Engenius Blog

Give Photosynth A Try

Chase Finch — 2012-01-12 13:30:00

Microsoft has put out an awesome app for iOS, and it's free. It takes 360° pictures like this one of our new office hallway:

But the best part is that when you load this picture into Photosynth or share it on Facebook, you can spin it around as if you were actually in the room.

Here's the link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photosynth/id430065256?mt=8

P.S. If you haven't come to visit us at our new office yet, what are you waiting for?

Forget You

Jon Evans — 2011-12-13 16:14:00

Remember that a man’s name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in the English language. – Dale Carnegie

I also wanted to use the title: You Aren't Important but I think the current title says it all. Please continue...

May I make a suggestion? NEVER use the phrase: “I probably won’t remember your name” when you meet someone. If you insist on saying that let me give you a few other phrases you can add to your verbal arsenal of love.

I don’t care who you are.
I’m way more important than you so I’m not going to bother with your name. Now kiss my ring.
I don’t like you
Remembering you is effort and I simply don’t have the time
You aren’t important
Yawn and wave your hand at the person in a dismissive manner

You get the idea. Perhaps I’ve gone a bit overboard but I just want you to understand the severity of the phrase. :-) You should know that I love you. So, this post wasn't done in anger but in love.

How do you remember a person’s name? Leave a comment or two and tell us some of the tools you use.

You Don't Have Any Fans...

Jon Evans — 2011-11-28 13:14:00

This is going to be short, sweet and maybe a little painful. Stop trying to figure out how to get more fans on Facebook and start trying to figure out how to get more fans in real life.

Over the past few years I’ve seen too many companies try to figure out how to get their numbers up online and they beat their head against the wall because they can’t do it.

The reality is, if you had fans in real life you would have fans online. So, refocus your efforts to create more fans and watch both your online and your bottom line numbers increase.

Virtual Job Shadowing

Ashleigh Finch — 2011-11-21 13:59:00

Last Thursday we were involved with several other companies in this really sweet idea - let students in the classroom shadow our jobs via Twitter!

One of our clients, Allison, had a bunch of kids at Greer Middle School who wanted to learn about web design, graphic design, and what we do everyday. We posted pictures and responded to their comments and it looked a little like this:

And had smart questions like this:

My favorite part: Them thinking that working on client accounts was accounting... let's get serious.. I do not do math (unless it is a clearance at a clothing store.) I cleared up that misconception quick.

Thanks Greer Middle and Allison Rosemund for involving us in this fun project!

Now we're wondering: Should we keep the Twitter account live? If so, what would you like to see?

When is it time to quit?

Jon Evans — 2011-11-16 17:11:00

When is it time to quit? That’s a question I hadn’t thought about until recently when my friend Phil Yanov brought it up. My knee-jerk reaction was “NEVER!” but the more we discussed it the more I began to see that there is validity to quitting at the right time. Let me ‘splain myself. I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart. I love the idea of building something that will benefit many people for the long term.

With that in mind I started a Social Media consulting agency about 5 years ago. I was blessed to be one of this first people to enter that space in Greenville. As a result I was able to build a great client list and help many people in the Upstate. As time progressed, more and more “consultants” started entering the social media consulting space. It became flooded and the value of the product started to wither away. I was so enamored with the idea of being my own boss that I held on for dear life. I didn’t get the concept of quitting at the right time.

Until last month that is...

Let me tell you a little back story. I met the awesome folks from Engenius at the beginning of the year when I did this crazy little forehead advertising gig. (Don’t ask, you don’t want to know) I was impressed with what these guys were doing and began to watch the progress they were making in Greenville. They were (and are) making some GREAT inroads at local networking events etc. Not only that but their heart for the community is incredible! They will bend over backwards to take care of local ministries and non-profits. It really is amazing. But enough about that. (it might come across as bragging)

2 months ago I quit the social media consulting gig. I should have done it sooner but now I know the timing was perfect. It just wasn’t for me. Through my network I found out that Chris and Chase were looking for a sales guy. I had been looking for the right opportunity to be a part of a team that was doing great things locally and on the World Wide Web. See where I’m going with this? I found the thing I was looking for! The opportunity to be a part of building something that will benefit many people for a long time! That’s just part of what this opportunity with Engenius is offering. I am excited to be a part of this team and helping Engenius grow to the next level! Oh, and one final thing. Let me introduce myself... I’m Jon Evans and I’m a web strategist for Engenius!

Extra to make sure

Chase Finch — 2011-11-15 21:25:00

When we build a website, we spend about 20% of the allotted time designing the user experience and the graphics, and about 20% more programming the features of the site. In other words, it only takes 40% of the process to build what you might expect to see when the website is finished.

After that, there is a laundry list of tests, enhancements, setting changes and server tweaks that most people never see, but that keep the product working like you'd think it should. Here's a sneak peak excerpt from my post-development checklist for a recent project ~

Test cross-browser
Optimize queries & images
Make contact form redundant
Fix product overview page
Build custom "posting for the future" module
Auto-hide when press releases are blank
Add trailing slash to URLs
Send proper 404 code with error pages
Redirect public links to new URL
Fix 3rd party bug in content editor
Correctly handle client login
Update styles based on feedback and personal opinions
Build warning message for ie6
Shuffle social media link to be next to "Like" button
Fix site in ie 7
Force maximum image width in CMS
Add human checker to contact form
Create & submit dynamic sitemap
Properly distribute site data to Google webmaster + analytics
Allow image alignment
Diversify META descriptions
Check copy for grammar
Enter RSS links through FeedBurner
Allow blog alias to replace title
Ensure alt text on images, and that good titles and URLs exist
Check for ADL compatibility
Remove duplicate content links from first child of left navigation
Replace non-blog dummy urls with a creative 404, then redirect non-existant new urls to existant urls on new page, then submit "Change of Address" for existing website
Test FB and G+ links (Chase Finch)
Force www.

To me, it's always a success to make a product you don't have to explain when it's delivered.

RSS Available

Chase Finch — 2011-11-15 14:13:00

Blog readers, you can now subscribe via RSS at feeds.feedburner.com/engenius. Enjoy!

Growing Older

Chris Manley — 2011-10-18 09:33:00

Today is a big day for me – I’m now twenty-seven, despite the fact our summer intern thought I was in my mid-30’s. (As a disclaimer, it was her second day on the job and I was driving our new minivan with a baby seat in the back.)

I’ve always been a bit mature for my age, though I still have a lot to learn and quite a few more years to age before I should be counted on for too much wisdom. But – thanks to some great teachers, I have learned a lot in my twenty-seven years.

Politics has always been of interest to me. As a kid, I worked on several political campaigns. I ran for office in high school and college, often finding success. For the past few years, though, I’ve just been an observer.

Today’s political landscape seems to be drowned out by two minority groups: the ‘Tea Party’ and ‘Occupy Wall Street’. On the one hand, the ‘Tea Party’ is adamant about reducing the national debt, reducing the size of government, and repealing the healthcare law. On the other hand, ‘Occupy Wall Street’ is adamant about reducing the profits of corporations, reducing executive pay, and increasing hiring.

There’s a majority in the middle of these two groups, but they’re a very quiet bunch. I’m one of them, and I’ve decided not to be so quiet anymore. Instead of adding to the political stances, though, I’m going to break my silence by pointing out some of the things I’ve learned thus far in life.

Having a job is not a right. They require work ethic, discipline, and particularly some guts when it comes to being your own boss.
Debt must be taken on responsibly. If paying it back requires ‘all the chips to fall just the right way’, it’s likely not a good idea. Having realistic expectations for generating income to pay it back makes it an acceptable and sometimes necessary thing.
Companies should act in the best interest of their shareholders. Any organization is accountable to its owners. We don’t invest our money with an expectation of any less; in fact, the only reason we invest our money is with the goal of making a profit. Take that away and nobody has any reason to take the risk of investing. Where would our economy be if we took that stance?
America needs innovators. The passing of Steve Jobs should teach us all something: we need more people like him. He built the most valuable company on earth in 35 years, creating over 46,000 jobs in the process. But, keep in mind: Apple started small. If half of all small businesses in the U.S. hired one new employee, the unemployment rate would be 0%. This takes innovators with new ideas, new energy, and a drive for success.
We will all fail; but we must keep moving forward. My generation has a hard time at this. Most of us had parents who wanted the best for us and, thus, helped ensure we had only success through childhood. That isn’t reality. We will all fail from time to time, but we must keep moving forward. That’s what has made this nation great in the past and the only way we will continue to be great in the future.

I’m still young. There’s still so much for me to learn. Even so, I think these five things I’ve been taught by wise mentors hold true and are the basis for our country to move forward and continue to find success for decades to come.

There is tremendous potential for my generation to lead and prosper – but we’ve got to be mindful of where we came from, what led us to be that way, and have a willingness to work our butts off to be successful. That, my friends, is the American Dream. It’s not easy. It won’t show up on a silver platter. But it is possible. Trust me. I’m living it.

Philanthropy vs. The Market

Chase Finch — 2011-09-26 11:08:00

This TED Talk by Sasha Dichter is making its way through some of my circles of friends, thanks to Seth Godin's mention.

It is of special interest to me because of the philanthropic culture at Engenius, and the goal-oriented nature that we require of our nonprofit partners.

Shrimp spinning - or are they running?

Chris Manley — 2011-08-23 13:27:00

Spin is a powerful tool. Recently, a politician calling for reduced federal spending targeted one study as being frivolous. It involved a shrimp running on a treadmill. His claim? Paraphrased: “Half a million of our taxpayer dollars were spent teaching shrimp to run on a treadmill!” TV reports even show footage of a shrimp running on a treadmill. Compelling? Yes. Enough to cause outrage? Maybe. Truthful? That’s debatable.

The researcher who received the federal research funding was actually studying environmental effects on shrimp. Yes, it involved a treadmill – used as a comparison to normal conditions versus those of extreme environmental effects on water quality, such as an oil spill. Domestic shrimping is, believe it or not, a multi-billion dollar industry. The average American consumes over four pounds of shrimp each year, making it the most consumed seafood. However, current estimates show about 85% of shrimp sold in the US is imported.

The impetus behind the half-million dollar study is to determine how shrimp perform (aka – survive being eaten long enough to reproduce and be caught for us to eat) in a variety of water conditions. In fact, the treadmill only cost $1,000 and was a very small part of the overall study.

In essence, the results of this study could tell us how to improve water quality to produce more domestic shrimp (leading to a smaller shrimp trade deficit) and how to ensure our grandkids still have shrimp to eat when they grow up.

Looked at another way: this study could help ensure 13,000 jobs and millions in tax revenues related to the shrimp industry still exist now, next year, and long into the future. Not bad for a half million dollar investment.

Spin is a powerful tool.