Landscaping, and a whole lot more...

Recently the building TrailsWeb is in was bought by some new investors. Two of them are co-owners of Showtime Dirt Works. After moving into one of the suites across the courtyard from us, they asked us about building a site for them. While we were working on ShowtimeDirtWorks.com, touting their expertise in Northern Arizona landscaping design and technique, they had us work on another software project.

In their office, they mounted a plasma TV facing the courtyard. The TV displays a slideshow of pictures they took of their work. Concerned with the energy efficiency of their display they had TrailsWeb write a screensaver that turns off the computer and TV each night at 7:00PM and automatically start back up again each morning at 7:00AM.

With a few hurdles to overcome, we were able to supply an application which uses DirectX to efficiently fade the images on the screen and simultaneously automate the computer's power state. Using a technology called ACPI, the screensaver shuts the computer down at night, with the TV shutting down when the signal disappears, and schedules the computer's restart the following morning. When the timer goes off, the computer boots back up and the screensaver resumes fading images of their landscapes for interested onlookers to see.

Demonstrating our expertise with both website and software development, Rob has suggested partnering up for a larger scale web-based business. Hopefully, the next post will be declaring the new project underway...

TrailsWeb is Expanding Search Engine Optimization

Here at TrailsWeb, we look at these economic times as a professional challenge. We know that successful small businesses need a website that will out perform the competition.

There's an art and a science to getting highly visible on major search engines. It's called Search Engine Optimization. It's not just a matter of spamming the site with key words and phrases. It's not a matter of compromising on the quality of the copy in order to comply with search engine algorithms. The traits of Google, MSN Live Search, and Yahoo are changing and evolving all the time. Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing process and a ton of work.

Your website for your small business needs webmasters like us who are willing to go the extra mile to get your site seen and keep your customers coming . Check out our small business website design services for the Phoenix area.

It's Hiking Day at Trailsweb

As much as we love developing websites for small businesses, staring at a computer screen and banging on a keyboard for the better part of the day strains the eyes, tenses the shoulders, and is downright inhumane. That's why Josh Whitman, Trailsweb President, instigated hiking outings every Wednesday. We like the professional challenge of developing effective websites and we like the physical challenge of hiking and rock climbing through the rough terrain that abounds here in and around Flagstaff, AZ.

We find that our hiking conversation fuels creativity and problem solving. When we return, we're fresh and enthusiastic to go back to work for you, creating functional and dynamic websites for small businesses that produce fantastic results!

Heading into the Phoenix phray...

It's official, TrailsWeb's making a move into the Phoenix market. Our new site, WebsiteDesignPhoenixAZ.com exists solely to make us visible to Phoenix Small Business Customers.

Designed to show how we customize the message of each site to suit its intended audience, the Phoenix site also demonstrates our professionalism with a hint of animated delivery.

If anyone actually reads this and wants to check out the site, let me know what you think about it and about our little animation. Feedback is the stimulus for improvement, after all.

With any luck we'll be seeing some small businesses from Phoenix getting website designed and developed in the next few months...

Thanks!
Josh :)

Subcontractor Websites making big $$$

One of the most important things to me is that businesses see a nice bump in revenue as a result of their new websites. Being a business owner myself, when I invest in marketing I expect results. Making websites means we are committing to getting more customers through the door or on the phone with out clients. As the president of the company, it's my personal obligation to ensure that's what we're doing and that we're doing it better than our competitors.

We've made a decent number of websites for contractors, subs, and similar service providers over the years. Taking a quick look through my notes about their feedback brings a smile to my face. Every one of them - plumber, HVAC, carpet cleaner, manufacturer, metalworking, artificial lawns - reports that they've gotten new business from their websites and they're pleased with the impact it has had on the bottom line. A most encouraging response to hear!

TrailsWeb is proud to offer our small business website design services, and we're committed to getting results.