Here are some of the features of this site:

We created an intro page, to encourage visitors to sign-up to receive News and Announcements.

Fern Intro Page

We added animation to the home page using a jQuery slider with scrolling images.  This animation adds interest to the site:

Home Page

Sample Slider Images:

Sample Slider Image

Second Sample Slider Image

We added online forms for donors and volunteers.  Form submissions are stored in a database that can be exported into excel.

Sample Form

We encourage campaign contributions by adding a donate button to the top of the site.

Donations can be made online with a credit card.

Accept Online Donations

All graphic design, including logo was done by our Graphic Artist.

Logo

A blog has been incorporated into the site, to allow the campaign to give visitors up to date information about the candidate, news, events and issues.

The Blog Area

The campaign is taking advantage of social media sites, including facebook, twitter and flickr:

We have incorporated a flickr photo stream into the site, with links back to the campaign flickr page, allowing visitors to add their comments to photos.

Flickr Photo Gallery

If you are interested in working with Progressive IT Group to develop your custom campaign site, please visit our Contact Us page.

I often use Microsoft Groove and I love it.  I have been using this excellent peer-to-peer software since before Microsoft purchased Groove … after which, they removed some really nice features, and then basically just sat on it, with essentially no further innovations.  The two problems I’ve always had with Groove are that it’s not cheap and I work with a lot of folks on Linux systems who hate all things Microsoft.

So now… along comes Dropbox (www.dropbox.com).  Like Groove, I can easily synchronize local files among my various computers.  Even better, I can also share a folder within dropbox with my associates, including those running Mac and Linux.  When my graphic designer makes a change to a file, my local version gets synchronized and we both always have the latest version without any uploading/downloading or emailing large files. You can even synch files to your iPhone.  Unlike Groove, once your files have synched to the dropbox online server, you don’t have to be online for the other computers to synch the latest files (in other words, I don’t have to be online at the same time as my graphic designer to get her latest revisions once they have been synched to the server).

As if all this wasn’t sweet enough… Dropbox is also an online backup.  All the files in your dropbox folder are stored on a secure server and can be restored at any time….but that’s not even the best part… Dropbox also saves a version history of all your files (for 30 days), so you can actually undo mistakes or undelete files.  Genius.

So what’s the bad news?  Well, it’s not entirely free.  The basic plan IS free and offers 2GB of storage… which, if you’re like me, you will probably use up pretty quickly.  There are also 50GB and 100GB  plans currently for $9.99 and $19.99/month respectively.

Maybe someday they’ll offer full system backups… right now it seems you can only synch files within your main dropbox folder which, on windows, sits under your “my documents” folder.  It would also be nice if their pricing would come down a bit for their larger plans.

For now, if you need a quick, free application to share up to 2GB of files among your various computers & platforms and with customers, associates or friends… Dropbox basic is the way to go.

My favorite free online full-featured desktop sharing tool by far is Mikogo (www.mikogo.com). You can easily share any screen content or application across the web with up to 10 participants. During the meeting, you can switch presenters (to allow a different participant to share their screen), you can allow other participants to access your keyboard and mouse and you can schedule sessions ahead of time.

Mikogo is currently available for PC and Mac… though I believe the Mac version is still in beta. I have been able to share my screen with a Mac user, but was not able to successfully give keyboard or mouse control, or switch presenters to the Mac. I haven’t tested it again recently, so it’s possible this functionality is now working.

I use Mikogo for training and technical support via remote control which saves both me and my customers time and money. I have also used it for web presentations and group collaboration among my software developers…. and did I mention it’s free?  That’s right… no subscription fee, and no credit card needed.

It also has a full set of features, including:

• Session recording (which requires downloading a separate session player – I haven’t tried this feature yet, but it could come in very handy for recording live training sessions)
• Whiteboard
• Transfer files up to 200 MB live
• Application Sharing (so you can keep part of your desktop “private” during a meeting)

See http://www.mikogo.com/en/product/features/ for a list of additional features.

While Mikogo also has voice conferencing, (there is a US number you can call), and if your phone or cell has nationwide coverage, this is also free.

If you’re worried about security, Mikogo uses 256-Bit AES Encryption.

The installation of Mikogo for a meeting “host” is very straightforward. Novice computer users will be able to start their own online meetings. Your participants will not need any special software… they simply use their Internet browser, go to www.mikogo.com and click on “Join Session”. They will run a small browser plug-in and enter the session ID.

For full featured, no cost, online meetings… I highly recommend Mikogo.

How to Log In To WordPress

How to Add a New Post in WordPress

How to Add a New Page in WordPress

How to Go Back and Edit a Post

How to Paste In Content from Word (Part 1)

How to Paste In Content from Word (Part 2)

How to Add Content to Your Sidebar

How to Add Links To Your Sidebar

More on Categories for Posts and Links

Adding a Read More Link to Articles and Toggling the Editor to Full Screen

Adding Tags to Your Posts

Changing Your Website Theme

A Quick Look at Old and New Version of WordPress

Adding an Image to a Post or Page

Uploading and Linking to a PDF File

Embedding a YouTube Video in a Post

Ordering Your WordPress Pages

To learn more about WordPress, here are some great books at Amazon.com:

Here are some excellent tutorials on Google Analytics (found on YouTube):

Introduction to Google Analytics

Find more Google Analytics Video Tutorials Here

If your site is not already using Google Analytics, give us a call so we can help you take advantage of this very powerful and free website traffic analyzer.

For more information, here are some great books at Amazon.com about Web Analytics:

Logging Into Your Website Control Panel and Setting Up New Email Accounts

Setting up Your Email in Outlook and Viewing Other Lunarpages Tutorials

Backing Up Your Website In Control Panel

Backup Features and Benefits

• Unlimited storage capacity for one flat annual subscription fee – back up all your data files or just the ones you want
• Strong encryption protects your privacy (files encrypted twice before they leave your PC)
• Private key encryption option available to advanced users
• Automatically, continuously finds and backs up your irreplaceable files, e.g. photos, documents, music, and emails
• Set and forget – automatically detects and backs up new and changed files

• No need to schedule backups, however scheduling options available for advanced users
• File versioning – allows you to restore any of several previous versions of a backed up file
• Backs up open files
• Block-level incremental backup – when files change, only the changes are backed up
• Silent when computer is in use – never slows it down
• Backup status information and restore functions integrated with Windows Explorer

We can help you develop a data management system to track your donors, volunteers, and constituents.  An online database can be integrated into your web design to allow your employees to securely access your data online from any webbrowser.

We can design a local custom database using Microsoft Access or create a secure online database that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, making it easier for remote volunteers to help with data entry.

For a political campaign, we can help you gather and update data on registered voters in relevant districts, using state and county voter files.

Databases can help you:

• Track inventory
• Track customer orders and renewals
• Track personal details for donors and supporters (such as level of support or issue interest)
• Compile polling information on voters or supporters
• Keep track of donations to facilitate reporting, enforce contribution limits for a current campaign cycle, and automate thank you letters
• Track attendance at events (including RSVPs and payments received)
• Create a volunteer management system with to-do lists and assign volunteers items that maximize their assistance (volunteers can update their task progress to keep you informed; you set reminders when tasks are not yet completed)
• Track historical voting patterns (by voter) to create tailored mailing and phone banking lists
• Analyze historical election results to discern patterns and target voters by precinct

Email List Management

Tracking your volunteer and customer emails is critical to your success. We can help you set up an online subscription service to your website and develop email newsletters to keep your supporters informed.

Storage Protection

We can also help you implement a backup and disaster recovery program.

Your organization’s most valuable intellectual property is data, which can be anything from email and images to spread sheets and databases. The availability of these files is critical to keeping your organization running smoothly. We can help develop storage and backup disaster and recovery solutions to protect your information and ensure a high level of continuity.  (Click here for more information)

Web forms can be integrated withing your website design so when a volunteer signs up using your web contact form, an email will be sent to one or more of your volunteer organizers.  In addition to email, we can set up a custom form with a database back-end, to automate your volunteer data collection, giving you access to all of your data online.

Here is an example volunteer form.  All fields are fully customizable and allow you to include an unlimited number of ways to volunteer.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

VIDEOS

Many internet users won’t take the time to read all content, but will watch videos on issues important to them— especially when referred to them by a friend. We can help you develop short but entertaining custom videos for your campaign or issue group—a powerful means for spreading your message virally.

Our services range from assisting you to use home videos made by your members to full-scale highly-produced commercials for television.

Effective topics may include:

• gatherings, meetings, press conferences, and other events or occasions.

• personal appeals from your leader or candidate for donations

• outside endorsements of your campaign or issue

Some of the means we suggest are:

• pre-recorded footage for web distribution through YouTube added to your site.

• infomercials and commercials for web distribution

• live video feeding real-time events onto your web site

We can also help encourage your supporters to submit personal videos for your cause; a video-submission contest can generate buzz.

STREAMING AUDIO

We can help you create podcasts for viewing on your site or for downloading to iPods and other MP3 players.

FLASH ANIMATIONS

We can produce custom flash animations for your website. Below is an example of a flash presentation which created from a purchased template, and then highly customized.

Click here to view the below sample flash presentation in a new window.