It’s a sad day at CDG, as we remember the passing of the great Steve Jobs—someone who truly lived up to the overused descriptors of visionary, genius, game-changer, and legend. None of us ever met Mr. Jobs in person (although some CDG-ers had  a sighting of him at Apple headquarters while working on one of the first iAds), but we feel a palpable sense of loss for someone who moved our industry—and our culture—so far, so fast.

Thank you, Steve, for shepherding us into the future. We will miss you.

Just as the 2012 election cycle got hotter than a fried butterstick in Iowa, CDG launched a new and improved site for CQ Roll Call.

CQ Roll Call is the premier provider of non-partisan legislative and electoral news and analysis, as well as legislative tracking and advocacy tools. The new site features a streamlined structure that gives users a comprehensive, yet concise picture of what CQ Roll Call has to offer.

But it’s not only end-users who enjoy a better experience on the site—so do the editors and producers at CQ Roll Call. The new site was implemented in Zeus, CDG’s content management system. Zeus’ powerful functionality and intuitive interface makes it easy for CQ Roll Call to add, edit, and manage the site content.

Also, Zeus allows CQ Roll Call to track the users who request free trials of their products—information that had previously gone un-captured. With its new Zeus-powered site, CQ Roll Call can track conversions precisely and communicate more effectively with its current and potential subscribers.

“The new website is a great showcase for our products and services,” says Andrea Birdsong, Director of Interactive Marketing at CQ Roll Call, “And because we can better manage our content and track our conversions, we can serve our subscribers more effectively.”

So, Beltway insiders and intrepid politicos, visit the new CQRollCall.com and see if it gets your vote of approval.

Looking to improve your website? Contact CDG Interactive.

  Scan a parenting magazine and it won’t be long before you see headlines about celiac disease, reflux, GERD, and childhood obesity. Fortunately, there’s a new resource for parents and patients dealing digestive and nutritional disorders: GastroKids.org.

CDG created the site for our long-time client, The North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN). The association asked us to create a site geared to an audience parents and patients, rather than the doctors who typically visited their site.

In 2009, CDG had designed a site for NASPGHAN’s foundation, which contained a large amount of the parent and patient focused content as well as information for health care professionals. The design still held up well, as did the basic information architecture. So rather than start from scratch, we leveraged the design elements of the existing foundation and performed a “content redesign.”

We created a new logo and tagline to rebrand the site, but its essential look and feel remained the same. Meanwhile, we re-wrote and re-optimized content to focus it exclusively on the parent and patient audience. We extracted the information for medical professionals and housed it within NASPGHAN’s main site. The result: two specific destinations for two very different audiences.

We implemented the site in Zeus, CDG’s content management system, making it easy for site administrators to add, manage, and remove content (including meta content). This was a key concern for NASPGHAN, as it has plans to grow the site into an ever-more robust resource for parents and kids.

Is your website ready for a tweak, a touch-up, or a full-on redesign? Contact CDG.

Just when businesses were starting to figure out how to use channels like Twitter and Facebook and  LinkedIn, along comes Google with its new entry into the social media fray, called Google+ (pronounced “Google Plus”).

If you’ve heard any chatter about it recently, it’s probably been from people looking for one of the initially scarce number of invitations to the closed beta launch—or for someone with a shiny new Google+ account who was now trying to figure out what the heck to do with it.

So what does Google+ mean for businesses, anyway?

To start with, here’s what it doesn’t mean: a Google+ profile for your business. As we mentioned in Friday’s Links post, Google is asking only individuals to create Plus accounts because they have a business-centric version still in the works. This is very similar to Facebook’s model of profiles for individuals and pages for entities, like a business or organization.

However, if you’ve received an individual invitation for a Gmail account that you use in a professional capacity, you should pay attention to Google+ and use it to drive traffic to your company’s site or blog in much the same way you would use Twitter or Facebook, as Shashi Bellamkonda writes in Small Biz Technology.

For now, therefore, Google+ is more about your personal brand than your company brand, so proceed accordingly.

[Update 7.14.11]

The blog posts and article about G+ have been coming fast and furious from sources around the web; here are some additional takes:

• The New York Times: "Google+ One Ups Facebook"
• Hubspot Blog: "11 Things You Don't Know (But Should) About Google+"
• What's Next? Blog: "Google+ Mania: Most Pundits Are Missing the Point"
• Search Engine Land: "Google+ Pages Coming For Business"

Your Turn:

• Are you using Google+?
• What do you like—and dislike—about it?
• What do you think its potential is for businesses and organizations?

Getting Started in Online Sales

You’ve started your new business and built your website, but how are you going to sell your products?  For many small retailers and businesses just starting out, a merchant account with a credit card company isn’t an option. So what are your choices?

Continue reading "Negotiating the Perils of Online Payments" »

We’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with the launch of the redesigned US-Ireland Alliance website. The US-Ireland Alliance is a vibrant organization dedicated to strengthening connections between the United States and Ireland.

The site, like the Alliance itself, shatters the quaint, stereotypical view of Ireland (think shamrocks and leprechauns) and reveals the country’s dynamic arts, business, and political spheres. The new site highlights the Alliance’s work to build strong relationships between American and Irish luminaries, and to further the relationship between the two countries through programs like the esteemed George J. Mitchell Scholarship.

In addition to a new look, the site also got a technical overhaul thanks to Zeus, CDG’s content management system CMS. The new CMS allows the team at the US-Ireland Alliance more ease and flexibility in updating and maintaining their site’s rapidly changing and time-sensitive content. 

To ensure that the new site attracts the wide audience it deserves, CDG also executed a comprehensive search engine optimization (SEO) process and implemented a social media strategy to better engage users across Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and other channels.

In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, check out the US-Ireland Alliance website and find out how much the organization has to offer. Better yet, become a member! Even if you’re not Irish by blood, you can be Irish by association, right?

 And if you need a little magic worked on your site, contact CDG.

Raise your hand if you have a love-hate relationship with content management systems! For mid-sized companies especially, choosing a CMS can make you feel like Goldilocks; too complex, too simple, not flexible enough, too flexible, etc.

CDG decided there had to be a better way. Recently, we introduced Zeus CMS, a content management system that gives you the control, flexibility, and functionality you need.

To date, Zeus has been successfully deployed for multi-national companies like Mondial Assistance as well as mid-sized organizations. What makes Zeus so appealing? Here are a few highlights:

Continue reading "Seize the Power! Meet Zeus Content Management System" »

Lights, Camera, Matthew!

CDG's Creative Director Matthew Snyder appeared on News Channel 8 in Washington, DC to talk about that retail phenomenon we all know and love, Cyber Monday. Among the topics Matthew touched on was the growing role of social media during the frenzied holiday shopping season. As we often advise clients at CDG, social media can be a great way to attract consumers and gain their loyalty. But to be truly effective, you need to have a plan.

Fortunately, CDG is launching a new group exclusively for social media marketers. PowerUp Social will help you get the most out of social media during the holiday season and beyond. Join the beta group today and start whipping your social media strategy into shape.

In the meantime, check out the clip above to see Matthew's entire Cyber Monday interview.

Google - not just for searching anymore

Google sites account for 6.4% of all global internet trafic according to Arbor Networks.  Most interestingly, traffic to Google sites is growing considerably faster than overall Internet volume - largely due to YouTube's growth.

Most engaged audience

According to the latest numbers from comScore, Russians are the most involved in social networks compared to other nationalities. In August, 74.5% of Russian internet users visited at least one social networking site. I was in Russia in August and every cafe and restaurant (even nice ones) offers free WiFi which helps considerably.

Farewell Sony Walkman

We knew this day would come, but now that it's here... Sony has ceased production of the Walkman - the portable cassette player that first let us know that we wanted to be plugged into music as we walked around. Now what will I do with that Miami Vice soundtrack cassette?

Keeping up with new technology

The Washington Post asks: How much social networking is enough? When do you say "I'm good with what I'm doing."

Most annoying smartphone habits

CNN lists the most annoying smartphone habits. Of other people of course... we never do any of these ourselves. Really.

Google 411

If you've been using the free Google 411 (1-800-GOOG-411) service, you'll have to get used to one of the newer options because Google is shutting it down as of November 12. You can download the Google App for your smartphone or send a text message with the name and location of the business to 466453 ("GOOGLE") to receive a text message back with the phone number.

Social search

Bing & Facebook - together at last?  Now when you search for something on Bing you'll see your friends' faces next to web pages they've liked. Controls and opt out options are under Instant Personalization.

Budget time

Now is the time that everyone starts talking budgets for next year. If you need to defend your marketing budget, take a book at TopRank's post on how to keep the CEO on track with your marketing budget for next year.

Where's your video?

YouTube remains the number 1 online video destination according to the latest report from comScore. The new battle is for number 2. In September, Yahoo captured the number 2 spot from Facebook, while Microsoft jumped 3 spots to come in 4th with 45.5 million viewers.

To increase circulation

Even the New York Times knows that to increase your circulation you run cat pictures.