PolkaDotCity.com Goes Live!

Posted on December 14, 2011 by admin

E-commerce is all the rage right now, a shining star despite the health of the world economy.  At Lakeside Technologies, we like to build e-commerce website because each has it’s own set of challenges.

The case was no different for the owners of PolkaDotCity.com.  They needed a custom solution to add to an already successful monogramming and apparel business.  The PolkaDotCity.com website needed to be built on a stable and dependable solution and provide customers the ability to personalize products they wished to purchase.

We chose OpenCart to build upon due to it’s simplistic, but highly powerful approach to e-commerce.  It allowed us to customize the entire product experience to allow users to create the product they wanted to buy.

Feel free to check out the new website and tell your friends!  But don’t tell my wife; she’ll spend every dime I earned building this website on monogrammed backpacks, totes, lunch bags, purses, and much more.

PolkaDotCity.com

New site for PolkaDotCity.com

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An Idea, A Few Hours With WordPress, And Columbiana Dance Academy Goes Live!

Posted on July 22, 2011 by admin

When my wife has and idea, it’s usually fully-baked–yeah, it can scary at times.  She’s probably 100 percent committed to the idea when she mentions it and just needs some help launching it.  So was the case a day or two ago with and idea to open a dance studio in Columbiana, Alabama.  She owns and operates a dance studio in Calera, Alabama(Calera Dance Academy), so it’s not like we haven’t thought about this much before.

Of course, the first thing she knew would be needed was a fancy website.  And who better to call other that Lakeside Technologies!  She gets a pretty good deal and a little preferential treatment.  Imagine that!

Occasionally when an idea strikes me just right, I can crank out a lot work in a few hours.  When highly motivated, a website just kind of falls into place.  Having great tools, like WordPress, Google Webmaster Tools, Analytics, Yoast SEO(love that plugin!!) makes my job a whole lot easier, especially the site creation step.

The Columbiana Dance website was fairly easy for the following reasons:

  1. Tools(see previous paragraph)
  2. Content(all of the content was ready, no waiting, no haggling, done!)
  3. Simple Layout(simple doesn’t mean plain or less attractive… see Simple But Elegant post)
  4. And, finally a highly motivated client that understands the concept of starting small and growing.

The above combination of factors is greatly appreciated by web developers and can lead the way to a quick win.

Columbiana Dance Academy Website Design

 

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Local Search, like Google Places, is Proving to be a Big Hit!

Posted on July 20, 2011 by admin

If your business hasn’t taken advantage of local search, like Google Places, now is the time to get with it friend.  Search dynamics have changed so much in the past year that SEOs are having to keep late hours to keep track of it all.  For local business, this stuff is great.  You can now rank fairly high for specific search queries* when otherwise you may have been one of thousand competing for position.

Here’s the low-down, and, the best part is it’s free.  Claim your business in say Google Places.  Add the required data, pictures, video, phone #s, etc..  Then point your places page to your current website.  The fact remains that you must have a descent website with good content, but, otherwise that’s about it.

Now here’s the catch(not really, but it worth mentioning).  Your places account should have great content just like your website and the two should compliment one another.  It’ll take a few days to see results, but you should be grabbing clicks, provided your business has good products and a good website to keep folks coming back.

As always, Lakeside Technologies can help you grab that places account in just a couple of hours(money well spent).  Contact us anytime and we’ll be glad to walk you through it or do everything for you.

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AlabamaFirewoodProducers.com is live!

Posted on July 19, 2011 by admin

It’s not easy to glamorize a firewood production and distribution business.  But with this site it was different.  These guys needed a high-quality website to match their high-quality business.  Alabama Firewood Producers(AFP) takes pride in the quality of products and the quality of service they offer their clients, which includes restaurants and other well known customers.  I think you’ll agree that the quality of their website now matches the quality of their business. Check them out @ AlabamaFirewoodProducers.com.

If your business lack a quality website, and your on a budget, Lakeside Technologies in Columbiana, Al can breath some new life into and old website.  Give us a call today at 205-610-9522 or fill out our contact form and we’ll be sure to contact you at our earliest convenience.

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HTML5 Example – Google Guitar

Posted on June 10, 2011 by admin

This Google guitar thing wasted a good 5 minutes of my life. It’s a small example of the things that can be done on the web with HTML5–kinda makes you want to start a company and build something “cool”, doesn’t it?

http://goo.gl/doodle/6pob1

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Game Changer?

Posted on May 27, 2011 by admin

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Tough Day @ Work

Posted on April 28, 2011 by admin

I’ve had a difficult day today trying to focus on building websites. With a mile-wide tornado striking Tuscaloosa, West Birmingham, Gadsden, and every community in between, the damage was hard to comprehend. It was on the ground all the way across the state of Alabama with a track in excess of 300 miles. I don’t think anyone has ever seen anything like this. The news channels have been running wall-to-wall coverage and yesterday they saved lives by covering the weather without fail.

The president will be in Tuscaloosa tomorrow to pledge support. Unbelievable loss of life and tremendous damage to homes and property cause one to really think about the important things in life. I think we can all thank God if we weren’t directly affected by tornado damage, but we sure do need to pray for those that have had their lives turned upside down. As Americans, we are truly all affected and as Americans we can all see to one another. God bless America and Alabama as people try to recover and rebuild.

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Countdown to osCommerce

Posted on April 1, 2011 by admin

osCommerce version 3.0 is close to release. It looks like two of the main ideas behind e-commerce suites these days is improved content management and SEO, both of which can make or break any online store.

With so many open source choices and all of them fighting for market share, it’s tough to make a decision on which e-commerce package is right for the job.

I think osCommerce is definitely worth a second look. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one: http://countdown.oscommerce.com/

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E-commerce Done Right!

Posted on March 12, 2011 by admin
Southern Comfort Apparel

Southern Comfort Apparel

Southern Comfort Apparel needed an e-commerce site. They needed a quick turn-around for a hot(pun intended) idea, their heated clothing line. Lakeside Technologies was able to organized the best resources and complete this project in under six weeks and at a price that was affordable. Using the best tools in the business, Southern Comfort Apparel’s new website will no doubt be a hit.

When comes to e-commerce, having the right partner is critical.  Understanding the needs of an e-commerce client is something we take seriously.  We spend an exhaustive amount of hours learning how to make products and sites more visible to the world so that clients can concentrate on operations and customer service.  Let Lakeside Technologies help you create an online presence today!

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Simple, But Elegant

Posted on February 21, 2011 by admin
Tax Preparers, Inc.

Tax Preparers, Inc.

I’ve recently gone live with a couple of simple, but very elegant websites.  A inexpensive website doesn’t have to look like something your kid nephew cooked up? Tax Preparers, Inc. well understood the need for a good website but failed to see the need to spend a small fortune to get one. For some businesses, the website serves a primary business function, like retail.   But, for others, the website is simply a tool to compliment communication and advertisement. Even simple websites need to make your company look professional and trustworthy.  Don’t pay a fortune for a simple website! Our goal is to build a website thats fits your company and your budget, no more and no less!

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