.

PROJECT C.U.R.E., a Denver-based nonprofit organization, did just this.

PROJECT C.U.R.E. contacted us last fall looking to step up their web presence and organize their internal system of handling inquiries, customers, and reporting. The initial requests were pretty simple and in common with what most nonprofits are looking for, but few find:

Professional design
Better usability
Clearer content
More search engine visibility
Easier way of updating content
Website metrics and reporting

We were happy to oblige.

Initial conversations, with Doug Jackson, PROJECT C.U.R.E.'s President, along with staff and Leanna Clark of Schenkein, revolved around wanting more traffic from search engines. However, when viewing their current website and after installing Google Analytics - it was clear to us that more traffic wouldn't cut it.

We needed to restructure their content in order to make it easier to understand what PROJECT C.U.R.E. was about and maximize ROI for traffic they were already getting. SEO would come later.

The before...

The website used marketing related terms to identify programs like "Procure", "Corps", and "Clinics". We found from traffic analysis that these main navigation areas were not getting any traffic. Visitors were hitting other areas on the left hand navigation that were suppose to be sub-pages and were less important to the organization educating visitors.

A key complaint was how much time employees were spending on the phone talking to and directing customers to the right place.

The website should have been taking care of much of this education.

During our discover phase we were able to completely restructure content, navigation, and the overall website sitemap to better direct visitors into their appropriate "buckets" before they ever filled out a form or dialed a number. This way we could maximize on traffic already pouring into the website and make operations more efficient.

After...

As you can see, the resulting design, besides being much more professional, is a lot more clear and asks less energy of the visitor and gives them more concise options of what to do next.

The great part about how we build websites too is that not only is content easier to see for visitors, but for search engines too. The design is 100% CSS driven and each page can have its own title along with any META data that is relevant. Additionally, during our discovery phase, we did a Keyword Analysis Report to see what keywords PROJECT C.U.R.E. should be naturally using throughout their website to improve SEO.

Never judge a book by its cover though . . . what makes the website really move is what is under the hood.

Wrapping it up

After two months, we have noticed that...

Increased time per visit by 35%
Increased pageviews by 25%
Decreased bounce rate by 20%
CURE Clinics previously did not get any web inquiries, now are averaging 70 per month
Increased newsletter subscriptions
Made employees happier (feel free to call them and ask how they like their new website)
Exceeded expectations with organization President Doug Jackson

So by investing in new innovative ways to market and operate their organization, PROJECT C.U.R.E. is pushing harder and getting results that will plow through any tough times.

Visit the new website at www.projectcure.org.

Denver Business Journal 2008 Top 25 List

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:40:00 GMT

Last week HotPress Web made the Denver Business Journal's list of top web developers/designers in the Denver area. Click the image to see the full scale version.

HotPress Web Returns from Ethiopia

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:23:00 GMT

HotPress Web traveled to Yetebon, Ethiopia with the Cunningham Foundation to document the story of the Foundation's work with Project Mercy, Mother Teressa's AIDs Orphanage, and sustainable development.

HotPress Web donated the Cunningham Foundation website and online marketing services valued at over $10,000 in the last 6 months.

Managing partners in the business, Brent Weaver and Steve Thiel, went to Ethiopia for 10 days with the foundation in order to document the story with a journal, photos, and video.

The trip consisted of Noel and Tammy Cunningham, two bead artists, 5 high school students, 2 college students, a RN, a massage therapist, a computer specialist, and the two online marketers.

The main projects that were documented were Quarters for Kids International which raises annually about $50,000 and the HOPE Bracelet Project which has raised over $350,000 since 2003.

Photo of Steve Thiel and Brent Weaver in Ethiopia

Photo journal from the trip