We’re hiring!

Job Title: Technical Administrator

Faster Solutions is looking for a creative, energetic and talented Technical Administrator to join our team. This position will work with other designers and programmers in a collaborative, fast-paced environment. Faster Solutions Technical Administrator provides technical support for our client email, server requests,  and performs web site maintenance  and proofing.

Description:

  • Experience with web site building & maintenance using HTML, CSS, & Java Script required.
  • Adobe Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, HTML, XHTML, and CSS knowledge required.
  • Knowledge of Windows and Linux servers required.
  • Knowledge of PHP, ASP.NET and XML required.
  • 4 year degree in Graphic Design, CIS, Web Development, etc. field preferred.
  • 2 years real world experience preferred.
  • Must be a great communicator and handle multi-tasking, scheduling, & meeting deadlines.

Required Skills:

Knowledge in CSS, XHTML, HTML, ASP.NET, PHP, Linux & Windows server environments.

Job Location:

Faster Solutions Inc. 10 E. Superior St. Suite 200 Duluth, MN 55802
How to Apply:

Email: employment@fastersolutions.com

Website: http://www.fastersolutions.com

Work Type:

Weekdays – Full-Time

Posted by on May 1st, 2012

Faster Solutions is Hiring!

Job Title: Web Designer/Developer

Faster Solutions is looking for a creative, energetic and talented Web Developer to join our team. This position will work with other designers and programmers in a collaborative, fast-paced environment.

Description:
•Experience with web site building & designing using HTML, CSS, & Java Script required, maintain existing web sites, and Design HTML email sends.
•Work with and integrate the latest technologies in interactive media – blogs, forums, video, social media, CMS, etc.
•Adobe Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, HTML, XHTML, and CSS knowledge required.
•Knowledge of Windows and Linux servers helpful & desired
•Knowledge of PHP, ASP.NET and XML helpful.
•4 year degree in Graphic Design, CIS, Web Development, etc. field preferred.
•2 years real world experience preferred.
•Web Developer Certification preferred.
•Must be a great communicator and handle multi-tasking, scheduling, & meeting deadlines.

Required Skills:
Knowledge in CSS, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash, XTML, HTML, and Java Script required. Excellent communication and prioritization skills necessary.

Job Location:
Faster Solutions Inc
10 E. Superior St.
Suite 200
Duluth, MN 55802

How to Apply:
Email: employment@fastersolutions.com
Website: http://www.fastersolutions.com

Work Type:
Weekdays – Full-Time

Posted by on May 1st, 2012

Using Facebook’s new Timeline for your Business Pages

FB Logo1 300x113 Using Facebook’s new Timeline for your Business PagesFacebook has made some significant changes since their inception all the way back in 2004. As of March 30th, all Facebook pages were switched to the new Timeline layout. This is probably one of the more significant changes to date.  It is important to learn about these updates and how to leverage them to your company’s advantage.

Where did everything go?

The look and feel of Facebook has had a complete overhaul, luckily the features that you used previously are all still there, and many of them have been enhanced.

The most commonly used feature that has been officially removed is the ability to host a landing page as your welcome page. These landing pages gave the owner the ability to insert links, HTML code, pictures, or other features and have them displayed prominently to the user upon initially accessing a business page. Because of the way the new Timeline works, these landing pages are no longer necessary as other features compensate for the loss. (These custom landing pages are still there, they are just located under your Apps tab, which you can customize to show a button linking to your landing page.)

Cover Photo & Profile Photo

Cover photos are the large images that span the top of your Facebook page. Because of their prominence on the page these photos should present a high quality visual representation of your company or branding. Who you are, what you do, who you work with, these are all things to consider when adding a cover photo. The timeline photo is 850 x 310 px for those custom designing their own. Facebook also makes it easy to crop or move the photo if you were to upload a larger file size.

There are some Facebook mandated limitations to cover photo, for more information on what you can’t do click here.

Profile Photos are the small square at the top of the page which overlaps your cover photo and displays as your avatar when any posts are made. A company logo or another small eye-catching image that is closely associated to your brand should be used here.  This image looks best if it has been saved as 125 x 125 px. (Be aware that if you’ve previously had a horizontal image uploaded, it may have been squished to fit into the 125 x 125 px constraint.

Milestones

Milestones allow you to highlight events in the history of your company. You can add company milestones such as big events, old photos of company personnel, products, outdated branding, etc. This builds interest on your page, and helps visitors to feel connected with your business.

Pin Posts

Before the Timeline change went into effect, all posts placed on your Facebook page were organized from top to bottom in sequential order. With the new changes, you now have the ability to pin important articles for up to a week at the top of your page. Maybe you have an upcoming event, or have a current sale or special you want your customers to know about. Make sure you are pinning these types of posts to the top of your page to gain the most reach to your fans.

Admin Panel

The Admin panel is a fantastic addition and gives you a much better representation of how you are engaging your audience through your posts. The main features include:

  • Notifications: This area displays all the activity on your page, allowing you to respond or take action quickly.
  • New Likes: Displays the most recent fans to have liked your page.
  • Insights: This area gives you a graphical representation of your pages reach to fans. This will help you determine what type of posts and activity are drawing users to your pages.
  • Messages: Companies can’t directly message their fans; however, fans can now send messages to a company’s page. This will present a new communication path for your customers previously not available. Messages are a great way to receive direct feedback, answer questions, and convert and save customers. Make sure you are responding to these quickly as customer interaction will attract more loyalty than advertising ever could.

Star Posts

A star is now available in the top right hand corner of all posts to your page. Clicking this star will span the post across the entire width of the page, which is great if you’re posting large photos or have a large article to display.

Conclusion

It is important to embrace the changes of Timeline. This lets your business tell a story in a visually-rich and artistic fashion. This new tool has amazing potential to be a great advertising avenue. Our staff at Faster Solutions is well trained in Facebook advertising and marketing, and all other social media sources. Give us a call today to speak with one of our marketing and social media specialists!

Posted by on April 13th, 2012

Think Less to make your site the best! – Advantages of Minimal Web Design

iStock 000016664246XSmall Think Less to make your site the best! – Advantages of Minimal Web Design

With minimal web design the focus is to give more emphasis to the vital content of a web page. This approach removes unnecessary complexities from your design, letting the information you want to convey shine through to your customers or viewer base.

The average user spends a very small amount of time on any given web page. A common misconception of new website owners is that these users will be coming to their websites and spending time looking through all the pages and content. Unfortunately, instant gratification is becoming more and more of a requirement in our society, and more often than not these users are spending only a few seconds on a page and moving on just to get the specific information they are looking for. This is a very short time in which to grasp their attention. If that user is not able to quickly pinpoint the important elements, something that is very common on over designed websites, they are very likely to go try somewhere else.

The more items (content, images, banners, or otherwise) a web page contains the less impact those elements are going to have to your users. The minimal design approach removes clutter from a page, which in turn can limit distractions that will divert your users away from the items you want them to see.

A big step in moving towards this minimal approach is finding the elements on your webpage that do not need to be there, rather than trying to focus on the ones that do. Making sure there is available whitespace between elements gives those important elements a chance to shine through and grab the users’ attention. Before adding that 5th picture of your store front to your contact us page, ask yourself if it is really going to be important for the user to see that 1 picture. And then ask yourself if reducing the already existing 4 images would make you lose any value in the information that needs to be presented to your user.

Content is king with the copy of a webpage, but it is not necessary to write 1500 words for something that can just as easily be said in 150. Look through your copy and see if there’s any way you can split the content into different pages instead, or remove dialog that is being repeated throughout. Your users will thank you when they need to find out your billing address and they only have 5 minutes before they head out the door to work!

Above all else make sure whatever content you put on a webpage is of the highest quality: images, banners, copy, videos, ect. A crisp, clean, HD quality banner is going to almost always catch a user’s eye before a low quality, pixelated banner will. Copy is no exception. Misspellings, bad grammar, and run-on sentences are almost always going to divert a user’s attention away from what you want them to read in the first place.

Our Designers and Developers at Faster Solutions are trained to make the best of your website using these design techniques. Contact our offices today to speak with a Customer Service representative about a minimalistic design for your new website. Or if you already have a website, we would love to review it with you to see where we can reduce and/or restructure your already existing content. Remember… A little bit goes a LONG way!

Posted by on February 8th, 2012

Internet Presence is Crucial for Small Businesses

iStock 000009047718XSmall1 300x199 Internet Presence is Crucial for Small BusinessesHow many of you have had something break at home and needed to find a repair person or company? What is the first thing you do? Of course, you search online!

While completing some home repairs recently, I found it difficult to find a reputable repair company. During my search, I was surprised at how many of the service companies didn’t have a website.

After my online search proved unsuccessful, I did the next best thing – asked around to see who was best. Two service providers came up as the top in the area and I still couldn’t find a website for either of them. After all was said and done, I did pick one of those companies and was extremely pleased with their service and professionalism.

Why is a website so important today?
Consumers are bombarded with information and most people use the internet as their primary research tool. Although some companies that have been in business for many years can survive on word-of-mouth, most small businesses would benefit from a web presence.

Benefits of having on online marketing tool:

  • Resource and Information
    Your business is unique and the services you provide might be very different than your competitors. A website allows you to tell your story and answer frequently asked questions. Having this information online frees up your time to be more productive.
  • Lead Generator
    Most small businesses can’t be on call 24/7. A website can be equipped to allow users to contact you at any time of the day, allowing you to obtain more clients.
  • Accountability
    Although there is a lot of question about trust on the Internet these days, having a website can help your customers to feel more confident in your business. Providing customer testimonials, reviews and other information about your business are easy ways to build that trust between you and clients.
  • Get noticed!
    Competition is only getting tougher and tougher in today’s market. Make sure your information is presented professionally and can be found easily while users search for your company.

If you are a small business and want a web presence, there are many tools out there to get you started. If you are still feeling apprehensive about getting your feet wet, we recommend you work with a professional web development company to lead you through the process. Creating a web presence generates leads, allows you to be more productive and can provide additional revenue.

Posted by on February 2nd, 2012

Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page

LinkedIn has always had a reputation as one of the most popular business social media tools, and it’s important not to neglect your LinkedIn account while focusing your attention on Facebook and Google+ for business. Most people use their LinkedIn personal accounts much differently than their personal Facebook accounts, making this an excellent tool for business networking. LinkedIn has been a business tool from the beginning (and arguably the original social media source for business networking and growth). LinkedIn is specifically a business tool because of your ability to post your resume and experience, while searching for other professionals based on their skills and credentials listed on LinkedIn. You can endorse coworkers or business partners, and post others’ recommendations of your work on your profile. It is an outstanding tool for recruiting and building professional relationships.

From a business standpoint, LinkedIn’s tools allow you to build a very detailed and professional company profile to attract new customers. You are able to post your products and services and request recommendations for these services. LinkedIn also gives you the opportunity to to post a “Recommend” link on your website (check out our button here: http://www.fastersolutions.com/services/websitedesign/). We recommend creating a fully optimized LinkedIn business page, and requesting all employees to create and optimize their own LinkedIn profiles. With these employees following your business page, you will begin to build more awareness for your company page through social networking.

screenshot 300x300 Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page

An example of listing your products and services.

In order to fully optimize your LinkedIn profile, keep these additional tips in mind:

  • It is important to make sure all information fields are complete and written with the appropriate keywords, particulary the company overview as this will appear as the meta description in the search engines. (Using keywords in your description fields is important for any social media company page.)
  • Use your careers tab to post any job openings. This gives your page the opportunity to reach any job seeker using LinkedIn.
  • You also want to make sure you are posting status updates from your company page with the appropriate keywords. Daily updates are recommended.
  • Make sure you are taking advantage of every tool LinkedIn offers you, like the services page we mentioned earlier. This is a frequently forgotten area of the LinkedIn company page.
  • Don’t forget about the analytics tab. While this doesn’t require any action from you, it will help you to understand what members are doing. This includes who is viewing your company page, how often they are visiting, and where they are coming from. A particularly helpful tool is the comparative snapshot, comparing the followers of your company to those of your potential competitors.

It will always be important to get out in front of the public eye by way of tradeshows and networking events. A handshake and a business card may get the dialogue started, but people will turn to your business on social media sites, particularly LinkedIn, to keep the conversation going.

Posted by on January 25th, 2012

Marketing Your Business on Pinterest

Pinterest Logo fs Marketing Your Business on Pinterest

A new site on the social media horizon is Pinterest. You’ve probably heard a lot of buzz about this new site, but many people find Pinterest to be confusing and many say they “just don’t get it” or they fear they are using it wrong. Pinterest is an online pinboard where you can share and organize your favorite images with your friends. You are also able to browse others’ pinboards. Some of the most popular subjects on Pinterest include recipes, DIY projects, home organization, fitness motivation, wedding planning, travel images and many more. The user logs onto the site, clicks on an image they find interesting, and then clicks through again to reach the images origin site, such as a blog or website describing or selling the product. The user can also view comments from anyone else using Pinterest, regardless if they are following that particular Pinner or not. By using Pinterest, you can find new things that inspire you, encourage you to create, or plan your next vacation! At this point in time, you must either request an invite or be invited by someone you know. The invites can be sent either through the website or social media sources like Facebook and Twitter.

pinterest1 1024x519 Marketing Your Business on Pinterest

An example of what a Pinterest user could see on the site.

Who should get excited about marketing their businesses on Pinterest?

  • Companies with seasonal specific products. Because Pinterest is a real-time sharing site, if you were to log on right now, you would already begin to see ideas for Valentine’s Day being posted, from V-Day cupcake recipes, to hand made Valentine’s cards to make with your kids.
  • Artists of all kinds should market their work on Pinterest – photographers, painters, etc. It is important to make sure that your image links to a website or blog where the user is able to learn more about your product and buy it if they are interested. Pinterest and Etsy.com (the online marketplace) make great marketing and selling tools when used together.
  • Restaurants and bakers can use Pinterest to post mouth-watering photos of their creations, link to their website or a blog sharing their recipe or cooking secrets.
  • Businesses in the wedding industry can easily reach potential brides (or anyone planning a wedding) on Pinterest.
  • New companies or a company with a new product launching can quickly create buzz on this site.
  • Vacation destinations or businesses in the tourism industry can post photos of their lodging options to build interest in their location.
  • Post your coupons and QR codes on Pinterest to really build your next promotion.
There are a few things to remember to make your Pinterest campaign more successful. Images are everything. Quality photography is the largest factor to getting your pin noticed on Pinterest. Videos can also be posted, so for the most attention to your video, make sure the screen shot is an attention grabbing one. (Of course, photos and videos of pets and babies are almost guaranteed to get a lot of attention.. if that would work with your business.)
To get the Pinners headed in the right direction, make sure your image links to your blog or an appropriate landing page to keep them on your website. Call to action buttons will also encourage them to explore other areas and pages of your site.

We’ve heard many people say it..  Pinterest can be more addicting (and more fun) than Facebook! That being said, now is the time to get involved with Pinterest. If you are interested in learning more about Pinterest internet marketing ideas, how to make it work for your specific company, or if you would like help getting started, give our marketing team a call or email us. Today is a great time to get started.

Happy Pinning!

Posted by on January 19th, 2012

We’re Hiring!

Job Title:     Web Marketing Manager/SEO Specialist

Faster Solutions is looking for a creative, energetic and talented Web Marketing Manager/SEO Specialist to join our team. This position will work with other web marketing managers and developers in a collaborative, fast-paced environment. This candidate must be an eager, ambitious, & hard worker who is talented and knowledgeable in SEO.

Description:

  • Consult with clients to determine goals and implement an SEO & CPC strategy based on analysis.
  • Manage client analytics reports according to the client’s goals and KPI.
  • Manage client SEO programs and record results.
  • Recommend new SEO/SEM strategies, Internet marketing and advertising technologies, and current Internet trends to clients.
  • Work with the analytics and research to track results and trends.
  • Perform SEO & Marketing Campaign services for clients
  • Perform Social Media and all online marketing efforts for clients.
  • Evaluate & create monthly marketing reports
  • Maintain ongoing customer relations with clients as their account manager.
  • Schedule and participate in meetings with clients to review marketing strategy regularly.
  • Execute new marketing client procedures.
  • Activate and execute email sends.
  • Assist Customer Service.
  • Assist Mkt./Sales Director/Owner’s with miscellaneous duties
  • Execute for Mkt./Sales Director/Owners all projects/tasks related to Faster Solutions marketing.
  • Complete Expo/Tradeshow booth organization and preparation.
  • Other

Recommended Skills:

  • 2+ years of demonstrated experience in SEO/SEM/CPC.
  • Knowledge in Google Analytics and Google AdWords recommended.
  • Knowledge in Facebook Insights and Ads, Twitter, and YouTube is a plus.
  • Community networking is a plus.
  • Experience working directly with clients, presentations and negotiation and pricing conversations.
  • Content and link building experience.
  • Knowledge of HTML, XHTML, CSS, and Rich Media Formats.
  • Familiarity with SMO preferred.
  • Interested in numbers & conversion rates/ROI analysis.
  • Comfortable talking on the phone and in a tradeshow environment.

Job Location:
Faster Solutions Inc
10 E. Superior St.
Suite 200
Duluth, MN 55802

How to Apply:
Email: employment@fastersolutions.com
Website: http://www.fastersolutions.com

Work Type: 
Weekdays – Full-Time

Posted by on January 6th, 2012

Happy Holiday’s from Faster Solutions!

During this holiday season, we’d like to thank you for your continued business. It’s clients like you who make our jobs a pleasure and keep our company successful! May your holiday season and the new year be filled with much joy, happiness and success. You mean the world to us!

Posted by on December 21st, 2011

Diagnosing Email Issues

Working in service, I can say that easily the most common issues our clients encounter are email related, usually with Outlook.  Outlook is a Microsoft product that is used primarily as an email client, but which also provides a calendar, task-manager, RSS feed, journal, and contact book.  Microsoft released the first version of Outlook in 1997.  Outlook Express is a similar Microsoft mail client that was included with Internet Explorer versions 4 through 6, which was first released in 1998.  Outlook is currently the most popular email client in use, and is also more popular than many web-based email platforms, such as Hotmail or Gmail.  Other popular desktop mail clients include Apple Mail and Thunderbird.  email clients Diagnosing Email Issues

When you are having email issues in your email client, there are a few things to check right away to help you figure out what the problem is.

Before anything else, try sending or checking email from your web-based option.  For Faster Solutions clients, this is usually at webmail.yourdomain.org.  If everything works fine from the webmail, then the problem is likely to be with your email client.

Once you have determined whether the issue also exists on the webmail, the first question to answer is whether you are getting an error message.  Do you get a message when you start the email client?  Do you get a message when you try to send/receive?  Are you receiving a bounce-back or not?  A bounce-back or non delivery report is the email message that you sometimes get telling you that an email you tried to send failed.  If it seems like you are not receiving email as normal or know that someone sent you an email that you didn’t receive, you should find out if the sender got a bounce back.    These failure messages usually have important information that can help you or your email host figure out what’s going wrong.  It’s also important to note whether you get the messages every time you send an email, or only in certain cases.

warning Diagnosing Email Issues

If you are getting bounce-back emails (or someone trying to send to you is getting them) give the message a quick read.  Sometimes the problem is obvious, like “mail box full.”  This means that the receiving mail box has too much data in it. If the owner of that mailbox deletes some messages, you should be able to get through.  Even when it isn’t clear exactly what the problem is, that information can help your tech dept or email host determine what the problem is and how to correct it.   A note on bounce-back emails:  if you don’t recall sending the message in the first place, the message might be fake.  As such, don’t try to open any attachments. 

The second thing to do is confirm that all of your settings are correct.  One thing I have noticed is that even if your email has been working fine until now, and you haven’t changed anything, it never hurts to confirm.  Once in a while, things might get reset accidentally.  If you are using Faster Solutions as your email host, you can find instructions for setting up email on our website.  You can also refer to these instructions when double checking your settings; the steps will be a little different, but the information should match.  Important things to check are the password, port numbers, and whether you have authentication turned on.

If you can’t seem to send email, but you aren’t getting an error message or bounce back and you have already checked your settings, take a look in your outgoing mail folder.  Sometimes messages get “stuck” at this stage, for a number of reasons – the message might be too large, or it might be corrupted.  Try clearing out the outgoing mail folder and sending something else.  If, once you’ve emptied the outgoing folder you can send other email, then you know that one of the messages that was in it was the problem.  You may want to try them one by one, or try removing attachments which may be too large.

help 150x150 Diagnosing Email IssuesIf you’ve taken a look through the settings to no avail and checked for error messages, it is probably a good idea to contact your tech dept or email host.  Faster Solutions’ clients can submit this form for email issues.  That support form is monitored Monday through Friday, 8:00 – 4:30, except on holidays, and you will receive a prompt reply.  When you do contact support, it is important to include some of the information from above: any error or bounce back messages, what your settings are, what email client you are in (and version), when the issue occurs, and anything else that seems important.  We’re here to help, and it’s important to have all of the information so that we can do so.

Posted by on November 30th, 2011