As a church, service company, charity, or retailer, are you getting the most out of your eCommerce website? With Christmas behind us, I reflected on my own spending trends. About 90% of my holiday purchases were made online. TIME Business & Money says that I wasn’t alone – online store spending increased over 17% from the previous year’s numbers! Online shopping has become an undeniable appeal to consumers, who can save time and often money by using virtual stores. Truth be told, Andy Chandler of the YCP team says that he hardly ever sees a “standard e-commerce site.” Most clients are unique, requiring custom solutions. “Many of our websites are services driven or are donation based. For example, some of our clients are only selling digital products, so shipping and inventory don't play a role - but secure delivery does. Backstage is designed to handle any type of sto...
Read More
Justin Murphy and I are really into the show Shark Tank right now! I guess it's the entrepreneurial spirit in our house that attracts us to it. On a recent episode, we watched a lady selling a sort of marker used to identify different meats after grilling. The product was clever and had attractive packaging. The owner seemed level-headed and mature in the videod background story shown before her pitch began. But there was something about her presentation that struck us as strange: This professional, articulate woman showed up at the pitch in a red, polka-dotted, retro-type dress and full out winged eyeliner. We couldn't understand it. To us, she seemed more like Minnie Mouse than a professional businessperson! The look she sported just didn't match the brand she represented. On the other hand, a pair of business partners selling a type of grease cleaner for cyclists ...
Read More
Did you get a shiny new tech-toy for Christmas? My dad and stepmom did. They proudly FaceTime-ed me from their new iPad, and when I "hung up," they were busy trying to wrestle the device back from my 18-year-old sister. Tablets and smart phones easily transcend generational barriers. In fact, data collected by NPD DisplaySearch projects that tablets will outsell notebooks by 2016. Why does this matter? I'll give you a hint . . . your website! Problem? Solution. Ethan Marcotte explains the problem this way: "We’re faced with a greater number of devices, input modes, and browsers than ever before." While it's possible to design separate packages for each of the different platforms (desktop, tablet, smart phone, mini-tablet), there's a better solution, and we predict you'll hear a lot about it this year. The solution is responsive web design, in which we create an attrac...
Read More
What's new with YCP in 2012? We wanted to take the opportunity to get you up-to-date on what's happening with the team! It's been a great year for YCP as a business, but also for our team members personally. David Dierking, our Lead Developer, tied the knot! Most of us made the trip to Rock Hill, NC to be present at the ceremony and we're so happy to have Ciara present at our team events now. Though it's hard to ever get a picture of David smiling (he says he is always smilling inside!), we all can testify that he was full of grins on his special day, and it seems like the lunches he's bringing in are better quality these days! Senior Interactive Designer, Michael Golus, has always been active and this year he took up sport climbing at a local climbing gym The Mountain Goat (did you know we had a climbing gym in Greenville??). Michael's artistic side goes beyond graph...
Read More