Welcome Shallotte Presbyterian Church

on October 30th, 2012

We’d like to welcome Shallotte Presbyterian Church to TapTrend Website Hosting Services.

The church’s website was previously hosted on an aging server with an outdated software stack. The stack wasn’t compatible with modern content management systems and the site was suffering.

Luckily we were able to quickly migrate the site and all it’s content over to the TapTrend servers with minimal down time. Plans are in the works for additional site content updates that are now possible. Everyone’s happy!

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Walgreens Uses Passbook for Loyalty Card

on September 20th, 2012

Some retailers have been quick to implement Apple’s Passbook application launched in iOS 6.  While it’s too soon to say if Passbook will be a success, those companies able to implement it quickly will certainly see a benefit.

Walgreens has seen huge spikes in App downloads since the iOS 6 launch.  The latest Walgreens App version has been highlighted by Apple in the Passbook “room.”

There’s been initial confusion on what constitutes a Passbook “Pass.”  Walgreens’ allows you to put your Walgreens Balance Rewards loyalty card in Passbook, but many customers have incorrectly assumed that also means the Walgreens coupons would be available in Passbook as well.

Only time will tell if this initial confusion has turned consumers off from using Passbook, or if there will be continued adoption.

 

Understanding Social Communities

on November 22nd, 2010

When building social communities, it’s so easy to believe the mantra: “Build it, and they will come.” Sadly, that’s not usually the case. Understanding the community you’re building for is much more important than how you build it.  When building the Holden Beach Facebook Page, we started by understanding the dynamics of the Holden Beach community.  People love living and visiting Holden Beach and have a very real, emotional connection to the place.  Developing a social community gave people a way to maintain that connection.  That relationship is what’s important.

Chris Grams, a writer and communications strategist, highlights this point in “Avoid the tool trap when building communities,” an article on opensource.com.  He reminds us to ask “What are the values” of a community not necessarily what tool do I use to build it.

Read the full article: “Avoid the tool trap when building communities“

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Marketing is a System

on November 18th, 2010
Marketing is often difficult for small businesses because it can feel like a broad, ambiguous field.  They know they should “do” marketing, but it’s so easy to think of marketing as sales.  John Jantsch, the founder and writer of Duct Tape Marketing, culled down the basics of marketing into a 7 step process that we feel gives the absolute best representation of marketing.

Marketing is a system that must be developed and improved continuously, just like a distribution or purchasing system.   Below is John’s summary of the steps.  We urge you to reach the full article at the AMEX Open forum as well.

  1. Develop strategy before tactics – Base all decisions on an ideal customer and core message of difference
  2. Embrace The Marketing Hourglass – Look at every potential prospect and customer touchpoint and design a remarkable experience
  3. Adopt the publishing model. – Commit to producing content that builds trust and educates
  4. Create a total web presence. – Develop a plan that takes advantage of the SEO and social media aspects of being found
  5. Orchestrate the lead generation trio. – Use technology to create multiple ways to generate leads via advertising, public relations, and referrals
  6. Drive a lead conversion system. – Develop a sales system that everyone in the organization can use from initial contact to results review
  7. Live by the marketing calendar. – Make marketing a habit by establishing monthly, weekly and daily action steps

Read the full story: 7 Steps to Creating a Sure-Fire Marketing System

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Client News: Server Updates

on November 13th, 2010

Hello friends,

We’ll be doing regularly scheduled server upgrades over the next 24 hours. This should be a seamless process with ZERO downtime for those who are hosting with us. If for some reason you do have difficulty connecting to TapTrend hosted resources, please let us know immediately.

The upgraded servers will allow us to offer new, improved services to our customers. Stay tuned for news and updates in the coming weeks.

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