To kick off our Webspeak Gives Back campaign, we have partnered with PAWS publishing, a division of Buena Vista Elementary in Greenville, SC. Webspeak worked directly with an elementary classroom to create a template and print a classroom full of books for each student.

The content of each book was a fictional story provided by the child's imagination. Webspeak's part of the job was to ensure that each story was laid out in an easy-to-use template, then printed in a format so a small book can be created. To see an example of the books, see the above photo of one of our Webspeak crew with two happy students.

"I'm always thrilled to see a child's face light up when they learn," says David Garrison, owner and Creative Director of Webspeak. "We just feel honored to have been a part of such a worthy program that helps the kids."

Twice a year, Webspeak donates their services to a worthy cause. If you know a worthy cause that you believe our services would be beneficial, click here.

Webspeak recently partnered with PAWSitive Effects, a 501 (c) 3 non profit agency based in Greenville, SC. As a part of the Webspeak Gives Back campaign, Webspeak donated website design services, full copy writing services, and web development services to help PAWSitive Effects make a bigger difference in the Greenville Community. 

The new website (going live the week of April 19th) reflects the need for dogs tethered to a chain. PAWSitive Effects' mission is to improve the lives of chained dogs in Greenville County by building fences, providing veterinary care, and educating dog owners on the importance of animal welfare.

"What a worthy cause! We're just so excited to see this website come together to help make a difference to all of the dogs in need," says David Garrison, owner and Creative Director of Webspeak.

The new website will showcase dogs that are in need of a fences, uplifting success stories of dogs PAWSitive Effects has helped, and will also provide information to help engage the community to help dogs.

The new website goes live on the week of April 19th. To take a look at the new site (pictured above) go to www.pawsitiveeffects.com.

During the first week of March, Webspeak will be launching some new features on our WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor. This editor is used by all of our existing clients to add pages, edit pages, create blog posts and calendar updates. Our goal is to make the process of posting material to your website the easiest it can be. At the same time, we're keeping our marketing minds working for your business. Here are some of the improvements you can expect over the next few weeks.

Simplifying Our Toolbars

In the interest of simplicity, we're creating a toolbar that will be simpler than the one you are used to seeing. We're more interested in focusing on the tools you use most and eliminating the features you just don't use.

Come on with the changes already...

We're making some background changes to the formatting of our WYSIWYG so you can copy text to the WYSIWYG easier. This new feature will treat all text you paste in as plain text. What does this mean for you? This means that every time you paste text into the WYSIWYG, you have full control over the text and it is in a format that allows you to style it any way you wish. We're also adding a one-click video embed so you can post videos from YouTube and Blip.tv in with ease.

Webspeak encourages you to test drive our content manager if you haven't yet used it. Test drive our content manager now.

If you have any questions regarding these new changes, contact Webspeak now.

Step 1: Using The Right Email Marketing Program
Pick a program that is not only good for you, but makes viewing capabilities the easiest for your customers. There are a pile of programs out there that can deliver your campaigns. But that doesn't always cut the mustard for me. I want versatility in addition to easy-to-deliver and easy-to-use email campaigns. First, let's talk about price. One hot button for me is the ability to decide whether I want to pay-as-I-go or pay a monthly fee. This is an crucial factor in deciding what email program to use. Another major factor is ease-of-use for the admin (that would be you in this case). How easy is the program to use? How much time did it take to find what you were looking for? If one program takes an hour, and another program takes 30 minutes, common sense will tell you that it might be worth investigating the more intuitive program and save the time.

So who do we recommend? Webspeak likes MailChimp.

So let's review. The three most valuable points:

• Can your customers get your emails and read them with ease?
• Do you have flexible pricing?
• Can you use the email marketing program well?

These three points will save you time and money. They will also equate emails to dollars by delivering the right message in the best possible light. But, that's not everything.

Step 2: Your Emails Need To Have Purpose
For years, blogs have been used for random thoughts and personal journaling. They are just now being tapped as a marketing tool for businesses. But before this neat "blog marketing" idea occurred, blogs kind of gave those email marketing campaigns a bad name. So what's the problem? Business owners and marketing directors sent random and superfluous information, and to make matters worse, they sent those emails too frequently. 

What's missing? Give your customers a reason to respond to the campaign. Otherwise, your emails will be regarded as a waste of time. The email campaign is about the customer, not your business so gear to what they like and eliminate what you think is "cool." Giving your emails purpose will develop a good foundation with your customers. Everyone offers specials, so be creative. Remember that it's a flooded market now so what you write really needs to make it interesting for them.

Step 3: Limit Your Frequency
The main goal is quality, not quantity. No one likes to have their email box covered up every morning with emails from you. Therefore, Webspeak recommend a maximum blast of once a week unless there is a special occasion occurring. We even recommend a twice a month blast as another option for sending frequency.

Step 4: 20% Is Fantastic
Email is becoming a lot like snail mail mailers were in past years. If you mail out 100 pieces of mail, you may get 5 good responses. Luckily, email has been proven to offer a better return, but I would not expect more than a 20% return. In fact, a 20% return is what we would call "Fantastic."

We would love to talk with you about your email marketing needs. Talk to Webspeak now and let's get started.

Now you can create your own demo website that will allow you to try out our content management system at no cost to you. Your demo will run for 30 full days. This demo will give you full access to the system giving you a feel for how the CMS might perform on your own website. To set up your own demo, click on the link below. 

Start My Demo Now!

Barnes Jewelers is a locally owned and operated family business incorporated in 1998.  We have been serving our customers jewelry needs in the Lexington and Columbia area since 1977. 

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Building a quality website is what Webspeak is all about. This takes time, creativity, patience, and good solid communication for a web project to work from start to finish. If you are already an existing client, then you understand this very well. Recently, we launched a new version of our own website and for the first time in a long time, I felt like the client again. And just as the team at Webspeak was so eager to assist our clients, they were eager to assist me in the entire website creation process. For their efforts, I want to personally take time to thank all of the collaborators who worked with me to get our new web project live. Every person played an important role in making certain that all the T's were crossed and all the I's were dotted.

I wish to now take the time to personally thank:

• Tracy Butenhoff
• Dan Lisznyai
• Kate Canupp
• Cheryl Garrison
• Jeff Wert
• Amanda Stilwell
• Stephanie Clary

Truly, the best effort one company can put forth is the effort of a team. So to the team of Webspeak, I cannot begin to thank you for your support. I also wish to extend a sincere thank you to all of the local businesses and non-profits who supported Webspeak in 2009. If Webspeak had the privilege of working with your business, I want to tell you how rewarding it was to work side-by-side with your business and finalize your web project.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a great 2010! Thank you again for all of your support.

Our blog will now keep you up-to-date on all the happenings, deals, and excitement that is happening over at Webspeak. As always, we are here to serve you, and we thank you so much for your patronage.

Webspeak Design Studio recently launched Champion Thread. This website project featured full custom design by the Webspeak team, web marketing services, and full use of the Webspeak's Content Management System allowing Champion Thread to update their website anywhere, anytime.

Champion Thread Company is a privately owned manufacturer, supplier, developer, and marketer of industrial sewing threads, brand identification products, decorative ribbons, elastics, and narrow fabrics. CTC has been a leader in the sewn products industry for over 30 years.

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