here it is

Aug. 5‘10

Almost all companies today, regardless of size, face unique technical problems and challenges that they are unable to solve internally. Sometimes this causes wasted time or resources, and sometimes it hinders the ability to effectively communicate. That being said, here are some time savers and problem solvers we’ve come up with lately.

Google Maps is an extremely powerful application, assuming you know how to harness its power like we do. Recently, Mindspace incorporated Google Maps into a website to show automotive shops that matched a user’s search criteria. We also customized the map to automatically update exact location and ZIP code while centering and scaling itself to the search results.

Many companies today have Twitter and Facebook accounts. Mindspace has incorporated and automated Twitter and Facebook posts and feeds in many ways, thus saving time and keeping the content pipeline full. And if you need a custom Facebook presence, our design department will ensure your branding is presented well within the social media giant.

Often, clients find themselves using a SaaS (Software as a Service) like Vertical Response, Salesforce or the like. However, truly taking advantage of those types of products requires expertise typically outside of the skillset of the average company. As an example, Salesforce is the go-to CRM for many businesses, and its mature API allows for companies to use the data in many ways. From the creation of web-to-lead landing pages that feed into automatic campaign creation, single sign on (SSO), lead nurturing and much more, Mindspace is quite familiar with SaaS’s offerings and can help you better take advantage of its power while allowing your team to continue using them as they used to.

Disparate databases are becoming more common as technology ages and companies merge. There typically is no simple solution, since the problems involved with trying to use multiple sources for data will become exponentially complex over time, demand more and more attention, yet all the while becoming less and less effective. Mindspace has seen and solved a myriad of data problems, and we’re experts in solving both complex conundrums and political problems in a minimal amount of time.

The members of our Mindspace Interactive team haves some real world experience. This means our team members have worked in jobs in the past where they were responsible for adding value, not merely being a cost center. And in doing so, wethey’ve have amassed quite a bit of experience solving unique problems.

Almost all companies today, regardless of size, face unique technical problems with a combination ofand challenges that they are unable to solve internally. Sometimes this meanscauses wasted time or resources, and sometimes it hinders the sometimes the inability to effectively communicate. That being said, Hhere are some time savers and problem solvers we ha’ve created come up with lately.

Google maps Maps is an extremely powerful application, assuming you know how to harness it’s power like we do. Recently, Mindspace incorporated Google Mapsit into a website to showshowing automotive shops that matched a user’s search criteria. We also customized the map to , automatically updatinge exact location and ZIP code updates, whileautomatically centering and scaling itself to the search results..

Many companies today have Twitter and FacebBook accounts they use. Mindspace has incorporated and automated Twitter and FaceBook Facebook posts and feeds in many ways, of course taking the 145 character count into account, thus saving time and much time in keeping the content pipeline full. And if you need a custom FaceBook Facebook presence, our design department will ensure your branding is presented well within the social media giant.

Often, clients find themselves using a SaaAAS (Software as a Service) like Vertical Response, SalesfForce or the like. However, truly taking advantage of those types of products requires expertise typically outside of the skillset of the average company. With all the advantages these providers offer, there also is a downside. As an example, SalesFforce is the go-to CRM for many businesses, and its mature API allows for companies to use the data in many ways Mindspace has taken advantage of for our clients. From the creation of web-to-lead landing pages that feeding into automatic campaign creation, single sign on (SSO), lead nurturing and much more, Mindspace is quite familiar with SaaAAS’s offerings and can help you better take advantage of theirits power while, yet allow allowing your team to continue using them as they are used to.

Disparate databases are becoming more common as technology ages, and companies merge. There typically is no simple solution, since as the problems ininvolved with trying to use multiple sources for data will become exponentionally complex over time, and will demand more and more attention, yet all the while becominge less and less effective. Mindspace has seen and solved a myriad of data problems, and we’ree consider ourselves experts in solving both complex conundrums and political solving these usually very complex and sometimes political problems in a very single minded effective way, in a minimal amount of time.

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Jul. 29‘10

Contrary to what many spammers will have you believe, getting to be ranked well on search engines for any worthwhile search term is not a secret, nor is it magic. There is no quick “get to the top page” scheme. If you think there is, there are some pharmaceutical products that may be interesting in your inbox too…

It’s a fact that search engines do their best when they give visitors the best search results. This is why Google has so clearly dominated the search engine market—it simply provides the best results. As such, the goal for Search Engines Optimization is, stated simply, to provide the most relevant content.

Having said that, of course one should keep in mind that Google et al does not use browsers to see what is on your web pages. So, in order to find your pages, your site should be constructed in such a way that Google can find the content your website was optimized for. Mindspace applies over 15 technical code-based ways to ensure this is the case for each and every page on your website when SEO is applied.

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Jul. 23‘10

A 10-year-old e-learning company’s main priority was focusing on their core business, and as a result, they grew to be an industry leader with over 100M in annual earnings. The company’s website, however, wasn’t the focus of their attention. Several attempts were made through the years to redo both the site’s design and its content, but those projects were abandoned again and again as being too complex to be worth the effort it required. According to Google, the site had well over 7,000 pages in late 2009—all of which were created manually by teams of different employees and contractors from the past decade. The company possessed no inventory of these pages, the site had only ten menu items and the website itself was still optimized for screens and browsers from 2000. Yet, the website was being visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors each month, either looking for support or product information. Internal motivation started to wane, and this is where Mindspace entered the picture.

Our Interactive team was charged with the task of updating the existing website design and content, as well as making it dynamic enough to be easily maintained and changed. After an initial interview and a two month period of research and assessment, Mindspace proposed new graphic design and the creation of a custom CMS (Content Management System) which would allow for ALL content to be editable by the content owners and creators. An inventory of all pages was also delivered, along with a plan for cleaning and migration—a large portion of which would be automated. A five month timeline was proposed, along with a budget range and a video for the home page to present the company’s significant differentiators.

Despite significant unanticipated setbacks like the server being two months delayed, more than 100% turnover on the client site web team and a significantly increased scope, the website was complete ten days early and within the budget range originally projected. The client even asked to have the launch pushed back a week since they didn’t expect how speedy our delivery would be.

Today, the custom CMS allows for complete customization of the entire website. Old pages are being redirected to the new website, and SEO has been incorporated into all pages. Calls to Action are dynamically driven by the page content and there are well over a dozen modules that allow for different content types. Pages or entire sections can be turned on and off and moved or renamed—all while not breaking any existing links. A page inventory is readily available anytime. Multiple versions of content can exist simultaneously, and content owners each have a customized dashboard that they can use to communicate with each other about any content. Last but not least, the site’s content is almost entirely maintained by the company’s web team, which, thanks to Mindspace, is now comprised of one person.

Footnote: Within four months of the website going live, the company was acquired in a friendly acquisition aimed at growing the business.

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Jul. 21‘10

How does a Fortune 200 company get to be that big? Often times, acquisitions are involved. And, as it pertains to our real life example, multiple locations, methods, vehicles and best practices are all thrown together in the process, too.

There was a sincere attempt at combining the best practices of the multiple teams, but a lot of time was typically spent routing, formatting and distributing content (rather than creating it). This is where  Mindspace stepped in to help. Our Interactive team was asked to assist one of the business units in creating simple to use, flexible and extensible communication tools that were to be used by the company’s MarCom team members for channel communication.

Our solution included several components. First, we started with the push vehicle—a website. The website met the company’s current branding standards, was built to be updatable any time and required minimal to no training to edit. The control of the content was given to the content owners, and different levels of access were created to accommodate a content owner hierarchy (some were allowed to post, others allowed to approve and others were able to create new sections or edit user access). The writers were also introduced to site visitors, which added a personal touch to the website’s communication style. Additionally, the company’s 10,000+ subscribers received a newsletter that had overlapping relevant content with the website.

Upon launch, a special outreach campaign was used with direct mail components and prizes to promote these new tools. Participation climbed continuously over the two years it was in operation, and the client confirmed that the new site was easier to use and less work to maintain than their previous disparate combination of solutions. The new website was also significantly more consistent with the company’s branding efforts.

In order to measure effectiveness, metrics were also built in that allowed each department to see how often their articles were read.

After two years, the Mindspace team was asked to take the tools to Phase II and extend it to four other business units within the same company. This has since been accomplished with a similar minimal learning curve and customer response. A few new features were added, like tracking per article, password protected documents, image inclusion, two-way automated Twitter feeds, “green” flagging, multi-national support and more.

Our solution, dubbed “Advantage,” is now being used by over 200 content editors across six business units. It continues to be a successful channel marketing tool that allows for a large disparate team to communicate in a concise, consistent manner. By putting the control in the hands of the content owners, not a web team, communication time was significantly reduced and the MarCom team was able to spend their time communicating their marketing efforts instead of managing logistics.

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