Now you can surf the Branson Tracks site from your mobile phone! We know that Branson Tracks visitors are busy and on the go, so we created a mobile-friendly version of their website that can be viewed on any mobile device.

Branson Tracks fans can quickly and easily view attractions for each location, check seasonal hours, get directions and even buy tickets to The Track! To check it out, just visit www.bransontracks.com on your mobile device.

It comes as no surprise that as Facebook continues to evolve it is creating more ways to bring our friends and acquaintances together, even outside the confines of the network. For many users, this is a dream come true, allowing our sphere of influence to impact all aspects of our online experience, from hearing songs our friends like on Pandora to seeing our friends’ reviews on Yelp. 

The new Facebook plugins allow websites to incorporate familiar Facebook activities such as “Like” and “Recommend” into their sites. As of last week, over 100,000 websites have incorporated the new plugins resulting, for many, in increased site traffic.

While the plugins allow other sites to offer the same personalization that we love experiencing on Facebook, it is not achieved without some controversy and ardent debate. Facebook continues to mitigate significant privacy concerns, including a backlash of users coordinating mass “Quit Facebook” days.

We each have a different comfort level regarding our privacy and the Web. Be aware of your personal privacy settings and set them accordingly to match your comfort level. Click here for answers to questions surrounding the new social plugins.

1. If you do not let users add content to your site (photos, videos, links, reviews, etc.), then you need to make that your primary goal for 2010.

2. Scanning barcodes with your smart phone for more information, pictures and videos is a trend  we need to all pay attention to. (Check out QMCodes.com and StickyBits.com.) 

3. Content is king! Engage your customers with rich copy & images that are updated often to keep them coming back for more.  

4. Traditional outbound marketing (print ads and mailers) is going the way of the dinosaur. The future is inbound marketing and pulling consumers into your brand via search engines, social media and blogs.

5. Don’t fear new ideas, especially on the Web.  Your website is organic, so if something isn’t working you can easily change it. But you won’t be able to discover that one special tool that makes your site stand out if you don’t try new tactics.

It’s that time of year when the Wright Strategies team converges with other like-minded, technology leaders and enthusiasts to learn about the latest trends, emerging tactics and best practices in web design and development. We're gearing up for SXSW Interactive, a five day interactive conference held in Austin each spring. Stay tuned for upcoming articles recounting what we’ve learned, what we’re excited about, and how it can help your site reach its maximum potential. Want more info on SXSWi? Visit http://www.sxsw.com/interactive. 

The Austin office will be closed from Friday, March 12 through Tuesday, March 16 but our support line is always open.  If you need immediate assistance with your site during that time, please email support@wrightstrategies.com.

The new year has come and somehow already gone and some of us are still reeling over how quickly time is passing by.  But with each new year comes the inevitable lists recounting "The Top <insert anything you can imagine>" of the past year, decade, millennium, etc.  I personally enjoy these lists as they help me recall all the events that have happened in my life that seemed monumental as they were occurring yet had somehow slipped my memory before being immortalized in a year-end list.  Of course, some of my favorite lists from 2009 were related to everyone’s activity on the internet over the past year.  Lists from facebook recounting the top status update terms and from Bing showing us their top search terms for the year, seem like a pretty accurate gauge for determining what we cared most about and wanted to learn more about in 2009. 

Any predictions for top terms in 2010?

We just launched the new Rodeo Austin interactive website! Serving as Rodeo Austin's Official Website Design and Development Sponsor, we created a new online identity that gives visitors a taste of the rodeo experience online year around. The website features a new architecture for easy access to event information, guest-uploaded photos and event videos and recaps.  

Another great enhancement is a streamlined ecommerce tool that makes it easy to purchase everything from event tickets to memberships, and also to donate to the scholarship fund and youth auction. The new website reflects Rodeo Austin's lively, spirited nature and propels Rodeo Austin even further in its role as the technological leader in the Fair and Rodeo industry.

Click here to visit the site!

We’ve recently launched a new interactive map for the seaside village of Roche Harbor. Users can now explore all that the community has to offer with an easy click of the mouse. Enhanced zooming functionality, rich photography and brief descriptions make this map a useful tool for Roche Harbor visitors and residents alike. Designed to help users discover where to stay, what to see, and how to get there, the Roche Harbor map is an elegant display of style meets function.

Click here to explore Roche Harbor.

A recent article in the New York Times caught my eye because it called attention to a trend that I almost didn’t notice as a “trend.” Online video viewing has become such a part of my normal routine that it’s hard to remember six months ago when this wasn’t the case. The article, Rise of Web Video, Beyond 2-minute Clips, discusses the increasing attention spans of web users and their willingness to sit in front of their laptops for longer lengths of time. Viewers are watching everything from their favorite TV shows on hulu.com to YouTube clips and more independent videos from “budding videobloggers” and “podcasters” on blip.tv.  

As this new trend emerges, Wright Strategies is focusing on including more video content on our clients’ sites. We helped Seabrook add videos in a branded way by integrating the YouTube platform into the site. The video galleries page showcases video tours of properties, new town features and TV spots for Seabrook. We’ve also seen some great videos on the KEEN Footwear Blog like this one about FlexibleLove furniture.

We have more video integration in the works, so stay tuned for our upcoming site launches!

Looking for the perfect shoe? We teamed up with KEEN and REI to develop a fun, interactive way to help REI customers find the right shoe for their adventures. The shoe finder tool asks users a series of simple questions regarding their next big adventure, such as where they are going, and how their shoes will be expected to perform. After answering the questions, the customer gets a results page with the perfect shoe and bag options, with links to the REI online shop for easy purchasing. You can see the shoe finder tool here: http://www.telluswheresweeps.com/findproducts.aspx.

While you’re at it, you can enter to win an REI Adventures trip for 4 to spectacular Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon: http://www.telluswheresweeps.com.

My first SXSW Interactive experience was just that, an EXPERIENCE. It’s hard to imagine a five day stretch of time being so utterly consumed from sun up to sun down (and then some) by one fully charged event, but that’s exactly what it was. Five days devoted to learning about the newest trends and philosophies in web strategy, technology, design, marketing and social interactions, and then meeting the many innovators who are making it all happen.

One of the more interesting panel discussions I attended was “Building Strong Online Communities” presented by the leaders and creators of popular and thriving online communities: www.blogher.com, www.fark.com, www.reddit.com and www.arstechnica.com. Each had varying ideas of what led them to success, but a few common themes emerged from their discussions. Here are a few of the key points that all panelists agreed were necessary for success:

• Listen to your audience – users need to feel like they have helped to shape the community if they are going to continue coming back to it.
• Provide an open line of communication between the users and the creators of the community – this can be via email, phone, twitter or instant message, but the users needs to know their voices matter.
• Establish some guidelines for the community and enforce the punishment if users act against them.
  
• Let community members know of any changes that are going to be made well in advance of making them.
• Involve the community in decision making.
• Don’t segment your community too much or you will end up with lots of empty segments instead of fewer, full segments.
• And finally, know that you won’t be able to please everyone all of the time. It’s usually best to stick with majority rule when listening to users.

When the panelists asked the audience “Who here belongs to an online community?” about 99% of the people in the room raised their hands. Next the panelists asked, “Who here is currently developing an online community for at least one of their clients?” I was shocked to see about 75% of hands raised. It became quite clear to me that this is the new trend for brands to connect with their consumer, and I imagine it will continue to grow as more and more communities are developed in association with brand marketing.