The Site Updater: We want you to be in charge of your Web site. To this end, we've developed a system we call the Site Updater, which allows you to easily modify any piece of information on your Web site - from contact information, to corporate profiles, to news, to product pricing - right from your Web browser. Since the Site Updater is accessed through a secure page on your Web site, you can perform updates from any computer with an Internet connection. Updating your Web site should be as simple as sending an email, and with us, it is. Try it out here.

Dynamic Content: With dynamic content, your site is built using modules of information, as opposed to having everything in one piece. The advantage of this is that it's both easy for you to update your site, and easy for us to make your site change with every visit. For instance, if you've got several products you'd like to feature on your homepage, but don't have the room to put them all on at once, you could have them come up randomly in your "featured product" area. Similarly, you could take the items featured on your homepage and make them into specials that appear on every page of your site. To see dynamic pages in action, take a look at chezlatina.com, hvw8.com, and our own home page (remember to hit the "refresh" button after the page has loaded).

E-Commerce: Got something to sell? E-commerce has never been easier. Whether you've got just a few items - or several thousand - we can quickly setup a system that will be just right for you. New features include having orders faxed and emailed to you, advanced traffic analysis, and easy to use editing and billing tools. Take a look at chezlatina.com, imagenetwork.ca, and totechamerica.com for samples of our work.







Statistics: Once your site is live, it will begin to generate statistics about who has come to it, when, from where, and what they looked at. We can take that information and tell you what it means - whether you need more pictures on your home page, or what particular part of your site seems to be the most popular (we can even tell you which item in a product line or portfolio has been most visited). Looking over the keywords that people used to find your site through a search engine, and then seeing what they actually searched for once they got to your site, will help you know what visitors expect to find. The web statistics are vital to understanding how people move through your site, and what they expect to find on it. For that reason, all of our clients receive one month of free analysis.



Database implementation: We offer a number of database solutions, allowing you to convert existing records into an online index that is both easy to update and easy to operate. Additionally, we can design product databases that allow visitors to your site to dynamically narrow down the products that they're interested in. For instance, on a fine foods site, the database might start by asking what kind of food the customer is interested in. If they select Fruits, a list would come up on the same page with a list of all the fruits available. A click on "apples" would then result in a list of all the available kinds of apples, along with photos and links to each.

Email Newsletters (Rich Email): Many sites benefit from letting interested visitors sign up to receive emails when there's new information available on the site. Combined with our Site Updater, we can setup your news adder to automatically email everyone in your email database whenever you add news to the site - either sending them the actual news and images in your update, or a link to your site. Below are five recent examples of email newsletter and announcments we've sent out (click to enlarge):

Secure Client Area: One of the most common problems a modern office goes through is getting digital information to its clients and partners. Sending large amounts of photos, movies, or other documents will at best be a nuisance, and at worst will result in long downloads of unreadable files. To solve this problem, we've developed a "client space" that resides on your Web site, and that can only be accessed by your clients. It contains any information that you'd like them to see - from pictures to movies to invoices. All of the content is accessible from one window, so there's no need for mousing around from one page to another. You can send the images or other content to us for formatting, or you can post it your-self. The framework also allows you to archive all of the information that has been generated for a specific client and then copy it onto a CD. The client can then access the CD just as they would a normal Web site. See an example here.




Media (Flash & Video): One of the most effective ways to make your site stand out is to add Flash to your interface of content presentation. At Solid Sender, we build sites that use Flash exclusively, or only in part. Here are some of our more recent sites that use Flash: Loog Records | Galafilm | Vice Magazine | Totech America. Solid Sender also offers support for all forms of video technology, with the ability to digitize, convert, and compress video that you need online. Click here to see an example of our 3D portfolio as well.




Forums: Forums are one of the most powerful ways of making your Web site into an interactive medium. Essentially, a bulletin board or forum is a place where anyone can talk about issues by posting and replying to various subjects. From private issues, to comparing notes on a new project, forums offer a great way for you to connect with your Web site's visitors. They also generate their own content, so your Web site can grow without your having to be behind every piece of code that's seen. Knowledgeable regulars on your forums can also answer obvious questions for other visitors, much like a real-time FAQ page. Those answers are then stored on the site and can be found by other visitors. Click here to see one of our live forums on the Circa Presents site.



Hosting: We use Hostway for all of our hosting needs.



Books: Lastly, while not a service, we'd like to recommend Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir's "Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed", a great look at what it takes to make an effective Web site. (We recommend the book to all of our clients). The link below will take you to Amazon.com, where you can view samples from the book.