NAATBatt Website Launch

June 12th, 2009 taylor Posted in Chicago Web Design, News Blog, WordPress 2 Comments »

NAATBatt Home Page - http://naatbatt.org

NAATBatt Home Page - http://naatbatt.org

We’re happy to announce the launch of a new website for NAATBatt (the National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Batteries), which is a remarkable co-op of more than 50 companies that have joined together to “…establish the United States as the world-class manufacturing technology leader in lithium-ion battery cells for transportation applications.” Today’s reality is that American automotive and defense contractors are relying on foreign suppliers – increasingly concentrated in Asia – for lithium ion battery cells.

NAATBatt required a new brand identity and logo, plus a clean, slick website where it could convey important information, explain its overall mission and business strategy, and highlight its growing league of members. We designed and implemented a new custom WordPress site, rich in content and organized in structure. It was exciting to work with such a promising organization, considering the scope of their pursuits.

Hardin County, in nearby Kentucky, has been chosen by the consortium as the site for a newly-proposed domestic battery manufacturing and headquarters facility, a potential investment upwards of $600 million. The facility would signify a move to regain the lead in lithium ion battery technology and development, and would provide a whopping 2,000 new jobs for the county. NAATBatt hopes to put a strong foot toward the clean cars of the future and has already applied to the US Department of Energy to secure federal funding.

We’re happy to be involved in a project such as this, and are proud to have created a new platform that will allow NAATBatt to further project their mission, gain momentum, maintain contact with members and supporters, and move closer towards a future in which American technological leadership is restored in such a critical industry.

AddThis Feed Button AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Nightstand 12: A Viral Marketing Case Study

May 22nd, 2009 digitalbenjamin Posted in Chicago Web Design, News Blog, Nightstand 12 Comments »

20,000 visitors in only 14 hours! – Nightstand 12: A Viral Marketing Story

At Nightstand 12, Headstand Media will present a case study covering a viral marketing campaign we developed for fun and a learning experience. The site received a degree of success, generating over 20,000 unique visitors in the first 14 hours after launch.

Animated N1H1 Swine Flu MapThe idea was based on the multitude of swine flu maps that were receiving online attention. We thought it would be interesting to create a map that animates, showing how the confirmed H1N1 cases grew over time.  At Nightstand 12 we will present our project www.swine-flu-map-animation.com and the tools and process used to obtain the traffic numbers we did.

We’ll walk you through the step-by-step and hour-by-hour strategies we used (i.e. the initial plan, SEO strategy, social networking, etc.) to achieve the success we did. As always, at the end of every Nightstand presentation, there will be a time to ask questions and brainstorm about how these principles can relate to you and your business or web project.

Invite Others!

We’d love to see you at this event, and we encourage you to pass on this invitation to others in the industry who would benefit from this presentation topic and networking event. RSVP by leaving a comment with your name and company or organization below.

We hope that you can join us!

Headstand Media: Randy, Benjamin, Kyle and Matt

May 28, 2009
6 PM – 7PM: Food & drinks, informal networking
7 PM – 8:30 PM: Introductions, presentation, discussion

Kyle Williams presenting at Nightstand 12

Kyle Williams presenting at Nightstand 12

Attendees

Randal Birkey
Benjamin Nelson
Kyle Williams
Matt Ritsman
Kent Thompson – Action Web Apps
Erik Vorhes – Textivism
Steve Wilson – McDonald’s
Mark Filippi – The Blacksmith Project
Duncan Mathieson – The Blacksmith Project
Steve Tanner – Kidology
Patrick Flanagan – ShopLocal
Nicko Sahlas & Guest – ChefTalk

AddThis Feed Button AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Inside Ryerson

April 3rd, 2009 rbirkey Posted in Chicago Web Design, News Blog No Comments »

Back in the summer of 2005, a friend approached me about a corporate and Intranet website redesign project for Ryerson, Inc. – North America’s leading steel & metals distributor. The Director of Information Technology had put together a strategic internal development committee, which included members of corporate communications, and the manager of emerging technology. Since a creative team I managed had done a prior website redesign for Ryerson in 2000, my familiarity and rapport with the company, its services, and its goals gave me a foundation for understanding the needs. Trusted business relationships make a world of difference in the creative process and so I was excited to work with such a great client again!

Redesigning Ryerson’s Corporate Website

With this redesign, Ryerson’s team was looking for a simple, contemporary look for their corporate web site – one that incorporated the new company logo colors and had a more substantial photo presence. Another goal was to increase the site’s usefulness to the user, and make it easier for people to get from place to place within the site. Final goals included highlighting the company’s name change (from the former Ryerson Tull), reflecting the completed integration of Integris Metals, and making sure all of the content was current. While Ryerson, Inc. was growing and emerging, it was important that we reaffirmed some of the company’s most lasting commitments as a local company that operated service centers close to where their customers did business.

Getting after the many tasks at hand, the committee and my team started conducting research, exploring other websites both within and outside the industry. Ryerson’s IT department tracked the existing site’s highest traffic areas, and we worked out exactly what array of content, design, and delivery we wanted for the new site. Some of the most important elements were Ryerson’s products and services, service center locations, and investor information. Another obvious goal was search engine optimization, and we made sure to use keywords, tags, and other strategically developed page content in order to boost the site’s performance and visibility. Since search engines reward sites that are constantly updating their content (as opposed to static, “flat-lined” sites), it was important to design the site with these capabilities in mind.

On to Artie: Revamping Ryerson’s Intranet

Web 2.0 Artie

Web 2.0 Artie

Once we’d implemented the corporate redesign, and set its updating process in motion, we moved on to Artie, the name of Ryerson’s internal website. Accessible only to Ryerson personnel, Artie contains the many resources the company shares with its employees: back in 2005, that included integrating features and information from the former Integris Metals internal site – another steel distributor Ryerson had recently acquired.

On July 14, 2005, Ryerson’s new Artie rolled out company-wide, using a corporate color scheme, and featuring an online “mascot” character named “Artie” that we had originally designed in 2001. Features within the site included safety procedures, corporate policies, a newsletter and announcement listings, industry and metal price links, a corporate phone directory, organization charts, and links to ordering business cards, merchandise, and downloadable letterhead templates. An extremely popular Ask Artie feature also gave employees a place to go for answers to company-related questions. Just like the corporate website, Artie was designed to be changing and updating constantly, and employees had the opportunity to suggest changes themselves.

It was great to see such a large corporate project come to fruition. Both the corporate and internal sites recieved great reviews, and increased both customer and employee satisfaction. Artie took on a life of his own, and remains popular within the company to this day! In fact, we are currently doing some Artie updates that will enable the beloved character to better integrate within a new Intranet delivery platform.

AddThis Feed Button AddThis Social Bookmark Button

AboutBoxedWine.com Launches

March 27th, 2009 digitalbenjamin Posted in Chicago Web Design, News Blog No Comments »

AboutBoxedWine.comChicago web design company Headstand Media is pleased to announce the launch of a new website for the Scholle Corporation called AboutBoxedWine.com. The new site is built around emerging Web 2.0 strategies, and is targeted to the wine drinker and the wine industry. It offers best boxed wine ratings, boxed wine reviews, wine industry information, videos, blogs, and boxed wine discussion forums around how to make, sell, and enjoy boxed wines.

Project Strategy

Headstand Media provided a comprehensive online web strategy that will allow AboutBoxedWine.com to become the definitive expert site on boxed wine. We created their new logo and online identity, designed and produced the site, provided a comprehensive SEO strategy and developed a viral web marketing plan to spread the word about AboutBoxedWines.com.

Project Technology and Integration

Headstand Media used the open source WordPress content management system to build the site upon. This tool uses open source PHP, mySQL, Javascript and Ajax technologies and is extremely easy for clients to learn and use. Our interface design was integrated as a custom theme using PHP and CSS technologies. On this platform we were able to seamlessly integrate a unique boxed wine rating system and vBulletin discussion boards.

More About Boxed Wine

best_box_wine_logoAboutBoxedWine.com is designed to be the definitive resource on boxed wine packaging, also known as bag-in-box and wine casks, for wineries, distributors, retailers, restaurateurs, and consumers. It is the hub around this exploding packaging category, which saw growth in retail sales of 49 percent in 2008 and 44 percent in 2007. Given the increasing popularity of boxed wines among wine drinkers and wineries, Scholle Packaging felt the time was right for a comprehensive Web 2.0 website devoted to this innovative packaging.

AddThis Feed Button AddThis Social Bookmark Button

About McDonald’s

March 26th, 2009 rbirkey Posted in Chicago Web Design, Flash Design, News Blog, Nightstand No Comments »

In a follow-up to our January Nightstand 10 event, Headstand Media would like to let all our friends and clients know that Steve Wilson’s Global Web Communications team at McDonald’s just launched a new McDonald’s corporate website at http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com.

Steve mentioned the soon-to-launch project in his Nightstand presentation on January 22nd, and now you can view it live online since it launched on March 23, 2009.

A number of Nightstand attendees participated in this project. Pay particular attention to the new “web 2.0″ look and feel, the home page “main tout” and the Interactive Timeline features. The interactive elements were developed as Flash files designed to import external image and text assets through editable XML and image libraries. Also note two new sections targeted at some influential “web 2.0″ audiences: Students and the Media Center.

Also, we encourage you to subscribe to the About McDonald’s RSS feed which will alert you to any new stories that are posted to the site.

McDonald's Corporate Website - Before

McDonald's Corporate Website - Before

About McDonald's Home Page - After

About McDonald's Home Page - After

AddThis Feed Button AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Liberty Guide Launches New Website

March 14th, 2009 rbirkey Posted in Chicago Web Design, News Blog No Comments »

LibertyGuide.com provides a comprehensive, easy-to-search index of resources that will help scholars and other intellectuals pursue their interest in the ideas of freedom. Users create profiles and then explore the constantly-growing database of organizations, events, opportunities, and people.

LibertyGuide is a project of the Institute for Humane Studies, an Arlington, VA-based non-profit at George Mason University that provides assistance and educational opportunities to undergraduates, graduate students, and other scholars pursuing the ideas of individual liberty in their careers.

IHS contracted Headstand Media in 2008 for our expertise in:

  • A new logo and identity design
  • A new web 2.0 style interface design
  • Content organization and user experience design
  • Design compatible with Ektron content management system

The site uses the Ektron CMS (content management system) based on Microsoft .NET and SQL Server database technology.

The resulting logo and user interface design work of Headstand Media can now be viewed online at www.LibertyGuide.com

Liberty Guide Home Page

Liberty Guide Home Page

AddThis Feed Button AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Livingstone Corporation Launches New Website

July 21st, 2008 rbirkey Posted in Chicago Web Design, News Blog No Comments »

Livingstone Home Page DesignChicago web design company Headstand Media launched a new website for Livingstone Corporation on July 11, 2008 in time for their participation at the ICRS show (International Christian Retail Show, formally known as CBA) in Orlando, Florida. The new site is built around emerging “Web 2.0″ strategies, designed to help re-brand and reposition the firm as it transitions from a book producer to a new media branding and marketing company.

Upon returning from ICRS, Christopher Ribaudo, Livingstone’s Chief Brand and Marketing Strategist stated that they had received “Strong, positive responses to our new web presence. It’s definitely helping us in our brand and marketing communication goals.”

Headstand Media harnessed the open source WordPress content management system to build the site within. This tool uses open source PHP, mySQL, Javascript and Ajax technologies.

The site features include:

  • Blogging
  • RSS Feeds
  • Commenting
  • Content tagging
  • Flash Video content
  • Flash animation
  • Expanding-collapsing Javascript/PHP navigation
  • Integrated Email List Subscribe
  • Integrated Web forms

Headstand Media is continuing to work with Livingstone on a longer-term search engine optimization strategy.

AddThis Feed Button AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Southport Grocey & Cafe Launches New Web 2.0 E-Commerce Website!

June 25th, 2008 rbirkey Posted in Chicago Web Design, News Blog, WordPress No Comments »

Southport Grocery and Cafe WebsiteHeadstand Media and its customer, Southport Grocery & Cafe (SGC), are pleased to announce the launch of a new “Web 2.0” e-commerce website at www.southportgrocery.com. The new site is the result of several months of coordinated business strategy planning and communication between Headstand Media and Southport Grocery & Cafe.

A Healthy Business

Southport Grocery & Cafe was founded by Lisa Santos, fulfilling a life long dream to open her own food service business. Lisa has built a thriving Chicago Lakeview neighborhood business at their Southport Corridor location (near Chicago’s Wrigley Field). The business has received many local and national awards and media attention for their modern and new, yet accessible and comforting food and dining atmosphere.

Get “The Cupcake”

Southport Grocery & Cafe is also the place to get “The Cupcake” – the best cupcake in Chicago! The new website will soon facilitate online ordering of these incredibly delicious treats for overnight delivery anywhere in the continental US.

Community

SGC approached Headstand Media because they desired to grow their business through a more effective and targeted online presence, that harnesses many “Web 2.0” networking features such as blogs, RSS feeds, tagging, commenting, and more. These features are designed to build upon and extend the warm and inviting personality of the physical location with their existing neighborhood and customer base, into a growing online community.

Project Design and Technology

The new web interface design is based upon the pre-existing SGC branding standards. Headstand Media recommended the search engine friendly WordPress content management system (CMS), along with the CubeCart e-commerce shopping cart system. These open source tools allowed Headstand Media to provide a rapid redesign and implementation schedule when compared to a custom built application.

“I am increasingly impressed with the simplicity, flexibility and extendability of these open source Web 2.0 tools,” commented Randal Birkey, Headstand Media founder. “I have a hard time recommending other solutions to my customers these days because of the incredible value that can be found in using open source tools and working within the collaborative open source community.”

Headstand Media, Creative Strategist Benjamin Nelson also added that,

“Web technology should be a servant of the creative and business objectives, and not the other way around. We are discovering how well these open source tools accomplish that.”

Finally, Kyle Williams, Headstand’s SEO Specialist commented that,

“WordPress and some other open source tools like it can be great helps to our customers in maintaining search engine friendly websites. These Web 2.0 tools force our customers to follow good SEO principles and techniques as they manage the content of their sites.”

AddThis Feed Button AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Different Cremation Urn Website Launch

April 2nd, 2008 digitalbenjamin Posted in Chicago Web Design, News Blog No Comments »

Different Cremation and Funeral UrnsHeadstand Media is pleased to announce the launch of the new Different Cremation Urn website found at www.differentcremationurn.com. The website design by Headstand Media, was created to work along side David Orth’s primary Orth Furniture business website. David’s custom urns are all one of a kind, beautiful pieces of art. Each bronze cremation urn is handcrafted with a hidden opening, various patina options and can be inscribed with a personal message.

“Cremation urns don’t have to be trinkets or oddities that someday you may wonder what to do with. An urn can be something beautiful and resonate, something that gathers and enfolds memories and personal loss, carrying them forward into the larger human prayer and struggle.” – designer/sculptor David Orth

Headstand Media not only created the user interface for Different Cremation Urn website, but also created a custom Order Request Process that allows a user to select the unique specifications they’d like for their urn, and then submit that request to David Orth. Lastly, Headstand Media provided valuable Search Engine Optimization services and web marketing expertise on this project. Please visit www.differentcremationurn.com today!

AddThis Feed Button AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Sunshine Gospel Ministries Website Launch

April 1st, 2008 rbirkey Posted in Chicago Web Design, News Blog No Comments »

Sunshine Gospel Ministries Website LaunchHeadstand Media is pleased to announce the launch of a new Sunshine Gospel Ministries website found at www.sunshinegospel.org. The website design by Headstand Media, was integrated using the open source Drupal Content Management System and launched on March 24, 2008. Drupal is built upon open source PHP and MySQL technologies. It is also extremely search engine friendly and will enhance the Sunshine SEO rankings and traffic over time. Headstand provided customer training in the use of this powerful Web 2.0 CMS tool and once trained, this tool has allowed customer staff members to enter and keep the site content up to date using a standard web browser.

Also integrated into the new site was an updated and more contemporary Sunshine brand logo and tagline; “Seeking the Renewal of the City.” Headstand Media is also preparing multiple print materials using the new logo design and web design format, so that the ministry presents itself visually in a consistent and coordinated manner. The new print materials include: business cards, letterhead, envelopes, ministry logos, brochures, forms and other newsletters.

The site features multiple videos explaining various aspects of the ministry from mission and vision to program descriptions and the racial reconciliation philosophy. The videos were shot and edited by LifeFocus Productions, and converted into Flash Video format for integration on the website. Also included is a full site search tool, commenting, RSS feeds, event calendar and animated Flash photos.

Sunshine Gospel also uses eTapestry for its donor record and communication software and databases. Headstand Media worked with eTapestry to integrate several secure web forms that allow site visitors to set up online donations, or payments for classes or other event registrations.

The new website positions Sunshine Gospel Ministries with a new contemporary image and will enable it to perform much better in the search engines, as it connects with the community it serves, the surrounding Chicago area supporting churches, and a growing college student audience interested in their Bridge Builders urban ministry training program.

AddThis Feed Button AddThis Social Bookmark Button