Web Development

Content Management Systems

Custom WordPress Website Development

WordPress is quickly becoming a very popular CMS platform. Starting out as a blog platform it has quickly evolved to a very capable CMS system.

As a result of its vast flexibility we build many sites on WordPress. From small brochure websites to large content/e-commerce websites WordPress is our preferred platform.

WordPress Services Offered:

• WordPress as a CMS
  Not happy with your current CMS solution? We can convert your existing CMS to WordPress.
• Theme Development
  If you need a custom theme built from scratch or have an existing site you need converted to a WordPress theme we can help.
• Plugin Development
  Have an idea for a new WordPress plugin? Need a custom plugin for your existing WordPress site? We can help.
• BBPress Customization & Integration
  BBPress is a lightweight message board platform built by the same people that bring you WordPress.
• BuddyPress Development & Integration
  BuddyPress is an impressive Social Networking application built on top of WordPress.
• WP-Ecommerce Development & Integration
  If you want E-Commerce capability built into your WordPress site we can help using the popular WP-Ecommerce plugin.
• Integration Service
  Let our WordPress experts integrate your existing website into the WordPress platform

Contact us today to learn more about our WordPress expertise.

Promotional Websites

webRulon designs and develops custom websites that go beyond traditional visual appearance and textual content. We build websites that are powerful and persuasive, with sales conversion tools that connect to the needs and interests of our customers’ audiences.

For businesses and corporations that need websites with a custom design and identity, Flash functionality, content management, integrated databases, or other advanced technologies, we offer custom website development services. Our broad base of expertise enables us to provide strategic services and technological solutions that yield powerful, real world business results.

Strategic Services
Our approach to website design starts with strategic planning that takes into account all of the critical elements: a company’s goals, their customers’ needs, the characteristics of the brand, technology, human qualities and the customers’ vision for an interactive experience. We then develop a road map for the website’s information architecture, content and development that ensures on-time delivery of a scalable, well-documented and easily maintained customized website.

Branding and Creative Design
Our web designers, writers and marketing specialists work closely with the client from the beginning to better understand their customer’s needs, identify the characteristics of the core brand, the company’s target audience, its unique value proposition and the benefits for users of the website. We also consider the company’s goals for the future, as part of the creative design process. We then produce creative design elements and copy that leverage the brand’s strengths, in order to meet the company’s audience needs and future business goals.

Information Architecture
Great website information architecture comes from understanding the website’s purpose and the people who are using it. Once we have determined the clients’ audience and what they want from the website, we are able to create a clear path for the website’s content and information, without diluting the brand or sacrificing the overall business goals.

Web Development and Integration
Our dedicated team of web and information designers, copywriters, developers and search engine optimization specialists work together to create websites that are useful, usable and professionally managed throughout the entire development process and product life cycle, from original concept to launch to site management.

All our custom websites include a search engine friendly design, a built-in content management system and an email address capture program that allows for building in-house e-mail address lists. The content management tool allows business owners and site operators to make quick, dynamic updates to website content, without any technical knowledge or training in web design or HTML coding.

Our in-house development team has extensive experience in the design and development of advanced technology websites using Flash, ColdFusion MX, Ajax, PHP, Java and relational databases.

Site Delivery
To validate design decisions and identify usability problems early on, webRulon performs a wide range of systematic user tests of the websites we build. From expert evaluations performed by usability specialists, to wire-framing and formal usability testing, we can provide concrete evidence of which design implementation, functionality and/or navigation schemes work best.

Managed Services and Hosting
webRulon hosts, monitors, supports and maintains all aspects of the client’s websites. We ensure that your site is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year through pro-active monitoring, state-of-the-art security, redundant systems, fault tolerant backup, load testing and application software.

Data Analysis and Reporting
Website server statistics are important, but they typically only report visitor behavior actions on a website. Equally important is the ability to interpret the data and take actions for performance improvements. Our web analytics professionals interpret detailed website statistical information and turn into actionable advice.

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E-Commerce Stores

E-Commerce Website
E-commerce websites without compromise.

Companies that are planning to improve the operations of an existing e-commerce website or move their mission-critical commerce functions onto the Internet may face a difficult challenge in selecting a partner that can provide all the necweessary expertise and skills required for building successful end-to-end business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce solutions.

As a full service web development and Internet Marketing company, webRulon has the knowledge to bring your company a new vision and a unique combination of e-commerce consulting, technical, creative and marketing skills to implement cutting edge database driven e-commerce websites that help you achieve your business goals.

E-Commerce Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
Whether you are planning a small custom-built e-commerce website for a home-based business or a large, scalable retail enterprise system you need to realize an e-commerce environment that creates efficiencies and cost reductions for users and your own organization.

A true cost effective business-to-consumer e-commerce environment requires an end-to-end solution that is flexible for both customers and the business rules driving the content and commerce. This means that customers must have web access to product information and availability, order status and history and account information. Site operators must have full control over product content, product management, inventory, order fulfillment, shipping and sales information.

Business-to-Consumer E-Commerce Website
Our B2C e-commerce websites are based on our diverse experience, which includes strategic marketing branding and web design consultation, professional content creation, a robust e-Commerce features set, site management and administration, systems integration, managed services and hosting. Below is a detailed description of the features and functions of our standard business-to-consumer e-commerce websites.

Custom Site Design

• Custom designed site banner, logo design, navigation buttons (links), site layout and color scheme of customers’ choice
• Homepage with links to View Account, Customer and Corporate Account login, Shopping Cart, Checkout page and site map

Product Management

• Customizable product input and management using built-in merchant tools
• Unlimited number of categories, sub-categories and detail product pages
• Assign products to multiple categories and sub-categories
• Bulk product upload/product feed – Import product information from other sites or databases through a XML data feed file
• Internal product search – Product keyword search with search query archiving.
• Dynamic imaging – Enlarge image view, image zoom, multiple views (front, side, back) for optimum user experience
• Color swatch selection – Allows users to choose from a range of available colors
• Out-of-stock notification – Generates an out-of-stock message on the detail products page with an expected in-stock date
• Mark product(s) as “Unavailable” – Product(s) can be marked “Not available”, which removes the product from the product catalog, but not from the product database

Order Management

• Order editing – All order components can be edited
• Order search – Search orders by customer name, company name, state, date, order ID, order status
• Partial and back-order shipment – Ship in-stock items and out-of-stock items later
• Order history – Registered users will be able to view a list of previously placed orders and transfer selected orders into the shopping cart
• Order status tracking – Registered users will be able to track the status of current orders and partially shipped orders

Shopping Cart

• Regular shopping cart or drop-down shopping cart – The merchant can choose between a regular shopping cart or drop-down shopping cart that pops up on the product detail page when a product is transferred in the shopping cart
• Shopping cart automatically totals all items in the shopping cart
• Shopping cart editing – Customers can delete items from the shopping cart and update product quantity
• Estimated shipping cost calculation – Customers can calculate a shipping quote within the shopping cart before entering the checkout page

Checkout

• Shopping cart/Checkout system with automatic calculation of totals, shipping cost and sales tax
• Real-time credit card processing – Allows order payment by major credit card
• Real-time shipping charge calculation – Shipping charges will be calculated in real-time from UPS rate tables
• Payment processing at time of sale or during order fulfillment
• Flexible UPS shipping options with UPS rating, address validation and airbill generation support
• Email notification – Customer receives order confirmation with order tracking number and shipping confirmation when order(s) ships. Merchant will be notified via email that an order is waiting to be processed

Security

• Secure (SSL) encrypted transfer of order and credit card information
• Secure HTTPS/SSL and password protected access to admin section
• Security access history – Assigns a unique ID to each person with access to the admin section
• Full log-out capabilities for site administrator and customer
• PCI compliance – Web servers are firewall protected, credit card numbers are stored no longer than necessary, sensitive data is encrypted and access restricted, audit logs are created

Merchandising

• “Featured product(s)” or “Discounted special(s)” – Site administrator can designate any product as a “Discounted special” or “Featured product” and have these products appear on the home page with the original price crossed out
• Up-selling and cross-selling capabilities – Suggestively sells alternate and complementary products
• Sales promotions – % off, $ off, free with purchase, buy one get one free, free shipping and shipping discounts
• Discount coupon promotion – Site administrator can set discount coupon codes for the entire product set, product category or individual product(s) and expiration date
• Wishlist/Gift registry – Customers can creation multiple wishlists of products they want to buy in the future for themselves or others
• Newsletter subscription management – Email capture text box for building in-house opt-in email lists

Site Management

• Account management – Site administrator can login and update customer account information
• Product management and order management – Main functions are: add, edit and delete products and sort orders by customer name, company name, date, order id, order status
• Pricing updates – flexible interface for price mark-up or mark-down for all items or for certain categories
• Sales statistics/reports – Generate sales reports for sales by date or date range, product type, customer, geographic location, order size, etc.
• Content management – WYSIWYG editor the site administrator can use to add, edit and delete content on web pages and add and delete web pages
• Blog administration – Allows the site administrator or other designated individuals to post blog posts and comment on posts
• Customer review management – Review customer reviews, turn customer reviews on or off
• XML export – Generates an XML product feed of product data and information for transfer into another system
• Email list management – Site administrator will be able to add, edit and delete email addresses and export email addresses from the database in popular file formats

User Engagement

• Voluntary customer account registration – Provides potential customers with the opportunity to register for a customer account
• View account information – Allows customer(s) to login to view and update customer account information and check order status
• Onsite blog program – Customers can comment on blog posts
• RSS product feeds – Customer can subscribe to product feeds to receive the latest information on product specials and promotions
• Onsite user product reviews – Customers can rate and share their experiences with a product(s)
• Send-to-a-friend – Email the content of a product detail page or category page to a destination address
• Print-friendly print version – Reformats and prints current active page with navigation links and other web page elements removed

Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• Dynamic category and detail product page titles and meta tag descriptions – Automatically generates unique page titles and meta tag descriptions from the category name and product name
• User-defined product image file names and Alt tags – Supports image search engine optimization
• 100% static URL’s – All links appear to be “static” with no parameters in the URL. This ensures that search engines can fully crawl and index the site content

Optional Features

• Retail gift module – Shipping of order(s) to multiple recipients (ship-to-addresses); purchase and redemption of electronic gift certificate(s), gift wrapping with gift message
• Custom sales tax zones – Allows for set-up of custom zones and group of zones for sales tax based on state, county and postal code.
• “Live” Chat (LivePerson) integration – Commonly used as a way for a sales or support staff to instantly engage with website visitors; both in a reactive and proactive fashion.
• eStrata integration – Enable accurate tracking of inbound telephone responses.
• Accounting management – Integration with QuickBooks and QuickBooks Merchant Services for bi-directional synchronization of invoices/sales receipts, products and customer information
• Drop shipping from manufacturer – Integration with drop ship manufacturers’ electronic data systems for order fulfillment
• FedEx, USPS and DHL integration – Enables real-time shipping charge calculations using FedEx and USPS rate tables and real-time shipping quotes for DHL
• Alternate payment options – Google checkout and PayPal online payment systems
• Custom systems integration – Integration with a wide range of payment systems, databases, accounting and inventory control systems

E-Commerce – Business-to-Business (B2B)
Our e-commerce framework allows small-to-medium size businesses and large enterprises to establish an affordable and effective online business-to-business sales channel. Our B2B e-commerce websites provide an unique level of functionality for all types of online B2B businesses, including wholesalers and manufactures that distribute their products to other businesses that then resell those products to consumers.

webRulon takes all of the technologies and processes needed to operate an e-commerce business successfully and makes them available through one, integrated and easy-to-manage e-commerce website. Our e-commerce B2B websites provide wholesale customers and manufacturers with the tools necessary to manage e-commerce B2B operations efficiently and cost-effectively and keep resellers and retailers satisfied and loyal. For instance, wholesellers and manufacturers with mixed wholesale/retail operations can have both consumer B2C and wholesale B2B functionality while sharing the same inventory database, but with different product pricing levels.

Custom Business-to-Business E-commerce Website
The custom B2B e-commerce website comes with all content and functionality of the B2C website and the following specific B2B functionality:

• Corporate account registration – Invites resellers to apply for a corporate account. A corporate account provides the resellers with a range of benefits, e.g. custom pricing and “open terms” billing
• Multiple corporate accounts – B2B e-commerce sites support multiple corporate accounts with unique secure user login
• Corporate account management – Enables the site administrator to view and update all corporate account information
• Order payment on ‘open terms’ – Purchase product by purchase order (PO)
• Whole sale pricing – Various wholesale price levels based on volume purchase

Optional B2B Commerce Functionality

• Drop shipping – B2B wholesale drop shippers can print drop-ship packing slips with their reseller’s company logo, address, phone number, and order number
• B2B systems integration – We integrate all of the best available technologies wholesalers and manufacturers need to do business online and create a streamlined e-commerce sales and operations environment that utilizes not only a combination of fulfillment centers, in-house warehouse or drop shippers, but also keeps up with today’s demand and allows you to plan for future growth. Our “best of breed” systems integration approach makes the communication between e-commerce wholesalers and resellers seamless by automatically transmitting product, inventory, and orders between suppliers and resellers

Optional Services

• Website Management and Maintenance
• Search Engine Optimization
• Paid Search Management
• Email Marketing
• Media Placement
• Social Media Marketing

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Corporate Intranets

Large corporations, small businesses and organizations are continuously challenged by their employees, customers and business partners to provide timely access to personalized up-to-date information and business-to-business transactions from any place, at any time. Intranets and Extranets are a proven way to meet those requirements and to manage the flow of communication with employees within a corporation, and with customers and partners outside the corporate environment. Both Intranets and Extranets allow information to be delivered through a standard Web browser interface and they can be extended to include access into other core corporate business systems.

Intranets and Extranets Increase Efficiency
Intranets and Extranets are changing the way companies do business with their suppliers and customers, as well as within their own organizations. They allow the organization and dissemination of information, share calendar appointments and documents, assign and manage project tasks, and enable efficient communication – all accessible from anywhere in the world where there is an internet connection. Intranets and Extranets are contributing to the bottom line through increased efficiency and customer service.

Custom Intranet and Extranet Development
webRulon develops customized Intranets and Extranets for large companies, small businesses and organizations. We provide experience, expertise and a dedicated staff to help clients develop and implement their Intranet or Extranet projects. Whether it is an Intranet for company employees working in multiple locations, or an Extranet to allow transactional B2B transactions with customers or extend business operations to business partners, our experts can work with you to drive real business value including increased productivity and efficiencies.

The Role of Intranets
An Intranet is a private computer network that uses widely accessible Web technologies to securely share parts of the organization’s information or operational systems with its employees. Intranets are much more than a basic host for the company’s electronic phone book and human resource manuals – though these components remain critically important. Today, they are having a growing strategic role at companies in supporting work processes. Intranets differ from Extranets in that the former are generally restricted to employees of the organization, while Extranets may also be accessed by customers, suppliers or other approved business partners.

Extranets Give Corporations a Competitive Edge
Extranets are essentially Web-enabled closed networks within a corporation. An Extranet can add significant value to corporations and small businesses by facilitating more effective communication and collaboration with clients, customers and partners by extending the network access to customers and partners, with special provisions for access, authorization, authentication and permission. Extranets allow customers and company partners to access information, place orders and perform simple online transactions. When properly implemented, Extranets can give corporations and small businesses an edge over the competition, saving them money by streamlining traditional business functions and cutting overhead costs.

Custom Intranet and Extranet Development Services
webRulon builds customized Intranet and Extranet systems for clients, based upon their requirements. Our Intranet/Extranet applications will help large corporations, small businesses and organizations streamline and automate their workflow, collect information online, perform business transactions, manage content and documents for multiple departments and report on data from multiple systems.

We leverage more than 10 years of experience in information design and usability and application development to deliver the best possible solution for our clients. Our extensive application development and systems integration capabilities allow us to provide our clients with solutions that meet their business requirements. Whether they require an Intranet or Extranet, we can deliver a user-validated and fully integrated solution that works.

We approach Intranet and Extranet development with a strategic, user-focused design, intuitive navigation schemes and site architecture through integration and implementation.

Strategic Consulting
We evaluate the client’s business needs, collect and document Intranet/Extranet requirements, and create stakeholder consensus. Our experience with custom Intranet/Extranet solutions allows us to recommend the best technology for the client’s organization, and establishes a road map for successful design and application development

Functional Requirement and Specifications
After we’ve gained an in-depth understanding of the client’s business objectives, content and functional requirements, we produce a detailed description of the required functionality requirements. Once the functional specification is agreed upon, our team creates a technical specification that describes in detail how the Intranet or Extranet will operate.

Intranet/Extranet Information Design and Usability
We utilize our extensive information design and usability expertise to deliver the best possible user interface while leveraging our broad application development and system integration capabilities, to develop the best possible solution for our clients.

Our information architects and usability analysts design the site with the end user in mind. Through audience analysis and user-centric design activities, our team delivers a navigation scheme and user interface that is easy to use by employees and customers. The development team delivers a branded visual design that enforces the client’s corporate identity without compromising the web site’s purpose as a business tool.

Application Development and Integration
Our Web application developers bring the experience and expertise needed to build and deploy scalable Intranet and Extranet solutions, and the application integration skills required to extend these systems to include access into the other core business systems. We can transform your Intranet/Extranet vision into reality, whether it is the custom development of an Intranet or Extranet, or the planning of a systems integration project.

Managed Hosting and Application Management Services
webRulon can host, monitor, support, maintain and manage all operational aspects of your Intranet and Extranet. Our managed hosting solutions go well beyond what hosting firms typically provide. We provide reliable and scalable, high availability hosting configuration options with application management services that minimize the possibility that a company’s systems will become unavailable, thereby minimizing the risk to our client’s business operations. Our proactive monitoring solutions, which include systems and security monitoring, load testing, site administration, application updates and custom reporting, provide deep insight into the activity levels and the health of the business processes that run on the Intranet/Extranet systems.

Intranet/Extranet Benefits
Intranets and Extranets offer corporations, small businesses and organizations many benefits:

• Increased productivity – Intranets and Extranets are opening new opportunities for corporations and businesses to communicate and operate more efficiently. Employees can be more efficient with up-to-the-minute information at their fingertips. Customers can be allowed to perform actions, such as referencing information and performing transactional business-to-business activities, thereby boosting customer loyalty, improving customer service and responsiveness, and saving the business time and money.
• Reduced margin of error – An Intranet and Extranet can reduce the margin of error when specific groups directly access internal applications. This could be as simple as giving employees access to human resource forms or providing customers with access to their order histories, or something as complex as processing orders.
• Flexibility – When information and applications are directly available to employees, partners and customers, everyone can work when and where it’s most convenient. This self-serve approach improves efficiency, and eliminates the costs associated with in-person information exchanges. For example, a company can provide customer service information after regular business hours through an Extranet.
• Timely and accurate information – An Intranet and Extranet can be used to provide accurate and timely information. They can be utilized to instantly change, edit and update information such as human resource forms, price lists or inventory information.
• Faster time to market – An Intranet and Extranet can help a company to get products faster to market by using it as an internal project management system. By making proposals and specifications available to suppliers, and by giving customers and partners up-to-date information on current projects, development time can be reduced significantly.
• Reduced inventory – One of the hallmarks of a business-to-business Extranet is its impact on supply-chain management. By connecting an inventory application directly to a supplier system, companies can process orders as soon as their system knows when they are needed, thus reducing inventory and making the procurement process more efficient.
• Greater customer loyalty – Extranets enable companies to establish and maintain powerful, long lasting relationships with their customers and business partners by making it easier to perform business-to-business transactions and to get timely and accurate information to them, whenever they need it.

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