One of the things that has kept me busy off and on over the past few months has been the rebuilding of the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association website.

The SLODA first approached me back in June to redevelop their outdated and antiquated website. They wanted to give the Downtown Association site a more modern look and feel, along with the implementation of enhanced functionality and usability. My goal was to replace their old static html site with a new data-driven web 2.0 site, capable of meeting the needs of future growth, as well as allowing for easy in-house updating.

So how did a small potatoes, no-name upstart developer such as myself swing the job for one of the more prominent non-profit organizations in San Luis Obispo? For one, I know people. Those people like me and recommend my services. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, my prices are reasonable and realistic.

As I’ve mention in the past, being a one man show allows me the ability to underbid most other developers. Lower overhead = lower design fees. I later found out from the SLODA that not only was my bid the lowest of all the project estimates, but I also came in at one fourth of the highest estimate. Let me tell ya… there’s definitely no standardized rate for web design.

After meeting with the Administrative Assistant and discussing the vision for the new SLODA website, it was time to get to work. To carry out this task, I went with an open source Content Management System that I’ve enjoyed great success with time and again. The CMS I used for the foundation of the new SLODA site was Joomla 1.5.

Joomla is arguably the most powerful and customizable open-source CMS available. Best of all… because it’s open source, it’s absolutely free! Free is always a plus when it comes to developing sites for clients at a reasonable price.

The people over at the SLO Downtown Association are a pleasure to work with. Their organization and attentive eye made developing the new website a very hassle-free and efficient endeavor.

In addition to a premium custom theme and myriad of 3rd party plugins, the other thing that really enhanced their new site was the directory component. A very special thanks to Sigrid of sigsiu.net for providing excellent support as I executed the task of migrating the SLODA’s 800 business database over to the Joomla CMS.

Well, so far the new site has been met with good reviews by both employees of the downtown association, as well as members of board and its various committees. I’m not only pleased with the finished product, but also privileged to be able to add the SLODA site to my portfolio.

Boo Boo Records is a local institution here in San Luis Obispo County. Originally opening way back in 1974, Boo Boo’s has managed to weather the record retail storm that has been brought on by digital downloads and big box megastores. Boo Boo’s secret to success…? Give the customer something that they can’t find at these soulless giant music marts or compressed and crappy music download sites. This is of course good old fashioned, hands-on, personal service.

Boo Boo’s main goal is to provide the utmost in customer service, something you can’t put a price on. Couple that with an incredibly knowledgeable and musically passionate staff, along with a few thousand square feet of decades worth of nostalgia, and you have record store bliss. Sadly, the era of the record store is becoming a thing of the past. This huge part of our American culture is becoming dominated, diluted and standardized by corporate juggernauts bent on music retail domination.

Boo Boo’s has managed to keep up the good fight thanks to legions of local customers who’ve remained loyal over the years. These are the types of people who value the sound of uncompressed digital media (CD and DVD) and the warmth, realism and presence that an analog vinyl record can provide. These customers also know that they will be assisted by a caring staff, eager to turn them on to something new once they enter the store.

Although Boo Boo’s has an existing web presence, provided by yours truly, it is in need of an update. The platform it was built on is no longer in development, plus it’s time to evolve.

My aim is to provide Boo Boo Records with a website that showcases the culture and character of the store, while also keeping visitors up to date with the abundance of activities and happenings that go on there. Boo Boo’s plays host to many monthly functions and in-store performances by artists both local and worldwide.

In addition to their historic record shop in San Luis Obispo, CA, they also actively engage in the online marketplace as a means fortify their business via a broader audience. While Boo Boo’s primary focus is on that of their downtown SLO record store, let’s face it, if they hadn’t embraced the internet as a vehicle for business they’d probably have been crushed by the unstoppable force of the corporate machine.

Boo Boo’s continues to buy and sell on the internets as a way to cater to a larger audience and to provide their local customers with a deeper catalog. In order to ensure Boo Boo’s continued success and to keep up the good fight, it is time to launch Boo Boo Media.

This site will promote the online portion of Boo Boo Records, with the emphasis being on buying large collections of music. Boo Boo’s is always looking to fortify their existing stock by purchasing collections of all types and sizes. Whether you have loads of CDs, Records, DVDs, old 45s or any type of music related memorabilia you are looking to unload, chances are Boo Boo’s will want to offer you good money for it.

Check back later this month to see what I have in store for them.

Last week I met with members of the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association in order to get a feel and vision for their new website. The SLO Downtown Association is designed to help meet the needs of, and to promote merchants and other businesses in the downtown area. They are also responsible for many functions and events among other things, but I won’t get into all of that right now. You’ll have to check back in a bit to see their re-launched website to get the big picture.

Their website needs:

• Attractive and easy to navigate
• An updated, current and “happening” feel
• Ability to be updated and managed primarily in-house
• Multiple web forms to handle a variety of applications
• Searchable business directory to accommodate roughly 800 local and regional businesses

Those are the primary needs of the SLODA, but I’m sure more functionality and flavor will be added to the site as it prepares for re-launch. It contains approximately 30 pages of content at the moment.

Estimated turnaround time: 5 business days.

Project estimate: Way too cheap, but my two year old needs new shoes and he’s eating us out of house and home, so daddy needs work.

Once I import the existing business database and achieve proper functionality, this site should fall into place rather quickly. Implementing the database aspect of the site first gets most of my cussing out of the way early on, then leaves me with a relatively headache free workflow where I can then focus on the design and overall layout.

My approach to building a website is similar to enjoying a good meal. I prefer to start with the vegetables and save the steak and garlic mashed potatoes for last, then ultimately savor the dessert. I like to get the important staples out of the way then enjoy and concentrate on the good stuff. You feel me?

Being the crazy Rock ‘n’ Roll man that I am (well, maybe mildly crazy now that I’m a family man), I jumped at the chance to work with Frank Lamara of AmpLounge.com. Frank, along with partner Bruce Egnater (of Egnater Amps fame) own and operate a full service music gear emporium located in Berkley, MI. In addition to their music store, he and partner Bruce need a vehicle to promote some of their own products such as, ToneBra and LA Guitars.

My job is to give them an updated website that will not only showcase many of the products and services available at their Berkley, Michigan shop, but also feature and promote their home-grown products to a worldwide audience. Their current flash-based web page is pretty slick looking, but it’s far from telling their whole story. My plan is to have them taking calls and fulfilling international orders in no time.

Check back in a little bit to see how I do.