Build a Better Website

The Foxburg Inn is a lovely and comfortable hotel in Foxburg, PA, near the junction of Butler, Armstrong, and Clarion Counties. It’s perched on the Allegheny River; the views from the river rooms and the outdoor deck are beautiful.

We were invited to redo the inn’s website, to make it easy for staff to manage and more useful to guests. We wanted to include lots of pictures of the inn and its amenities, as well as the surrounding environs and quaint Foxburg.

Foxburg and the inn are charming and quirky, and innkeeper Mike Vereb asked us to try to convey the aspect of serendipity through the site. In addition to creating the tagline “Where charm and chance meet,” we sought out a series of quotations about nature, relaxation, and luck, and set these up to appear in random on each page.

We worked with Mike to list the site on a range of websites, including travel sites and directories. Within a day of the site launch, they were already receiving traffic and phone calls.

Shortly we’ll be adding online reservations to the site as well.

It’s back! Pittsburgh’s social media conference returns for the third year running, with great sessions, awesome networking opportunities, and unexpected unexpectedness.

PodCamp Pittsburgh 3 will take place on October 18 and 19, 2008, with a meet-and-greet the evening of October 17.

WHEN: October 18 and 19, 9am to 4pm each day

WHERE: Art Institute of Pittsburgh, 420 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (map/directions)

COST: free!

See the PodCamp Pittsburgh 3 schedule. Add a session you’d like to give, or request one you’d like to attend.

Would you like to sponsor PodCamp Pittsburgh 3? Find out how.

In addition to the two days of conference, there will be a meet-n-greet reception the night before, 6 to 9pm at AlphaLab on Pittsburgh South Side. Details for the reception here.

Mary Ann Brookes has managed her pet grooming and boarding business, Duffy’s Pet Care, for many years. But she looks continually for ways to expand the business and provide better service for her clients.

When she came to us with ideas for a website, we wanted to make sure the site highlighted her expertise. We built in a pet care knowledgebase, which she’ll add to each month.

She can also use the News feature to spotlight new products and services, as well as season-focused ideas.

The home page puts the clients in the center literally, with a spotlight photo of a client.

Mary Ann and her husband, Dave, are fun and friendly people with a whimsical sensibility. To reflect that, we commissioned our multi-talented friend Rachel Arnold Sager to create animated animals for the home page. The illustration style and charming animation add just the right touch.

The business equipment experts of Hagan Business Machines of Butler offer excellent service and work hard to keep their clients satisfied. They’re friendly and professional, and they needed their website to convey that image.

We worked with Rick and Rose McDeavitt, the owners of Hagan of Butler, to create a site design that would appropriately represent the company’s style.

To showcase their expertise, and to provide a convenient resource for clients, we included a Tips section. Rick will use this to address frequently asked questions and to further build the firm’s reputation.

The Featured Equipment section includes a select group of copiers, faxes, and other office equipment, chosen by Rick from among the hundreds of solutions he can sell and service. These pieces are the ones he knows his clientele are most likely to need. Highlighting only the key solutions reduces confusion for site visitors.