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Paving the way for mobile

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:34:17 GMT

A school's website has become the primary source of information for communicating to parents, teachers, staff and students. As a result, schools are forced to think about how content is delivered to devices such as iPhones, smartphones, iPads, kindles, and a variety of other portable devices. For many educational organizations, creating a website version for each new device would either be technically impossible or very expensive. So we pose the question, what is the best option to handle a variety of mobile devices? Responsive web design.

What is responsive web design?

Responsive web design is an approach that suggests a website should respond to the user’s environment based on screen size, platform and orientation. In laymen terms, if you're on a smartphone, you get the optimal version for the smartphone, and so on. The practice consists of a mix of flexible grids, layouts, images and an intelligent use of cascading style sheets (CSS). As the user changes from their laptop to a tablet or other mobile device, the website automatically switches to accommodate for screen and image size, and any type of device-specific user interface (navigation, buttons, etc). This would eliminate the need for a different design and development phase for each new gadget on the market. Most importantly, the content is pulled from a single source making it easy to manage.

Make it easy for your visitors
Figure A shows how a web page is viewed on three different platforms – computers, tablets and smartphones.

So why should you be concerned
with responsive design?

There are many reasons why this technology shift should be considered even if you are not a tech-head or an avid web junkie. If you are in charge of communicating to your school’s community, then it’s time to start thinking about how your school’s community communicates.

Accessibility - The average smartphone user visits up to 24 web sites per day with 600% growth in traffic to mobile websites in 2010. Can your audience access important information from different devices on your site when they need to?
Compliancy - Mobile phones will squeeze out PCs as the most common way to access web sites worldwide by 2013, and that’s not considering tablets. It is time to start thinking about how your content can adapt for the immediate future and the not-so-immediate future.
Exposure - Facebook & Twitter accessed via mobile browsers grew by triple digits in 2010. Your school’s content is being shared across those networks, so make your content ready to be shared on any social network by any device.
Efficiency - The last thing you want is to worry about multiple websites with the same content for different devices and computers. When looking at your technology plan, make sure you address managing a single source of content that can be delivered to multiple sources.

The development team at Innersync is full speed ahead integrating responsive web design in the Campusuite CMS platform. This will allow our clients to continue their focus on creating content and engaging their audiences without the worry of needing to create a new design for the new devices that come to market.

We would love to hear your thoughts on what the future holds for computers, tablets and smartphones.

SEO basics that make a big difference

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:02:14 GMT

If you are not taking advantage of some SEO basics to make the most of your web site, you are not alone. Some organizations are too wrapped up with the bells and whistles of their sites, and not concerned enough about the content foundation upon which their sites are built. We have learned that your site is only worth as much as the connections it makes, which is why we take SEO very seriously. Building a web site optimized for search engine friendliness and usefulness is not as complicated as you might think.

Pay to play

One way to employ SEO is through sponsored words, in which you pay the going rate for the keywords that support your marketing goals. The other is through pages that are "organically" found through search results: pages that are populated with just the right words, phrases and links that feed the world's most powerful search engines. Both strategies – whether paying for sponsorship or paying someone to create and maintain your SEO – require a financial commitment, but we've found the organic route to be an increasingly 'budget-friendly' alternative to Pay Per Click (PPC). You may be dealing with a site that is hard to work with for "organic SEO" and revert to the easy way by using Adwords which is the PPC internet advertising model. This $11 billion industry allows you to get results fast, but it can get to be quite expensive outbidding your competition for keywords.

Go organic and get your marketing budget healthy

We like to focus on organic rankings because they provide more of a long-term strategy, and you are not on the hook to be in an auction for keywords. In addition to having better quality visits – that is, users who stay on the site longer and get the information they need – organic rankings are perceived as a more legitimate sources as web surfers get more savvy and specific with their searches. Some people, frankly, put less faith in sponsored listings than compared to organic search results.

Fighting to get to the top in the organic search maze requires a lot of factors, but the most important is to have content that is focused on your keyword phrases. For example, Google loves sites that are updated frequently, and it gives you points for new content. By adding a news release, blog or some other fresh content once a month can help move you up in the ranking.

SEO TIPS

Rules of thumb for making sure you are making the most of your site content:

Use good page titles, headings and file names

Think of your content being in a hierarchy that starts from the page title (shows up in the browser bar) all the way to the bottom of the page. Keep your focus on the content from the top down, incorporating keyword phrases in the page title, heading (H1) in the copy that follows. If you have your key phrases in the page title and heading, you have the most important things where they belong. Always keep in mind, this needs to be readable, and making compelling copy with the keyword phrases sometimes requires compromise between creativity and searchability. Seek content specialists who can weave these functions artfully.

Example of a page optimized for "Fishing Worms"

Page Title: Fishing worms from Bobby's Bait & Tackle Shop

Heading: Fishing worms and other bait that help you catch the big one

Page name: Fishing-worms.html

First paragraph: Bobby has been delivering the best fishing worms this side of the Ohio RIver....

Meta-data

Meta-data: the red-headed stepchild of web development that does not get any attention until someone brings it up. We like to focus on "Description" and "Keywords" and try our best to make them unique and readable. Some say search engines do not pay attention to the them but there are two things keep in mind. First, when you look at the Google results page, the "Page Title" and "Meta-Description" are visible, so if you want someone to click your link, it is wise to write something interesting or inviting. Second, Google Webmaster Tools bark at you if you do not have good meta-data. So add good meta-data, and keep in mind, the "Description" copy is what shows up below the title, so make sure it complements the page title without repeating it.

Anchor Links

This one is pretty simple and straightforward. As you look at the content on your site, use the keyword phrases as links. For example, instead of using the term "learn more" for a link, try using keywords like "learn more about fishing worms." If you can get anchor links on the home page, that adds even more points. Try to fit anchor links into the first or second paragraph of a new release or blog. That way, if the content is aggregated to other sites, you will gain points for an anchor back-link to your site.

Inbound links (aka backlinks)

Our SEO specialist friends at Purple Trout tell us how important it is to have links to your site to improve SEO rankings. When Google – the godfather of knowledge bases – recognizes when a legitimate site has a link to your site, it rewards you with better status. The more backlinks from outside sites, the better it is for your site indexing.

For starters, submit your site to DMOZ open directory project, ZoomInfo business directory and Yahoo! Directory Listings. Yahoo! is $300 annually but it is worth the money for the back-linking. If it is local business, make sure it gets back-linked on local chamber of commerce sites and other local directories. Next, see if there are any directories that show up on the keyword phrases you are focusing on, you may find some that are easy and free to submit your site.

Look at social networks as increasingly important places into which you can pump your links. The more networks you can share your site links to, the better. We focus on the popular ones: Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Digg, Reddit, LinkedIn. If you really want to centralize your social networking, add all your sites through Ping.fm, which allows you to post information through one account.

Campusuite sponsors 2011 HighEdWeb Conference

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:08:17 GMT

Newport, KY – As part of its growing commitment to serving colleges and universities, Campusuite was a sponsor at HighEdWeb 2011 held in Austin, Texas. Campusuite web content management system designed specifically for schools and higher education featuring simple, browser-based tools to control web site content, Campusuite features a wide range of new and improved functionality in three major areas: extended tools and social networking features, application security and enhanced usability.

"This product evolution ensures that our clients are positioned to accommodate the upcoming trends and allow faculty and staff to keep up with an increasingly web-savvy audience," said Steve Williams, Campusuite's co-founder. "Mindful of the emerging prevalence of cloud technologies and SaaS, we're continuously engineering in ease and access for content administrators, publishers and end-users."

The timing of the new launch coincides nicely with this gathering of key web site decision makers at the college and university level. "This is a very savvy group of web administrators who come together at this important conference to gather the tools and share ideas that make them better administrators," said Williams. "The HighEdWeb members are knowledgeable and thirsty for more knowledge, so we're happy to be returning to share with them our latest."

Already implemented at select colleges and universities, Campusuite software enables web site administrators to keep fresh such frequently updated information as news, blogs, events, calendars, photos, faculty and staff directories, videos and FAQs. Ready-made, easy-to-use content modules plug into existing web site designs, eliminating the mystery and technical prerequisites for keeping web content current.

Campusuite simplifies the growingly unwieldy process of overall web site management by providing simple web-based tools to content authors, publishers and administrators, who can easily create, share and publish content in a decentralized workflow environment. Employees closest to the content are afforded greater control of the content with permission-authorized access.

"What makes Campusuite different from other off-the-shelf CMS products is that we've created easy-to-use modules that address the specific needs of college web administrators," said Jay Cooper, Marketing Director at Innersync. "Many of the larger, more horizontal CMS packages have functionality and data fields that a school or college would never use."

A practical solution for many departments within a college or university where content is constantly changing – admissions, student activities, sports information, alumni affairs, faculty and staff – Campusuite enables content authors to easily create and edit their respective pages of their web site.

"A school's web site is becoming increasingly important to many facets of their operations," said Cooper. "Recruiting, athletics, development – it's their primary public face. Campusuite gives them tools to make their sites more effective, easily. We've found a great deal of interest on the part of many administrators at this conference," added Cooper. "They are hungry for web content solutions that not only improve their whole process, but are easy to implement, as well.

About HighEdWeb Association

HighEdWeb is a strategic alliance of Web professionals in New York state higher education designed to facilitate communication and professional development and using the Web as a medium to advance their institutions. The conference is for all higher education Web professionals – from programmers to marketers to designers to all team members in-between – who want to explore the unique Web issues facing colleges and universities. www.highedweb.org

Things are looking up in the cloud

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:25:37 GMT

As organizations improve efficiencies and expand web capabilities, Innersync is finding success and experiencing growth in the "cloud" as a provider of web content management and image management software for business and education clients. Innersync, coming off its most successful year of software-as-a-service subscription sales and business development, continues to attract new clients with web-based services and design.

Among the firm's new clients is a well-rounded mix of schools, colleges and businesses, underscoring the universal appeal of simplicity, scalability and savings in managing any firm's web site.

"People expect better technology today for less, and they also expect it to help bring people closer to their organization without a long process,” said Steve Williams, Innersync co-founder and president. “It has taken dedication and a lot of hard work to position us for this upward trend, but it is well worth it when you can provide a lot of value to clients and solve their problems cost effectively.”

Using Innersync’s software-as-a-service (subscription-based software) solutions Campusuite®, Innersuite™, and Imagespace™, education and business clients are choosing web platforms that are easy to use and scalable to their organizations. These internet-based tools enable companies to completely manage their web sites’ content and images without technical expertise or high IT and design costs. Innersync packages web site design and roll out with its content management systems and support for turnkey web site solutions. All the software resides not on the clients' premises or server, but in the computing cloud, offering a host of efficiencies, security and scalability.

Recent additions to Innersync education clients using software-as-a-service web content management and digital asset management tools are:

North Carolina State University
Thomas Edison State College
Coffeyville Community College
Oak Park School District
Oak Lawn-Hometown District 123
BN Creative
St. Peter Claver Latin School for Boys
Sisters of Notre Dame

Recent business clients include:

Sungard – software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and public sector
MGM Hospitality – luxury destination hotels
Barrette, Xpanse, Active Yards – outdoor living, fencing, and garden furnishings
KDM P.O.P. – marketing and point-of-purchase displays
Walter Wilhelm Associates – apparel & footwear technology consulting
TyTek Industries – Asian contract manufacturing services
Fascor – logistics and distribution management software
Explorica – international educational tours

About Campusuite, and Imagespace:
The Innersync suite of content and digital asset management solutions helps business and education clients simplify web site management with web-based tools so content authors, publishers and administrators can easily publish, access and manage content. Innersuite, Campusuite, and Imagespace form the core software-as-a-service web design solutions from Innersync that help people create, share and connect like never before.

New site helps connect college admissions community

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:31:06 GMT

Just months into their new web site, members of the Ohio Association for College Admission Counseling are taking to the expanded connectivity made possible through the Campusuite CMS for schools and higher education. As part of its new implementation, which included a new design, OACAC created an instant online community that is making it much easier for its members to share information on all fronts.

"It's where everyone needs to be and we're getting there," said Lavonna See, executive assistant for OACAC, referring to the web-based communications that's shifting how OACAC members are connecting. "There's no better way to keep people informed, engaged and excited about the organization."

Along with changing how members use the site, the number of visits, page views and time spent on the site by its members is up considerably: 180 percent, 300% and 120 percent, respectively.

With more than 3,000 members, the OACAC brings together high school guidance counselors, college admission reps, and others who advise students on making the best choice on where to continue their education. OACAC uses its site not only as a method to announce and share information about the numerous conferences, meetings and tours scheduled throughout the organization, but uses built-in forms to register members online. There are no cumbersome pdf files, word docs or other attachments that often slow down the registration process.

In addition, members are finding great networking advantages made possible through the new online communities feature recently released in Campusuite. "With only so much time in a day, the forums and discussion groups create efficiencies for this very social group of professionals."

Powered by Campusuite and designed by Innersync, OACAC joins the growing list of schools, colleges, businesses and organizations shifting to web 2.0 technologies – and the efficiencies and value they provide – to help power and manage their web sites.

About OACAC:
The Ohio Association for College Admission Counseling is an organization comprised of more than 3,000 professionals serving as a resource for high school students needing advice on which college or university is right for them. The OACAC is committed to the professional development of its members through ongoing educational programs, conferences and networking, and bringing their members together to share insights into their profession.

About Campusuite:
Campusuite is a Web 2.0 content management system that simplifies web site management by providing web-based tools so content authors, publishers and administrators can easily publish and manage content from any web browser. Campusuite, Imagespace, a digital asset management, and Innersuite, the corporate CMS solution, are part of the family of web-based SaaS solutions from Innersync that help people create, share and connect like never before.

How a 'cloudy' economy — or at least web site — may not be a bad thing in 2010 and beyond

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:18:54 GMT

With 2010 underway and the new decade before us, we can only hope that worst of the economic hardships that occurred in 2009 are well behind us. Sure, big banks (see mortgage and credit crises), automobile manufacturers, and insurance companies took it on the chin, but all you have to do is look around to find someone you know affected by the marked downturn in the economy and this global recession in which we're all trying to dig out of. We may not have seen the last of layoffs, plant closings, and scale backs in operations, but we are seeing a change in how organizations use and manage their web sites.

Yes, times have changed and business is not the same as it used to be, so we must continue to forever be looking for ways to improve how we help our clients sustain and grow. In our own house, Innersync has been on a path the past few years to refine our own mission and continue to provide value to our customers through software as a service (SaaS) web technology for web content management and digital asset management. Following a nationwide trend of increased utilization of SaaS solutions, Innersync is serving up the content software that will drive costs out of – and customers to – your business.

Listening to our own customers and picking the brains of the best and the brightest in delivering web solutions (see Google, Ning, et al), our team made the decision years ago to take all of the technology equity we've developed and put it into the cloud. We're not done – never will be, for that matter, as technology grows faster than the ability to use it – but we completed the first stage of providing a new way to do things on the web. Stage two is the ongoing incorporation of user feedback refinements amplified with further innovation that will make your web site not only more powerful, but less expensive to manage in years to come. Cloud computing and software as a service will only increase and license-based software will decrease. Why incur the costs and weather the frustrations of software obsolescence and server hardware when all that can be eliminated by tapping into the cloud?

There are many lessons to be learned in tough economic times and foremost among them is that organizations of all sizes and kinds must look for ways to earnestly connect or re-connect with their audiences. No more 'pushing of information', rather, interactive strategies that employ the power of the web to engage customers, and begin that all-important dialogue that builds relationships and builds business, even if it's in the clouds.

Campusuite returns to HighEdWeb Conference

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:57:33 GMT

Newport, KY – Innersync Studio will be unveiling its latest version of web content management system designed specifically for schools and higher education at the HighEdWeb 2009 Conference, October 4-7 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Featuring simple, browser-based tools to control web site content, Campusuite features a wide range of new and improved functionality in three major areas: extended tools and social networking features, application security and enhanced usability.

"This product evolution ensures that our clients are positioned to accommodate the upcoming trends and allow faculty and staff to keep up with an increasingly web-savvy audience," said Steve Williams, Campusuite's co-founder. "Mindful of the emerging prevalence of Web 2.0 technologies, we're continuously engineering in ease and access for content administrators, publishers and end-users."

A summary of Campusuite enhancements:

Galleries – Easier and more effective ways to organize images

Apply tags to a selected gallery, and place a gallery on – or a link to a gallery to – a page
Enhanced gallery view for users that allows more images to be viewed in a single gallery

Dashboard – Customized dashboard to suit your own editing styles

Personalize your profile with an avatar. Your online associates will come to recognize you distinctly and quickly.
Access your drafts directly from the main dash board page

Tagging – Label content to enable grouping of information

Easily link related content: news, photos, events, and calendar items

Editing – Easier page editing and template options

Create templates by simply defining a page as a template and create new pages based off the template
Choose from additional page layouts

Blogging – New blog module allows you to easily create and manage blogs and user-generated comments

Easily update your online journal to encourage communications with and among staffers, faculty members, and students

Social networking – Stay in touch and get in touch with your colleagues and students

Add Facebook, and integrate Twitter and other social networking feeds to keep current with your network of associates

Components

Aggregators: Automatically group similar information together to easily find related information such as calendars, news items, galleries and more
Syndication: Embed RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds onto pages to bring together news, blogs, podcasts and other syndicated content into a centralized page
Media guide: Allows you to display faculty and staff by tags of expertise
Media: Embed photo and video galleries and podcasts on your page or add links to pop-up windows of the galleries

Sitebuilder

Build out your web site in a site map form and publish the web site
Display sitemaps to create, adjust or simply view site navigation

About HighEdWeb Association

About Campusuite:

Campusuite is a Web 2.0 content management system that simplifies web site management by providing web-based tools so content authors, publishers and administrators can easily publish and manage content from any web browser. Campusuite, Imagespace, a digital asset management, and Innersuite, the corporate CMS solution, are part of the family of web-based solutions from Innersync that help people create, share and connect like never before.

Ross University Selects Campusuite to Power its Web Sites

Thu, 07 May 2009 15:22:39 GMT

Innersync Studio, maker of content management software and provider of strategic online services, has announced Ross University will be joining the ranks of Innersync's educational clients using Campusuite® CMS for higher education. The latest in a string of educational and corporate clients embracing friendlier-than-ever Web 2.0-savvy content management tools, Ross University plans on implementing the Campusuite CMS in time for the summer 2009 semester.

Ross University was looking for a new approach on how the multi-campus university would handle the growing amount and changing dynamics of content on its web site. After interviewing several CMS alternatives and participating in their respective online demos, the Ross University selection team, led by Taishi Thompson, Director of Web Technologies, decided on Campusuite primarily for its track record in higher education and its ease of use for non-technical users. “Innersync has been a pleasure to work with from the beginning,” said Taishi Thompson, director of web technologies for Ross University. “They made the process of determining which solution would best fit Ross University a seamless and comfortable one. We were looking for a solution that would be geared toward higher education, be highly intuitive for our end users, and support the technologies that are already in place. We look forward to working with Innersync and our implementation of the Campusuite CMS solution.”

With some natural communications challenges presented by having two campuses located on separate islands in the West Indies and a headquarters in New Jersey, Ross administrators were looking to new web site management tools to help connect the campuses. Through use of Campusuite CMS for education, ready-made tools will help university administrators and faculty keep content fresh. In addition, the university was looking for a quality web presence that captures the essence of Ross University and its leading role among international medical schools and veterinary science.

Ross University selected the Campusuite Enterprise edition, which allows clients to incorporate the tools in their current infrastructure and integrate into their current systems using content modules that simply plug into current web site design, equipping users to easily manage news, events, blogs, photos, videos, calendars, FAQs and more.

Campusuite's CMS solution, which eliminates the need for costly IT support, provided a new, cost-effective way for Ross University to not only manage its web site, but improve communications in the process. Through design, development and deployment of easy-to-use content tools, the three distinct locations will soon be able to fully utilize a web site that connects all its audiences to its mission of excellence in international medical education.

"A web site is only as powerful as the content and accessibility to creating and obtaining that content," said Steve Williams, chief sales and marketing officer for Campusuite. "Higher education institutions such as Ross University are perfect fits for Campusuite, because of its ease of use, 'approachability' for content authors and content seekers, and affordability."

About Ross University:

Ross University was founded in 1978 and is a provider of medical and veterinary education offering doctor of medicine and doctor of veterinary medicine degree programs. Located in Dominica, West Indies, the School of Medicine places more students into U.S. residencies than any other medical school in the world and has clinical education centers in Miami, FL, Saginaw, MI, and Freeport, Grand Bahama. The School of Veterinary Medicine has graduated more than 2,200 students over the last 27 years and is located in St. Kitts.

Ross University’s administrative offices are located in North Brunswick, NJ. For more information about Ross University, visit www.RossU.edu or call 732.509.4600/877.ROSS.EDU.

About Campusuite:

Campusuite is a Web 2.0 content management system that simplifies web site management by providing web-based tools so content authors, publishers and administrators can easily publish and manage content from any web browser. Campusuite, Imagespace, a digital asset management system, and Innersuite, the corporate CMS solution, are part of the the family of web-based solutions from Innersync that helps people create, share and connect like never before.

Starting your day in the expanding social network

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:20:36 GMT

With all the networks and tools emerging in the web 2.0 cloud and competing for your attention, do you find yourself challenged by sorting out the options, making the most of, or simply keeping up with them all? There sure are a lot of social networks popping up these days, and for every social network, there are a dozen more free tools just waiting to be utilized. How you choose to use these networks and tools should be considered your blank canvas... your picture waiting to be drawn.

Even novice web users are familiar with Facebook and Twitter, but you name the theme, and there's a list of social networks to support it. Some networks are more professional than others. Some more playful.

I recently found Plinky, where you answer a weekly prompt to spark digital discussion in your own creative way. All these tools are just other ways to express yourself. From Google docs and webmaster tools that support business on the web, to sites like Aviary that bring you Photoshop and Illustrator-esque functionality for next to nothing or totally free, these cloud tools are coming out of the woodwork or falling from the sky. Now the question is, "which ones should I use" and "how can I leverage these?" The answer is simple: use the ones that work best for you. Only trial and time will tell you for sure.

Here's how I manage my own time when it comes to qualifying, utilizing and not being ovewhelmed by these tools, which if you're not careful, can become a full-time job in just keeping up with them all. The first hour of my morning consists of the following:

Hit Google Reader where I have all my subscriptions to my favorite feeds. These feeds consist of tech news, design trends, individuals blogs... the list goes on. I have over 100 subscriptions that consolidate massive information into the reader for my quick scanning.
I will 'favorite' or 'share' the best entries in Google reader, and it will automatically update my Facebook account. I also add links to Delicious so I and my team members can see what I'm pushing to the front. In fact, we use a common company account for Delicious so that all of the people on our team can collaboratively add relevant links ranging from hot design trends to the latest jQuery snippets.
If I'm really excited about an entry in Google Reader, I'll Twitter the link, which shows that I'm sharing knowledge and could create some followers. This in turn, also updates my Facebook account. Do you see where this is going?
In turn, for that brief moment on Twitter, I might respond to a few @replies or contribute to some conversations I see going on. After a while, you will notice your name showing up in the #followfriday lists (where fellow Twitterers suggest to all their followers the recommended people to follow)
I also have Flickr, YouTube, Last.fm and a couple other sites that I frequent and that add activity updates to my Facebook stream. So, in reality, I don't actually spend a lot of time in my Facebook account other than to upload the occasional photo album. However, it sure looks like I do!
I set up Google alerts to scan for my name, my company name, or any of my product names on the Internet. If something is being said, I want to know. I also have these alerts set up in my reader. So, while I'm purusing my morning news, I can see any of these alerts as well.
Next up, Twitter search. Arguably one of the most valuable tools on the net. I type in my name, company and products here as well. This lets me see who's talking about me NOW. While I'm there, I might see what's being said about my friends... or maybe my favorite wines. At this time, I might share another link on Twitter, that again, updates my Facebook account.
I manage my own personal blog and I contribute to my company blog. These RSS feeds can be set up to syndicate into a variety of places. I have a combination of my personal and company blogs being syndicated into my Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. This goes a long way. While I'm keeping my company site up to date, this valuable information is being recycled as it heads to my various other accounts. Other team members on my team do this as well so that our reach is increased even further.
Do you use a CMS to manage your website? We do, and our CMS is considered a Web 2.0 CMS that allows us to syndicate pages, blogs, RSS feeds and more. When we write a blog, we do it in our CMS. Of course, whatever blog tool you are use should have an RSS feed that can be syndicated. This is important. It allows you to move your ideas further from your site, which draws people back to your site.

This is only a smattering of what I'm doing now. When I dicover a new social site, I see it as my obligation as a web developer to take a test drive and understand how it works, and how it could integrate into my morning regimen. I tend to change it up here and there. Some networks, I let fizzle out so I can spend more of my time on the networks that work for me. Remember, I try to keep this consolidated to the first hour of the day and some of these tasks might be relevant to do on a weekly or monthly basis.

Take some time yourself to leverage the new media and turn it into a systematic approach that broadens your reach, sharpens your mind and strengthens your brand.

School's Inauguration project launches new blog tool

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:33:24 GMT

LOS ANGELES -- When 12 students from KIPP LA Schools in South Central Los Angeles return from the 56th Presidential Inauguration Ceremonies, they'll have more than just postcards and souvenirs to record their trip. Thanks to a new blog tool that's now part of the many features of the Campusuite school content management system, each student can capture and chronicle his or her experience on the KIPP LA web site – for classmates, teachers, families, friends and the world to see.

The request from KIPP LA could not have been timed any better, as the Innersync development team was looking for a pilot site on which to launch its new blog module. "Bringing people together on the internet and supporting education through technology is consistent with the Innersync mission," said Jason Morgan, Director of Interactive at Innersync. "Fostering powerful relationships that were never before possible, and being part of this opportunity to allow students to benefit from web 2.0 technology is exciting and we're happy to play a part."

Morgan sees the blog tool as an attractive component to the already robust functionality of the Campusuite CMS tools. Like Facebook and other social networking sites, the Campusuite blog tool satisfies the increasing need and desire for many users to connect with their audiences. What's more, this type of social media packaged as part of the Campusuite content management system for schools allows the students to stay connected within the aegis of the school community.

Innersync just released its new web 2.0 blog module for the Campusuite and is now available to all schools subscribed to the Campusuite Hosted Edition (Software as a Service). This new module allows students to create personal blogs equipped with all the social abilities such as tagging, RSS feeds and an easy-to-use interface that the students can easily login and use.

"Our relationship with KIPP has been exciting. Since the beginning, we've been compelled to do whatever we can for such a great organization. We believe in what they are doing and we're proud to be a part of it. Their story is huge, and their results... amazing. There is nothing that is impossible when you are backed by passionate, dedicated people," said Morgan.

Visit the newly launched "Student Blogs from the Inauguration".

About KIPP LA Schools:

KIPP LA Schools (KIPP LA) operates three free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public charter schools in East and South Los Angeles. KIPP LA schools are part of the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), a national network of tuition-free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public charter schools with a track record for improving achievement among low-income and minority students. Nationally, more than 80 percent of KIPP students are low-income and more than 90 percent are African American or Hispanic/ Latino. For more information, go to www.kippla.org or www.kipp.org.

About Campusuite:

Campusuite is content management software that simplifies web site management by providing web-based tools so content authors, publishers and administrators can easily publish and manage content from any web browser. Campusuite, Imagespace, a digital asset (image) management system, and Innersuite, the corporate CMS solution, are part of the the family of web-based solutions from Innersync that helps people create, share and connect like never before.

Summit Country Day School empowers publishers and engages community

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:24:20 GMT

CINCINNATI -- A Campusuite content management system customer since version 2.0, The Summit Country Day School in Cincinnati has recently upgraded to Campusuite 4.0, equipping the school with Web 2.0 tools that will further bolster internal work-flow processes and connect them with the Summit "community" in ways like never before.

The Summit depends on the web site to provide insight into the philosophy, programs, and achievements of the award-winning school, while providing the resources that serve the information needs of their extended community, including prospective students and parents, donors, and alumni. As a school with a concerted focus on technology – and an increasingly sophisticated, mobile customer base – the web site has to walk the walk – literally and figuratively.

The Summit needs easy-to-use CMS tools to engage its already tech-savvy kids and families and give them the ability to upload their videos and publish other student- and school-related content, yet have a gatekeeper that will have final say as to what content goes out to the web site. Today, information is everywhere and it could reside with one person, or many people. Providing a platform that is accessible, secure and easy to use enables the efficient collection of that information and a way to coordinate and disseminate it throughout the school community.

Not just for staff and faculty use, Campusuite 4.0 offers up the tools to involve even the students at The Summit. Student helpers, for example, can be granted access to the web site to create and stage content, upload photos, videos and other student-centric content. The ability to upload and drop a video on any given page is crucial. Not being limited by traditional restraints empowers the people closest to the content to manage it and push it out to very targeted constituents.

For more than a century, The Summit Country Day School has maintained a legacy of excellence in independent, Catholic education. A nationally recognized leader in character education, The Summit offers a compelling combination of small classes, caring faculty, academic rigor, and strong spiritual values.

The Summit Country Day's Campusuite CMS implementation is consistent with a wave of migration to Web 2.0 technologies and "cloud computing," as evidenced by Google's recent unveiling of its Chrome® open-source web browser. Similarly, Campusuite employs these same user-centric technologies to keep the IT "back end" of the software effectively invisible to the user, while providing increasingly powerful applications through web browsers.

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