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"$1500 website Nets How Much?!?"
Half a million bucks - that's how much!!! Talk about Return on Investment!!! This deal rates an ROI of over 300%.
And this very happy client has just sent off another proposal worth several million!
In case you're wondering, the site belongs to international freight forwarding agency Sebenza Group and can be found at www.sebenzaworld.com.
Jack van der Heijden, Director of the local Sebenza Group office, is absolutely delighted with his website - even more so with the business that this simple site has generated.
In fact, Jack is so pleased he has placed several more orders with us to allow him to broaden the reach of his website by advertising on other websites, and driving traffic back to Sebenza World.
We often read about people generating substantial business from their website, and insilicoTM is proud to be able to contribute to Jack and Sebenza's success.
So if you want a website that brings you business, why not call us on 9200 4431 for a complementary meeting to discuss your requirements and a website promotion strategy to suit your budget.
Web Industry News
insilicoTM is proud to announce that it is a sponsor of the second annual Edge of the Web conference, organised by the Australian Web Industry Association (AWIA).
This year's conference is even bigger that last year with 2 full days of speakers, and a day of technical workshops culminating in the annual Web Awards dinner.
This year the web awards have gone national, so we'll be competing against the cream of Australian web designers. We've got 2 entries this year: our own revamped website www.insilico.com.au, and the gorgeous Settlers Rest website www.settlersrest.com.au.
Wish us luck!!!
In other industry news, insilico'sTM very own Office Administrator Naomi Allan has been elected to the AWIA Committee and has subsequently been appointed as association secretary.
Naomi has previous experience in a similar role due to her involvement with Soroptimists International, a Rotary style group of business women and retired women involved in global assistance to women and children in need.
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Case Study - Secured Membership Website
Our client approached us to create a content managed extension to their original website. The client is a not-for-profit organisation which required full approval from the government for any changes to the website. The extension would be a secure members-only area, which comprised of a set of learning modules that would be presented to the participants in a structured format. Each module contained a set of components and a feedback form which allowed participants to comment on the current module with a degree of anonymity.
Due to the wealth of information and the complexity of the module structure, the interface utilised a simple, consistent website navigation system, including colour coding and symbolic icons referenced by a legend. Each section of the website could be reached by just a couple of clicks.
Due to the unique requirements of the member's area, insilicoTM utilised two advanced features of the content management system. The first was a customisable registration form, where new participants were required to fill in appropriate information in order to gain membership. The module allowed us to modify what information was required to complete the registration process. This differs from many other CMS's which either have limited or no customisation features.
The second advanced feature is the customisable feedback form. As well as being completely editable, this module's features include the ability to save completed forms to a database, send forms via emails, allow emails to be customised and also to create multiple forms for the same website. This feature would be great for any websites that required either complex or multiple forms.
insilicoTM would love to show you our handy-work but as this is a secure members website we unfortunately cannot. If you have any queries on how insilicoTM can help your business utilise a system such as this, please don't hesitate to contact us on 9200 4431 or admin@insilico.com.au.
Business Improvement - Efficiency
Like most business owners, you've probably got MYOB or QuickBooks and a copy of Microsoft Office for everybody in the office - you have got enough licences, haven't you? No?? Then better give us a call (9200 4431) and we can make sure you are fully compliant with your software licensing.
Oops, I've strayed...where was I...oh yes, MYOB, QuickBooks and Office - off-the-shelf software that just about every business needs and uses.
But did you realise that these products can be tailored to make your business more efficient?
A few years ago, we were involved with a large Government organisation where we built an extensive suite of Word templates and macros, as well as some databases to help them make their "business" more efficient. Troy Buswell would've been proud - I think we delivered well over 3% efficiency dividends.
One department produces a document every single day they are open. With our systems it takes 15 keystrokes to complete the document once they've opened the template for that type of document. 15!!!! So if you're receptionist or PA is doing 80 words a minute, that document is completed for the day in just 20 seconds.
Oh, and the old way: find yesterdays document, copy, paste, rename, open, type... It took me more than 20 seconds just to describe the process.
This is definitely an extreme case but the efficiency occurs because this same document is produced day-in, day-out.
Do you have documents that you regularly create either for your clients or internally?
Do you copy and paste an existing one and then amend it?
Have you ever sent out an amended one with some of the old information left in it??? Oh, my......
We can help you make sure this doesn't happen, and it may not be as expensive as you think.
If you'd like to know more about improving your business efficiency, contact Naomi to book an appointment and I'll be more than happy to meet with you, find out where you business could be made more efficient, and suggest ways we can achieve this within your budget.
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Twitter Your Business Breakfast
Back in June - wow! Seems like so long ago - we were asked by one of our alliance partners, Stephan Jenner from Future Logic to assist with his inaugural public speaking engagement "Twittering Your Business".
By now most of you have discovered FaceBook and MySpace, as well as being invited to join us on LinkedIn which is a business version of FaceBook, but many people have either not heard of Twitter before or just plain don't get it!
So Stephan's mission was to demystify Twitter, show how it can spread the word quickly - about anything, and also how you can leverage this viral effect to promote your business.
The insilicoTM team headed up to Fraser's Restaurant bright and early - well, early anyway - and helped people on the various tables use the laptops to play with this Twitter thing.
By all accounts, the presentation was well received, especially for a first time speaker, and the (in)famous "chic chic boom" girl even made an appearance courtesy of YouTube.
Since then, Twitter has made it's way more and more into the spotlight with the West Australian newspaper recently featuring a full page article on the "new" phenomena, and featuring a couple of notable Web Industry "tweeters".
Want to know more about social networking but don't know where to start? Call the team at insilicoTM today to discuss a strategy for you or your company.
So, What Have We Been Doing Since Last Time?
We've finished a couple of new sites, and have made some changes to a few others.
Amongst the list are a glazier, a cherry picker hire firm, a farm-stay, a lawn care business, a telephone system firm, a dentist, a reseller of solar panels and related products and a mining tenement management consultant.
These sites are a mix of our custom website designs, content managed systems and sites managed under a service agreement.
And of course, every website is created specific to the client's needs; no more shoehorning the client's logo into an off-the-shelf-sold-hundreds-before template here!
These are only our latest websites. For our full portfolio please visit our website - www.insilico.com.au/portfolio/.
If you or your clients, colleagues or even friends need some help with their websites, even just some minor changes, please refer them to insilicoTM.
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News from the Trenches
BarCamp 3 was held on July 18 at Central Tafe East Perth campus. For those of you not in the know "BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment."
The website goes on to say: "BarCamp is a relaxed community event with demonstrations, discussions, presentation and interaction from attendees. If you have something to contribute or the desire to learn you are welcome at BarCamp. The beauty of BarCamp is it is free.
The motto of BarCamp is: No spectators, only participants."
And it was awesome!!! The day consisted of 2 streams of talks of about 45 minutes each and on a number of occasions it was difficult to decide which talks to attend.
My favourites of the day were the Apple based "surface computing" platform to assist in the teaching and development of children with autism. (And if you've never seen the Microsoft Surface Computing demo, check out the following link - Microsoft Surface Computing Demo).
But the best one was what I describe to people as electronic lego - the Arduino. Arduino devices are basically computers that are built on very small circuit boards - about the same size as an Apple iPhone or iPod.
And these devices come with a host of add on boards that simply plug in! One board even comes complete with a GPS and a GPRS modem.
The presenter has installed some of his creations in the "magna of destruction" and he showed us some video of his car behaving like KITT from the old Knight Rider TV series.
Recently, a client was telling me how they use this kind of technology for a remote monitoring system which then sends the results to a website using the GPRS modem and some custom software. Very cool!
Can't wait for BarCamp 4!!! :D
Other News
Our building has had a face lift - and now no one can find us!!!!! So here's a picture for you:
The building management undertook a major repainting exercise and changed the colours of the building as you can see above.
Their timing was a little off though - they managed to get about half way through when Winter kicked in with a vengeance.
But the painters persevered and the final touches and signage should be completed any day now.
Back in July, I held MY first public speaking engagement by presenting "Making The Web Work For You" at the Small Business Centre, Stirling.
With butterflies and a racing heart I presented to a group of 40-odd business people of all ages and from all walks of life and explained how they could use the web to benefit their businesses.
It was so well received that the CEO of Stirling BEC, David Morris, was asking about another one before the last person had left the room.
So another session is planned soon but the date has not been published yet so keep tabs on the Stirling BEC website www.stirlingbec.com or sign up for their newsletter to find out when we'll hold this again.
PS. If you'd like me to run this course for you at your office, we can organise that too!!
Closing Thoughts
"I believe through learning and application of what you learn, you can solve any problem, overcome any obstacle and achieve any goal that you can set for yourself."
- Brian Tracy
Best of business from all of us at insilicoTM
Paul O'Neill
Technical Director
www.insilico.com.au
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| (08) 9200 4431 | Suite 33, First Floor, 133 Kewdale Road Kewdale WA 6105 | ABN 250 0293 8908
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