Dictionary. com defines joy as the emotion of great delight and appreciation in someone or something. The Flathead Valley has more than lived up to the Toy ‘N Joy definition. Your true generosity has warmed our hearts and will bring an abundance of joy to local children and relief to their parents this holiday season. We deeply appreciate you and your part in making our small community the shining gem of joy that we love to call home.

Happy holidays to you and yours.

Toy 'N Joy Shop

Toy 'N Joy Shop

We’re already getting a great response to this year’s Toy N’ Joy Shop drive for the Salvation Army. These toys will go to families that were not adopted in other Salvation Army holiday charities such as Adopt A Family and Angel Tree. You still have until next Thursday, December 17th, to bring in your donations. Thank you to everyone who has made a donation so far.

Drop-off boxes

BigforkWEB 7579 Highway 35 Bigfork, MT 59911 406.837.3334

Colter Coffee Roasting 424 Main Street Kalispell, MT 59901 406.755.7826

Join BigforkWEB Development in supporting local Flathead Valley families this holiday season!

We are holding a drive at BigforkWEB for new children’s coats, clothing and toys to support The Salvation Army’s Toy ‘N Joy Shop.

The Toy ’N Joy Shop allows families that were not adopted by any other Salvation Army program to shop, at no charge, for their children.

Please bring your unwrapped donations to BigforkWEB Development located at 7579 MT Highway 35 in Bigfork (just south of Highway 82).

We are open from 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday. Call us at 837.3334 if you would like us to come pick up your donation (in the Bigfork area).

The drive ends December 17th.

This is a common question, and easy to fix. In fact, as a business owner you should check this yourself and see if your business info is correct!

What you are seeing at the top is a result from the ‘Google Local’ listings. Google, in its voracious crawl about the web, can find and index web information and store it whether you actually submit it yourself or not. This can be a good thing, but can also be a negative if the search giant indexes old, outdated information and you don’t find and update it. What you need to do to combat this is be proactive and get them to index and save your NEW information, and make sure you always have current info up on the web.

• First step is to create a Google Account if you don’t already have one.
  • This is free and easy to do, just follow the instructions from the Google Home Page.
• You will need to then log into your Google account to proceed with editing your Google Local listing.
• Now enter a search term that applies to your business (like Bigfork widgets).
• Look at your listing in the Google Local results section at the top … not in the organic listings below.
• If it says ‘maps.google.com’ under your listing, click the name of your business to go to the Google Maps Info page.
• If it shows your website address under your listing, click on the ‘more’ link underneath that to go to the Google Maps info page.
• At the top of the page, or all the way down at the bottom of the page,  click the blue link that says “edit this place”
• In the pop-up box over the map you will see options such as ‘Move Marker’ and ‘Edit Details’

If you have never updated this information before, you will likely need to choose the  ’claim your business’ option before you do anything else. Follow the instructions, verify the email when it arrives, and proceed with filling out all of your business information. Be sure your location is plotted properly in Google Maps - in rural areas we often find that we are plotted in the middle of a lake or on a logging road somewhere.

Finally be sure to optimize your Google Local listing as much as you can. There are excellent suggestions in this Search Engine Journal article.

And as always, if you need help feel free to call us!

Here are 10 best practices for writing and formatting content for the web:

1. Use Upside-Down Pyramid Style
   Just like newspaper writing, add the most important info up top because there is a good chance readers will not read the whole page.
2. Keep Content Concise
   Web users are impatient so get to the point!
3. Use Simple Language
   Because users are scanning your pages in a quick manner, unnecessary jargon and uncommon vocabulary can slow the user down or even turn them away. Also remember you have a large audience of various education levels, so it is best to keep language simple for all to enjoy.
4. Divide Your Content Using Headers
   
   Using headers to separate out content allows for quick scanning and proper hierarchical page structure. The example to the right, shows the basic structure of header layout.

   The page title (or header 1) should be an all inclusive title to accurately describe the main subject of the content on the page.

   All page content should be organized into sections with a header. The header must accurately describe the section of content that it is labeling.

   Keep in mind that the number of headers and depth of organization will vary depending on the amount and type of content you have on a page.

5. Keep Paragraphs and Sentences Short
   You want to keep sentences short and paragraphs to 3 or 4 sentences. This allows for quick reading and better digestion of bits of information.
6. Use Researched Keywords
   Research common terms your web viewers may use when searching for your product or service. Use these terms in your page content as they pertain to the page subject. Do not overuse your keywords – keep in the realm of quality writing. Try to increase your keyword usage toward the top of your page content, in headers and in links.
7. Use Bulleted and Numbered Lists
   Bulleted lists are easy to scan. Use them to highlight important information.
8. Bold Text
   Bold text highlights the most important message found in a paragraph. It is not necessary to have bold text in every paragraph or even on every page. Be careful not to abuse the bolding of text. If you are bolding whole paragraphs or most of the page, you are defeating the purpose of bolding important text. Bold less instead of more.
   
9. Italicize Text
   You should italicize the text you would normally italicize in print, such as book titles.  In addition, you can italicize when you want something emphasized such as catch phrases or taglines, embedded quotations, definition terms or unique turns of phrase. Once again, try not to overuse italics. A sentence can be acceptable, or even a whole block of quoted text, but overusing italics can have the same negative consequences as overusing bold.
10. Add Links
    The ability to add a link to a page is what makes the web so great. You are not limited to static content as you are in a textbook or newspaper. You can use links to show readers where to go to get more information about a subject. Use internal links (link to other pages in your site) to promote your own content and external links (link to other websites) to back up your facts and ideas.

Obviously this grabbed my attention! Heck yea a website is important! So I closed what I was working on and ignored my Project Manager who was lost somewhere in Twitter and needed my help (I swear we do work around here ) and I turned up the radio.

This was a great program! Both entrepreneurs , Melissa Bushell and Christine Marchuska, discussed how crucial it was for them to have a website to get word out about their business and to sell online. They discussed social networking, marketing around a web presence and search engine optimization - and how important these components are in helping users find your website. I was just sitting here at my desk nodding along with a big grin, knowing that they are correct from my own experiences and thinking of how wonderful it is that someone on the Oprah radio station was talking about what I have built my whole life around!

Then they started talking price and saving money by doing it yourself or hiring someone right out of college. My nods quickly went to hollering back at my speakers. Of course, getting your company online is important, and I have seen some small companies do this just fine through a cheap site, free blog or a Facebook page – but, if you want it done right, hire a professional.

Let me tell you about my snow pants to better explain a good website. Anyone who has seen me before knows I am the size of your average 12-year-old. So, it is generally more affordable for me to buy children’s clothes. When I was in high school I decided I was going to be a snowboarder. I found some black, cheap, children’s snow pants that come up just above my belly button and have the straps to go over your shoulder (just embarrassing, I know). As with any teenage fad, the “I am going to be a professional snowboarder” went out as fast as my black and white Fender Strat when “I was going to be a rock star.” After about 4 trips to the mountain and one concussion, the cheap, black snow pants got patched up with some duct tape and thrown in a box. The box was placed in the basement alongside my bright yellow children’s snowboard and Olympic dreams!

Ten years down the road, I marry an amazing skier and we live near Big Mountain. Since I like to see my husband every once in awhile in the winter, it was either take up skiing or swallow my pride and give into guitar hero….skiing it was.

In preparation for the season, do I replace the cheap, black snow pants? No way! Patagonia has an extra small jacket with my name on it. So now I am learning to ski in my sweet jacket and sad looking, duct tape patched snow pants. On the last run of the day, a small newbie snowboarder, did not yet understand the length of his board and his back edge caught my leg as he turned in front of me. We both went down (darn snowboarders). My cheap snow pants could not take the fall and with a loud, heart wrenching rip, I knew my pants had taken their last ride! I was forced to shamefully ski down the rest of the mountain with a split down the middle of my cheap, black, duct tape patched, snow pants.

The moral of the story is that my super cheap snow pants looked like any other snow pants from a distance. They did not, however, hold up when I hit a little bump. My more expensive Patagonia jacket not only made it through the accident-filled season, but could probably make it through an avalanche, followed by a fire, followed by a hurricane….and it will still be an awesome looking jacket in 10 years!

We have all learned in everyday life that sometimes you have to pay a bit more for quality. Yet, we often continue to try the less expensive rout! BigforkWEB has gained many clients who come to us to fix or re-do the website they created themselves or hired someone with little experience to design.

Creating a website takes more research, work and talent than you might think. For the best results, you often need multiple people with different specialties to work together. You may find a kid right out of college who can make a site look nice and can do enough coding to get by, but does s/he have the marketing and usability knowledge to put together the best layout for your target audience? Does s/he have the search engine optimization (SEO) knowledge or the W3C standards know-how to build your site with the latest code standards, organic optimization or section 508 compliant? Does s/he have the experience to know what may and may not work for your specific niche? Can s/he work with you to measure the success of your website through your conversion rates?>

Just because a site looks good from far away, does not mean that it is a quality site that will work best for your specific needs or one that will last. Duct tape cannot always patch up a tear – get yourself a nice Patagonia!

Oh yea, both of the successful entrepreneurs on the show had hired professionals to develop their sites.

Why Do I Need A Professional?

By Elizabeth Harrison
Read the original article from the Flathead Beacon, 06-24-09

BIGFORK – In 2003, Mike Callaghan walked into the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce and set the tone for his start-up Web development company.

Now a thriving business with seven employees and more than 350 clients, BigforkWEB Development owes some of its early success to Callaghan’s dedication to community involvement.

“I think it’s important to give back – this company’s been very fortunate,” he said.

Whether it’s attending local Rotary Club meetings, decorating downtown Bigfork for the holidays or picking up trash along Highway 35, all of BigforkWEB’s employees are involved in the Flathead Valley community outside of work.

“It’s good for people and good for business,” Andrea Goff, vice president of operations and a member of the Rotary Club of Bigfork, said.

After growing up in New England and studying Geographic Information Science at the University of Colorado – Boulder, Callaghan moved to Jackson, Wyo., and started a computer software company. It was in this small town that he developed his business strategy of engaging the local community. He became a member of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce and also owned a small mountain bike shop.

He later followed the dot-com boom of the 1990s to San Francisco, where he worked as a Web site developer for a financial services company for three years.

When the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, he started looking for places to settle down and start a family. Callaghan said he chose Bigfork for its small-town feel – a decision that has paid off.

After starting out with one client, Bigfork artist Nancy Cawdrey, Callaghan said his company just took off. It worked by referrals only, and didn’t begin marketing until the recession hit a year ago.

“Until last year, growth was phenomenal,” Callaghan said. But while business at BigforkWEB has slowed a bit, he said the company is pretty much recession-proof.

“The growth of the Internet hasn’t slowed. Businesses know the need to have a presence online, not only in the Flathead, but throughout the world,” he said. “We are very lucky it hasn’t affected us negatively.”

Callaghan said he and his employees have worked hard to keep up in a down economy, including holding a free monthly panel series at Flathead Valley Community College about utilizing Web sites for businesses.

Goff said after creating a “really, really rockin’ Web site,” start-up Web companies shouldn’t expect business to come to them.

“You have to get out of the office. You can’t just put up a Web site or a sign,” she said. “You have to show them you want their business. Go pound the pavement.”

Located on Highway 35, BigforkWEB tries hard to stay abreast of new technologies.

“We all love technology and read as many books, blogs and newsletters as we can get our hands on to keep up with it,” Creative Director Dani Taylor said. “I don’t mean to sound like a Hallmark commercial here, but we all really love what we do and who we work with.”

Taylor said the company was one of the first in the Flathead area to start formatting Web sites with Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, an application used to style Web pages written in HTML.

One of Dave Short’s first jobs at BigforkWEB when he arrived a year ago was to modernize the company’s programming.

“It’s nice to be on the front end and be an innovator,” the senior developer said.

BigforkWEB is also unique in that it works with smaller companies with smaller budgets.

“A lot of companies in the area do not want to take on smaller Web sites because the money is in the big clients,” Taylor said.

This is something client Steve Weber knows first-hand from shopping around for a company to help him build his Web site, speakinggump.com.

Weber, a Forrest Gump impersonator and keynote speaker living in Hamilton, said a couple of companies declined to work with him before he found BigforkWEB.

“BigforkWEB Development immediately impressed me because while a small company, they are large in terms of Web design companies,” he said. He liked that the company assigned a project manager to centralize communication.

Weber said he also wanted to work with people who “embraced the Montana lifestyle” and who he could meet with face-to-face.

“Looking people in the eye is critical if a personal bond is going to exist,” he said.

Weber said the company spent hours with him, getting to know who he was as an individual, before they began to collaborate on his Web site.

“It’s like building a house when we’re building a Web site – you have to communicate with clients,” Goff said.

Callaghan said it gives him satisfaction to watch a business grow because of his company’s work.

“That’s really how we measure our success,” he said. “Helping small businesses grow and be successful. That’s important to me.”

Natural SEO and Organic SEO are two ways to describe the same thing.  At BigforkWEB, we use the phrase “Natural Search Engine Optimization”.   Basically it is defined as the art of increasing your ranking in the Search Engine Results Page without paying for web-based advertising such as Google AdWords.  This paid advertising is commonly referred to as Pay-Per-Click.  These are the ads you see on the right side of the search engine.

Natural Search Engine Optimization and Paid Optimization live under the umbrella of Search Engine Marketing (SEM).  Search Engine Marketing encompasses all aspects of marketing to help increase your search engine rankings.

Natural Search Engine Optimization is referred to as natural or organic because they are steps added to either your new website or while refreshing an existing site.  It can be integrated as part of your website creation or revisions.  Think of a website as a garden where you have your developer (or master gardener) plant herbs and vegetables.  Natural SEO is having your developer plant a border of flowers around your vegetable garden.  Planting these flowers will assist in making your garden more noticeable because these flowers attract honey bees and butterflies which are like the search engines.

Example of Organic and Paid Results on Google

Paid SEO is where you pay the bees and butterflies to visit your garden, whether or not it has natural or organic optimization.  If you’re a user looking up information about gardening, you may visit Google and type in “Gardening in Montana”.  You notice on the right side a list of links with small descriptions underneath the heading “Sponsored Links”.  One of them reads, “Your Montana Gardening Resource” - so you click on the link and it takes you to a blog created by a Montana nursery.  When you clicked on that link, the nursery was charged by Google.  Each time you click on this site from the paid listings on the right, Google charges the nursery and this is called Pay-Per-Click.

The listings in a search engine’s results page in the main content area are the natural or organic listings.  The websites listed at the top have a thriving flower bed planted around their vegetable and herb garden and may even have paid a few bees along the way.

Both Natural and Paid SEO work well together.  If your goal is to climb the natural rankings, paid advertising can help you achieve this goal.  It gives you another legitimate link, can increase the number of visitors to your site, and gives you the opportunity to utilize the keywords you optimized from your website through Natural SEO.

You want to attract honey bees and butterflies to your garden and at BigforkWEB we have master gardeners to create your appealing flower bed around your vegetable and herb garden.  Our developers/ gardeners can also provide a paid campaign helping you climb the natural or organic rankings.  Whether you need a brand new garden or are looking to spruce up an existing garden, BigforkWEB is here to help.

Although this is the last part of our three part press release for search engine optimization series, this isn’t the last item on your list.  It’s imperative you prepare your statements to the media before you send it out.  You may receive phone calls, emails and in-person interviews in front of a video camera.  You must be prepared!

Below is a summary of things you can do to prepare for working with the media and how to help you put your best foot forward.  Professionals, such as BigforkWEB, are available to help you through this process or to even be your official company spokesperson.

• Talking Points: Write out brief talking points related to your red bucket press release.  The process of writing these down first will help you remember the key elements of what you want the media to focus on during your interview.  Summarize the who, what, where, when, why, and how questions.  Focus on your objective in the news release and stick with the same objective in your talking points.
• Question & Answer: Ask someone to pretend to be the reporter asking you questions about your red bucket.  Writing a “Q & A” can help you with this process too.  Occasionally members of the media will even let you give them a list of questions or a “FAQ” sheet to help them ask intelligent questions.  They may not know your industry so assisting the media so they also look good by asking relevant questions can be mutually beneficial.  Sometimes it’s appropriate to ask the media if they are willing to give you the questions ahead of time so you are prepared.
• Prepare & Practice: As they say with anything, “Practice makes perfect.”  Practice in front of the mirror, in front of co-workers, in front of your pet (my personal favorite of all audiences… my dog!).  Imagine the interview going smoothly.
• An Opportunity to Build a Relationship: This is an occasion to start or build upon your relationships with the media.  The more they feel comfortable with you and your expertise, the more often they are willing to work with you.  You may even receive a request to be a resource for them if they know you to be factual and trustworthy.  Remember, it is their reputation at stake too.

When your interesting press release is sent, you’ll be ready.  Now when you receive a media inquiry, you’ll have the tools to respond quickly.  Remember, the press is all about timing.  If you do not respond immediately, you may have missed your opportunity.  Be prepared ahead of time and you’ll be prepared to effectively follow-up with the media.

It’s also important to keep tabs on where it’s going and who is responding to it.  This can be accomplished several ways:

• Through media contacting you directly
• Monitoring the various outlets you sent your release to see if an article was written or if it was mentioned anywhere (friends and family are excellent resources to help you!)
• Following up with the media
• Searching the Web for your keywords used in your press release

If your press release is picked up in the blogosphere, you can monitor what is being said and respond to people’s questions or comments.  Blogs are an excellent means of following how your product is viewed by the general public or by people who are specialists in your industry.

Press releases and the world of public relations is an art form.  It is a good strategy for an integrated marketing plan and a way to help you with search engine optimization (SEO).  A press release must be well-written, sent to the appropriate media and it’s essential to prepare for inquiries from the press.  If done correctly, it’s an excellent way to receive positive attention from many different outlets for your product or service.  At BigforkWEB, our talented team is available to help you create and execute all aspects entailed with a press release from inception to monitoring and follow-up.   From third party coverage to helping you with SEO, a well-written press release gives you great value.

Now that you have written a press release or had a professional write it for you, it is time to distribute it.  Below are a few tips for how to properly distribute your press release:

• Targeted Media Outlets: It’s important to focus on which types of media will be interested in your story.  For example, if you submit your red bucket press release to the New York Times, you’re not going to send it to the sports writer or editor because your red bucket doesn’t have anything to do with sports.  Research who is the best recipient to receive your well-written press release.  For your innovative red bucket, perhaps the Home & Garden staff writers are your best bet.  In general, a media person is not going to take the time to forward your press release to the most appropriate person… that is your job.
• Local vs. National: What type of interest do you think your glow-in-the-dark red bucket will generate?  Is this a topic specific to your local area or is it something of potential interest nationally, even internationally?  In the case of the glow-in-the-dark red bucket it could be global in reach.  However, don’t leave out your local media as they are important to your public relations strategy.  These are the people in your own backyard and it’s good to have a good rapport with local media.  If instead your news release announced the winner of your corporate sponsored hockey tournament, this is probably more local or regional in nature.  Again, be realistic and target relevant media.
• Be Visual: Photos and video are excellent means of communicating.  It gives people a visual of your product.  A glowing bucket in the black of night would be an impactful visual accompanying your press release.  Video showcasing the red bucket releasing its steady glowing capabilities in darkness would be interesting.  Incorporating why a glowing red bucket can be useful as well as distinctive is good.  For example, filming a man walking around his house in the middle of the night and tripping over a bucket filled with his child’s stacking blocks would tell the story of why a glowing red bucket can prevent injuries. 
• Electronic Press Release: Below is a list of just some of the reasons why an e-release is the way to go:
  • Imbed video and photos directly into your release - the press won’t have to open attachments or try to download a large video file
  • Add social media bookmarks - allows readers to share it with their friends and followers on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and to bookmark it for others who are interested in similar topics.  This is very important as it allows regular people, not just the media, to spread the word about your glowing red bucket. 
  • Links back to your website: When you add the elements above to your e-release as it’s shared throughout the Web, your link back to your glow-in-the-dark red bucket website is posted on more and more sites creating more visibility and helping you with search engine optimization (SEO).  When you have legitimate websites linking back to your website, it helps you organically climb the search engine rankings.
    • Make sure the link you include is the most relevant for the press release. This link may not be your home page.  Since our fictitious business sells red buckets but the press release is about the glow-in-the-dark red buckets, link to the glow-in-the-dark red bucket web page rather than your generic home page.

How do I create an electronic news release? BigforkWEB offers press release packages to do this just for you.  We have a team of professionals with a background in all the steps required to set you up for success.  We walk you through step-by-step to create, distribute to a targeted media audience and are available to help you prepare for media inquiries and how to track your press release.

If you’re the do-it-yourselfer, then there are a variety of services to help you create your electronic release.  One free service is www.PRLog.com.   However, these free services may not include social media links or keep the press release “live” for more than 30 days.  It’s important to carefully read what each service offers and what they don’t offer.  Another service we use at BigforkWEB is www.PRWeb.com.  It is a paid service offering several types of press release packages.  Depending upon your budget and your goal, you can decide which type of service works best for you.

Coming soon… Press Releases:  What Happens After They Have Been Submitted