HaveTex is a computer support firm in Northern Virginia. They supply managed services, network and firewall consulting, hardware repair, malware removal and a host of other services. As part of their growth and rebranding, they wanted a new web-site with a professional look that they could maintain themselves.
After meeting to discuss their needs, we determined that the site needed three components:
- The main web-site, which would list services, provide contact information and provide testimonials from clients.
- A blog for one the owners to talk about technical topics.
- A wiki for internal documentation of both the site's administrative needs and the business's processes.
Main Site
We created the main web-site with a professional appearance that meshes with HaveTex's branding. The home page lists the services provided and links to pages with more details. Contact information is prominent and there is a "book now" button that allows visitors to set appointments on-line.
The site has drop-down menus, an internal search feature, and context-sensitive, random testimonials from satisfied clients.
By using the open source CMS Joomla!, we've established a site that will allow the client to control their own content. They can create and edit pages and testimonials, alter menus, etc. without having to rely on outside help. All of this is done with user-friendly software that requires no knowledge of HTML or other web technologies.
Blog
The blog is attached to the main site, but uses WordPress, the most popular blog software on the Internet. By using this tool, HaveTex will be able to showcase the knowlege and experience of the owners. This will also help to drive traffic back to their main site as the blog posts are referenced by others.
The blog has an RSS feed, allowing readers to subscribe to it and be automatically notified when new articles are available. This same feed can be used to integrate with social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
Wiki
Because HaveTex is a growing business, they need to document their procedures and record business knowledge to ensure the stability of their operations in the future. A private wiki is a great tool for this, as it protects the information by limiting access to authorized employees while allowing them to contribute their knowledge regarding procedures, the configurations of clients' systems and networks, etc. After evaluating several wiki programs, we settled on DokuWiki. HaveTex now has a system that they can access from any computer, but that is private and secured. They have begun consolidating their internal documentation using this tool.
