Such is the case with Homespun Quilts. When we first built Lydia and Thor’s site in the spring of 2007, we included a blog as a standalone application. While it was integrated into the site, it wasn’t the backbone. Lydia has been editing their site using Contribute , a great choice for editing html-driven websites without having to learn, well, html.

Recently, Karl and Sabrina converted the site to being completely built with WordPress. Now Lydia can manage both her blog and her website using the same online interface. Updates are simple and in real-time, making editing the site even easier for her–and no more costs in updating editing software.

Better still, there is some search engine advantage to having her site built using a social networking tool like WordPress, if she uses it well. Regular posts, attention to key words and a few other tips will undoubtedly increase the presence of Homespun Quilts on Google, MSN, Yahoo! and the like.

The fun part of this upgrade is the variety of plug-ins available for WordPress 2.7.  Take Lydia’s New Year’s Survey and notice her whirling
tag cloud. These are just a couple of the new ‘toys’ she has in store for her customers. Stay tuned!

Our Founder

When founding beachdog.com a dozen years ago, we thought long about what to name the company. We wanted the name to express the ideals we had for our business; can-do attitude, constant learning, chutzpah, determination, beauty, creativity, loyalty, passion, fun, play, giving more than you take. It suddenly occurred to us that the reason we so adored our beloved shelter mutt was that she exemplified all these qualities. And so beachdog.com found its moniker.

Karadog joined the Schwartz family at 6 weeks old in the summer of 1994. She quickly charged her way into the hearts of everyone she met and loved every minute of her nearly 15 years. We were blessed to have her as a part of our family and at work with us every day.

Sadly, bone cancer took her from us this morning. Her many friends will miss her irrepressable exuberance along with her exigent need to perform. Happy Trails, Kara. You are much-loved and much-missed.

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Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It’s the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here’s a happy one for you.
~Dale Evans

We’ve recently fallen in love with poodwaddle.com.  Here’s their world clock:

Poodwaddle.com

To Don Porter, Veronica Sonntag and the rest of the Depot Restaurant Crew, Cheri Diehl of Discovery Coast Real Estate , Box K Automotive, Shelly Pollock of NW Insurance & Financial Services, the smiling gang at Dennis Company, the charming Bish’s of Charles Nelson Guest House, Marsha and her crew at Artistic Bouquets, the multi-talented Nautical Brass , Tips & Toes, Peninsula Wine Merchants and Kelly’s Deli families, Lorna Follis at Andersen’s RV Park, Nanci Main & Jimella Lucas, Blaine, Cheri and the 42nd Street Café crew, the loyal gang at Dooger’s Seafood, Jayne Bailey, Jenn & Larry and the rest of the Port Bistro bunch, our good friends at the Bridgewater Bistro, and Anna Lena’s, and the hard-working gaggle at Castaways Seafood Grille . To Kay, Betsy and all the staff and volunteers that make The World Kite Museum and Columbia Pacific Heritage Museums the dynamic places they are, and to Melanie, Curtis, David and Marian at Funland and Marsh’s, and all the other fine individuals and businesses honored:

CONGRATULATIONS on your well-deserved honor in the Chinook Observer’s, “Best of Discovery Coast”!

We are honored to work with you.

Welcome to 2009 and the brand new Anchorage Cottages website!

We have had a long and rewarding relationship with the Anchorage Cottages.  We’ve had the pleasure of working with several managers over the years, designing business cards, brochures, rate cards, postcards, and their original website. That site was rockin’ back in 1998 when we built it!

In 2008, however, it was clear that the site’s time had passed. Manager Lynette Dowty, who has an outstanding eye for design and a keen mind for business, committed to the process of starting from scratch with the outfit’s online presence.  Many of our clients come to us thinking they can throw money at us and *poof* they’ll have a website. They’re right, but we’ll fight them tooth and nail about it.

Anyone can put up a web page with some text and a photo or three. But it takes strong collaboration between the owners, managers, marketers and designers to build a good website that has a strong return on investment.

For small businesses, the owner, manager, marketer, designer, chief cook and bottle washer are all the same person. Trying to find time to develop effective site content, carefully crafted text and photos, while also running the business and working in it…is daunting. And so, despite the best of intentions, the site build took longer than any of us anticipated. Wisely, Lynette made a commitment to quality over speed and we restructured the production schedule accordingly.

Keleigh was designer on the project, with Sabrina doing most of the build, with a little help from Karl and Kathy heading up search engine optimization.
Lynette provided the writing and photos. We used a flash-based slideshow tool to run the cottage slideshows as well as the photo changing throughout the site. Google’s inline maps make it easy for visitors to find the motel. A full-service email newsletter rounds out the technical aspects of the build.

Here’s a little-known bit of info: Anchorage Cottages are one of the most-booked vacation properties on the Peninsula. In our business, we always meet information like that with a big “why?”. The cottages have a vintage charm, while being updated, crisply clean and with all the amenities you’d expect to find at a flag motel. Each is unique and a little funky, which is true of most “beach construction” of the era. But the thing that really sets them apart from other properties is the FEEL of the place. It’s akin to walking onto the set of Dirty Dancing; there’s a feeling of having arrived at the summer resorts some of us remember and most of us wish we had known.

There is a ball court, tennis, volleyball, lawn and dunes, a path to the beach. They’re close to downtown activities, but far enough out of town that the quiet is blissful. The staff is friendly and genuinely cares whether you have a good time while staying with them. They’re attentive, yet stay out of your way. Dogs and kids are welcome; family reunions are common and the rates are downright reasonable. It’s a place to gather. It’s a place for a retreat of solace. Kitchens, fireplaces, books, games-the R&R of the vacations of our childhoods. All these things combine to make the occupancy rates of the Anchorage Cottages incredibly strong. What that means to visitors is: BOOK EARLY!

Check out the site. We’re proud of it and welcome your feedback.