Web Design
The Challenge
When Dan and Lori Reyes, owners of Rocco's Italian Ice came to us with the idea of creating a new water ice brand in Philadelphia we were more than excited! With 6 locations opening in North Philly within weeks of each other we had a lot of work to do in a short amount of time, and we were starting from scratch.
The Solution
Rocco's needed a presence on the web and they needed it fast! We decided to create their website in Joomla using the Panacea template from RocketTheme. Setting up hosting on The Rackspace Cloud is always a breeze and in no time their website was designed and ready for use. Since we planned on heavy traffic (which is common in the Philadelphia area) we decided to use the JomCDN plugin from CorePHP. JomCDN integrates with Amazon AWS and in no time Amazon was caching copies of the site around the world. The site also features RSFormPRO & RSFirewall software from RS Joomla, MailChimp integration, live Philadelphia weather, integrated maps, links to social media sites (that we created) and an online employment application.
The Result
These results are a bit premature but one week after opening the first store the site has seen over 5,000 page views and 35 employment applications. The Facebook page we created has over 450 fans and there are still 5 more stores that haven't opened yet! This is just the beginning!
Stay tuned for more updates on Rocco's Italian Ice.
Assessing the Situation
When Stacey, from Truly Custom Cakery (who happens to be my sister), contacted us and asked us to help her out with her online communication we jumped at the chance.
Stacey had started a bake shop out of her home a few years back and since then has been using online communications such as her blog, website, facebook and twitter as ways to build her business. Her rise to local fame is nothing short of impressive and when you combine that with the knowledge that she's also a mother of two and wife, well, it's even more impressive.
So when Stacey came to us, she was having trouble keeping up with everything that was going on with her communications. See they were all working for her and they were all working well.
It Was At This Point That We Got To Work
The first thing we did was streamline the communications. Stacey had a lot of great photos and baking tutorials that were on her blog but there wasn't a lot of follow up. We helped her transfer her main blog posts to her website so she could have better interaction with her readers. Deleting the blog or transferring the blog wasn't an option because it wasn't under her own personal web address and she didn't want to lose her faithful blog readers (insert plug for personal domain names).
After we transferred the blog content over, we helped Stacey link all of her accounts together. So now on her website you can easily see what social sites she is on. Then as the grand finale we set her up with an email newsletter and linked that to all of her outlets and an online store.
So What Happened?
I'm glad you asked. The whole process was a huge success. Her website traffic exploded from a couple hundred hits a day to thousands of hits. Her tutorials spread all over the web like wildfire and Davis Services Group was able to enjoy some Truly Custom Crunch!
In November 2010 we had the priviledge of working with Timmons & Company on a rebranding project for Calvary Baptist Seminary in Lansdale, PA. Timmons & Company 
provided the design for the site, via a Photoshop template. We decided to use the the Crystalline template from Rockettheme which is now unrecognizable. The new website features social media links to Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress and an e-newsletter, all of which were rebranded to match the new site design.
After the site launched in the beginning of January we ran an online advertising campaign for an upcoming confence using Facebook, Google Adwords and Linked In. The ads targeted specific demographics, locations, groups, organizations, etc and drove close to 1200 people to the conference page on their new website for just over $1,500. There were close to 3 million ad impressions! Facebook proved to be the leader for impressions, clicks, and value.
Advertising Statistics:
Linked In: 69,617 impressions, 12 clicks, $4.32 CPC, $51.82 spent - targeted people in ministry positions
Facebook: 2,813,071 impressions, 1,034 clicks, $0.62 CPC, $645.97 spent - targeted specific "fans"
Google Adwords: 63,876 impressions, 144 clicks, $1.86 CPC, $268.34 spent - targeted using keywords
During the conference we launched another website for conference feedback and to promote future conferences at www.advancingthechurch.org. The Advancing the Church website uses the Tachyon template from Rockettheme and the following Joomla components which provide a forum, integrated Twitter feed, feedback forms, Facebook and Twitter authentication, and more.
