Sebok Travel Services Inc. contracted our company in 2006 to create a web site with back-end content management functionalities. We created several versions of graphics before releasing the final one and we wrote web applications to manage events, links and on-line bookstore as well as other travel services.

Web Design

The first step was designing the look of the web site. The current concept was created at the end of a multiround checking process and resulted in the highest satisfaction of our client. In the meantime, we recorded the services that the travel agency wanted to offer to its clients on-line and we outlined three main areas:

• travel services such as selling travel packages, airplane ticket ordering and car rental
• web store to sell hungarian books, cd's and dvd's
• other web services such as event calendar and managing partner companies

The following sections describe the main areas that are interesting for our client's target audience.

After planning the content we built up the structure of the site. In theory, this means the hierarchy of the pages, which is, in this particular case, the menu system of the site. A web page does not necessarily hold descriptive information. Instead, it presents the interface of the on-line services such as text input fields, buttons and lists. Therefore, planning it out requires a high level of abstract thinking to make certain that these interactive elements flawlessly fit into the base concept so their look and usage remain obvious, logical and simple.

We designed the structure of the site in hypertext markup language (html), we drew the images, icons and we wrote the style sheets (css). This resulted in a basic look that is displayed in the web browser when a visitor opens the site of Sebok Travel Services Inc. The user interfaces of web application modules written in php and javascript (js) were also inserted into this framework. Static pages such as welcome page or the pages of menu item Services are loaded into this schema, too.

Web Applications

As the result of the negotiations with our client we selected the Myetus modules that fulfill the desired functionalities at the highest level of perfection.

Myetus Core basic framework provides many services for both visitors and site administrator on its own: displays basic graphical elements of the site, provides easy navigation through the menu system, handles multi-language content, loads static pages and generates links for news reading programs (rss feed). The site administrator can modify static content with a powerful rich text editor. This what-you-see-is-what-you-get (wysiwyg) text editor uses css style definitions of the site, therefore the administrator can check how the edited page would appear even when typing the content.

We could provide additional services by plugging in further Myetus modules. Myetus Events is a calendar-based event scheduler where the administrator can assign several services to dates or time intervals. At our client's request, the site administrator can insert descriptions about Hungarian events and programs, displayed in chronological order to visitors. In the left side navigation bar site visitors can select any month of the year and they can set the way of displaying event list as well.

It is very important for both site administrators and visitors to keep in touch with partner companies and organizations very easily and efficiently. Myetus Link Collection gives a hand. The site administrator can simply add new contact to the list and visitors can set displaying options in the left side navigation bar. Myetus Link Collection is however more than a simple collection of favorite pages. The most important thing for visitors is the ability to find information fast and simple, therefore the most recent search engine optimization (seo) techniques are applied to direct visitors to Sebok Travel Services Inc. site to increase the number of visitors.

Our client wants to convey the values of the Hungarian culture to the site visitors besides providing travel services. Therefore, we launched an on-line bookstore where visitors can order Hungarian books, CD's or DVD's. We inserted Myetus E-Store into the framework thus the site administrator can add new items to the supply of the store and visitors can browse the on-line catalogue and purchase selected products. Since these are non-traded goods, our client decided not to provide on-line shopping ability to site visitors but remains only an intermediary trader between vendor companies/organizations and customers.

All these web services require administration user interfaces where our client can modify the content of the pages, that is, static page texts, events, links and items of the e-store. Administration modules are actually web pages which can be accessed only by authorized users. Myetus Core framework performs identification and login procedures of the site administrators as well as tracking previous logins and possible attack attempts. The most up-to-date methods guarantee the security of protected pages.

Work performed

Sebok Travel Services Inc. contracted our company in the fall of 2006 to create a web site and related web services for them. We had to satisfy unique and special needs during the graphical design process. We created more versions and for each version more color variants in several periods of the work process. After specifying the look and expected features we performed the personalization and integration of Myetus modules. Our company has an excellent relationship with Sebok Travel Services Inc., our professionals perform smaller reconstructions and the necessary corrections at our client's request.

I am very excited that my web site is giving me great results. My Internet sales through the airfare booking engine almost tripled in the last few month. I feel very good every time when I see the money coming in. I still remember my very first sale. It was so amazing! This extra income from my web site is really helpful for me and my daughter. I am so grateful that I found these Myetus guys who did a great job and were very helpful and professional. I know little about computers, websites and the Internet. Their Back Office system made it very easy for me to update my website on a regular basis on my own instead of paying a web designer over and over again. I also received several phone calls from my customers complimenting the nice graphics on my website. I plan to open another office soon and will ask the Myetus guys again to help me with some more on my website.

Sincerely, Monika Ormos
www.seboktravel.net

How did we start?

Our relationship with Alex started a few years ago when one of our founding members was doing marketing and PR for a restaurant in Chicago, IL. Alex Udvary, Cimbalom Master and his Hungarian Folk Ensemble played there on a nightly basis. We admired his music and talents and he liked the professional services we provided for the restaurant.

What did we do first?

One day he came to us and told us he just recently recorded a CD that he wanted to sell to interested people, but he did not know how to do this in the age of the Internet. He used to work with a graphic artist who created the design for his previous album. He did not like his prices and his designs, but he did like the work and the professionalism of our representative.

So we decided to collaborate on his CD insert design project first. We presented him two different versions. He selected one he liked and we used this pattern consistently on all pages on his album inserts and on the disk itself, then later on his website.

Niche Selection

A few months later we started working on his web presence. On his website we used a very similar pattern that we already implemented on his CD insert to build the unique feel around a theme of his selected niche which is playing his cimbalom music for a relatively small group of people who like somewhat unusual arts. Our niche selection process was easy: Alex is specializes in performing and selling his music to people who are interested in Hungarian folk music, especially cimbaloms. We found out that his main target audience is somewhat older, ethnic Hungarians living in the US and Canada or second, third generation Americans or Canadians with Hungarian roots. What is a cimbalom one might ask. It is a string instrument which was developed out of the hammered dulcimer. The cimbalom is bigger, has legs and a special pedal. It sounds somewhat like a piano and it is the central instrument in a Hungarian folk ensemble.

Web Presence

Enhancing Visitor Experience

We explained the importance of why having a professionally designed and maintained organic website is crucial for him if he wants his would-be customers to find and buy from him on-line. Therefore we decided to work on his web presence to make him successful on-line.

Graphic Design

First we set up a website for him in which we used the previously mentioned, unique Hungarian motifs to form the special "Old World" feeling in his website visitor. Besides giving this great general feeling, the site provides a logical structure paired with seamless navigation tools so anybody visits any page on his web site can easily find what they are looking for.

Media Gallery

Many great artists, similarly to Cimbalom Master, Alex Udvary, communicate through personal performance or great images, sound and video. In the real world they deliver a sometimes indescribable special feel to the audience through their personal presence, their body language, gestures, when they perform or through sophisticated, impressive sound and graphical variety that usually grabs the deepest inner soul of the observer causing the feeling of catharsis. On the Internet this special feeling is needed to be delivered on the artist's website through a variety of subtle media applications without taking the attention of the visitor away from the message of the artist and keeping the goal of the website: turning that visitor to a faithful buyer. A very carefully crafted balance is needed to achieve this goal. Our media applications do exactly just that. They are not flashy, but concise, and they harmonically fit in the graphic design of each web page. Our Media Gallery module, that includes graphic image presentation, sound and video playback on Alex's website, delivers its mission.

Blogging

We implemented our state-of-the-art blogger module that empowers his visitors to write comments, ask questions and generally communicate with him and with each other by leaving comments in the designated area. A blog is absolutely necessary in today's web presence of any business for the reasons we just mentioned. It is also very helpful in improving ranking in the organic search results as it is an essential tool in organic link-building and building on-line trust. Besides playing superior music, Alex has a hobby: he repairs old cimbaloms. Sometimes he would go out to a field trip usually visiting some older folks in some older neighborhood and ask around if they have something that resembles to a cimbalom in their basement or on their attic. He also knows a network of people who sometimes give him good tips where to look. Once he found these old cimbaloms, he carefully takes them apart and rebuilds them, Basically, he gives new life to these old instruments. He recently started a blog where he expects his network of people to participate and also anticipates interested people writing comments and questions on the techniques of renovating cimbaloms. Since he is somewhat busy maintaining his blog, he asked us for assistance. We will work on generating on-line interest for his blog to increase the number of people visiting his website that will ultimately buy his albums and some of them would eventually buy a remodeled cimbalom.

E-Store

A very simple version of our E-store module makes it easy for the visitor to navigate among the available items for sale. We plan to implement some extra features of the e-store module on his website in the near future.

Back Office

To this day we are continuously working with him to enhance his web presence. With our state-of-the-art-back office content management system we gave Alex the power to add

• text
• pictures
• music
• videos

by himself to his website without knowing

• any computer programming language
• how to upload files on his website via FTP or
• any other, often tedious tasks

that take a lot of time away from his real passion: playing superior music and rebuilding cimbaloms.

He as the authorized user to visit certain pages, invisible to the rest of his audience, on his web site where he can easily make modification of the content in a powerful WYSIWYG rich text editor (Myetus Rich Text Editor) that we implemented for him. He can also manage the content of the items in the his mini E-Store by using our Product Manager module.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization

Myetus Rich Text Editor is capable of reminding the writer of the text about certain rules that search engines require for the given page to rank them higher.

We list some of the rules here that the writer of the web page is reminded about under the SEO tips section of the Myetus Rich Text Editor:

• Page title and the main title of the text in the page should match and they should contain the most important keywords that summarize the content of the page.
• The page should contain at least 300 words so that the search engine can "understand" what the page is about.
• There should be relevant, alternative text written for any object that is embedded in the page.
• There should be a short description tag about the page that contains all the major relevant keywords.

There are some other rules as well that are not yet implemented in the Myetus rich text editor, but as soon as they become available, we will implement them for our Client for free of charge as part of his Maintenance Service.

Visit our Services page to find out why is it important for your company to implement our Internet Marketing and website maintenance services.

Our company is growing

Now we are present in the Phoenix, Arizona metro area. Our first client here is an excellent, very talented musician who is capable of playing everything

• from classic wedding music
• through techno-rap
  
• to classic blues.

All these, all by himself in multiple languages! When he talked to one of our representatives he described of having an issue of getting noticed by wedding planners, resorts and entertainment managers. We offered our help and we are working towards completing his full-blown Internet presence.

He is also a recording artist who composes his own songs and performs covers in his own style. We plan to make his recordings available on-line in the very near future and let his audience know about his music.

He is also an excellent music teacher with very high credentials. Currently we are working on extending his online presence to this direction as well. With his presence, potential students can locate him and get in touch with him via electronic mail or by writing a note in his Guestbook.

We started to build his web presence...

...as a simple website with the assistance of one of the template based services that are available on the Internet for a small monthly fee. This kind of service has some advantages:

• WYSYSIG editor which is relatively easy to use
• The builder of the website does not need to know any programming
• Hundreds, or even thousands of graphic templates that can be modified and customized.
• This service is great for a starter website for a company owner  who

1. does not want to pay a professional graphic designer
2. only wants to put some basic information up on the Internet quickly
3. does not care too much about and nice graphics and ease of use is not very important.

However, this kind of service also has its significant disadvantages:

• It takes a lot of time to put even a basic website together
• It takes even more time to modify some of the web content on a regular basis. You can find out by clicking on the "why website maintenance is important" link for a small business in the article that comes up on a separate page.
• It is very hard or almost impossible to make the website created by a WYSIWYG editor search engine friendly for a person with the lack of technical knowledge.
• It is even harder to keep track some key advertising elements on the web pages created by some of these services. (To find out why advertising a web site is important read our article titled the "Truth About Web Design".)
• It is nearly impossible to create a web presence package with it beyond a simple website that only puts some basic information up on the Internet
  
• It is nearly impossible to create nice, professional graphics with it that convert visitors to buyers.

Our company goes well beyond of web design

The above disadvantages outweigh the advantages of  the professional, scientifically proven advertising methods and professional graphics, that can be provided by our team of dedicated web presence developers.

 We create full-blown internet presence and a fully customizable information system for any company or individual.

Why is that important?

We strongly believe in our clients' ability to find their niche that can make them successful on the Internet and they will enjoy our fullest support along the way.

Steven understood the importance of getting a full web presence and he asked us to transfer his website and create a web presence for him. It is a work in progress.

What we are going to accomplish...

...in the next few weeks with Steven's website?