services
At JLH Web Productions the focus is on usability, branding, and identity.
We develop websites using a multitude of technologies to suite our clients specific needs. We are able to help you create or reinvent your online identity.
We offer a vast array of services and the list below is just a few. Please click a service to read the information about it:
- » web design and development
I began hand coding websites well over ten years ago. It started with a desire to share a hobby I am passionate about with others and then grew to become a career.
You may be asking "what is a web developer and how are they different from a web designer?"
A web developer builds the web pages from the beginning – including layout, appearance, and function. The client's needs and audience are taken into account, and the website should reflect what will be attractive to the target demographic. Since users will quickly leave a website that is difficult to navigate, doesn't show up well on all browsers, or is time-consuming it is important for a web developer to make the layout simple and user-friendly, while still attractive and sophisticated.
A web designer, designs web pages. Much like a graphic designer, they provide a 'flat image' that is much like what you would see in a print advertisement for example. The developer then takes that design and moulds it into living, breathing website that interacts with people visiting it on the web.Languages used: HTML, CSS, DHTML, Javascript, Action Script (Flash), JSP, PHP, ASP, .NET, CGI, XML, MySQL and Miva Script, are all languages I am familiar with and many of which I use on a daily basis.
Programs utilized: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, ImageReady, GoLive, Acrobat Professional and Microsoft Visual Studio are all part of my development "tool box".
- » ecommerce development
There are many software programs out there for you to run your storefront on. I have experience with several and have determined that Miva Merchant to be one of the leaders in providing a stable software with many add-ons to get you the online store you desire.
Ecommerce can also include accepting online payments, donation or just offering a handful of items to your customers on the web which can be easily and economically achieved using PayPal or Google Checkout. - » email marketing
Websites provide a great medium for publishing content and creating a virtual storefront for any business.
As search engines continue to replace traditional print directories such as the Yellow Pages as the way consumers seek out information, simply having a website with relevant information about your business is an excellent first step to an effective online presence.
But it is only the first step, because websites can't do it all!
Email pro-actively sends information to prospects.
While websites alone rely on visitors to return, an email newsletter allows a website owner to "push" valuable marketing to prospects, allowing them to build a much longer lasting business relationship than the one that ends with a single visit with no return.
Email can provide content over a period of time in consumable pieces.
Trust takes time, and email newsletters and advertisements provide that dimension to online marketing campaigns. Once a visitor requests email from a website, that initial interest can be built upon and turned into a profitable relationship.
Content can then be strategically placed in front of subscribers in the form of well planned campaign, with information broken up into smaller pieces, allowing website owners to prospect more effectively to more prospects.
Email provides a more personal medium than the web.
People are well-acquainted with email as a way to communicate one-on-one with friends and associates, and in every email, there is a distinct sender and recipient, unlike the web pages containing one-way URL addresses.
By sending email newsletters and advertisements to leads sourced from their sites, website owners can convert anonymous visitors into engaged subscribers who they can more personally engage with.
We have partnered with Constant Contact, the industry leader in email marketing to provide you with a reliable sender that works to continue it's relationship with internet service providers to insure that your emails make it into your customers mail box and are not rejected as SPAM.
- » social media marketing
Social media marketing which is known as SMO . The benefits of SMO to organizations and individuals are enormous if implemented correctly. SMO can provide an additional channel for customer support, a means to gain customer and competitive insight, recruitment and retention of new customers/business partners, and a method of managing their reputation online.
Key factors that ensure its success are its relevance to the customer, the value it provides them with and the strength of the foundation on which it is built. A strong foundation serves as a stand or platform in which the organization can centralize its information and direct customers on its recent developments via other social media channels, such as article and press release publications.
Here are some of the ways I recommend tackling SMO:
- Authenticity: Fans and followers in today's social media want to know that your fan page, your updates, your Tweets are genuinely a part of your organization. Social media networking is not the place for outsourcing or automating, so you need to ensure communications from your company are authentic and direct.
- Frequency: Posting brand-related content often and maximizing interaction with followers, customers and prospects is a huge part of generating social media success. The companies who work hard at posting regular content are the ones who see the best return on their social media marketing investment.
- Think Bigger: Don't devote all efforts to one particular site. There is more to social media than just Facebook or Twitter; in fact, maximizing brand awareness is best achieved by maximizing a presence on as many platforms as possible, from MySpace and LinkedIn to Foursquare, Yelp, and YouTube.
- Blog Bigger: Once your blog has taken off, it’s important to maintain the momentum so you don’t lose visitors. Keep the content fresh and by all means, keep it coming regularly, with at least 2-4 new posts per week.
- Relevancy: Updates to social media pages on sites like Facebook and Twitter should include items of interest to your followers. Real time updates on new products, services or company news.
- Encourage Feedback: Keep your followers engaged by encouraging them to post feedback, good or bad, about your products, customer service, and your social media presence itself.
- Respond: Quickly respond to feedback from followers, whether it’s good or bad. Your customers and prospects will especially appreciate a quick hands-on approach to addressing negative comments.
- Highlight Publicity: When a key company employee or news about a product makes it to a mainstream source, ride the publicity by sending links.
- Ask Questions: By asking a question that generates discussion about your brand, you maximize visibility and customer interaction.
- Be Unique: Don’t follow the same prescribed template for fan pages and updates that others in your industry are using. Differentiate yourself with a different tone altogether, and by all means, be sure that your brand’s logo and image is consistent throughout.
- » search engine optimization
To ‘optimize’ a website means to build it so that it will be discovered by search engines, and to design each page in such a way that the site’s contents will be thoroughly mapped and indexed to keywords that potential customers employ when seeking your products or services.
There are many facets to SEO. My focus is mainly on relevant content, keyword placement and research, and metadata and tracking the site's performance using Google Analytics.
Your keywords are your life. Your keyword market is the natural “search language” your customers are using to try and find you online. It’s the quirky combination of terms that someone comes up with while trying to accurately describe something very specific to them.
Meta Tags (keywords and description) and Title Tags are pieces of HTML code that help describe and classify the content on a web page. Having a uniquely optimized Title on each page is critical for obtaining the best possible placement within search engine results.
When the Titles and Meta Tags properly support the content on each web page the potential placement of that page increases when searched for. Our search experts will write and deliver new Titles and Meta-Tags in an effort to improve your site's performance at search engines naturally.
Google Analytics is a web analytics solution that gives you insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. With Google Analytics, you're more prepared to write better-targeted ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives and create higher converting websites. - » wordpress blog and content management system
WordPress is a powerful publishing platform, and it comes with a great set of features designed to make your website as easy, pleasant and appealing as possible. It is a freely distributed, standards-compliant, fast, light and free publishing platform, with sensible default settings and features, and an extremely customizable core which makes it a viable solution if you are looking for a Content Management System which will allow you to make updates to your own website via a web based interface.
Besides being the blogging platform of choice for the majority of bloggers, WordPress is becoming more popular amongst website designers and small business owners. There has been a growing demand for website redesigns using WordPress as content management system (CMS). People want to ditch that old CMS or that not so easy to update static website and use WordPress to publish and manage their content online.
- » joomla and drupal content management systems
When it comes to open source (PHP language based) web content management systems, there are two clear leaders in the field serving the needs of web masters everywhere. Joomla and Drupal have been providing content management services for users everywhere and have taken the lead in the web management system industry. So which one is better for your website and company? The answer lies in a number of factors, including how skilled in technology and website details you are. The following main categories depict the comparisons between the two web content management systems.
Joomla vs Drupal Content Management System:
- Community Features
Joomla features a community builder that is solid but needs an SEF extension in order to enable certain kinds of URL’s. Drupal has very impressive community features and users are able to form groups and expand registration forms specific to Drupal. - Shopping Cart Features
Joomla uses Virtue mart and has a combination of OSCommerce along with it, which trumps Drupal’s e-commerce programs and Drupal is not recommended for shopping cart needs due to the lack of e-commerce program utilities that are available. - SEO
Joomla is improving in this category with their OpenSEF. Although it seems poor at first and the code is not very easily adapted to SEO, they have devised SEO processes to overcome the weaknesses. Drupal’s SEO programs work well and with one easy addition can function even better. - Forums
Joomla uses Fireboard, which is native to Joomla and has a lot of good features. Drupal has a very smooth working forum, but it does tend to lack a little bit in higher end features that most modern forums use. - Multimedia
Joomla has numerous pod cast and video options available. Seyret is one of their components for creating a video library and it is similar to producing your own version of “you tube”. Drupal uses Drupal Video and also has pod cast abilities that are available. - Photo Galleries
Joomla uses Gallery2 and Flash Gallery Expose with work good along with other customized options. Drupal has a default program and also uses Gallery2 systems. - Event Calendars
Joomla uses its own plug-in services and Drupal’s event calendar systems do not seem to have as much to offer and seem to lack in the options available compared to Joomla. - Template and Themes
Joomla offers both free and paid commercial options, while Drupal has only commercial options available to its users. - Speed
Version 1.0.11 of Joomla loads in .90 seconds while the default installation of Drupal loads in 1.05 seconds. Joomla has 16.4 MB in size and Drupal has 2.89 MB. Both of which are pretty comparable in loading times and speeds.
Compared side to side for web content management systems, Joomla is a great way to go to produce a well designed site that offers a lot of functionality without a ton of customization
Depending on your individual needs for a content management system, either Joomla or Drupal would be able to serve any web management services you have, the differences lie in the way that the programs work, and are dependant on the skill and training level of those who are operating them.
- Community Features
- » web hosting
Through a partnership, I am able to offer 99.9% uptime shared web hosting to clients at rates that most people find saves them money. I also become your contact person for your web hosting which often makes things simpler.
- » domain name registration
A domain name is your unique address on the Internet. Just as your street address defines where you live, your Internet address denotes where your online business is located. An example of a domain name is www.yourbusinessname.com, whereby “www” stands for World Wide Web, “yourbusinessname” is your business or brand, and ".com" means that you are a business registered under the commercial category.
Domain name registration accounts hold the domain name server information. This is important access to have when you want to make changes to your web host. Why take a chance that this will get locked up and take often over a week to get control of again which will delay your project? It is typically best to house both your domain name management and your web hosting with one provider. This ensures your domain name will not lapse; which could allow it to get snatched up by someone 'laying in wait' and that any hosting changes can be made instantly. - » print advertising/marketing
Recently I have been designing postcards and flyers for my clients. View my portfolio to see an example of my work which was done without professional graphic design.