Big Santo Blog

Adding News to your Website

2009-06-29T08:52:00.001-07:00

We recently changed the way our News section works in Big Santo. Here is an instructional video on how you to Add News to your website.

Big Santo User Profile - The Ant Hill Group

2009-06-23T18:52:00.000-07:00

We are proud to introduce this months profile. The Ant Hill Group is an organization made up of a group of grassroots individuals and organizations committed to helping Antigonish and its surrounding communities become more sustainable. We at Big Santo & Evolving Solutions love sustainability. Congratulations to The Ant Hill Group for taking charge!

Organization: The Ant Hill Group

Website: http://theanthill.ca

Overview

TAG - The Anthill Group is a community networking group committed to advancing the practice of living more sustainably within the areas in and around Antigonish Nova Scotia.

Each independent group has their own board of directors and mandate. They have come together to collaborate and to ensure effective communications through their web-site.

BS - How did you hear about about Big Santo?

TAG - We heard about 'Big Santo' from a Mexican Man named Panno who was out for a walk with his loving wife Maria along a Mexican beach. You see Panno refuses to work more than 30 hour a week fishing allowing him to fish in a sustainable manner. This gives him time to be with Maria, his kids and to play guitar with friends in the evening when he wants to.

Panno has a laptop and one night when he was off he was surfing for evolving solutions for his fishing boat and found a great New Brunswick based company that uses a system call Big Santo. He told my parents while they were on vacation in Mexico. They told us and we've been happy ever since.

BS - How do you currently use Big Santo?

TAG - We use Big Santo to communicate with our membership when we want to promote sustainable ways to live. This has made it easy for us all to network with our growing membership.

BS - Any other ways you might use it?

TAG - We have been playing around with Big Santo to create easy ways for families and organizations within our membership and the public at large to get engaged. It's working fine to date.

BS - How has Big Santo solved a business/organizational issue?

TAG - The most important thing that Big Santo has done is allow our membership to know what we do (web-site) and to communicate ONCE rather than the cross postings that used to happen between all the groups in the past. Clearer more professional communications has engaged our members/public.

BS - What do you like best about the product?

TAG - Big Santo is easy to use - period.

BS - What features do you find most helpful?

TAG - Simply the ability for us to post or change something in seconds. Time for us as volunteers can sometimes be tight and we needed a system and a company we could trust. Great to have Evolving Solutions and their Big Santo system in place.

BS - What improvements to Big Santo would you like to see?

TAG - Ah! The ability for us to post something on the web under EVENTS and then it could automatically go out to our membership.

BS - Any specific features you would like to see?

TAG - Nothing at this time

BS - Any other tips/tricks/words of wisdom you would like to share with others users/readers?

TAG - The only word of wisdom I would have is... if you are looking to set-up a web-site or you are frustrated with your current provider... move to Big Santo... it will be the best move you can make outside of retiring and moving to Mexico with Panno and Maria!

Big Santo User Profile - Vision Coaching

2009-05-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

We are proud to introduce this months profile, Vision Coaching. Vision Coaching is an organization that has had a huge impact on our journey here at Big Santo & Evolving Solutions. If you are looking for a partner to help you unleash your full business potential, Vision Coaching is where it's at. Congratulations to Dave Veale and the team at Vision Coaching for following their passion. Thank you to Kim Houlahan for submitting Vision Coaching's user profile. She is a Big Santo Master!

Check out the video and see how Vision Coaching can unleash your potential!

More on how Kim and the team at Vision Coaching uses Big Santo.

Organization: Vision Coaching

Website: http://visioncoachinginc.com

Overview

At Vision Coaching, our mission is to work with leaders who are committed to taking risks, have the courage to lead by example, who think big thoughts and who make things happen. Vision Coaching partners with organizations to help them achieve their full business potential. Our Certified Executive Coaches do this by coaching leaders who are committed to excellence and assisting organizations in the strategic development and integration of coaching competencies that impact the entire organization.

We have a team of coaches from across Canada and clients around the world.

BS - How did you hear about about Big Santo?

VC - Vision Coaching has worked with Evolving Solutions/Big Santo on several web-based projects for many years. The on-going collaboration with Evolving Solutions/Big Santo has been incredibly important to the growth and development of Vision Coaching.

BS - How has Big Santo solved a business/organizational issue?

VC - Big Santo has allowed us to adjust our website and respond quickly to changes in our company and offering - new coaches coming on board, new products being developed, news items, etc. We can update our website quickly and easily, and build our website as we grow, without having to partner with(and pay for) a web expert for every change on our website. That's big value for us. We're in control of one of our most important marketing tools.

BS - What do you like best about the product?

VC - I love how quickly you can update your website. You make the change, and it's LIVE. Simple.

BS - What features do you find most helpful?

VC - I like the content containers. You create them once and you can place them instantly in all the places you need them on your site!

BS - What improvements to Big Santo would you like to see?

VC - Tips and tricks on how to add particular content would be great. (should I use blog technology? or use a list with links? create separate pages?) The tools are there, in Big Santo, but I don't always know the best route to take to get the content up.

BS - Any other tips/tricks/words of wisdom you would like to share with others users/readers?

VC - I think using Big Santo is like playing chess...it doesn't take much time to learn how to use the tool...but there is a lot of strategy to be learned to get the most out of it! The more we work with Big Santo, the better we get at being creative with the process and the final result.

How Do I Add Twitter To My Website?

2009-05-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

I received a great question from one of our Big Santo customers today. How do i add twitter to my website? Great question and I am sure there are others out there trying to figure this out as well.

Twitter is hot right now and businesses want to tap into the buzz, so they can benefit from it. There are many ways a business can benefit from Twitter, but that is a whole other post or two, but here is how you can easily add your Twitter conversations to your website using Big Santo.

Using Big Santo, makes adding any sort of widgets to your website easy for the non- techie, trust me I am very low tech.:-) The following video explains step by step how to add a Twitter Widget to your website.

For more help and tips on Big Santo, feel free to check out our online support center.

Big Santo User Profile - Hemmings House Pictures

2009-04-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

We are proud to introduce this months profile. Hemmings House Pictures is an organization that has climbed the charts in the last year. We at Big Santo & Evolving Solutions love HHP creativity and innovation. Congratulations to Greg Hemmings and the team at HHP for a job well done!

Organization: Hemmings House Pictures

Website: http://hemmingshousepictures.com

Overview

HHP - Hemmings House Pictures is an award-winning film and television production company based out of Saint John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Hemmings House is different because we combine the creative passions of a group of filmmakers with the energetic entrepreneurial spirit of a quickly growing, innovative company that sells imagination.

BS - How did you hear about about Big Santo?

HHP - We’re friends & it’s a great service from great people.

BS - How do you currently use Big Santo?

HHP - Big Santo is our Web Content Master for our company website. We are now Masters of our Domain!

BS - Any other ways you might use it?

HHP - Not at the moment, but if you have any ideas, let us know.

BS - How has Big Santo solved a business/organizational issue?

HHP - Big Santo makes it easy for us to upload our latest videos so that our target market can see what we have been working on recently. This enables us to have a better resume of work online accessible to all those who are looking at our company for future projects, or who are just interested to see what kind of work we do.

BS - What do you like best about the product?

HHP - It’s simplicity and how great it makes our company looks.

BS - What features do you find most helpful?

HHP - Big Santo's Site Statistics is a great feature that helps us determine our website traffic and this helps HHP to know how our website is doing.

BS - What improvements to Big Santo would you like to see?

HHP - We think its great already.

BS - Any specific features you would like to see?

HHP - Just more of what you guys do best, help us make a user friendly and attractive website.

BS - Any other tips/tricks/words of wisdom you would like to share with others users/readers?

HHP - This is a great service and we highly recommend it to all of those who are looking for a web content master that will allow your website to reflect your own creative style without restraints.

Go Social with Big Santo & JS-Kit

2009-03-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

Looking to create more of a conversation on your website? Well we have been testing out JS-Kit's commenting platform with Big Santo and it works like a charm.

JS-Kit commenting provides an amazing platform for web developers to integrate into their websites. It has very effective ways to fight and delete spam, and people can create avatars for their comments on blogs as well. JS-Kit is installed on 600,000 blogs and has already managed 75 million comments. It powers major sites like eVite, Sun Microsystems, InfoWorld, JetBlug, and Experian.

Now you can make your website social with Big Santo and JS-Kit.

JS-Kit Comments

Powerful threaded commenting system

Connect your blog to a community of over 600,000 sites. Easy to install, simple to customize, advanced controls.

Upgrade Your Site Now »

Feel free to leave a comment to see it in action.

Big Santo User Profile - Efficiency New Brunswick

2009-03-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

We are proud to introduce this months profile. Efficiency New Brunswick is an organization that stands for the greater good. We at Big Santo & Evolving Solutions love what ENB stands for and we love how they utilize all the tools in Big Santo to power their educational website. Congratulations to Steve Flogeras and the team at Efficiency NB for a job well done!

Organization: Efficiency New Brunswick

Website: http://efficiencynb.ca/

Overview

ENB - Efficiency NB was established in late 2005 as a provincial crown corporation with a mission to offer sound advice and practical solutions to help New Brunswickers use energy more efficiently, make better energy choices, manage energy expenses and lessen the impact of energy use on the environment. We have programs for residential homes, commercial businesses, industry and even communities.

BS - How did you hear about about Big Santo?

ENB - We were referred to Evolving Solutions by another Government Department (Securities) who were already a customer.

BS - How do you currently use Big Santo?

ENB - We use Big Santo to manage the day to day operations of our website as well as to deliver new communications about our business and our programs.

BS - Any other ways you might use it?

ENB - We will increasingly look to develop more interactive elements to our website to ensure we are providing New Brunswickers with the tools and information they need to use energy more efficiently in their homes, businesses and communities.

BS - How has Big Santo solved a business/organizational issue?

ENB - As a new department in an emerging industry, our programs are constantly evolving and we know that communications with New Brunswickers is key. We also that the web is the first place most people look when they want more information about something. We were in the process of upgrading our online presence from a basic 4-5 page site to something more substantial and were seeking a solution to manage our newer larger website. The Big Santo platform is simple enough for anyone to pickup almost immediately and yet powerful enough (through 3rd party application integration and through a full code editor) to allow us to build basically anything we can dream up and go well beyond the basic toolset.

BS - What do you like best about the product?

ENB - The Big Santo Platform follows the same business model as the 37 Signals applications "Not too little, Not too much". The simple and intuitive interface and building tools let us focus our time on using our website as opposed to building our website.

BS - What features do you find most helpful?

ENB - For me personally, the best feature is the content containers. They let me build custom little bits for our website in places where our standard templates and CSS don't work. They are like being able to develop little widgets for use on the site and are limited only by our coding skills.

BS - What improvements to Big Santo would you like to see?

ENB - The only feature I see as missing is a preview mode. While the visual editor is pretty good, it really doesn't give a view as to a page will look like once it is published. For new prototype pages this is not a problem, but for the homepage, sometimes there is no room for trial and error. A preview feature would let you see the page as it will appear before you commit to the update.

BS - Any specific features you would like to see?

ENB - While this skirts the line of 'Not to much', we would like to see some type of permissions or workflow built into the interface to accommodate an approval process for changes made by 'junior' editors.

BS - Any other tips/tricks/words of wisdom you would like to share with others users/readers?

ENB - Don't be afraid to play around with integrating tools from other online applications (Jotform, Sprout Builder etc.) as well as open source script and code from the countless sources online. One of the best features of Big Santo is the ease and speed with which you can mockup a standalone prototype page (just choose 'don't include in the menu') to test out new ideas.

User Profile Series - ABL rocks with Big Santo

2009-01-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

We are back with a new year and our next installment of our user profile series. We were able to speak with Bobbi Lee Betteridge, who is in charge of Promotions & Marketing for Atlantic Canda's largest chain of radio stations, Acadia Broadcasting Limited.

Bobbi, thanks for your great answers and your professionalism over the last 2 years. Big Santo and Evolving Solutions enjoys working with you.

Here is ABL's profile and a little video clip of ABL flaunting their stuff on the Web!

Organization: Acadia Broadcasting Limited

Website: http://acadiabroadcastinglimited.ca/

Overview

Acadia Broadcasting Limited are a chain of radio stations in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Ontario. Because our websites are an extension of our on air product, we strive to make them as fun and interactive as we like to be with our audience's each and every day on the radio.

Stations:

The Wave
Country 94
89 MIX FM
The Tide
B93 - Coming Soon!

BS - How did you hear about about Big Santo?

Websites were revamped in December 07 and it was from that point on that Evolving Solutions trained us on Big Santo.

BS - How do you currently use Big Santo?

Currently we have 5 stations using Big Santo to edit their Websites and there are more on the way!

BS - Any other ways you might use it?

Not at this time... but someday I'm sure!

How has Big Santo solved a business/organizational issue?

Because our stations are not in the same cities, having them all on the same account, has helped me train and work with them to get their new sites up and running and makes it easier to help them if they run into any problems or have questions.

BS - What do you like best about the product?

I like that Big Santo was built for the "basic" computer "web master". When I began working with our station websites, I knew nothing about editing a website and the Team at Evolving Solutions and the easy tools they provide like this product, make it easy for anyone to have a great looking website!

BS - What features do you find most helpful?

A lot of music artists are now offering completed HTML code to promote their latest single or CD and it's so easy to be able to plug that directly into Big Santo and have it appear on the website.

BS - What improvements to Big Santo would you like to see?

Big Santo really offers just about everything to create really fun, functional websites. The only thing on my wish list would be a "preview" button so before making information live, we could get a sneak peak at the completed page.

BS - Any specific features you would like to see?

Because in our line of business we are constantly running contests with a web component, such as "email in and register to win", being able to capture specific data when we set up an email hyper link would be very useful.

BS - Any other tips/tricks/words of wisdom you would like to share with others users/readers?

My advice is don't be afraid to ask questions! Believe me, I've asked a million so far... but you'll never work with a better team who are always there for you, no matter how big or small the question is!

Big Santo has a new look

2009-01-08T17:01:00.000-08:00

Notice the fresh design on Big Santo's homepage? We just rolled out the changes. We think the new design has a cleaner and more professional feel than the previous one. We also plan to add a new look and some additional capabilities to the user admin area which we hope you enjoy.

We also created a cool video with Animoto showcasing all the stars Big Santo has worked with in the last year. Check out the Big Santo Feature Movie.

We hope you like the new changes. Please let us know what you think in the comments. Stay tuned for more updates!

Big Santo User Profile - Symphony New Brunswick

2008-11-05T10:56:00.000-08:00

We are back with our next installment of our user profiles. We were able to speak with Caroline Condon, the General Manager of Symphony New Brunswick, the only full-scale symphony orchestra in New Brunswick. Below is an overview of how Caroline and her team is using Big Santo, what she likes and what he hopes to see from Big Santo in the future. So if you are thinking about a nice night out on the town, order some tickets for the next show.

If you are interested in learning more about how your company can be featured here contact us.

Organization: Symphony New Brunswick

Website: http://www.symphonynb.com

Overview

Symphony New Brunswick makes a significant contribution to the cultural richness and economic prosperity of its province by promoting symphonic music through live performance and educational programs. Symphony New Brunswick exists to play a high professional level of music to a diverse, growing and educated audience.

BS: How did you hear about about Big Santo?

SYNB: Punch Productions

BS: How do you currently use Big Santo?

SYNB: Web provider, E-marketing, E-commerce

BS: Any other ways you might use it?

SYNB: New applications for E-marketing

BS: How has Big Santo solved a business/organizational issue?

SYNB: The SNB website has gone through a major 'facelift' to rejeuvenate its branding image and Big Santo & Evolving Solutins was a major contriubuter in that area. Big Santo has excellent report capabilities on who uses our site and for allowing users to send emarketing message to very specific end users.

BS: What do you like best about the product?

SYNB: User friendliness back up by a very responsive team at Evolving Solutions for help on bigger problems.

BS: What features do you find most helpful?

SYNB: Editor in general is very good.

BS: What improvements to Big Santo would you like to see?

SYNB: Tables can be a little difficult if you are trying to do more complicated layouts

BS: Any specific features you would like to see?

SYNB: More font choices, more color choices

BS: Any other tips/tricks/words of wisdom you would like to share with others users/readers?

SYNB: Think big!

Market with Big Santo Landing Pages

2008-10-27T05:41:00.000-07:00

We recently launched our Landing Pages feature. You can now easily create marketing landing pages to any page on your website using Big Santo. With this new feature you can now create user friendly URLS for people to remember.

To create a landing page, click on the Website Tab in your your Big Santo console.
Click on the Landing Pages link on the far right
Give your new landing page a name
Add your Landing Page value. So what do you want to show up after your domain name - Example - www.evolvingsolutions.ca/bigsale
Then select the page you want your new Landing Page to link to.
Click submit and you are done

Here is one in action -

http://evolvingsolutions.ca/WOW

Big Santo User Profile - Daniel Allain

2008-10-01T03:22:00.000-07:00

Every now and again we will be highlighting how our customers are using Big Santo, what they think of the service and what they want to see out of their Web Content Master.

In our first profile we had the pleasure of speaking with a political candidate who is using social media to their advantage and hopefully give them the edge they need for the upcoming election. No it is not Barrack Obama, but it is Daniel Allain from Moncton, New Brunswick.

Check out the interview below with Daniel and see how he and his team have creatively integrated Big Santo with their campaign. And remember you can contact us, if you are interested in participating in our User Profile series.

BS: Tell us a little bit about your business, who is your target market, what makes you different, etc.?

DA: I am a politician looking to have a greater dialogue with prospective voters in the Greater Moncton region

BS: How did you hear about about Big Santo?

DA: It was a referral, they came highly recommended

BS: How do you currently use Big Santo?

DA: Big Santo is the platform we use to leverage traditional web capabilities and embed Web 2.0 features to listen and collaborate with our existing base of supporters and those looking to vote in the upcoming election.

BS: Any other ways you might use it?

DA: Collaboration with community groups

BS: How has Big Santo solved a business/organizational issue?

DA: It eliminates the technology barrier for our volunteers. The campaign team can focus on driving content to the site, rather then struggle with supporting technology.

BS: What do you like best about the product?

DA: The intuitiveness of the tools. The flexibility of the platform ensures that we can deliver content to our fan base in the format they want it whether its YouTube, Blogger, Flickr or Twitter; with Big Santo we have been able to set the bar for how politics on the web should be done in the province.

BS: What features do you find most helpful?

DA: Blogs, latest news, accounts, media, flickr integration

BS: What improvements to Big Santo would you like to see?

DA: More direct integration with YouTube accounts

BS: Any specific features you would like to see?

DA: The ability to add friends to the website, just like other social networking websites

BS: Any other tips/tricks/words of wisdom you would like to share with others users/readers?

DA: We use the site to rally supports for the campaign, however; I will spend the majority of the campaign talking to people on the street, but I can't do it 24 hours a day.

"The website gives 24 hour access to who I am and what I stand for," said Allain. "It's another way to let people know, but at their convenience."

Daniel thank you for the time and good luck!