Your source for news and info on what we are up to. Check back often to see the latest.
Recent Updates
December 30th, 2011
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September 15th, 2011
Latest Project - Madero Engineering
September 15th, 2011
Madero Engineering is an engineering and architecture firm in Houston, Texas. They specialize in power plant construction and operations as well as other industrial applications.
The goal of this project was to upgrade their website to a more professional tool and enable their staff to maintain it as needed. We built this on top of a very popular Content Management System allowing multiple people to work on the site with ease.
Check it out: http://www.madero.net
Recent Updates
September 13th, 2011
Latest Project - Found Penny
September 13th, 2011
Found Penny is the brain child of one of our clients as a memorial for the September 11th attacks on America. The idea is simple - pickup that change on the ground and toss it in the basket at any charity. Then log onto FoundPenny.com to post what you are giving and where. Over time it will be exciting to see the pennies add up to thousands of dollars around the globe.
This project was all the idea of Darla Cloud and coded at Your Web Pro using a Google Fusion Table for the mapping portion. The design is simple and clean to make the purpose a visitor's focus.
Check it out: http://www.foundpenny.com
Latest Project - Interim Healthcare Foundation
September 12th, 2011
Interim Healthcare Foundation is a non profit dedicated to helping those on Hospice care. Through fundraising, education, and volunteerism they are able to provide many of the needs neglected by medical coverage.
IHF needed a website to share information about what they are doing and encourage others to get involved. We worked along side their creative professionals and executives to bring the look and functionality they needed.
Check it out: http://www.interimhealthcarefoundation.org
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September 12th, 2011
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September 8th, 2011
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September 2nd, 2011
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August 31st, 2011
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August 27th, 2011
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August 23nd, 2011
Latest Project: Visiting Angels
August 22nd, 2011
Visiting Angels Lubbock has been one of our best clients for the last couple of years. When we started working with Visiting Angels their website was horribly unusable. Working alongisde the owners and marketing director, we rebuilt that old website into a vital too for their business. From reaching new customers, to sharing their community involvement, to requesting services the new website worked well for over 2 years.
In the life of any website, there comes a time to consider the look and function of your website. For Visiting Angels of Lubbock, we were are to take the content, with a few changes, and apply it to a brand new design in keeping with current trends. The new website also has helpful features like the call request and a page devoted to their community service efforts.
Check it out: http://www.visitingangelslubbock.com
Recent Updates
August 22nd, 2011
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August 17th, 2011
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July 22nd, 2011
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July 13th, 2011
Latest Project
July 12th, 2011
Farmers Cotton Compress stores a lot of cotton - a whole lot. With four locations and dozens of giant warehouses, the Farmers Cotton Compress stores cotton for farmers all around the South Plains.
They needed a fresh face on their website along with some updates for making things run smoother. One big thing president Ron Harkey wanted was to make finding any location easy for incoming clients, drivers, and suppliers. We tied the website in with maps and links to popular mapping tools to help streamline that process.
This website was built to run on FCC's server and link into their internal tools. We can always work along side your IT people to make sure everything works to your specifications.
Check it out here: http://www.farmerscompress.com
Recent Updates
July 12th, 2011
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July 11th, 2011
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July 7th, 2011
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July 6th, 2011
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July 5th, 2011
Latest Project: Razed Grain Art
June 29th, 2011
Razed Grain Art creates beautiful art in any design you can image. All of their work is 100% hard wood and custom made for you.
We took their old website from a hosted service that was less than a month from renewal. The old website, while functional, had not performed as they had hoped. With the renewal of that service pending, we were able to complete a new, custom website before their old package expired, and for less money than the renewal would have cost.
Bottom line: We saved money, delivered a better product, and gained another satsified client with a bright web future.
Check it out here: http://www.razedgrainart.com
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June 29th, 2011
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June 28th, 2011
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June 27th, 2011
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June 18th, 2011
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June 16th, 2011
June 14th, 2011
234 Electronics supplies electronics to Nigeria from Lubbock, Texas. They needed a website to display information and images to potential clients. They also needed to be able to work on this website in house.
Your Web Pro built this site on a Content Management System for easy updates and loaded it to their third party hosting service on budget and on time. We will be excited to see how this works out for 234 Electronics.
Check it out here: http://www.234electronics.com
Recent Updates
June 14th, 2011
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June 10th, 2011
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June 9th, 2011
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June 8th, 2011
Latest Project - Sondra's Song
Released June 7th, 2011
Sondra's Song is a non-profit that helps children around the world coming out of the foster care system with transitioning into adult life. Their new website needed to communicate their mission and vision along with providing information for others to get involved.
The organization is the brain child of Sandi Turner. It was named after a little girl she encountered on a medical mission trip named Sondra.
For the design we went for a clean, fresh feel that really makes the images and content pop. We coded a few nice slideshows into the design to have changing content. We also incorporated two menus to help ease navigation.
It will be exciting to see where Sondra's Song goes in the coming months. Check it out: http://www.sondrassong.org
Recent Updates
June 7th, 2011
June 6th, 2011
A dead website is a terrible sign of the life of a business to an outsider looking in. This month I wanted to expand on what a dead website is and how to resurrect it.
What is a Dead Website?
A dead website is one that is old, not updated, and generally useless. A website is not like traditional marketing in that you can change it in place anytime. This beats print, radio, and TV every time. We can launch a website today and change the content tomorrow if you so choose – billboards do not offer that. Even with that ability sometimes a company website falls through the cracks for lack of time, cost, or knowledge.
What Is The Cure?
Updates! Simple, but true. A website that is updated with new content, new images, and new information performs better than a stagnant website every time. Weekly updates are great, monthly is good, but something is much better than nothing. Laying out a plan to add a blog to your site then update it weekly will take you well on the road to curing your dead website.
Can I Get A Prescription?
Preventing a dead website is not difficult. We build a lot of websites on Content Management Systems that will allow their owners to maintain them all by themselves with little effort. We also offer maintenance agreements on websites that allow you to dictate your updates to our team on a daily basis if you desire. These maintenance agreements are on a fixed cost to make budgeting a breeze.
An Ounce Of Prevention
One of the worst things about letting a website die is that the recovery process can be long and frustrating. We work with companies often to try to bring them back up in search and overall traffic after years of stagnation online. While it can be done, it takes a lot of time and results come slower than we would like. As they say, an ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure. Take action early to plan for a great online presence. Let us know how we can help.
Released June 6th, 2011
Released June 2nd, 2011
Released June 2nd, 2011
Released June 1, 2011
Released May 25, 2011
Latest Project
Released May 24, 2011
Orbit Industries needed a new website with the ability to allow online purchasing of their powder coating products. We bundled their store into a Content Management System to allow for each updates through out. Speaking of easy, their store has over 600 products with about 1,800 variations. We incorporated some nice tools to allow updating of all those products, options, and prices via Excel files. Thatr literally saved days of manual inputting. We launched this on a Monday and received a call from Orbit Tuesday letting us know they had their first order, and it was a fantastic order! That is how we like it.
This is a complete online store with a fully functional CMS. The design is clean and polished. Navigationis easy, and online ordering could not be more simplified.
It will be exciting to see where Orbit Industries goes with their new website. We would also like to work with you to increase business through a new website. Want one? Call today: 806-771-5022
Check it out: http://www.orbittx.com
May 23, 2011
May 18, 2011
Recent Updates
May 16th, 2011
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May 13th, 2011
Dirty Goatees Launched
May 13th, 2011
Dirty Goatees makes a unique line of clothing for men with goatees and those who love them. The DG team was moving from a hosted servicws with their old online store that just would not allow the customization and flexibility they needed. The answer was to build a new, custom website on top of a very popular store platform that was completely customizable.
This is a complete online store with a fully functional CMS. It is not too fancy, but has a lot f very nice features including a photogallery, events listings, and more.
It will be exciting to see where Dirty Goatees goes with their new website. We would also like to work with you to increase business through a new website. Want one? Call today: 806-771-5022
Check it out: http://www.dirtygoatees.com
Recent Updates
May 12th, 2011
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May 11th, 2011
May 10th, 2011
May 10th, 2011
Recent Updates
May 5th, 2011
Released May 2nd, 2011
I just had a phone conversation with the owner of www.SolelyUrsShoes.com outside a little coffee shop in Plainview. His question was a common one: How long has it been since we added something new to the website? My answer is almost always the same: Too long.
It is a good practice to keep your website updated. Posting content weekly is a great plan. Monthly is OK, but not as good. Websites that are well updated perform better in search, repeat traffic, and all around are more successful.
We work with clients all the time to schedule these updates so we can plan a lot of work once and let it play out in the coming weeks and months. This has been the best and simplest plan to keep your website updated.
Benefits of Updating
What to Post
Anything. Everything. If it is relevant to your business, post it. If anything seasonal is going on post it. Add a blog section to your website and post there often. We can help you with the SEO portion so don't worry – just get on it.
Questions? Comments? Give us a shout! 806-771-5022
If you are using a content management system or online store, it really needs to be kept up to date. The most common tools we work with are listed with their latest versions. Call if you are not sure what you are running:
Joomla 1.5.23 & 1.6.3 (NEW!!)
Virtuemart 1.1.8
Zen 1.3.9h
If you are not using social media in your business, it is past due. Connections with customers and leads takes a whole new dimension when you interact via Facebook, Twitter, and the like. All of these tools are free to use yourself and we can help as much or as little as you need. Get started today!
The LORD works out everything to its proper end - even the wicked for a day of disaster.
Planning For The New Year
December 17, 2010
Creating a plan for updates, changes, ads, and promotions can make your 2011 online marketing much easier. A few YWP clients have been working on month, quarter, and even year long plans. We can hold updates on file for any period of time, then release them only when they need to go public. Here are some examples we have worked on in the past year:
Chris Goulger Band: We planned a full three months of online sales and website updates in an hour long meeting. For the entire last quarter of 2011 the website ran on auto-pilot for Justin, their manager. See the site: http://www.chrisgougler.com
Sowin Seed Ministry: We planned 4 to 6 weeks cycles for the majority of 2010 keeping this website updated and working well. This has been the most consistently updated site this year due to the planning and dedication by book author Terese Hollway. See the site (and order the book) here: http://www.sowinseedministry.com
LTD Photography: While being a late comer to YWP this year, we have had a great update cycle. With a couple of DVD's full of images, ready-to-go content, and the green light we have updated this site atleast once a week since the first of October. What's more, Linda has not done anything to keep us moving along. She provided great content all in the beginning and we suspect has been taking regular naps ever since. ;-) See the site here: http://www.ltdphoto.net
Lubbock Adventist Church: This is a great way to stay up-to-date online and do no more work. LAC sends their weekly church bulletin to YWP for weekly updates. This thing is loaded with info from events to articles and all of it is brand new each week. The best part is the 0 effort by pastor Sven. Simply reuse the content you are already generating. See the site here: http://www.lubbockadvenstist.org
Casseroles To Go: This one is the same story as Lubbock Adventist. We are on the email newsletter for Casseroles To Go where they already send their weekly specials. Every Monday for 2+ years we have been adding these specials to their website. Zero additional work for Janet, great updates for her customers. See her site here: http://www.casserolestogo.com
If you are a monthly maintenance customer, this kind of stuff is included. If you are not, we can still update your site on a regular basis. To start making these plans, just think of how you can reflect your plans online. We are here to help if you have any questions.
806-771-5022 | info@yourwebprollc.com
Thank You and Merry Christmas!
December 1st, 2010
Looking back over the past year, to call it a whirlwind would be an understatement. This has been a record year for my business and for that I thank you. This has also been the most trying and, at the same time, glorious year for our family. Maybe one day I will figure out how to tell some of this years events with dry eyes, then share them with you.
For our success I thank you. Your continued business, referrals, and support has helped Your Web Pro surpass our expectations yet again. We strive to provide the absolute best service for you and I always welcome any comments or criticism from you. Again, thank you for using Your Web Pro. I look forward to serving you in 2011 and many years to come.
As a small business owner I am reminded each day of the provision from God that allows me to continue. On my wall is a verse from Proverbs that I reflect on often during the day:
Proverbs 30:8
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
I am sure you understand the stress that comes in running a small business. In slow months you have to make the bills and in busy months you have to get it all done. Somehow in all of it you rejoice in the simple fact that you can do it for one more day.
It is especially this time of year that I find it encouraging to think about the way that God provides for me. From the simple thought of the air I breathe to the fact that the sun will come up tomorrow I can trust that He will take care of my needs. My daily bread is always there by the grace of God and I can rest in that. Not only is this truth from the Bible, but it has proven itself to me time and time again in the past year. Without this daily care from God where would I be?
Allow me a few lines to encourage you. In this season and the coming year join me in supporting those in need from our local charities to the family down the street. Join me in living a life that gives more than it takes. Join me in sharing with others the gift of daily provision God has granted to us. Finally, join me this Christmas in celebrating the ultimate gift of Jesus born into our world to allow us a right relationship with the Father.
To Another Year!
Steven J. Carr
Your Web Pro
Post or Edit Content This Month
November 24th, 2010
Sometimes I feel like a rubber stamp on this, but it is the truth. Updating the content on your site is the number one way to help it perform better. Update your site this month with new content or just edit what is there.
Monthly Special: AdWords Elite
November 16th, 2010
Adwords Elite
AdWords is THE system to use with online advertising. With our AdWords Elite, we manage a custom campaign for your business including:
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Black Friday, Cyber Monday, And Your Site
November 8th, 2010
If you are a uber-shopper you know black Friday as THE day to find shopping deals. If you are like me, it is the day you sleep off the food hangover from your Thanksgiving turkey-drunk. This month's article is for the sellers, not guys like me.
From Black Friday, the day to get up at 3am and wait in line for cheap stuff, emerged Cyber Monday, the day when people hit the web for online bargains. The story is that Monday was the day people went back to work and spent the company time shopping online. While no one in their right mind would admit it, this is probably the truth.
As a website owner, you can tap into the buzz around both of these shopping days. Whether you are selling online, or just sharing information this is the time to start planning updates and specials for the shopping season. Here are a few ideas to consider:
1)Reflect your in-store specials online. Online stores can do special prices, coupon codes, etc. It is not hard to reflect the store specials to online sales. Even posting specials and coupons for download is a good plan.
2)Create a seasonal sale on your site. In response to our Texas Rangers making it to the World Series, client Solely Urs West (http://www.solelyurswest.com) made all of the red and blue shoes $15 off for the duration of the Series. What a great idea! We did some themed graphics around that for their site as well. Consider a special around the shopping days, holidays, etc.
3)Timed Online Specials. These can be tricky so we really need to plan it out, but here is the idea: Run a one-day sale on your online store encouraging customers to come on Monday for X% off site-wide. An email push leading up will help this be more successful.
Do you have other ideas? What is working or has worked for you in the past? Questions? Comments? Call us today! 806-771-5022
Why email still sucks...
October 18, 2010
Uncle Leo's jokes
If you have friends and family like mine, you probably see enough forwarded jokes already. In fact, you may have seen the phenomenon where you get a forwarded email of kitten pictures from one relative and then get the same forward again from another before the day is over. It was bad enough the first time. Fear not, there is a solution.
Disclaimer: The following is purely theoretical. I would certainly never filter a loved one... ;)
Email Filters are your best friend. Here is what you do: Copy the email address of the person who sends you more forwards, jokes, and junk than you want. Find the filters tool in your email program and create a new filter. For the From or Sender field, add the offending email address. For the action make the message go to a jokes folder or the trash. Save the filter.
Simple, right? It is simple and it will make your email much easier to manage. This also works for online services that send newsletters, etc. You can have those filter to certain folders for later review or delete them altogether.
Filters To Organize Legitimate Email
I know it what you are thinking: “Can I use this to filter email inside my business like invoices, receipts, updates, etc?” Yes. If you have emails that come in for certain purposes and you want all of those in one place to process at one time, then filters are great. For instance, all email from sales@godaddy.com could automatically file under my Domains folder. Everything from http://www.condsideritdonetexas.com could go to my Consider It Done folder. Easy, right? It will improve your use of email a lot as well.
Time Management
I get email all day and if I stopped to check every time a message came in, that is all I would do. Block off some time a few times during the day to check and respond to email. I also employ a priority system that I can mark messages in the order they should be taken care of. Pending work here, followup there, etc.
Conclusion
So email is not perfect, but this will make it better. If you rely on email as a business tool take some time to look at how it can work better for you. If you have other ideas, send them my way.
Website Starter
October 10, 2010
If you are thinking about getting a new website, this is the perfect time. Right now we have time to get online before the shopping season and year end deductions. With our Website Starter Pack you get:
5 Content Pages
Custom Design
Full SEO Workup
1 Year .com Registration
Now only $599.00! Order Today Save $50!
Why Email Sucks (and how to fix it)
October 3, 2010
Do you use email? Does your email follow you home from the office and all the way to the beach on vacation? Me too. And so do the junk peddlers sending their ads to my email account 24/7.
If you use email then you know about Spam – junk email. You have seen the Viagra ads, the billion dollar offers from Saudi princes, and maybe the occasional offer for a romantic encounter.
Junk email is worse for me than junk post mail because it comes in such great volume and can be hard to filter out. What's more, it can even carry viruses that will harm your computer if you open the message! Junk post mail does not do that.
So How Do We Make It Better?
Good question. There are hundreds of services that will help you eliminate junk email – and many of them are junk themselves. With my email, personal and business, I route everything through a Google G-Mail account using their advanced filters. This gives me 99.9% filtering. A quick look at my Spam box shows two Viagra ads and one Canadian Pharmacy ad in the last 30 minutes, but I would never see those in my normal Inbox. I never see a good message marked bad either.
Another option is to enable Spam Assassin on your hosting account. If you host with us this is easy and quick to do. We can adjust the rules to fit your needs and all mail flagged as spam will be marked SPAM in the subject. Then you can filter yourself or set rules in Outlook, Thunderbird, etc to move that mail out automatically.
While there are other options out there, those two are about the best I have seen. There are other reasons email still sucks that these won't fix, but check mid-month for answers to those on the blog and newsletter (yes, it is coming back.)
Questions? Call us today! 806-771-5022
Post New or Edit Existing Content
September 25, 2010
This month you should try to post new information or edit what you have. This will help grow your site and thus brand. Don't make it too complicated, just add something.
Benefits of Online Business
September 18, 2010
Entire books are written on why you should be online, but our ADD won't allow us to read them, so here is the skinny:
1.There are 1.8 billion people on the internet.
2.People can find you anytime, anywhere
3.Most people want to know about your company BEFORE they call
4.Phone Books make your fingers dirty.
Oh sure, there are plenty more... but this is about all most of us will read online anyway. Call and a Pro can fill your head with all kinds of other stuff on this topic.
The 24 Hour Web
September 11, 2010
I don't know about you, but I like to go home. Leave the office, leave the stack of work, and head home. Are you with me? If you are like me, even going home does not mean you leave it all behind though. In fact, there are a couple of children playing cowboys all around me right now as I write this article from the house. God bless (or curse) the VPN that lets me log into the office and work anytime....
One of the cool things about a business having a web presence, is the fact that the Internet does not go home or go to sleep. It is the 24 hour place to find information, makes sales, and market your business.
While you are at home eating cake in your PJ's, your customers could be looking at your website.... at home... eating cake.... in there PJ's. It is a really cool world. In fact, we have customers with online stores who actually sell stuff while they eat cake, sit on the porch, work day jobs, and go fishing.
But Wait! Before you get the idea this article is about the illusion of making a million dollar a year from home, it is not. While people do run full businesses from their homes and make money doing it, it is still a lot of work to market and sell online.
That is where we come in to help. We work really hard to make the online experience easy and positive. We have a number of ways to make running a website take less time for you (read: more cake, more porch, more fishing) and more effective (read: more money = more cake @ EatMoreCakeWith.Us, bigger porch at UltraExteriors.com, more fishing with BigBassCandy.com)
If you ever have a wild idea about your website, or want to bounce some questions off us, just call. We meet with clients all the time to plan, plot, and eat cake. We are ready to work with you to make your online presence more effective, easier for you, and something you can be proud of.
Questions? Call us today! 806-771-5022
September Special: Keyword Monthly
September 4, 2010
This month's special is our Keyword Monthly Pack. With this package, we monitor, research and update the keyword build of your site monthly. We also handle the management of your Google Maps profile for better search placement. This work is a deal at the normal rate of $199. If you signup during the month of September we will not $50 off your monthly price making this service only $149. That is a savings of $600 annually!
Website using this service have consistently seen first page Google rankings and help those ranks month after month If we cannot do the same for you, we will refund your monthly fee.
Call or email us today to see the difference our monthly keyword service can make for your business.
Update Your Products and Services
August 28, 2010
This month we are encouraging everyone to update the product and service info. If you have changed your offering in anyway since the launch of you website, it is time to update. We can get it done quick and easy for you, just call or email...
Keeping Your Website Fresh Part 2
August 21, 2010
A great method to keep fresh content on your website is a unique tool we have called Content Rotation. While the details are something of a secret, the idea is simple and very easy to implement. Basically, we put targeted content on your website so that it will rotate at certain times. The result it s fresh site with very little work from you.
Keeping Your Website Fresh Part 1
August 16, 2010
The absolute number one way to keep your website fresh is to add new content on a regular basis. As your web pro, we work right along side you to see to complete this task. What many of our customers, and our own staff, do is write articles in bulk to release over time. The idea is simple: write a four part series on any topic related to your business. We will set a schedule to release those articles over four weeks. You work a little and your website is fresh for a whole month!
Some client sites using this include:
http://www.visitingangelslubbock.com
http://www.bigcountryrealty.com
http://www.sowinseedministry.com