Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind” was the Billboard number one country album of the year in 1982 earning two Grammy Awards. Selling records is not very different from SEO (search engine optimization), let us explain.

For over 50 years, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America's entrepreneurs and small business owners. As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S.Small Business Administration takes the opportunity to highlight the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs, s...

Ross McCammon's recent article in Entrepreneur "Pick Up The Damn Phone" highlights a complaint many clients experience - they can't call and talk with anyone. This experience stems not from failed returned calls but due to firms burying or going so far to not even list their phone number on their website. McCammon endorses "...the telephone as the most valuable form of com...

Content calendars are structured to help you achieve content success on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. This schedule allows consistent engagement for your audience and followers on social media. Additional benefits include a multichannel approach to distribution, enhanced content due to planning, and measuring the strategy of promotion. Step 1 - ContentDecide on the ca...

Supplychain4me.com is a website that connects those who are interested in supply chain careers with insightful educational programs. It also informs visitors about the different types of careers that make up supply chain professionals. This was a fun project to work on, not only because it brought work with a great client, but it presented an opportunity to expand the exte...

The first day of fall has come and gone. With it I said good bye and best wishes to intern Eric, who has started his freshman year of college. Eric came to Danico as a high school junior with an interest in computers. He learned the basics such as HTML and CSS along with content management system Joomla! As part of my welcome address for the 2016 JoomlaDay C...

One of our favorite extensions is RSForms! Pro. We use it a lot! Awhile ago we created a form for one of our clients with textboxes, dropdown lists, etc and connected it with a RSEvents! Pro event.  Then the client asked that one of the dropdown lists be required. Ok, so change the validation from no to yes. All done, right?  Well, not quite.  Because we'd s...

There’s a huge fight happening in your Facebook News Feed right now - and we’re not talking about all those guys from your high school arguing about political memes.

The Joomla! Project and the Production Leadership Team are proud to announce the release of Joomla! 3.6.2.

The sidebar, an unsung page element long taken for granted, but often used

It is not often that I say I'm curious about a new Microsoft release but here I am saying just that. Last September, Microsoft introduced a new planning tool that is apart of the Work Management tools. The planning tool is called Microsoft Planner. If you've used Jira or Trello, you will find this tool very familiar. This tool is available on several of the plans such...

I like to learn and keep up on many subjects, Social Media Marketing is one of them. In addition to reading books, magazines and blogs, I also like to listen to podcasts. In reading
18 Social Media Marketing Podcasts in Search Engine Journal where
Erin Robbins O'Brien compiled a list of digital and social media marketing podcasts, I realized I was missing out. Of this list of 18, I've only listened to 3.

How many have heard of, which do you like?

SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is necessary for helping potential customers find you on the Internet where there are millions upon millions of pages and sites are created daily. While SEO is not a new idea, it has changed throughout the years.  Google, Bing, Yahoo and others search engines influence how customer's searches reach your website based on how you've...

​This infographic has some interesting information about the web design and development industry. A couple of things that jumped out at me where the fact that females is still low at 12% and favorite CMS, Joomla!, is one of the most popular platforms. What jumps out at you?

A long time favorite extension builder, NoNumber, has changed its name. If you are unfamiliar with NoNumber, now Regular Labs, now is a great time to get to know them.

I use many of the extensions such as Modals and Sliders when creating Joomla! sites. They have both free and paid versions.

For those already familiar, it may take a minute to get used to the new name. Take a look at the blog post link and read all about it.

Having trouble finding a template to meet your needs? Just prefer creating your own design? This hands-on training class will give you the basics to get you started building your own Joomla! Template.   This class is led by instructor Alonzo Turner of Subtext Productions, a Chicago-based company specializing in custom design and programming for Joomla! CMS System. ​Ti...

On Wednesday, April 13th at Joomla User Group Chicago North (JUGCN) welcomed guest speaker, Jeff Seevers. He drove in from Ohio to speak to the group regarding Mautic, the only open source marketing automation solution. The response from the group was tremendous. We talked about using Mautic to help reach your marketing goals. The group was actively engaged discussion diff...

I will start by saying that this blog is going to be a bit different. You might have already guessed that by the title.  The other day I watched a TED Talk by Girls Who Code Founder & CEO Reshma Saujani. If you are unfamiliar with TED Talk, it is a non-profit organization that spreads worthy ideas. While I find something to take away from many of the talks, this o...

A terabyte of space and other features rolling out now for SharePoint Online.

It looks like the RocketTheme design team and I have the same taste in images. Check out their new Joomla template Galatea at rockettheme.com. Did you spot the image?

​I build a LOT of forms and one of my favorite extensions to use is RSFormsPro! from RSJoomla. With all of its integration points, layouts, field types, and ability to add custom overrides, I end up using it, well...a lot. They've just released version 1.51.2, which is their best to-date. This release increases the number of responsive layouts - perfect for responsive - si...

One of my favorite parts of planning events is putting together the raffle baskets. We are starting that now for the Are You Smarter Than an Acorn? Trivia Night Fundraiser to benefit the Ancient Oaks Foundation! The event is Saturday, January 23rd at Columbus Center, 365 Surryse Road in Lake Zurich. The games start at 7 pm. It's sure to be a great eventing of trivia, games, raffles and more with special guest emcee Lake Zurich's own Chip Brewster, 2006 Lake Zurich High School Grad and FoxNews6 Milwaukee Reporter. Grab your friends and sign-up at: ancientoaksfoundation.org.

If you've been following the Joomla! roadmap you may have seen that the next major release, Joomla 3.5, is coming soon.  The January session of Joomla! User Group Chicago North (JUGCN) will take a look at what is planned.  It will also be an opportunity to discuss any questions using Joomla.   Have questions about JUGCN or Joomla?  We meet the second We...

As the year comes to a close it brings me no greater joy than the opportunity to express to you season's greetings and good wishes. May your holidays and New Year be filled with peace, joy and prosperity.

Today, I'm excited to have Avery Cohen from Mertrist Partners at this month's Joomla User Group Chicago North (JUGCN)meeting.  Each year Avery comes and shares his insights on the upcoming year's SEO trends.  I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say, his topic is The Evolution of Search: Find Your Tribe.   The JUGCN group meets at Durty Ne...

When else can you feast on loads of CHOCOLATE and get an extra hour of sleep?!  Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend, don't forget to set your clocks back Happy Halloween and sweet dreams!

Fun-draising event to benefit The Bridge Youth & Family Services  On Thursday, October 22nd from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Bottle & Bottega, Arlington Heights, 10 W. Campbell Street, Arlington Heights. This will be a fun painting event where you are led by an instructor in creating your very own masterpiece to display in your home. Not a Picasso or Van Gogh? No worr...

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." - Thomas Jefferson

If you are a master at UX and love to share your knowledge with others, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

So by now hopefully have heard that JoomlaDay Chicago 2015 is coming September 19th to the Donald E. Stephens Center.  This is a great event to connect with open source technology enthusiasts, both in the area and beyond.  The event includes many sessions on Joomla! (obviously) but also information that is helpful no matter the technology.  2015 marks the 4th time this event has been held in Chicago and I can tell you it is truly a labor of love to put this event together.  

The team behind this event has been working hard to bring to you some of the top speakers around.  Last year's event included David Hurley (WebSpark and joomla.org), Michael Babker (Joomla.org), Steven Pignataro ('corePHP'), and many more.  This year's event is shaping up to be just as spectacular.

The saying is New Year, New You.  What about New Year, New Joomla! Site?  Dec 31st not only marked the end of 2014 but also marked the end of support for Joomla! 2.5. For those keeping up with updates, there was a reminder in the administrator panel so you would not forget. While unpleasant flashbacks of the experience migrating from 1.5 to 2.5 gripped some. Others were in denial and disbelieve that a migration is needed.  I, however, looked at it with cautious optimism.  While my experience from 1.5 to 2.5 was far from a piece of cake, I’d been following the development and thought perhaps things would be different for the migration to 3.x and you know what?  I was right.  

The geek in me thought this was pretty cool!

This year, I had the privilege of working with the volunteers for the JoomlaDay Chicago event held August 9th at the Microsoft Technology Center in the AON Center building in downtown Chicago.  It was also my first time attending.  Going into the event I didn’t know what to expect and I have to admit I was a little awestruck.  I have been using Joomla for many years and a lot of the speakers and guests were names I’ve seen over and over on whitepapers, articles, extensions, etc.  To see them in-person was a little surreal.  

On Monday, we had the privilege of providing event services (registration, check-out and auction services) for The Bridge Youth & Family Services of Palatine.  If you are a regular visitor of our site, you may have noticed that we are a huge supporter of The Bridge, which provides programs and services to children and their families in northwest suburban Chicago, regardless on one's ability to pay.  

The event was their annual Peter D. Cunneen Memorial Golf Classic, named for past executive director Peter D. Cunneen.  At the Inverness Golf Club, nearly 200 golfers and dinner guests. bid on live and silent auction items, entered a raffle for a chance to win some cool prizes (iPad, 60" Smart HDTV, Bose Headphones, or One Week Vacation for 4) and best of all, participated in goodhearted competition in Fund-a-Cause (you may know it as a paddle raise).  

Do you need another reason to go to The Streets of Woodfield?  Here you go...  

On Thursday, July 31st from 11 am to 2 pm,  grab lunch at Chipotle at The Streets of Woodfield, 601 N. Martingale Rd., Schaumburg, IL 60173 and 50% of the proceeds will go to The Bridge Youth & Family Services, a non-profit organization in Palatine, IL.  The Bridge’s mission is "to help young people and their families achieve social and emotional health”.  They provide services to all Palatine Township residents regardless of ability to pay.  The Bridge has been serving the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago for nearly 50 years, focused on children 0 to 17 and their families. 

If you want to know why Joomla! is a favorite Content Management System (CMS) attend JoomlaDay Chicago hosted at the Microsoft Technology Center, located in the Aon Building at the north end of Grant Park in downtown Chicago.  JoomlaDay Chicago is Saturday, August 9th, a full day of Joomla! discussion, panels and presentations from top Joomla experts and community leaders.  

It is a great why to get acquainted with what Joomla! can do and meet a great bunch of people, local and beyond.  This event is brought together by a group of passionate volunteers and brings together all levels from newbies to experts.  

Today’s time is money tip comes from Perry Marshall’s article The 80/20 Rule of Time Management: Stop Wasting Time on Entrepreneur.com.  In his article, he reminds entrepreneurs of the need to follow the 80/20 Rule, not only when it comes to sales but also in how we work.  Remembering that our time is valuable and spending it on higher revenue activities makes sense.  Of the five tips in the article:

1. Hire a maid
2. Get rid of your $10 an hour stuff
3. Hire a personal assistant
4. Don’t feel guilty about relaxing
5. Focus on your most productive time slot

#5 I think is one that is often forget especially if that time slot falls outside of the typical 9-to-5.  As a morning person, I prefer 6 am to 9 am.  My family laughs at me because some days I’m so productive that by lunch time, I’m ready for a cat nap.  The point is that if you stop fighting your natural rhythm, you will reap the benefits.  

Fun Fact Friday - Joomla! is the only non-corporate backed community driven CMS

Yup, it’s true!  Joomla! is the only non-corporate backed community driven content management system (CMS).  This and other fun facts about the popular CMS were shared at this month’s JoomlaChicago North User Group meeting held at Durty Nellie’s in Palatine, IL on Wednesday, July 9th.  This group of Joomla! enthusiasts, newbies, users, and experts meets on the second Wednesday of each month to share and connect with all things in and around Joomla!  The topics vary by month and are listed on the JoomlaChicago website.  Sign-up is available to join the nearly 600 subscribers who receive meeting information not only for the JoomlaChicago North group but the sister group in the Loop as well in the email newsletter.  If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them, as I have recently undertaken the privilege of coordinating the monthly meetings for the JoomlaChicago North User Group, with lunch generously sponsored by Aluent Group.

The 4th of July is here!  

What does it say about me that I’m anxious for the weekend to start so that I can … read a book?  I know, the weather has been sunny and pleasant, and instead of thinking of outdoor activities, I’m thinking of homework.  I could make the excuse that rain is predicted both days anyway, or even say I will be reading it on a deck or beach somewhere.  But that would not be true.   

Does telling you that the book is The Will to Win: Leading, Competing, Succeeding by Robert Herjavec from ABC’s Shark Tank second book make it any better?  For some, maybe.  I’m looking forward to reading this book, because I’m curious about this race car driving shark.  I received this book after attending a webinar hosted by PNC where Mr. Herjavec spoke about driving business.  His talk was entertaining and informational.  I came away from the 40 minute session with added inspiration.  I nearly missed the announcement about the contest to receive his book and assumed, wrongfully, that I’d responded too late.  

Thank you to the service men and women who give of themselves on behalf of our country and the families who support them. 

Happy Memorial Day.

Ok, so I tried out a bit of alliteration with the title.  Creating content for your blog can sometimes leaving you blank.  Often the issue is not that you don’t have anything to say, it just when you sit down to say it, the words don’t come.  I see this with my clients with telltale signs of blank stares, phone silence or unanswered requests for content.  

1.) Embrace it

2.) Read

3.) Update Content Map

4.) Talk

5.) Share

Happy Mother's Day!

"More phone calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year. These holiday chats with Mom often cause phone traffic to spike by as much as 37 percent."