Pixelsilk Blog

Come Swivel With Us!

It’s that time again. Time for the Bend WebCAM Conference in Bend, Oregon. This year we’ve put a spin on the conference… and on the name.

Swivel, formerly known as Bend WebCAM, is taking place in Bend, Oregon from October 12-13^th, 2015.

If you’ve attended in past, you’re aware of the benefits that this conference offers. If you haven’t, it’s time you heard:

Swivel is a marketing conference that fuses technology and creativity together to produce some of the most cutting-edge marketing strategies in the field. Anyone in marketing knows that the field is always evolving- strategy that works one day will fail to work another. Swivel offers you a chance to get caught up on the latest trends in marketing by learning from some of the best in the business.

This 2-day conference holds value for all those involved in the marketing field: designers, optimizers, developers, writers and strategists. You’ll get to hear from experts in the field talk about marketing, advertising, graphic design, copywriting, content strategy and brand development.

The focus of Swivel 2015 is communication. Communication in social media, communication in search engine optimization (SEO), communication in search engine marketing (SEM), and communication in mobile marketing. Communication is pivotal to every marketing campaign. After all, isn’t that what marketing is… communication?

Swivel is more than just a conference. It’s an opportunity to join in a marketing movement. A movement to create stronger, more creative, and more effective marketing decisions. It’s a chance to hear from experts in the field, network with colleagues, and connect with new clients.

Join us at Swivel 2015 this October in Bend, Oregon for a marketing experience to remember.

Remember to use your promo code and save $200 when you sign up! Promo = PIXELSILK

Link Building 101:

What is it? Why does it matter?

If you missed the webinar on May 9, be sure to bookmark this link! Jon Ball of Page One Power introduces link building in 38 minutes from the Bend WebCAM Webinar series. Watch the webinar now, and let us know if you have any questions in the comments!

At the end of this webinar, you’ll…

• Be able to explain why inbound links are vital to SEO
• Understand the important factors of an inbound link and what to look for
• Know the basic principles of conducting an effective link building campaign
• Be able to intelligently discuss link building

Pinterest Image Optimization from Avalaunch

We recently ran into this Pinterest infographic, created by our friends over at Avalaunch Media. Lot’s of great information – spend some time checking it out.

Portland Search Marketing at SearchFest 2012

A few months ago, we got the change to appear at the premier search marketing and social media conference in Portland: SearchFest 2012. The agenda this year included topics like pay per click advertising, social media strategy, optimizing conversions and dealing with off and on-site SEO. This search marketing conference was aimed at professionals in any industry—to help people better understand how to market their businesses online.

No matter how advanced your business is in the search marketing spectrum, there is always something new to be learned—that’s why we sponsor and attend SearchFest. Because listening and networking with other people trying to accomplish the same goal is always worth it.

SearchFest 2012 started the morning of February 24, and the last session wrapped up around 5PM that night. This year, keynote speakers included Eli Goodman of comScore and Wil Reynolds of SEER Interactive, along with many of Oregon’s search marketing professionals as session speakers and moderators.

Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook to hear about more events like this!

Search Advice | A CMS with SEO

Search Advice is a revolutionary tool that gives you search engine advice as you put content into your website. Instead of waiting to add SEO keywords until after content is created, you receive your search engine advice in real time.

CMS and SEO should work together to get your site found, and that’s what Pixelsilk does with Search Advice. Figure out the keywords you need, how much content is required, and how to fill up your META tags—every time you log into your Pixelsilk website.

Check out our Search Advice video to learn more about how this tool makes Pixelsilk an even more SEO-friendly CMS.

Every Pixelsilk site has the potential of adding on Search Advice—if you’re interested in adding it to your website, or creating a new website with Pixelsilk and its Search Advice tool, we’d love to talk to you. Give us a call at 541.317.3583 or send us an email.

Learn What You Missed at Bend WebCAM

The Bend WebCAM conference, two weeks ago, was a success for everyone who attended. Networking at the Brew-Ha-Ha, lessons in SEO, workshops in creativity and bagels from Rockin’ Daves all came together for an enjoyable two days.

The conference was created to expose designers to Internet marketing best practices and Internet marketers to the power of creating a brand image and voice.  Individual session tracks catered to both disciplines: Geek (left brain) and Chic (right brain). Plus, there was a third session track, Super Freak, which offered a combination of sessions. The inseparability of technology and creativity has never been timelier. And no other conference pulled these two disciplines together better than Bend’s WebCAM.

If you didn’t have the chance to attend WebCAM, you can still get a taste of the lectures and workshops that were presented via our online bloggers. Todd Mintz of PPC Associates, and Wendy Roe of Byron Roe Photography tweeted and blogged about two of the WebCAM tracks—giving you a chance to learn what you missed:

Todd Mintz, Shares the Geek Track

• Choosing Your Keyword Battles –  Todd Malicoat of Stuntdubl, showed us how to do a proper cost to benefit analysis on keywords that will be most effective to our website.

• Double Your Paid Search ROI  –  Adam Audette of Audette Media, offered 9 steps to stop the insanity and increase profits on Google.

• Tools of the Trade  – Scott Hendison of Search Commander & Taylor Pratt of Awesome SEO, gave advice on how SEO, PPC, social media and content marketing team can work together.

• One Site, Many Sizes – Hans Sprecher of G5, shares his secrets about creating one website to cater to different device types using a techniue called responsive design.

 

Wendy Roe, Shares the Super Freak Track

• Creative Research + Killer Briefs – Lynette Xanders of Wild Alchemy, provided ideas and skills to help you get into the right “zone” to write a killer creative brief.

• Local University Search  and Social Workshop – David Mihm, Andre Jensen  and Will Scott, offered their insights and perspectives on improving a company’s local and social media efforts.

• Opening Keynote: The Four Pillars of Building Instant Trust Online – Tim Ash, CEO of Site Tuners, talks about the 4 pillars of building trust online.  Before people will act or transact, their concerns and anxieties must be alleviated.

• Facebook Don’ts – Will Scott of Search Influence, shares with us “what not to do” with Social Media.  Will shares the good, the bad, and the ugly way businesses are engaging online.

• Online Reputation – Todd Friesen & Conrad Saam, teach us how to protect our brand online.  Online reputation management is getting harder everyday.  Follow these tips on cleaning up the mess and protecting your reputation.

• The Advent of Social Film: The Inside Experience with Jamie Robinson – Jaime Robinson, presents “The Inside Experience,” a social film project which drives successful audience participation in this unique Hollywood Thriller.  Learn how to engage the audience, product placement, and how far viewers will go to become participants in the big picture.

We would like to give a special shout out to Visit Bend and AdFed of Central Oregon for helping make Bend WebCAM 2011 a huge success!

To stay up-to-date on the conference all year, follow Bend WebCAM on Facebook or on Twitter.  Start making your plans to attend the Bend WebCAM in 2012.

 

 

 

 

Northwest’s Premier Web and Creative Conference

Web and business professionals will be flocking to Bend, Oregon for the third annual Bend WebCAM Conference, September 29-30, 2011. The conference was created three years ago to expose designers to Internet marketing best practices and Internet marketers to the power of creating a brand image and voice.  Considering the inseparability of technology and creativity in today’s business world, their vision was spot on.

This year’s agenda includes sixteen informative, idea-generating sessions and two killer keynotes that will discuss the latest and greatest strategies for search, social media and brand communications. Here’s more on the planned keynotes, sessions and why you don’t want to miss out.

Tim Ash and Rand Fishkin to Keynote

Tim Ash, President & CEO of SiteTuners, will offer the opening keynote on Friday, September 30 discussing, “The Four Pillars of Building Instant Trust Online.” Tim is best known for his e-commerce bestseller, Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions. Closing keynote, also on September 30, will be given by Rand Fishkin, Co-founder and CEO of SEOmoz, who will offer his perspective on “The Death and Rebirth of SEO.” Besides being CEO of the web’s most popular SEO software provider, Rand co-authored The Art of SEO and The Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization.

Other industry innovators and specialists will lead in-depth sessions catering to both Geek (left brain) and Chic (right brain) disciplines. Plus, there’s a third session track, Super Freak, which offers a combination of sessions.

All conference attendees are invited to the Brew-Ha-Ha, Thursday, September 29, from 5:30-8:00 p.m. at the Blacksmith restaurant for socializing and sampling of Bend’s finest beer.

Register here.

Why Use of “Token Sense” is Common Sense

A lot of thought and effort goes into building and designing certain aspects of one’s website. A website can include interactive calendars, brand enhancing banners or slides shows—or unique and stylized content. Leveraging these items and ensuring their consistency across one’s web properties can save an enormous amount of time and add quality assurance to site.

Pixelsilk allows you to use web tokens to save all kinds of work and let others use it to, which is especially helpful for those building and managing multiple sites. A web token is code that inserts something like this [[“and”]], so the CMS knows what to show where.  After creating web tokens, all approved users can just start typing [[name of token]] in editor window and the Pixelsilk token sense window will come up. The window allows you to confirm selected web token. Once you do, it will instantly render element or content right there.

Web tokens can include controls, themes, skins or content—really what you can think up and build using CSS, HTML, JavaScript or a plug-in.  Another time-saving benefit is after a token is updated, the update can be easily rendered across multiple sites by a click.

When you consider these benefits, you can see why use of Pixelsilk tokens make a lot of sense and makes a lot of customers happy.

Developers are Diggin’ Multisite Management

OK we know why management is lovin’ CMS multisite management because of cost-savings and time-savings but what about developers? Well, they are too. They know that multisite management is more than just being able to duplicate site content like Drupal, Jentla and WordPress allow. Some of these sites maintain separate code-based instances of each site, which is cumbersome to manipulate. Others have multisite features built around a core that was really designed for single site installation, which adds restrictions.

On the other hand, Pixelsilk was built to handle and efficiently manage multiple sites from the start. Managing both site content and site resources is at its core. And it makes sharing themes and the HTML of important brand elements simple.

Can’t wait for more developers to get it! I’m Susan Sano Berado.

True Multisite Management Pleases Managers

The discussion of multisite management is an important one for companies and agencies who manage multiple websites. Here’s why: A CMS that offers it is more efficient. Its functionality allows one developer to literally do the work of 10 developers because they don’t have to “touch” each site. Site resources, such as a company’s brand look and feel, controls, plugs-ins, images, Java script files can be published—or updated—simultaneously.

When you consider the management of 100 or 1000+ sites, the benefits are huge. Businesses enjoy cost-savings and time-savings; the ability to get the work done with less manpower; and the quality assurance that assets are transferred correctly.

No wonder comparisons are taking place between Pixelsilk, Drupal, Jentla, Plone and WordPress. And no wonder Pixelsilk’s true multisite management is coming out ahead.

Stay-tuned for more. I’m Susan Sano Berado.