Programs

WordPress is a Web-based software program that anyone can use to build and maintain a website or blog. It was originally intended as an easy way to set up a blog. But, thanks to the efforts of a large “open source” community of WordPress programmers working to extend and improve its capabilities, WordPress has become much more than just a tool for bloggers. Over 25 million people have chosen WordPress to power the place on the web they call “home” – we’d love you to join the family.

So, how is it different from a standard website?

In a standard website (html based), a developer/designer creates a template shell, saves each individual page as a separate file, and uploads the content. When an item needs to be changed, it has to be changed on the individual file and re-uploaded. If you’re a small business with a small web-budget, you don’t have resources to have someone change a single word every time you need one changed.

WordPress does things differently. Instead of storing the content in files, it stores the content in a database. The database is either stored on a different part of the server, or sometimes on a different server altogether. Whereas a static page contains both structure and content, the WordPress theme envelops and wraps the content in the theme files – meaning you can change, edit, delete, and add new content using one set of template files.

There are four main reasons to consider using WordPress for a new website:

1. WordPress designs are based on “Themes”. Themes are composed of images and cascading style sheet (CSS) webpage layouts, and this makes it very easy for us to customize the look and feel of a WordPress site using a pre-existing Theme and a new page layout created in Photoshop (or a layout imported into Photoshop from a QuarkXPress PDF, an Acrobat PDF, InDesign PDF, etc.). On the low-end of the design scale, you can basically drop a company’s logo into the top corner of the page and you are good to go!
2. WordPress software allows anyone to create and edit new web pages and blog “posts” using only a web browser. No knowledge of HTML or other code is required. The WordPress editing interface is very easy to use. It works a lot like simple word-processing software. And, the site administrator can grant various levels of access to others, allowing them to contribute to the website/blog. Because the interface is web-based, creating and editing pages can be done from anywhere with an Internet connection.
3. The blogging features in WordPress allow you to update your website/blog frequently, to receive and respond to comments from your readers, and to allow others to subscribe to your site content using RSS. This is great for your human customers and potential customers. It is also great for search engines, because search engines love fresh content.
4. There are many more features of a WordPress website or blog that make it much, much better than a traditional “static”, “brochure-style” website (i.e., built once and never updated after that) when it comes to search engine optimization and social media. And many of these features are taken care of automatically, requiring little or no effort (or programming skill) on your part.

WordPress is a powerful personal publishing platform, and it comes with a great set of features designed to make your experience as a publisher on the Internet as easy, pleasant and appealing as possible. We are proud to offer you a freely distributed, standards-compliant, fast, light and free personal publishing platform, with sensible default settings and features, and an extremely customizable core.

The Challenge – Do you have a web site now, or know a colleague with a site?  When is the last time new web site content was added.  Or, how often does your web site content change to reflect new things happening in your profession or business?  Perhaps you’ve developed a new service, or an enhancement of services you already offer.  We all read that Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, for a web site is enhanced by new or changing content.  So why do so many refer to a normal web site as “static?”  Many just sit there after they’re published, with few if any content changes or additions over long periods.

We should want to approach our prospects and site visitors with:

• New products or services as soon as they’re offered.
• Commentary on developments in our profession or business.
• Changes to our web site content as we get new ideas on presentation.

The Solution – Why do we call our innovative system ProPage Manager? Simply, it’s a highly professional system of self-management of web site content. You control your content, you create it, manage it and change it at will. We found early-on that there is a gap in web site design and management services. Either you are offered a template site, with no services, and a complete do-it-yourself approach, or “full service,” with the associated high costs of a web professional to make every change or new addition. There is a middle ground that combines the best of both extremes, and ProPage Manager is an elegant solution.

Avoiding High Web Site Content Costs – Why should you pay rates of up to and exceeding $100 per hour for a web design professional to change a couple of lines of text on one of your pages? Perhaps you’ve changed a product or service offering, or enhanced one. Those of us who have been in the business for a while have come to dislike having to charge you those prices almost as much as you dislike paying them. Our expertise is in design, graphics, presentation and layout of an effective web site. Content is one of our skills, but it is also something you know best about your business. Why shouldn’t you be able to build it, change it, and add to it without big invoices from us?

ProPage Manager is Web Site Content With You in Control – From image management and photo galleries through search engine optimization with meta titles and tags that fit the content on the page, ProPage Manager places you in complete control.

• Design new pages and change existing content.
• You control pages and sub-page hierarchies, to move your visitor through the site toward the ultimate sales goal.
• Upload, manage and place images easily.
• Fast page style templates for Contact Forms, FAQ’s, Screen Shots, and more.
• Maintain your own sitemap
• All this while our design professionals do the major setup, design and layout to frame your self-managed web site content.

We refer to ProPage Manager as the “Drivers Seat of Your Web Site.” Our mission is to place a sophisticated instrument dashboard in front of you to make it easy for you to not only drive your site, but to drive visitor traffic and business to it.