Author Archives: Wade Sonenberg

New Projects & Updates

Posted on by Wade Sonenberg

There’s a reason this journal has been lacking updates – we’ve been slammed! Some great projects have launched, and a few gems are launching in the next couple weeks. Here’s a run down of the what’s going on in Rainmaker World:

We’ve been selected as the creative firm for:

  • The National Association of Preservation Commissions
    This one is actually almost old news. The new NAPC site should debut before year’s end, and it has been a true joy working with Paul & Caty on the project.
  • Ground Covers Solutions’ Intranet
    We’re beginning Beta testing of GCS’s corporate intranet system including lead management and franchisee reporting functions. Thus far it’s been one of the most complex and fun web applications we’ve been involved with, however, due to privacy concerns for our clients there may only be limited further disclosure.
  • LABash Conference 2013
    The University of Georgia has been chosen to host the 2013 LABash conference in Athens, GA. LABash is an annual conference held for students of Landscape Architecture, and should be a great, on-going partnership that we’re really excited about.

iPhone Apps

But wait – there’s more. We are:

  • Alpha testing our first Greek Rankings, a social driven rankings app for Fraternities and Sororities on 174 campuses.
  • Breaking ground on Most Eligible, a community driven app that centers on the most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes in a user defined geographic area.

Both apps are to be extensively integrated with iOS 5 and web based API services. More to come asap, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and of course – have a Fabulous Festivus.

Web Design Inspiration: Conferences

Posted on by Wade Sonenberg

Hello & sorry for the hiatus.  Over the next several weeks we’re going to be sharing a whole slew of awesome designs.  You can see all the web design inspiration posts here, and don’t hesitate to drop us a line if there’s a niche you’d like us to cover.

50% Off for Green Companies

Posted on by Wade Sonenberg

We’re offering a 50% discount on all web projects for green businesses from Earth Day to May 15th

For the second year running, we’re slashing our prices in half for green companies.

That’s right, from April 22 to May 15th we’re slashing all web design, web apps, and social media marketing projects in half. As a web design & marketing firm, we’re limited in how much we can recycle, eliminate waste, and cut our carbon foot prints…. so we’ve decided to put our money where our mouth is and try to give eco-friendly businesses a leg up.

Contact us to get started, or tell us what you think of the program…

Last Year:

Our Green Business discount last year was a resounding success. Here are just a couple of the projects we did for LEED certified firms:

How it will work:

We’ll run the same free cost estimates at half our hourly rates for qualifying businesses that commission their project by days end May 15th, 2011. By qualifying businesses, we mean businesses that make a substantial portion of their revenues by marketing, selling, or producing green products and services. “Substantial” will be at our sole discretion, but we mean to help as many green businesses as we can in hopes that we can make this planet a little cleaner and greener for us and our children.

Why we’re doing it:

While chatting last week, it came up that we’re in little position to green our business aside from offering green hosting, operating a paperless office, and telecommuting – the last two we already do! So we figured that if we can help a few green companies be a little more competitive, or offer their employees a little something extra – then it’s well worth tightening our belts for a couple months to do the right thing.

Limitations:

  • The program is limited to the first $20,000 in discounted services, if we reach it we’ll be happy to reach out to other firms in order to accommodate as many green companies as we can.
  • Rainmaker Web Design will make the sole decision of who qualifies, feel free to contact us to discuss.
  • All discounted projects must be contracted by midnight May 15th, 2011

Social Media Opportunity: Sexy & Often

Posted on by Wade Sonenberg

While I can hardly imagine a world without toilet paper, I won’t be tweeting anything about Charmin Ultra any time soon. On the other hand, clicking the Facebook “Like” button for Maserati is infinitely more likely than me owning one.

And so the question often arises, “Is social media marketing right for my company or brand?“

The answer is quite simple, it’s a function of how appealing a product may be to targeted consumers and how often they think about the product, brand, or service.  Social network marketing can be an extremely cost effective strategy or a complete waste of resources – recognizing how engaged your market is, and their time horizon for making a purchase can make all the difference in terms of return on investment.

Creative Facebook Marketing Vol 1

Posted on by Wade Sonenberg

Some Facebook marketing inspiration from one of my favorite places in Athens – Two Story Coffee House.  Appears they’re offering up a photo contest on Facebook, with their swag featured.  Sound lame? Not so fast, they are getting awfully creative and making the categories fun.

All that’s needed is a poster or two.

There no mention of the winner getting anything but props, but I for one want to enter and by the looks of the event’s wall there has been no shortage of contestants.  All of which have thought about and viewed Two Story’s logo, branding, and Facebook page for how long?

Design Scrapbook: PHP/jQuery Image Flipper

Posted on by Wade Sonenberg

Design Scrapbook allows you to simply scroll through a number of images within a directory. For example, we use it to scroll through a number of screen shots of pretty web designs for design inspiration, user interfaces done by the gurus, and general designs that inspire us. It could also be of use as a stand alone portfolio, image gallery, etc.

It works simply by finding all the images in a directory and allowing you to flip through them without having to reload the page. All you have to do it upload the script, upload your images, and you’re done.

  • Flip between screen shots, photos, or any other images.
  • No configuration what-so-ever, just upload and you’re done.
  • No database required.
  • Handles all popular image types.
  • Zoom in and zoom out.
  • Unlimited number of images.

All that is required is PHP 4.3 and GD Library.

Demo Download

Social Media for Bars, Pubs, and Clubs

Posted on by Wade Sonenberg
A perfect marriage:  social networks and the most of social of social settings – our favorite watering holes.

Take Our Survey~ Bars & Social Networking ~Takes 2 Minutes | Then View Results
Today we’re going to skip all the demographics, case studies, and other boring science that proves how many bar & club patrons are active in social media and highlight a few key points on how establishment owners can leverage the power of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and other networks to their benefit.

Goals

Of course we want more customers, buying more drinks… but how do we make that happen?

  1. Increase Patron Loyalty
    Every locale has them.  The guy that spends his paycheck there over the weekend or better yet has the pub’s address on his business card.  Communicate with them regularly to retain the current ones, and turn the casual visitor into a regular.
  2. Increase Awareness of Specials & Events
    Booked a great band or have a stellar ladies night special?  The best event isn’t as good as the one everybody knows about.  By leveraging social media, you can efficiently inform your customers about upcoming good times – and they’ll love you for it.
  3. Create Patron Advocates for the Establishment
    Competition for entertainment dollars has never been fiercer… what better than an army of non-paid cheerleaders suggesting that the group end up or meet up at XYZ bar?  Foster and encourage these types to become more vocal because there’s nothing better somebody who will do word of mouth marketing for free, then come in and pay for a drink with all of their friends.

Opportunities: Where are Your Customers Now?

Using Social Media for Bars & ClubsThere are four main venues to interact with current and future customers on the web.  Each bar or club has to evaluate which one(s) are the most productive areas to focus their efforts, so this section is meant to provide an introduction into what these social media services are, and how they may be used to connect with customers.

  1. Facebook
    Facebook, the Grand Daddy of social networks,  would actually be the third largest country.   Opportunities to connect, advertise, and promote an establishment abound.  In some age groups and circles, so much online time is spent here that a user’s online and offline worlds become inextricably intertwined.  Having a presence here in 2010 is mandatory, but if worked correctly it can be a gold mine. 

    Some Uses:

    • Fan Pages
      Fan pages are special profiles for businesses where users (read: customers) can become “fans” of the business which allows that business to broadcast updates such as a concert schedule or happy hour specials to their fans.  Additionally, Facebook will display that these user’s have become a fan of the bar/club/pub to their friends  & even allow them to suggest that their friends also become a fan.
    • Direct Advertising
      Facebook allows business owners to directly advertise their services on the site, and with the amount of information Facebook collects you can bet that it’s the most targeted form of advertising available.  Ad rates can vary depending on the area of the country and competition, but are generally very reasonable.
    • Groups
      Facebook groups are yet another, and for more of an organic arena allowing members to post to discussions, upload photos, and more.  Best of all, you are allowed to create as many groups as you like and brand it how you see fit.
  2. Twitter
    Twitter is an updating service, where one accumulates “followers” who can then read their postings.  All postings are short, under 140 characters to be exact – but “Ladies Night – $1 well drinks from 9 until 11″ is only 45 characters.  In addition, followers of your postings (Tweets) can then re-post them to their own network allowing simple messages to go viral and reach many.
  3. FourSquare and other Location Networks
    Foursquare is a web and mobile application that allows registered users to connect with friends and update their location. Points are awarded for “checking in” at venues. Users can choose to have their check-ins posted on their accounts on Twitter, Facebook or both.  A user can even be crowned “mayor,” indicating that he or she has checked in more than anybody else in the last 60 days.
  4. The Establishment’s Web Site
    In all honesty, it drives me nuts when I can’t find a band schedule online for a club I know has good music day in and day out.  Are they trying to hide it?  Not only in pre party planning does a bar/club/pub’s website come into play, but increasingly more so since smart phones with internet browsers are catching on like fire.   There are some basic questions owners can answer on their website’s that can greatly affect whether a customer comes in with his/her friends, or finds another locale that fits the bill.

Strategy: 14 Tips to Engage Your Customers

Here are just a few tips on how to get in front of your customers so they’ll end up in front of your bars and ticket lines.  Not all fit every situation, but the right ones for the right watering hole can lead to huge results while costing little or nothing in terms of time & money.

  1. Free Bar Tab for Facebook Fans
    Simply post a simple flyer near the door offering a free $10, $20, or $50 tab for a Facebook fan every week or every month.  Then, every time you announce your trivia night or next week’s concert line-up it appears on their account.
  2. Show Off
    Had the most outrageous Halloween shin dig this year?  Post photos of the awesome costumes and good times had so that every body remembers what they missed next year. And why not take it a step further?  By taking down the names of the party-goers,   you can then “tag” them so that all their friends can see too.
  3. Concerts & Event Schedules
    Post them everywhere you can.  You can also send invitations to fans of your Facebook page, and encourage them with door prizes to RSVP.  This last part is important, because it shows up in your fans’ activity stream, which in turn is pushed to their entire network.
  4. VIP & Advanced Tickets
    Give people who connect special benefits, or even offer the first shot at tickets.
  5. Love Your Mayor
    Foursquare in particular allows members who check in at a business the most to become what they deem the “mayor.”  Acknowledge them, and maybe even make a competition out of it.
  6. Social Media usersCreate a  Group
    Facebook groups are great way to get people to rally around a cause, wouldn’t you like to be the public face of such a movement?  Remember to keep the group about your customers & what they want, not your bar.  For example:  “Keep Athens Bars Open ’til 3:00″ or “Allow Liquor Sales on Sunday in Georgia.”
  7. Party Live
    Webcams…  It’s easy to show the world that your club is tonight’s hotspot these days, and they can be easily viewed by most smart phones.
  8. Have a Instant Twitter Contest
    Bar tender over the PA:  “Free shots to the first person to Tweet ‘I’m at Moe’s Place with Homer Simpson’.”   Imagine how many patrons will post to Twitter or Facebook for some free booze.  Repeat as necessary.
  9. Claim Your Spot
    In both Facebook and FourSquare.  There are many sites offering locational networking, but these two the pub owner should control.
  10. Followers Know First
    Every body wants to be in the know, need I say more?
  11. Post Some Video
    So last week’s wet t-shirt contest might be a no-go, but what about how crazy last new year’s was when the ball dropped?
  12. Give ‘em a Menu
    Serve food or specialty drinks?  Make sure to post a menu on your website and Facebook page.
  13. New Brew
    While featuring that local brewery’s new seasonal – why not send it out over the net?
  14. Alter the Dress Code
    Every one hates being left out.  Ask everyone to wear cowboy boots, or funny hats, or whatever…  the point is either give them a discount or make them a part of the party.  Those in the know will feel a special connection to the party, and those who aren’t won’t want to miss out on next time.

WordPress Breadcrumbs for Pages

Posted on by Wade Sonenberg

Breadcrumbs are very useful navigation tools, especially for sites with multiple levels and more than a dozen pages.  While there are a few breadcrumb navigation plugins for WordPress, sometimes it’s a bit of an overkill when the job can be done with just a few lines of code.

The function below will insert a breadcrumb navigation for the pages in your WP site, and highlight the news/blog page when within that section, etc.

Usage:

  1. Copy the code below into your theme’s functions.php file.  If your theme doesn’t have one, create it.
    2. //breadcrumb function
function rm_bread_crumbs() {
 global $post;
 $crumbs =     '<p><a href="'.get_option('home').'">Home</a>';

 //if the page has a parent add title and link of parent
 if($post->post_parent) {
 $crumbs .=     ' &raquo; <a href="'.get_permalink($post->post_parent).'">'.get_the_title($post->post_parent).'</a>';
 }

 // if it's not the front page of the site, but isn't the blog either
 if((!is_front_page()) && (is_page())) {
 $crumbs .=    ' &raquo; '.get_the_title($post->ID);
 }

 //if it's the news/blog home page or any type of archive
 if((is_home() ||(is_archive()))) {
 $crumbs .=    ' &raquo; '.get_the_title(get_option(page_for_posts));
 }

 //if it's a single news/blog post
 if(is_single()) {
 $crumbs .=     ' &raquo; <a href="'.get_permalink(get_option(page_for_posts)).'">'.get_the_title(get_option(page_for_posts)).'</a>';
 $crumbs .=    ' &raquo; '.get_the_title($post->ID);
 }
 $crumbs .=    '</p>'."\n";
 echo $crumbs;
}
  2. Insert <?php rm_bread_crumbs(); ?> in your theme where ever you’d like the bread crumbs displayed.

A RSS News Ticker for WordPress & jQuery

Posted on by Wade Sonenberg

It’s actually quite easy to add a horizontally scrolling news ticker using jQuery, WordPress, and Gian Carlo Mingati’s liscroll() plugin for jQuery.  There are really only two steps, so we’re skipping the full on demo this time…

1.) Include the files for liscroll() (the CSS file, javascript file, and of course jQuery itself). Then call the plugin as described in the author’s web page…

2.) Use WordPress’s built in RSS feed parsing and caching mechanisms. Simply edit the RSS URL for the feed you’d like to display, and paste the below code in your theme where you’d like the scroll bar to appear.

<?php
include_once(ABSPATH.WPINC.'/rss.php'); // path to include script
$feed = fetch_rss('http://yourRSSfeedhere.com/feed/'); // specify feed url
$items = array_slice($feed->items, 0, 7); // specify first and last item
?> 

<?php if (!empty($items)) : ?>
<ul id="ticker01">
<?php foreach ($items as $item) : ?>

<li><a href="<?php echo $item['link']; ?>"><?php echo $item['title']; ?></a><span><?php echo $item['pubdate']; ?></span></li>

<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
<?php endif; ?>
<? } ?>

To see it in action, check out PGB Associates home page (bottom)…