Cascade Web Development

Train reflections: Intern out!

2011-08-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

Hello all! My time at cascade this summer has been a blast, but for better or worse I have moved to a remote mountain village in Western Tottori Prefecture Japan as a Coordinator for International Relations with the JET Program. The basic rundown of my new digs is that it's my job to promote awareness and understanding among cultures. This month I've taught the "Hokey Pokey" dance to several pre-schools, and sang "I Want it That Way" by the Backstreet Boys as a part of an English lesson in the local middle school haha!

There's a lot I miss about Portland already, and cascade is a major part of that story, so I'd like to share a few closing remarks to that end. The post was inspired by this article.

Glamourous Lifestyle
Working at cascade was a lot of fun, but defiantly not glamourous! But you know what? I was totally cool with that. For example, one of my many important intern tasks was to fetch water for use in the camper style pluming system inside the train! Good thing I spent over $100K on my education. Had to do some serious calculations for that one! In all seriousness though, we all pitched in on the grunt work, because in a small business, those jobs NEED to get done. It's either that, or spend resources in a way that won't really help the company grow.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
These all use gas, cost money, and destroy the environment. One of my favorite parts about cascade was the genuine encouragement to find a way to get to work that didn't require any fossil fuels. Ben's habit of kayaking to work was always good fodder for jokes with my friends about how we should be put on an episode of Portlandia lol. I loved riding my bike to work, and even more so, I loved that everyone at the company is on the same page and tries to do the same. Not every company uses almost 50% of their office space for bike, kayak, wakeboard, and skateboard storage!

Dream Big
One of my main interests while getting my MBA from Willamette University was entrepreneurship, and Fritz is the real deal! Working with him was truly inspiring and I'm really excited to follow brandlive's future development. He's got such a clear idea of the purpose and trajectory for the service that he's landed some really major clients in just the first year of operations! A significant portion of what I did this summer was to get on board about how this service works and who it benefits and provide a sounding board for Fritz. I also spent several weeks painting a video studio in the storage rail car.

Business = People

It's no small thing that the CEO of the company responded this way to the following question:

Nick: "So, why do you think cascade has been doing so well for so long?"
Ben: "We've been REALLY lucky with the people we've hired. They have been star performers and nearly all of them stick around for a long time."

A lot of companies fall into the trap of forgetting that they only reason products or services exist is because people make them happen and other people find enough value in them to buy them. Ben's attitude was really refreshing and really shaped the company culture in a positive way.

Mata ne, cascade!

"Mata ne" is a phrase we use in Japanese to avoid saying "goodbye," but rather "until next time." I finally have internet in my little mountain town, so feel free to drop me a line at nick@cascadewebdev.net!

Blogs for Business: 5 Tips

2011-07-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

For whatever business you are in, writing a blog can be beneficial for showing your current and future clients what you are all about and what value you bring to the table. A few of our clients have asked us for advice regarding their company blog, which inspired the following list of 5 tips that can help!

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3961/bbbtp2.jpg

Tip 1 - Determine who you want to read the blog, then write to them
Every blog needs to keep in mind who it's readers are, but for business, it is even more important to be strategic about who reads it. Is your blog for retaining current customers? Attract new customers? Once you pick that group, keep in mind that you are making the blog to give relevant information to the people whom you CARE about! It's not about you, it's about them.

Tip 2 - Pick a topic and stick with it
Keeping a consistent theme will help readers remember you as a resource for information. If they can rely on your free information to add value in their lives, they will remember you when it comes time to consulting you on whatever paid product or service you provide! The theme could be anything, as long as it has a purpose and meaning to the people you intend to read it.

Tip 3 - Write about something you like
One of our clients recently asked "How can I get my co-workers to contribute to the company blog?" and one answer is to make it fun! If the subject you have picked is entertaining for those writing posts, their enthusiasm will transfer into better and more prolific writing. It's a fine line to walk, but a successful blog both is useful to your readers and satisfying to the writers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joelogon/866701286/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Tip 4 - Encourage reader participation
The biggest benefit of having a blog is not to distribute information, but rather the ability to engage readers directly on a given subject. It's essentially a free focus group online. The most obvious way to accomplish this is to respond to them if they comment on your post. You might also pose questions in your posts for readers to answer, or occasionally offering prizes of some sort.

Tip 5 - Tell everyone about your blog
Blogs work a lot better when they have readers. You'll have more motivation to write and readers will have more people to interact with. Getting to this point is the hard part. You have to put the link TO YOUR BLOG on every bit of promotional material you have. Tell people about it, Tweet it, post on Facebook, comment on other blogs, and/or whatever brings more traffic to your blog.

cascade's New Project Manager

2011-07-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

After a vigorous hiring process, cascade is welcoming Chris Hammond aboard as our newest project manager! Along with fellow project manager Kyle Bridges, they will be the Batman and Robin, the peanut butter and jelly, the Corona and lime, or whatever other great combination you can come up with to describe their dynamic dual punishment of pending projects!!

In an interview to determine the origins and psyche of this newest force at cascade, Chris has the following to say:

Last movie you saw in the theater - The opening night showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - I’m not what you’d call a Harry fanatic, but I can’t resist a good story coupled with pop culture frenzy.

Dream aspirations as a kid - I used to participate in lots of theatre as a kid, so becoming a performer was appealing. I started to become interested in politics as I grew older, and public service was and still is something that inspires me.

If you could be any superhero, who and why - Batman is pretty cool. He has all the material wealth you could want, but has experienced firsthand what it’s like to be hungry. He relies only on his physical abilities and tech know-how, plus he gets to fight some crazy villains that challenge him both physically and mentally.

Free trip to anywhere in the world, where and why - I’d love the chance to bum around Kauai for a while, geologically the oldest of the Hawaiian islands and full of unparalleled beauty.

Ever been in a fight, if so who started it - My twin brother and I have had some epic battles over the years, and I think we’re probably 50/50 as far as starting them. He’s the best person to fight with, though, because the fights are over about as quick as they start and things instantly return to normal, often to the dismay of witnesses.

Favorite restaurant in Portland - The late Doner Kabob, creator of the delicious sandwich that tasted “like a gyro, only better”... I hope it returns.

Biggest fear - Neglecting to let those I care for know it.

Nickname you had growing up - When my brother and I were about three years old, someone asked our names and we replied, “Jeff and Bonk”. I was Jeff. He was Bonk. I still don’t know where we came up with that...

What attracted you to working at Cascade - I appreciated the edge, vision and simplicity of the company. Cascade prides itself on creating long-lasting relationships with its clients, which was appealing to me. These guys work hard and have vibrant lives on and off the train.

Career goals - I’d like to get into public service someday. I also intend to be a change agent that helps small businesses, particularly in the Northwest, thrive.

How to Sign In to Multiple Google Accounts, Simultaneously

2011-07-19T11:40:00.001-07:00

Google has been making a lot of changes lately, and change is hard. We love Google for the most part, but with new improvements come new headaches! One issue brought by the new changes that has been frustrating for us is juggling personal and business accounts. Previously, you could have multiple Google Accounts open in the same browser, however now (after accepting new terms and conditions) it is harder to use multiple Google Accounts simultaneously. Given Google's responsiveness to user feedback, I'm assuming this account consolidation is still in BETA (at least I'm hoping this is true).

We came across a good how-to-guide to fix this problem, (See Reverse Symmetry) and wanted to share it with you in our own adaptation in 5 simple steps!

Step 1 - Click on your account name in the top, right hand corner. Select "Account Settings."

Step 2 - Go to "Security," and check status of "Multiple sign-in" field. If "Off", click edit.

Step 3 - On the following screen (below) select "On" and check all boxes below. Save.

You'll notice that Google currently only allows for multiple sign in for a handful of their products. Therefore, you will still encounter some difficulties when attempting to access several Google Products (i.e. Blogger, Adwords, Analytics) that you control via different accounts. Hopefully, they will add multiple sign in to the full suite of products soon.

Step 4 - Complete steps 1-3 for all necessary accounts.

Step 5 - Now, when you want to open another Google Account: click on your account name again, then "Switch Account". You should see a drop down with your multiple accounts. Select the name of the additional account to switch from one to the other OR right click the additional account you'd like to open and select "Open in New Tab" in your browser prompt.

That should do it! According to Reverse Symmetry, Google is now completing this process for you whenever you make a second account, but should you need to do it manually, this guide should cover you! Happy tab toggling! Hopefully, Google will soon improve this process...keep hope alive.

Page meltdown? Follow these 4 steps!

2011-07-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

The dreaded email subject: “Page Not Working.” This is a perfect time to call up your web developer, but to get the most help as fast as possible, be prepared to give them as much information about the problem as you can!

Source

Here is what you should give to your developer:

Step 1 – The exact error message. Try not to leave anything out!

Step 2 – The day and time the error message occurred

Step 3 – Information on what the user was doing right before the issue and when

Step 4 – Any system information from the user (browser, operating system, etc.)

With these 4 steps, your developer will be able to help identify and solve the issue much more quickly!

For the last step, it can be hard to know exactly what information is necessary and where to find it. Recently, I discovered an online tool that can help a lot in this regard called supportdetails.com. It gives all the system information a developer would need to know quickly and in one place! The best way to give this information to your developer is to create an email detailing steps 1-3, then download the supportdetails.com information by clicking on “Export PDF,” and include it as an attachment in your email.

Hope this helps!

Entering the Mobile Sector with Sokol Blosser and Aeries Development

2011-06-23T15:10:00.001-07:00

Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, the mobile web market has exploded in annual triple digit growth to become a multi-billion dollar industry with increasing smartphone and tablet options for consumers. Some sources even say that now 1 in 5 Internet users do NOT access the web with a "traditional" computer.

cascade has officially jumped into mobile web development and has slick new mobile site for Aeries Development and optimized form for Sokol Blosser!

Sokol Blosser was in need of a "cool" way for users to sign-up for their e-newsletter when handling Sokol Blosser's new iPads in the tasting room or at an event. When building the mobile form, we made several aesthetic changes (i.e. larger fonts and fields, field title overlays) and accounted for the variety of formatting differences between mobile devices, and the orientation of the devices (i.e. whether you're holding the device horizontally or vertically).

Aeries Development required an entirely new website fully optimized for mobile devices. If you view their site on your computer and then on your mobile device, the visual differences are slight. This is because the largest pain point of viewing their previous, non-optimized site on a mobile device was the time it took for the pages to load. Since the majority of their work is visually displayed, this was a large issue. By altering the way images and content were rendered, we vastly decreased loading time and provided a more efficient user experience. Other adjustments were also made to improve navigation both on the home and internal pages.

Here are a few items to consider when optimizing your site for mobile devices:

How should navigation be altered? - The vast majority of mobile devices' navigation is driven by touch. Therefore, your main navigation and buttons used throughout the site must be adjusted for fingers (accounting for skinny and fat figures should definitely be a consideration...no joke). Here few examples of issues you might want to look for: buttons/links that are too close to one another, buttons/links that are too small to pinpoint with your finger, and if buttons/links can be easily identified as such.
Screen size - Websites are normally designed to account for anywhere between 640 and 1280+ pixels. Mobile devices are obviously much, much smaller. Therefore, more often then not you'll need to reconsider the way your website navigation and page content is displayed (i.e. most websites switch from horizontal to vertical navigation during optimization). This can also include "cutting the fat" or removing some non-essential main navigation items and content since your "real estate" on a mobile screen is limited.
Loading time - Although mobile loading speeds have improved over the past few years, the load speed for bringing up a non-optimized site is leagues behind that of a traditional computer. There are however many ways to get around this snag. Some easier than others. This is usually determined on a case-by-case scenario.
Flash - Steve Jobs, why are you so stubborn?

Please contact us if you're interested in learning more about mobile optimization and/or want to explore this opportunity with your current site.

Three New Websites by cascade

2011-06-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

Here at cascade, we've had some pretty interesting clients recently: an ancient order of monks, insiders in the precious stones market, and a winery that encourages drinking by the light of the full moon. We dig it.

Trappist Abbey Book Bindery is owned and managed by Trappist monks, whose traditions have been past down for over 900 years. In a cloistered environment, this small abbey provides the utmost care and detail in their work. To visit their site, click here.

cascade has helped this traditional business by better connecting them with their modern clients through developing an online order system using evergreen CMS. This new system allows the Book Bindery to track each order to completion directly on their evergreen menu.

Dolce prides itself on providing customers with exclusive jewels, handcrafted into wearable works of art. With a team of top quality designers and an owner who has access to the world’s finest gemstones, Dolce provides unparalleled exclusivity in jewelry production.

Along with web designer Whalen Louis, cascade provided Dolce with a website that could deliver a high level of design while including powerful features such as artist management, online storefront, and product management. Click on the picture above about to learn more.

Ardiri Winery and Vineyards offers customers a delectable selection of wines grown in the Willamette and Napa Valleys, which are served at their beautiful tasting room in Washington County Oregon. Wine purchase and information on events rental is available from their evergreen powered website.

With a newly remodeled tasting room, cascade and Topaz Design provided the online re-branding necessary to drive traffic to their improved location. Using evergreen, updating photos of the new facility, managing orders, and scheduling events have been made easy. Visit our portfolio to see for yourself!

cascade Adds a New Team Member

2011-06-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

Last week we added a new member to the cascade team. Nick Woolsey is joining us this summer as an intern before heading to Japan to work abroad. Nick just received his MBA from Willamette University and has extensive experience working/studying overseas, specifically in Japan. I ran Nick through the gauntlet of rookie questions, and here is what he had to say:

First job - Swamper at Polehn Farms. Not for the faint of heart. I worked in a cherry orchard riding around in a tractor, picking up 25lb buckets of cherries, and pouring those cherries into bins. 104 degree heat, 10-12 hours a day, those buckets get heavy pretty fast!

Last movie you saw in the theater - Sadly...Hangover 2. It was one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

Dream aspirations as a kid - I wanted to be a geologist!

If you could be any superhero, who and why - Man, I am going to have to geek out...Goku from Dragonball Z. He can teleport to anywhere in the universe, fly, harness the power of the universe in a huge bomb, and his power level is OVER 9000!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBtpyeLxVkI)

Free trip to anywhere in the world, where and why - Absolutely Mongolia! My college roommate was from Mongolia, and it sounds awesome! Not a very hospitable place in terms of climate, but it has a very rich culture. I taught myself to throat sing too!

Ever been in a fight, if so, who started it - Well, through middle school I'd be in schoolyard fights all the time. It was all mostly for fun though, we were all into WWF at the time. Oh man, we would imitate all the moves from Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, the Undertaker, D-Generation X. Probably a bad idea hahahaha.

Favorite restaurant in Portland - Al-Amir, the oldest Lebanese restaurant in Portland. Went there for the first time last week for my Moroccan friend's birthday. Big family style meal with all sorts of delectable dishes. It was LEGIT.

Biggest fear - Mosquitoes. Hate those bugs. My uncle took me to Yosemite National Park when I was like 6, forgot the bug spray, and there were so many mosquitoes that I couldn't breathe with out filling my nose and mouth with them. Yea. Hate mosquitoes.

Nickname you had growing up - Nickelodeon. The theme song was "Nick Nick Nick Nick Nick Nick Nick, Nickelodeon," so I heard that quite a few times hahaha.

What attracted you to working at cascade - I'm interested in starting my own new venture using streaming video technology, so learning from Fritz and Ben about how they have developed brandlive was a big plus.

Career goals - I'd like to get into social entrepreneurship. Either starting my own venture, or working with a company that is able to take a social idea and scale it from community based to a model that is effective globally.

Coming soon, Cascade Train shirts

2011-05-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

What do you think. Let's not be shy, these are rad! Now we just need to get them printed and you have to come see us on the train to get one.

cascade Welcomes Ike to the Family

2011-05-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, the Brumder family added a new member to their household, and the cascade team! Mom and, new baby boy, Ike William Denk Brumder are both healthy and doing well. Congrats to Fritz, Molly, and Solari on the new addition to their family and ours.

Mom and the new baby boy Ike William Denk Brumder are both healthy and doing well. Congrats to Fritz, Molly, and Solari.

Down Time

2011-03-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

There are certain words, or combinations of them, that can cause any web development team to cringe. "Server" and "Crash" are, ideally, to be separated at all times and uttered in the same labored breath as rarely as possible.

A server going down usually translates into justifiably unhappy clients, an over-stressed web team, a very long night for all of thee above, and, in many cases, a loss of confidence internally and externally.

Unfortunately, the scenario of a tech team pounding away at keyboards in the middle of the night, slightly resembling character geek stereotypes from a TV drama (I’m picturing Chloe from 24), is not rare enough. Despite the efforts of the best technical minds our there, it happens. Taxes will be collected, we will all grow old (even with the best plastic surgeon), and your site will go down. The real trick is expedient recovery and, in the worst case, restoration of data on a new server. For some companies, the website is an extension or tool of marketing. For others, its a hub of vital business logic and process. For cascade, we fall under each category and treat them accordingly.

In September of 2010, JPMorgan Chase, the second largest bank in the world’s largest economy, with an IT budget and staff that would rival some small nations, suffered a complete outage that lasted not for an hour, not for half a day, but for THREE DAYS! For three long days, customers were unable to log-in, transfer money, make payments, or even check their balance. In January of 2009, then popular blogging platform JournalSpace actually ceased operation. Not only could they not get the site up; they literally could not retrieve any data. For an unknown number of users, six years of witty family reenactments and how-to posts were instantly gone. (Could you imagine the uprising of Mom bloggers if this happened today? Horrifying.) After weeks of failed attempts at data recovery (reportedly costing the company more money than they had made the prior year), users were informed that the site would cease operation.

Cascade has been fortunate enough to have impressive collective up-time, but we don't take this for granted. When we have had problems, we've generally been able to isolate the issue (i.e. a site going down does not mean you don't get email) and bring things back up in a comparatively expedient manner. The fact that we backup early and often is what allows us to sleep at night. When we do encounter an issue, our first priority is to do whatever it takes to get things back up and running. Our second priority is to evaluate exactly what went wrong and how we can prevent recurrence. In the event that prevention is not possible, how can we minimize the risk or at the very least improve recovery time? This is the silver lining for us as a smart web company. Having an outage is a huge problem but what we learn from it almost always makes us more stable in the long run.

After hosting our clients web sites for almost a decade, we have a robust set of protocols for prevention and recovery but will never call it “good enough”. Regardless of whether you are hosting with cascade web//development or anyone else, realize that the most important questions are, not whether your site will go down (it will), but how fast it will come back up and are the proper backups in place to ensure it will come back up at all.

How to Post on a Facebook Page as Yourself

2011-02-14T16:44:00.000-08:00

In addition to the list of features I outlined in Pros and Cons of Facebook's Page Updates, Facebook has added another feature to the new Pages area.

As a Page admin, you previously could not post, comment, etc. on the Page you admin AND have that message appear from your personal account. Messages were always posted as the Page alias.

Not anymore...

Facebook now allows you to toggle between posting as the Page and posting as yourself on a Page you admin. To post as yourself:

Visit the Page you admin
Click the "Edit Page" button in the top right
Find "Your Settings" in the sub-navigation in the left column (its the first option)
Uncheck the "Posting Preferences" box

When you want to switch back to posting as the Page, just complete steps 1-3 and recheck the "Posting Preferences" box.

Its easy to do but a confusing topic to put into words so hopefully this all makes sense! If not, feel free to post any questions on cascade's Facebook page.

Pros & Cons of Facebook's Page Updates

2011-02-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

Today, Facebook announced their recent slew of design changes and addition of new features. These recent updates definitely have their Pros and Cons, but one new feature will have a HUGE impact on how businesses are able to communicate within Facebook:

New Pages Design - Most users already migrated to the new Profile layout since its introduction back in December. Facebook is now offering this "new" design to Page admins.

Pro: More design flexibility, especially with the new image bar.
Con: Page Tabs aren't as noticeable in the left column as they were above the Wall. You're out-of-luck if you're not a fan of the new layout--ALL old profiles/pages will be converted by March 1, 2011

Post Filter - Page admins can choose between sorting Wall posts by the default view or "Everyone", which sorts posts in an order Facebook deems as most relevant.

Pro & Con: I'm indifferent on this one. Need more time to see if this holds any value.

"Use Facebook as Page" - This is a early Christmas present for Page admins (or maybe I'm just revealing my Facebook geekiness). This feature allows page admins to use Facebook under their Page's alias. Now admins can post, comment, share, etc. as their Page rather than using their personal profile. This feature can be accessed in the Account drop down (top right corner) by selecting "Use Facebook as Page".

Pro: Directly reach out to brands, sales leads, customers, business partners, etc. without using your personal profile. You can also manage your notification settings so you don't receive an email every time someone interacts with your Page.
Con: When you switch to a Page alias, your Wall, notifications (in navigation bar), friends, likes, comments, etc. change to those associated with the Page rather than your personal account.

Tab Apps and Iframes - Custom tabs and apps for Pages can be built using iframes instead of FBML. This comes to no surprise as Facebook has been increasing the usage of iframes and slowly killing the FBML platform (which Facebook will deprecate on March, 11 2011).

Pro: Tab Names lengths are not under as strict of limitations with the new Page layout.
Con: FBML fans will have to make the switch to iframes. (Not necessarily a bad thing)

All-in-all I'm a big fan of the recent updates. Much thanks to insidefacebook.com for making the announcement.

cascade's Early Christmas Present

2010-12-17T15:51:00.000-08:00

Earlier this summer, cascade was able to share our passion of computers with a group of children across the globe through One Laptop per Child. This amazing non-profit strives to equip underprivileged children with specially designed laptops for educational and personal use. One Laptop's mission and their XO Laptop technology are best summarized in the organization's explanatory video.

Cascade's donation, made specifically by Ben McKinley and Fritz Brumder, went to Chakuwama, a unique childrens' orphanage in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. The donation included a XO Laptop for the children and a personal Dell Laptop for the Chakuwama office staff, a gift for their amazing sacrifices.

Last week, Fritz received an email with images of the children enjoying their new XO Laptop. An awesome early Christmas present for all of us at cascade, especially for Fritz.

Fritz has been working with the children of Chakuwama since 1999 when he visited Tanzania and was introduced to the orphanage. For more about the amazing woman behind Chakuwama and the children involved, please view Fritz's Chakuwama documentary.

To learn how you can donate to One Laptop per Child please visit laptop.org.

Portland Chosen for Google Hotpot

2010-12-10T02:52:00.001-08:00

Santa isn't the only one delivering presents across Portland.

Today on Google's Places blog, the tech company announced our beloved PDX was chosen for the launch of their first local Hotpot campaign. Hotpot is an enhanced feature of Google Places. It allows users to rate local businesses and see friends' ratings both during Google searches and in the Hotpot rating app. Google summarizes Hotspot best as:

a local recommendation engine powered by you and your friends

Why was Portland chosen? Because we're awesome. Literally, that's what they said...or at least that's how I read it. You be the judge:

Portland is a tech savvy, forward-thinking city with a history of innovation and some of the best coffee houses, microbreweries and parks in the country. Whether you know it as The City of Roses, Stumptown, P-Town, Rip City or just PDX, Portland’s thriving local business community and strong heritage of being a trailblazer made it a great choice for us to try something new.

Google will be working with several Portland businesses educating them about Places and providing them with Business Kits (businesses can request one if they have a Places page). These kits mainly include marketing material and instructions on how business can benefit from Places and Hotpot.

Voodoo Donuts and fans at tonight's Blazers v. Magic game are already benefiting from Google being in town. They're also taking a group of the top 5 Hotpot users in Portland out for dinner through their second Hotpot Jackpot.

Read more about Hotpot, Google Places and where you might see them around town in the Hotpot Portland announcement, "Trailblazing in Portland".

By Kyle Bridges

A Different Take on Social Media

2010-11-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

Blog titles are meant to have attention grabbing titles, but this one was a slap in the face: Why You Should Consider Turning Your Back on Social Media.

As I read on, the shock wore off and the author, David Port, better explained his position. David argues that not all companies are built for social media. This is true as it requires a lot of behind the scenes work. However, more often than not companies "turn their back" on social media because they fail to create an upfront strategy.

Think about it. You have the potential to reach over 500 million customers. Do you (A) "give it a shot" or (B) plan a campaign with a thorough understanding of your strategy, goals, target audience, and a desired ROI in mind?

What goes into a strategy is a topic for another day. Here are a few ways a social media strategy could help solve issues cited by those in the article:

Time/Staff Management: The very basic social media efforts involve much more than simply posting a 140 character message. Dedicating a full time employee to researching, creating and properly implementing engaging content isn't an option for most companies. When bestowing the responsibility on a current staff member ensure he/she is a great writer, interested/involved in social media and has time to add this on to their current workload.

Setting a Priority Level: How do you balance social media with the normal daily grind? This is unique to each individual or company. Before diving into social media, set a priority level and determine where it ranks among every day business processes. Adjust this process as your social media presence and business evolve.

Is It Right for Your Industry?: Maybe not...or maybe you're just thinking about it the wrong way. Take a step back and think how your company can gain a competitive advantage with social media. Choose a unique approach, be creative and put yourself in the customer's shoes.

Still think its not for you?

What is one industry that doesn't belong on Facebook. Funeral Homes? Now search Facebook for the term and see what you find...

Although a strategy will help, I'm not saying social media will benefit every business. However, there are over 500 million potential reasons why it could...

Read more of David Port's article here.

Movember

2010-11-05T15:18:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term "Movember", here's a brief history lesson.

Movember is a hybrid word for "Mo" as in moustache and November. The basic ideology behind the term is for men to grow a moustache throughout the month of November. Your initial question most likely is...why? Why would you dedicate a month to growing one of the least attractive facial hair styles? (no offense if you rock a moustache the 11 other months of year, be proud that you can pull it off as very few can)

The idea began in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia in the idea of bringing back the moustache as a joke, but also raising awareness to men's health issues. In 2004, Movember became an official campaign and was directed towards fundraising and raising awareness for prostate cancer. The campaign quickly spread internationally. In 2009, nearly 256,000 men sported the stache with over one million raising 42 million for Movember's charity partners.

So...to help the cause a few of the fellas at cascade are attempting to sport the stache for Movember (some are adopting beard-vember). Its been a rough start, and we very well might scare off business this month, but we're down with anything that supports the cause. Be sure to visit our Facebook page throughout the month to track our progress.

For info on Movember and how to support the fight against prostate cancer, visit movember.com.

Rewarded for Employee Health

2010-09-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

Much thanks to the Portland Business Journal for noticing cascade's efforts to promote healthy, active lifestyles amongst the workforce. We took home the #6 spot in the 5-99 employees category at the Oregon's Healthiest Employers Awards earlier this month.

This is a win-win for us. We're extremely grateful for the recognition, and, frankly, we enjoy being active. Literally, all of our employees have made the choice to be active not only for the health benefits without anyone twisting their arm to do so (except on Sunday mornings). Whether its biking, running, skiing/snowboarding, hitting the gym or competing in many of Portland's plethora of competitions (see An Event that Took Our Breath Away) it's just something we enjoy. We also encourage healthy living by offering various incentives for our employees.

Hopefully, we'll be able to keep this up and maybe take home the #1 spot next year!

An Event that Took Our Breath Away

2010-09-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend the cascade crew competed in the Oyster Urban Adventure Race which had us literally running in circles all over Portland. The race combines a scavenger hunt with all types of physical activities. Throughout the 3-4 hour race we biked up Mt Tabor, played beer pong, found the world's smallest park, completed an obstacle course at a rock climbing gym, tasted some food cart delicacies, tried not to plow over children while sprinting through the zoo and kayaked under the Burnside bridge, amongst other tasks.

Here are some stats on our mileage:

Foot = 6.7 miles
Bike = 14.7
Total = 21.4 (Hence the reason why it took our breath away)

Even though we didn't capture first place, we had a blast!

Ready to start

Post-Race

The Oyster Race takes places in several cities across the US. Be sure to register when it comes to your town next year.

Capital Bikeshare: a Zipcar on Two Wheels

2010-08-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

Cascade recently collaborated with Alta Bicycle Share on an exciting new project that incorporates sustainability, economic efficiency and physical activity all in one. Capital Bikeshare allows commuters or those out for a leisurely ride to rent bike from stations throughout the city and return them at an entirely different location across town. As daily commuters ourselves, cascade was right at home helping build a website for Capital Bikeshare.

CapitalBikeshare.com, operated on Wordpress, combines a clean front end design (done by a local DC designer) with a robust secure members area. Through the website and 3rd party software, Bikeshare members have access to the account information, payment options and their activity level on the bikes (i.e. mileage, usage, etc).

Visit the Our Work page of our website for more about our work with Capital Bikeshare.

brandlive Now Lives on the Web

2010-08-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

You've heard us mention brandlive since last October when Nordica helped cascade launch our newest web solution. After living within cascade's online environment, brandlive now has it's own web presence.

Cascade recently launched yourbrandlive.com as the home of the live communication tool. The site features client testimonial videos, an internal blog with support topics and details on how companies can make their brands live around the world. It also includes a list of brandlive's current clients and describes how they're using the tool to improve their business processes and enhance marketing efforts. A brandlive Facebook page was also created. (Be sure to "Like" our page)

Brandlive is a live video broadcast tool that allows companies to communicate with clients, employees and end consumers. Viewers of the live broadcast can interact with the presenter via chat creating an unscripted experience that mimicks a face-to-face interaction one would have in a retail store, meeting, event, etc. The brandlive environment is designed to match the clients brand by incorporating brand design elements. We took this a step further by literally replacing the word "brand" in brandlive with the clients brand.

For more information on this truly innovative and unique communication experience, please visit yourbrandlive.com.

TWEAK: A Social Media Phenomenon

2010-07-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

TWEAK left footprints all over the web on their first day of business creating a social media frenzy. TWEAK is one of the many companies finding success today by leveraging social media to generate brand awareness and increase profits. Cascade was thrilled to be along for the ride and to facilitate this brand launch by building the TWEAK site on the evergreen CMS.

TWEAK's motto: "It's Your Brand", couldn't be more true. The evergreen based site follows those same principles by incorporating a ton of social media goodness and custom user features. One of the coolest features on the site is how users are able to alter the site's colors and upload background images to really make the TWEAK site their own.

Aside from customizing the site, TWEAK's customers help shape product development thanks to TWEAK's genius business model. Basically, they leverage internet celebrities' audiences to generate brand awareness and supplement product research and development. For their first shoe, TWEAK called upon Rhett&Link, aka "Internetainers", to solicit design ideas from their thousands of followers. The response was incredible as ideas poured in from twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The designs ranged from functional to ridiculous with everything from velcro high-tops to bacon flip-flops. Rhett&Link then produced a series of videos commenting on the entries which served as a critical piece of the product development process and increased the audience's anticipation for TWEAK's first shoe release.

Upon product launch TWEAK barely went 4 minutes without a sale and had comments pouring in from every corner of the social media space. We are extremely excited to be such an integral part of TWEAK's success and can't wait for the launch of their next product.

Cascade Brand Announcement

2010-07-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

We recently announced the launch of our new brand, logo and website. Here is an excerpt from our new story regarding our make-over. For the full story with more about how our company has evolved, check out our news page.

Cascade Web Development is quickly breaking free of our web development tag and transforming into engineers of industry leading online solutions. With the introduction of brandlive by Ben and Fritz Brumder, a Cascade Web Development veteran, more and more national and local companies are beginning to adopt these technologies. The Portland Developmental Commission (PDC) saw this potential and recently awarded the Portland based company with a working capital loan.

To culminate our rapid growth and better explain our brand structure, we realized we needed a new identity; One that provides stronger brand recognition and does not limit our abilities in consumer's eyes. In a similar situation to companies like Apple and Google, we decided to establish an umbrella brand which houses our current solutions. With that said, we would like to introduce a new look and ideology behind our family of brands.

Cascade was chosen as the name for the parent brand using web//development as a secondary title. Cascade appropriately represents the company in a strong and memorable manner yet personifies a more modern feel than Cascade Web Development was able to accomplish. The logo specifically expresses our strengths as a web services provider and our ability to develop custom solutions to meet our client's needs.

You'll also notice a different visual expression of our three solutions: evergreen, whitepass and brandlive. Each brand features a similar style and color pattern yet individually elicit a unique and distinguishable brand image. We hope these logos will become commonplace in our industry and personify each solution's features and functions at first glance.

As always, we thank you for your commitment to cascade and will continue to support your business with innovative solutions and tools to help you evolve.

New Addition to cascade

2010-07-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Cam, cascade's Director of Business Development, and his wife Rachel on the birth of their first child. Bennett Clear was born in the wee hours of the morning on July 21st.

We are thrilled to have a new edition to the cascade family and couldn't be happier for Cam and Rachel.

Sorry for the Lapse

2010-07-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lack of posts this month. We've been extremely busy at Cascade prepping for a major announcement this week.

Be sure to keep checking the blog and follow us on our twitter and Facebook pages to ensure you hear the news first.

New E-commerce Sites Launch on Evergreen

2010-07-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

What happened to June?!? Before we even had time to enjoy the month, it was already over. All of us at Cascade were too busy geeking-out on 2 awesome, new websites to even notice the start of summer (well, maybe not in Portland).

June marked the launch of 2 new websites for 2 progressive product companies. Both sites included heavy doses of e-commerce and design in vastly different business environments.

JoFit Women's Performance Apparel

Sokol Blosser Winery

Check out this News Article for a project overview or the relevant posts on our Portfolio page for more details.

Taking Home Some Hardware

2010-06-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Finally, we have a trophy to put on the shelf. The Cascade crew had a great time last night at the Portland Business Journal's 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies banquet at the Portland Art Museum. Congratulations again to our clients who also made the list:

AKT Services, LLP #88
Papa Murphy's International #89
Info Group Northwest #32
Lewis and Clark Bank #16

Water Logged

2010-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

You might think we're all brain, but there's some brawn mixed in as well.

A few weeks ago we took a company rafting outing to the Clackamas River and navigated the rough waters thanks to our guides at Blue Sky Rafting. Due to our Portland-esque spring weather, the water was insanely high which made for a turbulent and speedy ride. After a few cliffs jumps and potential raft spills, we made it out safely and lived to tell about it.

Check out the rest of our trip photos on the Cascade Facebook page.

Just Do It

2010-06-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

The term made world famous by Nike seemed a fitting title when I discovered the success story of fashion brand Burberry's use of live video to sell product. "Just do it" is most perfectly used for the moment before the leap of faith that a person or a brand makes when trying something new.

To be an early adopter takes guts and in business deep pockets. The inevitable course corrections take skill, insight and an ability to sustain. However, the moment the path has been charted by a select few is the moment to Just do it.

For the launch of it's fall 2010 line, Burberry used live video (in 3D) to broadcast the exclusive runway show to thousands of buyers that could not be there in person. During the broadcast, viewers could ask questions and chat with each other and Burberry staff. For the 72 hours following the show, viewers could buy the exclusive merchandise, sight unseen, before it hit retail stores. Burberry will continue their use of live video for Spring/Summer by broadcasting the show direct on their website. Read more on the Mashable website.

Supporting Your Audience on brandlive

2010-06-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

A lot of technologies are built with hundreds of bells and whistles that 90% of users never know exist, let alone need. For brandlive, we purposely left out all those unnecessary features making it simple for you to implement and even easier for your viewers to operate.

Given it's ease of use, it is extremely rare for a viewer to experience a technological issue with brandlive. Regardless, we still want you to be prepared for those rare circumstances.

Below you'll find a short list of troubleshooting topics to refer to when an audience member encounters a problem. Follow these steps when you are hosting a brandlive session to ensure you and your customers get the most out of broadcast:

If customers are having problems seeing the live video, ask them to refresh their browser OR click the "arrow circle" in the lower left corner of the video player.
If the video keeps 'buffering" (meaning they get a little spinning wheel), remind your viewers that video plays best when only a few web pages and computer applications are open.
No audio? First try the volume button and make sure you have speakers. If they do not work, suggest headphones for the next live session.
If your customer reports not seeing a video screen at all, only a puzzle piece in it's place, they will need to install adobe flash (http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/).

That should be it! We've worked out the kinks saving you the troubleshooting headaches. Brandlive is easy to use and should not require much support. If you do encounter a problem not listed above, please contact us.

Linking Social Media Channels to Facebook

2010-06-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Sure, Facebook allows you to upload and post your own media files in tabs, but, as a business with time already invested in Flickr, YouTube, twitter, etc. are the time worth it? Granted they give users a peek into the personality of your business, but why not just link your audience to your other social media accounts?

Thanks to the app developers at involver, you can link all those social media channel to your Facebook page in the blink of an eye. Involver developed a series of apps you can insert in the Tabs bar of your Facebook page linking users to your YouTube channel, Twitter feed, Flickr galleries, RSS feed, etc.

It is a free and easy, 5 minute installation process that cleanly integrates with the Facebook interface. Check it out on the Cascade Facebook page.

Brandlive: What camera should I use?

2010-06-10T21:24:00.000-07:00

When broadcasting live video, what is the best camera to use:

BUILT IN CAMERA: Your first and easiest option is to use the built in camera on your computer. Typically these cameras are about 2-4 megepixels on the newest modules. PRO: is is easy to use, requires little set up and works without fail 99.9% of the time. CON: They do not handle light changes very well so if you are moving around the camera will re-focus and change aperture and it is only good picture quality, not great.
Logitech USB WEB CAM: These cameras create a really nice image. They are getting better and better every day. Some even come in HD. However, it is important to note that mac/apple don't always work with USB web cameras. Be sure to read if the camera is mac compatible. PRO: really nice picture quality, easy to use, you can get them in wide angle, they often come with a mic built in and you can control zoom with a PC. CON: predictability on a mac, great but not the best possible picture, ability to zoom easily while broadcasting and lack of tri-pod connections.
CAMCORDER: The highest end option in terms of features and video quality, camcorders provide a number of benefits but there are some things you need to know. 1. the camera must be a mini DV camera with firewire and your computer must have firewire. 2. settings on the camera must be adjusted right for light, exposure and sleep settings. PRO: ability to zoom, ability to record a local copy of the video, tri-pod hook ups, wide angle attachments and picture quality. CON: More options means more can go wrong, firewire is not available on all computers and it requires more set up and lighting.

We hope this helps you make the right choice. All options will provide a high quality brandlive video experience, so pick the one that seems right for you.

Web Cameras:
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/webcam_communications/webcams/

Camcorders:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Electronics/Cameras-Camcorders/abcat0403001.c?id=abcat0403001

Getting the Most Out of Your brandlive Sessions

2010-06-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

Below you'll find several ideas on how to add value through your brandlive sessions:

USE IT and do so often. Make it a practice to frequently broadcast sessions with customers and employees so they're accustom to using it and recognize it as part of your business process.
Perfect your pitch. As with any speech and presentation, you want your points to be concise and direct.
Place yourself in the viewers shoes. What are the best methods to engaging the viewer and enhancing their experience?
Be personable. Talk to the audience as if you were face to face. This is were you add the most value. Joke around, make conversation, don't be stale--just be yourself!
Be prepared for questions. You never know what you'll be asked.
Be creative. Use brandlive where ever you see potential. Set up sessions at events. Use it as a social media tool. Make company announcement via brandlive. We don't limit you on how you can use it so why limit yourself?
Evolve. None of our solutions at Cascade are out-of-the-box tools. Brandlive is no exception. If you have an idea on how to improve it, lets talk about it. We're always open to new ideas.

Honored by the Portland Business Journal

2010-05-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Portland Business Journal released their annual list of the Top 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies, and we were thrilled to see Cascade Web Development included in this prestigious group. We are extremely humbled by our inclusion in this list and proud that we are able to keep are heads above water in this difficult economy.

We sincerely thank you for supporting us and for your commitment to Cascade.

We thoroughly enjoy our relationships with our great clients and partners (well, at least 90% of the time). It is amazing to be able to say that we genuinely love what we do.

We also want to congratulate several of our clients who were included on the list as well:

AKT Services, LLP,
Papa Murphy's International,
InfoGroup Northwest,
and Lewis and Clark Bank

The ranking of the companies is currently "Top Secret" but will be announced at the reception on June 24 from 5:30-8:30 at the Portland Art Museum. Please visit the Portland Business Journal to register for the event.

WebVisions 2010 Hits PDX

2010-05-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

The circus is in town, and I'm not referring to Cirque du Soleil. Webvisions is back in Portland for its 10th year as the mecca for future web trends, designs, innovations and strategies.

Webvisions breaks the mold giving you more than just all the bells and whistles associated with the other 80% of conferences you'll attend this year. The event also hosts several parties (including a 10th anniversary bash), concerts, and their own awards show w/ karaoke (which will probably get awkward).

WebVisions explores the future of design, content creation, user experience and business strategy to uncover the trends and agents of change that will shatter your assumptions about the Web. Be ready to network, share ideas and be inspired by an all-star lineup of speakers.

The conference begins tomorrow at the Oregon Convention Center and runs until Friday (May 19-21). Keynote speakers such as Agnieszka Gasparska, Merlin Mann, and Luke Williams as well as numerous local faces will be on hand to wow you during sessions, panels and web design workshops.

Online registration is closed however passes are still available at the conference center.

Also, if you see Cam from Cascade be sure to say hello!

Cascade is Proud to Introduce: The Hello Foundation

2010-05-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

At first visit, the new Hello Foundation website evokes feelings of childhood, construction paper and big crayons (or maybe thats just me?). This wasn't done by accident.

The design is driven by storytelling, imagination, and artistic expression and genuinely portrays the ideology behind The Hello Foundation:

Everyone has a story to tell, but it's how you tell it that sets you apart. It's more than combining words and sentences. It's being connected to a language and articulating ideas. It's feeling empowered enough to say hello.

The Hello Foundation (formerly SLP Services) is a industry leader in SLP, OT and School Psychologist Services across the country. They embrace innovation with open arms and are looked to as a thought leader with their progressive approach.

Don't believe me?!? Check it out for yourself:

Art of Hello - encourages verbally challenged students to express their story through art
Ask a Specialist - integrates Cascade's brandlive into their site providing students, parents, etc. with a personal resource to call upon for help and answers to sensitive questions

If you can't tell, all of us at Cascade are very proud of how this site turned out. Kudos must go out to Frank Creative for working closely with the Hello Foundation team and for creating such an amazing website design and brand strategy.

We thoroughly enjoyed working on this project and hope you enjoy the site as well.

www.thehellofoundation.com

Serotta Switches Management Gears

2010-05-11T16:03:00.000-07:00

Serotta has taken huge strides in the beginning of 2010 with no signs of slowing down.

Aside from launching a brand spanking new, custom website with Cascade, (see my previous post: Cascade Invades the Serotta HQ) Serotta Competition Bicycles has undergone changes in its organizational hierarchy and company name.

The cycling giant recently introduced Stan Mavis as President of the newly formed Serotta Sport. Stan and his wife Bonnie, current VP of sales at Serotta Sport, join Ben Serotta and his wife Marcie as owners of the company.

I couldn't pass up this incredible opportunity to help lead a brand with a storied history and tremendous potential for the future, Mavis commented.

Stan is not a stranger to the industry as he co-founded Pearl Izumi and is an avid cyclist himself. Ben Serotta and Stan first forged a relationship 20 years ago as major sponsors of the Coors Light Cycling Team.

There are a range of things I can do, but I cannot do everything well. I've needed someone to work with me at the level of an owner, with an intensity for the business, and Stan brings that," Ben said about bringing in Stan.

For the full article, please read the May edition of the Bicycle Retailer or check out bicycleretailer.com

SoMe Awards: One Tweet Too Many

2010-05-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Clear off a space on the trophy shelf...the SoMe's are back. The SoMe Awards are back for a second go-around honoring the Pacific Northwest's best social media projects and campaigns.

Cascade was recently announced as one of 19 finalists for our social media work. There are around 10 categories ranging from Best Brand Awareness, to Best ROI, to Best in Show. Although we don't know which one we're up for yet, we hope to bring home some hardware.

The award show is this Thursday, May 6, from 7-10 at the classy Multnomah Athletic Club. Everyone is welcome, and we'd love to have you join us on the red carpet. Tickets are very reasonable and it should be a great night out. Plus, we'll need you in the crowd cheering us on and heckling other nominees. (jk...be nice)

If you can't make it, I'll be sure to post a follow-up article on the night's events.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Live From Portland Vol 1: The Cascade Live Sessions

2010-04-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

If you missed out on our brandlive sessions over the past few weeks, too bad.

Okay, just kidding. Hopefully, you'll be able to join our next live broadcast. Or, if you'd like us to set up a demo for you, just let me know.

brandlive is easy to set up and even easier to use. The brandlive videos below are obviously missing from their normal exterior skin. Here is a sample of the new Cascade Live environment (which we refer to in the videos).

Each of these presentations were directed towards different audiences as you will see from our session location and message. So check them both out and let us know what you think. We love feedback.

4/23 Product Demo
(Video begins after a moment of set-up w/ a cameo from yours truly)

4/27 Professional Services Demo
(2nd of 2 sessions)

Please feel free to send any brandlive questions or inquiries to us at the Cascade site.

Portland Vies for Google's Heart with...Hops?!

2010-04-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

They say the best way to win a man's affection is through his stomach. So then how does Portland win the affection of one of the most popular tech companies in the world?

Beer!?
Gigabit IPA, invented by master brewers at Hopworks, is one of the ways Portlanders hope to entice Google to choose our city as the test site for Google Fiber, their ridiculously fast high speed network. For a video with the brewer and more info on the beer, please visit Silicon Florist's post on the Google phenomenon.

The tech giant has had over 200 cities respond to their RFI, and we're not the only ones with an over-the-top sales pitch.

Peoria, IL - Deemed "Google Day" as a new city holiday and recorded a song "Google It Now"
Grand Rapids, MI - Organized a large support group and steering committee, created a YouTube video, and has the largest facebook group (over 22,000 strong) supporting the city's bid. Oh yeah, the city also organized a huge rally earlier in March where people joined hands to create a "Human Fiber". These guys are pumped.
Duluth, MN - Not to be outdone, Duluth is hosting "Googlefest" (read more in the link below). Mayor Don Ness took it to a new level and plunged into the freezing waters of Lake Superior to show his devotion to the city's Google Fiber bid.

Check out this Fast Company article "Cities Go Gaga for Google Fiber..." with videos and more stories on the lengths cities are going to in order to win Google's affection.

Cascade Invades the Serotta HQ

2010-04-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

In a recent trip out east, Ben McKinley, at the envy of cyclists, stepped foot in Serotta's headquarters in New York to tour their operation and discuss the launch of the bike manufacturer's new website on Cascade's Evergreen Platform. Serotta's new site, www.serotta.com launched earlier today with a ton of awesome features, including a video giving you a look into what Ben witnessed first hand on his tour. On the site, Cascade helps bring to life the intricate science and production capabilities that go into building a custom bike. Whether you examine the technological aspects or thought placed into the size and fit system, Serotta's attention to detail is astounding.

Although the majority of Serotta's magic is done on the production floor, a substantial amount of business operations lives online and is done behind the scenes. By placing their site on Evergreen, Serotta can easily update their new online environment with reactions to the world of cycling, news on Serotta products and technology, and new opportunities. One awesome feature soon will allow both employee and customer access to production status of bikes. With this service, you'll be able to track what stage of production your bike is in similar to how you track your package with Fedex, UPS, etc. Pretty cool!

Serotta.com is as focused (if not more) on portraying their brand story (i.e. company heritage and production strategies) while promoting the community aspect of the company rather than their bikes. We [Cascade] see this strategy becoming more and more prevalent with sites built on the Evergreen platform but that is a topic for another day.

Filming the Cascade Web Development Story

2010-04-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

Ben McKinley, Cascade's fearless leader, is making his big screen debut on April 27th. It might not be in the venue you're imagining, but I'm sure it'll still be on a large screen.

Spirit Media stopped by the office earlier this week to film a short movie they'll be showing at the Portland Business Alliance's Annual Meeting. The film highlights the importance of innovative companies in Portland. Kerry Tymchuck of the PBA sat down with Ben (along with the cameraman, Spirit Media crew, and the individual holding the light reflection thingy) for an interview about Cascade and the business environment in Portland.

We were more than happy to have Spirit Media and PBA at the train and sincerely thank them for including us in this event. It is a great honor to be noticed as one of the many innovative companies in Portland, and we genuinely appreciate the exposure.

If you're interested in attending the Annual Meeting and claiming front row seats for the movie, please visit the PBA site. We'll try and obtain a copy of the video for those of you who can't make it. Stay tuned...

Cascade and Dreamworks Hit the Big Screen

2010-04-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Dreamwork's newest animated film "How to Train Your Dragon" topped the box office this past weekend earning $43.3 million. Could this be in part to Cascade Web Development and AMP Agency's website promoting the film? We'd like to think so...or at least hope.

"How to Train Your Dragon" is a film about Hiccup, a scrawny young Viking, who befriends the very dragons he's been training his entire life to fight. With the plethora of marketing channels available today, Dreamwork's called upon Boston's AMP Agency to create a promotional website that would engage the audience and allow them to interact with the film. AMP Agency came up with a great idea, called upon Cascade for the development of the site, and train-your-dragon.com was born.

The collaborative effort resulted in a vivid contest site that asked amateur filmmakers (amateur might be a stretch) to submit a short video of their best dragon taming skills. Dreamwork's employees judged the submissions earlier last month sending 3 grand prize winners to LA for the premiere of the film on March 21st.

All of us at Cascade are extremely excited about the success of the site and the film, and, apparently, others are beginning to take notice as well.

The Portland Business Journal wrote a great article in Friday's edition, about our experience working with AMP and the development of the contest site. It just hit newsstands this morning but, for a sneak-peak, check out this sample at the PortlandBusinessJournal.com.

Go grab a copy of today's Portland Biz Journal for more info or check out the news article on the Cascade site for an inside look.

New Addition to the CWD Crew [Pt. 2]

2010-03-31T09:30:00.000-07:00

Now that Cam has been with Cascade for a few weeks I thought it'd be good if we all got to know him a little better. My previous post didn't really provide any juicy background info on Cam (hence the photo) so I thought a little impromptu questionnaire would paint a better picture of the newest member of the team:

First job - Mowing lawns for some politico's

Last movie you saw in the theater - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (long flight)

Dream aspirations as a kid - Olympic skier and/or test pilot

If you could be any superhero, who and why - The Flash. To defy physics on a regular basis and prevent evil would be a great daily routine. Plus, if things go bad--I can scramble our of there in a flash

Free trip to anywhere in the world, where and why - A place with no name where the mountains are high, steep with feet of fresh powder to ski. Since its a free trip, I can afford the private jet, helicopter, snow cats, Sherpa's and satellite necessary for me to get there

Ever been in a fight, if so who started it - Not as a participant, but I've been hit trying to break them up

Favorite restaurant in Portland - Habibi. The chicken shawarma is amazing

Biggest fear - Anything that can take my life without me knowing about it. Like a spider bite while I sleep, or a rabid animal biting me while I'm walking through the brush

Nickname you had growing up - Cam (I rolled with a creative crew)

What attracted you to working at Cascade - The team and suite of products**

Career goals - To have no regrets and happy with the outcome

**the answer to your question is yes...we did pay him for that answer

Portland, From Worst to First

2010-03-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

The public perception of Portland has made a quick turn-around since Business Week ranked Portland as the #1 unhappiest city in America. Its been almost a year since our city was given that title and oh how times have changed. A recent article by Laura Rich on FastCompany.com explains why Portland is now one of the 10 best cities in the country for start-ups. In her article, Why You Should Start a Company in..., Laura noted:

"It rains an average of 155 days of the year in Portland, Oregon, which sits near the coast between Silicon Valley and Seattle. That may be what drives some startups and engineers indoors to coffeehouses armed with laptops to hatch ideas such as MyOpenId, Voyager Capital-backed AboutUs, interactive TV company Ensequence, which raised $20 million last year, and ShopIgniter, which just closed a $3 million round from Seattle's Madrona. Quite a list. They make up part of what some call “Silicon Forest,” and the city clearly sees its future: In February Mayor Sam Adams announced a $500,000 seed fund aimed at startups and small businesses."

She then documents her interview with Jive Software chairman, David Hersh, who has some pretty cool things to say about the city. My favorite quote by the chairman is:

"In terms of the startup phase, I mean there's so much energy around that--around the ideas and going off on your own and there's so much support for doing that that I think it's one of the great things about the city. It's just the overall psyche of the city around its kind of aggressive independence that makes for a very vibrant startup culture."

I thought this was a great description of the culture in the city and the pride Portlanders carry. I know specifically at Cascade, we support PDX's business mindset in everything we do, from our train car office to our customizable, innovative web solutions (cough, cough...brandlive).

Portland might be a little sluggish getting up from the blow the recession hit us with, but we're definitely not hanging our heads. Thanks Fast Money for putting us back on top.

The entire Fast Money article can be viewed here.

Portland's Finest Find a Home

2010-03-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Rick Turoczy of the Silicon Florist for turning me on to an awesomely simple site. If you weren't aware, Portland houses some of the most creative and artistically gifted minds in the country. Thanks to Chris Kalani (who also created yayeveryday.com), they now have a home.

we are PRTLND showcases Portland's community of designers, developers, photographers and a combination of innovative minds in a layout impossible to turn down. There isn't much to the site: profiles can be filtered by profession, click on a someone's witty picture and you'll be taken to their website, or select LOAD MORE to view more profiles. But that's what makes it great.

Whether you're a freelancer or employed and looking for talent, PRTLND is a fun place to explore and see what this city has to offer (the pictures are pretty awesome too)!

Reinventing American Business--One Bike at a Time

2010-03-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

The recession, depression or just bad economy (you choose) hasn't been very inviting to new businesses ventures, however many entrepreneurs have ignored the warning signs and dove in head first. Case in point, I just read an article, "Young Guns Change Rules of Retail" from the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN).

The story showcased several young (pre-25) bike enthusiasts who've started custom bike shops in Colorado, New Mexico, Atlanta, and all across the US with a pretty cool spin on the normal retail business model. Rather than hustling customers with bikes off their sales floor, they've created an environment encouraging road warriors to hang out and tune up their bikes hoping sales will grow through a genuine relationship. They're basically selling the experience more than the product. The experience is basically a recreation of your old dorm room i.e used furniture and tight spaces. Regardless, this unique sales method seems to be working well for these young start-ups. They've found their niche and have viral marketing supporting their cause. I mean they did make it into BRAIN and (roll out the red carpet) the Cascade Web Development blog.

People in what seems like every industry have ditched their day job, whether forced or voluntary, to pursue their dream of being their own boss. The success stories sound great, but roughly 70-80% of start ups, in a normal economy, go under within the first 3 years of operation. You have to give credit to those who try but applause and pats on the back don't pay the bills.

Those new companies who do survive will be on the forefront of new business models and practices that we'll all be trying to emulate soon. New products are always popping up, but innovative thinking and breaking out of the mold might be the best solution to getting out of this mess (and the banks not throwing parties with government bailout money.....just a thought).

Okay, gather and discuss...I'll expect your feedback on Facebook.

New Addition to the CWD Crew

2010-03-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

If you happen to visit us on the train and see a unfamiliar face, you could be faced with 1 of 3 situations:

A passerby saw us working and stopped in to tell us how awesome our office is (happens about once a week),
a hobo broke in and he/she is trying to hitch a ride to San Fran,
or you're staring at the newest member of the CWD crew, Cameron Clear (so don't call the cops, he's legit)

Last week, Cam came on board (literally, he's working on the train) as our business development lead to spread the word about CWD and our web services. We're excited to have him join the group and are looking forward to what he can bring to the company.

Brand Live Comes Alive

2010-03-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Without further ado, I give you...Brand Live.

(If I could insert bright flashing lights around this I would. For now, just use your imagination.)

Ahem...Brand Live is Cascade Web Development's latest brain-child. Initially launched with "Nordica Live" in October last year, Brand Live has been generating a lot of buzz in the industry. At its core, Brand Live allows product demos, employee training sessions, sales rep clinics, live event showcases, and e-commerce presentations to be streamed via a secure URL and live video feed. Invited viewers can interact with the presenter by posting messages via text providing an unscripted, live presentation mimicking the experience you would receive with a face-to-face interaction.

Here are just a few benefits Brand Live offers:

Cost Effective - eliminating the need to travel for events or sales rep presentations
Operated through a secure URL and can require login
Does not require any program installation or additional hardware
Live video and chat feature mimics a live shopping experience. Presenter reacts to user questions and comments in real time (sessions can be archived and recorded as well)
Marketing and branding tool as the "Brand Live" identity is masked with your Brand
Allows product intricacies to be showcased with live video
Fully customizable allowing you to manipulate site features, appearance and added applications
Sessions can be 1-to-1 (currently in development but soon to come) or 1-to-many

We first envisioned Brand Live would be great for the high-end, outdoor sporting industry, and it'd make a lot of noise in that market. However, as we've casually spread the word about Brand Live we've seen it evolve into a multi purpose tool reaching across vastly different industries. For example, Brand Live is either currently being utilized or developed for clients in Skiing, Footwear, Bikes, Financial Services, Specialty Retail, and Wine industries.

So what do you think? We're pretty into it, and our clients seem to be as well. We'd love to hear your comments on our Facebook page.

Planting the Seed for "Plant an Evergreen"

2010-03-12T12:15:00.000-08:00

Cascade Web Development just launched our Plant an Evergreen campaign earlier today. Through our partnership with Friends of Trees and their Gift Tree program, they are helping us plant evergreen trees in Portland for new clients on our Evergreen platform. Thanks to our clients and Friends of Trees for making the world a better place, one tree at a time. (so corny but so true)

Friends of Trees also helped us out on the PR effort by blogging about the Plant an Evergreen campaign on their Friends of Tree blog.

Thanks, Friends of Trees for your partnership and support.

CWD on the pages of USA Today

2010-03-05T15:40:00.000-08:00

Cascade Web Development's recent launch of the sweepstakes site for "How to Train Your Dragon" was recently promoted in USA Today. I snapped a picture of the ad. Pretty cool!

Check out our previous blog post on the site launch and visit train-your-dragon.com for more sweepstakes info.

40 the new 30? Recapping the "40 Under Forty" Awards

2010-02-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

The Cascade Web Development crew had a great time last Thursday celebrating Ben McKinley's nomination to the Portland Business Journal's 2010 "40 Under Forty" list.

The event was a huge success as Portland's future leaders came together at the Gerding Theater of the Armory for an excellent evening. Kudos to the Portland Business Journal for putting together a memorable night for all of us at CWD.

Here are a few photos of the celebration (sorry about the poor quality, blame the iPhone):

Lobby of Gerding Theater at the Armory

Ben accepting his award from Senator Ron Wyden

CWD group (Left to Right: Kyle, Paul, Fritz, Stephen, Ben, Christi)

CWD's VIP Trip to the Sokol Blosser Winery

2010-02-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

Last week, a few of us from CWD were invited to the Sokol Blosser winery in Dundee, OR to take a tour of the vineyard. Immediately after walking onto the grounds, you receive a homey, one-of-the-family type vibes and that was true throughout the day as everyone at the winery could not have been more hospitable and welcoming. Sokol Blosser is family owned and the heritage was evident throughout the tour. Aside from amazing wine, they are also on the forefront of instilling green technologies and sustainability efforts in the Dundee area.

Thanks to everyone at Sokol Blosser for the tour.

Here are a few photos from the trip:

Their tasting room and community center from the parking lot

The community room

Bottling Sokol Blosser Wine

Information Session in the Cellar

What the Sokol Blosser Vineyard look like on a good day (i.e. not the day we were there)

For more information on Sokol Blosser visit their site at sokolblosser.com.

Dreamwork's "How to Train Your Dragon" sweepstakes

2010-02-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

If you've been watching the Winter Olympics you've surely seen the previews for Dreamwork's new animated 3D movie, "How to Train Your Dragon".

"How to Train Your Dragon" is an action/comedy (think Shrek) about Hiccup, a young Viking, who befriends the dragon he is training to fight. The film has been receiving a ton of press and great reviews, and Cascade Web Development recently got in on the action.

CWD designed the contest and sweepstakes site for the film to help promote the movie before its March release. The contest entails sending a video of your best dragon taming skills (a few YouTube sensations in the making). Three grand prize winners will receive a trip for 4 to LA for the World Premiere. You can also register to win a private premiere party through the site which would be an awesome kids birthday party for a theater here in Portland or around the US.

Visit the site, submit your skills, and enter. Happy taming.

CWD Plans a Valentines Party with Vh1

2010-02-17T08:06:00.000-08:00

First of all, Happy (belated) Valentine's Day. Aside from planning our own love day (I wouldn't call it last minute but it was pretty close), Cascade Web Development was able to help 150 Vh1 Insiders have their own Valentine's Day parties.

The Vh1 Loves Me Party site was created in collaboration with Boston-based AMP Agency for Vh1 Insiders chosen to throw bashes to watch the channel's block of guilty pleasure reality shows. These 150 insiders were given Vh1 Loves Me decorations, party favors, games, and, everyone's favorite white elephant gift, Snuggies to help spread their Vh1 love with their friends. Party goers were encouraged to take pictures and post their Valentine's Day moments on the Vh1 Loves Me Party website with the rest of the Insiders.

(Sorry, Cascade Web Development wasn't chosen otherwise we'd post some awesome pictures of us in Snuggies)

AMP came up with a great marketing idea and promotional tool to help their loyal fans celebrate Valentine's Day. The project was a ton of fun to work on and it turned out great.

CWD's Ben McKinley on Portland's 40 under Forty 2010 List

2010-02-09T16:21:00.000-08:00

Look out Brad Pitt.

Ben McKinley, Cascade Web Development founder, was recently nominated to the Portland Business Journal's annual "40 under Forty" list of notable business and community figures in the Rose City. He will be honored at a reception on February 18, 2010 at the Gerding Theater at the Armory. If you'd like to join us in congratulating Ben and enjoy a great night out, please register here through the Portland Business Journal.

I'll provide more information after the reception (so check back in a few weeks). In the meantime, I found a post from the Silicon Florist, a blog about NW start-ups, which provides an opinion about the type of individuals nominated.

Plant an Evergreen with CWD and Friends of Trees

2010-02-02T15:56:00.000-08:00

Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart! (if you have the Captain Planet theme song in your head this post will be much cooler).

Friends of Trees a Portland non prof, is helping Cascade Web Development launch our Plant an Evergreen campaign.

Through this campaign, CWD will make a donation (on behalf of the client) to Friends of Trees for each new client relationship forged through our Evergreen CMS platform. Our goal of the Plant an Evergreen campaign is to celebrate new client partnerships and symbolize their growth over time while supporting our environment as well. Each donation will go toward the planting and maintenance of a young evergreen tree here in Portland.

We're stoked to have the Plant an Evergreen program up and running as the seeds were planted (it was too easy, I couldn't help myself) a while back. Our developers coined the phrase "planting an evergreen" after referring to it each time they set up a client's Evergreen account. Since then, the whole light bulb effect occurred, and we've developed an identity (much thanks goes to our graphic artist for our campaign logo) to bring this all to life. It has been great collaborating with Friends of Trees, and we hope everyone is as excited about this idea as we all are.
If you're familiar with CWD and have checked out our blog before, you know that our business operation is as green as Kermit (even before it was cool). This campaign is just another extension of that business philosophy, and we think its an awesome way to promote growth, both economically and environmentally.

For 20 years, Friends of Trees has encouraged the development of the greater Portland area by implementing green space initiatives, neighborhood tree programs, and discounted tree offerings. The Gift Tree program allows you to purchase a tree or grove of trees (which I recently learned is 6 trees) for another and have it planted in their honor. If you're interested in this or any of Friends of Trees' programs or volunteer opportunities please visit friendsoftrees.org

Blaz'n Trails from Montana to Portland

2010-01-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

Giddy up.

Blaz'n Trails, a locally produced salsa company, has just launched their new site blazntrailssalsa.com. Juli Miller, the owner of Blaz'n Trails, has been refining a killer salsa recipe since the 1980s and, after selling caseloads from her basement, decided to offer Blaz'n Trails to the masses. In marketing her salsa, Juli wanted to ensure her brand represented a blend of her western roots and Portland based business, and she turned to Cascade Web Development to incorporate both themes in the new site. (Juli recently stopped by the CWD office and she is definitely not afraid to show off her cowgirl persona.)

Blaz'n Trails is produced here in Portland with locally grown, fresh ingredients while her sweet and spicy salsa recipe comes from her Montana heritage. Blaz'n Trails salsa is available in three varieties: EASY, HOT, and, you guessed it, BLAZ'N. Her 20 year old recipe consists of a blend of roasted green and red bell peppers, jalapeno, serrano, and habanero peppers. It also includes fresh tomatoes, garlic, onion, and a little brown sugar for a unique, sweet flavor. (Low sodium too!)

Juli recommends adding it to your everday recipes like Chili, scrambled eggs, grilled chicken and fish, pulled pork, Calico beans, or mix it with avacados for an easy but firey guacamole.

To purchase Blaz'n Trails salsa, become a distributor, or just view our work with Juli check out blazntrailssalsa.com.

Live from Portland: CWD Train Broadcast 1/13/10

2010-01-13T12:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning, Cascade Web Development gave a online tour of our Portland office using Brand Live, our latest product. With the renovations done and tools stowed away, we were finally able to share our work space with the world.

For those of you who were able to tune in, thanks for checking out our new pad. If you were unable to join us, no worries, here are a few excerpts (sorry about the poor video quality)...

Train Tour Intro

Meet & Greet: Ben McKinley

More about Brand Live

Yengst Associates: Market Research and Heavy Machinery done easy

2010-01-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

Yengst Associates recently launched the company's new website built on Cascade Web Development's Evergreen platform. Yengst Associates are a major player in market research for the heavy machinery, rental equipment ops, and financial industries. The company, now in its 13th year, has offices in Connecticut and Portland offering consulting services and private research studies for clients throughout North and South America.

We collaborated on several ways to improve their site, and the final product provides Yengst Associates with full management of their site with much more client-friendly functionality. We owe a great thanks to everyone at Yengst for their input in helping shape the site and improve their business processes.

One of the most influential changes to the Yengst Associates site allows clients to access Monthly Market reports, Equipment Analysis, Company Profiles, and Industry Forecasts per manufacturer within Yengst's database. Using a new, client only access feature, clients can obtain online reports, five year production and sales histories, and forecasts displayed in clean chart and graph formats. Online reports are organized first, into four report styles then by company to highlight the exact info a client is searching for. The sales and production data can be specified by region, equipment type, and manufacturer, locating specific figures and tables pertaining to that company. These new search options allow clients to directly access what they want without having to sift through lines of unnecessary data.

CWD's Evergreen platform has also made Yengst Associates employees' lives much easier by eliminating the headache of tedious data entry. Employees in the Connecticut and Portland offices can quickly update and add data to the website without fumbling around through the messy and cumbersome data entry applications previously used. Now the entry process, although never fun, is simplified and much more user friendly for employees and clients.

We hope Pete Yengst, the man behind Yengst Associates, enjoyed working with Cascade Web Development as much as we did with him and his staff. He had a few things to say about working with Evergreen and what it has brought to his business:

"Ever since the process [with Evergreen] took place...the employees find it to be an easy system to use and clients definitely enjoy the experience as well. Its much more user intuitive for both me and the employees in the office that aren't as web savvy...its basically cut down our time, in general, from adding and doing manual input with data to a very user integrated interface."

If you're interested in Yengst Associates or just want to check out what we've put together check out YengstAssociates.com

How To Track PDF Downloads in Google Analytics

2009-12-18T10:58:00.000-08:00

Google Analytics is an excellent tool for tracking all types of site visitor interaction. But two common questions we receive from clients interested in tracking their site's activity include:

I) Why doesn't Google Analytics track PDF* downloads on my site?
II) How can I make Google Analytics track PDF* downloads on my site?

Read on to find the answers to both of these questions.

I) Why doesn't Google Analytics track PDF downloads on my site?

Google Analytics updates it's data every time a page on your site loads its tracking code. If a page on your site does not contain the Google Analytics tracking code, that page is essentially invisible to Google Analytics. Because the PDFs that you are linking to do not contain Google Analytics tracking code installed on them, they are invisible to Google Analytics. (This is the same reason why links hosted on your site and pointing to other websites are not tracked, since the landing page of the other websites do not contain your Google Analytics tracking code.)

II) How can I make Google Analytics track PDF downloads on my site?

Fortunately for us, Google Analytics has created a work-around for tracking activity to destinations (URLs or documents) that do not contain your tracking code. Essentially, it is a means of faking or "simulating" a page load at the link click level (rather than the page load level). In this way, you can tell Google Analytics to update its data whenever your tagged link is clicked, regardless of whether or not the destination contains tracking code or even loads in full. You can accomplish this by performing the following:

Once you've created a link to your PDF, you'll need to edit the Source Code (HTML). To do this using the Evergreen CMS, you'll need to click the [<>] button located within the second row of the WYSIWYG ribbon menu. Locate the line of code that denotes your hyperlink.

eg.

You'll simply want to edit this link to match the following format:

eg.

Apart from the URL pointing to your PDF (in this example: http://www.mydomain.com/assets/documents/my-document.pdf) the only other part to this code which will change with each link you tag is the actual name you assign to the link (eg. /downloads/document-name). For example, you could name it /downloads/Calendar-2010.doc or simply Registration Dates. This part of the code is entirely up to you, just know that whatever you choose to name it will dictate how it shows up in your Google Analytics reports.

We hope this guide was helpful in not only giving you the tools to track your site's PDF downloads, but also in providing you with some of the logic behind it.

* The PDF filetype is used in this article simply because of its popularity among our clients, however this guide applies to ANY filetype that can be linked to on a website and downloaded by a visitor (eg. .doc, .xls, .zip, etc.)

3 Technical Tips for Web Design

2009-12-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

Designing for the web can be tricky. Unlike print media, where your only design constraint is the size of the canvas you're working on, the web requires that whatever you design align with the constraints of the technology powering that environment. That means that if you are to achieve a design that is both scalable and compliant, pay attention to the following 3 technical tips.

#1) Employ Vertical Scalability

First, ask yourself this: "Will this website be subject to edits post-launch?" If your answer is Yes, you'll want to pay particular attention to vertical scalability.

Unlike print, where your final deliverable is often fixed in dimensions and/or size, the web demands flexibility in both. When designing a template for the web, be sure to include a vertical "coupler"--a horizontal chunk spanning the width of the design that is conducive to replication down the page. This coupler is how a design made for a website 768px high can scale to a webpage needing 1000px of height. If you're still unsure whether or not your design is vertically scalable, ask yourself these questions: "What will happen to my design if the client doubles the amount of content on the page? Will that break my template as I have designed it?" If your answer is Yes, then you have not designed a scalable website and you'll likely be hearing back from the client with complaints--and rightly so.

Design your website in such a way that content can be added or removed without compromising its structure or requiring continuous support from the designer.

#2) Appreciate HTML (Use Web-Friendly Fonts)

If you do NOT use web-friendly fonts in your design, you're setting the client up for disappointment and yourself up for failure . Here's why: unless you plan on having your entire website developed as a series of giant, static, images (NOT RECOMMENDED), HTML text will need to be used to recreate the copy you designed in your original mockup. The benefits of using HTML text are too numerous to count, but a few of the big ones include:

Search Engine Friendliness - search engines, the middleman between your site and an online audience of millions, cannot read text that is presented as an image. Therefore, if you expect engines like Google, Yahoo! or Bing to index your Novelty T-Shirt site for relevant terms, you had better ensure that you have offered them text talking about "novelty t-shirts" in a format they can understand (HTML).
Scalability - If the site you've designed is going to undergo change and updating post-launch, having copy represented in HTML will ensure the easiest and most efficient means of doing so. Whenever textual elements of your design are represented as images (instead of using HTML and web-friendly fonts) you have set the requirement that if the client needs to alter this text in any way, he/she must first contact you to do so. If this is how you want the client/designer relationship to be, then you are in a fine position. Otherwise, empower your clients by making them rely as little as possible on design aptitude when managing their site.

A comprehensive list of web-friendly fonts can be found here: http://www.ampsoft.net/webdesign-l/WindowsMacFonts.html. Use these whenever possible.

#3) Specify Copy Styles

When designing a website, it is important to exercise consistency. Visitors to your site want to consume information in as easy and efficient a means as possible, and that means introducing an intuitive set of rules for presenting your content and then adhering to them.

To keep things simple and straightforward, imagine you only have 5 ways of presenting copy throughout the site. Those 5 ways include:

Titles (Header 1)
Section Titles (Header 2)
Subsection Titles (Header 3)
Standard body copy (Paragraph)
Hyperlinks

An example of a site which has done an excellent job of creating a predictable user-experience in regards to copy styles is Wikipedia. Consider the following example of Henry VIII's Wikipedia entry.

At the top of the page, "Henry VIII of England" is presented in the largest of fonts (Header 1).

If you scan past the intro and Table of Contents, you'll notice the first Section Title ("Early years: 1491-1509) which is presented in a slightly smaller font (Header 2), but still larger than the Standard body copy (Paragraph). Scanning even further down, you'll notice the Subsection title of "Death of Arthur" which is presented in even smaller copy still, but this time it's been emboldened (Header 3).

Lastly, everywhere on the page hyperlinks are denoted in blue, with an underline added upon hover.

Granted, Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia and isn't the most exciting of examples, but the concept of utilizing consistency for an enjoyable user experience is a sound one and whether its plain-Jane information you're serving up like Wikipedia or the latest designer shoes, visitors will respond best to consistency and predictability.

Social Media: Outdoor Product Companies Building Online Communities

2009-11-24T12:20:00.000-08:00

Outdoor product companies are flooding the web to take part in social media in hopes of building online communities to build their brand, engage their customers and create new levels of brand loyalty. Unless you have been out on the trail or high in the hills for the last several years, this is old news. With the help of Twitter, Facebook and/or blogs, you have seen this take hold and evolve over in recent years. Below are some striking examples of how this medium is turning into a game changer for companies selling products to get people from behind their computers and into the great outdoors... ironic as that sounds.

- IF Bikes did a major site overhaul last year in an effort to better serve its customers and position itself as a clear leader in the custom bike world. So far, they have been successful in this effort. Their blog site that has garnered significant attention, as well. Just under half the number of total visitors to the main site visit the blog each month to learn more about the build process, see new bike pics and hear about where IF is showing up to promote their brand the cycling community. Most impressive.

- Tecnica and Blizzard are two well known international ski brands. They combined forces to create TecBlizzBuzz.com this fall. The blog was launched in early October the number of visitors has increased 25% in month two. This is off to a strong start as they create this new platform to communicate with their customers and dealers.

- While Cascade Web Development is not an outdoor product company, we too have put more attention to our social media efforts. As a reward, our blog traffic has increased 40% in recent months. We are finding that more like minded people and organizations are following us on twitter and facebook. And the most exciting result of all is the increased number of inbound inquiries for web solutions. Hard to argue with the merit of those results.

The rate of evolution in the social media realm is often mind numbing, but with results like these, its hard to argue the value of these efforts. We're all learning valuable lessons with each new post and review of analytics. One truth is that customers like to participate in the conversation. Its now up to brands to create and lead that charge. Stay tuned as the experiment continues...

Here's why Portland inspires innovation

2009-11-21T08:15:00.000-08:00

I am headed to PDX last night with my mother in law to pick up my nephew. We pull into short term parking and there is this little sign that says "follow the green light." First, there is a little digital board above your head as you drive under the all to close concrete beams. The sign has a green number for the number of open spots in that row. Yes seriously. Then you keep driving and there are these little green and red lights above each spot. Clearly, green light means the spot is open; Red means, well get the point already I presume.

Simple, not in your face and fun to interact with. We strive for the same thing when designing our applications, but I humbuly admit that we probably don't get it this simple and this easy very often.

Cutting Edge Cycling Manufacturer - Cutting Edge Web Presence

2009-11-18T06:58:00.000-08:00

I recently visited Serotta Competition Cycles (if you don't know about Serotta, they make handmade, custom-fit bicycle frames using titanium, steel, and carbon fiber) at their Saratoga Springs, NY Headquarters to kick off the strategy phase our web development effort to provide a more dynamic web experience for current and potential customers and for dealers.

First Impressions - I've never met a more passionate team dedicated to providing its customers with the most technically advanced cycles for road and track through the use of cutting edge production technology, fitting methodologies, and materials.

The visit only added to our excitement about this project, which we are hoping to launch in the January/February timeframe.

Each member of the Serotta team that I met with has a vested interest in the project...

Amy Roxin (VP of Operations) - How can we use this technology to showcase our cycles, develop a community for customers and communicate better with dealers?

Paraic McGlynn (Director of Applied Cycling Science) - How can we convey our message that the very best of materials, technology, and fitting go into making a superior cycle?

Jared Porter (Production Manager) - How can we keep dealers informed of where the bike is in the manufacturing process?

The following pictures were taken during my Factory Tour:

Every frame build starts with a fitting using Serotta's Size Cycle

My Tour Guide Jared with customer bikes returned from accidents for repair

Frame during the build process

Frames being prepared for paint

Final polish

Customer frames ready for shipment

From Good to Great with Live Video

2009-11-03T08:57:00.000-08:00

How does your agency stack up against Ogilvy, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and AKQA?

"Good" agencies move into the ranks of "Great" with ideas, smart risk and execution. Great clients help too, but that is a chicken and egg discussion.

I believe Live Video presents a unique platform for new ideas. Clearly I am not the only one (ADWEEK article "Marketers Get Real"). The best agencies and brands in the world are experimenting with live video. Diet Coke interviewed actor Ed Norton. Burger King broadcasted Tony Stewart taking a lie detector test professing his love for the burger. Nordica got 'face time' with 130 retailers, 3,500 miles appart in one hour. (A CWD project)

I think we are onto something here, the right mix of a great idea, risk and execution.

The idea: Create a live video platform that is dead simple to use, high in quality and scalable. Video itself is the ideal communication tool; if a picture tells a 1,000 words, a video explains a million. Surround the video with core brand messaging. Then incorporate a chat function that allows hundreds of viewers to communicate in a way that makes them feel connected.

The risk: Cost must be considered in today's world. We solved that, starting at $5,000 even smaller brands can dip their toe in the water. Time is also valuable. What does it take to produce a live video? Well not nothing, but if you KISS it the product will probably be better and it will take less time. Basic lighting and audio needs to be tested but all things can be overcome. Monetize it. If the goal is large audience communication, there is a risk that people will not show up or find value in it. I think that risk is just about gone, video is the hottest thing on the web right now.

The execution: It is all about having the right people or knowing the right people to be able to execute. At face value this stuff looks simple, but there are very real technological hurdles you need to get over. If you want to mitigate some of the risk find the right partner that has proven the execution.

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Where I am coming from:
Cascade Web Development is a Portland and Boston custom web development firm. We support advertising agencies across the US. We have developed a module for live video communication called Brand.Live on our platform Evergreen, a content and data management system.

Transparency + Efficiency Through Web Applications

2009-10-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

A common challenge among companies is increasing information flow while decreasing the 'noise' that gets in the way of that flow. Typically, companies are tracking information needed for effective process management. That said, many times that information is not easily accessible by many interested parties. Part of this is by design, but ultimately knowledge is power.

This lack of access to information can result in huge volumes of phone calls, emails, faxes and unnecessary data entry. The goal of this blog is to share some ways we've seen companies use web applications to increase transparency and communication. Here are some examples of challenges we've overcome on behalf of our clients.

A long time food/restaurant industry client has over 1,000 franchises around N. America. Each week, they receive sales information on volume/units used. This used to require a manual process of phone calls to each franchisee by a corporate staff member that filled out a paper form. That form was faxed to corporate headquarters where it was then manually entered into a computer program. CWD made the input form available online so each franchisee could fill out sales data each week a d submit it directly to the database that previously took multiple steps. This freed up the corporate staffers' need to be involved in the process. It also reduced the data integrity concerns of having data entered twice by corporate staff. This was a powerful upgrade, no question.

A footwear and apparel client of CWD was experiencing challenges with communicating quality control issues between international retailers, distributors, corporate and manufacturing in China. There was a imperfect method of reporting these issues and lots of potential for reactions that did not fit the challenge. By taking this detailed process on line, the information flow and response to quality issues has become much more efficient for all parties involved.

A custom bike builder client keeps close watch on where each bike is in the build process using an internal spreadsheet detailing progress. This information is critical to running a smooth and efficient business for them. Their customers (bike shop retailers) also want this information so they can report to their eager customers about bikes on order. We are working to make this (currently) internal information available through a secure dealer area on their site. By simply making existing data available to a broader group, the level of service offered by the bike builder will dramatically increase.

In all these cases, there were significant shifts in who/what does the work, while also increasing transparency.

This can cause discomfort because sometimes we don't want certain players to have all the information on a situation. It can be embarrassing when things do not go as planned. (Though we can manage who sees what based upon user profile settings.)
Also, some members of the team may fear that their value to the process is being replaced by technology. A shift like this definitely cuts both ways.

At the end of the day, efficiency and accountability are both increased. In today's fast paced work environment, these are all positive.

e-commerce software: Pro's and Con's

2009-10-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

When evaluating e-commerce software the options are endless. Paypal to Shop-a-tron; Amazon to Volusion, Custom to Evergreen? Recently we traveled down a few different paths and this is what we learned:

Volusion:

Pro: Endless off the shelf solutions (live chat, inventory, affiliate programs, refer a friend, ect.)
Con: VERY limiting on design. Even a custom template is miss-leading because it is far from the custom I know.

Evergreen:

Pro: Customized look and feel; configurable to any business process.
Con: Middle range upfront cost and longer development timeline when compared to turnkey.

Paypal/Google Checkout:

Pro: VERY easy to implement and integrate; brand familiarity for users checking out.
Con: Their brand must live along side your brand.

Shop-a-tron:

Pro: Provides manufacturers with a clean way to manage their retailer channel and capture direct sales.
Con: Time consuming to implement and pricing is based on % of sales.

Check a few screen shots from the various applications:

CWD client promo on 60Minutes

2009-10-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

It would be great to say Cascade Web Development was on 60 Minutes, but we can't. The next best thing? One of our clients gets a little promo from the media giant. Last night on 60 Minutes, JT Holmes, a premier athlete with Nordica was interviewed for his INSANE human flying adventures. There is simply nothing that does this justice other than video.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Visitors loving the new Portland Office!

2009-10-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

Gillian Kennedy and Ben McKinley

Online training Tools from Oakley

2009-10-06T12:16:00.000-07:00

It is great when you come across like minded people putting together great work. OAKLEY of course is great company!

I heard from a friend that Oakley has launched a online training website called O Matter. Like all great sports product companies, Oakley has a technology story to tell, after all, a pair of shades is not just a pair of shades when it has an O on the side.

What I really like about this site is the pure business sense something like this makes. The site has a few core functions:

Train store employees and industry influencers on how the tell the Oakley technology story.
Provide a complete O branded experience
This site uses technology to save time and money. In store training is VERY expensive and face time is harder and harder to come by.
It is customizable. Users can change their DASHBOARD page to align with their interest in sports categories. This is not an easy task, dashboards in general mean big $'s to implement. Way to go Oakley.

Of course you have to be invited to this site so I can not give the URL but here is a screen shot.

To learn more about online training tools for the sports industry, check out a project Cascade Web Development did for Nordica USA.

The new office is coming along!

2009-10-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

We are going to paint a few evergreen trees on the right side of the door today. Should add a little bit of depth.

How to Use Bookmarks and Anchors On Your Webpage

2009-10-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been on a website, clicked on a link, and instead of being taken to a new page, were zoomed down to another line or paragraph on the same page? This type of link is called a bookmark and should not be confused with Bookmarks in the sense that browsers have come to use the term to describe websites you "save" in a Favorites list. These bookmark links provide website owners with an easy way to present a lot of related content on one long page while still making specific sections of that content immediately accessible to site visitors. Today I'm going to walk users of the Evergreen Content Management System through how to implement bookmarks on their pages when it makes sense to do so.

1. Create a Table of Contents
Before you can link anything to anywhere, you'll need to create the link text. Be sure to place this TOC near the top of the page for immediate user accessibility. Formatting is entirely up to you. See below for an example of how I did it:

2. Add Content
Once you've created your TOC, you'll now need to add the content it will ultimately link to. Most of the time, you'll have an FAQ document lying around in a Word doc that you'll simply need to copy and paste into your Evergreen WYSIWYG. Don't forget to use the Paste from Word tool to avoid formatting headaches! ()

Once the content has been added, you're ready for the next step: Adding Anchors

3. Adding Anchors
So you've created your TOC and added in all of your content. Now you need a way to tell the browser how far down the page it should go when your TOC items have been clicked. Here's where anchors come in.

First, find the line of content that you plan on linking your first TOC item to. Click your cursor just to the left of the first word in that line so its actively blinking within the WYSIWYG.

Next, click the scary trident-looking icon () in the WYSIWYG ribbon menu. This will load a popup window where you will need to write the name of this new location. ~~Note: you cannot use spaces when naming anchors, so be sure to separate words in your anchor name with hyphens or underscores.~~

Once you've decided on an appropriate name, click "Insert" to save it. Now repeat this process for the rest of your anchors. When finished, you can move onto the final step: Linking to Your Anchors

4. Linking to Your Anchors
Now, return to your TOC and highlight the first entry. Next, click the "Link" icon (). You may be already quite familiar with this tool as it is also used to create hyperlinks to other sites and other pages on your own site. Today, we'll expand its use to include bookmark links.

Click the bubble labeled "Bookmark", then select the appropriate anchor you created for this entry. Once selected, click "Insert", "Apply", and "Ok". You've just created your first bookmark from start to finish! Now repeat this process for the rest of your TOC entries. Once you're done, your TOC and associated page content should look and function (something) like this.

CWD Is Moving!

2009-09-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

Painting the new office on wheels. Want to help? Come on down; free hosting for 6 months if you show up. Right behind OMSI on Water Ave!

Interbike 2010 - The bike world descends upon Vegas

2009-09-24T09:30:00.001-07:00

Interbike 2010 is underway in Las Vegas this week. I headed down to support some of our clients and reach out to partners and prospects. It was as fun (for a bike enthusiast like myself) as it was productive.

As a first year attendee, I heard that things had been toned down compared to past years, but there was still much excitement at this well attended industry show. Many top athletes were there promoting their sponsors including George Hincapie, Christian Vandevelde, and Dave Zabriskie. Every segment of the industry was represented and many CWD clients were there to show off their wares for this coming year.

KEEN Footwear was attending their second Interbike as an exhibitor. KEEN's bike footwear and messenger bag offerings continue to expand with much excitement surrounding them. Kalkhoff launched there new site yesterday, just in time for the show. Their lineup of e-bikes was most impressive. Look to hear more from them as they establish themselves in the Portland area.

"I'm on a boat" - T-Pain

2009-09-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

By Fritz Brumder

Well T-pain was not with me, but I did drive my boat to work yesterday. My first stop was the PDX fire dock. I walked 3 blocks to meet with Becky Engel from Grady Brittan. Next stop was the OMSI dock, next to the sub. It is only a 4 block walk to the Cascade Web Development world HQ on SE 11th and Division.

Who does this?

2009-09-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

So how many people (men) do you think can convince their new bride to take a honeymoon in Chile skiing rather than the beaches of Tahiti. Probably only someone who works for Cascade Web Development aka Mark Boisvert. We live and breath the sport, work, life culture. Who would not want to work here?

Photo taken @ Valle el Arpa - 11,500 ft with Mt. Aconcagua in the background standing @ 22,841 ft

Extranet: Arming The Workforce With Remotely Accessible Tools

2009-09-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

By Ben McKinley

At CWD, it can be a real challenge to focus and promote our efforts in any one industry or category. While we've seen exciting growth with outdoor product companies, law firms, and construction companies; we serve and welcome clients from industries far and wide.

One area we have seen clear segmentation is in the people with whom we work. When it comes to delivering innovative, cool sites that create a unique brand experience, we are usually working with marketing minds. Whether working with an agency partner or client, the focus is on creating a positive and powerful experience for customers and prospects. Although, unless there are clear conversions like ecommerce sales, a direct ROI can be challenging to measure. Therefore, during tough times like now, we are seeing smaller budgets and bigger expectations.

Another significant focus of our business is with Extranets (AKA Intranets) where the focus is less on design and more on usability, operational efficiencies and return on investment. In these cases, we find ourselves working with IT and Operations minds. A colleague suggested that if you're not reducing costs and/or easing pain for a company, new sales are a real challenge, these days. Given this logic, it comes as no surprise that client interest in Extranets has remained strong, even during the worst of times.

Our relationships with clients needing help automating their processes and allowing for more efficient remote collaboration seem to breed strong, long standing relationships. These clients are truly partnering with us to evolve their businesses over time. The users of these solutions generally include employees, dealers, reps, and suppliers.

Extranets (what is an Extranet?) require significant initial research and strategy work in order to understand our clients current approach to business. We then work to arrive at new, innovative ways to move those processes from local networks/desktops to the web. We also find ourselves integrating a number of separate online tools that are currently in use. Among all the benefits of this new solution, there will also be a significant cultural shift in the organization. We include this topic early on to ensure post-launch success.

The initial solution rarely touches all sides of the business, but rather focuses on improving one or several pain points experienced by the company. The Evergreen platform's flexibility allows for long term evolution. I would contend that an Extranet is never truly 'done' and that ongoing budgets should be established as needs shift and evolve over time.

If we do our job well, the client becomes more efficient by leveraging technology. This allows them to reallocate their staff resources, accelerate training and see real savings in their bottom line. When all of those priorities align, it becomes a no-brainer to continue investment in the Extranet.

CWD takes a unique approach to intranets that is flexible and scales well as needs evolve. There are a number of solutions out there to assist companies in automating their processes and backing up data, while keeping security a main focus. Please contact us to explore further.

How To Embed a YouTube Video on Your Site

2009-08-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

Content is King. Ahh, the age-old adage about what matters on the web. But does content just have to be words? Of course not! Spice up your web pages with video to make a lasting impression on your site's visitors.

This tutorial will guide you through the steps you'll need to embed a YouTube video on your website using the Evergreen Content Management System.

1. Find the Video

You'll need to locate the video you'd like to feature on your website, whether it's one you've uploaded yourself to YouTube or one from a stranger. Don't worry about stepping on anyone's toes here, if users don't want their video to be featured on other's websites, they will have disabled this feature when they uploaded it to YouTube. To disallow others from embedding videos that you've uploaded, follow these simple steps from Google.

2. Find the Embed Code

Now you'll need to find the embed code that will allow you to host this video on your site. Unless the uploader has disabled this feature, you'll find it below the video description off to the top-right.

Highlight all the code in this field. If you miss some, your video will not work on your site. You can also customize your player using the options below it. Just make sure to copy the final version of the embed code once you're finished choosing your options.

3. Embed the Video

Now that you've copied the embed code to your clipboard, you'll want to paste it onto your webpage through the Evergreen Content Management System. For now, create a brand new page. This way you won't have to worry about where within the HTML you'll need to paste your embed code.

After you've assigned this page all of its required properties, return to the WYSIWYG and click the HTML button (). Drop your cursor somewhere in this box and click Ctrl+V to paste your embed code. It should look something like this:

Finally, click Apply > Ok and Save your new page. Open the page in your browser and voila! Your video should be right there waiting to be enjoyed by the masses!

Embedding your video on a page with preexisting content can be a little more tricky only because you'll need to establish a general sense of where the code will need to be pasted in relation to the rest of the HTML. Play around, and make good use of the Undo button. Before long you should be fairly comfortable with at least navigating through the HTML of your page.

Good luck and have fun putting the social web to work for you!

The Virtual Organization

2009-08-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

Guest Blogger: John Stone

Flexible, dynamic, and mobile, organizations are no longer constrained by traditional barriers of place and time. Business leaders are looking at virtual organizational structures to address critical resource, personnel and logistical issues. This session will examine the ways that technology is helping business leaders implement optimal models to gain competitive advantage.

Considering the Opportunity:

There are real opportunities to both retain great employees who need a more flexible working model that delivers work-life balance, lower costs and better remote working models. With changing demographics and an increasingly global workforce, virtualization is no longer an option, it is a critical need. However, we have all seen it – organizations adopt virtual working models and hoteling models and see productivity fall. Often, management is unable to organize virtual teams effectively and workers can’t collaborate and coordinate with colleagues. The result can be a drop in productivity and a lack of product and customer innovation.

At the same time, changing demographics and an increasingly global workforce suggest that succeeding in deploying a virtual organization model is no longer an option. For key segments of the workforce, global virtual working is the norm and must be delivered with the right technology and business systems. Companies can successfully adopt flexible working models to reduce the real-estate footprint, retain great employees, increase employee satisfaction and productivity while contributing to a more green economy.

The value of a virtual organization is particularly strong for knowledge workers and those workforce segments that are working with global distributed teams and are on the road with clients and customers. R&D teams and developers can benefit from follow-the-sun strategies for continuous development and delivery. Obviously, it is far more challenging for production workers or call center staff to work in a virtual organization. Today’s broadband networks, telephony and computing capabilities to offer a secure collaborative environment for virtual workers. The results can be lower costs of occupancy, a happier workforce, and a green environment.

A wish list of the technology enablers for a virtual organization (please add to this list!):

Core Office

I am not ready to give up traditional desktop office applications like MS Office PowerPoint and Word applications but I will also use emerging cloud models like Google Documents
Advanced Calendaring and synchronization (MS Exchange for the enterprise, Google Calendar is getting better, but it can still be difficult interacting outside our firewall)

Communications

VOIP – I use Skype to communicate with a team in Portugal and Kiev… great!
The perfect PDA – I use an iPhone, but enjoyed my blackberry before. Why can’t iPhone work well with Exchange calendaring? It is a fun media toy, but not yet a powerful tool for virtual working
eMail – ‘nough said
Electronic scheduling across networks – including people and resources of all types
Synchronization of my calendar (e.g. Google Calendar Sync) and someday my contacts with LinkedIN? Plaxo? (not really there yet)
Presence and interoperable collaborative secure chat (Which chat service is everyone on? How do I connect?)

Collaboration

Knowldege Management and Expertise Location – we have had this for a while, but collaborative systems and communities are improving and we can now begin to get access to valuable information – if tagged and stored in the right shared spaces!
Videoconferencing ( I use a free service, but everyone needs to dial a toll number – not too bad)
Virtual Whiteboards and collaborative workspaces (Everything from Google Docs to the Groove Application MS Live)
Adobe Connect vs Webex (these are getting better all the time, but can still be a bit awkward to use)

Broadband and Infrastructure

I am always in search of speed and the coffee shops are still behind the times
Secured Shared File Storage – We need trusted identity solutions that will help ensure authentication and protect our critical assets. What about those really big files?
Auditing technology – how can we ensure remote workers are using their collaboration tools appropriately without being a big brother?
Organizations need continuous operations and better service management using ITIL standards – this is particularly important for un-tethered workers engaging in critical business activities.

This article was written by John Stone from www.revenuearchitects.com. Feel free to contact John or Cascade Web Development for more details.

Twitter Basics

2009-07-06T09:34:00.001-07:00

Social Media can be a mysterious and intimidating space for many of us. These thoughts are intended for the user that is new to, or contemplating, more activity with Twitter and Facebook.

Twitter 'tweets' and Facebook 'status updates' have the highest potential to fall flat, in my opinion. What do my virtual fellow-travelers and followers really care to hear? After watching Twouble with Twitters, I felt even less inclined to hop in the game and start sharing... This vid is hilarious, but points to the many pitfalls of twitter use (or abuse, depending on how you look at it).

I am relatively new to the twitter game. I have had an account for a couple months now. The first thing I did when I set up my account was to sit back and ask, now what? What does the twittersphere care about? Then, an SEO collegue broke it down for me... when it comes to the social network, consider this progression:

1) Listen

2) Participate

3) Lead

After seeing the light with this simple 3 step program, I searched around twitter for interesting people and organizations to 'follow'. I observed what they shared. What was valuable? What was annoying? I took lots of mental notes.

More and more, I have started throwing some tweets/updates out there (in fact with TweetDeck, I can make one comment and have it syndicate to twitter and facebook! More to come on useful tools surrounding the social media world in coming posts.). I then observe some more. What garnered responses? Were they desirable? Some things I learned...

Its easy to recommend a good restaurant, painter, mechanic or brewpub. If you have a good experience, throw it out there.
The flip side is true as well. If you are in need of a good resource or tip, ask your followers. As your list of followers grows, its amazing what responses will come back.
Take a stand. Share your thoughts on current events. Let your people know position on issues.
Pictures. They say a 1,000 words.

Some suggestions on what not to share...

Don't tell people you are out of town. Its a great way to make yourself a victim of a home break-in. And if that sounds like useless paranoia, another reason not to promote your time away from home is that it reminds the rest of us that we are not on vacation.
Avoid commenting on only yourself. Its a big world out there.

In time, you'll likely find a topic or general approach that seems to work well for you. Depending on whether your twitter account is personal or business/non-profit/subject-matter specific, the topic may be focused or broad.

The key is variety of content and steady contributions. Social networking is about participation... You must give and not just take.

CWD commentary on strategic partnerships

2009-06-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

This post discusses a strategic alliance between an advertising agency and a software/web development company. The web development company is very technology focused. Their strategy is based on a high level of service, customization and quality development. The advertising agency’s focus is on brand strategy and design. Their strategy is based on high design differentiation and specialized service within an ‘agency’ of service providers. The following value chain diagram represents the responsibility of each partner in the industry. Gray = advertising agency; Blue = Web Development company.

Pluses

Minuses

- Both companies use each other as referral sources. Resulting in more predictable sales projections.

- Access to capability that either company could not maintain on their own without larger volume.

- Co marketing programs

- Augmented product/service offering- Additional value in service delivery if partnership is evolved. Results in increased profit margin.

- One company might extend special terms to help the other, for example extend A/R days. It gives you another partnership to allow you to stay afloat, but only works when the two have opposite needs.

- Risk of losing the customer to the other company.

- Constraints that you would not have if you operated on your own.

- The cost of servicing a customer goes up in some cases.

- Unpredictable when the lines are blurry between the value delivery stages

- Value Chain: In some cases the client values steps of the process different. Therefore, establishing $ value when you are breaking up each part of the delivery process can be tricky.

- Life Cycle: The development company is at the end of the project process so if the project is late, they are forced into tight production time lines with little control.

The challenges here are easily overcome with clear communication and quality relationships. The necessity of these relationships is undeniable in a dynamic world such as the web. A "website" can mean a million things from a brochure ware site to a complex application.

Read our account of a recent project launch with an agency partner.

Don't Get Trumped By A Baby!

2009-06-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

CWD added a new baby to the family last month. So what is the best gift a web development company can give a baby? A BABY BLOG! It started as something fun and easy to post photos for family, but I quickly realized that the blog was a hot trend in the world of new moms and dads. A lot of the blogs I started seeing have some rather innovative features (for a new born):

Mobile device updating using iphone, blackberry, ect.
Embedded video
Dynamic video
Ability to subscribe/follow the blog
RSS feed of new posts
Some rather cool design for a baby

What does this mean for your company? Well the first question is do you even have a blog? If not, you should tuck your tail and close up shop because you just got out innovated by a new born. If you have a blog, how are you using it? How often do you update it? Baby blogs get updated 2-3 times per week! Do you have some of the features listed above?

Blogging for your company is a communication tool, just like it is for a new born baby. So get started today, time is wasting.

Some screen shots from baby blogs:

What is a CWD Module?

2009-06-17T15:35:00.001-07:00

A CWD module is more or less a custom-developed plugin which installs directly into our Evergreen Content Management System. Its purpose is to simplify otherwise complex website processes. Here, let's start small with a relatively straightforward example.

Consider the case of the Cascade Web Development site and how News articles are added. Before the existence of a News Module, our process would involve the following:

Write news article
Manually move all traces of the previous news article to an archive page
Insert new news article title and short description onto our home page
Create a new page just for the new news article body to live
Link the home page title and short description to the new news page we just created
Do it all again next week

A News Module takes this lengthy process and virtually automates it for you. All you have to do is drop the content in a few simple fields and click Save. The rest is handled by the module.

The beauty of modules is that they can be applied to almost every conceivable web operation. Here are just a few examples:

Managing an online ecommerce catalog of products
Posting News and Events articles
Dynamically editing Flash-driven graphic content
And everything else ...

Still have questions about how modules can help you streamline your web management? Give us a call. We'll help you see the light!

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Glen/Mar Construction Launches New Site

2009-06-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Hats off to another CWD client who just launched the latest version of their company website, www.glenmarconstruction.com ! Glen / Mar Construction is a SDVOSB General Construction firm providing Design/Build, Property Development, Extensive Renovations, and Construction Engineering capabilities.

The goal behind this project was to design and develop a website that was easy to navigate and presented information in a clear, straightforward manner. Check it out at GlenMarConstruction.com!

CWD partner launches new brand

2009-06-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

CWD design and branding partner formerly known as SPDzine is now FICTION! As usual, they set and exceeded the bar for developing a concept, designing and implementing an amazing experience. Check out a few photos from their new space or visit their website (www.thinkfiction.com) which is run on the Evergreen Content Management platform.

FICTION is a Portland Oregon agency that tells brand stories. They are located on the first floor of the Ford Building on SE 11th ave.

Web Design/Development - How We Use Wireframes

2009-06-03T10:12:00.001-07:00

A lot of the clients we work with have never seen a wireframe before or maybe they have, but its been in an entirely different context than how we use wireframes at Cascade Web Development.

For us, wireframes serve as the visual blueprint for the initial design. Our standard wireframe will be presented in grayscale, with minimal design work. The goal here is to establish the placement of key elements on the page rather than those elements’ final presentation.

Here is an example of the initial wireframe we designed for Michigan Primary Care Association. The layout was based on conversations had with the MPCA team prior to its drafting.

Two days later we hopped on the phone and went over their likes and dislikes, things they wanted tweaked, etc. We had a few of these types of back-and-forths in the ensuing week and half, ultimately resulting in the following final wireframe:

Once we had delivered a wireframe that all parties were excited about, we passed the wireframe and corresponding Creative Request document on to our creative design team. A week later, here’s what resulted:

Two rounds of revisions later, here’s the final design!

Page through the slideshow below to see how the MPCA design evolved from conception.

Engaging with customers not competitors?

2009-05-31T10:14:00.000-07:00

I had a friend pose very interesting question yesterday: I have noticed my competitors following me and copying my social media activities (he was using Twitter, videos, blogs). What can I do to engage with my customers and prospects but not my competitors?

Here are my thoughts:

Interesting question, enough that it had me up last night thinking about it! Just last week we tried to follow one of our competitors on twitter and he blocked us! We actually felt kind of good about it since they are much larger than us so I presume he is seeing us as a threat:) So this is one option, don't let them follow you. Now of course they can still get to the information but it clearly says, "bug off dude..."

Another option is to use social media tools that are closed source. Basically a client/prospect portal/community. Depending on your customer's willingness to engage, you could create your own community rather than join the open community and hope to capture your customers there. If you can pull it off, the advantages are huge. You have control over the branded experience, you control all of the content (and I do not mean control as in force the user into what you want them to see.) I mean control who gets to see it, how they interact with it and the tools you give them to do so. Think of the technographics social ladder in the Groundswell. If your customers are creators, then add a bunch of contribution tools for them. If they are critics then create the content and give them the tools to react to it. The nice part about a 'private commiunity' is that you can simplify it by taking out the featuers that you do not need!! Ease of use = adoption.

Finally, it sounds to me like you already have your competitors beat! You are one step ahead of them, which is better than one step behind. Keep innovating and they will have a hard time catching up.

JustAnswer.com - Ask A Question, Get An Expert Answer

2009-05-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I come across an online service that gets me really excited. A month ago, it was Microsoft’s unveiling of their new SkyDrive service (providing free online data storage of up to 25 GB). Now, I’m writing about JustAnswer.com, an online service that connects inquiring laypeople with qualified “expert” respondents.

Here’s how it works:

You submit a question.
You select which “field” your question falls into from Taxes to Computers to even Pets!
You offer a deposit ranging from about $9 to $13. The higher your bid, the more attractive you’ve made your question. You only have to pay this amount if you are satisfied with the answer you receive.
Wait for an expert to reply.

Boasting over 20,000 experts, JustAnswer.com pretty much guarantees that they’ll be someone online 24/7 who can answer your question. The amount of your bid will likely determine how fast and thorough of an answer you receive.

While paying for answers isn’t for everyone, if you’re someone who needs an answer fast and just can’t seem to Google it for the life of you, JustAnswer.com may be exactly what you need.

If you’re interested, then go ahead of check out JustAnswer.com for yourself!

Trying To Find A Business (Or Just Any) Use For Twitter? [pt. 2]

2009-05-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

Post by Guest Blogger Jason Lander of ShiftWise

In my post earlier this week I showed you how to set up a Twitter account. Now I’ll show you how it can benefit you as a hospital or staffing supplier in the healthcare staffing industry.

First, like all marketing efforts you have to think about your objective and strategy regarding how you will promote yourself or your company on Twitter. You need to also consider how you will provide some kind of value to the community.

Twitter is a social networking site that can certainly be used for business/marketing purposes. However, many people using Twitter aren’t on there for business reasons. Therefore, coming off as simply trying to promote your business without any strategy will ensure you’re treated like the guy at the party who won’t stop talking about himself.

Here are some goals/strategies you might want to consider:

Build Brand Awareness
Gain new customers
Improve or expand upon your company image
Monitor the activities of your competitors
Measure customer satisfaction

Here are some suggested promotional ideas:

Post linked items to articles on your website or other relevant sites
Create surveys on how to better your business
Share new job openings or opportunities
Address customer complaints
Offer discounts or rewards
Show people how to use/benefit from your service
Answer business related questions
Promote company events
Announce new product/service lines

Essentially, just because you heard about Twitter from your kids first doesn't mean that the fundamental rules of marketing don't apply. The most important thing to do is to listen to your followers and respond with content that is relevant, engaging and meets a need. If you do this correctly you will build relationships and gain followers. Ultimately this will result in the promotion of your business by not just you and your company, but also your followers! What better promotion is there?

The following video will show you how to get some business use (new leads, recruiting healthcare professionals, etc.) out of Twitter for your hosptial or staffing agency by making use of another application called TweetDeck. You can get similar functionality from other apps like Twhirl but I think Tweetdeck is the best.

Jason Lander is VP of Business Development for ShiftWise. For more of Jason's posts, you can visit his blog, the Staffing Robot.

4. Link the media

2009-05-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to link together the web assets and leverage syndicated content. In this diagram we have connected the dots to communicate the content flow. We have also identified which assets can be updated using a mobile device. In some cases we specify the type of content being transfered.

With this map in place, we have clear direction for technology implementation.

Trying to find a business (or just any) use for Twitter? [pt. 1]

2009-04-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

Post by Guest Blogger Jason Lander of ShiftWise

I’m guessing you never thought you would use the word “tweet” when referring to any aspect of your business. But for many of us this word has become part of our everyday vocabulary.

For those of you that haven’t heard of Twitter (no it is not the cool new electronic toy your child wants for Christmas), it is a service that lets people communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages that are limited to 140 characters. You can post these messages directly on twitter or with a text message or mobile app through your cell phone.

Seems strange yes? I thought so at first too. It took me about 30 days to figure out Twitter but once I did it became an indispensable part of my life. It’s all about connecting to a community or group of friends and participating in order to ask questions, share information or advice, post news articles, self-promote, communicate your whereabouts or activities, or make new acquaintances.

Here is a good beginners guide to Twitter if you want to understand more.

I’ve been using Twitter for several months now but have been recently intrigued by the potential business opportunities for the healthcare staffing industry that exist with Twitter. Business opportunities with 140 character posts? Yes. Read on.

I created a Staffing Robot Twitter Page only a few short months ago and already I'm following 235 members and have 128 followers. Many of these people are participants in the healthcare staffing industry – hospitals, staffing suppliers, healthcare professionals, etc. By connecting with these people I’ve been able to get helpful industry information such as: learning about innovative hospitals, finding suppliers posting job openings for healthcare professionals and finding nurses frustrated with trying to find a job.

Sounding more interesting? I hope so.

So your next question might be how did I find all of these members on Twitter? The answer is I’m magic and not going to tell you. At least not until part 2 of this post so stay tuned. For now though, I will show you (in the video below) how to set up a Twitter account for your hospital, medical staffing agency or for yourself.

Jason Lander is VP of Business Development for ShiftWise. For more of Jason's posts, you can visit his blog, the Staffing Robot.

2. Understand the media & 3. Ideas on how to use it

2009-04-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

CWD website: With the augmentation of the following tools, the website is a home for information on CWD. The primary updated sections are News, Portfolio and Evergreen resources (which I separated below)
CWD blog: This is a place to express our understanding of the industry, talk about what we learn from projects and share relevant technology with our customers. Common tags may be: Our Work, Evergreen, Industry news, Web Applications, Portland, Thought leadership, Developer Resources, and Random
CWD newsletter: We would like to grow 'opt in' subscriptions for the newsletter. This is a tool to deliver all content from CWD. The newsletter goes out once a quarter.
CWD Evergreen support portal: This section of the CWD website is used by existing clients. We often add new tutorials, videos and links.
CWD clients: Most clients allow us to create a link from their website to ours.
Twitter: The latest in social media buzz. It is a simple application which could be recreated if needed. The app is very flexible with RSS. All tweets are public. Used almost more for business than personal.
Facebook: Also highly popular as a social tool. Businesses use it for advertising more than communication. The benefit to this platform is the developer community and long list of modules. Most of the content is private.
YouTube: I used the title YouTube, but this could be any video site really. Users can create channels and embed those videos onto a web page or facebook easily. YouTube has a built in Twitter and facebook link.
Linkedin: Primarily a business tool used for networking. Typically profiles are person based and not company based. Some content is public. I am not sure about built in functions with other social sites, but I would presume that is coming.
SAO (software association of oregon): A community social network, any user has the ability to post blogs, forums or add photos.
Babson Alumni network: Same platform as SAO (ning.com)
OEN (oregon entrepreneurs network): Not on the ning platform but offers some similar features. Users can post blogs and discussions. Content is RSS enabled from the site.
Google reader/Google calendar/ Google Profiles: G is the powerhouse. The Reader platform/iGoogle can be used to monitor a number of RSS feeds. Calendars can accept RSS feeds of ical format and then embedded onto a page. Permissions are a little tricky but not if it is 100% public.
Del.ic.ous: Book marking tool that is RSS enabled delivering content. Bookmarks can be made easily with a web browser plug in and links on most news websites.
Personal employee websites: Most companies, like ours, have over 505 of the staff with their own website. Flexibility is key, but things take longer to get implemented on these sites. Link creation is one of the better options if your employees are passionate about it.

Other technologies to consider:

Feedburner for RSS tracking

1. Identify Media

2009-04-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

Step one starts by writing down all of your media touch points. Once you get them all down on traditional page (this is an important step) digitize them:

CWD website
CWD blog
CWD newsletter
CWD Evergreen support portal
CWD clients
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Linkedin
SAO (software association of oregon)
Babson Alumni network
OEN (oregon entrepreneurs network)
Google reader/Google calendar/ Google Profiles
Del.ic.ous
Personal employee websites

Wow, that is a long list and we are much smaller than most of our clients!

Now on to the next step: Understand media.

New (Social) Media Strategy

2009-04-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

I am sure you have heard the saying, "The cobblers children have no shoes." Well the web development company has no social media strategy. We are always so busy doing it for clients. Well yesterday I went to a lecture on the New Media strategy for the Obama Campaign. It was amazing and inspiring. So I said YES WE CAN have a true strategy even while working our tails off for clients. To make this a learning process for all, I decided to blog about the process.

Stay tuned for the following posts:

Identify media (see chicken scratch in the next post)
Understand the media/data
Develop ideas on how to use it
Link ideas to company strategy
Develop technology
Delivery content
Repeat step 6, over and over

Fritz's 7 minute steps to a new media strategy.

Content is the Hard Part

2009-03-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

Post by Guest Blogger Dawn Foster

Everyone seems to be jumping into blogging, Twitter, Facebook, online communities and other social media efforts. On the surface, this may seem like a technology issue, the real issue is around content. Most companies can start a blog or other social media engagements with few technology issues, but when it comes to creating compelling content that works within these new social communities, this is where companies and individuals tend to struggle.
Many corporate blogs, Twitter accounts, and other social media efforts are neglected, dull, and unimaginative while filled with press release content, marketing fluff, and outdated content. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Your content can be interesting and useful with a little focus and time devoted to it. Here are a few tips to help turn your boring corporate social media efforts into something successful.

Content Roadmap

Most companies should create and maintain some type of content roadmap. The content roadmap will usually map out the next 4 weeks of blog posts with an author identified for each post. This helps to ensure that the blog topics are strategically aligned with corporate goals, varied across topics and types of content, and frequent enough to keep the blog active. The person responsible for the blog can work with authors to help identify topics and then make sure that the author has access to everything needed to complete the post (data, technical assistance, etc.) I tend to focus on blog posts in the content roadmap, but you can also include other social media content in the roadmap to make sure that your Twitter account, Facebook page, online community, and more stay up to date and are not forgotten.

Spontaneous Posts

Now that you have a content roadmap, you should also diverge from it frequently to allow for serendipitous blogging and other posts on hot topics or new ideas that people are passionate enough about to want to talk about them immediately. Monitor popular blogs, news sources, and events in your industry and respond to what others are saying. Join the conversation without waiting for the topic to come up on the content roadmap.

Use the Language of the Medium

Social media is not the place to post marketing messages or use other corporate sounding language. Blogs, Twitter and other online communities are more conversational in nature with a focus on person to person interaction and two-way interactions where the company is part of the community. I have a set of social media and social networking best practices with more details on how to participate without embarrassing yourself or your company.

Thought Leadership

The best blogs and other posts have content that focuses on thought leadership. Talk about the things in your industry where your employees have expertise that can be shared with the world. Don’t just talk about your products; focus on your entire industry. Get people to discuss a variety of topics and new ideas. Don’t get stuck in a rut where all of your posts have essentially the same or similar content. You are not a thought leader if all of your posts are simply variations on a single idea. Chime in with your thoughts on a variety of topics across your industry.

Conversations

Always monitor and respond to comments. People get frustrated when they ask questions or provide feedback without any response or acknowledgment. Even worse are those companies that moderate every comment and delete anything that they do not agree with. Let people comment and disagree with your ideas. Some of the most interesting conversations happen in the comments of a blog post. You should also monitor what people are saying about you on other blogs, forums, Twitter, etc. and respond where appropriate.

Blogs are Fun

Have fun with your blog and other social media, and don’t be so serious all of the time. You can include interesting things that are happening within your company that aren’t necessarily work related (photos from a company ski trip). Admit it; you would rather read a post with great content and some humor mixed in, instead of something with great content that drones on and on like an old, boring college lecture. Make the content interesting and fun enough that people will look forward to reading your posts.

You can read more of Dawn Foster's blog posts or learn more about her consulting services by visiting Fast Wonder. http://fastwonderblog.com

Google Chrome v Internet Explorer: Pt. 5

2009-03-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

This post will be the last in my five-part series on why Google Chrome beats Internet Explorer as an internet browser. If you've missed one or all of my previous posts in this series, feel free to catch up now:

1: Tabs
2: Amazing Address Bar
3: Screen Size
4: Reliability

The last feature of Google Chrome which I'll tout today is its speed. This may come as a shock to those of you who've never used anything but IE to browse the internet, check your email, etc, but chances are your browsing speed could be significantly improved just by switching internet browsers.

From the beginning, installation alone of IE7 can take upwards of 10 minutes depending on your connection and hardware. For me, Google Chrome has consistently installed itself in less than 3 minutes (and without requiring me to restart my computer!).

Loading new windows in Google Chrome is extremely snappy with its IE counterpart feeling sluggish and impeding. I'm guessing this has more to do with the difference of weight in each browser's chrome, but it could well be something a lot more technical. The same thing goes for loading new tabs--though to a lesser extent.

In addition to these big ones, there are many more subtle ways in which Google Chrome can speed up your online activities. Perhaps the most hyped has been its new JavaScript rendering engine, V8. According to Google, V8 enables its browser to interpret JavaScript code (an increasingly popular internet programming language) at extremely fast rates compared to the preexisting technologies currently employed by other leading internet browsers.

What does this mean for you? It means faster responsiveness when loading and interacting with JavaScript-based web applications like Gmail and Youtube.

See how Google Chrome can accelerate your online pace by trying it out for yourself. Enjoy.

Using a FREE Web App to Resize Your Images

2009-03-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

Some of you may recall my last post on image resizing using Microsoft Paint. I thought it was an appropriate post both because a) you wouldn't imagine the number of requests we get from clients regarding instruction on how to resize their website images and b) Microsoft Paint comes preinstalled on all Windows-based machines. While the tutorial does accomplish the task of walking a user through the steps of resizing their images, it fails to accomodate Apple users and involves some approximating. Here's where Pixlr comes in.

Pixlr is an entirely web-based photo-editing application made freely available on the Pixlr website. With it, you can import photos from your hard drive, edit them in real time, and then save the new .jpg as if you had Adobe Photoshop or the likes installed on your local system.

Check out the video below, then bookmark the new tutorial on resizing images using Pixlr. If you're responsible for managing your company's online content, knowing how to accomplish this basic task will help you immensely!

Read the full tutorial on resizing images with Pixlr here.

Portland Gets a Bad Rap!

2009-03-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

Cascade Web Development is a Portland, Oregon custom internet development company, and we are PROUD to say it! This week I was traveling to the East Coast to visit a few of our clients in Boston and New Hampshire. I walk into the office of Tyler Kipp, the head of Nordica online and he says "Hey Fritz, you have to see this. Guess what the #1 most depressing city in the U.S. is?" You guessed it, Portland, Oregon. He proceeds to give me hell because I always tell him how good life is on the West Coast and how miserable New Hampshire can be sometimes.

Well, I am writing this article to set the record straight, and show you how stupid the people are that write these things.

If you saw these two images (which they use in the article) what are the first things that come to mind?

The first one, might be something like this:
"Wow, you mean in Portland they actually designed the buildings to complement the exterior environment? Mt Hood looks like another tower in a modest skyline."

"Wait, so I can leave my office and be 6,000 feet up on that mountain in 1 hour?"

The second one might be something like this:
"What is so depressing about a free jazz festival on a sunny day?"

Read the rest of this off-base article.

SkyDrive - 25 GB Free Online Storage

2009-03-04T10:35:00.001-08:00

Microsoft recently unveiled the latest and greatest version of their online backup service, SkyDrive. The service allows users with Microsoft Live IDs access to 25 GB of free online storage. The idea seems to be two-fold: first, you could use your 25 GB for backing-up your files and documents to ensure that even if your house burns down, your data is safe. Or, you could use the service as a channel to securely share photos and other multimedia with friends.

Whether or not SkyDrive is going to succeed in the long run, 25 GB is a LOT of free space which will hopefully serve as a trendsetter in the expansion of free online storage services.

For more information or to sign up for 25 GB of free online storage, check out the Microsoft SkyDrive website.