Author: Webmaster

Edward Jones Investments, Will Hargett Ribbon Cutting

Written by Webmaster on August 25, 2015. Posted in Chamber Blog. No Comments on Edward Jones Investments, Will Hargett Ribbon Cutting

Will Hargett has been a Financial Advisor for Edward Jones Investments in Lebanon since September 2014. His office, formerly located on West Main Street, recently moved to 365 South Hartmann Drive, Suite 110. Chamber Board members, staff, and ambassadors and local elected officials joined Will and office manager Deb Gooch for a ribbon cutting ceremony on August 21. The team is excited to welcome clients into their new space, where they will continue “making sense of investing.” For more information, call Deb or Will at 615-453-0799.

Wilson County Promotions Honors Old Timers at Business Before Hours

Written by Webmaster on August 20, 2015. Posted in Chamber Blog. No Comments on Wilson County Promotions Honors Old Timers at Business Before Hours

The Lebanon Wilson County Chamber and Wilson County Promotions hosted their annual fair-time Business Before Hours in Fiddlers Grove on Tuesday, August 18, 2015.

With over 100 in attendance, this year’s Business Before Hours is one of the largest events of its kind to date. Breakfast was provided at the fairgrounds, where those in attendance heard a brief summary of current Wilson County Fair attendance and upcoming events for both the fair and the Chamber.

Wilson County Fair officials also presented their annual Old Timers Award to this year’s recipients, Alice and Johnny Trice of Lebanon.

Alice and Johnny have been married for sixty years and have two children, five grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. The Trices have been actively involved in the community over the years. Alice’s love of flowers and gardening led her to become involved in the Wilson County Gardener’s Guild and Oakland Home Demonstration Club. She is also a past Chairman of the Wilson County Fair Flower Show. Johnny has served on the Chamber of Commerce Board, Wilson Bank & Trust Board, People’s Bank Board, and is Past President of the Wilson County Fair Board. Johnny goes into his office every day and he is still active on his farm. Alice and Johnny love to travel and have visited every state in the U.S. Still, they spend time each year at the Wilson County Fair looking at exhibits and visiting with people.

In addition to having their names added to a plaque that will remain at the fairgrounds, Old Timers award recipients are presented with rocking chairs courtesy of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.

For more information on attending or hosting the Chamber’s next Business Before/After Hours, contact the Chamber office at 615-444-5503.

Massage Connection by Leslie/Doterra Oils Ribbon Cutting

Written by Webmaster on August 18, 2015. Posted in Chamber Blog. No Comments on Massage Connection by Leslie/Doterra Oils Ribbon Cutting

On Tuesday, August 11, Chamber Board staff, Board, and committee members as well as Lebanon City Mayor Philip Craighead joined Leslie Boldt of Massage Connection by Leslie/Doterra Oils for a ribbon cutting ceremony at her new business location. At her cozy office at 401 West Main Street, Suite 103, Leslie offers a wide variety of massage services. She will also be doing evening classes bi-monthly at the Chamber office about essential oils and their uses.

All-Sports Camp at CU

Written by Webmaster on August 18, 2015. Posted in Chamber Blog. No Comments on All-Sports Camp at CU

Cumberland University and the Lebanon-Wilson County Chamber of Commerce Sports Council are teaming up for an All Sports Camp for Wilson County residents ages 7-12 on Sunday, September 13 on the CU campus. Registration will begin at 2 p.m., and the clinic will take place from 3-5 p.m.

Girls and boys will be able to choose from baseball, softball, football, tennis, soccer, volleyball, basketball and golf. Individuals will receive instruction in their chosen sport for the entire two-hour time frame of the camp. A parent or guardian must remain on site throughout the duration of the camp. Kids need to bring equipment for the chosen sport as well, including bats, gloves, racquets, golf clubs, shin guards and soccer balls, etc.

You may register online at www.cumberland.edu/freeclinic or pick up and complete an application at the Lebanon Wilson County Chamber of Commerce. Call 615-444-5503 for more information.

The first 50 registrants will receive a coupon for a free Chick-fil-A kids meal; the next 50 will receive a coupon for a free kids meal at O’Charley’s; and the next 50 will receive a coupon for free ice cream from Chick-fil-A.

Mobile Website Usage Continues To Grow!

Written by Webmaster on October 28, 2013. Posted in Guest Bloggers. No Comments on Mobile Website Usage Continues To Grow!

If you are like me, in the last 24 months or so you most likely have started using your mobile phone more and more for browsing the Internet. Larger mobile screens, voice recognition software, and better wi-fi access are just a few of the advances that have made this possible.

The usage stats that I have found support this tremendously. Approximately 15% of all web traffic in 2013 has been mobile. I see no slowing down in this growing segment as the phones keep getting easier to use while more and more websites are becoming responsive (mobile friendly) websites.

It used to be for e-mail (and a phone call)!

My first 2 smartphones were Blackberry’s and their primary purpose was phone and e-mail. On my last Blackberry I started taking photos and sending them thru e-mail. That was great and it certainly gave me a level of connectivity with customers, family and friends that I really enjoyed and used. When I was travelling to Australia it really become obvious to me how valuable a tool this was.

I didn’t really start actively using my mobile phone for a web browser until I had upgraded to an Android (in 2011) when I started reading the news on my phone (in the bathroom – and let me tell you it was just as enjoyable as a newspaper!).

We started developing mobile websites around 2010 when we saw initial demand for mobile sites. Creating the sites generally required separate templates from traditional desktop websites (and lots of development work to make the sites work) but it really wasn’t as clear back then what people would actually use mobile websites for. Today every website we produce is responsive (which includes a mobile friendly version) and this is now a standard with Bear Web Design.

SO what do people use Mobile Websites for?

The answer seems to be more and more obvious today – any web based task that can be accomplished on the mobile in a gnerally short period of time (and without the hassle of turning on a computer and finding a suitable work location). Of course this is my definition but here are some of the things folks now do on mobile sites:

Reading, Viewing and updating Content (News, Social Media, Entertainment)
Social Media Engagement (Facebook, Twitter & Google+)
Personal calendars and contact info (remember back when Day Planners were so popular?)
Online Banking and Online Shopping
Browsing QR Codes (in areas such as Real Estate and Retail Shopping in particular)
General information searching (Just like we do on a normal desktop with google
Maps and directions (locating nearest shops and restaurants)
E-mail (Voice activation which makes it even easier) & Phone

I am sure there is a lot more to this list, but the reality is if I can do something on mobile – say, transfer money from one bank account to another while sitting in the living room watching TV, versus getting up and getting my laptop and turning it on letting it boot up and then having it sit awkwardly in my lap “OH THE ABSOLUTE INCONVENIENCE OF IT ALL!” then frankly I am going to use my mobile. Its more convenient and ultimately easier to do and based on that I suspect we are all going to continue to use our mobiles more and more in the future.

Do You Know What Google+ Is?

Written by Webmaster on April 1, 2013. Posted in Guest Bloggers. No Comments on Do You Know What Google+ Is?

This week I presented Google+ to a lunch and learn session for the Mt. Juliet Chamber of Commerce. Google+ (pronounced and sometimes written as Google Plus or G+) is Google’s social media network. I spent quite a bit of time preparing for the presentation as I have only been using Google + for the last 3 months or so and I was curious about what level of interest there was going to be. Based on the lively group with many questions, comments, and feedback from my presentation, it is apparent that people are definitely starting to focus on Google’s social media network.

Introduction to Google Business Apps

To actually use Google + you must have a Google e-mail Account (a Google Business Apps Account or a Gmail Account). We have a Google Business Apps account set up for Bear Web Design so that is where my Google + Page is tied. This was an attractive feature of Google + to me – Google Business Apps has so many products that I use – e-Mail , Calendar, Drive, Chat, Video Chat (aka Hangout) and then our webmaster tools such as Analytics, Website submission, Google Plus Local Pages and Google Places, to name a few. And then when you add Youtube, Picasa (Photo Album), and Blogge, you start to see what Google + Social Media is going to be sharing (EVERYTHING!!!! – AND IT’S LOCATED IN ONE PLACE!).

Introduction to Google+

To get to Google+ from any Google e-mail account go to your Profile and you will see your Google + Page. Many people actually have Google + Pages that are active (but don’t have updated profile information). To see how people will see your Google + Page (search for Your Name and Google +) in Google’s Search Engine and you will most likely find your Google + Page. I have set up a personal photo cover on my Google + page to actually reflect the fact my page is Social. (In reality it is also for business networking!).

Get to Know Google Plus Circles

One of the issues I have with my personal Facebook page is that I have many different relationships tied to my account. Since we are web developers, we have a lot of Facebook Apps we have set up for clients (which means we are administrators of their Facebook corporate pages) then we have business friends and family here in Tennessee and then we have friends and family back in Australia. I find it difficult to manage this and worse I get so many posts that are simply irrelevant to me.

Communicate Effectively (and Efficiently)

Google + comes with a categorization structure, called Circles, which allows you to manage your relationships and easily add more Circles. You can quite easily set up business acquaintances, friends, family, sports clubs or whatever you wish. And then when you post, you send the information to the appropriate Circle. This makes absolute sense to me. From a family point of view I don’t want to share my family conversations with anyone but my family (for privacy and also not to waste other people’s time). Same with every circle I have. One of the biggest areas people ignore in Social Media is how valuable people’s time is. Circles help me respect everyone’s most valuable asset – their time!

Other Great Features Include Google Hangout!

If you use Skype, which has been the standard voice and video communication online, then you should try Google Hangout. Again, what I like most about this is that it is tied to my Google e-Mail Account and I can video chat with anyone within my Circles (or invite additional people) just like a I can with Skype. It works great on your mobile as well, and is so easy to access from my email account. Since my mobile device has my Google account set up, I can easily get to Google + and then have a hangout (on the phone).

But even more exciting – Introducing Google+ Local Pages

So Google+ looks like the bomb (as my Grand Daughter Addison would say) – BUT – as a business owner my time and resources are limited… so, Is this going to help me with Search Engine rankings and deliver me more prospects?

The short answer is that Google + ultimately leads you to Google+ Local (Google’s Business Listing that ties Social Media to your Search Engine Listing). And that is exciting to me!

When you go to the Google search engine and type in a standard search phrase – “Lebanon TN Lawyers” – you will see:

You can see here that Google gives a good amount of results for companies that have Google + Pages set up (and it shows you where these businesses are located, which can be a key in a prospect’s decision making parameter). Also, look how cleanly the listing stands out compared to the rest of the page – you can click on the listing to go directly to a website, to the actual Goolge + Local Page or the OLD FASHIONED PHONE.

I hopefully now have gotten your attention — and more to the point, Google+ is something as a business you are now looking at a little closer. My next blog (next week) will be about Google+ Local Pages specifically, how to set one up, the Circle structure, and how they are tied to all your business app tools!

Hope everyone have a Happy Easter and a sunshine-filled week!

What is Responsive Website Design?

Written by Webmaster on February 10, 2013. Posted in Guest Bloggers. No Comments on What is Responsive Website Design?

What is Responsive Website Design?

2013 has been declared the year of Responsive Design in many web circles. If you haven’t heard of Responsive Design yet, you will soon. The reason it was created (and is snowballing in popularity) is because of the need to optimize websites on different devices — mobile, tablet, laptop & desktop — with the growth of the mobile and tablet markets being the driving force for Responsive Design.

In the last 12-24 months at Bear Web Design we have seen a significant increase in customers requiring their sites to be mobile friendly. In the last few years mobile strategies have ranged from building completely separate standing mobile sites (which have been expensive to develop and quite often require double web content entry) to adding multiple separate templates to a website which would detect the device and execute the appropriate template.

Similar challenges have also emerged with the tablet market. When you add the various browsers and operating systems into the mix of devices you can easily see the challenges that are facing websites today (and Web Designers and Developers).

Introducing Responsive Website Design!

Responsive web design is a web design approach aimed at creating sites to provide an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones). Basically your website responds to the device and browser to give an optimal user experience.

Generally speaking these Responsive templates are built from the mobile level up (complete opposite of creating a mobile site from an existing full size website). The template is then customized as needed to suit each device with image and content sizing and various element display. The key is that all images, content, forms, buttons and other elements fit attractively (and usably!) into the device viewing the website.

Bear Web Design Commences Responsive Website Design

We have commenced designing and developing our custom templates using Responsive Design in late 2012 and we have our first client sites coming online in this quarter. We will be sharing these sites with you and highlighting the sites on each device so that you can develop and increase your knowledge in this area.

We are also very excited be able to offer Responsive Designs upgrades to our existing client base (which includes upgrading from Joomla 1.5 to Joomla 2.5 as part of that process). There will be cost and time involved in these upgrades and we will be sharing the process with our clients. But the rewards will be immense, as there is no doubt that websites which are not mobile and tablet friendly are going to lose a large segment of prospects and customers in the upcoming years!

Be sure to watch out for our Responsive Design blogs from our Design and Development team over the next few months.

Talk to us today about Responsive Website Design!
If you wish to find out what’s involved in making your website responsive shoot me an e-mail (or call me at 615 504 6845 ) to discuss!

Cheers,

Peter

Education-is-a-key to website success!!!

Written by Webmaster on November 4, 2012. Posted in Guest Bloggers. No Comments on Education-is-a-key to website success!!!

With the improved usability of websites over the last 24-36 months (Content Management Systems in particular) and the integration of Social Media with websites, it has become apparent that education is becoming a key to having a successful website.

The general concept of just putting up a website that clarifies what your company does, plus a contact form and a phone number, has pretty much run its race. Websites are becoming far more dynamic in behavior and usage, with visitor engagement becoming an important part of converting a visitor into a contact, a prospect, a buyer or a customer. Even understanding what devices your website is run on (Desktop, Laptop, Tablet, and Mobile) are all part of this bigger picture.

With visitor engagement comes the requirement for your website to provide not only static content (About Us, History, Our Products, Our Services, Our Team) but also producing ongoing sales & marketing communication from team members sharing their specific areas of expertise and specialties (with the blog being the primary tool for sharing this info and attracting great search engine results).

So what is Website Education and what should it involve?

Around three years ago we started teaching Web Content Management classes. Clearly our first requirement was to educate clients in updating the content on their website. This was a good start and we have many clients that are now fully managing their website content effectively. Then Google Analytics came along and starting help with educating clients on staying aware of website results (traffic in particular). We combined this with periodical meetings to review website results.

Broadcasting your message and pulling people to your website has now become a priority!

This year with the focus on the Easy Blog System we added Intro to Easy Blog Classes to our quarterly teaching schedule. This class really opened up some great opportunities for clients’ team members to participate on their websites (ranging from the sales & marketing teams all the way to the quality control team).

Website Education can range from Content Management to Google Business Apps

We also offered 2 Google Business App Classes in 2012 which has also been in heavy demand all year long (clients moving to Google Business Apps – Google Mail , Drive, Calendar and other applications).

This week we offered a private class to Sanders Manufacturing and Sanders Marketing which included Google Business Apps, Intro to Easy Blog and intro to Social Media. Participants included the Sales Team, Marketing and Production Teams. Not only was the team educated (and motivated) but they also became owners of their website which means they will be out selling and promoting it as part of their normal marketing and sales activities in the upcoming year.

Look for more classes and seminars in 2013!

When planning your marketing and website budget for 2013 be sure to consider your teams website education and training. We are now formulating our education and training schedule for 2013 that will include:

Intro to Content Management (Joomla)
Advanced Content Management (Joomla)
Intro to Easy Blog – Advance Blogging
Intro to Social Media – Facebook, Google Plus, Linked In, & Pinterest
Intro to Google Business Apps – Advance Google Business Apps
Intro to eNEWS with Joomla Mailer & Chimp Mail

We are also looking to expand our class locations including classes being taught in Nashville, Murfreesboro, Lebanon as well our current training location – Mt. Juliet.

SO remember when planning for 2013 that Education-is-a-key to website success!!!

Cheers,

Peter

Needing to get 2013 and your website off to a Flying Start?

We are offering our final classes of the year (Intro to Joomla and Intro to Easy Blog) – be sure to register if you plan to attend:

• Intro to Easy Blog – November 8, 2012 – Details Here

• Intro to Content Management (Joomla) – November 17, 2012 – Details Here

WOW for the Lebanon Wilson County Chamber

Written by Webmaster on August 10, 2012. Posted in Chamber Blog. No Comments on WOW for the Lebanon Wilson County Chamber

The 2012 theme for YOUR Chamber is THE WOW FACTOR, and as of July 2012 we have had many WOW’S.

Beginning in January with 306 new members in 3 days, and the annual Board Retreat.
February, an outstanding Annual Banquet with over 300 people in attendance.
March, over 400 members and their guest attended the annual St. Patrick’s Day open house. Thanks to 34 restaurants and caterers for the wonderful food throughout the day.

April, the Prime Time Trade show at the arcade. 65 booths displaying their product and showcasing their business. Again over 400 atendees.
May, The Go Johnny Go run/walk with 450 participants and the Annual Fishing Tournament with 50 boats.
June, the annual Dr. Cary Harbrecht Golf Tournament, 11 teams in the morning and 37 teams in the afternoon.
July, a mid-year Board retreat, and the opening of the new Lebanon High School. Your Chamber served ice cream sandwiches to all incoming Freshmen and visited LHS, Wilson Central and Friendship on opening day greeting all students and wishing them a safe and great year.

And now it is August. Wilson County Fair time. Approximately 120 Chamber volunteers have signed up to work both information booths at the fair all 9 nights, both Saturdays and Sunday. Chamber night at the Fair on August 23 in cooperation with the Mt. Juliet Chamber, the Watertown Chamber, the Visitors Bureau and the JECD.

Also in these past 8 months we have had numerous ribbon cuttings, business after and before hours and many meetings in the Chamber office.

Watch out for the rest of 2012, YOUR CHAMBER is on the move. Our WOW will continue and our excitement will keep building. Upcoming in September will be a Retention Blitz, another opportunity to showcase your business at the September Business Extragavanza, Halloween on the Square, a luncheon that you will not want to miss with exciting news. Victorian Christmas on the Square, the Jingle Jog, the Christmas Parade and the Festival of Lights.

We hope you are proud of YOUR Chamber and you are INVOLVED. If not call the Chamber today at 615-444-5503 get your name on the volunteer list. YOUR CHAMBER NEEDS YOUR HELP.

Lots of folks are switching to Google Business Apps

Written by Webmaster on August 8, 2012. Posted in Guest Bloggers. No Comments on Lots of folks are switching to Google Business Apps

I was updating our support ticket system tonight and I noticed we had 4 clients who were migrating from their old e-mail accounts to Google Business Apps. This seems to have become a common occurrence for many of our clients in 2012. We also took the plunge to use Google Business Apps in early 2012 and like many of our clients we are very happy with the move.

The Microsoft Era

For many years I had personally used Microsoft Outlook and then Windows Mail before we decided to move to Google. Being a person that is online 12-15 hours every day I burn thru a laptop every 2 or so years – and most of the time my old e-mails had been lost (when my laptop died) or in some cases I just didn’t want spend time moving old e-mail to my new laptop. I also had some challenges with Outlook when we travelled in particular having to setup different outgoing mail servers or using POP Account web mail – which did not always sync up with my Outlook account (or my mobile device). The need to have a more robust solution became more apparent as we travelled more and operated our business in a more mobile and on the go environment (that many small businesses operate in today).

So what is Google Business Apps?

Basically it revolves around the Google’s Business e-mail service, which also comes with some other great corporate communication tools that really help small business (and big business) operate efficiently within the Cloud. Note this is not gmail which many people think is the same thing. When you use gmail, your e-mail address is yourname@gmail.com . With Google Business Apps you get to use your own domain name while enjoying the features that gmail offers. Google Business Apps also offers a calendar as well as Google Docs (which are the 3 items we use primarily) to help manage our business. Google offers both a standard and premier version (the premier version has a $5.00 per user monthly fee). We are using the premier version so my primary experience is using that service. Google business mail has great archiving features as well as excellent spam blocking (and caching).

Great for remote employees or remote office locations!

Google Business Apps is domain specific which really helps you to use this tool with your company team mates. Accounts are setup with an e-mail account for each team member that needs a full e-mail account. Cost is going to be a consideration when you have a large team at $5.00 per user e-mail account – but forwarding accounts and e-mail groups and lists have no additional charge. The Bear Web Design team is located in several remote offices (including Melbourne, Australia) so it is nice that the whole team’s e-mail is in one account and easily managed. We can also share our contacts within our team – (although I must state that the current tools to do this are still improving and there are new solutions still being offered in this area). We can share our calendars so that at any time a member of my team can verify another team member’s schedule as well as book them for important dates. I must say one of the nicest features is the contacts sync with my Blackberry. When I am on the go that is a very handy feature, and connecting your mobile device is so much easier than setting a pop account. When I e-mail someone from my Blackberry a copy of that e-mail goes to my Google Mail so I am completely in sync with e-mail at all times.

Document Sharing is Impressive!

One of the nice features of Google Business Apps is the Document Management and Sharing. Again for a remote location this is a great tool. You can share documents with all your team members and also anyone else that has a google based e-mail (that includes personal gmail). For a lot of small organizations and not for profits this is a great way to be able to improve remote communications. Microsoft and Google have shown some great team work in this case with a product called “Google Cloud Connect” that allows you to share a Microsoft based product (Word, Excel, Publisher, Powerpoint) with a team member – that keeps that document in sync (that means only one copy of the document).

Sharing and managing documents has never been easier!

And even more impressive is the fact that you can share the document at the Microsoft level. In this case – I am typing my weekly blog in Word (and due to a complete lack of writing skills which you would never be aware of!) I am sharing this document with Our Design & Development Director who will clean it up a little before I post this as a blog article online. She will receive a notification that the document has been shared with her – she will be able to open it and make the appropriate changes and then will save the document (and let me know the document has been updated).

The next time I open the document it will sync up automatically with these changes – so I will now have the latest and greatest document (and will then post my blog and look like a literary hero!!!)…

Unfortunately, Cloud Connect does not work with Macs (which to my knowledge is due to Macs’ focus on their own iCloud product.) In this case – hats to off to Microsoft and Google for working together – and hopefully Macs will be compatible in the future.

So Who’s Now Using Google Business Apps???

Recently in discussing Google Business Apps with our Mt. Juliet Holiday Inn Express Owner and Client (Justin Patel) he informed me that over 6,000 HI Express employees world wide were switching to Google Business Apps (Not surprisingly we are working on Justin’s Google Business Apps Account right now!!). In my hometown of Melbourne, Australia, the largest Newspaper (The Age – Fairfax Media) has just announced moving their 10,000 employees world wide to Google Business Apps (from the traditional Microsoft Platform).

A Good Option for Small Business!

Comparing Google Business Apps to traditional Pop Accounts (which generally come with most hosting account) it is clearly a superior service. Many folks believe the hosting of website and e-mail have to be tied together which is simply not the case (the host generally manages the DNS – domain name server – which can point to e-mail services anywhere.) Over the last 18 months Google Business Apps have become a clear leader in business email. It is now a viable and proven option – and definitely a good option for small business!