Seven1 Group Blog Archives

One of the great pleasures of my job as a web developer is helping out the small businesses of Indiana.  I’m a born-and-bred Hoosier and grew up in southern Indiana.  My father was an Indiana business owner – he owned a restaurant near Martinsville for years (The Waverly Inn – “the place for catfish”). To be a part of that small business community is in my blood, you could say.

One of the reasons I enjoy working with Indiana small businesses on their websites is the satisfaction of helping someone succeed.  Many businesses out there are missing the boat on getting a new website that integrates with all of the newest technologies – they are missing important opportunities to connect with their customers.

Consider our newest client – the Blue Crew Sports Grill.  We will be re-designing their website in the coming months.  Imagine the potential to reach out to customers through Twitter and Facebook during the Colt’s amazing playoff run!   For restaurants like Blue Crew, we can set up their site so that a simple update to their website will also update their most loyal customers through online social networks.  Harnessing new technologies that provide instant communication does one simple thing – it gets the word out.  And most importantly, it gets the word out to receptive targets – people who have chosen to “subscribe” to what you have to say.

My father founded a business on customer loyalty.  Great service bears great referrals.  Websites can help make that referral process easier.

The other great part of doing websites for Indiana small businesses is simple Hoosier hospitality.  I have made some good friends in my line of work.  One of my favorite clients to visit is Alex at the Delicious Bakery-Cafe.  Alex is the co-owner of the Delicious Bakery-Cafe, which is coffee shop/bakery/cafe in downtown Westfield.  Not only is the food and bakery items and amazing, but it is the friendliest service in town.  We finished up a very simple, cost efficient site for Alex just this month.  He is already reaching out to customers using Facebook and Twitter, and having him is a client is the perfect excuse to pop into his shop for a coffee and some pleasant conversation.

Alex, who is from Mexico, told me that once you do business with the Hispanic community, “it is like being family”. 

That, to me, sounds like a worthy way to conduct business.

We did it! Our first high profile web development project has been rolled out: the new site for the Indy Blue Crew.

The ultimate NFL Colts Fan community!

The Indy Blue Crew is the fan club for the NFL Indianapolis Colts.  They wanted a sharp looking site that really enhanced their sense of community, but also improved communication with group members.

The new site now allows administrators to easily post and categorize news, events and announcements.  They can upload video, pictures and other multimedia as well.

The site imports news feeds of interest (NFL and Colts news), and also generates its own RSS Feed for Colts fans.  The site also links to Facebook and gives users a chance to share favorite articles using their own Facebook page.

We are really pleased with the results of this Colts NFL fan website – and the feedback has been very positive so far. 

And our partnership with the Blue Crew isn’t over – we will soon be doing a website makeover for the Blue Crew Sports Grill starting soon.

Hopefully all this good karma for Seven1 will payoff big time – and by that I mean a Colts victory over the Jets in the AFC Championship on Sunday.