Background

TAKE NOTE I am (arriving August 2nd) at the Hines Blind Rehabiltation Center in Chicage, IL. The stay may be 4-6 weeks or longer. Setting out to prove that I can do all of this online stuff WITHOUT any visual cue.

ALONG WITH walking stick technique, persoanal and living skills along with a host of other skill sets learned at this time. It is an absolutely wonderful opportunity. I am honored to be a part of the program.

STILL TAKING work for and talking websites. However, currently I cannot directly access  my server through the goodies on my laptop, BUT am proving that the editing ONLINE, FROM ANYWHERE and AT ANY TIME is not only possible. It is REALITY. But, since I cannot get to my server any language that says take a look at my portfolio will bring up a blank page. Unfortunately, I cannot currently check out the problem. Thanks. William 

For FREE stats, I have always worked with SiteMeter, but trying out another. The FREE StatCounter. You might want to take a look.

If you are looking for excellent computer anti-virus protection, here are two options that are stellar and FREE. Both are easy downloads from CNET. I give you two, because one is backward compatible to WIN-95. Avast (WIN95/98 ...) and AVG. Personally I use AVG on my XP install, but, use(d) WIN98SE on installs for Sunday School Rotation Model computer rooms. I quit using the paid versions of Norton or McAfee years ago.

And, you might find a need for a Unicode Converter/Encoder. Resting on my server. It is a nice bit of script that allows you to turn standard characters into unicode. Great for obscuring E-mail addresses. Take a look.

Don't have a FAX machine? Send a FREE FAX online. Text, PDF or DOC. Simple. Easy. See FaxZero.Com.

Cleveland Indians Official Website Cleveland Indians: Cleveland.Com Cleveland Indians: Wikipedia ESPN Sports Front Page.

Check Out My Online Website Portfolio
New. Simple Website Creator
Wish to get rid of that Google Analytics install? THIS is the online form.

NOTE that my PRICING schedule is CHANGING.

I will exhibit at the United Church of Christ Annual Ohio Gathering and introduce this schedule which I believe offers more and is more straight-forward.

I am pricing at $345 for the FIRST YEAR which is a complete package INCLUDING a unique home page and template/theme designed by me to meet YOUR needs, domain name (com/org/net of your choice), unique domain aliased E-mail (yourname@yourwebsite.org), hosting, unlimited bandwidth and server storage, maintenance and upgrades, a broadcast E-mail driven newsletter, quick information news blocks and much more. SUBSEQUENT renewal subscriptions (which include EVERYTHING developed for the first year) is costed at $195 per year. Full details soon. William

A good part of my consulting know-how is directed toward congregations and faith institutions. And, a great source for research about that segment can be found at the Hartford Institute. HERE is a direct link to a wonderful resource of links to start you on your quest. Enjoy! For more resources of specific and general interest see my Favorite Links link in the Site Directory.

Pssssssssssssss. I'll let you in on a secret. I have been toying with the robust online software at Blogspot creating my own templates and generating ideas for creating a very functional and traditional look church website. You have to work some tricks, but, the editor is all there for the finding and tweaking. This is very rudimentary, but, take a look at yourchurchon.blogspot.com. I'll be working on this later with time. Read more on God-Space.Net. There will be discussion there and at Church Website Creator. Exciting stuff. Our church now has an emergency contact page on Blogspot HERE. I worked the Claridon header template into it. Kinda neat if I say so myself. And, that special four letter word. FREE.

Oh FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE. Now, it is helpful to have the smarts to make some things interactive with a website. I have the smarts and the tools to make that happen. Alot of that is in my head. But, the more I look, the more I find. All connected to Google. These guys are way too cool. If you have a Google account, that means a G-mail account - not too long ago G-mail was invitation only, but, that is history - go HERE and sign-up for your own G-mail - you also have the ability to work with Google-Pages. I have been tooling around with the same HERE. It is an online editor allowing you to create webpages. And, it works. Now, don' tell me that I ain't a nice guy. Even if you have a website, and, you should, these are excellent platforms to expand your linking and eyeballs. Gosh is it great to be ALIVE .......

SO, WHY PAY FOR ANYTHING? Good Question. Because, there is no better value for domain hosting. Than, HERE. No better value for Content Management. Than, HERE. Anywhere. Plus, I know all the in's and out's. I spell them out. I don't pull punches and I give alot of FREE advice about FREE stuff. That's the skinny.

NOTE that my PRICING schedule has CHANGED.

I will exhibit at the United Church of Christ Annual Ohio Gathering and introduce this schedule which I believe offers more and is more straight-forward.

I am pricing at $345 for the FIRST YEAR which is a complete package INCLUDING a unique home page and template/theme designed by me to meet YOUR needs, domain name (com/org/net of your choice), unique domain aliased E-mail (yourname@yourwebsite.org), hosting, unlimited bandwidth and server storage, maintenance and upgrades, a broadcast E-mail driven newsletter, quick information news blocks and much more. SUBSEQUENT renewal subscriptions (which include EVERYTHING developed for the first year) is costed at $195 per year. Full details soon. William

Get your organization online (the domain of your choice at no additional charge) and hosted on my server. Package includes templates and the editor powered by CMSimple. Simple, easy, efficient, at anytime and from anywhere secure online editing of your website. If you currently use MS FrontPage or any other stand-alone editing program, you most likely are tied to one desktop. That is limiting. With WEBMagic Tools, turn your website maintenance/editing into a team effort. That's a real plus.  This website was built and is edited with the same program. Go HERE for more details.

More Wacky Stuff. The United Church of Christ website is daunting enough with cryptic navigation, FLASH, a scrolling news ticker and Javascript navigation. But, perhaps even worse is the front page of the United Methodist Church - here is a screenshot - with graphics OFF. Cool eh? What are these folks thinking? But, there is more. The image below is the the HOME PAGE of  UnitedMethodist.Org. But, if you got to UMC.Org. Same denomination? Yep. Hmmmmmmmmm. A completely different animal. Gosh, this is hard to keep straight.

For years I have been using a heavily modified Flat-File Calendar program on our church website. It is a really good program (small footprint) especially nice since you do not need a dBase such as MYSQL. However, I am moving the calendar over to phpcommunitycalendar by Appideas. This is another open source GPL, meaning it is FREE for anyone to use. Furthermore, I have created a hack that allows for a tickler on your website providing the events for the current week. You will find this hack in Downloads and can see the hack in action at Claridon Congregational United Church of Christ. I have placed the tickler at the top of the page.

Honor a soldier serving in the United States military at www.soldierprayer.org. Read the prayer and list their name to honor them. Looking for a new look in your website? Looking to develop your first website? Wonder what kind of possibilities William Brandes Consulting can work to your advantage? Check out a short screen shot list of my ONLINE PORTFOLIO. The newest website under-construction is the Kiwanis Club of East Geauga Ohio. The next website could be ...

     Imagination! That is what makes your web presence sing. Of course it takes talent, but, innovation and that particular nuance that gives the site an edge is almost intangible. Strike it up to imagination! 

     First things first. This website is set within a super CMS program called CMSimple. It is a tool with which one is able to create many permutations involving the template which frames this editor space (editing online, all-the-time, from anywhere through admin/password) with which this center content is written. As for me, a bit of background.

     I began WEB work ten years ago when WEB design was still in infancy. I come from a business background with a degree and specialty in marketing. I saw a direct correlation between the development of ways to provide online content and the serving and fulfilling needs of small business, non-profits,  faith institutions and their current or potential target markets. All three institutions could take advantage of the WEB in directing information to the consumer in an effective and efficient manner.

     Alot has changed since 1997, but, some things have remained a constant. The technology has advanced considerably making the WEB an even more potent force in fulfilling your needs as a business or organization leader, but, I still write all of my own code without the use of any editing software except for what sits between my ears and my trusty text editor; notetab.

     Additionally, my costs are the same OR lower than competition AND I offer a personalized service that cannot be provided by commodity developers. So, browse around and see why William Brandes Consulting can create not only online destinations but also build trust and longevity in a business and personal relationship. Speaking of browsing. Just cruising around on the WEB I came across Church in the Net. Take a look at pricing and what you get for the buck. They price much as alot of developers. Packages that include a certain number of pages, so many this and that. With Church Website Creator, worthy for any small organization, business or non-profit, those limitations are gone. And, you can maintain the site to boot. So, look around and compare.

     Give the demo a whirl ant Church Website Creator. The tools are cross applicable to  any organization although those pages are targeted toward faith institutions. Sincerely, William Brandes.

Our family took a day trip to Niagara Falls. From where we live in NE Ohio, traveling through 3 states it took less time than driving to Columbus. Just a nice 2 1/2 hour drive. A great day. The photo above was taken by my wife with her cell phone/camera. The image was manipulated with the FREE image editing program PhotoFiltre. All kinds of goodies including cropping into shapes other than rectangular. This is a great program. I have a link to the download of this program in Downloads.

Submenu

• Complete Site Single Page
• More Interesting Functions
• Testing Amazon Linking
• Tom's Page