Check out the full article on Mashable.com →

I’ve come to the conclusion that powerful, and well-designed E-Commerce websites no longer need to built using bloated and difficult-to-use systems like Magento and others.  We can stick with our beloved, WordPress CMS and use it to power a a full-featured E-Commerce website.

Check out the full article on Mashable.com →

In this post, I’ll show you a few examples from the CasJam Media portfolio where we designed custom CMS solutions using WordPress:

Custom Home Page Featured Content

You may be familiar with typical WordPress blogs that show a handful of recent blog posts on the home page.  This may work fine for a blog site, but a business website usually requires more control over what gets featured front and center.

For Plymouth Rock Energy, we implemented rotating content on the home page, which displays a custom content type that we named “Features”.  These are not blog posts, but rather fully custom content, which populates a rotating “slider”. The client is able to define the photo, large title text, small text, call to action button, and link each slide to anything they want — a landing page, a current promotion, a product page, selected blog post… anything. They can also re-order the rotation, disable slides, or add as many new ones as they want.

More Custom Content Types

For Harmony Institute, Case Studies play an integral part in showcasing the unique set of services that they offer. Instead of resorting to a convoluted system of categorized blog posts or having a long list of pages for case studies, we created an additional custom content type called “Case Studies”.

Another important content area for Harmony Institute was their “People” section, where they list photos and bios of their board of directors and, separately, the board of advisors.  Again, customizing the WordPress CMS, we created a custom content type called, you guessed it, “People”, with the ability to distinguish between advisors and directors.  It’s all about easy and effective content management in for both the client and their end-users.

Related Content

For IBB Consulting (our redesign currently in progress, August 2011), we took things up a notch.  Their company offers a range of services across a variety of industries, so they needed a way to clearly associate services with the industries they apply to.

Our solution was to first create custom content types called “Industries” and “Services”.  Then we added functionality to easily connect selected services to an Industry page.  This way, when someone views that Industry page, they see a linked list of “Related Services”.

We used the same functionality to associate articles (“Thought Leadership”) and relevant case studies with specific Industry pages, giving the user a well-rounded set of information, all tied together dynamically in the WordPress CMS.

Forms

Basic contact forms that send the client an email are the norm these days.  But sometimes we have a need to implement other types of forms.

For The Triangle Fire Open Archive website, we implemented a complex form where visitors can submit various pieces of content to be published in this online archive.  The entries are stored and managed by the client all inside WordPress.

And back to the Plymouth Rock Energy website for a moment.  Here we implemented something a bit more dynamic.

As they are an energy distribution company serving the New York Tri-State Area, they required a way for visitors to search for their zip code to see if they would be eligible for Plymouth Rock service.  We implemented a zip-code search form plus an easy way for the client to manage the list of zip codes that they cover—all within WordPress.  This way, as they expand their service area, they can keep this search feature up to date.

The Possibilities Are (Literally) Endless…

These examples only scratch the surface of what can be done with a custom-built WordPress CMS website.  Membership sites?  check.  E-Commerce?  You bet.  Something totally new that hasn’t been done before?  Let’s do it!  Designing around the WordPress CMS is the way we create a living, breathing web.

The same truth goes for the people that we work on the client’s end.

A great client is a one who cares as much as we do about making their web project great.  What I mean to say is that every person at the client’s company—from the CEO to the HR person and all of the stakeholders in between—care deeply about how the web project they’ve engaged us on will ultimately benefit their company and their personal role within their company.

We’ve had the unfortunate experience of working with people on the client’s end who are tasked with hiring a web designer, but don’t really care about the outcome of the web project.  All they really care about is that they’re immediate task is being fulfilled, and that they can report to their boss that it has been done.

Traits of a client who doesn’t really care

• Failure or lack of interest in discussing their larger goals and working with us on a needs assessment.  They just want a proposal ASAP.
• Quick (too quick) sign-off at the early stages of a project, then costly change requests near the end of the project (when someone realized things were not thoroughly reviewed and discussed early on).
• Ongoing delays in response times, delayed payments, and overall lack of forward-motion in a project.

Traits of a client who cares

Slides

Reference Links

• Brian’s businesses: CasJam Media, Freelance Jam, ThemeJam
• w3techs.com: WordPress CMS Marketshare
• Codepoet.com
• FreelanceSwitch.com
• Woo Themes: Affiliated Woo Workers
• Marketplaces: ThemeForest.net, Mojo-Themes.com, ThemeGarden.com
• Content sites: WP Candy, WP Tavern, WP Tuts, WP Beginner, WP Engineer, Theme.it

Podcasts are among the oldest types of syndicated content on the web. Yet the format remains a popular choice among content producers looking to connect with a wide audience. Audio podcasts were the norm for many years, but video has taken the podcasting world to new heights.

In this article, I’ll to walk you through the steps necessary to ensure your video podcast gets off to a great start. We’ll cover everything from conception to technical set up, promotion, and monetization. Every podcast is different, but this guide should help you navigate your way through the process and hopefully spark some broadcasting inspiration.

Read the rest on Mashable.com

There’s no turning back now. The web has gone mobile. More users are accessing the web from more places on more devices than ever before. What does this mean for web designers and site owners? It means that in every project we do, we must address a mobile strategy.

Your strategy will differ depending on what type of project you’re working on, but make no mistake, you do need some kind of strategy for how your website (or your client’s website) functions in the mobile space. Whether you’re designing a site that is mostly static (is anything on the web really static anymore?), a content-driven news site, or an interactive web application, it’s best to pursue a well-rounded approach — one that includes a thoughtful look at your mobile website user experience.

In this article, I aim to highlight 10 crucial items that you, as the web designer, developer or site owner, need to consider at the outset of your mobile site design project. These ideas touch on all aspects of a process, from strategy to design and implementation. But it’s important to be accountable for these points up front to ensure the successful launch of your mobile site.

Read the rest on Mashable.com

WordPress has long been known as a dedicated blogging platform, giving users the tools they need to publish their message and interact with readers.  However, with the official release of version 3.0, set to drop this month, the platform will be much closer, if not well within the territory of a content management system (CMS).

The list of new features in WordPress 3.0 isn’t very long in comparison to previous releases.  However, the changes that are coming will certainly have a significant impact, particularly if you use WordPress as a CMS.  Here is a rundown of the most important new features arriving in version 3.0.

Read the rest on Mashable.com