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Hilltop Landscaping: what a company blog should look like

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Apr 24, 2011; Category: Blogging; Tags: Blogging for Business, Local Search, WordPress; 2 Comments

Let’s just come out and admit it: most company blogs are horrible. Either they are never updated (I resemble that remark), or they read like press releases, in that dry, official tone of corporate PR that no one reads because it’s not actually meant to be read.

So, when you find a company blog that’s entertaining and informative, co-written by several people in a company who, as a group, post two-three times each week, who aren’t afraid to be real people in their blog posts: well, it’s beyond refreshing. It’s stunning. The Hilltop Landscape Architects and Contractors have a company blog like that. In less than four months (their current WordPress-based website launched in January, 2011), blogging has become central to their marketing efforts, and their website traffic is on a definite upward slope.

I have first-hand knowledge of The Hilltop as a customer (if you live in New Mexico and need landscaping, you should contact them). They are also my client. I designed and built their website and I work with them on an ongoing basis as a blog coach. I would love to be able to take credit for the quality of their blog, but I do little more than encourage them and make an occasional edit for clarity. I can tell you not all of the bloggers at The Hilltop were just waiting for an opportunity to write an occasional blog post. But they do it, and even (sometimes) find themselves enjoying it. And they are producing a body of work that is beginning to add up to a resource for people with various landscape issues.

Recent blog posts have dealt with practical matters such as windbreaks, dog-friendly landscaping, weed control, the dangers of topping trees, and landscaping methods for reducing danger from wildfires. There have also been posts on subjects such as sensory gardens, New Mexico blooming plants, and the importance of focal points in landscape design. And then there was the infamous April 1 blog post. This kind of variety (and I’ve only scratched the surface) makes The Hilltop’s blog both an information resource and a source of entertainment.

How do they do it? It starts with a commitment from the owner, Jim Forrester. The Hilltop has never had a marketing department; they’ve never needed one because the continual growth in Albuquerque and other cities in New Mexico kept them busy and growing. In the last couple of years, things have gotten a lot more competitive. Jim knew they had to do something to market the company’s services, but he found the idea of spending money on traditional marketing less than appealing. When he and I talked about how inbound marketing techniques could be used to gain business, he liked the idea. More importantly, he committed his time and his people’s time to make it happen. Among the eight Hilltop staffers who blog (including Jim), blogging is part of their job.

Once a week (recently every two weeks, because spring is their busiest season), we meet for an hour to discuss upcoming and potential blog posts and talk about such things as how to get backlinks, how to promote their blog posts, what to do when the blogging well runs dry, and other things related to blogging. There is usually a fair amount of laughing and carrying on; someone looking in the window might conclude there was no useful work being done. But they’d be wrong.

Take a look at The HIlltop’s blog. Read a few posts and then come back here and tell me what you think.

Yet Another Website Launch: Desert Sports, Terlingua, Texas

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jul 26, 2010; Category: Content Management System, Design/Development, WordPress; Tags: CMS, Design/Development, WordPress; No Comments

Visit desertsportstx.com»

Moving right along, we just launched Desert Sports’ website this weekend. They have been long-time clients, actually pre-dating Evo by about 3 years (maybe 4), and I believe this the fourth version of their website we’ve done for them. Desert Sports is a multi-sport outfitter in the Big Bend area of Texas, offering rentals, shuttles, and guided trips in boating, mountain biking and hiking. I’ve been on several trips with them, and you cannot go on a wilderness trip with a better bunch of folks.

As you might have guessed if you’ve been paying attention to what we’re up to lately, this is a WordPress-based website. In addition to their blog (a new experience for them), they update a daily report on weekdays that shows current temperatures, river levels, and other information you might want to know about before you pull out of your driveway and head toward Terlingua. They also plan to keep current updates on partially filled trips that have room for additional happy campers, like you!

The site has a lot of useful information on floating the Rio Grande, hiking trails, and mountain biking trails, as well as information on local services. Go take a look at their website, and consider getting away for a week in Big Bend with Desert Sports as your guides. It’s a guaranteed change of pace.

We Do That: Working with Designers to Build Sites with WordPress

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jul 24, 2010; Category: CSS, Design/Development; Tags: Design/Development, WordPress, WordPress as CMS; No Comments

Visit theigniteforum.com»

Early this week we launched another website designed by Kilmer & Kilmer, brand builders. It’s a small site, just four pages, but what’s significant about it is that it’s built on WordPress—Kilmer & Kilmer’s first such website. I’ve been trying gently to push them in that direction for a few months and, maybe just to shut me up, they decided to give it a try.

Except for WP’s CMS capabilities, it doesn’t begin to make use of the WordPress platform. What it does show, however, is how adaptable both WordPress and our own Evo4 CMS theme are in building custom-designed websites. (Evo4 CMS was specifically built for design flexibility.)

As a designer myself, you might think I’d have a certain amount of resistance to doing the slice-and-dice and CSS for another designer’s website. Not so. Even though it can occasionally be frustrating to work with other designers who have a different approach, it helps keep my vision fresh. It’s easy to get in a rut when working with the same tools and platform, and working with other designers who don’t share all my assumptions helps prevent that.

If you know a designer who is interested in using WordPress as a platform, send him/her my way. If we click, an ongoing design/build relationship could benefit both of us, and our clients.

National Assistance Dog Week Website Launched

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jun 29, 2010; Category: Content Management System, WordPress; Tags: Blogsites, CMS, Website Launch, WordPress; No Comments

Visit assistancedogweek.org»

We recently (earlier today) launched another site with a WordPress-based content management system, this one for National Assistance Dog Week. The annual event was created through the efforts of Marcie Davis (workinglikedogs.com) to recognize devoted, hardworking assistance dogs helping individuals mitigate their disability related limitations.

While the site was launched a bit late (the event takes place approximately 6 weeks from launch), the site was built in just 8 days, from design to launch. Of course, like all sites, it’s a work in progress, and content will continue to be added. With WordPress of course, that’s no problem.

Behind the scenes, we’re still working on creating and testing custom post types in anticipation of event listings that will take place nationally. No doubt we’ll learn some interesting things in the process; we’ll report on our experience with that as we complete the work.

Why I’m announcing a site redesign, even though I think redesign announcements are lame.

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jun 20, 2010; Category: Content Management System, Design/Development, WordPress; Tags: Design/Development, WordPress, WordPress Themes; 2 Comments

When I see announcements about website redesign, my reaction is either a yawn or, if I’m feeling more energetic, a quick mental note: “So what?” So it’s more than a little ironic that I’m announcing the redesign of my own website, evowebdev.com. But after all, what are blogs for, if not to tell your readers what’s going on with you, particularly if it may have value for them?

The value for my readers (I know you’re out there, I can hear you breathing) is perhaps the realization that WordPress, on which the site is based, is fundamentally a solid, reliable, flexible web design and development platform for business websites. While this is not the first version of this site on WordPress, the redesign was very different. In the past, redesign meant “rebuild” as much as redesign. This time, I was able to focus almost entirely on design and messaging: there was nothing to rebuild (although I did upgrade to WordPress 3.0).

In New Mexico, including Santa Fe and Albuquerque (generally regarded as reasonably sophisticated), developers and designers have been slow to catch on to WordPress as a web development platform. Lots of them have created a blog or two with it, but not many have embraced it as a content management system (CMS) for full-blown websites. I had a difficult time this spring finding other local WordPress developers interested in hosting a WordCamp, so I shelved my hope of having WordCamp Albuquerque as premature (maybe in 2011).

Meanwhile, nationally, WordPress is catching on like wildfire as a development platform. Even major companies use it. WordPress has emerged as a leading CMS; in terms of numbers of websites and developers supporting it, it has achieved critical mass that allows companies to have confidence that it’s a stable and solid platform.

And, of course, it’s famously easy for WordPress website owners to update their own sites.

If your website is still static, it’s time to think about moving to WordPress. But don’t think about it too long, or you’ll be behind the crowd.