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At Axion Group we do more than business websites & SEO, we build strategic technology & communication solutions for Bellevue, Seattle and beyond. In a changing market place, one marked with economic turmoil and receding profits an innovative technology partner is critical for your company's growth. For the last three years we have helped numerous small to medium sized businesses capitalize on the power of the web.
Will your company be our next success story?
As of 2010 we are no longer accepting clients (except under special circumstances). We are solely focused on developing technology startups in the mobile space. More information to come soon.
If you are looking for website design using open source solutions such as WordPress we recomend you contact http://www.independentstudiosdesign.com
Today we set out to further optimize our company website. We wanted to:
After a little digging around we found a few easy to implement solutions for these changes.
Initially it looked like we had to change the category-template.php file in /wp-includes/. With the rate that WordPress releases new versions (seems like every other week) this option was not a very favorable one. Plus it meant we had to remember to not overwrite the category-template.php file. We eventually found a great WordPress plugin called No Category Base that not only handles eliminating the /category/ but also provides redirects necessary to ensure we don’t get a 404 error. Having solved #1 and #2 in one shot we moved on to the rest of the list.
If you need page navigation without the “older entries” and “newer entries” you should check out Lester Chans WordPress plugin WP Page Navi. Lester has some great plugins so make sure to check them out when you visit his site. This plugin worked right out of the box providing page navigation for our main blog page and archives.
Last but not least we wanted to show other related posts to visitors when reading an individual post. Another added benefit aside from increasing the number of pages that people visit, it also improves search engine optimization of the website. Since we are using /%post-name%/ for our permalinks we get 5 keyword rich urls on every blog posts pointing to other posts on our site. After looking around we decided on Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. This worked like a charm and we didn’t even have to place any code in single.php.
Now that we have covered more of the basics its time to move onto more time consuming optimization activities but first its probably time to add a few more descriptions to past portfolio examples.
Verno Systems needed to create our corporate branding and launch our web presence on a short timeline. Matt Fields and Axion Group Inc. did an outstanding job helping to generate our corporate image, which included creating our customized logo, business cards and website. They were able to respond within our time frame and work with us to deliver what we needed. In addition, they trained our team to manage and operate our web presence ourselves, using Axion when needed. This approach has made their services even more cost effective. We are extremely pleased with the outstanding professionalism, quality of product, cost effective and prompt service that Matthew and his team provided. We will continue to look to Axion Inc. to help keep our brand and website current and cutting-edge. – Verno Systems
I was pleased that my project wasn’t too small for Matt and his team. Once we started the project, I also appreciated the frequent and detailed description of what was happening.-Greg
Multi-touch desktop software. Looks like fun to use. If I only had Windows 7 and a touch screen.
Can’t wait till Windows 7 SP1 comes out and I can get rid of Vista once and for all.
It has been a long time since we have update the Axion website. Since our server crash it has been a pretty low priority. Over the next week we will be updating the site to include a few portfolio examples and client testimonials.
We’ll also be making an effort to blog on a regular basis about web and mobile technology… how long that will last who knows. Knowing that people are reading our blog by leaving comments is going to help a lot to keep it going. So come back soon!
Verno System came to us needing their branding, business cards and website. We had 30 days to achieve all three. With such a short deadline we knew it was important to get the branding completed as quickly as possible. Within two weeks we were able to finalize the branding, general business card layout and website design. After that point it was a race to convert the mock ups to a functional website that the company could maintain themselves.
They wanted a website that could gain search engine ranking, be updated on a regular basis and grow with their company. To solve this problem we selected our favorite CMS… WordPress. We were able to launch their website within the 30 day deadline as well as train staff on how to use the CMS. Since the launch of the website the Verno Systems has managed the website themselves.
After the launch of the WordPress website, they requested that we set up a wiki for the company to use. We worked with one of their representatives to set up a wiki that enabled them to securely collaborate and build knowledge bases.
Ferguson Merchandising approached us to improve their website for the Redmond Ben Franklin store. The had a static website with a couple hundred html pages. The website had been built over a long period of time. The code was very disorganized and no standardized structure between pages existed.
The first phase of the project was spent correcting the problems with the current website. Instead of trying to fix page by page of sloppy code we recoded a couple templates to cover the various page layouts. We then converted content from the old website to the new templates. In less than three week we were able to convert over 250 html pages, correct the functional, display errors and eliminating W3C validation errors.
The second phase of the project was to design a custom content management system (CMS) that enabled the company to take advantage of the web to drive customers to the store and generate sales. By analyzing their business we established that classes drive sales as well as projects. To achieve this goal we built a class calendar and registration system. We also included a projects section allowing people to browse projects by category and then print/download a PDF supplies list to be brought into the store. When a visitor views an individual project or class the site displaying three related projects and classes. By cross selling related projects and classes we anticipated increasing the number of classes and items purchased per visit. We also provided social bookmarking & networking buttons for visitors to submit projects to high traffic sites.
One of the unique features of the website is the XML template based page system. The company wanted the ability to create pages, insert different layouts without having to do any coding. We created a system that enables us to create simple xml files and upload them to a folder, adding new template options. This makes it quick, easy and cost effective to add new layouts. The layout templates include the ability to insert images, links and use a WYSIWIG. By providing this functionality it eliminated the need to hire website designers to modify or add new pages to company website.
Northwoods Property Management approached us to solve a problem with their website. They had a static html site with over 120 different properties. With little to no budget for web development they needed an option that allowed them to manage property bookings, allow customers to book a property, manage customer information and track the phase of the sale.
One of the big restrictions was that they needed to integrate this functionality on their existing static html website. To solve this problem we built a back end that enabled them to manage their properties but also generated code that could be placed on corresponding property pages. This enabled them to add a property, take 2 lines of code that were auto-generated and place it on the corresponding html page for the property. This provided them with a quick and inexpensive solution to solve the property management problems they were experiencing with their web presence.
With very little money invested they had a system that allowed visitors to view availability of various properties, place a request to book a property. It also enabled office personal to manage properties, take phone orders and track the process of sales activity.
BE Aerospace engaged us to come up with a concept for a sales tool to be used by foreign representatives. We came up with a prototype that attempted to solve multiple problems faced by large manufacturing companies that provide custom orders and have a network of sales representatives speaking a variety of languages.
With big ticket items the sales process can drag out for long periods of time. To help speed up the process we designed the prototype to limit the selection of different packages and options. This helped to ensure sales peoples wouldn’t sell a package or option that does not exist. Each sales representative has an account that uses their native language. They can create packages for potential customers with their own unique account. This enables the sales representative, the company and the potential client to adjust package configurations and options. When configuration changes are finalized this information generates a detailed report in the sales representatives, clients and company’s native languages. This helps to eliminate miss communication, increase accuracy and eliminate translation time.
Initially we planned to develop it as a web based application but decided to make it a desktop based application. This was selected because of the different access and connection speeds to the internet in countries where sales activities were being conducted. When a change is made that information is updated once an internet connection is made. This ensures that on or offline modifications can be made. It also eliminates the problem that other people involved in the sales process are not up to date on the most recent package and options selections.
This project never made it out of the prototyping phase, however it opened up our eyes to the application of technology to improve the flow of communication and eliminate mistakes/errors at the point of sales for large manufacturing companies.