Beaconfire Consulting

Check out our latest project launch at www.infocomm.com. InfoComm is the leading international association of audiovisual professionals...

Web analytics is usually left to marketers looking to fine-tune shopping carts, hone in on AdWords, track campaigns, and conduct a whole bevy of marketing tasks. Creative-types and IA folks don’t always dive into this kind of data...

Part of my role of late has been working with clients on Software Evaluations for CMS software. Sometimes we are hired as a stand alone project to make a CMS recommendation. Sometimes we evaluate and recommend CMSs as part of redesign of the client’s Website...

On June 24th, I will be speaking about a topic that I could wax rhapsodic about for DAYS: Killer design. So sign up now for One World’s “Web design for non-profits” 2 day workshop on June 24-25 and hear what we have to say on the topic. Just don’t heckle me from the peanut gallery...

When you run a search engine marketing campaign using Google AdWords, much of your success is based on your reputation, measured by “quality scores” that Google assigns...

I just sat through the second in a series of N10 webinars, Google Grants Advanced Series: Maximizing Your Google Grant To Meet Your Organization’s Goals. The seminar explained how to integrate Google Analytics with Google Grants to achieve better results...

On a recent vacation to New York, I was able to really take the time to visit the Bronx Zoo and see all the new baby animals in their glory...

Online video has become an increasingly popular tool used by non-profits to raise awareness. If you’re using video online and need some inspiration, or just want to see what others are doing, take a look at these non-profits who are educating and getting people involved through the use of video...

Earlier this week, Facebook announced they will allow users to choose unique user names that can be used in vanity urls. For example, a user named Chaz Bono could choose the user name chaz.bono, and his new Facebook url would be facebook.com/chaz.bono...

Recently, we relaunched an environmentally focused service learning program for the Wildlife Conservation Society on the Ning community platform...

A few days ago, my colleague wrote about the effectiveness and Return on Investment (ROI) of adding social networking links to your site . Are your users clicking them? Are they driving traffic to your site...

Take a look down at the bottom of this post. See all those little icons? You may know what they are for, you may not, but they are a feature that now appear on most blogs and an increasing number of Web sites...

I was having a conversation the other day with a friend of mine about “Robots that tweet for you” when I mentioned that our company Beaconfire Consulting had successfully mastered the art of Tweeting without actually Tweeting...

Editor’s note: Periodically, we do a survey of Beaconfire staff to get impressions on a variety of non-profit technology issues. All opinions expressed here are solely those of their authors...

Recently, there’s been a proliferation of url shortening services, driven largely by Twitter’s 140 character limit and the need to keep links as short as possible to fit in your tweets. They are run on websites with names like bit.ly and tr.im, as well as the classic tinyurl.com...

For everyone who attended the HRA-NCA annual conference today, this is where you download the handouts for the above presentation: Full presentation (PDF) Glossary of Web 2.0 terms (PDF) Examples of organizations using social media (PDF) Association Global Services - Social Networking &...

Looking for advice on how to elevate your Adwords campaign to the next level? With a little heavy lifting upfront and some ongoing maintenance, I’ll show you how to rise above your competitors’ listings and attract new prospects you didn’t even know existed...

Who couldn’t love NTC? Great times spent with colleagues, excellent sessions from which to learn, and great conversations on what’s possible for nonprofits and technology. The three days at the conference were invigorating for me. And guess what...

I’m very pleased to announce the release of Beaconfire’s new white paper - Is Multivariate Testing Right for You? A Guide for Nonprofits...

Beaconfire is proud to be selected as a 2009 Webby Honoree in the Activism category for Free The Slaves. From the Webby’s Site: “With nearly 70 categories, Website entries make up the majority of Webby Awards Winners, Nominees and Honorees. Some are beautiful to look at and interact with...

If you are one of the record number of people attending NTC in two weeks, there is one session you will not want to miss: This is Iron Chef … Battle Non Profit...

Editor’s note: Periodically, we do a survey of Beaconfire staff to get impressions on a variety of non-profit technology issues. All opinions expressed here are solely those of their authors...

You betcha! Look for us at the Science Fair on Sunday and conducting these sessions: Monday, 4/27, 3:30-5:00 Where Are They...

For the first time ever, the Nonprofit Technology Conference (www.nten.org/ntc) has sold out at 1,330 registrants. NTEN is keeping a wait list. So if you haven’t registered yet, it’s still worth getting on the wait list...

This is the second article in a series on usability. Read the first article. It was inevitable – my bracket has been decimated...

And we’re back! After 5 jam-packed days at SXSW Interactive in Austin, the Beaconfire contingent is back in the office, catching up on email and trying to process everything we saw and learned...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…if you’ve ever painted your face your school colors, or stuck a pom-pom in your hair, you know what I’m talking about. It’s March Madness, baby! (Otherwise known NCAA Division I Basketball Chapmionship). And that means it’s bracket time...

If your organization is active on Facebook, you’re likely to be affected by some big changes they’re making to their Pages. You may remember that last year, Facebook rolled out “new Facebook” to its users - a new interface with a different layout for homepages and profiles...

If you happened to be at ASAE’s Great Ideas Conference last week, I’m betting you’ll answer “Miami.” Highlights included: Dan Roam’s opening keynote on visual thinking (watch the video here). The Social Media lab sessions...

By popular request, here is info about all the cool events in The Beacon during SxSW. Flyers will be available in the lounge for you to pick up so you don’t miss a second of the fun. Also note there will be a featured organization in residence in The Beacon all day long sat-mon...

In just over a week, the worlds hippest, smartest, network-iest people in technology will be converging upon Austin for South by Southwest interactive (known as SxSW-i to those in the know) and Beaconfire will be there in full force...

It’s t-minus 8 weeks until the annual Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC). This is one of the highlight events of the year for me. Over a thousand folks from all over the world gather to share knowledge, break bread, and learn about what’s new in the intersection of nonprofits and technology...

Just last month the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) launched another Web site with Beaconfire’s help on Ektron – this one for their London Conference http://iahsa.net/LONDON/index.aspx...

Here at Beaconfire we tend to pride ourselves on our process. While our approach is highly effective and fairly well defined, there are still gray areas with which we sometimes struggle. Take for instance, our approach to workshops...

Copyright, according to the US government is: a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works...

Does your site scream out, “I haven’t changed my image since 1995!” Or maybe, your pages are plagued by lengthy copy that just keeps going and going… Perhaps your web presence just doesn’t really reflect all the great work your organization does...

Accessibility is always in the front of our minds when we embark on a Web project. But as we start to consider our features, accessibility starts to slip by the way side. “As long as a screen reader can read it, we’ll be fine, right?” Not really. Disability does not equal blind...

BF Wire blogger and senior consultant Elizabeth Weaver Engel (aka me) will be heading to ASAE’s Great Ideas Conference in Miami later this month to present with Jason Della Rocca in the Social Media Lab on Wikis: Collaborative Content at Your Fingertips. Benefits of coming: Miami in February...

Another ASAE Technology Conference is in the books. Last year, the subtitle could have been: “Social Media. Huhn. Good God. What is it good for...

There is ever growing interest in ways for organizations to aggregate news based on the input of multiple people, then select and push that news feed through their site. The good news is, there are some very slick methods for doing just this. As an example, Jeff C...

I like diagnosing problems. I love implementing solutions. And as some of my colleagues will tell you, more than anything else, I love to test. But it’s the final step that I loathe: clicking that dreaded “publish” button...