Archive for 2010

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Welcome to our New ribit Web Site

Monday, April 19th, 2010

Yes, we are the cobbler’s child. At least every five years we totally redo our web site. Trash the old one and start over from scratch.

This time we decided to leave the old content management system we used (short tutorial – a content management system is a database driven system that allows us to build you a web site where the content of the pages is separate from the design and structure of the web site. This allows us to be able to give the web site owner a user name and password that will allow them to update the content on the pages without changing the design or structure of the web site, using a content editor that is “similar” to editing in your basic word document editing software package.) and switch to WordPress.

WordPress offered a lot of advantages, ease of use being first and foremost. WordPress also has a huge community building Plugins, small applications that add functionality to the “base” program. You want more SEO (search engine optimization – what you need to get higher in the Google rankings) than you get out of the “box” from WordPress, there is a plugin for that. You want a Captcha field (those annoying squiggly letters that automated programs can’t generate to “steal” the form) to go with your contact form, there is a plugin for that. You want it, someone has probably already made a plugin for it.

So why didn’t we “switch” sooner. We at ribit pride ourselves on not only creating sites that work, that incorporate the SEO you need, that connect you to the Social Media, that have a blog, but we create sites that have unique designs that reflect the owner of the web site – that will help them reach their marketing goals and objects. Whenever we looked at WordPress sites, well, they looked like WordPress sites.

The challenge for us was how to make a WordPress site that doesn’t look like a WordPress site. This is what we came up with, different frog paintings on each page, the blog (okay the blog looks like a WordPress blog), a portfolio that is very clean and highlights just a smattering of our work.

We are going to be added to the site in the coming weeks, keep coming back to see how the site progresses. And welcome to our new site!

Posted in Design, General, Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media | 10 Comments »

Social Media, Is It Worth the Time?

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Everyone always asks me how much time I spend on Social Media, and is it worth it. I Am here to tell you that it definitely is worth every minute I spend on tweeting, blogging, updating, etc. I probably spend fifteen to twenty minutes a day keeping up with social media. If I am adding in a blog post, I might spend more – if I have a heavy load of commitments to clients and training meetings I might spend less, but on average I spend fifteen to twenty minutes a day.

What do I get for my time spent on Social Media you ask, I have a community of people on Twitter, that when I have a question, they will answer for me, they have amazing insights into things I might not, and best yet, they refer business to me. By posting interesting tidbits and links to articles of relevant information, I make myself a useful resource on Twitter. Yes, they refer business to me! My fans on my Facebook Fan Page, while few in number, have access to a portfolio and a “sampling” of my thoughts and posts. Not to mention that Facebook, if it were a country, would be the fourth largest country in the world, don’t you want to be “listed” as a part of the “country”?

Plaxo and LinkedIn are interesting places to be a part of, I admit, I am not that active in Plaxo. I tend to post a status update once a day, and check the status e-mails every week to see what is going is new and to send out birthdays (I love their birthday card feature!). LinkedIn is great for not only keeping up with what is going on with all of my contacts, but for the Groups feature, where you can either run a Group or join a Group. Either way you can easily become known as an expert in your field by replying to discussions that are posted, starting your own discussion within that group or submitting a news item for that group. LinkedIn also let’s you answer questions, posted by other members which let’s you establish yourself as an expert in your field.

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Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

Is PR Really Necessary?

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

If you build it won’t they come? Clients always think if you build them a beautiful web site, a great web site, if you put in all the meta information (code that the people creating your web site put in that the search engines read) that correlates with all the information on your site, that people will come by the droves to their site. Alas, only in Kevin Costner movies does “…if you build it, they will come” work (and yes, for the uninitiated, I am referring to a line in the movie Field of Dreams).

So you have your blog on your web site (or you are using a WordPress, Blogspot, Blogger or one of the many other blogging web sites available) and that is garnering some interest. And you took our advice and you set up a Facebook Fan Page for your company, and you started to use Twitter, but how do you get people to know about all the great things you are doing (and saying).

That is where PR comes to the rescue. Yes, your blog, your Facebook Fan Page, your Twitter account, your YouTube Channel are all pieces of your PR campaign, but you need a coordinated campaign and a way to reach your audience.

Public Relations campaigns are built around reaching the appropriate individuals in the media to get your story out to the masses (i.e., your potential customers and clients). Most people think you can just send out a press release and viola! Instant Story. Front page of the paper. Not so fast. To get good coverage you have to sell your story, you have to have a relationship with the reporters and know how to engage them. More importantly you need someone who knows how to get your story in the paper, on the air, or in their blog.

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Posted in General, Marketing | 1 Comment »

Social Media and Haiti

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Social Media has played an important role in Haiti. There have been people who are trapped who are using Twitter to “cry” for help and to let relatives know they were alive. Whole blogs have been set up to keep people informed as to what is needed in Haiti and what certain groups have already sent.

And the fundraising will be charged to your cellphone, just text “90999″ for the Red Cross’ Haiti fundraising effort, “QUAKE” to 20222 for the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, “GIVE” to 25283 for the MTV telethon, “YELE” to 501501 for the Yele Haiti Foundation, “HAITI” to 52000″ for the Salvation Army, “HOPE10″ to 20222 for Unicef, “HABITAT” to 25835 for Oxfam America, Inc., “HAITI” to 40579 for the National Religious Broadcaster, “SAVE” or “SAFE” to 20222 for Save the Children Federation, Inc., “GIVE” or “World” to 20222 for the World Vision, Inc., “CARE” to 24383 for Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc., “AJWS” to 25383 for the American Jewish World Service, “LIVE” to 25383 for Americares, Inc., “LWR” to 40579 for Lutheran World Relief.

According to MSNBC over $30 million has been pledged using cellphone text messages. That 3 million pledges of $10 each have been made. The power of the cellphone, think how powerful that is.

There is even a story on wired.com about how U.S. filmmaker Dan Wooley, in Haiti filming a documentary, survived with the help of an iPhone first-aid app! The app in question was Pocket First Aid and CPR by Jive Media LLC. You know what they say, there’s an app for that!

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Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

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