wisnet.com Noteworthy

Pinteresting Stuff for Your Business.

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:32:00 GMT

Previously I shared with you what Pinterest is. It's visual, very easy to use and quite frankly, addictive! Now I'm sharing with you how your business could benefit using Pinterest.

Google Analytics Discontinues Email Reports

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:46:00 GMT

In the infancy stages of Google Analytics our team at wisnet, for the convenience of our customers, began setting up scheduled email reports for Google Analytics. Today we received notice that they would be discontinuing these reports and moving them to the newer version of Google Analytics.

How long does a new website design take?

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:07:00 GMT

This is one of the most common questions I get when initially meeting with a client, typically followed by 'How much is it going to cost?'. There are a ton of variables that go into the typical development time.

So, what "About Us"?

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:11:00 GMT

Recently we've had the pleasure of adding a few new faces around the office. While adding their bios to our team page, it felt like the right time to share with you the importance of this page.

Pinterest- In it to "Pin It"!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:51:00 GMT

After hearing that Pinterest has passed YouTube, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn, and MySpace combined in terms of total referral traffic, I had to see what all the buzz was about. After signing up only a few weeks ago, I can say I'm officially addicted to the latest trend!

Responsive websites- sounds great! Now- what is it?!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:10:00 GMT

The digital age is here to stay, and we must adapt and stay ahead of the curve. The growth of smartphones and tablets is increasing substantially every year. The web is evolving now more than ever, and staying up to date with trends is a must.

wisnet.com announces a new hire

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:22:00 GMT

wisnet.com kicks off spring by introducing a new team member!

Please welcome to the stage... The Alley Cats!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:30:00 GMT

Earning the title "America's Premier Doo Wop Group," The Alley Cats are a perfect blend of musical talent and comedic timing. Since their start in 1987, the group has gained notice around the country. The Cats never miss a beat as they sing a cappella to the greatest songs we all know and love from the 50s and 60s. They perform for many types of audiences, ranging from elementary school to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Just Launched! Back-in-Action

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:27:00 GMT

Back-in-Action Rehabilitation Center is an independent private practice clinic dedicated to setting the highest standards for out-patient therapy. Their philosophy incorporates a strong emphasis on the client's education and understanding. With four clinic locations, Back-in-Action is your partner in recovery and rehabilitation.

This Week in Marketing and Web Development - Friday, October 21st

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:15:00 GMT

Google has launched a trusted stores program that instantly denotes to people that this website provides great service and secure shopping. Our assumption is that this may indirectly affect your ranking at some point in the future. If you have an e-commerce website - now is the time to fill out the application and get on Google's waiting list! Read about the program here.

This Week in Marketing and Web Development

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:07:00 GMT

The creators of Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash have purchased a company that makes fonts "friendly" for the web. The company is called Typekit, and now that an established company (Adobe) is backing it, you'll see us using this service more often.

Track Your Marketing Dollars with Google Analytics

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:25:00 GMT

Throughout the year we track our marketing campaigns to see which channels are working and which are not. These channels could include email marketing, social media, QR Codes, and banner ads. Using a tracking URL and Google Analytics we can see the channels that are producing the most activity. We can easily weed out the underperforming campaigns and save our company thousands. If you're spending money marketing online, and have no idea if it's producing results, here's a simple way to track your marketing dollars.

Our team at wisnet is proud to announce our new client New Look Cabinet Refacing, LLC!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:01:01 GMT

New Look Cabinet Refacing, since 1992, have done cabinet refacing, cabinet resurfacing, as well as custom cabinetry work, working on over 4,000 kitchens in the commercial and residential sectors. They take pride on the quality of their workmanship, prompt and courteous service, and attention to detail. New Look offers numerous styles of doors in a variety of wood species available for cabinet refacing. There are also a variety of methods for renewing your frames. These vary from refacing, cleaning and restoring, or painting - an option for every style and budget. Screenshot of New Look's homepage. If your home's kitchen or bath needs an update, let New Look Cabinet Refacing give it a fresh new look! Check out their website at www.newlookcabinetrefacing.com for contact information, FAQ and see some awesome before and after pictures!

What can be learned from Google Analytics?

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:01:01 GMT

Imagine if hundreds of people walked in the door of your store, took a quick glance, and left without perusing the aisles or asking the store manager a question. If that happened, you'd immediately make changes, right? When it comes to the web, a high percentage of businesses fail to pay attention to their visitor's behavior. This results in a poor online experience, less sales, and a negative first impression. One major mistake is not taking advantage of the analytics provided to you. Adapting to the changes in your industry while targeting the right audience is critical to your success; you'll find that analytics strongly drives the development and evolution of your website. Here are a few of the important pieces found in Google Analytics... Mobile Devices Are people coming to your website from a mobile device such as an iPhone, Droid, or Blackberry? If so, make sure you have a mobile website in place that gives them quick and easy access to the information. Believe it or not, this was one of our 2011 Predictions! Optimizing your site for the appropriate technical capabilities helps make your site more engaging and usable, which can lead to higher conversion rates and more sales. - Google Mobile device analytics provided by Google. Pages with Most Views Do the pages that people view the most encompass enough information to encourage them to take action? Are you encouraging a visitor to become a customer? If the most viewed page on your website discusses filling out an application, do you have a Call to Action button that encourages them to contact you? Easily view most popular pages to figure out where to place Call to Action buttons. Example of a Call to Action button. Bounce Rate Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits...meaning they came to your site and left without looking around. Use this metric to ensure that visitors have quick and easy access to the information. If they come to your page for the first time and don't quickly find what they are looking for, they are likely to move on. Bounce Rate viewed within Google Analytics. Unique Visitors A high number of unique visitors could mean that your site does not encourage people to return. Returning visitors are higher in demand because they ensure repeat sales and visitor loyalty. One great way to do this is to blog about your industry - become the industry leader, the pioneer, the evolutionist! wisnet has a great blogging tool called BLASTauthor that will allow you to blog and will encourage people to be social about what you write! An example of a website with a high percentage of unique visitors. Traffic Sources How are people getting to your website? Is it through direct traffic, referrals, or search engines? Are the search engine keywords that are being used to find you ones that are high priority to you? Are there certain keywords you would like to be found for? If you are investing money in advertising on another website, are you seeing a return on this? Google Analytics can provide insight into where you should invest your marketing dollars. An overview of the different kinds of sources that send traffic to your site. How can wisnet help? Turning website visitors into clients is as important as getting people to your cash register. Consider regularly keeping track of your analytics or hiring wisnet to report and suggest improvements. wisnet.com is happy to spend time with our clients reviewing their analytics and defining what the most important parts of Google Analytics are for them. Plus, we'll provide ideas on how your website can be improved, such as better landing pages. Contact us today if you would like us to do a free analysis of your website!

Google +1 Launches While Bing Turns Social - Are you ready?

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 31 May 2011 12:01:01 GMT

Bing and Google have recently changed their search engine results page (SERP) and it may affect your website's ranking - well, at least not at your office. You see, when Google +1 and Bing Social are in action, the search results become more personalized and display results based on the 'likes' or +1's from their friends. Since everyone has a distinctive set of friends the results will be different for each of them - and that means you will never know the true ranking of your website. To put it simply, your website could be ranked #1 at the office, but not at home on the family computer. So what do you do about it? First, watch the following videos and then I have a few tips to help keep your website 'socially' ranked #1. Introducing the +1 Button The +1 button lets people recommend web content to their friends and contacts on Google search. Bing + Facebook = Social Search Bing has connected with Facebook to make searching on Bing more social. Together, Bing and Facebook will offer a more personalized experience. Bing Social Search claims to make it easy to find the right place, e.g., coffee shop, heating and cooling specialist, pet hospital, gas station; based on the Likes of your Facebook friends. Here are a few tips to help your company get started... Make it easy for visitors to like a page on your site. Add both the Like and +1 button to each page of the site. (FYI: The +1 button for your website isn't available at the moment. To be notified when it will launch go to https://services.google.com/fb/forms/plusonesignup/.) Focus on blog content, video, and photographs that you think people will share. Fun = Likeable. Adding a fun twist to blog articles, video, and photographs increases the chance of them being shared. I remember my dad putting Styrofoam at the bottom of an old silo. We would climb up the ladder and jump into it. So, if you're company sells Styrofoam, show fun things that can be done after the Styrofoam is unpackaged from the container. Styrofoam lightsabers were another fun weapon of choice against my overlord sister. Lots of good memories with Styrofoam! Educational = Likeable. Tutorials and self-help articles are popular. People like it when they can save money by doing it themselves. Even though you're not making money when giving away information, it will show that you are a leader in your industry. The 80-20 Rule - 80% social, 20% shameless self-promotion. Yeah, it's a wonderful experience when your company wins an award - let the world know about it! With that said, bragging gets old very quick. Keep the shameless self-promotion to a minimum. (: Keep working on your Facebook and Twitter campaigns. I might have to write another article (maybe a book) about this - there's a lot to it! (: Conclusion So, is your company ready for the dawn of the new 'social' search engines? Are you considering adding the Facebook Like and Google +1 button to your website? But once it's added, what do you do then? My last recommendation is to put your 'analytical approach to everything' down for a nap and wake up the fun child within you - be creative. Before you know it, your website will be ranked #1 at the office of your competitors; making them wonder if the 130+- people on their personal Facebook profile are faithful friends. Good luck! :)

Redesigns, Facebook Apps, and Mobile | We've been busy!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:01:01 GMT

Hello wisnetters. I've been away from Noteworthy for a bit and thought I would share with you a couple projects we've been working on that I'm sure you will find interesting. These include before and after screenshots of a website redesign, two new Facebook apps, and a backstage pass to see what a mobile website looks like before it goes to the development stage. Stick around as I show you what we've been up to! ClientWhys New Look ClientWhys.com provides websites, marketing products, syndicated content, and social media campaigns for the accounting industry. This has been one of our larger front-end design projects and many hours were put into it. The updates have made the site easier to navigate and friendlier for search engines, and have lowered page load times, improved site architecture, and more importantly - increased revenue for the client. A screenshot of what ClientWhys looked like before the redesign. The trendier design includes bolder colors, more gradients, and a big call-to-action button for attracting visitors to sign up for the free trial. To view the website go to www.clientwhys.com. Here are some key improvements made with the new design: Each product page has a custom design. Added photographs of the staff. Stronger calls-to-action across the website. Easier to read blog and support section. Improved Site Architecture - It is now easier for visitors and search engines to navigate the site. Faster loading pages - way faster. Went from being 60% slower than most sites to 80% faster. When it came to the interior pages, most visitors weren't scrolling past the fold. With more images and catchier sub-headings, it increased the amount of visitors scrolling below the fold and to the bottom of the page. Here is a before and after of an interior page. Before and after screenshot of an interior page. Behind this design lies a powerful content management system called BLASTauthor which the team at ClientWhys uses to manage content for their blog. Below is a screenshot of the frontend. A few features of the blog include seo-friendly URLS, Popular Posts, Related Articles, and social bookmarks for sharing articles on sites such as Facebook. Facebook Welcome App With over 600 million users on Facebook we are not surprised that businesses want to keep adding features to their company page. To get started with Facebook, the first step is to get visitors to 'Like' your page, and a Welcome page can help accomplish that task. Not too long ago Facebook discontinued their Static FBML application in favor of a model that requires an iframe app. Since working with third party apps is often a pain, we created our own. A welcome app is just the start - it opens up doors for many possibilities including offering coupons, running contests, or allowing visitors to reserve a room at a hotel. Here's an example of a Welcome page. Clients can create their own Welcome page and add it to our app. In addition, they can make updates on the fly through our Easy Site Editor. Scheduled Posts App Wouldn't it be nice to strike up a conversation with your customers when the store has closed for the day - which might be the time when most them are on Facebook? Fairly simple: without even logging into Facebook, you can create a post and schedule it to appear anytime, e.g. breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, supper, and even at midnight. It adds a little automation to what once was a tedious task of logging into Facebook and manually posting. Scheduling posts to appear on Facebook at a specific time is very simple. See how mobile development starts... Mobile development starts with a rough draft created in a program such as Photoshop. (This one was done in Fireworks - my favorite.) Usually the first draft is created with wireframes, but this time, since the site was already created, it was easy to take design elements and rearrange them for mobile users. First rough draft of the new mobile website for the Fond du Lac Convention & Visitors Bureau. Example of how the new Fond du Lac CVB site will look on an iPhone. Conclusion As you can see, the team has been busy. Surprisingly, this is only a small portion of what has been going on the past two months. I've snuck a peak to see what the programmers have been up to and noticed them working on complex user interfaces and backend applications. Maybe when they're done, I'll upload screenshots for you to see. Stay tuned, as more exciting happenings at wisnet.com will be coming your way!

How-to Guide to Create a Company Facebook Page

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 12 May 2011 12:01:01 GMT

Over 600 million people across the world are using Facebook to connect to family and friends. It has become the #1 online destination surpassing time spent on all of Google's products combined. For a long time, businesses have known the importance of being ranked well on search engines. Now they are interested in reaching out and being noticed via a different method: social marketing. Businesses have created Facebook Pages to do just that. If you haven't considered Facebook, now might be the time. We have created a tutorial on setting up your first Facebook Page for your company. Step 1: Log out... First, make sure you are logged out of your personal profile. Yes, Facebook Pages can be created via a personal profile, but a few features will be missing - including the ability to select Fans as guests when creating events. In addition, if an employee creates the Page using their personal profile, they will take all your fans with them when they depart from the company. Step 2: Click Create a Page... Visit www.facebook.com to get started. Towards the bottom right click Create a Page. When visiting Facebook, look for the Create a Page link below the SIGN UP button. Step 3: Choose the Type of Business... Select a category that most represents your business or organization. On the next screen, it will introduce a few options for categorizing your company. You might be confused between choosing Local Business, Company, and Brand or Product. The category of 'Company, Organization or Institution' refers to a large company or franchise. Ford Mustang would be a brand or product. It's one of many products that Ford Motor Company makes. Most small businesses will choose from 'Local business or Place'. If you feel that one of your products is worthy of it's own Facebook Page, than go right ahead. Step 4: Choose a Business Category ... When Local Business or Place is checked, a drop-down menu will appear with additional items to sub-categorize your company. Choose wisely because you might not be able to change it once the Facebook Page has been created. Fill in all the fields. The Company Name field will be the name of your Facebook Page. Then click GET STARTED. Step 5: Security Check... Enter the security words that you see displayed on the screen. Then click SUBMIT. Step 6: Create a Facebook Account... On the Create a Facebook Account page, it is very important to check I do not have a Facebook account. Remember, this is to prevent employees from running off with the Page when they depart or retire from your company. Plus, it will come in handy if ownership of the company changes. Fill in a valid email address, password, birthday, and the words spelled out in the Security Check window. Then check I have read and agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy followed by clicking Sign up Now! Check 'I do not have a Facebook account' for best practice. Step 7: Confirm your email address... Thanks for signing up for Facebook! The next step will require you to confirm your email. Go to your inbox and find the email that was sent. Go to your inbox to receive the confirmation email. Step 8: The email... The email will look like the following screenshot. Click on the link Facebook provided. Click on the confirmation link in your email to complete your sign up. Step 9: Your Very Own Company Page! Congratulations! You now have setup your own company Facebook page. It will need some tweaking. Upload an image, logo or photo. Click on the 'Edit Info' link near the top of the page and add basic information such as a business address, company website address, hours of operation, and a short description. Before proceeding, click the Wall tab to see how the Page will appear to your visitors. Click the Wall tab to see how the Facebook Page will appear to your visitors. Step 10: The basic skeleton of a Facebook Page... Quite plain, wouldn't you think? We recommend branding the page with a logo and adding company information. Go back to the Get Started tab to start modifying the page. What the Wall tab looks like right after the Facebook Page has been created. Step 11: Tweak Your Settings... Click on 'Settings' in the top blue bar. Here you can update your name, password, email address, add a security question and set your privacy settings. Now is a good time to get familiar with these items and change any settings. It is recommended to have Facebook use a secure browser. This is the Settings screen with options to change privacy, password and other options. Step 12: Now What?... Now it's time to post an entry. Tell friends and colleagues to come and visit your page and click the 'LIKE' button. After 20 people have 'Liked' your page you can obtain a Vanity URL for your Facebook page (ie: www.facebook.com/companyname) Many books are written about Facebook. In addition, there are many online tutorials that provide tips on enhancing a Facebook Page. Plus, it is recommended to look at some other Pages to get ideas. Here are a couple companies that take full advantage of all the features available. Jet Stream Car Wash's Welcome Page promotes their top 3 services. ClientWhys' Facebook Page touches upon some of their services with links to their website. Tru-Fire's Facebook page uses images to entice visitors to learn more about their company's products. Conclusion Creating a Company Facebook Page is the start of your social marketing adventure. After you feel comfortable with the look and feel, the next step is to go out and find fans. Promote it on your website with a Like Box along with a link back to the page. Social marketing means you interact with your fans. This could include providing resourceful information, coupons, video, photographs, or starting a discussion within your Facebook Page. To be more successful, search for resources and subscribe to websites that provide tips on social marketing. Good luck!

Negative Reviews and Search Engine Traffic Don't Mix

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:01:01 GMT

Ever wonder how to analyze your website's traffic and observe how it's affecting your company? We ran into a situation where a client's website was receiving a majority of its traffic from search engines. Then, we found out something more interesting - and it wasn't good. As per the title, negative reviews and search engine traffic don't mix. Logging into Google Analytics anyone can be overtaken by the sheer amount of data available. Because we are familiar with it, right away we noticed the large amount of search engine traffic (75%) compared to direct (14%) and referring sites (11%). Since the client doesn't blog, tweet, or post on Facebook, we assumed most people couldn't remember the domain name, and thus used search engines to find the company. This is typical and there's nothing wrong with it - sometimes search is more efficient then typing a domain. Traffic Sources Overview chart found on Google Analytic's dashboard. Under Traffic Sources, we traveled to Search Engines. From here we can see which search engine provider referred the most traffic. In the below example, Google is clearly in the lead. A majority of search engine traffic is coming from Google. We decided to click on Google to see what phrases searchers were using to find the company. As you can see, a majority of them were searching specifically for the company. Again, nothing is wrong with this - small local businesses, which do not blog, usually see their business name as the most popular keyword phrase used when searching. Visits sent by Google along with the keyword phrases used when searching. Looking back, nothing is wrong with the analytics - what lies ahead is the problem. Noticing that "Coffee Johns Grill and Bar" is the popular phrase to use, we decided to a do a search. Take a peek at the screenshot below - notice the reviews - just inches below the organic and local listing. These are not good! Notice the negative reviews under the organic and local listing. Here's the problem. A majority of the traffic is coming from Google. The negative reviews are noticeable and encroaching on the organic listing. Are these reviews affecting traffic to the website? More importantly, are they reducing foot traffic and business to the client? Whatever the case, if you run into a situation such as this, contact your online reputation management team. They will help you respond to poor reviews, and if needed, hide them (with good reviews) so they are barely noticeable. Note: Although the article represents the information we researched, Coffee Johns Grill and Bar is not the real name of the company.

Team Photos Now on a Smartphone Near You

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:01:01 GMT

Have you ever heard a voice on the radio or on the phone and formed a picture of that person in your head? Have you noticed how far off your mental picture tends to be? Well, if you would like to see how closely your mental pictures of the wisnetters line up with the real deal, here is your chance to add some visuals. Smartphone users can now see who we are (and get a flavor of our personalities and interests), read a short bio, and quickly call us. Check it out for yourself at m.wisnet.com/team.html. Those of you who do not have a smartphone will have a better experience viewing it here: wisnet.com/team.iml. Screenshot of our team page on the new wisnet.com mobile website. Julie's profile on the newly developed mobile website. Conclusion Our mobile website gives visitors a quick peak at who we are along with our contact information. When companies, schools, municipalities, and other clients assign new personnel to work with us, we know they will be a little more comfortable when they see who they are dealing with. Hopefully, we don't scare them away!

Our Team's 10 Predictions for 2011

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 12:01:01 GMT

As the end of 2010 draws closer, our team wanted to share ten predictions for 2011 that you might find interesting. Websites are here to stay... Websites are here to stay but the look and feel will change dramatically in 2011. Because of the emerging tablet industry, website owners will request the site become more friendly with the iPad - buttons will be larger and easier to click, text will increase in size, and layout's will become simple and clean. In addition, Flash video, photo galleries, and animations will drop off the radar and be replaced by HTML5 and jQuery markup - that basically does the same thing, but will download more quickly and not eat away at the processing power. Since the April launch of the iPad, we will see websites becoming more tablet friendly. Mobile websites for every business... Lately, our team has been investing a lot of time into mobile website development. Everywhere we go, more and more people are connecting through the web on their smartphones. (Don't forget to sign up for our mobile giveaway at www.wisnet.com/social/!) It's predicted that by 2013 web access on mobile phones will surpass that of home computers. The difference between a mobile website and today's normal website is screens are much smaller, download speeds are slower, and mobile users are on the go. This means most small business owners will have a simplified version of their site with just the bare necessities, i.e., a list of services, products, contact information, and a link for mapping the location. And in case you weren't aware, a recent Forrester study says 49% of small business owners use smartphones. If you're in B2B, then a mobile website is a must for 2011! In 2011, many businesses will expand to mobile websites and make it easier for smartphone users to access their content. Increase in social marketing campaigns... In 2011, more and more companies will hire our team to run their social media campaigns and monitor their reputation. We're not talking about only setting up a Facebook and Twitter profile; we're talking about full-blown campaigns that run for months at a time. Owners are beginning to understand why Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare are important. Other owners will be forced into it when poor reviews and testimonials overlap their marketing efforts. Although it sounds frustrating, social marketing has a good return on investment (ROI) and makes your company more transparent. In other words, it can be fun! Foursquare, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Facebook Places, and Groupon are one of many social networks used for social marketing campaigns. SEO becomes complex, local search becomes relevant with geolocation... Everyone wants to be ranked #1 on Google for this, that, and everything in between. For small local businesses the expense makes it impossible. In the past, ranking #1 meant competing against your competition. Today, in addition to competition, you have to compete with microformats, reviews, social snippets, blog posts, YouTube videos, Facebook Likes, Tweets, and other material. It's not the same anymore and it's complex! Good news is, in the past year, Google has made many advancements towards localizing search results. They are well aware of the move to mobile phone devices and the need for geolocation. All new and modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) can detect your location, resulting in Google displaying local businesses near you. Keeping your listing optimized, offering exclusive discounts, responding to poor reviews, and cross promoting them on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare will become the norm. With microformats, images, and reviews, it is more difficult to have your website appear on the first page of Google. Optimizing communities... Although communities are nothing new, business owners will start to understand the importance of building and maintaining them. All your company's followers on Facebook are a community. Your email subscribers would be another community. Exclusive offers will be given to cross-promote communities. Most businesses rely on word-of-mouth advertising and fostering communities allows your clients to help spread the word for you. In 2011, some businesses will champion new communities while others reduce them so more effort can be focused on the ones that return with the best results. Building, maintaining, and optimizing social outlets are goals for many businesses in 2011. Monitoring reputations (reviews)... Since local search will dominate the scene in 2011 you will want to make sure poor reviews get an appropriate response, and if needed, hide them (with good reviews) so they are barely noticeable. It's a difficult task for those new to the scene. Prevention is the best method but when all else fails we expect to see more companies request our services to monitor their reputation and provide consultation. Having no reviews isn't any better than having poor reviews. 2011 will be the year businesses give attention to reviews on local listings. Geolocation exclusive offers... Geolocation is new for most businesses. Using a mobile phone with built-in GPS, services such as Foursquare allow clients to 'check-in' to your location. When checked-in, their friends become aware of where they shop and dine - and that can be considered word-of-mouth advertising. In return, business owners provide incentives and discounts for check-ins. Foursquare adds geotagging to a local business owner's marketing arsenal. QR codes... QR codes will be found everywhere! If it's not Foursquare check-in clings, it will be QR clings stuck to windows, embedded on websites, and advertised on TV. A QR code is a barcode such as the ones found on a cereal box...well not really, but close. Smartphone users can easily scan a QR code with the built-in camera. Instantly, clients will be taken to a website or landing page. QR codes are easy to scan, compared to typing a long web address on the small mobile keyboard. Oh, and you can hold a smartphone up to a TV and scan a QR code - it's that cool! Google Places provides a printable QR code to hang at your location. QR codes can be added to the contact page of your website where visitors can easily grab directions. Online marketing... Spending for online marketing will dramatically increase. It's not clear if Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) produces better ROI (return on investment) compared to that of Facebook yet. Lately, we have seen many local companies advertise on Facebook. Demographics for the advertisement can be broken down to the city, age, gender, relationship status, education, workplace and more - WOW! You can run a campaign for all 25-55 single women, who graduated college, live in Fond du Lac (WI), and are working at Charter Communications! Now, that's amazing! Of course, 2011 will be the year to find out what works and what doesn't - Facebook users might not be in the mood to shop compared to those who are searching via Google. Demographic targeting can easily be accomplished through Facebook. Email marketing is not going away... For some odd reason everyone seems to have a grudge against email. It's not interactive and most of the time it feels impersonal. To counter the animosity email will become more social, personalized, and owners will start incorporating team photographs and video. There will always be clients that despise Facebook - email might be the only way to communicate with them. By offering email-only exclusive offers a community can be built that can rival your fan base on Facebook. Email, along with Facebook and Twitter, are the few marketing channels where promotions can be created and sent within hours - and we have seen this done with smart business owners who use these channels just as the weather turns sour, e.g., "Mountain's Flower Shoppe will be closed for the massive snow storm tomorrow. All online orders are 20% off!" Now that's quick thinking! Our December email campaign had Holiday email tips and pictures of our account executives. To the cloud and beyond... If you're out of the loop you might not have heard about the cloud. Traditionally, company's purchased software programs and spent a great deal of time installing and configuring them on their computers and network. When disaster struck, a quick call on the bat phone usually turned into a long wait for the technician to appear. Today, companies are using software on the cloud, e.g., Google Docs, Hosted Exchange, SalesForce, and our very own project management program called PM. At first, the monthly charge makes a business owner quiver. Once they realize they won't need to pay the IT guy $125 an hour to upgrade software, fix glitches, and drive to the location, it becomes very affordable. Here at wisnet.com, we offer our clients POP3/IMAP webmail and hosted Microsoft Exchange services. It's fast, secure, and never needs maintenance. Plus, it feels like a desktop application! We predict that in 2011 many of our clients will be moving away from traditional desktop applications, such as Outlook and Entourage, and move to the cloud (wisnet.com webmail and Hosted Exchange). Moving to the cloud will reduce unnecessary time managing and maintaining software and local networks. Wow, amazing changes are happening in 2011! From all the research we accumulated this past year we have great confidence our ten predictions will come true. Well, then again, we never saw the iPad coming in April of 10' and word is Apple recently patented holographic technology. Next thing we know, we will be developing 3d holographic advertisements to view while clients are waiting to be teleported into a conference meeting...in Antarctica. Your guess is as good as ours. (:

How To Remove Personal Profiles from Facebook Pages Permanently

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Changing ownership on Facebook was a real hassle back in the days - actually, it wasn't possible for a while. Usually, an employee would create the Page under their personal profile. When they left the company the page went with them, leaving business owners with the hassle of rebuilding their fan base. Then Facebook provided the option to transfer ownership from one personal profile to the next - and this was a major improvement. Still, there were issues and not all the features were available for Pages. To remedy the problems we are going to explain how to transfer a page to it's own login and password... making personal account access history! Stick around as we walk you through the process. Messages, favorites, and Insights... When a Facebook Page was created using a personal profile a few issues transpired. Sometimes, administrators would accidently send messages to Fans using the personal account. Most didn't realize this until after the message was sent. Then there was a problem where it was not possible to 'Favorite Pages' for a Page - it would end up in the personal account. What was even weirder was that some how a few were 'favorited' on the Page but there was no way to remove them. Lastly, we found that adding Facebook Insights to your website was impossible unless the original creator of the Page was involved in the process. Well, to tell the truth, we haven't tested it to see if setting up Insights is any easier, but we're assuming it will be when the primary personal account has been removed. Let's get started! Step 1: Create an email... First, create (or find) a new email account that hasn't been used with any other Facebook profiles or pages. Test the email to make sure it works before proceeding! Step 2: Create a business account... Go to How-to Guide to Create a Facebook Fan Page and follow steps 1 through 11 to create a business profile. For now, create a fictitious company (we will delete it later). Then proceed to Step 3. Step 3: Before it gets confusing... Okay, before we get to far ahead, open up two different browsers. It can be IE and Firefox, Chrome and Safari; mix-and-match - you're choice. Log into the personal account with one browser and the business profile with the other. Step 4: Adding an administrator... After logging into the personal profile go to the Facebook Page and click Edit Page. Click Edit Page to log into the control panel. Step 5: Basic Information... This will lead you to the Basic Information tab, click Manage Admins. In the Page control panel click Manage Admins. Step 6: Add the new email address... On step 1 we had you create a new email address, enter it here to create a new administrator. Add a new Facebook Page administrator with the new email address we created in Step 1. Step 7: Save changes... A modal box will appear. Click the blue button that says Save Changes. Click Save Changes on the modal box that appears. Step 8: Let's double-check our work... Open up the other browser and log into the business profile that we created on Step 2. Log into the business profile within a different browser. Step 9: What do you see? If you see the Facebook Page along, with the fictitious account, you are on track! If the Facebook Page appears you now have admin rights. Alright, it's clean up time! The next steps will include removing the fictitious account and personal administrators. Step 10: Removing the fictitious business profile... We've seen many profiles disabled because of glitches or content violating Facebook's policies. I would believe it's in your best interest to remove this profile. Click Edit Page next to the bogus profile. Click Edit Page to remove the fictitious profile. Step 11: Manage permissions... Then click Manage Permissions from the control panel. Click Manage Permissions to proceed. Step 12: Permanently delete the page... From the Manage Permissions page click Permanently delete this Page. Permanently delete the page to remove it. Step 13: Delete Page? Double-check! Make sure you're not deleting the official Page! When ready, click Delete. Click Delete to remove the Page. Great job! What's next? Now it's time to delete the other administrators. Remember, we're removing the personal accounts. Go back to the other browser, the one where you are logged into the personal account. Step 14: Remove admins... If you're not already there, go to Manage Admins. Once there, click Remove to the right of the personal profiles. Remove the personal profiles. Step 15: Save changes... After clicking remove you will notice that the personal profiles lighten up. It is indicating these are the items that will be removed. Click Save Changes. Click Save Changes to remove the personal profiles. That's it! CONGRATULATIONS! Now that the Facebook Page is not connected to any personal accounts you do not have to fret about employees walking away with your fan base. In addition, there will be less confusion between a personal profile and business Page. Congratulations, you have successfully removed all personal profiles from your Facebook Page. Now, when adding a page to our Favorites... Add to My Page's Favorite' appearing under the logo on the Facebook Page. ...it appears on our Facebook Page. A favorite has been added to our business page. Good luck with your social media campaign! Share your comments below.

A Profile for Today's Social Savvy Professional

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:01:01 GMT

In today's social marketplace consumers want to know who you are before making any purchasing decisions. Unlike LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook; about.me takes it one step further - instead of the 99% to 1% ratio of content versus your photograph, they flip it entirely, showcasing one LARGE photograph of you with a just enough room for a bio. Plus, it's a grandiose introduction to you (physically) while visitors can quickly scan your networks to see more social activity. Our beloved photographer Brian was our first guinea pig. After viewing his profile you can see why this will work with other professionals such as speakers, business owners, account executives, and staff members who interact with clients. Keep reading to find out a little more about.me. A business card for a social savvy professional... About.me was created to pool together multiple online profiles, scattered across various services, including Facebook, Linkedin, Flickr and Twitter; into a single on-line identity. The only other option would be to google the person - which is time-consuming. The about.me profile can be considered an attractive virtual business card for professionals. Below is Brian's profile and a few others found on about.me. Brian Kolstad's profile on about.me. Colleen Hooper's about.me profile. Ryan Freitas, co-founder of about.me. Maggie Mason's profile on about.me. Go ahead and reserve your username on about.me today! To get started, go to about.me, and reserve your desired username. Once the account is ready (which might take a month) you will be notified via email. It takes approximately two hours to perfect a profile when adding a bio and connecting to social networks. Plus, spend some time and make sure to have a good photograph! Creating a profile on about.me is fairly simple. Conclusion Professionals looking to 'introduce' themselves (with a mugshot!) will be interested in about.me. Our only recommendation is to hire a professional photographer for the colossus photograph that is needed. Brian would be a good choice!

Marketing this Holiday Season - Newsletter - Issue 2

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Here's our latest newsletter from our Holiday campaign. The newsletter provided tips on local listings and Pay-Per-Click advertising. Plus, with less than a month before the holidays are off the radar we wanted to give you some ideas on what is possible. If you missed out on the email go to wisnet.com Newsletter - Holiday Issue #2. If you are interested in subscribing, scroll to the bottom of this article and subscribe to the rocket ship. Have a Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! Screenshot of the wisnet.com Holiday Newsletter sent out recently. Have a look!

Google Webmaster Tools - Improving Inbound Linkage

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:01:01 GMT

To improve your ranking on search engines it is good practice to find other websites to link to your website. Then, it's about using the right keyword phrase (also called anchor text) in the link. Google Webmaster Tools has added a new feature that shows external websites linking to your site and a sampling of the anchor text they use. With this valuable information you can see what Google thinks about your website. Let's dig a little deeper to get a better understanding of anchor text along with more details about the new feature in Google Webmaster Tools. What is Google thinking? Google continuously crawls websites to find out what they are about. In addition, it analyses the data to see what these websites are saying about your site. That means other websites help Google determine how your site is ranked! Let's hope they are ranked with words that are related to your industry. Perusing websites you might have seen links that say 'click here' or 'read more'. This is unhelpful to Google. If your company specializes in cheese, use 'Read More About our Award Winning Wisconsin Cheese' as an alternative. Example of detailed anchor text being used. Note: Sometimes, the way the site was designed; there isn't enough room to add more than one or two words. Ask your website developer to add Title Attributes and ALT tags to the links. When mousing over the 'Read more' text the Title Attribute will appear. Let's take a peak at the new features in Google Webmaster Tools... Within Google Webmaster Tools you can see an overview of the sites that link to your site. In addition, it will tell you how many times they link back. Overview of links to your site within Google Webmaster Tools. Top domains that have links to pages on your website... Under 'All domains' is a list of the external sites, number of links, linked pages, and which pages they link too. In this example it looks like the website is linking to an interior page about webmail; and this is good news. If every website linked to the homepage, Google would think the rest of the site does not have worthwhile content. Under 'All domains' it will list the top domains that link to pages on your website. Linking with anchor text... Here is the most important part; anchor text. This report will provide words (or phrases) that are used as anchor links. In the example below, it is indicating 'wisnet.com llc' as the most popular phrase while 'read more' is not far behind. We would like to see 'award winning website designs' or 'application development experts' up there. That means we have a lot of work ahead of us! Anchor text used to link to wisnet.com. In the above example item 55 (seite) is German for 'page'. With the potential of thousands of websites linking to your site, (and in many different languages) it might not be possible to get all of them to link back using quality anchor text. Start with local organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce and visitors bureau. Summary: Remember that 'click here' and 'read more' is not helpful anchor text. If room is not available, have your website developer add Title Attributes. Link to other pages besides the homepage. (Spread the wealth.) Start with your local Chamber of Commerce, visitor's bureau, vendors, etc. Conclusion With the new features built into Google Webmaster Tools we now have a better idea what Google thinks about a website. Besides finding out who is linking to your website, you can see the keyword-enriched words being used as anchor text. When the opportunity arises take advantage of using quality anchor texts to tell Google what your website clearly is about.

wisnet.com Adopts-a-Family for Christmas Season

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:01:01 GMT

The team at wisnet.com is proud to contribute to a needy family this holiday season. In cooperation with the local Salvation Army, we have filled our Christmas tree with gift certificates, kitchen supplies, clothing, and presents for the children! From here we will transport them to the Salvation Army. Then, word is, Santa picks it up and delivers it to a very special family! The team is spreading Christmas cheer by sponsoring a family through the Salvation Army's Adopt-a-Family program. We have been adopting a family for the past six years. If you are interested in Adopting-a-Family contact Jamie Curry or Heather Merten at: (920) 923-8220 or on Jamie's cell at (920) 517-0115.

Marketing this Holiday Season - Newsletter

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Recently, we sent out an email blast to our subscribers. The newsletter provided a few tips on email campaigns, social marketing, and adding a seasonal theme to your website, Twitter and Facebook profiles. If you missed out on the email go to wisnet.com Newsletter - Holiday Issue. Another issue will be coming out shortly - scroll to the bottom of this article and subscribe to the rocket ship. Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Screenshot of the wisnet.com Holiday Newsletter sent out recently. Have a look!

wisnet.com is on Foursquare! What is it?

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Compared to restaurants and hotels there's not much foot traffic to our office - it seems almost silly to have a business profile on Foursquare. Then again, what's a better way of introducing Foursquare than trying it out for our company! Simply put, Foursquare let's customers "check-in" to a business with their mobile phone. Then their location is shared with their friends on Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter. One visitor can introduce hundreds of their friends to your business instantly - and that's what's great about Foursquare! If you're interested in finding out more, 'check-in' here. Business Profile for Foursquare Below is a screenshot of our profile on Foursquare.com. You can visit it by clicking the following link: wisnet.com Foursquare profile. Foursquare business profiles contain basic contact details along with a map, categorization, tagging, and who is the "Mayor". The Mayor is the customer who checked-in the most. Screenshot of wisnet.com's business profile on Foursqaure.com. What draws customers to 'check-in'? You're going to have to give a little to get something in return - the good news is you can control the costs. After claiming your listing (which we will discuss in another article) specials can be added. Specials can consist of anything from gift certificates, free coffee, free t-shirts, Starbucks gift cards, etc. Then, options can be set to determine how many check-ins are required before the special is offered. What kind of special promotion would you like to offer your customers? Foursquare Venue Stats dashboard... After customers start checking in, Foursquare will provide basic details about them. In Venue Stats it provides the ratio of men to women, total check-ins, unique visitors, and the percentage of check-ins that were posted on Facebook and Twitter. Top visitors will be listed along with most recent check-ins. At the bottom, the dashboard provides a breakdown of when visitors are checking in. Foursquare Venue Stats for business profiles. Foursquare tips for businesses... Here are a few tips to help when using Foursquare. Take notice of mobile phone users and ask them if they know how to check-in. Thank those that check-in when they visit your business by saying hi, thanks, or shaking their hand. Depending on how many referrals they attract, you might want to give them a hug! Use specials to encourage first-time visitors or reward loyalty. "Half off any entr�e on your first check-in!" Offer specials that are only exclusive to Foursquare users. From the Venue Stats dashboard, use the men to women ratio to tailor specials to attract (or retain) more of one gender. Use Time Breakdown for creating specials to increase traffic when business is slow. Give worthwhile specials and don't make it difficult to achieve the status of mayor. Window cling provided by Foursquare... During the business claiming process you will receive a window cling in the mail. Make sure to place it somewhere noticeable. Here is the window cling that was sent to us. Foursquare check-in here window cling. Conclusion Just when you think you've created as many social networking profiles, e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn; that you can handle, along comes Foursquare. The good news is Foursquare can be a boon for business - your customers will become the voice and spread the word for you. Let the wisnet.com team work with you to start a Foursquare campaign. Give us a call at 920.921.8391.

Google Tags - Make it Easy for Customers to Find You

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Google has a new service called Google Tags and it places an eye-catching yellow tag next to your listing on Google Search and Google Maps. Use the tag to highlight coupons, customer reviews, or other helpful information that can help searchers choose you. It's one way to make your listing stand out from the competition. Plus, it's affordable and can be set up fairly quickly. If we peaked your interest keep on reading. The Google Tag... Google claims the tag increases traffic to your Google Places page while making your company easier to find. In the below example, a yellow tag appears next to a hotel listing. Screenshot of a Google Tag when searching locally for hotels. Coupons, video, and more... In addition to tagging websites - coupons, video, menus, reservations, photos and even custom messages can be added. The first 30 days are free and it's $25 per month thereafter. A credit card is required to receive the 30-day trail. Before ordering Google Tags... Before ordering a Google Tag we recommend making sure your Places pages is up-to-date. Plus, if there are poor reviews it might not be a good time to use Google Tags. When ordering one of our local listings packages we will assist with improving reviews and local listings. Conclusion It's too early to tell if Google Tags will draw customers to your company - but for $25 and a 30-day free trial it's worth a try. We recommend running a Google Tags campaign for at least six month to see how it performs. Give us a call when you're ready to start.

Introducing BLASTSearch to Our Product Line

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 12:01:01 GMT

With new advancements in search engine technology we want to introduce a new search engine product called BLASTsearch. Built into your website, visitors will have a better experience searching for items such as articles, Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, contact information, and more. Tied together with Google Analytics, it will help reduce support calls and save money. Stick around as we 'BLAST' you with the details! Improved search with more accurate results... What's more frustrating than digging through results that are not helpful? Not much. Years ago, search was usually added to sites as an alternative to site navigation. But as the site grows with information from blogs, document libraries, and so on, it's realized that navigation has its limits. That's why search needs to take front and center stage and our advanced search engine, BLASTsearch, is the answer. Screenshot of BLASTsearch appearing on a municipality website. Information overload... Besides catching spelling mistakes and directing searchers to the appropriate results, users can search through terabytes of data instantly using BLASTsearch. Plus, it knows where words are located within each page, document, spreadsheet, and so forth. As a bonus, BLASTsearch prevents information overload by preventing duplicate content from appearing in results, reducing search clutter. Reduce support costs... Reduce costs by decreasing unnecessary calls to the support department. When BLASTsearch is installed we will tie it into Google Analytics. With Google Analytics you will be able to see the keywords people are searching for. As an example, if visitors are searching for 'building permit application' and it doesn't pull any results, most likely they will need to call the city's building inspector. Then, staff will have to spend time finding the information and email, fax, or mail them to the client. Knowing what visitors are searching for will provide input on what documents and articles need to be added to the website. Note: Staff can freely use BLASTsearch to search for documents. This will reduce time trying to find documents on the local network that are already on the website. Then, staff can easily copy the link and email the appropriate party. No messy attachments necessary! Gearing up your website for BLASTsearch... While we are installing BLASTsearch, we will make certain search engine optimization changes. These advancements help BLASTsearch get a better understanding of the content while ranking each page, PDF, and Word document appropriately. While optimizing the site for BLASTsearch, we will be making improvements that work with Bing and Google's algorithm. This means better rankings with the possibility of increased traffic to your website. A few basics and pricing information... BLASTsearch runs every night between 2am to 5am to find new content on your website. It bypasses documents that have nothing new to say and focuses on fresh content. When searching, it's extremely fast! Plus, we can search public and private portals while separating the data to keep it secure. The best news is there are no monthly or annual fees. We install it once and it's included along with your hosting services at no additional charge. (A one-time fee is incurred to install it. ) Conclusion Giving visitors an easier time finding documents while reducing support costs is what makes BLASTsearch a perfect companion to a website. BLASTsearch is perfect for small and large companies, non-profits, local municipalities, state, and federal government websites. Contact our team today to get started!

Beware of Fictitious Twitter Profiles

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:01:01 GMT

This morning Google alerted us to a fictitious website that mirrored our Twitter profile. What's surprising is that it has the last post we tweeted yesterday. It looks so realistic that many people might accidentally log into it with their username and password... and that could be a problem! Here's a quick analysis of what we found. The Google Alert that notified us about the Twitter clone. Below is a screenshot of a bogus profile that mimics our Twitter account. It doesn't bear the same resemblance as the new look Twitter launched the other month but some accounts might not be upgraded yet. Plus, we noticed Twitter resorts back to the old layout when they are having server issues. Screenshot of our Twitter profile being replicated on another server. How severe could this problem be? Because we haven't updated our Twitter profile since yesterday I wanted to compare a company that updates their status almost hourly. In the below example, the mirrored profile of Mashable is only ten minutes behind. That's very close! Mashable's Twitter profile mirrored on a phishing website. Who's responsible for this problem? Well, we're not reporters and it looks like Apigee.com is a legitimate company. Maybe one of their clients is abusing the system or they are working directly with Twitter. It is a possibility this could be a phishing attempt. In addition, it could cause duplicate content (dependent on robots.txt file working); which could skew results on Google's search engine results page. If it is legitimate, we hope they block access from the public. Screenshot of cloned Twitter profile indexed on Google. Conclusion We hope this article, about a Twitter clone, was helpful and makes you more aware of phishing attempts. Don't get hooked!

Google Analytics Announces New Feature: In-Page Analytics

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Recently, Google announced a new feature called In-Page Analytics. It allows website owners to see their Google Analytics data superimposed on the website. This visually appealing data will help make it easier to understand how visitors navigate the site. Stay tuned as we present a case study along with a video from Google. What we noticed about In-Page Analytics... We were curious to see the path visitors would take when entering the homepage of our website. What we noticed is that the 'Who We Are' page is one of the most popular places to go. Surprisingly, it is not the most popular page on the entire website (our Facebook articles are the most popular). Our conclusion is, for visitors that reach our homepage, a majority of them want to find out more about us. Google's In-Page Analytics provides data about visitor's destination from our website's homepage. After making our conclusion about the homepage, we viewed the analytics from 'Who We Are'. Here we found that almost half of the visitors click on the big button that says "View our Team Members". It looks like visitors really want to find out who we are! Many visitors are interested in whom we are. Team photos versus our portfolio... Looking further, it's easy to notice 'Who We Are' is visited more than our design Portfolio. Is this telling us something - are people more interested in our values, history, character, and experience than our portfolio? Hmmm... interesting. From this data we would assume that most, if not all, other businesses need some form of an 'About Us' page along with photographs and biographies of team members. Google Analytics Video Google has many YouTube channels that we follow. Google Analytics Channel is one of them. Here is their latest video about In-Page Analytics. Assess how visitors interact with your website... Here are a few ideas to ponder while reviewing In-Page Analytics for your website. Is my page layout optimal for what I want users to accomplish on the page? Are my users seeing the content I want them to see? Are my users finding what they're looking for on the page? Are my calls to action motivating or visible enough? Which links are users clicking? How to access Google In-Page Analytics... To view In-Page Analytics log into Google Analytics. Once there, click on your website listing, Content, and then In-Page Analytics. If you do not have Google Analytics installed on your website visit Setting up Google Analytics to get started. Navigate to In-Page Analytics Conclusion Google's new In-Page Analytics feature is a wonderful tool to examine how visitors interact with your website. Plus, it's easy to use. Hope you enjoyed the brief introduction to In-Page Analytics.

Announcing the Launch of the Silica Appliance and Electronics' New Website

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 12:01:01 GMT

wisnet.com is pleased to announce the launch of the new Silica Appliance and Electronics' website: www.silicaappliance.com. wisnet.com applied industry's best practices to develop a fresh and contemporary website to position Silica as a leader in electronics, appliances, and custom installation. Screenshot of the new design for Silica Appliance and Electronics. Silica Appliance and Electronics is conveniently located in Fond du Lac and Beaver Dam (Wisconsin) and offers competitive pricing (with big-box retailers) on many brand name electronics and appliances. Silica has been around since 1922 and many team members have been working for Silica for more than 10 to 20 years! wisnet.com's creative and interface guru's designed the visually-appealing Silica Appliance and Electronics' website to be user-friendly and have a modern appeal. Since Silica has a good reputation for experience and employee retention, team photos were placed throughout the website. Links to Facebook and Twitter, along with satisfaction forms were added to get input from clientele. Silica's new website is filled with photographs of the team. Silica Appliance and Electronics will certainly benefit from the new site in the form of increased exposure on search engines, new business, and inquires about products and services. Some of the various features of the new website include: Fresh design and a modern look and feel. Interactive slider on homepage. Easy-to-use and navigation Optimized for placement on search engines. Quick access to modify rebates and weekly advertising specials. Team experts can easily provide answers to submitted questions. Implemented third party XML product feed. Importing images from Google Picasa for photo galleries. Google Analytics Setup and Installation BLASTnewsletters email marketing campaign software. Currently, wisnet.com is providing hosting, email services, email marketing, consulting, and ongoing maintenance for Silica and their team members. Visit Silica Appliance and Electronics!

BLASTauthor's Growing Feature List

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Whether you're a seasoned pro or someone who's barely touched a blog, BLASTauthor will make it easy to add and organize content within your website. On top of that, built-in tools will help with social marketing, offline marketing, and search engine optimization. Plus, these tools provide an edge over the competition by supplying readers, fans, followers, customers, vendors, and potential clients valuable information about who you are. So stick around as we go through a few of the many features of BLASTauthor. Easily Create Articles First off, articles should be easy to create which is why BLASTauthor's interface is streamlined for rapidly writing articles. Uploading photos, managing documents, categorizing, and scheduling publish dates can all be done from one screen. The control center for creating an article. Easily add, edit, and publish articles through BLASTauthor's interface. Paragraph and Advanced Editor Subheadings, bullet points, short paragraphs, and bold-faced text give the eye something to 'grab' onto as it scans the article. Since readers are more likely to skim through an article, the Paragraph Editor was created to help make content "scannable". The Advanced Editor is similar to using Microsoft Word. It has many comparable features and comes in handy for those whose time is limited; maybe you want to cut-and-paste the employee handbook from Word - and call it a day. Read The Difference Between Paragraph and Advanced Editor for more information. The most popular basic features, such as bold and italics, are included with the Paragraph Editor. Automatic AutoSave Imagine working on an article and an emergency call comes in claiming a pipe broke and water is everywhere. There's no time to save what you're doing, you must go. BLASTauthor's built-in auto-save feature saves the article every few minutes. you can rest assured that if distracted, you won't lose the work you have created. Articles are automatically saved in case an emergency arises. Schedule Article Releases A big snowstorm is on the way and you know business will come to a halt. Your team decides to have a big sale the day before to make up for potential losses. Scheduling an article release date is straightforward; simply write an article and schedule it for the following morning. At the designated time, it will appear on your site, making all visitors aware of the huge 'Snow Storm Sale'. Schedule release dates using BLASTauthor's Publish toolbar. RSS Feed RSS feeds are a bloggers best friend. It can connect to Facebook and Twitter. Afterward, when an article is published on BLASTauthor, it will automatically post to these social networks. All your fans and followers will be aware of the new article and possibly spread the word to their friends and followers. Read RSS Feeds: Part I to find out another reason why RSS feeds are helpful. SEO Friendly URLs SEO URLs are web addresses that make sense. For example, which one is more helpful; wisnet.com/inner.iml?ID=20 or wisnet.com/we-design-websites? The URL's are listed along with results when searching Google and Bing. See example below. The SEO friendly URL appears below the Meta Description on Google's results page. Automatic Creation of Meta Title and Description Are you clueless when it comes to search engine optimization? That's okay, BLASTauthor automatically borrows parts of the article for the Meta Title and Description. To become more familiar with this terminology, read How Important is the Meta Title and How Important is the Meta Description. Take Control of the Meta Title and Description with SEO Ninja For those who feel comfortable with search engine optimization, we have a solution called SEO Ninja. SEO Ninja's easy-to-use interface will assist when editing meta data. If needed, read 5 Tips for Writing Effective Meta Titles to brush up on your skills. Easily modify meta data with the SEO Ninja plugin. Easily Add Word Documents, PDF's, and more. With the Library Ninja plugin, you can easily link to documents from within your articles. Simply upload a document (Word, PDF, Excel, etc). and copy the link to the content. It's that simple! Social Bookmarks If you've visited a few blogs lately, you might have noticed the Facebook, Twitter, Digg and various other icons at the bottom of an article. They are called social bookmarks and give readers the tools needed to post the article to their social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. If a reader finds interest in the article and mentions it to their friends and followers, it will draw traffic to your website and company. Readers can easily share blog articles with their social networking buddies. Email to a Friend Similar to Social Bookmarks, the Email to a Friend plugin gives readers the ability to tell their friends via email about the article. It's another tool to allow readers to "spread the word". Printer Friendly Every once in a while, someone might want to print the article. It could be for many reasons (poor eyesight, future reference, etc). Conclusion With an abundant amount of features for both pros and amateurs, BLASTauthor is a sublime blogging tool to integrate into any site. Automation will save time, and social bookmarks and RSS can assist with social marketing through Facebook and Twitter. Blast off with BLASTauthor to take your website to another galaxy!

How To: Uploading Photos to Picasa Web Album

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Today's modern websites aren't built on one technology; they're mashed together to create a product that can accomplish more - without the extra development expense. For example, when adding a photograph to Picasa, it could automatically post to your blog, website, Facebook, and Twitter. In addition, Picasa is built to manage and edit photos. Have red-eye? No problem, Picasa has a solution. Since Picasa is free, take advantage of it's great tools. This article will explain how to get initial photos uploaded and sorted into a proper album - which is one step closer to having them appear on your website. Here are the simple steps to do just that! Step 1: Sign Up Go to http://picasaweb.google.com and sign in with your Google account. (If you have Gmail, you can use that login and password to access the site.) If not, click Create One and follow the steps to get a login and password. Once completed, you will enter your main page, also known as the gallery. It is here where your photo albums are stored. Sign into Google to access Picassa Web Albums. Step 2: Start by creating an album... Click the Upload button to create an album and add photos to it. Once logged in, click Upload to upload the first image. Step 3: Giving the new album a name... Under "edit album information", give the album a name along with a short description. The short description will help search engines properly index the album. Provide details about the album by adding a Title and Description. Step 4: Make the album public... Under the 'share' option, make sure it is set for Public On the Web. If the album isn't public, it will not appear on your website. Click Save Changes when finished. Make sure to set the album to 'Public on the web'. Step 5: Select photos to upload... Now we can start uploading photos to the album. Go ahead and click Browse. Click 'Browse' to search for photos. Step 6: Find the photos... We are hoping you have success finding the photos on your computer. Because the photos can be anywhere, we decided not to elaborate on where they could be. I'll admit, there are times I can't find what I'm looking for on my computer! Once the photo is found, click it to highlight it and then select Open. What it will look like when searching for photos on Windows 7. Step 7: Start uploading... The directory location of the picture you select will appear in the text box. Now would be the time to browse for other photographs. When completed, click Start Upload. Click 'Start Upload' to upload the photographs to Picasa. Congratulations! Great job! A photograph has been uploaded to your album! Now, let's add a description so search engines can index the photograph properly. Go ahead and click on the photo. Success! A photograph has been uploaded. Step 8: Add a Caption Click Add a Caption Click 'Add a Caption' to describe the photograph. Step 9: Describe the photograph... After clicking 'Add a Caption', a text box will appear. Here you can write a short paragraph, phrase, or a full description (512 characters maximum) describing the photograph. When finished, click Save Caption. The text box has room for 512 alphanumeric characters. That's it! Good job! A word about storage capacity.... Picasa Web Albums provide 1 GB of free storage space available for all your photos and albums when you start. This should be enough for a decent sized website. However, you can purchase more directly from Google if you need to. Go to https://www.google.com/accounts/PurchaseStorage?hl=en_US to view their pricing packages. Conclusion Using Picasa Web Albums, we can feed the photographs to your website, blog, and social networks, such as Facebook. Think of it as a one-stop shop to manage photographs for your company - there is no need for double entry. In addition to saving time, it will boost your presence online by keeping Facebook and your blog immersed in new content. Today's modern websites are built around more than one technology, and Picasa can make your website and marketing more impressive. Good uploading!

Verona Grove Benefit Concert for JDRF

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:01:01 GMT

In collaboration with BioLife Plasma and Marian University Phi Sigma Kappa, wisnet.com is proud to be one of the sponsors for the Verona Grove Benefit Concert for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) on Thursday, September 9th, 2010. Verona Grove will be rocking live on stage and with your help, will raise money to support this good cause. All ages are welcome and all funds go directly to JDRF. Keep reading for further information details, hours, location and music videos! erona Grove rocks the Sadoff Gymnasium along with special guests Because I Can. Short Bio on Verona Grove Verona Grove, from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin has been on tours with other legends including The Ataris, Lifehouse, and Plain White T's. Their pop-punk style has lead to being featured on MTV. Here are a few songs that made them popular! The Details: Verona Grove Benefit Concert for JDRF  Sadoff Gymnasium - Marian University  7:30pm-9:00pm  Tickets are $3 with school ID and $5 for general public. Marian University will be hosting a Verona Grove Benefit Concert for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The concert begins at 7:30pm with opening band "Because I Can" and then Verona Grove begins at 8:15. The concert will be held in the Sadoff Gymnasium. Sponsored by wisnet.com, LLC and BioLife Plasma Services of Fond du Lac. Stop by Common Grounds Coffeehouse (at Marian University) and purchase a Verona Grove / JDRF T-shirt for $10 - wear this shirt to the concert and get in free! - Hurry Limited Edition Shirts!

Fall Migration - Time to Switch to the New Webmail Interface

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:01:01 GMT

To coincide with the fall migration of the Canadian geese we are in the process of migrating clients over to the new webmail interface. Unlike geese, you have it made - it's super easy! Just go to webmail.wisnet.com and log in. It's that simple! For those who have a branded domain for webmail, such as mail.mycompany.com, contact Rick (customercare@wisnet.com) and he will point it to the new interface. Nothing has to be done on your end! He just wants to make sure you are aware of when the change will take place. What is the difference between the old and new interface? The look changes slightly, but mainly, it's what's running in the background. It is more powerful, faster and has features that will make webmail feel like a desktop application. See webmail for more information. The difference between the old and new webmail interface. Conclusion Friday, September 3rd, is the day development will stop for the old interface. If you're still there, it will feel like being stuck in Canada eating frozen cattails. September 3rd is not a deadline, but we recommend taking the advice of a wise old goose and migrate to a warmer and brighter climate as soon as possible. We're looking forward to seeing you there! Honk!

Automatically, Post Blog Articles to Facebook and Twitter Using HootSuite

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Socializing on Facebook and Twitter is an important facet of social marketing. Personal interaction with fans aid in developing long-lasting relationships while automation tends to feel impersonal. There are times when automation will work well - and leave extra time available for writing noteworthy articles; and you know - more time socializing. HootSuite provides an ingenious feature that routinely submits articles to Facebook and Twitter automatically. This tutorial will provide steps for connecting an RSS feed to HootSuite, and automating it with Facebook and Twitter. If you give a Hoot, grab a perch and stick around. Connect Twitter and Facebook First, you must have Facebook and Twitter connected to HootSuite. If not, read How to Connect Twitter and Facebook to HootSuite. Step 1: Login into HootSuite. If not already logged in, visit hootsuite.com. The login form is found on the top right. Step 2: Go to RSS/Atom Once logged in, click on the owl on the top left. The drop-down menu will appear. Go to Settings and then RSS/Atom. Step 3: RSS/Atom The Settings dashboard for RSS/Atom will appear. Click Add New Feed. When the Settings dashboard appears, for RSS and Atom, click Add New Feed. Step 4: Edit Feed Then the Edit Feed dashboard will appear. The Edit Feed dashboard has a few nifty features including the ability to check for new posts every hour, post multiple tweets at a time, and select multiple profiles. Review the available options from the Add RSS / Atom Feed dashboard. Step 5: RSS feed... Most sites have an RSS feed. To find it, look for the RSS feed icon on your site. If your site does not have one, it's best to contact your web developer. Find the RSS feed icon on your website. Step 6: Grab the URL. After successfully finding the RSS feed copy the web address. Highlight the RSS feed URL, right-click, and then choose copy. Step 7: Add the URL of the RSS feed. After copying the URL past it in the field for 'Feed URL'. Add the web address to the Feed URL field. Step 8: Check this feed for new posts every... Often times there are numerous daily updates to an RSS feed. If set to hour, HootSuite will post to Facebook and Twitter every hour - unless there isn't anything new. You can change the settings to 24, 12, 6, 3, 2 or hourly. Step 9: When new posts are found, tweet up to... HootSuite can publish a maximum of 5 posts per cycle to Twitter. It might be the same for Facebook - but if your settings push 5 posts every hour than you're an amazing blogger; or not socializing! Step 10: Include some post text... This is optional. At times, the title of the article isn't sufficient enough to give readers an idea what it is about. HootSuite will add addition text, from the article, to the tweet. In some cases it might make the tweet look cluttered, so use it wisely. Step 11: Prepend text... Here you are provided the opportunity to add prepared text to each post. Before each tweet you could say "New Blog Posts" or "News Update" - but be aware that Twitter only has room for 140 characters max. Step 12: Profiles to send from... Before saving, you must choose at least one profile. The profiles might be difficult to distinguish between. Look closely for the Twitter or Facebook icon. Click the profile needed and a green checkmark will appear. HootSuite can post to an individual profile or all of them. Step 12. Save Click Save Feed. Click 'Save Feed' to complete the setup. Finished! You may now leap from your perch and soar with the eagles. Congratulations! When completed, the feed will appear on the Settings dashboard. How will it appear on Facebook? Within a short time after publishing an article to your blog, HootSuite will post it to Facebook. A tiny image of an owl will appear below the post. In addition, an Owly (ow.ly) web address will appear - which links to the article on your blog. How HootSuite will appear on Facebook. How will it appear on Twitter? Shortly after HootSuite notices the new article it will appear on Twitter. Below the tweet, in light grey, you will see 'via HootSuite'. Then you know it was successfully posted from HootSuite. How HootSuite wil appear on Twitter. Conclusion This concludes our tutorial on using HootSuite to automatically submit posts to Facebook and Twitter. At times, automation can be cold and unfriendly; but in this situation, it's a win-win for both you and your fans. Now you can reclaim lost time and build a better relationship with the fans that were neglected. Good luck!

The Difference Between Paragraph and Advanced Editor

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:01:01 GMT

With the launch of our new BLASTauthor (beta) we want to introduce two new features to help when authoring articles - the paragraph and advanced editor. The paragraph editor is useful for creating content that is easily 'scannable' by readers. The advanced editor gives authors the freedom to create their own style (format) for the layout of articles. Stick around as we explain the differences between the two editors. Subheadings, paragraphs, bullets, bold, images... Most readers have little patience and are far more likely to skim through an article. Subheadings, bullet points, short paragraphs, and bold-faced text give the eye something to 'grab' onto as it scans the article. The paragraph editor is a good starting point for non-savvy authors as well as experts. You can easily add a paragraph, subheading, and photo. If needed, you can style text with bold, italics, and bullets. Not every paragraph needs a subheading - use it sparingly to adhere to a simple layout - and readers with short attention spans! :D In the image below, notice the basic features for the paragraph editor - bold, italics, bullets, numbers, links, and an undo button. That's it! Wow, so simple! View of the paragraph editor built into BLASTauthor. Now, let's take a look at the advanced editor... The advanced editor is ideal for seasoned pros or those whose time is limited. We imagined authors wanting to cut-and-paste from Microsoft Word - and call it a day. The advanced editor will leave the format intact; the way it was copied. In contrast, the basic editor will remove all formatting including breaks (returns), colors, font-sizes, etc. Features included with advanced editor... The advanced editor includes everything: breaks (returns), copy and paste from Word without losing format, colors, fonts, font sizes, bullets, tables and much more. Take a look at the screenshot below. A view of the advanced editor plugin built into BLASTauthor. What we do... Here at wisnet.com, most of our articles are written using the paragraph editor. Occasionally, we need to use the advanced editor. The good news is BLASTauthor will allow switching between the two of them. Then you can decide which format is best for each article. Conclusion BLASTauthor's paragraph editor helps new authors format content for electronic readers who prefer to skim content. More sophisticated features are available through the advanced editor. Whichever way is chosen, you will find BLASTauthor to be an easy and effective tool to publish articles to your site or blog.

Top 5 New Features in Outlook 2010

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Microsoft has released the new Outlook 2010, and it is loaded with new features and improvements that will make managing your email, calendar, and social connections a breeze. Try out the interactive tour and see what's new! Click here for the Outlook Interactive Tour 1. Multiple Accounts Now you can send and receive through multiple accounts including Hotmail, Gmail, or just about any provider. It even supports multiple Exchange accounts. 2. Easy Scheduling With just one click, schedule a meeting based on the email that you are viewing. Sharing calendars and requesting a shared calendar are simple tasks with new collaboration options. You can compare busy/free times at a glance with the new Schedule View that displays multiple calendars horizontally. 3. Conversation View Easily structure your overwhelming inbox into categories and subject based email chains. With one click, you can review all the emails, whether sent or received, on any subject topic. 4. Social Network Connections You can stop switching between a ton of different social networking clients and websites. Outlook can now be connected directly to multiple social accounts, including Facebook and LinkedIn. 5. User Summaries By clicking on the picture or icon of a user from within an email, you can rapidly review emails and attachments that they have sent you and meetings they have with you.

Three-Column View: Now in wisnet.com Webmail

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:01:01 GMT

With monitors getting wider and laptops/netbooks becoming more prevalent, we're excited to introduce our latest wisnet.com Webmail feature: Three-Column View. Now, users with limited vertical space can quickly read more of their email messages without scrolling. This new feature is LIVE now - so give it a try. To enable Three-Column View: > Navigate to your Settings > Your first tab is General Settings > Email Options > Set Preview Pane: Right. Screenshot of the three-column view.

Great News from Google Place Page - Review Responses

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Yesterday, Google released a new feature that gives Place Page owners the ability to respond to reviews. Every business has the opportunity to be listed on Google Maps and Google's 7-pack. Unfortunately, only around 7 to 10 businesses will make it to the first page of the results. Those with reviews, good or bad, have a greater chance of being seen. Now you have that opportunity to respond to them! Your professional response to these reviews can build strong relationships - or ruin them. Let's take a look at this new feature along with a few suggestions on responding to reviews. An example response to a review on Google Places. Image provided by Google. Three areas where reviews appear... When searching Google, searchers have three opportunities to see reviews - 7-Pack, Google Maps, and the 1-pack located below the listing. Let's find out a little more about them... Google 7-pack Most Google searchers are familiar with Google's 7-pack. When specifying a city or location, it will appear above the organic listings. If your listing is located here, you're in good shape - for now. A few poor reviews and you may wish Google never existed. On the following screenshot, notice how the 7-Pack shows the quantity of reviews. If clicked, the searcher will be taken to the Google Places page where they can read the reviews in full detail. Google's 7-pack links to reviews. Google Maps Google maps is a very a well-known tool, and with the growth of mobile devices it is becoming ever more popular. When searching for 'dining in Fond du Lac' about ten listings appear. Most restaurants have reviews and Google chooses which review to use along with the listing. In addition, there is a link to go to the Places page to read all the reviews. Reviews are front and center on Google Maps. Google 1-pack... When searching Google for a specific company, the 1-pack might appear below the listing. It includes a map, address, hours, reviews and a link to the Places page. If, for example, a searcher is getting directions, what would they think when a poor review appears? Now might be the time to search for your company! Reviews might appear when searching for a company on Google's SERP. How to respond to reviews... First, if the review is not from Google Maps, you will not be able to respond within Google Places. You will need to go to the corresponding site and respond there - if possible. I recommend focusing on the Google reviews because they will appear on your Google Places page. A review appearing on Google Places Page but located at a different website. Step 1: Responding to a review... Log into your Google Account and then go to www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter. Step 2: Google Places Dashboard... After the Dashboard appears, click See your listing on Google Maps. Click 'See your listing on Google Maps' to view your listing. Step 3: Find the reviews... Once at the Places page, scroll down to find the reviews. On the Google Places Page Scroll down to see reviews. Step 4: Respond... Below the review, click Respond publicly as the owner. Click 'Respond publicly as the owner'. Wait! Read the policies... Before writing a response review Google's policies. Comment Posting Policy ...and a word from Google... Engaging with the people who have shared their thoughts about your business is a great way to get to know your customers and find out more. Both positive and negative feedback can be good for your business and help it grow (even though it's sometimes hard to hear). By responding, you can build stronger relationships with existing and prospective customers. For example, a thoughtful response acknowledging a problem and offering a solution can often turn a customer who had an initially negative experience into a raving supporter. A simple thank you or a personal message can further reinforce a positive experience. Ultimately, business owner responses give you the opportunity to learn what you do well, what you can do better, and show your customers that you're listening. - Google ...and a word from team member Jody... I think it's very important when an owner responds to a review, that they don't let their emotions dictate what they write. Constructive answers to concerns are the best. - Jody | wisnet.com team member Step 5: Publish... When ready to respond publicly, click Publish. Write your response and then click Publish. Conclusion Hopefully this is your first step towards understanding how reviews work as well as a tool for dealing with them. Responding to criticism is a double edge sword and can cause many more problems than it solves. Hiring a PR spin artist (also known as a copywriter) should be considered. Either way, one unsatisfactory or erroneous review today can stifle business for many years to come - therefore always respond. Good luck!

wisnet.com welcomes Finding Forward Coalition

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:01:00 GMT

The Finding Forward Coalition of Wisconsin is a group of statewide associations representing a broad range of interests that have come forward to support safeguarding transportation user fees from being used with non-related projects. Their website seeks to educate visitors and communicate with them about this important topic.

How to Connect Twitter and Facebook to HootSuite

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:01:01 GMT

HootSuite's feature-rich application gives anyone the ability to post updates to their social networks, including Facebook and Twitter. This tool can be used by your business to manage multiple networks using one interface. HootSuite has many features including the ability to schedule tweets, add attachments, and shrink long web addresses so they fit nicely on Twitter - which is restricted to 140 characters. In this tutorial, we are going to provide steps for connecting HootSuite to both Twitter and a Facebook Page. If you give a hoot, stick around! Step 1: Register or Login... If you are new to hootsuite.com please register by clicking the big green button that says Sign up now. After registering, return to this page and go to step 2. If already registered, sign in and proceed to the next step. Signing in to HootSuite is simple. The login and password fields are found on the top-right of the homepage. Step 2: Find the owl on HootSuite's dashboard... After logging in, the dashboard will appear. For those of you who are unfamiliar with HootSuite, below is a screenshot of what it looks like. At the way top, towards the left, you will see the owl. Go ahead and click it. Click the Hootsuite owl. Step 3: Social Networks... Once the owl is clicked, a drop-down menu will appear. Hover the mouse over Settings to have a sub-menu appear. Then click Social Networks. If Settings is accidentally clicked, it will take you to the same destination. (No big deal.) Click either Settings or Social Networks to get to the Settings dashboard. Step 4: Add a social network... The Settings dashboard will appear. Click Add Social Network. Click Add Social Network on the Settings dashboard. Step 5: Let's start with Twitter... Once the 'Add Social Network' dashboard appears, click Connect with Twitter. Click the blue button that says Connect with Twitter. Step 6: Allow HootSuite access to Twitter... First, you must have a Twitter profile. If not, read The Simple Guide to Setting Up Your First Twitter Profile. For those who are not already signed in to Twitter, the following screen will appear. HootSuite needs permission to access the Twitter profile. Enter the username (or email); followed by the password, and then click the blue button Allow. Connect to your Twitter account by signing in. Success! If Twitter has been added, it will appear on the Settings dashboard. Good job! The HootSuite Settings dashboard will display the Twitter profile. Step 7: That was fun! Now let's add Facebook to HootSuite... From the Settings dashboard, click Add Social Network. To add Facebook to HootSuite, click Add Social Network. Step 8: Connect to a Facebook Page... Since this article is meant for businesses, we are going to connect to a Facebook Page, not a personal profile. If your company is using a personal profile, it would be best to create a Facebook Page. Facebook's policy prohibits the use of personal profiles for business. Read How-to Guide to Create a Facebook Page for detailed instructions. Let's proceed - click on Facebook Page on the left. Then click Connect with Facebook. After clicking Facebook Page click Connect with Facebook. Step 9: Allow HootSuite access to Facebook... Just as we did before with Twitter, we need to give HootSuite permission to access the Facebook Page. Enter the Facebook email address and password. Then click Login at the bottom. Provide HootSuite access through the Facebook login screen. Step 10: Your pages on Facebook... Once access has been given to HootSuite, the 'Your pages on Facebook' dashboard will appear. Check your Facebook Page and click Add to HootSuite. Check Facebook Pages to administrate them through the HootSuite dashboard. Step 11: Finished! Well, not yet. Go ahead and click Finished. If you want, go ahead and 'Like' Hootsuite. Otherwise, click Finished. Step 12: Review and exit... After clicking Finished, the Settings dashboard will appear. The Facebook Page should have been added. While here, have a look around to see other available options. Once done, click the X on the top right to close it. Now we will send our first tweet and post! After adding Facebook Page it will appear on the Settings dashboard. Step 13: Let's say something! Hold your horses - let's review the features before we make our first post. At the main dashboard, click the text area that says 'Compose a message'. Click in the text field to start your first post. Character limit... If you didn't know already, Twitter will only show the first 140 characters of your message. Facebook is restricted to 420 characters. If you want to send the same message to both networks it might be best to stay within 140 characters. The character limit is found on the bottom right of the text area. Keep an eye on it. While typing, keep an eye on the character limit. Choose the network... During, after, or at the beginning, you can choose which networks where the message will be posted. We have a choice between Twitter and Facebook, or both. The Twitter icon is obvious, look closely to see the little flag for the Facebook Page. For now, go ahead and select both of them. Pay special attention when choosing a network(s) to post a message. Facebook Share... When adding links to the text field your screen will refresh and display a few snippets from that website. This is known as Facebook Share. If needed, it can be edited or removed. Sometimes it's good to use because it adds more content to the Facebook Page. Other times, it adds clutter. If you do choose to close it, click on the X on the top right. HootSuite can share content from a website through Facebook's Share feature. How to get an Owly URL... Because of the character limits, URL shorteners are handy for Twitter and Facebook. To get started, copy the URL from your browser. Then paste in to the left of the 'Shrink' button. Click Shrink. Automatically, HootSuite will create a short Owly URL (http://ow.ly) and add it to your message. Use Shrink for shrinking long web addresses. Adding images and files... Upload images and files right into your messages. The files are instantly converted into super-short Owly links for space saving and easy sharing. Upload files to your messages. Scheduling Messages... According to HootSuite , you can "provide rich, nourishing content to your followers at any time of day using the HootSuite tweet scheduler. Pre-schedule anything you like, from radio programming to birthday well-wishes. Or, tweet live!" To schedule a tweet (or post to Facebook Pages), click the calendar icon. Then choose the date and time. When completed, click Okay. Schedule messages to keep your Twitter and Facebook Page active. Saving a draft message... When time is running out the 'Save' button will come in handy. Save draft messages to finish later. Save now, finish later. Restoring a draft message... Simply restore draft messages by clicking the View Drafts arrow. Then select the message to restore. View draft messages by clicking on the arrow. Step 14: Let's get the word out! We started out adding Facebook and Twitter to Hootsuite. Then we become familiar with a few of the many features built into HootSuite. Now, let's send out our first tweet and post. Woohoo! The last thing to do is click Send Now. Go for it! Click Send Now to send your first tweet and post from HootSuite! Review your work on Twitter... Until you are accustomed to HootSuite, we recommend double-checking the tweet on Twitter. View the example below to see how it will appear on Twitter. Example of a tweet sent through HootSuite. Review your work on Facebook... After posting, go to your Facebook Page to make sure it looks good. Test the link by clicking it. If everything is perfect, give yourself a pat on the back. Good job! Example of a post sent through HootSuite. Hootsuite will brand it with their logo. Conclusion This concludes our tutorial on connecting Twitter and Facebook to HootSuite. HootSuite is one of the best tools available when managing multiple social networks. There are many features, that we haven't covered, which can be put to use - hint; check out Linkedin and Foursquare. If you're interested in mastering HootSuite, become a graduate of HootSuite University. Good luck with your social marketing adventures! Great read! Automatically, Post Blog Articles to Facebook and Twitter Using HootSuite

How To: The Newbie Guide to Submitting a Business to Yahoo! Local

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:01:01 GMT

In previous Noteworthy articles we have gone over the steps for submitting a listing to Google Maps and Places, and now, here are the steps for including one with Yahoo! Local. Following them will help create a basic listing that could turn up in Yahoo's main search results (Yahoo 5-pack) in addition to its local directories. This translates into many potential clients coming across it while searching locally! Are you ready? Let's start! The Sign In and Sign Up links can be found on the homepage of yahoo.com. Step 1: Getting Started For those who currently have a Yahoo account go to www.yahoo.com and click Sign in (upper right of the Yahoo page). If not, set one up by clicking on Sign Up (It's free!). The Sign In and Sign Up links can be found on the homepage of yahoo.com Step 2: It's time to sign up... Once signed in, go to http://listings.local.yahoo.com. The Business Details window should appear. Click the big yellow button that says Sign Up. To get a free business listing click the big yellow button that says Sign Up. Step 3: Listing Details... After clicking 'Sign Up' you will be taken to the 'Listing Details' page. Most of your time will be spent here. Make it easy for customers to find your business by providing quality content that include words people would use when searching. Screenshot of the Listing Details page on Yahoo! Local. Step 4: Account Contact Information Scroll down to 'Account Contact Information'. Enter the first name, last name, email, and phone number of the person responsible for the Yahoo! Local listing. Most likely it will be you. The red asterisk indicates this is a required field. If it's not filled in the listing cannot be completed. Enter the required information for the account contact. Step 5: Local Information The 'Local Information' area should be easy to understand. Enter your business name, local phone number, web site address, fax, etc. These can be very important for site visitors, especially if they live further away. Yahoo! Local typically doesn't need to verify the listing information through postcard or phone calls like other local search sites, but please make sure everything is correct before proceeding to the next step. The wrong address could confuse site visitors if they try to visit your location. In addition, make sure to use the official local phone number for the 'Local Phone' field. The area code helps other sites verify that the business's is located where it says it is. It may be tempting to use an 800 number but we recommend against doing so. Fill in 'Local Information' to help local searchers find your location. Note: We recommend checking 'Automatically send me reviews of my business'. In future articles we will explain why reviews are necessary for ranking on local search engines such as Yahoo! Local Maps. When a review is added to the local listing it will be sent to the email address listed under Account Contact Information (step 4). Check 'Automatically send me reviews of my business' to be notified when a searcher leaves a review. Step 6: Hours of Operation Next, the hours of operation can be added. When displayed, there is a choice of 'Do not display operating hours', '24 hours a day' (never closes), or specifying the days and hours the business is open. If there are special hours or appointments outside normal hours, they can be entered into the 'Additional Hours of Operation Information' box. Enter the operating hours for the business. Step 7: Payment Methods Accepted There's not much that can be done if someone forgets their wallet. At least we can give them a heads up on which type of payment methods are accepted before they spend time driving to your location. Check the payments methods that will be accepted at the cash register. Check the payment methods accepted at your business. Step 8: Additional Information Additional information, such as the year the business was founded, any languages spoken, brand names carried, products and services offered, associations the business belongs to, and specials honored can be entered in these boxes. We recommend filling out all relevant fields as they can help searchers learn more about the business and its offerings. As an example, it would be important for customers to know if your staff can speak Spanish in addition to English. Likewise, mentioning being a member of a professional organization or having accreditation can be a great selling point. Unfortunately Yahoo! Local restricts the amount of characters that can be used. Languages Spoken, Profession Associations and Specials are limited to 50 characters. Brand Names Carried and Products and Services Offered are restricted to 500 characters. Be creative, write quality content, and consider words that searchers will use to find a business such as yours. Fill in the details to make a profile that stands out from the competition. Step 9: Step-By-Step Preview Click Listing Page and Details Page to view how the listing will appear. To see the listing in action click Listing Page and Details Page. Listing Page When clicking Listing Page a visual example of the listing will appear. Click Listing Page to view an example of your new listing. To get a better idea of how it will look on Yahoo! Local, check out the screenshot below. When searching Yahoo! Local the listing will appear with contact details and (possibly) reviews. Details Page Click Details Page to get a glimpse of how the page will appear to searchers. Carefully review the details page to make sure the information is accurate. Review the details page and update the listing if any information is wrong. Here is what it will closely resemble after the page as been approved by Yahoo. A screenshot of wisnet.com's listing on Yahoo! Local. Step 10: Review and continue... After previewing the listings, double-check your work. Make sure there are no spelling mistakes, broken links, wrong phone numbers, and most importantly - a wrong address. Once the listing is perfected click Continue. Click Continue to move to next step. Step 11: Modifying an existing Yahoo! Local listing... After clicking 'Continue' a warning might (most likely) appear. Go ahead and select your listing and click Continue. If for some reason it is not correct, select the option under 'Add a New Listing' that says 'My business does not appear in the list above. Please add my listing to Yahoo! Local'. Click Continue when done. Choose from an existing listing or add a new listing. Step 12: Category Selection Selecting the right categories for your business is very important. Most likely searchers use these words when searching locally. It is restricted to five categories and the first one will be the primary. To get started you have the choice between selecting from the drop-down menu or clicking on Need Suggestions. Go ahead and spend some time using both tools to categorize your business. Review the choices available by clicking on the drop-down menu. Step 13: Step-by-Step Preview and Continue After finding the best categories that suit your company, review the listing by clicking Listing Page and Details Page. If it is accurate click Continue. Review the listing and page and then click 'Continue' Step 14: The Preview page... This will be your last opportunity to review the listing. Review all the information to make sure it's accurate. Click Submit when completed. Preview the listing one more time before submitting it to Yahoo! Local. Note: Enhanced Listings is a Yahoo service that costs $9.95 a month per location, and offers such features as the ability to upload a picture or logo and to include more detailed business descriptions. Step 15: Verification and Terms of Service At the 'Verification and Terms of Service' page enter the code, read the terms of service, and then click I Agree at the bottom. Accept to terms of service to continue. Step 16: Thank You! You're done! We recommend creating a reminder in your calendar to come back and check on your listing. It might have been rejected. Success! Your listing will be reviewed within 5 days. Email confirmation... If the listing was successfully posted to Yahoo! Local, they will send a confirmation email. It will indicate the status (Congratulations!) and provide a link to edit it if you would like to improve the listing. Congratulations! Your Yahoo! Local Basic Listing has been posted. Conclusion Now that your listing has been posted to Yahoo! Local, you have the potential to be seen by anyone searching locally! Using this powerful resource, in addition to Google Maps and Places, will give you more visibility and control to make your business a strong presence in your neighborhood!

Join wisnet.com as we set sail with Lakeside Spirit on July 27th

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Join wisnet.com for some summer fun! The wisnet.com team is setting sail with the Lakeside Spirit Tuesday, July 27 at 6pm. We want you to come along! Best of all - wisnet.com is picking up half the tab! A little about Lakeside Spirit... Dine, relax and view the Niagara Escarpment on Lake Winnebago's only excursion yacht! Let yourself be taken in by the romance of cool lake breezes, enjoy mouth-watering food, refreshing beverages and pleasant conversations. Find out more by visiting www.lakesidespirit.com. Lakeside Spirit Dinner Cruises in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Hurry - the limited seats are going fast! Step 1: Reserve your seats... Go to the Calendar page located at www.lakesidespirit.com/inner.iml?mdl=calendar.mdl. Step 2: Find the date... Find Tuesday, July 27th and click 6:00 PM: Mexican Dinner. Choose 6:00 PM on Tuesday, July 27th to join our team for a cruise on Lake Winnebago. Step 3: Apply the coupon code to receive the discount... Enter wisnet50 to the right of 'Coupon Code' to receive 50% off the tickets. Then click Apply Coupon. Enter the coupon code to see your savings! After the coupon code is entered you will receive a confirmation message. Complete the form... Complete the form along with a credit card number. Then click Send. After completing the form click 'Send' at the bottom. Conclusion Good food, relaxation, spectacular view - we look forward to seeing you there!

The Simple Guide to Setting Up Your First Twitter Profile

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:01:01 GMT

If you're reading this article you must have an interest in Twitter. Twitter has skyrocketed to stardom in only a few short years. In 2006 the first prototype was launched and today it's ranking up there with Facebook and Google. Twitter is not going away anytime soon so now might be the time to create a Twitter profile for your company (which is the easy part). After creating the profile your company will need a strategy (which is the difficult part). For now, let's get down to creating a Twitter profile. Here are the step-by-step directions to create a Twitter profile for your company. Important Note Do not be alarmed if you run into the Twitter Fail Whale. Twitter is known to go down occasionally. Hopefully it doesn't happen while you're creating a profile. Occasionally you will run into the Twitter Fail Whale. It might be a good time to brew another pot of coffee. Step 1: Sign Up Go to http://twitter.com and click the big yellow button that says 'Sign Up'. Once at Twitter, click 'Sign Up' to get started. Your profile... We've noticed a few companies, such as our local news station, create separate Twitter profiles for each newscasters, weather personal, and traffic reporters while other companies tend to only have one Twitter profile. If you cannot post more than three tweets a day we recommend starting with one profile. Once you become more familiar with Twitter and have much to talk about then go ahead and create additional niche accounts. Join the conversation by creating your own Twitter profile. Step 2: Full Name... This can be your full name, company name, or anything you would like. It can be changed at a later time. Only 19 characters are allowed. Be creative and think about branding while keeping it simple. Keep the full name short and simple. Step 3: Username... It's best not to rush this part. Although the username can be changed it is recommended to stick with what is chosen. Underscores, uppercase, and lowercase can be used to style the username. In addition, the username is limited to a combination of 15 characters, numbers, and underscores. Think it over before settling on any username. Twitter will warn when the username is already in use. Keep trying. If the username is in use Twitter will provide a warning. Twitter provides an example of the web address you will be able to use after the profile is complete. If you are satisfied with the username make note of this URL. The web address of the new Twitter profile. Step 4: Password... It's best to use a mixture of letters, numbers, and characters to create a strong password. Keep the password secure to prevent hackers from infiltrating the Twitter profile to write inappropriate tweets. Secure your Twitter account with a password that is difficult to hack. Step 5: Email address... Enter an email address that is easily accessible. It is needed to confirm the email address with Twitter. Plus, throughout the year Twitter will send notifications about new followers. It's best to use a professional email account provided by your hosting/email provider. Step 6: reCAPTCHA Here you will need to type words to verify you are a human being. reCAPTCHA is used to prevent programs from automatically creating accounts. Every time reCAPTCHA is used it's helping digitalize books, newspapers, and old time radio shows. Computers cannot decipher all the words in a book... especially the ones that are smudged. After typing the word(s) click Finish. To verify you are human, type the words reCAPTCHA provides. Step 7: Confirm your Twitter profile... After clicking 'Finish' you will be redirected to the page that mentions 'Find sources that interest you'. Keep this window/tab/browser open, go to your email, and proceed to the next step. Keep the browser window open to this page and go to your email program. Step 8: Check your email... Within minutes Twitter should have sent an email confirmation to your inbox. Open it up and click on the link they provide. (If it is not clickable copy the URL and paste it in the browser's address bar.) Click the link to confirm your Twitter account. The link will take you to a page that provides a confirmation that is was accepted. Close out of this window (tab, browser, etc.) and go back to where we left off. When the account has been confirmed the Twitter profile that was created will be official. Once this message appears, return to the other browser window to finish creating a Twitter profile for your company. Step 9: Let's skip a few steps... The following steps want you to start following others and find friends on Twitter. If you're reading this article we are thinking you might be new to Twitter and it would be best to complete the setup before interacting with it. These steps are available from the Twitter profile and can be completed at another time. Click Next step: friends at the way bottom of your browser window. Click 'Next step: friends' at the way bottom of your browser. When 'Step 2 of 3: Find your friends' is reached, click Next step: search. The 'Next step: search' button is found at the bottom of the webpage. 'Step 3 of 3: Search for anyone'; click Next step: You're done! You're done! Step 10: That's it! You're done! Well, not yet. Click Settings on the top right. Click 'Settings' on the top right. Step 11: The 'Account' dashboard... Then you will be taken to the 'Account' dashboard. Review the information, time zone and additional options. Click Save at the bottom if there are any changes. Review account information within the Twitter 'Account' dashboard. Step 12: Add information to your profile... As you have noticed, Twitter has limits. For example, tweets are restricted to 140 characters, username is limited to 15 characters, and so on. This makes it much easier to create a profile and start using it. Unlike creating a Facebook Fan Page, setting up Twitter can be completed in a few hours. Click Profile to upload an image, add a location, website and bio. Go to 'Profile' for more available options. Step 13: Upload a picture... The saying is a picture is worth a thousand words but with Twitter you will be limited to 73 pixels wide by 73 pixels tall. If you don't know what this means; well, it means small. If you have a wide logo, such as we do, it might not look good after it's shrunk to 73px wide. It might be a good time to get a hold of your designer to craft a logo or branded icon that will fit. Upload an image to brand your Twitter page. Here are few examples of images from Twitter users that we follow. Step 14: Website address... If you have a website or blog enter the URL here. Enter the URL of the company website or blog. Step 15: Bio The Bio is limited to 160 characters. Read the 'Profile' and 'Tip' section towards the right to understand how it will help people find your profile. For 'Bio', write short description about your company. Provide a short description of the services and products your company provides. Step 16: Save Don't forget to click Save at the bottom. Step 17: Design Click Design on the top navigation. Here you can select a theme, change the background image and update design colors. Click cancel at the bottom if a mistake is made and save changes when finished. To make an impressive Twitter profile create a custom background in Photoshop. This is tricky and not for everyone. A bad design can make the Twitter profile look cluttered. Plus, it will look different for those that have different sized monitors and resolution. It might be best to contact your designer. Go to 'Design' to modify the background and colors. Here are a few examples of custom Twitter pages. Visit Marketing Ideas for Printers on Twitter! Vist Fishgill Creative Graphics on Twitter! Visit Interior Systems, Inc on Twitter! wisnet.comVist wisnet.com on Twitter! Step 18: Tweet! Now that the Twitter profile is complete it's time to make your first tweet. Click on Home. It's found at the top. Under 'What's happening' say something. Then click Tweet. Write a short phrase under 'What's happening' and then 'tweet' it. Then go to Profile and see how your page will look when others visit. It's alive! Conclusion This concludes our article on setting up the first Twitter profile for your company. As you can see, setting up Twitter is not that difficult. Your biggest challenge will be creating a strategy to grab and engage followers. This might be the time to stop at a local Barnes & Noble and pick up a book, search for articles online, or follow other Twitter users to see what they do. Read Introducing wisnet.com's Twitter Page to see before and after screenshots. Although Twitter limits the amount of characters to 140, you have unlimited potential of reaching new clients with this tool. Have fun tweeting!

Adashun Jones is now Texting Real Estate Property Information!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:01:01 GMT

We just wrapped up a pretty cool project for�Adashun Jones Real Estate of Fond du Lac, WI. Check this out! Adashun Jones will be putting magnets on their signs that say something like TEXT�AJ 1041�to�511511�for more property details.� Mobile phone users can text in the number and instantly receive a text message back with the address, price, bedrooms, baths, agent information, and a link to Adashun's mobile website. Now that's making real estate property information appear right at your fingertips! Contact us to see what texting can do for your business!

wisnet.com welcomes Hornungs.com's new website!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Hornung's Golf Products Inc, located in Fond du Lac, WI has recently launched their website, www.hornungs.com. They have a wide selection of accessories such as clubs and putters, golf bags, club covers and more. They also sell products to golf courses and pro shops. The site uses Interspire.com E-commerce Shopping Cart version 5.0 software to allow customers to purchase items from the online catalog. Hornung's can easily add new products to the site as they become available, inventory of items can be monitored, and online store performance and revenue can be tracked. A few of Interspire's features that are in use include multiple logins with permissions, single page checkout, search engine friendly URLs, and product variations. Additional application features were installed by our team along with a new look and feel. - Aaron | wisnet.com Team member Hornungs.com is a fine example of an online store that can attract new customers no matter where they are located. Buying products online from them is a snap, and Hornung's can keep tabs on which are the most popular and which months sales are the best, among other important statistics. Golfers from around the nation now have a new outlet to fulfill their playing needs! The new look for Hornung's Golf Products, Inc. in Fond du Lac, WI. Check it out! www.hornungs.com

Using Webmail Spam Filtering And Handling

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:01:01 GMT

You can use Webmail to handle your spam filtering chores as an alternative to your desktop email client's settings. Because Webmail's interface allows you to check email directly from your inbox on the mail server, any spam filtering changes you make here can help prevent junk messages from downloading into your email program. Here's how to set it up... 1. Go to https://webmail.wisnet.com/. 2. Click Settings on the upper-right of the Webmail page. Click "Settings" on the top right. 3. Click Spam Settings on left column of the Settings window. Within the Settings modal choose "Spam Settings". 4. For Spam Filtering, you can set it either off/on, or you can set it for Exclusive which will allow you to receive incoming messages only from email addresses or IP addresses on your safelist. Turn Spam Filtering Status to On. 5. Once the spam filtering is on, you can select how you want spam to be handled. Choices include delivery to a spam folder inside your Webmail inbox, immediate deletion of spam, forwarding to an email address you specify, or flagging it as "[SPAM]" at the beginning of the subject line. If you set spam to go to your spam folder inside Webmail, you can click on Cleanup Options to set the number of days to wait before deleting those messages or never automatically delete them. Spam Handling available options allows you to control the spam. 6. Under the Safelist tab you can add email addresses, domains and IP addresses of those who email you want to receive. The spam filter will bypass filtering to ensure you receive the email. Domains, Email Addresses and IP Addresses can be safelisted. 7. Blacklisting domains, email addresses and IP address can be done within the Blacklist tab . Within Spam Settings you can blacklist spamming domains and IP addresses. 5. Click Save, and you are all set! When finished click Save.

How to: Using Google Places Dashboard to View Your Listing's Stats

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Creating a listing on Google Maps and Places can have a positive affect on traffic to your local business. Foot traffic is noticeable but you might want to see what is happening with the listing. This can be done through the Google Places Dashboard. The Dashboard provides data about views, keywords, and when searchers request directions to the location. Read on as we provide a quick tutorial on how to access the analytics for your Google Places listing. Step 1: Google Places First, visit www.google.com/local/add and log in. Use your browser to navigate to www.google.com/local/add. Step 2: Google Places Dashboard After logging in you will be taken to the Dashboard. Here you can see the listing along with statistics on impressions and actions. Ignore these for now and click on your company's name. Click on your business name in the dashboard. Step 3: Analytics From there you will be taken to a page where you will notice graphs and analytics. The graphs and other tools on this screen work together to give you a clearer idea of who your viewership is and what they are looking for. Screenshot of Google Places Dashboard with analytics. Step 4: Choose a time span... At the very top is a tool to change the time span. You can choose the last 7 days, last 30 days, or customize it. Want to see what happened yesterday? Select a single date and click apply. For now, select last 30 days and click Apply. View analytics from different time spans within Google Places Dashboard. Notes on the Activity Graph... The activity graph will then display the amount of traffic depending on the interval length you have chosen. These intervals are very important because you can see if there are trends in the amount of visitors over a period of time. Is the graph spiking on weekends? Is it showing a gradual decrease in visitorship overall as time goes on? This is a great way to get a sense of whether your listing is working at attracting viewers effectively or if it needs a little more polishing. Impressions and Actions can be seen from the Activity graph. Notes on Impressions... 'Impressions' refer to the number of times a visitor to Google Maps and 7-Pack saw the listing as a result of a local search. Obviously, the more the better, since this equals getting your business name out there as frequently as possible! View Impressions from the Activity graph. Notes on Actions... 'Actions' are how many times a visitor 'clicked' onto a link inside the listing, such as opening More Info on the map, selecting Driving Directions Requests, and clicking the embedded website link. 'Actions ' can be thought of as a visitor showing interest in your listing and wanting to find out more about what it offers. You certainly want as much 'action' as you can get for your listing! View of the Actions graph in the dashboard. Notes on Top Search Queries... Pay special attention to the 'Top search queries'. These are the top keywords that searchers are using when your listing came up in their searches. Over a period of time, you can get an idea of which keywords are the most popular and hopefully edit your listing to tie into those interests. Say for example, you run a pizza place but decide to offer pasta dishes and other Italian cuisine. You could show up in the Google searches as an "Italian" restaurant if you use it as a listing category or mention in your description. If you want to rank high with "Italian" or "Italian cuisine", edit your listing descriptions to include more detail on what Italian dishes are served, maybe even mention the words "Italian" and "Italian Cuisine" a little more often. This can be wonderful in tailoring your listing to let potential customers know you have what they are looking for! A view of the top search queries where your listing appeared. Notes on driving directions requests... Driving directions requests can be very useful because it can assist in determining where there is interest if you are deciding to advertise in a wider area or want to edit your listing to appeal to a greater region. A pizza restaurant in Fitchburg, Wisconsin could discover site visitors in Madison, Middleton, or Sun Prairie are willing to make the drive to eat an awesome slice of New-York-style and therefore add those community names as keywords to their listings to increase their search visibility. (e.g. "People from Madison, Middleton, Sun Prairie, and the surrounding areas just love our pizza!!!) Screenshot of a map indicating where visitors are searching from. A quick word about Google Analytics... Want more in-depth info about who's been looking at your website? Check out Google Analytics! Find out how it can give you even more power to learn about your visitors, their search habits, and getting your website ranked higher and staying there! Conclusion: Learning about how a listing is put together and using these tools to their full advantage can serve to make it stronger and more visible, maybe even result in the highest ranking '7-pack'! Google Places' report tools will give you the feedback you need to respond to the shifting demographics and desires of your listing's viewers. With Google Maps and Places, you have the power to make your listing the best it can be. Do it today!!!

wisnet.com welcomes Samaritan Family Wellness!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Samaritanfamilywellness.org is a site that offers services for individuals and families needing guidance in making positive changes in their lives or working though daily life challenges. Located in Glendale, WI, they have several licensed therapists available to help those who are hurting or need direction in life. The website is designed so that visitors can find out more about them and the kinds of help they can provide. The new website for Samaritan Family Wellness in Glendale, WI. They offer a program called "Living Compass" which can be conducted one-on-one or in small groups in collaboration with YMCA's throughout the greater Milwaukee area. Interested visitors on the website can take a self-assessment and find out more about the program through the Living Compass link. Under "Classes", there is a schedule and a list of places where they will be held. Weekly Words of Wellness is a free newsletter that provides insight and wisdom for everyday living and can be subscribed to for email delivery. Visitors can post feedback to receive more information about classes and Living Compass programs, contact a therapist directly, and view a handy map to find their office. It is a simple, easy-to-follow site that helps those in the Milwaukee area explore the ways Samaritan Family Wellness can support and empower its families and individuals. Vist samaritanfamilywellness.org to explore their new website!

Here We Grow Again! wisnet.com Employment Opportunity

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:01:01 GMT

wisnet.com, LLC is looking for the brightest and the most organized to join our team as Project Manager. If you think you have what it takes, read on... About wisnet.com, LLC Here's the scoop... we create websites - not just any websites - great looking, dynamic websites along with solutions that our customers can update without any HTML knowledge. And we do it quickly - rapid development (as it is sometimes called). In addition, we have our own cool product (more on that product in a second). We work closely with our clients to evaluate their projects and ideas, come up with a few more ideas they did not think about, and then make it happen. Our flagship product is Easy Site Editor (ESE); which is driven by a technology we created called Information Markup Language (IML). This markup language has been in development just about since we started the business back in 1996. It is a great technology that allows us to create 'the impossible' for our clients - and do it quickly. Why wisnet.com? We are a multi-faceted, full service web hosting and development company that really enjoys working with small to medium sized businesses such as the tourism industry, print shops, real estate agencies, government, and healthcare facilities. Position Description: The Project Manager is responsible for managing multiple projects within the constraints of scope, quality, time and cost, to deliver specified requirements and meet client satisfaction. Project work includes business analysis, requirements gathering, building use cases, project management and status reporting, testing and documentation. Job Responsibilities Achieve project deliverables, goals and milestones on time and within budget. Proactively manage changes in project scope and identify and manage project dependencies. Manage multiple projects simultaneously. Strategy focused and creative Assist in delivery testing as well as post release training and bug reporting. Communicate and report effectively on projects. Create pro-actively and take initiative to optimize and improve the project team. Facilitate team meetings and work sessions Compensation/Benefits: Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. Vacation and Holiday Pay(Time away from wisnet.com is just an important as your time here.) Match 3% for IRA retirement fund. Health Insurance Excellent Working Conditions If you believe you are up for the challenge, send resume to hr@wisnet.com. For more information on employment opportunities at wisnet.com, visit our Career Opportunities page.

Setting Up Auto-Reply In Webmail

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Auto-reply is a feature in wisnet.com webmail that works exactly like the 'out-of-office' settings used in desktop email programs. It's easy to set up, here's how! Note: Each sender will receive the reply message only once. Note: If mail forwarding is activated and copies of forwarded email are not being saved, auto-replies will not be sent. Step 1: Click the Settings link, located in the upper right corner of the webmail window. Step 2: In the left pane, click Incoming Email. Step 3: Click the Auto-Reply tab. A view of the Auto-Reply panel. Step 4: Turn the auto-reply feature on or off, as desired. Step 5: If you turned the status to On, you can adjust the outgoing auto-reply message, as desired. Step 6: To enable the auto-reply message only during a specific time frame, select the Enable only during the following time frame check box, and then select a start and end time. Step 7: Click Save. and you are all set!

Webmail for wisnet.com Email Gets a New Look

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:01:01 GMT

This week we launched the new webmail app for our wisnet.com clients. It's cleaner, easier to use, and more powerful. For those of you who use desktop applications, such as Outlook and Entourage, you will find that this app comes close (if not right on) to feeling like it's running on your computer...it's fast. Some day soon you might wonder why money was spent on Outlook along with an IT guy to configure and troubleshoot your email. With webmail, the most difficult obstacle to encounter is forgetting your password. That's it! Plus, you can check your email at the office, at home, and on a mobile phone. If you're new to webmail stick around. We have a few screenshots of the new look. Webmail Access all the benefits of a desktop program without being tied to the desktop. Log into wisnet.com Email from your desktop, laptop, or mobile phone, and get instant access to email, calendars, contacts, tasks, and notes. The new look of wisnet.com's Webmail. Calendars All the bells and whistles of a business-class calendar application. Create and manage multiple personal and shared calendars, set reminders and recurrences, and color-code entries for at-a-glance viewing. View of the calendar in webmail. Contacts Create multiple personal or shared contact lists; add photos, multiple phone numbers and email addresses, mailing addresses, and notes to entries. Import your existing contact lists from other programs. Share contacts with fellow team members. Tasks Standalone task manager right in your inbox. Create multiple task lists featuring individual action items laid out with completion dates, notes area for task details, and tasks even change color to remind you of due dates. Create tasks within wisnet.com webmail. Notes Record important information in an easy to use text interface tied directly to your inbox stamped with time/date and title for easy retrieval. Write notes about meetings, conversations, etc. and save them for later use.

Using Facebook Insights to Track the Like Button, Box, and Shares

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:01:01 GMT

In a previous article we provided a tutorial on how to add a Facebook Like button and Box to your blog. Now that visitors are 'liking' the articles and Fan Page wouldn't it be nice to see statistics and demographics that will provide a better understanding of your audience? For example, if a majority of visitors are female (and from Wisconsin) you might want to start selling pink Cheeseheads alongside the blog articles. Stick around as we walk you through a brief and easy tutorial on how to track your Like button, Like box, and Share button using Facebook Insights. Step 1: Facebook Insights Dashboard In your browser go to http://www.facebook.com/insights/. Go to http://www.facebook.com/insights/. Step 2: Insights for your Domain Once at the dashboard click the green button to the right that reads Insights for your Domain. The 'Insights for your Domain' button is found on the right side. Plus, it's green. Step 3: Get Insights for Your Domain After clicking the green button the 'Get Insights for Your Domain' box will appear. The next step is to type in your website URL to the right of 'Domain'. Next to 'Link With' click the drop-down menu and choose your Fan Page. 'Get Insights for your Domain' modal box will appear. Step 4: The meta property... Copy the meta property tag provided by Facebook. This will be added to the homepage of your website. Copy the meta tag provided by Insights. Step 5: Add the meta tag Find the homepage, or root file, of your website and add the meta property tag between the beginning and closing tag. (Contact your website team if you are unfamiliar with HTML markup.) Upload the file to the hosting server. Then come back to the Facebook Insights dashboard. Place the meta property tag between in head of the html document. Step 6: Check Domain... Once at the dashboard click Check Domain. After adding the meta property tag come back to Insights and click Check Domain. Be patient, it might take some time. You will see the following 'Loading' screen. The 'Loading' screen will appear. A warning might appear if you are not the 'official' administrator of the fan page. This means you have to ask the person that first created the fan page to follow the steps above... or log in with their login and password. Bad Request - An error might appear if you are not the original creator of the Fan Page. Problems? Maybe the Meta tag was not properly added to the homepage of the website. Double-check your Insights settings and markup. Success! When a graph and a bunch of zeros appear then you know it's finished. The data will not appear for about 24 hours (could be longer). This might be a good time to increase your fan base... you know... post something interesting on your wall and create content that your fans will find engaging. Data will not appear in the dashboard right away. A dashboard of activity The Sharing dashboard provides analytics about the daily likes, daily shares, feedback per share, and reshare rate. Visit Help Center for more details. Screenshot of Insights Dashboard for Sharing. Demographics... Depending on how many fans, Facebook might not provide demographic data, such as age and gender; or geographic data, such as country, city, and spoken language. If your Fan Page does meet the minimum requirements you will have the ability to view the information mentioned above. Screenshot of Demographics on Insights Dashboard. By understanding and analyzing trends within user growth and demographics, consumption of content, and creation of content, Page owners are better equipped to improve their business with Facebook. - Facebook Help Center Conclusion Facebook is providing analytics, both demographically and geographically, to administrators of Fan Pages. This is good news. Think about this; Google Analytics provides a wealth of information (including geographical) but unfortunately cannot (at this time) tell the age or gender of your visitors. Insights through Facebook can provide this type of data. Of course, if someone lies about his or her age then you might have a problem.

Claim Your Listing on Google Maps & Places: Part 3

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Okay, so you have completed part 1 and part 2 and are excited to finish. Here is the final tutorial to accomplish the task of claiming your listing on Google Maps and Places. Step 13: Validate The Listing Once the listing is submitted, there will be two choices on how to have it verified. Choose from a letter or phone call to validate your Google Map listing. Option 1: Phone Call If you choose the phone method, be prepared to receive an automated call within moments of clicking 'Submit'. You will hear the PIN number spoken to you during that call. Make sure your business phone is close by as well as a pad of paper and pen for writing it down. Google recommends waiting a minute or so before entering it into the verification box while their database updates to recognize it. (Suggestion: They will call the number you submitted as your business phone number, so please make sure that phone is close by when clicking "Submit"!) If for some reason the phone call is missed, go back a screen and select the phone call option again, but sometimes Google may not give you the choice when you do that. If all else fails, you can always opt for the letter. Option 2: Letter If you choose to verify through letter, they will send a PIN number through the U.S. mail and it generally takes 2-3 weeks to receive it. It will come directly to the address specified as your business location. Once the letter is recieved, log into Google Places Dashboard and enter the PIN into the verification box next to the listing. Google Places provides a visual example of what the the envelope will look like when you receive it. What You Need to Know About the Verification Process... Both of these methods are intended to reach you while you are at your business location in order to verify it is legitimate, hence the need for Google to know your address and phone number. Whatever option chosen, there may be a waiting period after the PIN is entered while Google finalizes its review of the listing and it goes live for customers to access. Due to the sheer number of listings Google receives, it could take as long as several weeks or as little as a couple of days. I recommend periodically checking the listing's status by going to the Main Dashboard screen after the verification process or logging into Google Places at a later time and clicking on Dashboard. Click 'Dashboard' to go to the Google Places' Dashboard. Step 14: Final step to verifying ownership of your listing... After going to the dashboard you should see the listing appear. Under the red text that says 'Needs Action' enter the PIN received via the phone call or letter. Then click Go. If your PIN number is wrong or has been accepted you will see a notification message. Enter your PIN to verify the business listing. That's it! Now you just have to wait until Google reviews the listing and accepts it. As mentioned above this could take a few days or much longer. Conclusion Now that you have completed all the steps to claim your listing on Google Maps and Places don't think it's over. The next step 'could' include adding a coupon; but more importantly, you want your listing to appear on Google's 7-Pack. Local search, through mobile devices such as cell phones, is skyrocketing and your Google Places' listing is a vital tool for marketing your company. We'll leave you one tip and that tip is...drum roll... Reviews, reviews, and more reviews. Ask your clients to leave a review on your Google Place's listing. Notes There's much to discuss about reviews and will examine it in another upcoming article.

Claim Your Listing on Google Maps & Places: Part 2

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:01:01 GMT

We've been working our way through Google Places learning how to claim a business listing. If you haven't registered with Google or do not know where to start read Claim your Listing on Google Maps & Places: Part 1. In the following tutorial we will explain Places' dashboard. This is the area where you can manage the details, content, photographs and video that will appear on your listing. Step 5: Basic Information When we last left off we were at "Step 4: Edit my business listing". From there you will be taken to the Google Places dashboard (although there really isn't a name for it). On this page, the first section will need basic information about your company. In the following screenshot take notice of the many empty fields. Now is the opportunity to use them to make your company more prominent on Google's 7-Pack and Google Maps. A view of a Google Places' listing that has not been updated. Tip 1: Company Name You will need to enter in the full and official Company/Organization name. (Example: wisnet.com, LLC is our full official name.) Tip 2: Address The Address field is required and would be in the format you would use for an official U.S. mailing address. (Street Address, City/Town, Zip.) We recommend against using a post office box number. Tip 3: Main Phone The phone number is also required along with the area code. Use an 800 number as an alternative phone number. Click Add more phone numbers to add an 800 number, mobile phone, fax, and TTY/TDD. TTY and TDD are used for those who have hearing or speech difficulties. To add more numbers click 'Add more phone numbers'. More options will apear including alternate phone, mobile, fax, and TTY/TDD. This information is not only important for customers to find you through Google Maps and Places; the address and phone number play a big part in the verification of your business listing at the end of the setup process. - Jody | wisnet.com Team Member Tip 4: Email address In the next box, enter your email address. This leaves customers with an alternate way of contacting you especially if your office is closed. Tip 5: Website Don't forget about this! A website is a must. If you don't have a website at least get a Facebook Fan Page. When your website has been completed you can return to Google Places to update your listing. Tip 6: Description The Description field is very important since you can write a little about your business and stand out among other companies who offer similar services. Tip 7: Category You will be asked to enter up to five categories that describe the business. Google takes these into account when a customer performs a search, and will make suggestions as you type. It is required to have at least one Google-suggested category, but the rest can be of your own choosing. Make sure it fits the type of business or describes a service offered and you'll be fine here. Describe your business from Google's suggested categories or create your own. Step 6: Service area and location settings... Choose if customers have to come to the business or if they can be served at their location. For example, "Yes" would be chosen if you make house calls for fixing computer issues or have a landscaping service. Narrow down your service area to reduce unnecessary calls. Step 7: Hours of operation... Next, choose to list hours of operation. These can be changed through the drop-down menus. One nice feature with Google Places is the ability to split a single day. If your lunch is around noon this can be entered so visitors know you will not be available. If your hours are irregular you can skip this option. Step 8: Payment options... If you want to show methods of payments accepted, they can be chosen here. Specify how customers can pay at your business. Step 9: Photos... You can add up to 10 photos to your Google Places profile. First we recommend the logo (branding is always good) followed by photos of products, company building, sales staff, and anything that would interest searchers to contact your company. Per Google, 'Add flair to your listing' by uploading photographs of your products or storefront. Step 10: Videos... If there is a video you want to play for the visitors, upload it to Youtube.com and then copy and paste the URL here. Up to 5 videos can be added to the listing. Add video from your YouTube Channel to Google Places. Step 11: Additional Details... Additional Details is a great section to create your very own custom fields. Use these spaces to include information such as awards, certifications, services offered, specialties, products; you name it! Add additional details to your listing. Step 12: Important Note* Before you click 'Submit', take a look at the information on the right side of the screen. This is how your listing will be presented once it is published on Google Maps and Places. Feel free to go back and change anything you feel doesn't look good or fix errors! Click Submit when you are ready. Conclusion This concludes the steps for the Google Places' dashboard. If you thought this was the end, it isn't. Grab another bagel and start an additional pot of coffee; there are a few more steps to go. Read Claiming Your Listing on Google Maps and Places: Part 3 to complete the tutorial.

wisnet.com welcomes Get Moving Washington County

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Getmovingwashingtoncounty.com has just been launched and is ready to view! The purpose of the site is to develop a culture of healthy and active lifestyles for all ages and abilities. To do this Washington County, of Southeastern Wisconsin, has added everything, and we mean everything, that you can do to stay physically fit. Interested in horseshoes, geocaching, golfing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, or a farmers market? You bet, Get Moving Washington County has it! Features of the site include links to partner organizations and contributors to the "Get Moving" initiative, as well as volunteer and contact forms. In addition, there is a drop-down list of communities within the county where site visitors can find swimming pools, parks, and running and biking trails among other activities. The site is clean, easy to navigate, and has a lot of whitespace to let visitors eyes rest. The colors of the website work in symphony with the logo for easy recognition of the Get Moving Washington County brand. The design of this site is meant to represent a light, airy feeling -- the way you feel when you're outside enjoying a breath of fresh air, whether it's walking in a park or playing an aggressive game of soccer. Julie | wisnet.com Team Member One of the more interesting aspects of the site is the interactive geographical map created with ESRI Arcview GIS software, which provides accurate detail when planning running, walking, and hiking routes. Points of Interest, lakes, and parks can easily be found and a visitor can measure distance to various locations throughout the county map. The map can be printed for visitors to take with them on their travels through Washington County's many scenic paths! Take a peak at the new Get Moving Washington County website today! Get Moving - Washington County's brand new website.

Claim Your Listing on Google Maps & Places: Part 1

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 28 May 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Now that you are convinced you want to list your business on Google Maps and Places, how exactly do you go about doing that? What steps do you need to follow and what kinds of things can a business listing include to communicate what you offer? Don't worry, here is a walkthrough of the setup along with some suggestions thrown in. Let's get started! Claiming your listing is the first step to get your listing appearing on Googles' 7-Pack. Read Listing Your Business On Google Places And Maps and pay special attention to the 'Let's have a look at Google's 7-Pack' paragraph. It will explain the 7-Pack. Step 1: Register with Google First, if you don't have a Google login ID you would need to create one. To do this, go to https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount. If you already have an account move on to the next step. Create an account with Google to start claiming your local listing. Step 2: Find your listing... After registering go to http://maps.google.com and search for your company. When your listing is found click on more info �. After searching for your business click More info. Step 3: Are you the business owner? After clicking more info � you will be on the Google Places page for your business. On the top right click Business Owner?. It doesn't look like a link but you can click on it. We are assuming that you are the business owner or employed by the company to administrate the local listing. If not, it's futile trying to take ownership because Google needs to verify your business by mailing a letter to the physical address (or call you by phone). Business owners can click the Business owner link to start claiming their Google listing. Step 4: Edit my business listing... From the Add, Edit, or Suspend Listing page check Edit my business information. Before clicking Continue note the information about 'Validating Your Listing'. We'll send a letter containing a PIN and activation instructions to the business address associated with your listing. After you validate your listing, you may edit your Google Maps listing at any time. Although it makes it sound that you can not edit the listing, technically you can. Once the listing has been claimed all the updated information will appear on Google Maps and Places. Choose Edit my business information. Conclusion to Part 1 This ends the first part of claiming your listing on Google Maps and Places. Because there are many steps we have broken this article into different sections. Read part two of Claiming Your Listing on Google Maps and Places. Grab a bagel and some coffee; it might take a few hours to complete the process. Enjoy!

Fantastic Office Space For Lease in Fond du Lac, WI

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 28 May 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Exciting News! wisnet.com has just acquired a piece of property that will be the home of our new office on Main Street in Fond du Lac. Great location with an abundance of wildlife... With this move, we will be vacating a fantastic office space. We are currently located in the Wisconsin Title Building - on the lower level. This office space has many windows and a walkout patio to take advantage of the wooded property. Pictures of our backyard. View them on Picasa. Large open concept with plenty of office space... The office is 1,450 sq ft (open concept), with a conference room, kitchenette, large storage / server room, and comfortable desk/workstation space for 12 team members. Wired for the future! Two CAT6 cables to every workstation area for network and IP telephony. Very nice restrooms and a larger kitchen area are available down the hall. Less worries, more productivity... Wisconsin Title Investors is the owner of the building - they take care of lawn care, plowing, common area maintenance, and any issues that may come up - they have been great to work with! Comfortable and affordable... The current lease is $1550/month until April 2013. There is also about $330 month CAM / Taxes cost. This covers power / and heat for the common area as well as our portion of the property tax. Our electricity / Air conditioning is also included in that cost. Our heat bills are almost non-existent. This winter, we did not even turn on the heat - we are able to take advantage of the geothermal heat of being in the lower level, and the natural sunlight from the windows. Ready to go... Phone and redundant Internet services are ready for you to take advantage of. Call today to schedule an appointment... If you, or someone you know has the need for this fantastic office space, please contact me at rkolstad@wisnet.com or at (920) 921-8391 x116 Thanks, Rick PS - OPPORTUNITY #2 With our new property purchase, we will also have the potential of a 'build to suit' retail space up to 6000 sq ft. This retail space is on South Main Street with great visibility from the front door of Walgreens, the Mobile gas station, and the busy intersection of Main and Pioneer (by Pick 'n Save). If you know of any businesses looking to expand into the South Main Street area, let them know we have a great opportunity for them!

Lakeshorelutheranschools.net Is Now Live!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 28 May 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Lakeshorelutheranschools.net is the site of Lakeshore Lutheran Schools and is a partnership of Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Schools on the Lakeshore and surrounding area with locations in Manitowoc, Kewaunee, Sheboygan, Calumet, Brown, and Door Counties. Their partnerships includes childcare ministries, preschools, 16 elementary schools, and Manitowoc Lutheran High School. The site contains links to their member schools and their respective websites, information on choosing a school to attend, and school-related news stories. Going to their Our Locations page brings up a Google Maps application which can help visitors find the closest school in their area along with viewing satellite images of them from the air. "For a google map that pinpoints multiple locations - all we need is the address for each point and any other descriptive information you want the little bubble to show. The little monkeys in the backend will worry about finding the geo coordinates and getting it to work!" - Gina | Senior Developer at wisnet.com Google's maps can be customized to have pinpoints appear for multiple locations. In addition, parents and students can sign up for an RSS feed to keep them updated on school events and news direct to their computers or mobile devices. The design, along with the photographs, make a great combination that will help attract new parents and children to one of the many schools. Visit Lakeshorelutheranschools.net to explore their new website!

List Your Business with Yahoo Local

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Conducting local business searches online have skyrocketed in the last few years, and with mobile devices like Blackberries and iPhones making it a snap to find a restaurant or hotel while on the go, show no signs of slowing down. One of the most popular methods for searching is through Yahoo! Local and having a business listed there gets it in front of plenty of eyes. If you have a business here is an introduction to Yahoo! Local. Let's take a closer look at Yahoo! Local... To appreciate how well Yahoo! Local can work for you, let's take a closer look and see how it works. The simplest way to access it is to go to www.yahoo.com and click the Local link towards the top of the screen. You can then type in the name of the business or a description in the first box and the address, city, state, or zip code in the second. Then select Local Search to see the results. When at yahoo.com click Local to search for a local business. Looking at the results of a search... You will receive a list of matches along with their addresses, phone numbers and directions. If there are any user reviews, part of one will appear next to the listing. On the upper-right of the page will be a small map of the area showing business locations, which can be enlarged. This larger, detailed map displays every street name and identifies local landmarks to make it simple for customers to plan their route. Yahoo! Local's results with business listings. Looking at a particular listing... Clicking on a listing will provide information on that business such as pictures or logos, hours of operation, products and services offered, contact email addresses and links to their website. Customers can leave a written review and starred rating, which can provide great feedback and help a listing stand apart from those without them. Example of a local listing on Yahoo! Local. Yahoo's '5-pack' listings.... Sometimes when looking for certain types of businesses, you may run into what is known as the Yahoo '5-pack'. It is a grouping of five local businesses tied to the geographic location you are searching in. It works by taking localized keywords, such as "Fond du Lac, WI" and non-localized, like 'realtors' and finding the five best listings that fit those criteria. The '5-pack' listings tend to come up more frequently when using the regular search box on the main www.yahoo.com page, but are pulled directly from the local directories. A local listing that's well designed and well defined is sure to be found more easily regardless of how and where a visitor types in his query on the Yahoo page. The '5-pack' is the Holy Grail to aspire to since they are the most eye-catching to prospective customers. Screenshot of Yahoo's 5-Pack when searching for realtors in Fond du Lac, WI. Putting it all together... The best listings catch your eye and draw you into finding out more about the company and what they offer. Providing concise, useful information along with a photo or logo and a link to your website is a perfect way to start. Satisfied customers can then return to leave a positive review which will reflect in the listings and help your business stand out even more! Conclusion Yahoo! Local has many wonderful features available to make your listing more appealing and is a great tool for reaching potential customers in a professional looking, compelling way. If you haven't already, you should consider creating a listing or updating your existing one. There's no cost involved, just a little time and effort, but the rewards are many. Remember, there are customers out there looking for you. Help them find you today!

Monkeys Attack wisnet.com Headquarters

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Monkeys infiltrated wisnet.com's headquarters Thursday morning. Fellow team members Brian and Grant were caught red-handed conspiring with the monkeys. Their daring attempt to take control of the facility fell short when super hero Dave entered the premises. Another attempt was made to regain control and the outcome can only be explained by watching the following video.

wisnet.com welcomes Washington County Fair Park

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:01:01 GMT

The Washington County Fair Park in West Bend, WI has just launched its all-new website and is now easier to navigate! There are over 350 events held at the park every year and you can be certain to find one that interests you by clicking on the Calendar of Events tab. The County Fair tab takes you to the main fair page with links for event schedules, exhibitors, buying concert tickets, general information, and volunteer sign up. Conventions and meetings can be held at the park and there are links to view indoor or outdoor venues along with a form to reserve them. You can even follow the site in Twitter, 'like' them in Facebook, and view their photos on Flickr! Check it out by going to www.wcfairpark.com Screenshot of the new Washington County Fair Park website.

Listing Your Business On Google Places And Maps

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Google Places, working together with Google Maps, is one of the most popular methods for finding local businesses. Local search is becoming more and more commonplace and the ever-increasing use of mobile devices is making every business owner take notice. If you are not paying attention to your local listing on Google Places and Maps then now is the time to start. Stick around as we provide a brief tour. Have a look at Google Maps.... Go to http://maps.google.com and search for a business in your area. Screenshot of Google Maps when searching for hotels in Madison, WI. Why It Works... What makes Google Maps great is every time you do a search, you will also see a map that clearly pinpoints the business in relation to others. This can be helpful for finding anything from the closest Italian restaurant to seeing how many law firms are located within a 20 mile radius. Plus, you get a satellite view from the air along with a ground-level photo shot of your business so potential customers can better locate you when driving there. From Google Maps searchers can click the more info link. This will take them to Google Places. When on Google Maps clicking "more info" will take you to Google Places. Have a Look at Google Places.... Each business can claim their free listing from Google Places. The listing options themselves are descriptive and informative, allowing for a logo or picture to be displayed in the listing search along with a description of the business or tagline. Having these can help your listing stand apart from those that don't. Other big pluses include the ability to add directions to your business, hours and days of operation, services offered; even additional links to other sites where mentions of it appear! Easily add descriptions about your services along with logos and photographs. Reviews are important... Google Places includes the ability for visitors to post customer reviews about your company. They can also assign a rating based on their level of satisfaction and leave feedback about their experience. This is a great way to see what your customers think while attracting future customers with good reviews. Plus, Google uses reviews to rank listings within Google's 7-Pack. Reviews are vital for good rankings within Google's 7-Pack. Let's have a look at Google's 7-Pack... Sometimes when searching for a business, you may run into what is known as the Google 7-pack. It is a grouping of seven local businesses tied to a Google Map . It works by taking localized keywords, such as "Fond du Lac, WI" and non-localized, like 'realtors' and finding the seven best local listings that fit those criteria. The 7-pack is the holy grail to aspire to since they are the most eye-catching for prospective customers. Read the article Search Engine Marketing - Organic, PPC, Local for more information. Screenshot of Google's 7-Pack when searching for salons in Madison, WI. Conclusion: As you can see, Google Places and Maps can be an important and useful tool for helping potential customers find your business easily and effectively. You have the ability to stand out among the crowd with its powerful map features and descriptive categories while being in front of some of the web's largest viewing demographics!

Add a Facebook Like Button and Box to Your Website

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Facebook has recently launched the Like button and Like box. For those of who are not familiar with Facebook you might have run into a "Become a Fan" button when visiting websites. That has been replaced with the Like box and Facebook has added another twist to it... besides liking Facebook Fan Pages your visitors can like specific blog articles, video, images; and when they like them they will be shared with their friends. Stay tuned as we show you an example along with a quick tutorial on creating a like button and box for your website. The Become a Fan button is now the Like box. Let's take a look at the Like button... The Facebook Like button is fairly simple. It includes a little thumbs up icon along with a short phrase "Be the first of your friends to like this". Facebook allows for some minor customization such as width, height, different fonts, and few other tweaks. Truly, there isn't much to it. Then again, it's not meant to overshadow your website. It's meant to share your content with the Facebook community (400+ million users). When you put a Like Button on your website, people can click it and it will appear on their Facebook Wall. Personalize visitor's experience... A fun and appealing feature from the Like button is that you can see which friends have already liked the article. In the following example you can see that Rick and Brian are friends (actually they are brothers). Facebook's new social plugins allow websites, such as yours, to become more social. Basically, it means that some of the features on Facebook can now be incorporated into your site. The Like button appearing on wisnet.com's blog. Create your own Like buttons... Searching through the developer section on Facebook you will run into the Like Button page. Here you can create Like buttons for your site. It's pretty straightforward. First enter the url or web address of the webpage that you want others to like. Choose from a few design elements and grab the code. Voila, you have a Like button! From there you can paste the code into a blog article (in the HTML source). Although you can do this yourself, I recommend having your developers program it into the site. Creating a like button for every page, or blog article, could be tedious. Create your own Like buttons directly on Facebook. How to get a Like Box for your Facebook Fan Page Creating a Like box for your Fan Page is a little different than a Like button. In order to boost your Fan Page prevalence you need to keep increasing your fan base. "Getting people to click the "like" box for your site can help generate positive word-of-mouth and spread your name more quickly among their friends. It is a wonderful way to get free advertising, simple to use and only takes one click!" - Jody | wisnet.com Team Member Your fan base, or people that like you, will appear on the Fan Page. First you will need to go to your Fan page. Copy the URL. Copy the full web address from your Facebook Page. Then go to http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like-box and paste the URL in the field below Facebook Page URL. Create your own Like box on Facebook. From here you can style the Like Box. When finished click Get Code and copy and paste the code to your website in the html source code. (Note: It's recommended to have your developer install it within your site.) Besides adding it to the homepage of your website it might be beneficial to have it on every page since not all visitors go directly to the homepage. One great place to put it is at the footer. Read the article Stylish and Informative Footer Designs for some visual examples. Conclusion Social marketing is using services such a Facebook and Twitter to market your company. Viral marketing is using these networks to create spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm about a blog article, a brand, your company, a video and so on. Using the Facebook Like button and box makes it easy for Facebook user's to spread the word. Enjoy!

Stylish and Informative Footer Designs

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 07 May 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Why would there be an article about footers? They are at the bottom of the webpage, below the fold, and hold boring information such as copyright and disclaimers. Well, in the last few years designers have been creating some impressive and inspiring footers. Not only are they attractive, it adds extra room to promote blog articles, newsletter signup, and social sites such as your Facebook Fan Page. Plus, it's consistent and appears on every page of the site. Let's take a look at some footer designs to see what is possible. Blast off with a great footer... At the bottom of www.blastnewsletters.com a simple footer was crafted to go along with the theme of the site. Since the site is fairly small in size all the main navigational pages were added. Then when visitors scroll to the bottom of the page they don't have to scroll back to the top to get back to the navigation. In the middle is a paragraph of information about wisnet.com. It is helpful for those unfamiliar with wisnet.com while adding extra copy for search engines. On the right size is a large call-to-action button to get visitors to sign up. Visit www.blastnewsletters.com to view the footer. BLASTnewsletters.com has the main navigation, further information about them, and a call-to-action button in the footer. A before and after take on footers... In the example below is the footer that has rested at the bottom of www.loyaltyleader.com for many years. It includes copyright, a few words and then a link to a privacy policy and site map. Loyalty Leaders's original footer design included a small amount of helpful information. When redesigning the footer new additions were added. These include contact information along with links to Facebook, Twitter, Linked and YouTube. Having contact information on every page gives visitors quick access to your phone number, physical address, email address, and more. One reason your Facebook Fan Page might not have many fans is because your not promoting it. Adding it to the footer, which is found on every page of your site, should boost your fan base. See the footer in action by visiting www.loyaltyleader.com. The new footer design includes contact information, links to other articles, and links to Facebook and Twitter. Blogs, Twitter and feeds... TaxBuzz.com includes a library of timely articles and much more covering the latest tax law changes. In their footer they include the latest entries from the blog. It's handy because not all visitors will enter the site through the homepage. On the right-hand side take notice of the alluring Twitter icon. It's recognizable and the items below it come directly from the feed found on their Twitter profile. When tweeting on Twitter they will appear on this site. Now that's twitterific! Take tour of www.taxbuzz.com. TaxBuzz.com has latest entries from their blog along with tweets from their Twitter profile. Email subscription forms... Everyone knows email marketing is a powerful tool and should be a part every company's marketing plan. It's a quick way to notify many people of a sale, event or promotion. At times it can be frustrating when building your subscriber base. Just like Facebook and Twitter you have to promote it. Having an email subscription form on every page is one way to do just that. Silica's footer includes site navigation, advertisements, email subscription sign-up form and Twitter and Facebook links. Big footers... When visiting www.moneysmartneighborhood.com you might notice how large the footer is. It includes a mini paragraph about each section of the site. Before clicking a link visitors can read a little about it to make sure they want to go to that section. In addition, links and logos from their sister sites were included. Check it out by visiting www.moneysmartneighborhood.com. Full of helpful information Money Smart Neighborhoods's footer is big and impressive. Have fun with your footer... Besides the regular features that can be included in a footer making it fun has it's appeal. Many footers have fun characters, interesting quotes, photographs from their Flickr photogallery and more. The possibilities are endless. In the footer of wisnet.com a rocket ship was added for the email subscription form. Check it out by scrolling to the bottom of this page. wisnet.com added a rocket to the bottom of their footer. Conclusion This concludes the article about stinky feet...um, attractive, inspiring and informative footers. Take advantage of your websites footer by adding contact information, an email subscription form, links to your Facebook Fan Page, live Twitter feed and much more. The sky is the limit.

wisnet.com welcomes Koffman AutoWorks

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 07 May 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Koffmanautoworks.com has just been launched and is now online! They are a family-owned, full service automotive center located in Campbellsport, WI and committed to their customers and community. Their site features information about the collision and automotive services they offer, a photo gallery of their body work, and pictures of the Koffman staff. The newsletter section has a feature that allows visitors to share auto-related articles on the wall of their Facebook profile. In addition, they are using BLASTnewsletters.com for their monthly email marketing campaign. Take a peak at the new Koffman AutoWorks website today! New look for a new website. - Koffman AutoWorks Collision & Service Center

Join wisnet.com in supporting JDRF

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Sat, 01 May 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Join the wisnet.com team in the fourth annual Fond du Lac Community Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Walk to Cure Diabetes. The 2010 walk will be held May 8th at Fond du Lac High School, with registration starting at 9 a.m. and the walk beginning at 10 a.m. There will be kids activities, a DJ, and refreshments at the walk. The walk fundraising goal is a $40,000 that will be contributed to JDRF. JDRF funds research aimed at finding a cure for diabetes. "It's great to be partnering with JDRF and working together on such an important goal. The recent statistics are staggering and reveal that health care expenditures surrounding diabetes cost our nation more than $132 billion," said Jennifer Dilling, Walk volunteer chair. "These are the reasons we are committed to raising money for the cutting-edge research that JDRF funds. By working together, we can make a difference." Hope to see you there!

What to do when your Facebook profile is disabled.

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:01:01 GMT

We ran into an issue where our Facebook profile was suspended. In addition, it disabled our Facebook Fan Page. Maybe it was an April Fool's joke but it happened just after we wrote an article about Fan Page Vanity URLs, which directed our visitors to view our fan page. Now that we figured out how to resolve the problem we have a solution... along with an apology from Facebook. How do I know if your Facebook account is disabled? Unfortunately I do not have a screen shot of what it will look like when an account is disabled. We weren't planning on writing an article about it at the time. If it does get disabled you will know right away after logging in. Fill out the "My Personal Profile was Disabled" form... The directions to resolve the issue aren't so helpful. Digging deeper into the support section of Facebook you will find the following URL: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=disabled. Fill in the information as requested and then click Submit. The form to fill in when your Facebook profile has been disabled. Wait patiently for an email from Facebook... Facebook will send an automated email to confirm that you are the owner. You will need to reply using the email address that is on your Facebook account. Note: This is the email address on your personal profile, not your Facebook Fan Page. After completing the form you will receive an email similar to the screenshot above. If you accidently reply with an email address that is not on your account you will receive this message. It might be 24 hours before you receive this email so make sure you are replying from the correct email address. Facebook will not be able to assist you if you don't reply with the appropriate email address. And the apology... Facebook is not going to apologize if you are doing something wrong. In our case they apologized for mistakenly suspending our account due to their site security system. I have a feeling this was an automated email and not from a real human being but we are pleased our Fan Page is back up and running. Plus, a 24-hour turnaround to resolve our issue was pretty impressive for a company that deals with over 400 million clients. Facebook's apology for suspending our profile. Conclusion It was quite frustrating to have our Facebook Fan Page disabled but we have to give Facebook credit for getting it back up and running within about 24 hours. Now that it's working again feel free to visit our fan page at www.facebook.com/wisnet.

Search Engine Marketing - Organic, PPC, Local

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Your familiarity with search engines is important if you are undertaking the marketing aspects of your company. Using a search engine is straightforward but optimizing a site can become more complex. First it starts with observation and then is followed with implementation. To get started first research the three most popular parts of a search engine. Then decide which one is in reach of your goals and budget. Here are three basic visual elements of a search engine. Local listings... When searching within Google and Bing occasionally you will see a map appear along with a few business listings. Google has what's known as the 7-pack. It consists of seven businesses, a website address for each, phone number and quantity of reviews. Bing has a 5-pack which includes a phone number, address, and a link for directions and a corresponding website. Google's 7- Pack includes a web address, phone number along with quantity of reviews. When searching Bing occasionally you will run into the Bing 5-pack. Pay Per Click Listings Pay Per Click (PPC) listings most frequently appear along the top and right-hand side of the search results. When using PPC you are pretty much guaranteed to get listed on search pages for a particular keyword phrase. Google and Bing both offer PPC and rates vary on the keywords used and competition. Rates can vary from a few cents to a couple dollars per click. On Bing.com Pay Per Click advertisements show above the organic listings and along the right-hand side. Organic Listings... In the above two examples we discussed Local and Pay Per Click listings. Organic listings are more common and will appear every time you are searching. These listings display the Meta Title and Meta Description from your website. Google and Bing rank websites differently so your site's organic ranking will vary. Every site is listed organically while the PPC and Local Listing include additional work and possible expenses. Your organic ranking is based on many factors (let's stress the word many); the most popular being quality content and inbound links to your site. Organic listings are the most popular and include a title and description. Conclusion Now that you have a better idea of Organic, PPC, and Local Listings you can decide which one your company desires to dominate. For example, searching for real estate and realtors will pull two different sets of results. On Google, when searching realtors you will get Local, PPC and organic. But when searching real estate you only have a choice between PPC and organic. So, find out what your clients are searching for, observe the competition, and then formulate a plan to accomplish your marketing goals.

Grab Your Facebook Fan Page Username

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:01:01 GMT

It's time to grab your Facebook vanity URL for the Fan Page! After setting up a Fan Page you might have noticed a super long web address. It might have looked like this: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fond-Du-Lac-WI/wisnetcom/129681521915. It's long, hard to type, confusing, won't fit on your business cards, and isn't the ideal address to forward to a client or vendor. We have a solution and here's the official tutorial on how to get your very own custom username to create a short and sweet Facebook Fan Page URL. (Also known as vanity URLs.) Who is eligible for the vanity URL? First we are hoping that you have a Facebook Fan Page. If not, read the How-to Guide to Create a Facebook Fan Page. The article provides step-by-step details setting up a Fan Page. In order to be eligible for the vanity URL your Fan Page must have 25 or more fans. If you already have 25 fans then continue with the username tutorial. First check your Fan Page to see if you have 25 fans. Step 1: Facebook.com/username/ In your browser's address bar go to http://www.facebook.com/username/. Go to www.facebook.com/username/. Step 2: Verify your account... Not everyone is going to see the screen to verify your account. If your Facebook account already has been verified please go to step "6". When you see "Before you can set your username, you need to verify your account" grab your cell phone. Then click Continue. For those accounts that have not been verified click Continue. Step 3: Confirm your phone... Choose from Country Code: which will be United States (+1). Enter your cell phone number to the right of Phone Number. Then click Confirm Confirm your cell phone number to establish your identity. Step 4: Confirmation code sent... After the cell phone number has been submitted you will be taken to the Confirmation code sent page. Check your cell phone for the confirmation code and enter it next to Code. Then click Confirm. If you did not receive the confirmation code, which happened to us (rrrrr frustrating), you will find out that after five attempts it won't allow you to enter another phone number. We found a solution so keep reading. If it was received go to step 6. Enter your confirmation code and click to verify your Facebook account. Step 5: What to do if you did not receive a confirmation code... Using your cell phone text the letter "F" to 32665. That's it. You should receive a reply within a couple minutes. Then enter it in the code confirmation box on Step 4. Step 6: Set a username for your Fan Page, not your profile... Ignore the first option which allows you to change the username for your personal profile. Scroll down a little and click Set a username for your Pages. Just below the Check availability button you will notice the Set a username link. Step 7: Choose a Fan Page... On the next screen choose the Fan Page from the Page Name drop down menu. Choose a Fan Page from the drop down menu. Step 8: Create a username for your Fan Page... Enter in the username you desire and click Check availability. Wait! Before going too far be aware that once a username is chosen you can never change it. Double-check the spelling and get a second opinion before making your final decision. Enter a username and click Check availability. Step 9: Username available... If the username is available the following screen will appear. It will warn you about changing and transferring the username along with a couple other notes. If your username is acceptable click Confirm. After reviewing the warnings click Confirm to create a username for your Fan Page. Success! When the Success box appears it means your username has been accepted. Congratulations! Run around in circles and send Indian smoke signals to your friends to let them know of your accomplishment. Then click Okay. You have successfully created a vanity URL for your Fan Page. Conclusion Establishing a vanity URL starts with creating a username for your Facebook Fan Page. The less complicated your Facebook Fan Page URL is the easier it will be to promote it. Check out our vanity URL here: www.facebook.com/wisnet.

How-to Guide to Create a Facebook Fan Page

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:01:01 GMT

An updated article can be found here. Over 500 million people across the world are using Facebook to connect to family and friends. It has become the number one online destination surpassing time spent on all of Google's products combined. For a long time, businesses have known the importance of being ranked well on search engines. Now they are interested in reaching out and being noticed via a different method - and its called social marking. Businesses have created Facebook Pages to do just that. If you haven't considered Facebook, now might be the time. We have created a tutorial on setting up your first Facebook Page for your company. Step 1: Log out... First, make sure you are logged out of your personal profile. Yes, Facebook Pages can be created via a personal profile, but a few features will be missing - including the ability to select Fans as guests when creating events. In addition, if an employee creates the Page using their personal profile, they will take all your fans with them when they depart from the company. Step 2: Click Create a Page... Visit www.facebook.com to get started. Towards the bottom right click Create a Page. When visiting Facebook, look for the Create a Page link on the bottom right. Step 3: Create an Official Page... Preceding the homepage is 'Create a Page'. Here we will have to make some important decisions before we get to far ahead. Community pages are more for causes - because you're a business you will want to choose from the 'Official Page' section. The Create a Page provides the choice between a Community Page and an Official Page. Step 4: Create a Page for a... On the next screen, it will introduce a few options for categorizing your company. You might be confused between choosing Local, Brand, Product, or Organization. Ford Mustang would be a brand or product. It's one of many products that Ford Motor Company makes. Most small businesses will choose from 'Local businesses'. If you feel that one of your products is worthy of it's own Facebook Page, than go right ahead. Note: Be careful of creating too many Facebook Pages, as you only have so much time in your day to manage them. Part of social marketing is interacting with your fans. Choose between Local, Brand, Product, Organization, Artist, Band or Public Figure for your Facebook Page. Step 5: Choose a sub-category wisely ... When Local business is checked, a drop-down menu will appear with additional items to sub-categorize your company. Choose wisely because you might not be able to change it once the Facebook Page has been created. Select one and proceed to the next step. From the Local business choose an item that closely represents your company. Step 6: Name your Facebook Page... Naming your Facebook Page can be the simplest or most difficult part. Usually, businesses stick with their company name. Because you cannot change your name later, it is recommended to choose wisely and double-check your spelling. The name will appear in your Facebook URL and be indexed by search engines. Make sure to review the Facebook Terms and then click Create Official Page. Choose a name that's appropriate for your Facebook Page. Step 7: Create Official Facebook Page... Next, a pop-up will appear. Read through the details and then click Create Page to create an official Facebook Page for your company. Click Create Page to create an official Facebook Page for you company. Step 8: Create a Facebook Account... And you thought you were done! I guess not. On the Create a Facebook Account page, it is very important to check I do not have a Facebook account. Remember, this is to prevent employees from running off with the Page when they depart or retire from your company. Plus, it will come in handy if ownership of the company changes. Check 'I do not have a Facebook account' for best practice. Step 9: Email, password and the infamous CAPTCHA... To finish the 'Create a Facebook Account Screen', fill in a valid email address, password, birthday, and the words spelled out in the CAPTCHA. Then check I have read and agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy followed by clicking Sign up Now! Fill in the required information to complete the setup of your new Facebook Page. Step 10: Confirm your email address... Thanks for signing up for Facebook! The next step will require you to confirm your email. Go to your inbox and find the email that was sent. Go to your inbox to receive the confirmation email. Step 11: The email... The email will look like the following screenshot. Click on the link Facebook provided. Click on the confirmation link in your email to complete your sign up. Step 12: Are we there yet? Yes, congratulations! Well, it's a pretty boring Facebook Page. Now might be the time to upload an image, logo or photo and add basic information such as a business address and company website address. Before proceeding, click the Wall tab to see how the Page will appear to your visitors. Click the Wall tab to see how the Facebook Page will appear to your visitors. Step 13: The basic skeleton of a Facebook Page... Quite plain, wouldn't you think? We recommend branding the page with a logo and adding company information. Go back to the Get Started tab to start modifying the page. What the Wall tab looks like right after the Facebook Page has been created. Step 14: Look around for ideas... Many books are written about Facebook. In addition, there are many online tutorials that provide tips on enhancing a Facebook Page. Plus, it is recommended to look at some other Pages to get ideas. Here are a couple companies that take full advantage of all the features available. Papa John's Pizza's has a large advertisement to inform visitors they are a sponsor of the NFL. Sears Facebook Page is enticing visitors to 'Like" the page to have a chance of becoming a winner. Visit Pepsi - Refresh Everything to watch video and learn about the Pepsi Refresh Project. Conclusion Creating a Facebook Page is the start of your social marketing adventure. After you feel comfortable with the look and feel, the next step is to go out and find fans. Promote it on your website with a Like Box along with a link back to the page. Social marketing means you interact with your fans. This could include providing resourceful information, coupons, video, photographs, or starting a discussion within your Facebook Page. To be more successful, search for resources and subscribe to websites that provide tips on social marketing. Good luck!

IE6 - Is it Worth the Expense?

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Lately, our team here has been discussing Microsoft Internet Explorer 6. IE6 was a top-of-the-line browser way back when it first appeared ten years ago. Since then a lot has changed. It doesn't support much of the new technology (HTML5), is cumbersome, and recently has been criticized for its security flaws. In the last year Facebook and YouTube have announced that they're cutting back on IE6 support. This year Google will slowly phase out support. This will allow these companies to stay with the latest trends and reduce the extra expense. Now that the big companies are moving is it time for your company to drop support for IE6? Let's find out... How to determine if your company should keep your site compatible in IE6... Developing and maintaining websites that render properly in IE6 cost your company money. For smaller or pre-existing sites the cost would be minimal. When considering upgrades, additions or a brand new site get separate quotes for IE6 support. These types of modifications can be costly. For clients with pre-existing sites you might want to know if your development team should keep providing support. The best place to find the answer is to look at your analytics. A popular tool used by many is Google Analytics. Google provides the whole kit and caboodle of statistics about your website's visitors. There you can find how many of your visitors are using Internet Explorer 6. Before closing the book on IE6 find out how loyal your users are... Budgets, demographics, revenue, expenses, and much more makes each business different. Before coming to a conclusion review your analytics and consult with the development team. Cutting costs could cause a backlash and hurt revenue. Look at the following example of a sales agency. Help them decide if their IE6 visitors are loyal and worthy of the expense. Using Google Analytics you can view how many visits are coming from IE6 users. The above example represents a sales agency. Their agents work on commission and prefer not to miss out on any opportunities. In the last 30 days over 2,000 visits have come from IE6 users. On average, they spend over four minutes while visiting almost eight pages each. They seem to have a loyal following and it would justify keeping the site compatible with Internet Explorer 6. What you should do... In 2010 changes are going to happen quickly. Keep an eye on your stats. With Google Analytics you can view a month-to-month comparison. Watch as IE6 users become fewer and fewer. Think about setting a goal and when the numbers dip down to a certain level then drop all support. Conclusion Becoming more familiar with analytics and IE6 will help you make some wise expense decisions. Maybe this year will be the year your team discusses Internet Explorer 6? Us, along will many other developers can't wait until the day IE6 is resting in peace (RIP).

7 Useful Feedburner Features for Bloggers

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:01:01 GMT

For those who have a blog you will want to read this article. With Feedburner, visitors can subscribe to your blog and shortly thereafter be notified when new content has been added. This works especially well as new content is what draws visitors back to your site. Basically, it takes your default RSS feed and applies functionality including integration with Twitter and Flickr. Here are seven features that will convince you to put Feedburner to work for you. 1. Are your subscribers finding interest in you... Foremost, lets introduce you to an interesting feature that analyses the demand for your feed. When logging into Feedburner one of the first screens you will notice is the Feed Stats Dashboard. The dashboard provides various details about visitor's interaction with the feed. Here it gives you a breakdown of your subscribers; how they subscribed, views, clicks, and more. Of course, try not spending an immense amount of time analyzing these stats and focus your attention on increasing your subscriber count. View of Feedburner's Feed Stats Dashboard A brief overview of connecting to Feedburner... Going back a step here, let's see how Feedburner connects to your blog. Look at the following example. The articles on your blog are converted to a feed and then Feedburner grabs the content. If you find your feed missing from your site contact your website development team. Either you can't find it or one will need to be created. Articles on the blog can display in your feed. Compare the feed to your blog and you will notice it doesn't have all the flare and glitter. Adding the feed's url to the Feedburner is quick and easy. This is what your feed will look like after configuring it through Feedburner's interface. 2. Optimizing the feed... Feedburner has advanced integrated features that format your feed to increase its compatibility with many RSS Readers and browsers. This provides an edge over a standard feed and enables it to be read by many applications. As it says, reach the widest possible audience with only useing one feed. Feedburner creates an appealing appearance for the XML feed along with many subscription options. 3. Socialize with Twitter... Maybe your company has a mix of loyal Twitter followers whom do not subscribe to your RSS feed? Ideally you want to reach out to these people. Feedburner easily integrates with Twitter and in doing so it perpetually tweets your latest blog articles for you! Easily connect your Twitter profile to Feedburner to automate status updates. 4. Shortened URLs.. When you visit Twitter you might have noticed many short and strange urls. These are called short URLs and are favorable by Twitter because each tweet is limited to 140 characters. Google has their own short URL service and when using Feedburner they are created automatically. Yet again, another time-saving feature thanks to Feedburner. Twitter is limited to 140 characters which makes Google's shortened URLs ideal for tweeting. 5. Flickr and Feedburner... Flickr is used by millions to manage and showcase photographs, digital art, website design portfolios and much more. The advantage of using Flickr is that the images will invite traffic to your site. Images uploaded to Flickr can appear on your site as your photo gallery, but that's a different story. See Mashing Flickr, Facebook & Your Blog for more details. Feedburner's Photo Splicer can connect to your Flickr Photostream and automatically add them to your RSS Feed. Your subscribers and Twitter followers will automatically be notified when photos have been uploaded. When first starting Flickr you might have to promote it's existence and this is one way to accomplish the task at hand. Connect to Flickr and your subscribers will be notified when new photos are added. 6. Many ways to subscribe... Because your grandmother might say, "what the rhubarb torte is an RSS feed", the option to subscribe through email is available. Then there are many other readers available. After getting accustomed to RSS feeds you might notice how many applications, that you currently use, have a reader built into it. For instance, the newer version of Microsoft Outlook is one of them. Along with email many web-based news readers are available. 7. Add a link and subscribe form to your website... After Feedburner is configured and ready to go the next steps is to promote it. Without promotion no one will know of it. In the example below visitors can subscribe via email or choose to add the feed to their reader. Feedburner provides a cut-and-paste script that can be embedded in your site. In the example below we decided to spruce it up a little. Embed a subscription form on your website and visitors will find it easy to subscribe. Conclusion Automatically notify subscribers when new articles are added to your blog and site. Notify your followers on Twitter and promote your photos on Flickr. Feedburner's powerful features add yet another tool to your marketing arsenal.

5 Tips for Writing Effective Meta Titles

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Next time you are using Google to search, look to see how many listings appear on the page. If you pay closer attention you might notice how each listing is competing for your attention. It's like survival of the fittest. The best title will win you over; and all others will wither away unnoticed. Because of this it is important to note that Meta Titles need to be compelling and grab the attention of the searcher. Here are five tips to help write effective Meta Titles. When searching for Wisconsin Cheese there are over two million listings. 1. Sometimes it's best not to have your business name in front... Let me stress the word sometimes; in certain situations placing your company's name at the front is appropriate. I would think your homepage would be a great place to let your business name shine. That's called branding! Under other circumstances it is not. Think about the times that you have searched and the Meta Title's weren't helpful. Then think, is your company's name relevant to the article? Is branding more important than the rank for this page? It's your choice. Make the call. A Meta Title with the business name in front. This example is focusing the attention on the article, not the business name. 2. Do your best to limit the titles to 63 characters. When writing Meta Titles consider that there is only room for about 63 characters. It is usually less because Google will stop it at the last word. With only so many characters, you will find it challenging to write a good Meta Title. Don't worry too much as it should get easier after a while. With limited space available there is room for about 63 characters. 3. Keywords are good; Keyword stuffing is bad For those of you that do not know, keywords are just words. Anything that you type into Google can be a keyword or keyword phrase. People search using keywords so it's good practice to include them in the Meta Title. A caveat; don't try to put all kinds of keywords into one Meta Title. This is known as keyword stuffing and it will not help your ranking. Most likely, it will make your Meta Title look cheesy. An example of using keywords effectively. An example of keyword stuffing. 4. Reflect the content that is on the page... Keep it simple; just be honest. Search engines are out to help searchers. You want searchers to be happy with your listing and come back to click on it more often. Need an example? Let's say one of your pages raves about the imported Rosenborg Danish Blue Cheese. Your Meta Title happens to be "Rosenborg Danish Blue Cheese | Wisconsin Cheese". If someone is searching for Wisconsin cheese and run into Danish cheese they might rear their CheeseHead in revolt! Then again, people looking for Danish Cheese might get confused; is the cheese from Wisconsin or Denmark? The title is misleading. Stay honest, reflect the content on the page and all will be well. Do your best not to confuse searchers. Keep the title consistant with the content on the page. 5. Now that you have a better understanding let's try a couple examples. In this example the searcher is looking for "irrigation boots". Let's see where it started and what we can do to make improvements. Searching for irrigation boots within Google. The original Meta Title we are going to use for our demonstration. Here we made an improvement over the original Meta Title. A Meta Title that grabs attention and provides a call-to-action is ideal. Here is another example of a title that will relate to searchers while grabbing their attention. Conclusion As you're working on perfecting your Meta Titles consider if branding is most important. Then focus on captivating searchers by writing interesting titles so they click on your listing. Keywords are acceptable but a catchy phrase is more appealing than cheesiness. Keep it clean and weigh your time versus spending your life trying to get to Meta Title nirvana.

5 Steps to Start Search Engine Optimization

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Perhaps you have noticed how much search engines are used to find company information, products, and much more. To help, we have accumulated fives steps to aid in improving your website's ranking on search engines. If the nerd neurons in your brain are getting excited or your website needs a boost then do read on. Meta Titles must be unique... A Meta Title is short slogan or phrase describing a page. It is added behind the scenes in the HTML but displays on search engines, down below by your taskbar, and in your browser way at the top. A popular tool among website developers is Google Webmaster Tools. Within here it warns you if pages on your site have duplicate Meta Titles. To see these warnings in Webmaster Tools is an indication that Google wants each page of your site to be unique. You probably spent a great deal of time coming up with a slogan for your company; now you have to author a short and catchy phrase for each page of your site! Overall it's not that difficult and tools can be incorporated that can create Meta Titles automatically. Read "How Important is the Meta Title" to increase your SEO education. This is an example of the Meta Title displaying on Google's SERP. Meta Descriptions need to create interest... When searching on Google the Meta Description is the paragraph below the title. The title is usually short and catchy while the description provides more information about the listing; think of it as a paragraph of information that describes the page while doing it's best to peak the interest of searchers. Just as the Meta Title, the Meta Description should be unique throughout the site. Read "How Important is the Meta Description" for more details. The Meta Description appears below the Meta Title when searching within Google. Quality content attracts visitors.... Searchers are looking for valuable content. In return, search engines are looking for valuable content. Writing quality content will bring the visitors, which will help search engines decision to rank your site higher more relevant. Such articles that could be written are case studies, tutorials, self-help topics, new employee biographies, and anything that your readers would find interesting. If you are considering blogging to increase content on your site read our review of "ProBlogger". The book has helpful information about writing and blogging. Promote your pages with internal links... Most likely your website already has links which are linking to other pages throughout the site. Another method is having links within articles link to another related article. This gives readers a reason to stay on your site longer. Then the next step is to use keywords in your links. Think about this; would you be willing to click on a link that says "click here" not knowing where it will take you? Probably not! It could be the same as turning onto a road that has no street sign. It might lead you to a place you don't want to be. The solution is using keywords to describe where the link is leading the reader. An example could be "Visit Custom Furniture Photo Gallery". Visitors will find this more informative. Search engines use this information to determine the subject of the page; thus helping boost the ranking of the page. An example of an internal link that is labeled with helpful words. Alt Tags for images... When mousing over an image you might notice a very small pop-up with text describing the image. This is a called an Alt Tag and it helps search engines understand the image. Search engines, such as Google, do not have eyes and therefore rely on Alt Tags as their guide. In addition, the file name of the image should include the keywords which are within or related to the ALT Tag. So if your Alt Tag is "Jake is using a new Benson 3000T Hammer Drill to install drywall" then the image file name can be "benson-3000t-hammer-drill-used-for-drywall.jpg". Read "Alt Tags for Better Rankings". The Alt Tag appears when your mouse hovers over the image. Conclusion It's been over twenty years since the World Wide Web (www) was turned on. Search engine optimization began over a decade ago. The five steps to search engine optimization is just the start. The next step is for you to make it happen!

ProBlogger Book Review

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:01:01 GMT

Bloggers Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett took their knowledge of blogging and created a book called ProBlogger - Secrets for Blogging Your Way to Six-Figure Income. The title seems tailored more towards those who plan a career in blogging and the book seems to reflect it so. Then again, the information they provide is an invaluable resource to any business managing and considering a blog. If your company is looking for visibility online, blogging should be resting on the top of your priority list. ProBlogger breaks down the basic concepts of what it takes to start and maintain a blog. Much has been written on what makes a blog successful, but all experts agree that central to all great blogs is one element: great content. The cry, "Content is king," has echoed through the blogosphere for years; although I think the term ignores other aspects of what makes a blog successful, content is a key ingredient of a successful blog. - Chapter 4 - Blog Writing Content is the key ingredient... Throughout the book Darren and Chris refer back and forth about the value of quality content. Each chapter seems to reflect this belief and fact. Therefore, if you are just starting a blog this book will provide information on what quality means to you and your budding readership. One example is a section about scannable content. In here it has tips and techniques on formatting the article to grab the reader's attention. In conjunction with scannable content there are a few other sections we found interesting and helpful that you must read to have a successful company blog. These include "Using Titles Effectively on Blogs", "Opening Lines Matter, Post Length - How Long Should a Blog Be?", and "Post Frequency - How Often Should a Blogger Post." Search Engines Want Content Actually it goes like this; search engines want content that searchers want to read. This means well-written, interesting, informative and just plain good content is a must. ProBlogger provides exceptional insight into the pros and cons of optimizing content. In addition, the frequency at which you post will have a different bearing on search results. The Company Blog ProBlogger is clearly written for those who plan on blogging full-time. While reading the book you might feel overwhelmed by the sheer work of what it takes to have a successful blog. What we recommend is to do what Darren and Chris mention and that is to skim the content. Read the articles that interest you and will help increase your blogging knowledge. Take what you read and apply it to your company blog. It could be as simple as taking one long article and breaking it into four smaller articles. Then your blog can have a new article every week of the month! Conclusion Creating a six-figure income blogging may not be in your reach but creating a compelling blog is doable. It is recommended to have blogging become a part of your company's marketing plan. Develop strategies to fit writing time into your daily, weekly or monthly schedule. As an ongoing process make sure to take a few minutes and research blogging as it is ever-changing. Blogging is over a decade old already. Waiting another decade to start a company blog might not be the best business decision. Notes Want to purchase "ProBlogger - Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income"? Go to www.probloggerbook.com and look for the Buy from Amazon on the bottom left. More of Darren and Chris's work can be found at www.problogger.net.

Alt Tags for Better Rankings

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:01:01 GMT

When mousing over an image you might notice a very small pop-up with text describing the image. This is called an Alt Tag; and along with a descriptive file name it will help search engines understand what the image is about. Remember, search engines do not have eyes and therefore can not see images. Alt tags that describe the image... A picture is worth a thousand words but in the case of Alt Tags that is not so. Alt Tags are meant to be short, simple and cleverly defines what the image is about. For example, let's say we had a picture of the Blue Heron. The Alt Tag could be "Blue Heron lands on local farmland". This should please visitors along with search engines. The Alt Tag explains the text on the image for the MacBook Pro. File names that make sense... Have you noticed the file names when taking photographs with a digital camera? They can be very unhelpful when they are labeled such as DSC029332.jpg or img_03.jpg. If the photographs were about a type of bird wouldn't yellow-headed-blackbirds.jpg be more appealing; I would think so! Example of a file name that makes sense. Alt tags for the visually impaired... How do the visually impaired move about the web without being able to see images? They use assisted software, or text-to-speech software, to read and navigate from site to site. Writing quality ALT Tags will benefit your visitors who are visually impaired. Conclusion: Clever and interesting ALT Tags along with file names are great for search engine optimization and accessibility.

Introduction to Google Analytics

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Google Analytics provides detailed information about your websites visitors, such as how they found your site, what pages are most popular, and much more. With too many features to mention in one article we will provide a brief introduction, screenshots, and then directions to log into your analytics account. Google Analytics Dashboard When logging into Google Analytics one of the first screens that you see is the Dashboard. The Dashboard provides a brief overview including visits, pages per visit, average time on the site, search engine traffic and most popular pages. Screenshot of Google Analytics Dashboard Visitors Overview Perusing to the left side of the dashboard you'll see additional options including information about Visitors. This consists of details about trending, loyalty, browsers used, monitor screen resolution and more. One feature that stands out is the Map Overlay. Within here is a layout of the world, your country and then state. When mousing over a state it displays the amount of visits in the last 30 days. Map Overlay indicates 11,045 visitors came from Wisconsin in the last 30 days. Traffic Sources Navigating your mouse back to the left navigation you will see another category called Traffic Sources. Traffic Sources include four popular analytic reports: 1. Direct Traffic are visitors that typed your web address in the browser or selected your site from their favorites. 2. Referring Sites are visitors that clicked on a link from another website to get to yours. 3. Search Engines or visitors that found your company website using a search engine. 4. Keywords are words typed into a search engine. Then from there they clicked on your listing to visit your site. Graph indicating that a majority of their traffic is from Direct Traffic. Content On the lower part of the left navigation is the Content category. Here you can view your most popular pages. In addition, Google Analytics lists which pages brought in the most page views and from which pages most visitors left. Screenshot of Google Analytics Content Overview Procedures for Setting up Google Analytics Once Google Analytics is configured and installed your company will be provided with a wide array of helpful analytics. With detailed information decisions can be made to make positive improvements with your online and offline marketing campaign. Continue to the article Setting up Google Analytics for more information.

Setting up Google Analytics

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Once Google Analytics is configured and installed your company will be provided with a wide array of helpful analytics. With detailed information decisions can be made to make improvements with your online and offline marketing campaigns. Step 1 - Create an Account The first step is to create an account within Google Accounts. When here, it's recommended to use your professional email account provided by your hosting company. You do not need a Google gmail account to register with Google. Create a Google Account. Google Account registration screen. Step 2 - Contact your Website Team Most likely you are running your own business and want the professionals to enable and configure analytics. Contact your website team and request they setup Google Analytics. This will take anywhere from an hour to a couple hours to install. It will depend on the size and complexity of your site. Make sure to provide the team your email address that was registered with Google. Step 3 - Log into Google Analytics Wait until the website team has notified you that the account has been setup and configured. Then log into Google Analytics using www.google.com/analytics/. After logging in choose your account and then it will take you to the Dashboard. Look for Google Analytics in your Google Account. Step 4 - Have a look around. Once logged in there will be much information to take in. Be patient, look around. Come back and visit analytics every day until you are comfortable with it. Use the Help Resources, on the bottom left, to find valuable information. Contact the website team to get a better understanding. Help Resources provides helpful information to learn more about Google Analytics. Conclusion Google Analytics is one of the most detailed analytics systems available. Although a few hours are invested in installing and configuring this free tool will be worth it. In conjunction with print, newspaper, radio and online advertising campaigns analytics is a great tool to make sure your marketing efforts are paying off.

Custom 404 Pages - File Not Found

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Here is the scenario. Your website consists of numerous pages that have been around for many years. Recently a few of your products have been discontinued and these pages need to be deleted. By removing these pages the navigation will be updated so visitors don't accidently go to non-existing pages. But what happens to all the other websites and search engines that link to these old pages? The solution is a custom 404 page. 404 Custom Pages Continuing with the scenario, let's say thousands of websites link to the following web address... www.wisnet.com/jinglebells/. In addition, Google, Yahoo and Bing bring in many visitors to this page. Your company decided to discontinue making jingle bells. Therefore you don't want to advertise old products that are nonexistent. What will happen when visitors reach this page? Will it be a boring, non-informative page that doesn't provide any information but "404 - File or directory not found"? Or should it be interesting, helpful, and maybe fun? Could it reflect your brand or identity and maybe give them some direction as to where to go next? Then a custom 404 page is the answer. An example of a 404 error. Custom Designed 404 Page to the Rescue Keep your visitors engaged with an attractive and informative page. Here they should easily be able to navigate back to the previous page. The page could also show related information and keep them engaged to stay longer on your site. A simple example of a custom 404 page is to build in the error code within the design of your site. In the example below the visitor is aware of the error and has the opportunity to click on navigation buttons to proceed further into site. Ferris Consulting is using a standard and helpful 404 page. 404 with a little style... Now that you understand what a 404 page is meant for don't you feel a little geeky? The history of the 404 page can transfer you to the kingdom of geekdom if you dare to read. Recently, with the launch of wisnet.com's new website, 404 custom pages were needed as much of the original content was removed from the website. They decided to embed the 404 error within the new site design to clearly tell visitors that what they are looking for can not be found. In addition, a fun twist was added to make the page more appealing. Go ahead and check it out for yourself. wisnet.com's custom 404 page. Conclusion What may look like a useless page is a marketing tool and if used properly can enhance the experience when visiting your site. Your popular articles, products and pages can be added to the 404 page to direct visitors to other parts of the site. Plus, an interesting and fun comment or photograph can boost your image respectively.

Merry Christmas from the team at wisnet.com!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:01:01 GMT

The team at wisnet.com wants to wish all or our clients, friends and family a merry and joyous Christmas! We have produced a couple short family-friendly videos for you to enjoy. Feel free to sing along and forward them to your friends and family.

New Features in BLASTnewsletters!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Over the weekend, we made a few updates to the BLASTnewsletters platform. The upgrades include speed increases, email address quick search, a few bug updates, and the big releases - Simple Survey and Dynamic Content! Surveys & Feedback Forms Use the drag and drop editor to quickly create a completely customized a survey then link to it in your email or autoresponder and blast it out to your list. BLASTnewsletters allows you to easily add a link to this survey or feedback form in any of your newsletters. Results for each survey are available for viewing or export. If you would like to activate Simple Survey, drop us an email, and we will activate this for your account right away. Drag and drop survey designer added to Blastnewsletters. Additional survey settings include a field for displaying your logo and how to respond to the survey when it is complete. Error messages can be customized to be more appealing and helpful. Upload your logo and included it with your survey. Dynamic Content Blocks The Dynamic Content addition allows you to personalize a section of your email message based on custom field values. This allows you to customize a newsletter to individual subscribers based on information in their provide. Creating a content block to use with your email newsletter. Once content blocks have been created they can be easily inserted within the email newsletter. Easily insert dynamic content tags. Conclusion Great new features have been updated to the latest version of BLASTnewsletters. Find out more information by going to www.blastnewsletters.com or contact the team.

Mashing Flickr, Facebook & Your Blog

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Flickr.com is an exceptional tool for managing photographs and digital images. If used properly it can assist with marketing by bringing visibility to your products, services and company. But did you know that combining, or mashing, Flickr with your blog, website and even Facebook will save time while marketing? Why Flickr for your business? Flickr allows you to upload, tag, organize and share photos and digital images with clients, vendors, associates and whomever you choose. Within Flickr you can promote your brand, products, and services to an online community. Tools are available to crop, fix and edit photographs while visitors can comment on the photos to add more appeal. wisnet.com, LLC's photostream on Flickr. Flickr and your Blog... Imagine how much time it would take to upload, categorize, and tag photographs separately on your blog and Flickr? We would call that double-entry - and that's no fun! To reduce the time spent administrating a photo gallery Flickr would come in handy for hosting the photographs. Then, with cut-and-paste code from Flickr the photostream can be embedded into your site. Some designs will require custom coding such as the Flickr gallery located on www.wisnet.com/noteworthy/. No matter which way is chosen reducing double-entry while receiving twice the exposure is ideal for marketing and branding. Flickr photostream embedded in Noteworthy. Flickr and Facebook Fan Page... The ball starts rolling after photographs are uploaded. Facebook applications are available that will feed the images from Flickr onto your Facebook Fan Page. Once an application is installed it is pretty much set to go. Photographs on your Facebook Fan Page is a great addition when social networking is including in your marketing campaign. A view of the Facebook Fan Page for wisnet.com. Conclusion Utilize Flickr to save time by uploading, categorizing and tagging photographs and images from within one control panel. Then use it to feed photographs to your blog, website, and Facebook. Then on top of that Flickr itself will help promote the photographs. You could say you struck three birds with one stone.

Spread the word - wisnet.com is hiring!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:01:01 GMT

wisnet.com, LLC is in the process of expanding our team and is looking for a bright and talented individual for our customer care representative position. About wisnet.com, LLC wisnet.com, LLC is a multi-faceted, full service web hosting and development company. We work with small to medium sized businesses such as the tourism industry, print shops, real estate agencies, government, and healthcare facilities. Since 1996, wisnet.com has created a firm reputation reinforced by high quality service, dynamic websites and noteworthy products. Position Description: With a thorough knowledge of email setup and troubleshooting, including previous customer care experience, this person will work closely with our clients to ensure that their issues are resolved. Job Responsibilities Professionally handle incoming requests from customers and ensure that issues are resolved both promptly and accurately. Thoroughly and efficiently gather customer information, assess and fulfill customer needs, educate the customer where applicable to prevent the need for future contacts and document the interaction through contact tracking. Provide quality service and support in a variety of areas including, but not limited to: billing, equipment, coverage and system troubleshooting. Assist account executives with incoming requests for new services and facilitate a warm hand off to the respective account executives. Maintain a balance between company policy and customer benefit in decision making. Continuously evaluate and identify opportunities to drive process improvements that positively impact our customer experience. Technical support for clients including email troubleshooting. Qualifications Must have qualifications in the following areas: Email / Internet help desk experience required. Familiar with website applications. PC and IP troubleshooting experience a plus. Knowledge of technical support issues related to Internet connectivity. Demonstrated passion for excellence with respect to treating and caring for customers. Strong decision-making and analytical abilities. Ability to troubleshoot customer issues both face to face and over the phone. Strong detail orientation and communication/listening skills. Highly developed sense of integrity and commitment to customer satisfaction. Team player. Helpful experience but no necessary: CSS/HTML Database Development Project Management Compensation/Benefits: Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. Vacation and Holiday Pay Match 3% for IRA retirement fund. Health Insurance Excellent Working Conditions If you believe you are up for the challenge, send resume to hr@wisnet.com. For more information on employment opportunities at wisnet.com, visit our Career Opportunities page.

Introducing wisnet.com's Twitter Page!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:01:01 GMT

wisnet.com has a Twitter page and now we decided to spruce it up a little! Hopefully it will make a lasting impression that will enhance our brand; or at least make you wonder how Twitter snared us. Check out the before and after shots of the wisnet.com custom Twitter page. Why Twitter? We hope that wisnet.com's followers are interested in learning more about marketing, branding, and enhancing their website. Quickly we can notify our followers of new content on our blog or maybe a website that has some helpful information. It's a great tool to get the word out quickly. wisnetCreative Before Below is a screenshot of our Twitter page before the re-design. Included is the standard background image of clouds, blue links, gray text and a light blue sidebar on the right. In addition we uploaded a small logo on the top left. wisnetCreative using the standard template provided by Twitter. wisnetCreative After Our custom Twitter page has been spruced up with a background image that reflects our brand and company website. In addition we changed the color of the links to purple, and sidebar to a light gray. Complementing the new color combinations is a purple circle and arrow which has been extracted from the wisnet.com logo. Check it out below or go to Twitter to view it! The new re-branded Twitter page from wisnet.com! Conclusion Spruce up your Twitter page with a custom background and a few color changes. It's great for brand recognition and setting yourself apart from the other 100 million Twitter pages. wisnet.com would be happy to create a custom Twitter page for you. Note: We want to follow you! Now that we are hip with our new branded Twitter page we want to follow you. If you are a client or vendor send us your profile so we can follow. Additionally, if you have a custom Twitter page that you are proud of let us know. We would like to give it some extra exposure here at Noteworthy. wisnet.com wants to follow you!

A Million Monkeys

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:01:01 GMT

They say that a million monkeys sitting in front of a million computers (typing away at random)�could write a novel, but there's a lot of upkeep with a million monkeys. So instead, one of our "code monkeys" wrote his own novel. Steve Maass has e-published a novel called Gene Pool that he co-wrote over the course of several years with a friend from a faraway land called California. Gene Pool (Kindle Version) by Steven Maass The concept for Gene Pool was born in 1997 when the two writers met at random on an early Internet chat site and developed a friendship based on a mutual interest in writing. They soon sketched out an idea for a science fiction tale filled with alien horrors. Their goals were to build a story to explain the presence on Earth of the "familiar" gray-skinned aliens and flying saucers, but also to add a terrifying new element in the form of a second, vicious alien race that is discovered when it begins methodically killing human beings. The initial excitement about writing the novel soon ran headlong into the necessities of daily life, and months, then years went by during which little or no progress was made. Then the authors got their second great idea: write for fifteen minutes a day, every day. It seemed like a simple enough goal to meet, and once they got started, the fifteen minutes often turned into an hour, and something kind of miraculous started to happen: chapters were written, new ideas were hatched, and the book began to take shape. Early in this process it became clear that it would be necessary to meld the styles of the two writers into one coherent "voice." Steve took on that challenge and became the de facto editor of the growing manuscript. The better part of the next couple of years was spent emailing ideas, chapters, and comments back and forth, and then one day the checklists were completed, the margin notes were resolved, and the manuscript was done. The next "chapter" in the saga was trying to sell the book to a publisher. At the time, the options were to submit the manuscript through a literary agent, or to try to find a publisher who would accept the manuscript directly from the authors. Some research revealed that a handful of sci-fi publishers did accept manuscripts without an agent, so�another couple of years were spent submitting the book to these publishers (and waiting, often for months, for a response.) Despite positive and encouraging comments from the book reviewers, no one made an offer to publish the book. Fortunately, as more and more things have "gone digital," a new publishing option has become available: e-books. Amazon.com, the worlds largest online book seller, offers an e-publishing platform that allows books to be read on their Kindle e-book reader,�on any iPhone or iPod Touch using a free Kindle Reader app, or on a PC using Amazon's free, downloadable Kindle software (Mac and Blackberry versions are "coming soon" at the time of this writing). Amazon.com even provides free book samples for many of their e-books (Gene Pool is no exception!), allowing you to read the first chapter for free before you decide to buy. Steve is focusing on websites now, but if you happen to read Gene Pool, drop us a line and let us know if you liked it! Kindle for PC Kindle for iPhone

List Your Business with Bing Local

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Since Bing launched earlier in 2009 it has been grabbing a fair share of the search market. Within Bing is a search feature where searchers search locally. It's called Bing Local and it's a great addition to your marketing plan. Have a look at Bing Local... Visit www.bing.com/local/ and search for businesses in your area. Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on Bing Local What is included with Bing Local? In addition to standard features such as business name, address, and phone Bing Local provides additional fields for hours of operation, payment methods, company descriptions, and links to your website. Your logo can be uploaded along with additional photographs or screenshots. wisnet.com on Bing Local Another great feature... Have you searched for a service then noticed business listings next to an image of a map? This is local search, built into the search engine, and if your business is listed with Bing Local it has a good chance of being seen in this area. When searching "restaurants" Bing displayed local businesses with a map. Conclusion Bing Local is perfect for getting additional exposure for local searchers. As a bonus, clients can easily get directions, office hours and links to your website. Notes: wisnet.com has experience configuring and maintaining Bing Local. If you need assistance contact us.

How important is the Meta Description?

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:01:01 GMT

In a way the Meta Description is like having an ad for your page. When listed within search results the description provides a clear and compelling depiction of what searchers will see on your webpage. Be interesting, unique and truthful and people will take interest. Note: If you are new to Meta information we recommend reading "How important is the Meta Title?" Describe your page to searchers... When crawling a site Google collects information from each page. Each page holds a certain value and is ranked accordingly. When searching, take notice of the paragraph below the title of each result. This is the Meta Description and it's a short paragraph meant to entice you to click the link and read more. When searching "Money Smart Neighborhood" within Google take notice of the Meta Description. Matt Cutts discusses Google... Matt Cutts is part of the Search Quality group at Google and has been employed with them since 2000. In the video below he discusses how important the Meta Description is becoming. Conclusion... Use the Meta Description to entice, introduce or captivate the searchers into visiting your webpages.

How important is the Meta Title?

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:01:01 GMT

The Meta Title is found in more places than you might realize. Next time when surfing the web, take notice of a helpful marketing feature which was right in front of your eyes the whole time. Why is the Meta Title important? It's a short phrase, slogan or description depicting what the webpage, or article, is about. The title is meant to captivate the audience to read the full article. Plus, if Google finds your article resourceful, and the Meta Title truthful, your webpage will have a greater chance of receiving more click-throughs. Where do you see the Meta Title? Let me show you some visual examples where the Meta Title is found... Meta Title and a Browser Look at the way, way top of your screen while looking at this webpage. Do you see the title of this page up there? Yes, you are reading an article about Meta Titles. How cool is it that it reflects the article that you are reading? Imagine if it said "we do quality website design"? Would that really tell you what this article is about? I don't think so! The Meta Title displays on the tabs of Google's Chrome browser. Meta Title and Taskbar When running Windows it's easy to notice the Meta Titles built into the taskbar. The taskbar usually sits at the bottom of your screen, between the Start menu and the clock. With misleading Meta Titles it's frustrating to know which one to click on. A good Meta Title is helpful especially when multiple browser windows are open. On a PC the Meta Title displays in the Taskbar. Meta Title and Google (and Yahoo and Bing) The Meta Title is the blue text with the underline displaying on Google's search engine results page. If Google is displaying the title it's an indication of its importance. "A great article isn't great without a clever and ingenious title to go along with it." Here is an example of the Meta Title showing on Google's results page. Meta Titles and Facebook's Social Networking Platform The fun doesn't stop yet. When adding a link, Facebook will automatically grab the Meta Title from the webpage. Facebook's built-in tool helps others promote your webpage by using your Meta Title to describe the link. Share a link on Facebook and it will include the Meta Title. Conclusion... Meta Titles are important components for each webpage of your website. Google, Bing and Yahoo value them highly. Visitors unknowingly read them and unconsciously value their worth tremendously.

New Features in Webmail

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Compose Window Pop-In Speed is critical in web-based apps and Compose/Send is critical in email clients. So creating an improved and faster way of sending emails was a no-brainer. For users who love the flexibility of a pop-up compose window, but have been slaves to browser rendering, this pop-in is definitely for you. Give it a try. Compose Window Pop-In Improved Address Auto-Complete The auto-complete function for addressing emails is bigger, faster and smarter. It can store an unlimited amount of contacts and even remembers addresses not stored in your Contacts List. It also prioritizes the recipients you email a lot - over those you don't. Keyboard Shortcuts Enable keyboard shortcuts in your Webmail Settings and never use your mouse again! Well, maybe not never, but Keyboard Shortcuts do allow you to perform many popular email actions from the keyboard alone. Keyboard Shortcuts "No Attachment" and "No Subject" Alerts This new feature automatically detects a variation of the word "attachment" in your email and alerts you if no file is attached. Similarly for the Subject; an empty Subject field will prompt an alert. Both features can be toggled on/off in Webmail Settings. Right-Click to Create Email Filters Quickly create email filters right from your inbox. Simply right-click on a message to bring up the "Add New Filter" menu. Right-Click to Create Email Filters Invites can Send to Groups A life-saver for all you project manager-types... Create a Group within Contacts that you consistently schedule meetings with (say "Developers") and simply send an invite to that Group for future pow-wows.

Coming Soon Gallery Showcase

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:01:01 GMT

A new business venture leaves you with a time before your new site is developed. What should you do with your domain name until then? The best thing to do is create a simple "Coming Soon" page. What is included in a "Coming Soon" page? Keep it simple is the best practice. A paragraph about what to expect, catchy slogan, contact information, and a way visitors can be notified when the site goes live. In addition, you will want to have it branded with your logo, color scheme and fonts. Bonus points will be received if the design and information intrigues visitors to where they take interest... and get people talking. CBAY, LLC - Service Disabled Veterans Owned Small Businesses AnewStarr - Affordability with Distinction

Got video? Get Exposure.

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Video is becoming more popular each year. It's a great avenue to feature your services and products with visual elements, motion and voice. If you only had 30 seconds to describe your company video would be the tool to use. If you got video, get exposure with your own YouTube Channel. What is the YouTube Channel? Think of it as a webpage where all your videos are displayed. Your videos are easily accessible and will start playing instantly. Further down the webpage you will see information about your company and a link to your website. Visitors can leave comments and rate your videos. Visit www.youtube.com/adashunjones to view The Adashun Jones YouTube Channel YouTube for Mobile YouTube has been constructed to work both on your computer and mobile devices such as an iPhone, Blackberry and Droid. Visitors will have easy access to view your Channel from home or on the go. Customization of your YouTube Channel... The YouTube Channel allows some basic customizations. The colors can be changed and an image can be added into the background. One flaw is that some visitors might not see the background image without a wider monitor. We assume YouTube is aware of this and the move to larger monitors has been on the rise. More advanced features are available once your site has reached a certain level of traffic. Plan for success... We would think that we would get exposure by uploading videos to YouTube but that's just the start. Your videos will need to be marketed and because of that you will need a plan. Additions can be made to your site to promote the videos. In addition, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites can be used to notify fans of your videos. We recommend contacting us to help plan your YouTube Channel. IceFlow Studios Iceflow Studios has a custom look with navigation built into the header. www.youtube.com/IceflowStudios ESPN With advanced features available ESPN has removed the commercial and re-arranged the layout. www.youtube.com/user/ESPN Pizza Hut Of all the major pizza franchises Pizza Hut has one of the nicest layouts. The background image is promoting a savings for your first online order and their new app for the iPhone. www.youtube.com/user/pizzahut Walt Disney France Walt Disney France has added a simple but elegant layout including a link to their official website. www.youtube.com/user/WaltDisneyStudiosFR Conclusion Combined with an effective marketing plan having a YouTube Channel is a great tool to promote your company, products and services.

Contact Form, Email Address and Inquirers

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Contact forms and email addresses are tools of communication. When added to a website each provides a different technique for inquirers to contact your company. This article explains the advantages and disadvantages of both. What is a contact form? In the example below a contact form includes a field for Name, Email, and Phone. Furthermore, it includes an area to write additional information. In the wisnet.com contact form the address, zip, and state were left absent to make the form easy to fill out. wisnet.com's contact form Contact Form Advantages If an address, state and zip hold importance then it can be a required field. Your company's email is not visible to spambots. Spambots crawl websites searching for email addresses for the purpose of spamming. Inquirers can fill out the form without using mail programs such as Outlook, Entourage, Gmail, etc. It's especially convenient when they are out of the office or using a different computer. Contact Form Disadvantages Usually not user friendly. The form can not be saved to be filled out a later time. Interruptions and distractions can cause them to lose the page, thus having to rewrite their questions and comments. The email address is unknown and can not be saved in the inquirers address book. Inquirers misspell their email address when filling out the form. When replying to their inquiry it will not get back to them. Email Advantages Inquirers can use a program, such as Outlook or Entourage, which they are comfortable with. Most email programs save a copy of the message that was sent. This can be reviewed at a later time. Email programs tend to save the email address in the address book for future use. Email Disadvantages Spambots can find the email address easily. The inquirer might not include all relevant contact information such as the address and phone number. Which is best for my site? In most situations it is a good idea to have both. If someone has a strong disdain for contact forms email addresses are a convenient alternative. Providing multiple contact options is ideal and the benefits are commanding.

Introducing Notes! Now in Webmail

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:01:01 GMT

We are all pretty gosh darn busy. Running from meeting to meeting with a laptop, a notepad, pens, etc. Yet, somehow, our thoughts are rarely all in one place (shocking). So, for the millions of other super-busy people, Introducing Webmail Notes! Screenshot of Notes panel. Notes is a new app now included with our Webmail client. It's the perfect place to store a new idea, a meeting summary or just some quick thoughts. Combine Notes with our Webmail, Calendar, Tasks and Contacts and you have a full-featured, productivity suite! Notes is easy to find and even easier to use. All our Email customers can log-in to their Webmail account and find Notes under the Notes tab. A welcome message and instructions await you there... webmail.wisnet.com

RSS Feeds: Part I

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:01:01 GMT

There's a lot to talk about when it comes to an RSS Feed. Let's first look at why I use them, which might interest you in subscribing to RSS feeds relating to your own interests. Plus, it might help you understand why it's important to have an RSS feed on your website. What am I interested in... I am interested in anything related to website design and development. This includes many subjects from coding, search engine optimization, branding, Photoshop and more. RSS Feed Icon Coffee and new learning material... In the morning I have a cup of coffee and about ten to fifteen emails in my inbox from the RSS feeds I subscribe too. Most of my emails come in this format; short title, one picture, brief description and then a link to the website where I can read the full article. I skim through each of them, read the articles I am interested in, and delete the items I am not. In about 20 minutes I have read around 3 to 5 articles. In the process I have learned something new with each article I read. Let the information come to you... It would take time to go to each of those 15 websites each day. Plus, some websites might not have anything new. It would get frustrating after a while and most likely I would forget about them. By subscribing to their RSS feed they keep me updated. Conclusion RSS feeds are a great tool to help you keep up with the latest and greatest information. In contrast, this tool can be used to market your services to your clients. Want to start your first RSS subscription with wisnet.com, LLC? Click on the following link Noteworthy RSS Feed and if you don't have an RSS Reader go ahead and sign up with the email option. When we add an article to our website you will be notified. Enjoy!

Money Smart Neighborhood

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:01:01 GMT

The Fond du Lac Public Library is one of twelve recipients of a Smart investing@your library� grant from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation and the American Library Association (ALA). The library will use the $52,525 grant to bring financial assurance and confidence to the nearly 50% of the local workforce who will reach retirement age in the next 10 years and to introduce solid, unbiased lifelong financial planning to new and replacement workers in our community. This virtual "Money Smart Neighborhood" was created as part of a Smart investing@your library� grant from the American Library Association and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. The Fond du Lac Public Library partnered with a local web design firm, wisnet.com, LLC to create an attractive and fun interface to financial resources. Check it out! www.moneysmartneighborhood.com

XML Sitemaps - Google's Grocery List

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Oh my, what in the world is an XML sitemap? This is probably what you are thinking. Don't worry, I will just tell you why it's important. Google is impatient... Google doesn't have time to go to your homepage of your website, look through all the text and code, find a link, go to that link, find more links, read all the content, find more links... geez Louise, Google has a billion other websites to check out today! It's going to decide if it wants to stay, come back maybe a month later, or not come back at all. XML formatted so Google can interpret the data. A grocery list for Google... The XML sitemap is just a list of webpages that you want Google to read... just like the grocery list that you take to the store... a simple piece of paper with all the important items listed. Conclusion You're making Google's job easier. With the XML sitemap, or Google's grocery list, it will know exactly which pages to read. If your pages aren't found then they won't show on the search engines. Notes Besides Google, wisnet.com can submit your XML Sitemap to other search engines such as Yahoo and MSN.

Google - Introduction to Google Places

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Google Places, formally known as Google Local Business Center, provides a free listing for your business or non-profit organization. The listing can include your address, phone number, hours of operations, and more. Plus, you can create coupons and display photos and videos, all for free. Watch the video for an introduction to Google Places. Screenshot of the YouTube channel for Google Places. Okay, I watched the video. What should I do next? The wisnet.com team can take care of your listing for you. Plus, we can add your business to Yahoo and Bing Local... but that's another story. Contact Us

Branding with Favicons

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:01:01 GMT

A favicon is a small image that represents your logo and business. Usually one favicon is used for each website and it will show throughout every page on the site. Plus, when a visitor saves a webpage to their Favorites (Bookmarks in Firefox) the favicon will appear. Visit www.smashingmagazine.com to see their favicon. Coffee mugs used for promotion have favicons... Well not really since coffee mugs are not as geeky and technical as the Internet. In relation using a favicon is like handing out coffee mugs with your logo on it. Every time they use the coffee mug the logo should become more recognizable. That also holds true when they are perusing your website or scrolling through their Favorites and see the favicon. Conclusion Favicons are small in size but a great addition when you want to build a strong site brand.

Making a better Contact Form: Part I

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Contact forms are a very important communication tool. For example, if I am on vacation... meaning I left my iPhone, laptop and email passwords at the office... I could easily send you an email by using your contact form. But why is it so frustrating filling out a contact form? There are so many fields to fill out! First name, last name, address 1, address 2, city, state, zip, phone number, fax number, email address and so many more. What should I do? First think, am I ever going to mail them any information? If not, then remove the address lines. You could even leave out the state and zip. Only leave vital information that is needed for your first communication with them. Collect the additional information when you make the follow up call. Show me an example... Visit BLASTnewsletters.com contact form to see a live example or preview it below: Contact form on www.blastnewsletters.com Conclusion How many times have you been halfway through filling out a contact form and then closed out of it...never to return? With a less intrusive contact form you will provide your clients and potential clients an easier avenue to communicate with you.

Scheduled Webmail Maintenance

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:01:01 GMT

On August 8th between 1:00 AM US-CT (6:00 AM GMT) and 2:00 AM US-CT (7:00 AM GMT) scheduled maintenance on our Email servers will be performed. This maintenance will increase the performance of the calendar and other features. During this maintenance your calendar and webmail settings will become inaccessible for a period of 30 minutes. No data will be lost and after the maintenance window, all calendar functionality will return to normal. This maintenance will not affect our Hosted Exchange 2003 or 2007 customers.

Construction Near Data Center

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:01:01 GMT

Beginning Thursday June 25, 2009, heavy duty excavation work on the property adjacent to Rackspace's IAD Data Center will commence. This project includes excavation work and quarrying of subsurface rock to lay a sewer line to serve a new development. This construction is not being performed by Rackspace or on Rackspace's behalf, and while we do not expect interruption of any services, any such construction project has the potential to become disruptive, and as a result we believe that it is appropriate to inform you of this information. We have been informed that the majority of this work will be performed during the hours of 12:00PM ET and 6:00PM ET and will last for approximately one to two weeks. Rackspace will be increasing its staffing during these hours, and we have engaged a consultant to assist us in monitoring this construction activity. wisnet.com (founded in 1996) is a Rackspace partner for the infrastructure and monitoring of its web, database, and email services. Rackspace, a recognized leader in the global IT marketplace, delivers a diverse suite of enterprise-class hosted IT services in its 9 global data centers.

Webmail 7.0 Released

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:01:01 GMT

We have just released version 7.0 of our webmail interface. Over the past six months, the development team worked extremely hard to build exciting new features that include all the bells and whistles of a business-class calendar application. Create and manage multiple personal and shared calendars, set reminders and recurrences, and color-code entries for at-a-glance viewing. Screenshot of Webmail 7.0 Support for multiple personal calendars, including the ability to share and grant calendar editing access to other Webmail users Calendar sharing with anyone via unique urls for each calendar (iCal feeds) Access to Calendar, Event, Task and Email features through right mouse click Calendar Invite enhancements (Outlook/Exchange compatible, Option to include comments with responses, Setting to allow automatic delete on response) Custom Email Filters based on information found in the email header New Notes section added to allow users to record their ideas and information Support for the Google Chrome browser and improved support for Firefox 3 We will continue to enhance Webmail over the coming months. Keep and eye on wisnet.com's noteworthy postings for updates.

American Bank Launches New Website!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:01:01 GMT

American Bank has launched a new and improved website! American Bank American Bank has locations in Brownsville, Fond du Lac, Mayville, Omro, and Princeton. www.ambank.com

What is WebMail?

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:01:01 GMT

You can access your email from any computer quickly and easily using Internet Explorer or any other web browser. There is no extra setup involved, simply enter your email address and password and your mail will be displayed for you. A user-friendly screen allows you to send and receive messages, save or delete mail, send attachments, create folders, save contacts and even setup calendar reminders. This feature is especially useful when traveling or away from your "home base." A user-friendly screen provides all the tools you need to send and receive messages, save or delete messages, send attachments, create folders for important messages, save contacts and setup calendar reminders. All domains hosting with wisnet.com are offered WebMail.

New Look for Gueller's Photography!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:01:01 GMT

Gueller's Photography has launched the new look of their website! Their new website gives a deeper look into the beautiful work that Gueller's Photography can provide for all your photo needs! Gueller's have a unique cutting edge portrait style, a blend of contemporary, fun lifestyle & traditional images. It is their mission to create images to reflect the personal lifestyle & relationships of each subject they photograph. A blending of the portrait experience of Steve & Mary with the new age look of their son Ryan's style creates dynamic imagery. They embrace the challenges of change and continue to strive to create state of the art images their subjects are proud to own. New Look for Gueller's Photography! www.guellerphoto.com

New Look for PAHSA

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:01:01 GMT

PAHSA has launched the new look of their website and newsletter. Their website gives website viewers the added functionality to search for a community in their area. This website serves as a central location for finding a pahsa location in your area! New Look for PAHSA www.pahsa.org

wisnet.com welcomes Teamsters Local 344!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:01:01 GMT

wisnet.com is happy to welcome Teamsters Local 344 and their brand new website! Their site provides information for both members and interested members. The Teamsters are known as the champion of freight drivers and warehouse workers, but have organized workers in virtually every occupation imaginable, both professional and non-professional, private sector and public sector. wisnet.com welcomes Teamsters Local 344! www.local344.org

Adashun Jones Website Redesign!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:01:01 GMT

Adashun Jones launches the new look of their website! This new website incorporates the ability to actually save all of your favorite listings to your own personal account. Making searching for a new home easier or contact Adashun Jones today! Adashun Jones Website Redesign! www.adashunjones.com

wisnet.com welcomes Stuart's Landscaping & Garden Center!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:01:01 GMT

wisnet.com would like to welcome Stuart's Landscaping and their new beautiful look! Stuart's Landscaping provides a variety of landscaping needs including: landscape construction, maintenance, holiday lighting and decorating, as well as a huge variety of products in their Garden Centers and Tree Farms. Check out the Stuart's Landscaping nearest you! wisnet.com welcomes Stuart's Landscaping & Garden Center! www.stuartslandscaping.com

Welcome Germantown Self Storage

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:01:01 GMT

wisnet.com would like to welcome Germantown Self Storage! Check out Germantown Self Storage for all your storage needs! Welcome Germantown Self Storage www.germantownselfstorage.com

New Look for Whitefish Bay Soccer Club

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:01:01 GMT

Whitefish Bay Soccer Club has released the new look of their website. Their new website gives them the added ability to post news, events, tryout results, and so much more! This website serves as the central location of information if you child plays soccer in the Whitefish Bay area! New Look for Whitefish Bay Soccer Club www.wfbsoccer.com

Welcome to FBI National Academy Associates 2008 Conference

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:01:01 GMT

wisnet.com recently completed a website design for the 2008 FBI National Academy Associates Conference which will be hosted in Milwaukee Wisconsin. FBI National Academy Associates, Inc. is a non-profit international organization of senior law enforcement professionals dedicated to providing our communities and profession with the highest degree of law enforcement expertise, training, education and information. The site, located at http://fbinaa2008.com, is a tool used to communicate conference information and updates to its members.

Kentuckians for Better Transportation Goes Live!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 12:01:00 GMT

It is our pleasure to welcome the new website for Kentuckians for Better Transportation! They came to wisnet.com just a short time ago looking for a website to organize their news and membership information. Using our Easy Site Editor tool, KBT now has the opportunity to post Transportation News, Issues of Interest, and Legislative Issues on a daily basis!

Fox Valley Open Houses All In One Place?

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:01:01 GMT

The Home Run and wisnet.com have been working hard and forming the Home Run website into a central location to view Open Houses in the Fox Valley Area. With a number of local realtors on board, and the list growing, Home Run hopes to make searching for Open Houses even easier! Check out their website to see what is open this week! www.thehomerun.net

wisnet.com Scheduled Maintenance: WEBMAIL

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:01:01 GMT

PLEASE NOTE: Saturday afternoon, October 6th we have a scheduled maintenance for the webmail portion of our email hosting system. This maintenance will include the upgrade to our 6.5 version of webmail which will allow for faster navigation,and a few enhancements to the 'compose' page. New spam filtering enhancements will also be incorporated. Mail services will not be interrupted during this upgrade. If you have any questions, please contact customercare@wisnet.com or give us a call at 920-921-8391.

Employment Opportunities

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:01:01 GMT

We're looking for the brightest most talented designers and programmers to join our close-knit team. If you think you have what it takes, read on... Here's the scoop... We create websites - not just any websites - great looking, dynamic websites and solutions that our customers can update without any HTML knowledge. And we do it quickly - rapid development (as it is sometimes called). We also have our own cool product (more on that product in a second). We work closely with our clients to evaluate their projects and ideas, come up with a few more ideas they did not think about, then make it happen. Our product is Easy Site Editor (ESE) which is driven by a technology we created called Information Markup Language (IML). This markup language has been in development just about since we started the business back in 1996. It is a great technology that allows us to create 'the impossible' for our clients - and do it quickly. If you are a programmer and know PHP or ASP - you will really like IML! What position are we looking to fill? We aren't. We're looking for a creative thinking, team oriented individual with web programming or design skills that mesh ours but also go beyond what we can already do. If you think you have what it takes - we want to hear from you! Why wisnet.com? We are a multi-faceted, full service web hosting and development company that really enjoys working with small to medium sized businesses such as the tourism industry, print shops, real estate agencies, government, and healthcare facilities. wisnet.com is the creator of IML (internet markup language) which assists in rapid development of websites and ESE (easy site editor), which allows clients to update their own website content quickly, easily and economically. Since 1996, Wisnet.com has created a firm reputation reinforced by high quality service, dynamic websites and noteworthy products. We offer a great working environment, SIMPLE retirement fund with a 3% salary match, a health insurance package, and very flexible paid vacations (time away from wisnet.com is just an important as your time here), a great team, and great clients. Do we still have your interest? - here is what we need: send an e-mail to opportunities@wisnet.com that includes: A catchy subject line URL to your online portfolio (you have an online portfolio, don't you?) A list of your top 3 skills and what makes you a team player Your resume Or send your information to (although we do prefer email): wisnet.com, LLC 1020 South Main Street Lower Level P.O. Box 2066 Fond du Lac WI 54936-2066 Phone: (920) 921-8391 Fax: (920) 322-9522 Email: opportunities@wisnet.com

Dynamic 301 Redirect

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:01:01 GMT

Due in part to our new domain monitor system (DomainWatch), we are now easily able to identify domain names that have either been pointed to our DNS servers or web servers as (extra) domains. Many of our clients register the '.net' or '.biz' of their domain just to prevent other companies form registering that domain. For Example, our main domain is wisnet.com. We have registered wisnet.us also. With our dynamic 301 redirect, we can configure wisnet.us to automatically redirect with a '301 Moved Permanently' message to our main domain http://www.wisnet.com. Give it a try - go to http://www.wisnet.us - and watch the address line switch to http://www.wisnet.com So, what does that mean for you? Search engine spiders such as google.com and yahoo.com prefer to see this '301 Moved Permanently' redirect for 'extra' domains that have been registered. This lets them know that they are the same site, so they don't 'dock' points for trying to duplicate your site data in multiple locations. This is the recommended practice. We are proactively monitoring domains that have been pointed to our system, and redirecting them to your main sites as we see them hit our systems. If you have special requests for your 'extra' domains, let us know - we can make it happen. Or, if you would like to reserve your domain with additional extensions (like .net, .biz, .us, etc) let us know. There are no additional hosting fees for this service, just the standard domain registration fee. If you would like more information on server site redirects, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL_redirection

Proactive DNS and Domain Monitor

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:01:01 GMT

wisnet.com incorporated a new proactive DNS and domain monitor (DomainWatch). Our DNS servers and web servers now monitor and report any domains that have been pointed to our systems that have yet to be setup. This allows us to proactively configure our domain name and web servers to make sure domains stay active and properly configured during transitions to our hosting environment. More features coming soon!

Campbellsport Building Supply Goes Live!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:01:01 GMT

Campbellsport Building Supply came to Wisnet a few short months ago looking for a website with an eye catching design and content they could maintain on their own. It is our pleasure to announce their new site with all that and more! Campbellsport Building Supply Goes Live! www.furnishanddesign.com

Welcome to the new look of wisnet.com!

customercare@wisnet.com (Webmaster) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:01:00 GMT

Quite a bit has been happening here at wisnet.com. We have a great new office (stop in and check it out), a few new bright members of our development team, and a new look to our wisnet.com website. Keep an eye on us - there is lots more to come!