leandra's blog

While meeting with a non-profit group this week, they mentioned how difficult it was to update their calendar of events and expressed frustration that the calendar was often out of date. I suggested creating a specific Google calendar for all of their organization's events, then embedding the code into the website. My client was already using this web-based calendar tool with her Gmail account, so it would be an easy task to keep this calendar current on her desktop. The best part? All changes will automatically update as long as you are connected to the internet, or the next time you are online.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

• Log into Gmail and click on the “Calendar” link on the top left.
• Look for the section called “My Calendars” on the left sidebar. Click on “Create”.
• Fill in the information requested. Keep in mind that whatever you name the calendar can be shown on the web page (but it doesn’t have to be).
• Click “Create Calendar” at the bottom of the page.
• You should now have a new calendar showing up under “My Calendars”. Here’s how you add items to it...
• Click on a day and add an item title, time frame and other information. Between the “Where” and “Description” information there should be a tab where you can select the name of the calendar in which you want that item to appear. Select your new calendar, then hit save.
• To embed a calendar, click on “Settings” under the “My Calendars” section.
• Click on the name of the calendar that you want to display.
• Scroll down the page until you see “Embed this Calendar” and click on the “Customize the color, size, and other options” link.
• From here, you can select the monthly/weekly/daily calendar view and whether or not the title shows up, etc. Play around until you figure out what settings you like. One thing to keep in mind is that you probably want the table size to be no wider than about 500 pixels (the default is 800 pixels), but check your existing layout for specifications.
• After you make all your changes, click on the “Update HTML” button at the top of the page.
• Copy and paste the code into your web page where you want the calendar to appear. Keep in mind that if you are using Wordpress or a WYSIWYG editor (like Dreamweaver), you need to be in the html view (not the visual view) or the calendar will just show up as a bunch of code.
• You did it! Every time you update this calendar it will automatically update in your web page. Nice!

Our Net Tuesday presentation is available here for those who missed the meeting earlier this week. Enjoy and feel free to contact me with any questions!

This Tuesday, January 13, Elizabeth Turnbull from Turnbull Marketing Group and I will be giving a presentation at the Triangle Net Tuesday meetup about a nonprofit that benefited from our website redesign and revamped marketing plan.

We will share what went into the online transformation and how the improved website attracted a high profile visit and national press coverage for the organization.

Come meet us and hear about what you can do to make sure your organization has a website worthy of your mission!

Most people are embarrassed if they stand out in a crowd. No one wants to be the most over (or under) dressed person at a party and no one wants to be the loud voice still going when the music mysteriously stops. (Trust me, I've been there.)

However, you should not be afraid to to let your business stand out! The unique thing that sets you apart is the very thing you should be shouting from the rooftops, especially if you are competing with lots of other people. Katya Andresen, of the Non-Profit Marketing Blog, wrote a great article about a speech she gave at the NC Center for Non-profits annual conference. It's a small lesson about not having control over what people remember about you.

Marketing experts call this your USP, a unique selling proposition. Basically, think about what makes you different and use it to your advantage.

As for me? I like to build websites that are both beautiful AND accessible. Creative AND functional. Oh, and you'll always see me with something orange.

Adding Google Analytics to your site is a wonderful (and free!) way to track what your visitors are doing. How many people visit your organization's about page? Are people clicking through or just leaving after they land on your home page? Is that new print campaign generating any traffic? You won't have any idea without this tool.

To start, you'll need to sign up for a Google Analytics account. The Google Analytics homepage will take you through the process of setting up your account and you don't have to have a gmail account for this, any email address will be fine.

Once you are registered, log in to the Google Analytics control panel and click "Add Website Profile" on the bottom left to get started. On the Website Profile page make sure "Add a Profile for a new domain" is selected and type your URL into the box. Select the correct time zone to get an accurate account of what time of day your visitors are on your website. Click "continue".

Google will automatically generate the code for your website, all you have to do is copy and paste it into your pages. If you have static pages (html only), I would start by putting the code on the main pages of your site, i.e. your homepage, the about page, and so on. If your site is built using CSS or with a content management system like Wordpress or Drupal, you can add the code to the footer.php file and all your pages will be tracked when that file is read. Google prefers that you add their line of code just before the end body tag [/body].

Once you've had the code on your site for a few days, you'll naturally be curious about who's visiting, so to see your web statistics, click on "View Reports" on the control panel page. Click around using the navigation on the left to learn more about where your visitors came from and what pages they looked at on your site.

Google Analytics is a helpful tool that will allow your organization to see where your visitors are spending time on your site and enable you to make improvements based on solid tracking data.