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:

• George L. Wilson, Co.
• Arizona Solar Electric

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

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.

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.

//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.

Can’t help you with the third, but hopefully these two videos will help out.  The first is a great introduction , in my opinion much better than the techno jargon filled Google intro on their site. The second, is pretty darn entertaining but shows off a good bit of what Google Wave can do….

What is Google Wave?

What can you do with it?

1. Pay Per Click (PPC) Ads
   Google Adsense is the grandaddy, but Yahoo and Microsoft offer PPC programs as well. Pay Per Click advertising works by displaying contextually relevant ads on your site, and allowing advertisers to bid on keywords. Once a visitor clicks on an ad on your website or blog, you get a percentage of the earnings.
2. Direct Placement
   A simple advertise here link or button where the ad will be placed can do the job.  This can be easy as an agreed dollar amount per month, or more complex such as setting up an ad-server to track impressions and click-throughs.
3. Sponsored Posts or Reviews
   Yes, you can paid to review products and services on your website or blog. Disclosure and ethics are a topic for another day, but if you’re interested check out: PayPerPost and SponsoredReviews
4. Text Link Ads
   Surprisingly, text link ads can be a big money maker due to their value in search engine optimization. And it’s really simple to do, just insert a link into an article, page, or and get a monthly fee.  See TextLinkAds and LinkWorth
5. Sell Products
   You can now sell products through your website that you never have to see, touch, or ship.  You don’t even have to handle credit cards.  Popular setups include selling some of Amazon.com’s millions of products through an Astore (do a search on fishing lures, there are tons of them), or selling everything from hunting or fishing related T-shirts, coffee cups, and mouse pads from CafePress.com
6. Affiliate Programs
   Affiliate programs work by you placing affiliate links or ads on your site.  If a visitor clicks on the ad and ends up buying something, you get a commission on the sale.  There are many, many general affiliate programs out there, but here are some Outdoor Industry related programs:
   - BassPro Shops
   - Cabelas
   - Associate Programs (Outdoors)
   - LandBigFish.com
7. Donations
   Doing good work, or have something really worth reading?  Simply create a paypal donations button.  Remember – if you don’t ask, you don’t get.
8. Newsletters
   Got a newsletter with a good circulation?  Add a sidebar or banner advertising for fishing or hunting related products.  Get advertisers by sticking an “advertise here” link on your sign up page or in the newsletter itself.

How much $$$?

Traffic amounts and the competitiveness of your site’s niche will largely dictate whether you’re making beer money or enough for a new boat.  But remember, there’s nothing wrong with beer money…

1. Install a fuel flow gauge if you haven’t already.
   Not only can you find out what speed is most efficient for your vessel, but it will help you evaluate the effectiveness of these and other gas saving measures.
2. Tune up.
   A yearly work over will keep inboards and outboards alike working at maximum efficiency, and will easily pay for itself in gas savings over the course of the year.
3. Lose some weight.
   Too often we leave the dock with everything we ever need on the water. Try to lighten up by leaving unnecessary items, especially the heavy ones. Examples- full water tanks on a half day trip, or trolling motor (and battery) while heading out deep.
4. Throttle back.
   Running your boat wide open uses a tremendous amount of energy. Throttling back to 80% can offer huge savings in both MPG and GPH.
5. Maintain that plane.
   Once up on a plane, a boat will use much less gas even if only going a couple knots faster.
6. Plan it out.
   Try to minimize miles traveled by planning the best route, or doing a little research before hand. Wondering for hours will certainly burn more gas, and may not get you more fish.
7. Check your prop.
   Lower pitch props. may help you get out of the hole faster, but will bleed efficiency at higher speeds. Remember to check for dings, dents, and chips that will affect fuel economy and balance.
8. Balanced running.
   While it’s a great idea to test MPG for different trim levels on your boat, it is certain that it will perform better while balanced evenly from side to side.
9. Drain livewells.
   Out of bait or done fishing? Drain those wells before leaving to come home, at 8 lbs. per gallon the weight can add up.
10. Keep it’s bottom clean.
    Whether it’s barnacles , or slime and grime, it’s slowing you down. And it’s costing you at the pump too.

Warm up time…. Most new engines with electronic fuel injection, etc., don’t require lengthy warm up periods. Try warming a minute to three depending on engine size and age.