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Spring Is Coming – Unclutter Your Website

Wed, 03/17/2010 - 11:29

The buds are swelling, the dust bunnies have grown – that means it’s time for spring cleaning again. Spring cleaning should transcend your house and yard, however. It should also apply to your website. Here are four helpful articles from a special series we put together on spring cleaning your website:

Spring Clean Your Website – Part 1

Spring Clean Your Website – Dead Links (Part 2)

Spring Clean Your Website Copy (Part 3)

Spring Clean Your Website: Refresh the Design (Part 4)

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Task-a-Day Promotion Checklist for Your Website

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 08:27


[Photo credit: Happy Birthday Candles on Angel Foods Cake by Rob J Brooks, on Flickr]

Do enough people know about your website? It can and should be your most powerful marketing tool, delivering a steady stream of new visitors and pushing your message to a wider audience.

Increase your cyber-reach without over-burdening yourself by performing one small task a day throughout March with our Task-a-Day Website Promotion Checklist.

This freebie is part of our year-long birthday celebration. We’re celebrating our 10th year by giving out presents to YOU. This one is coming at you from now until March 31. Hurry, though, because after the 31st, it will be gone. Make sure to check in for our April birthday surprise.

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  1. Top 10 Blog Posts
  2. Three No-Brainers for Website Promotion
  3. February Birthday Treat

March 2010 Newsletter: The Saving Money Issue

Thu, 03/11/2010 - 10:27

[This little gem is the e-mail newsletter our subscribers just received. Want a slice of this for yourself? Sign up now.]

Things Just Got Cheaper

We really don’t have to make our Websites 1-2-3 any cheaper, but we are anyway! Now you can have a fully functional, super-powered website with your colors and pictures for just $1599. Check it out.

Need more? Supersize it for $1999 and get sign-up forms and e-newsletters.

Want to go all out? Pick from our library of add-ons, including calendars, blogs – the sky’s the limit.

Of course, we do fully custom websites, too – just let us know if you have something specific in mind and we’ll bring it to life.

Signed,
Your Internet Pals at Talance

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You may also enjoy the following related articles:

  1. January 2010 Newsletter: Birthday Issue
  2. February 2010 Newsletter: Digging for Gold Issue

Top Blogs from JESNA

Mon, 03/01/2010 - 08:36

This is a guest post from one of our favorite clients: Jenny Aisenberg, Knowledge Development Manager at JESNA and JESNA PDC, an organization that provides Jewish educational coordinating, planning and development. We asked Jenny what blogs she turns to regularly for help running her job at a Jewish education non-profit.

In my role as Knowledge Development Manager at JESNA, one of my key responsibilities is to keep my finger on the pulse of the Jewish world in social media. If there’s a resource on the web for Jewish educational and lay leaders, I wanna know about it—and share it with you! Every week, I update our Sosland Online Resource Center with the newest in blogs, tools, websites and more for the benefit of Jewish communities near and far. These top five picks are just the tip of the iceberg! I hope you’ll enjoy exploring them, and email me your ideas for other resources we should know about at jaisenberg@jesna.org.

1. Innovation in Jewish Education Blog

This is the blog of the Office of High School Programs at Brandeis University, drawing on BIMA and Genesis, their two summer programs for high school students, as living laboratories. I love seeing the thoughts and reflections of a whole panoply of educators who work with teens here, on topics ranging from “Self-perception and Participant Investment in the Intentional Community” to “Jewish Education and Family Priorities.” Plus, who wouldn’t love these tags?

2. The Alban Roundtable

A self-proclaimed “virtual meeting place for congregational leaders,” the Alban Roundtable blog is the social media hub of The Alban Institute, founded in 1974 as a major resource for American congregations facing the challenges of a changing society. As a leader in my own congregation in Park Slope, Brooklyn (I’m the chair of the 20’s/30’s social group and a former Hebrew School teacher) I have a deep appreciation for this kind of resource, where I can learn from others who face similar challenges, yet aren’t part of my daily grind.

3. Jew Point 0: The Darim Online Blog

Darim Online is the home of “Internet Strategies for Jewish Organizations and their Communities,” and their blog, run by our good friend Caren Levine, first launched in August 2008 as a place for Darim staff to share useful nuggets that arise from both their work and personal lives. This is a particularly succulent knowledge-sharing resource for anyone looking for guidance in the use of technology and social media in Jewish settings.

4. Jewcy

Most progressive young Jews under 30 know about this emergent online media outlet/blog/social network/brand by now, but it’s too, well, juicy to leave off my list! First launched in 2006, Jewcy is a forum for discussion of politics, culture, sex, religion and lifestyle in the Jewish world today. It has been called “the social media hub of the Jewish hipster movement” by The New York Times. Gee, and I thought I had a lock on that title…

5. Storahtelling Blog

This one is near and dear to my heart, and a wonderful resource for Jewish educators and community leaders interested in bringing new vibrancy to Jewish ritual and synagogue life. Storahtelling fuses storytelling, Torah, contemporary performance art and traditional ritual, both here in Manhattan and at synagogues around the globe. On their blog, you’ll find everything from the weekly drash, Storah-style, to tales from the road as they visit and perform at synagogues near and far. If you’re up for a trip to Boston, check out their summer educators’ training, StorahLAB.

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Add a Call to Action – Now!

Fri, 02/26/2010 - 16:28

Organizations are so passive when it comes to their websites, but you want to be just the opposite. When you want something, ask for it. Otherwise you’ll never get it. Opt for active urgent language. Rather than, “Our Newsletter,” change your text to “Get our newsletter now.”

Minor change, major results.

Here are some sample calls to action you can put on your website now. Each should be a link or a button – something that will let your visitors complete the action.

  1. Donate now!
  2. Sign up for our newsletter
  3. Take a tour
  4. Sign up for free
  5. Be a volunteer
  6. Read the buzz
  7. Register immediately
  8. Try it
  9. Give us feedback
  10. Support us
  11. Help us today

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Why It’s OK to Talk Money Early

Tue, 02/23/2010 - 11:03

Everybody’s strapped for cash these days, but budgets vary widely. Some non-profits are run out of a basement and have a budget of exactly zero, and others are housed in city high-rises and have budgets in the millions. They all need websites.

Any given day at Talance, someone from either camp may call with a new web communications project. Before we know how we can best help whoever is on the other end of the phone, we need to know how much money they have to put into the project. Some people simply can’t afford the kind of work they want done.

Many people are hesitant to reveal how much they can pay for a project, but be prepared to at least have a ballpark prepared during the first phone call. Buying a website isn’t like buying a car – hiding the amount you have doesn’t help with negotiation. Web developers need to know if your budget matches the work you want done. We tell our potential clients what they can or can’t expect – even when that means the work you need does is less than you expected.

We’re really there to help you figure out what you need, and if we don’t know how much you can afford, we don’t know how to start helping you.

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  1. Importance of Needs Assessment
  2. How To Write Really Helpful Web Development RFPs
  3. Assembling a Web Dream Team

Four Useful Links on Social Media, Fonts, Nonprofit Marketing

Mon, 02/15/2010 - 10:10

What we’re reading this week:

10 Examples of E-newsletter Footers and Headers with Social Links
While working on a redesign of his newsletter, Ben, a blogger for e-newsletter service MailChimp, collected standards and best practices. Here’s what he found.

How To Split Up the US
A very cool visualization that represents how relationships develop across geographical boundaries in 210 million public Facebook profiles. It helps understand how your social network forms and travels.

Measuring Type
“A selection of the most commonly used typefaces were compared for how economical they are with the amount of ink which they use at the same point size. Large scale renditions of the typefaces were drawn out with ballpoint pens, allowing the remaining ink levels to display the ink efficiency of each typeface.”

Articles on Nonprofit Marketing and Communications
Long list of helpful articles on how non-profiters can market. Via kylacromer on Twitter.

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Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Free Tool, Marketing, Social Media, newsletters.

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  1. Helpful Resource on Nonprofit Marketing
  2. Conversations Are Not Quantifiable: Social Media ROI
  3. Learn About Social Media

10 Harmful Website Myths

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 10:59

[Photo credit: unicorn by Totally Severe, on Flickr]

Conventional wisdom counts with building websites. Some techniques are proven and really will make your life easier and bring more traffic to your site. But there’s plenty of misinformation out there too. Watch out for these easy-to-fall-for myths.

1. Building a website is easy.

There’s “easy,” and then there’s “easy.” True, there are tools that can make managing a website easier, but that doesn’t mean going through the process of creating a site is a walk in the park. Successful sites contain heavy forethought and attention to detail, which never comes without hard work. Technical prowess aside, be prepared to sweat a little when it comes to planning and maintenance.

2. Fancier websites are better.

Everybody likes glitz, but it’s not always better. A four-page brochure can be infinitely better than a wham-bam Flash affair with movies and sophisticated animations. Before you put a bell or whistle on your site, make sure it has a good reason to be there.

3. Accessibility doesn’t matter.

It matters if you’re a potential member, volunteer or donor and can’t see the website. It matters if you’re looking at a website on your cell phone. It matters if you’re a web crawler from a search engine looking to catalog the site.

4. You can cut corners by copying the text and format of successful websites.

Plagiarism aside, you won’t gain anything by creating a copy of someone else’s site. You might find inspiration from some of their features, but successful sites should be built from the ground up. Otherwise, they won’t be unique enough to meet your goals.

5. Mission statements should be front and center.

I get the idea behind mission statements, but most of them are loaded with double-talk and jargon that mean nothing to the average website visitor. Include a link to your mission statement, if you must, but devote your website to the most important thing your visitors should be seeing.

6. The key to SEO is submitting to search engines.

You won’t see much of a bump in search engine rankings if you limit your SEO (search engine optimization) to this single move. SEO is a multi-step process that never really ends.

7. You never need to check your website in different browsers.

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to web browsing, but IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari (and the other guys too) go through changes over time, and so does your website. It’s a good idea to periodically see how your site works (or doesn’t work) in browsers besides the one you’re used to.

8. Design is design.

The person who designed your business cards might be a web designer too, but probably not. Designers specialize in print or web, because each craft applies different principles. Designers want work, though, so some over-promise and deliver websites that don’t make sense.

9. Usability isn’t necessary.

If no one knows how to use your website, they won’t use it. ‘Nuff said.

10. I need a webmaster to update the site.

Webmasters are nice to have, because they can handle updates and field questions. But if you assign responsibility wisely and have a website that’s easy to update, a webmaster isn’t necessary.

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
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February 2010 Newsletter: Digging for Gold Issue

Fri, 02/05/2010 - 14:46

[This little gem is the e-mail newsletter our subscribers just received. Want a slice of this for yourself? Sign up now.]

Digging for Website Gold

Too many people think the best content they have to offer on their websites are event listings. Sure, those are helpful, but you almost certainly have something better you’re already producing that you can use to make your website a better resource. Here are some ideas to help you dig up hidden content:

Newsletter. It may be printed, or an e-newsletter you’re sending out via a third-party service, but chances are someone has written articles that can be used somewhere on your website.

Sermons. Congregations we work with are always producing some kind of spiritual thoughts worth sharing, including sermons and prayers.

Employee reports. Most companies have regular staff meetings where employees give status reports, and many of these reports center around special events and campaigns.

E-mail. Everybody writes e-mails, and some of the stuff you send out must be applicable to the people who visit your website. Look through your sent messages for treasures.

Training. Many organizations have manuals stacked on office bookshelves that contain useful information. Translate that online, and it can be more accessible to the people who need to see it.

Think creatively about where you look for content, and your website will be a richer place.

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Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Marketing, Tech Trick, newsletters.

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  1. March 2010 Newsletter: The Saving Money Issue
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Top Blogs from Mass Mentoring

Wed, 02/03/2010 - 08:18

This is a guest post from some of our favorite clients: Lauren Dean, Manager of Communications & Public Awareness, and Allison Smith, Highland Street Ambassador of Mentoring, at Mass Mentoring Partnership. We asked Lauren what blogs she turns to regularly for help running her job at a major non-profit.

Top 5 Blogs

1. Nonprofit Tech 2.0
Bookmark this on your favorites right now. Every non-profit interested in using social media or actively using it should be reading this blog that is dedicated to “helping nonprofit organizations utilize the Internet as a tool for social change.” Its creator, Heather Mansfield, is the owner of DIOSNA|Communications and has over 15 years of non-profit fundraising and online community organizing experience. She brings it all to her blog, introducing new social media tools beyond the normal Facebook and Twitter, and thinks outside the box with fresh ideas to spice up your non-profit’s Web presence.

2. Beth’s Blog
I really enjoy good and informative graphs, therefore I read Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media. Beth Kanter is a tour de force when it comes to social media, having written on the subject extensively, and it is no wonder why she was named one of Business Week’s “Voices of Innovation for Social Media.” After being introduced to her blog early on last year, it has been a mainstay on my top visited Web sites.

3. Something for the Ladies
Every day needs to have a good soundtrack. On the days when I am bored with my Ipod I turn to “Something For the Ladies” for music. It is a great showcase of music that I wouldn’t necessarily hear if not for this blog. And since I am a lady, it is seemingly appropriate.

4. Mashable
These people are Web gurus! Really. The site neatly packages Web 2.0 and social media news for your consumption – a quick rundown of today’s posts on the home page include business deals, free offers, job postings, trends, and commentary. Whew! Best of all, this well-rounded collection of posts is aimed at every social media audience imaginable, whether you’re an early adopter or enthusiast; business person or non-profit worker; marketer or engineer.

5. Kath Eats Real Food
OK, so this is not work-related. But this food blog mesmerizes me! Kath lost 31 pounds through transforming her eating habits and adapting more exercise, and her blog is dedicated to her daily consumption and activities…and she takes some pretty good pictures of her food. I like it because she is such a varied, healthy eater and the blog gives me new ideas of foods I should try. While she might eat healthier than most people, she also eats rather normally – the girl likes her snacks! She’s on her way to becoming a registered dietitian because of her new-found appreciation for healthfulness, as well as a desire to help others.

Based in Boston, Mass Mentoring Partnership is the only statewide organization solely dedicated to strategically expanding quality youth mentoring in Massachusetts. As the umbrella organization for more than 165 mentoring programs across the state, we provide them with training, technical assistance, networking, advocacy, recruitment support and resources. Read more on the Mass Mentoring blog.

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  1. Talance’s Massachusetts Non-profit Social Media Report Now Available
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February Birthday Treat

Mon, 02/01/2010 - 18:57


[Photo credit: 10 by Phae, on Flickr]

It’s the second month of our 10th year anniversary bash, and we’ve just kicked off a new deal. From now until February 28, get 10% off anything.

Yup, anything.

This one only lasts for a month. Click here and start saving. Hurry!

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
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Brochures and Websites Don’t Mix

Mon, 01/25/2010 - 04:19

Pick up a magazine and try to notice what you look at. Where do your eyes go? Directly to the middle of the page? The big headline on the right-hand side? What do you do when you hold the publication: flip from the back to the front like I do?

Now go to a new website you’ve never seen before, and think about where your eyes go. If you’re paying attention, you’ll discover you do not look at the same places. You’re certainly not going to the back cover first and work your way forward.

This is because websites and print publications are designed completely differently. Occasionally a client will come to us with a design that’s been created by the company that made their brochure or put together a postcard for them. Invariably, these websites don’t work. Even when they’re beautiful, print publications are simply made for a different way of reading.

So next time you pick out a Web designer, it’s OK to suggest colors and ideas and even the look and feel of a print publication, but don’t try to reproduce it online.

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Design.

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Wedding a Blog and a Website

Wed, 01/20/2010 - 11:55

[Photo credit: Vintage Wedding Postcard ~ Bride & Groom, on Flickr]

So you’ve decided to start a blog – good for you! Blogs are important ways for you to build a faithful following and enrich your site with valuable content.

But before you open up your first free Blogger or Wordpress account, think about how that blog will integrate with your overall communications strategy and online presence. Websites and blogs should support each other, not compete. Too many efforts are siloed, the blog hanging off the side like an extra appendage, or vice versa.

A few ideas for integrating them more closely:

Publish blog entries directly into your website. If what you’re writing in the blog relates to your site, make it show up there. Vice versa, if you’re creating content within your main website that could be useful for your blog readers, republish.

Share tags.
Tags, or categories, can be shown on both website material and blog entries. Link them together.

Make the blog appear within the framework of your website. The Talance blog is actually on Wordpress while our website is on Drupal. But we’ve made them look the same so you never really feel like you’re leaving our website.

Create a related links section
at the bottom of blog entries that refer back to related material on your main website.

Create a Feedback page
on your blog that links back to your website feedback page.

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Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under CMS, Management, Promotion.

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Four Useful Links

Mon, 01/18/2010 - 16:35

What we’re reading this week:

What Makes a Product Cool
People go nuts for the iPod. It’s useful to read about neuromarketing to understand better how people emotionally connect with products. How does this transfer to popular websites?

Twitalyzer – The Average Twitter User
This slideshow from the company that measures who uses your Twitter account. Good overview to the kinds of people who use Twitter.

Design Patterns
Ever wonder why things are designed the way they are? This library of conventions tells you the why behind where website widgets are placed.

Building a successful online community
One of our own mantras is to make the web a friendlier place. This article from the Creating Passionate Users blog shows you how you might build your own community through being friendly.

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9 Website Upgrades That Visitors Love

Thu, 01/14/2010 - 14:23

If you’re trying to sell a house, update the kitchen and bathroom. If you’re trying to get people to use your website, do it with these easy upgrades.

1. Most recent blog entry.

Some organizations have a blog, but hide it. An easy way to bring your words closer to your visitors is not only to provide a prominent link to your blog, but to also let the first few entries display on your homepage.

2. Twitter feed.

If you have a Twitter account, you should provide access to it on your website. It’s surprising how many organizations have an account, but you’d never know it by visiting their site. Treat your Twitter updates just like your blog updates, and show the most recent ones on your website.

3. Big Share buttons.

Any time you publish something worth sharing, you should encourage people to do so through e-mail or a social network. Big buttons encouraging people to share do better than small ones.

4. One-click donation.

It’s a pity if you miss out on donations simply because no one can figure out how to donate on your site. Make sure it’s easy to donate by clicking just one link.

5. Search.

If you have more than five pages, include a way to search your website. And make search easy to find. No hiding it in the lower regions of your site.

6. CMS (Content Management System).

If you’re struggling with keeping a mass of single-file pages looking the same, give up and get a CMS. Your visitors will respond to the organization.

7. Call to action links.

Tell people what you want them to do whenever you provide a link on your site. If you want donations, name your donation button “Give.” If you want people to register for your newsletter, call your newsletter link, “Sign up for the newsletter.” People will respond if you make it clear.

8. Home link.

Always, always provide a clearly labeled link that says Home.

9. Feedback form.

If there’s no way for people to respond to you, they won’t. Make it easy with a feedback form.

The best thing you can do for your website is to keep thinking about it. Keep tabs on what people like and what they ask for. Make upgrades on a regular basis, and you’ll notice a difference.

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Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Uncategorized.

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January 2010 Newsletter: Birthday Issue

Mon, 01/11/2010 - 13:02

[This little gem is the e-mail newsletter our subscribers just received. Want a slice of this for yourself? Sign up now.]

Hi, Friends.

We’re all giddy at Talance because 2010 marks our 10th year. Ten is an important number. It’s the diamond anniversary. It’s the first double digit. It’s also a long time for an Internet development company to have been in business.

A decade ago, while the country was stockpiling soup cans in preparation for a Y2K catastrophe, we were busy launching something special. We wanted to use our skills building enterprise quality systems for organizations that rarely had access to those tools. We also knew that most developers spoke in cryptic, intimidating terms, and we wanted to make the Web a kinder, gentler place.

These past 10 years have been outstanding. We know, because you tell us so:

  • “The support from Talance has been incredible,” says Reuben Rotman from Jewish Family Services of MetroWest New Jersey.
  • Lauren Dean from Mass Mentoring Partnership says, “Talance was able to simplify our Web site in ways I never dreamed imaginable!”
  • “Anyone who wants advice from experts who are thorough, pay attention to details and deadlines, and provide support should engage Talance in their technical projects,” said Jill Friedman Fixler from JFFixler & Associates.

OK, we’re bragging. But it’s still nice to know that over the last decade we’ve reached our goals of helping people understand technology better and keep up with the wild tech landscape. We have more and bigger goals for the coming years and look forward to working with you during them.

Happy New Year, and happy new decade,

The birthday bunch at Talance

January Birthday Treat

We’d serve you a big piece of cake for our 10th anniversary, but since cake doesn’t do well in the mail, we’re going to celebrate by offering you something special each month of 2010.

Your January treat: a free copy of Ready, Set, Go! Social Media Plan Workbook. You need a plan to develop a meaningful social media program, and this workbook takes you through the basic steps to become organized.

>> Get your copy here.

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under newsletters.

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

  1. February 2010 Newsletter: Digging for Gold Issue
  2. May Talance Newsletter: Twitter, Security Updates, Blog Favorites
  3. October Talance Newsletter: Website Relief Package

Socialize with Your Team

Wed, 12/16/2009 - 08:12

Many nonprofit organizations that are beginning to adopt Web 2.0 technologies consider them the “cool” part of their online communication. They look at them as a way to engage younger or larger audiences or to project an image of hipness.

But the reason social tools such as Twitter, Facebook and Flickr have become so popular is that they make it incredibly easy for people to work together. Yet, if you look at the internal structure of many organizations, you’ll see that they communicate with one another through phone calls, printed notes and in-person meetings. True, there’s no substitue for face-to-face communication, but social tools can make it much easier to share information among your workmates.

For example, every time we have a meeting at Talance HQ, we have our intranet chat open to facilitate sending links or snippets of documents back and forth. We open a bulletin board for every project so the whole team can communicate about it, and we have a record of everything that was said. Our wiki keeps track of standard procedures and methodologies so we can access them any time, and make revisions when necessary. We use these tools in the office and with our team members who live across the country, and we do it because it’s entirely practical.

The majority of our social tools are built into our website (you do have a CMS, don’t you?). It’s the perfect place to build out a business, because everybody knows your web address, and it’s all centrally stored and accessible online.

Think about what you can do to make it easier for your employees to communicate with one another, and then give them the tools they need. You’ll very well find your organization runs better just by opening up new avenues of communication.

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under CMS, Management, Social Media, Tech Trick.

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

  1. Tips for Creating a Tech Dream Team
  2. Volunteers and Website Management
  3. Importance of Needs Assessment

Share Button: a Quick Fix for More Website Traffic

Tue, 12/08/2009 - 11:06

One of the best ways to get people to use your website is to ask them. As simple as that. Of course you can, and should, personally ask people to use your site. Tell them it’s there and ask for feedback. But there’s also a frequently overlooked widget that does the job for you.

A Share toolbar or button (see ours at the bottom of this blog entry) is adept at asking people to brag about you. You can plug it into your website, blog, or social networking page, and give people one-click access to share your best resources with their connections.

It’s a fast, cheap and easy way for you to boost traffic to your site.

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Promotion, Tech Trick.

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

  1. Make Your Website Promote Itself
  2. 5 Painless Ways to Squeeze More from Your Website
  3. Reader Question: How Do People Find Me on Twitter?

[This little gem is the e-mail

Fri, 12/04/2009 - 11:07

[This little gem is the e-mail newsletter our subscribers just received. Want a slice of this for yourself? Sign up now.]

Hi, Friends.

We’ve got some great tips for you in this year’s very last issue of Talance’s Friendly E-Newsletter for improving your website and online communications strategy:

  • Start with our article on how to define your audience (including the most useful questions you’ll have to ask to do so).
  • Sign up for our new Websites 1-2-3 package – super powerful websites for your organization that don’t take a super-sized budget (only $1999!).
  • Read through highlights from our favorite advice that we picked up on Twitter.
  • Find out what everybody loved from our blog in the last month.

Wishing all our friends happy holidays!

From,

Your Internet pals at Talance

Successful Websites Start with Your Audience

Catch is not a one-person game. That game is called Throw the Ball in the Middle of a Field, and it’s no fun.

The same principle applies to launching a new website – you have to have someone to aim to, otherwise, you can expect poor results. That’s why your first step with designing a new website should be to determine your target audience(s) so you can customize your site for them.

How? Start asking questions and see what answers emerge. You can consult whatever demographics information (age range, gender, geography, education, income, hobbies) you already have, and then see if you can develop a clearer profile by asking these questions:

  1. What does a typical volunteer/supporter/member look like?
  2. What does an ideal volunteer/supporter/member look like?
  3. What do many of our volunteers/supporters/members have in common?
  4. When we started, who did we have in mind as a volunteer/supporter/member?

You’ll see what a huge difference it makes just knowing why you’re building. And your website visitors will appreciate it too.

Websites for $1999? Talk About Holiday Cheer!

Websites 1-2-3 gives you an easy to edit website – fast! Get started with a clean, super-powered website hosted on the Drupal content management system (CMS). Then load it up with a selection of free goodies (like a blog or interactive calendar – or both!). Then sit back while we bring it all together with your custom colors, pictures and logo.

It really is that easy.

» Click here to get started!

Blog Favorites

In honor of our new offering for congregations, here are some highlights from the Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog. Make sure you’re reading http://talance.com/blog and get automatic updates of new articles.

Reader Question: How Do I Add a Facebook Page to My Page’s Favorites?

How To Start a Blog in 14 Steps for Congregations

21 Ways Volunteers Can Help with Your Website

How to Scrap Your Paper Bulletin

How To Write Really Helpful Web Development RFPs

Twitter Favorites from @talance

These are our most-clicked and most discussed postings on Twitter. Want to see what we have to say? Follow us: http://twitter.com/talance.

  • For those of you wondering what Facebook Connect is “What’s More Awesome than Sharing? Publishing, with Facebook Connect” http://ow.ly/Ffco
  • So much interesting info about Twitter, from Pew Internet & American Life Project http://ow.ly/BVKw
  • From @rabbijason, on expanding your marketing message with voice mail messages: How about “We’re not in right now, but u can send us a message on Twitter or write a message on a paper airplane & throw it to us.”
  • From @katzpdx You are 100% correct. [Social media] should be treated as another marketing channel/tactic

Need Some Help?

Talance has helped clients launch scores of projects, ranging from websites to online newsletters to CRM projects. Please click here to schedule a time to talk about your next project or to request a proposal.

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Don’t keep this good stuff all to yourself. Click that Forward button and send to a friend.

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under newsletters.

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

  1. October Talance Newsletter: Website Relief Package
  2. June Talance Newsletter: YouTube, Conference, Blog Favorites
  3. Three No-Brainers for Website Promotion

Which is Better for Your Congregation: Facebook or Twitter?

Wed, 11/25/2009 - 15:28

Undeniably, social tools like Twitter and Facebook can help your congregation. But which is better? Take two nanoseconds and give us some feedback on our poll. We’ll report our findings.


<br /> <a href="http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/2296860/" mce_href="http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/2296860/">Which is better for your congregation: Twitter or Facebook?</a><span style="font-size:9px;" mce_style="font-size:9px;">(<a href="http://answers.polldaddy.com" mce_href="http://answers.polldaddy.com">opinion</a>)</span><br />

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Church Websites, Social Media, Synagogue Websites.

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

  1. Why is your synagogue using Twitter?
  2. 30 Ideas on How Congregations Can Use Twitter
  3. Notes from a Nonprofit Conference

Next Steps

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