Based in London, Ontario, Concerto Designs offers affordable website design and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services for small- to medium-sized businesses, churches, and other non-profit organizations in Canada and across the United States. We specialize in Open Source Content Management Systems (CMS) and e-commerce platforms such as Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal, Silverstripe, CMS Made Simple, Magento, X-Cart, and others. We also offer mobile app development and custom data applications.
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At the start of another busy year, I am finally taking a moment to look back and catch up on latest developments. Recent projects here include the design and launch of veterinaryha.org, a new Joomla 3.4.x web site for the Veterinary Hospitals Association, a non-profit organization based in St. Paul, MN. The original web site was built in WordPress, and the initial plan was to optimize the site for mobile with a responsive WordPress theme. After the first meeting, it became clear that the functionality requirements would be difficult to manage in WordPress, so I converted the site content to the Joomla platform, developed a new design, and implemented quite complex access levels for the many types of membership that the VHA offers. As a note of explanation, I actually appreciate and enjoy working with WordPress (I have several clients using the platform), but for more complex feature sets, I prefer to use Joomla or Drupal. The alternative would be to install a lot of plugins, which, as any experienced WordPress developer will tell you, can be quite problematic.
The launch of the new elmwoodproperties.com website design was followed by the development of a custom, multi-step lease renter application that integrates renter data directly into the company Access database. I had the very good fortune of working with Andy Oaks, at Oaks Consulting. Andy is knowledgeable about almost every aspect of Access, which is to say, a subject of which I am completely ignorant. My job was to transition a series of pdf forms with many fields into a streamlined web app. New renters can log into the site, edit their profile, choose their preferred apartments., and apply for a lease online. The new process saves a lot of time and money AND (like all my new projects), works perfectly on mobile devices.
In other news, I am in the middle of large Drupal project that involves upgrading a Drupal 6 site to Drupal 7 and then optimizing the site for mobile. Working with Drupal makes me appreciate how easy it is to run mundane and routine tasks in WordPress and Joomla. On the other hand, the ability to map csv values onto fields is very cool and is also the main feature of this new project. More news to follow on that!
Demand for our web design, Joomla development, and SEO services continues to grow in 2015. In the first quarter of 2015, we have designed, built and launched a number of projects for clients across, including:
Mobile App for Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association:
This app (Android and iOS) provides search windows for users to look for and navigate to gas stations across Minnesota that provide bio-fuels (E15, E30, E85 and blends). The app integrates with the native Google Maps and Apple Maps mobile functions so that users have turn-by-turn itineraries and voice dirextion options.
Web Design and Joomla 3.x development site for Elmwood Properties
This project includes design of a new rotating image slider with animated layers of indexable content, conversion of large, complex PDF forms to digital, integration of Google maps with property listings and SEO of the entire site in a very competitive niche.
One of my clients uses FeedGator, a wonderful rss feed component for her large Joomla 2.5 site. Using FeedGaror's integration with K2, we have set up the feeds to display on the home page using the K2 Content Module, which shows an introtext and a "read more" for the first batch of feeds.
Our challenge has been finding a solution to exclude those feeds from site search results. In a way, the enhanced search capabilities of Joomla 2.5 work a little too well, since indexing the site content makes internal searches extremely accurate and thorough. Displaying news feeds in search results is obviously counterproductive since those links will take visitors off-site. There were some other issues with the default search due in part to the very complex nature of the site functionality (several hundreds of K2 items, Community Builder with all the bells and whistles, Kunena, etc.).
Judging from the threads in K2 and Joomla forums, there is widespread demand for some kind of K2 category exclusion feature. Our solution requires adding one line of code. Here's how we did it.
Your web design gives your business a face – your content gives your business a voice.
And the best platform for shaping and broadcasting that voice is Joomla.
Well-written content that is crafted and published with Joomla's outstanding editorial tools lets your business and organizational goals come in loud and clear through search engines and social media. Our Joomla’s CMS (Content Management System) web sites provide multiple tools to manage all aspects of content development, publication, and optimization.
After years of developing Joomla sites for clients in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN), South Carolina, and across the country, we have selected an array of extensions and tools that give your site the competitive edge it needs, including:
1. The JCE (Joomla Content Editor) lets you style content, spell-check, insert images, add links, embed pdfs and other attachments, add captions, and much more. No knowledge of html or coding is required at all. The full-featured editor panel lets you perform all editorial tasks easily and efficiently. Images can added directly into content from your desktop or laptop computer.
2. The K2 Content Creation Kit (CCK) brings in the best features of other platforms like Wordpress and Drupal into Joomla, including full-featured blogging capabilities, layout options that can be changed on the fly or varied from page to page, tagging, and extra fields that allow you to add customized maps, contact info, spreadsheet data, and much more.
3. Joomla’s flexible system of modules (typically used in side columns, dialogue boxes, text boxes, header, footers) provide visually rich, flexible snippets that broaden the scope of your messaging.
4. Joomla's built-in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) features allow you to manage search engine-friendly urls, page titles, metadata, and other structural elements critical to short- and long-term SEO campaigns. By responding quickly and efficiently to shifting visitor traffic and keyword patterns, you can propel your site's page ranking without having to pay expensive SEO consultants.
5. Frequently updated content scores better with search engines - and with repeat visitors. Joomla makes updating and adding content as easy as editing a word document. You choose how often to update modules, add new pages, blogs, specials, or news items. That’s good for search engine visibility, good for visitors and good for business.
Joomla makes managing content simple. With these tools you shape access and create trigger points for visitors to find your site’s most important information.
Before your site launches, we make sure you understand and can use all these Joomla tools.
Every business owner understands the power of reputation. You work hard to build an excellent reputation by developing strong customer relations and delivering superior service. Your online reputation is equally important to your success. On the web, customer reviews can help build - or destroy - your company's online reputation. Unfortunately, just one negative online review, no matter how old, mistaken, or irrelevant, can overshadow years of hard work and excellent testimonials. Search engines give these reviews high visibility and frustrated business owners feel they cannot respond.
A small business's most effective tool in combatting negative reviews is to have a well-built, optimized web site with a LOT of authentic, well-written content. That can also be a significant cost both in money and time that many small businesses cannot afford. If you own or manage a franchise, your web presence may be restricted to a main corporate site where you have fewer options for adding or customizing content specifically related to your company. Concerto Designs has designed an innovative plan small businesses can use to effectively manage their online reputation.
While vacationing with our family on Minnesota's beautiful North Shore of Lake Superior, our car suffered a mishap in a construction zone. A large rock tumbled out of the dump truck in front of us and before we could react or stop, we had driven over it, leaving a 5 inch hole in the oil pan. We immediately pulled over to Split Rock State Park, where I began searching for a tow service. Luckily, I had seen a tow truck assisting someone else at another Minnesota State park two days earlier, and I remembered the name: Blazers Auto Service. Using my smartphone, I ran a search on Google and discovered that:
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Concerto Designs offers an Online Reputation Management (ORM) plan to assess, restore and manage your business' online reputation.
This online reputation management process takes three steps:
1. We diagnose your online reputation, assessing both its strengths and weaknesses.
Even when the vast majority of your online reviews are positive, a small number of unfair, negative reviews can damage your reputation and drive away potential customers. We research and report on all aspects of your online reputation. You learn the strengths and weaknesses of your online reputation and how search engines index information about your company and your competitors.
2. We create listings and profiles with the major business directories.
With our online reputation management service, we help you up business accounts in as many - or as few- of these web business directories as your business requires. Your new business profiles will help displace negative reviews by competing for search engine visibility and allowing you greater control and response mechanisms. We edit your content for superior web messaging, choose effective keywords for search engines, and manage incoming reviews. Maps, contact information and concise, effective content promote your business' visibility and online reputation, outperforming older, outdated reviews.
The business directories that we work with include:
Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Yelp, Thumbtack, YP.com (formerly Yellow Pages), Local.com, Citysearch, Localeze, InsiderPages, and Foursquare.
Some directories allow deletion or company response to negative reviews - very similar to the models you see at online marketplaces. Others focus instead on presenting your company's profile and services. Based on our initial analysis, we help you choose the best directories to ensure that your account continually keeps pace with your business's marketing goals.By choosing your accounts strategically, you engineer a web presence that reaches your target audience.
3. We then create a Customer Review Program to help and encourage your customers to post accurate, positive reviews of your business with specific directories that deliver the maximum benefit to your online reputation. We'll give you the links and content that you can provide to customers or post on a Facebook page so they can easily find and post their reviews.
In addition to these three steps, we will also generate quarterly reports on your new accounts and work with you to manage them. With these reports, you can monitor and respond effectively to customer reviews.
Includes preliminary report and analysis, complete business profiles with three major business directories (you choose from Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Yelp, Local.com), Customer Review Program, four quarterly reports.
Includes preliminary report and analysis, complete business profiles with six major business directories (choose from Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Yelp, Local.com, Thumbtack, YP.com (formerly Yellow Pages), Citysearch, Localeze, InsiderPages, Foursquare), Customer Review Program, four quarterly reports.
Includes preliminary report and analysis, complete business profiles with all the major business directories (Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Yelp, Local.com, Thumbtack, YP.com (formerly Yellow Pages), Citysearch, Localeze, InsiderPages, Foursquare), Customer Review Program, four quarterly reports.
At Concerto Designs we’re in the business of creating honest web solutions. We believe that’s good for our business and for yours. So all our contracts include the training you need to manage your new Joomla CMS. It’s a logical system that is as easy to use as basic word processing programs. We take you through it step by step. We work closely with you and your staff to ensure you are comfortable using all your Joomla features. Our goal is to make you independent of us. That’s right, once you are comfortable running your website, you won’t need us. And that’s how we believe it should be. We’ll still be here for questions, we’d love to be here for references, we’re always here creating sites, but you won’t need us to manage yours. You’ll have that under control.
There is tremendous opportunity for web design and development in London, Ontario and tremendous competition as well. Londonn has emerged not only as a technology hub but also as a home for web design firms of all types and sizes, from the very large to small (well - Concerto Designs, for one!), from enterprise solutions to WordPress sites and everything in between.
Concerto Designs thrives in this environment because we offer a focused, efficient approach to providing a unique product model.
Let's start with our product: although we have experience designing and developing web sites in a wide range of platforms, (Drupal, Wordpress, Magento, X-Cart, DNN, and others), we focus above all on providing complete, turnkey solutions using our optimized configurations of the Joomla CMS platform. By turnkey solutions, we mean everything necessary for a well-functioning, optimized, beautifully designed, hand-coded and content-rich web site. We stress content because we know that content is the most valuable - and challenging - asset in developing an effective digital presence.
We also offer flexible development plans that streamline production and costs.
For some businesses, this means a website that features daily specials, product updates, or e-commerce, for others it might involve downloadable brochures, email campaigns with newsletters, blogs, bulletin boards to handle FAQs, or other dynamic content options. However you put your website to work, Joomla CMS allows you complete flexibility and control so that your website and your business grow together. By providing the web solutions that make the most sense for your company, we keep your costs down and your marketing focused. And with Joomla, you can always add new components later.
Your web design gives your business a face – your content gives your business a voice.
And the best platform for shaping and broadcasting that voice is Joomla.
Well-written content that is crafted and published with Joomla's outstanding editorial tools lets your business and organizational goals come in loud and clear through search engines and social media. Our Joomla’s CMS (Content Management System) web sites provide multiple tools to manage all aspects of content development, publication, and optimization.
After years of developing Joomla sites for clients in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN), South Carolina, and across the country, we have selected an array of extensions and tools that give your site the competitive edge it needs, including:
1. The JCE (Joomla Content Editor) lets you style content, spell-check, insert images, add links, embed pdfs and other attachments, add captions, and much more. No knowledge of html or coding is required at all. The full-featured editor panel lets you perform all editorial tasks easily and efficiently. Images can added directly into content from your desktop or laptop computer.
2. The K2 Content Creation Kit (CCK) brings in the best features of other platforms like Wordpress and Drupal into Joomla, including full-featured blogging capabilities, layout options that can be changed on the fly or varied from page to page, tagging, and extra fields that allow you to add customized maps, contact info, spreadsheet data, and much more.
3. Joomla’s flexible system of modules (typically used in side columns, dialogue boxes, text boxes, header, footers) provide visually rich, flexible snippets that broaden the scope of your messaging.
4. Joomla's built-in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) features allow you to manage search engine-friendly urls, page titles, metadata, and other structural elements critical to short- and long-term SEO campaigns. By responding quickly and efficiently to shifting visitor traffic and keyword patterns, you can propel your site's page ranking without having to pay expensive SEO consultants.
5. Frequently updated content scores better with search engines - and with repeat visitors. Joomla makes updating and adding content as easy as editing a word document. You choose how often to update modules, add new pages, blogs, specials, or news items. That’s good for search engine visibility, good for visitors and good for business.
Joomla makes managing content simple. With these tools you shape access and create trigger points for visitors to find your site’s most important information.
Before your site launches, we make sure you understand and can use all these Joomla tools.
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