Catch them off guard. Say something different for a change.

People surf the web all day, and typically, you have about 10 seconds of their time before they begin to lose interest. Use those 10 seconds carefully, as they might be the difference between your business and your competitors. A boring website tends to make people look elsewhere. They like action, entertainment, you know, a movie experience on the web!

Ok, so you're not selling Ferrari's, we know. I mean, selling loose bound paperback novels and stamps can only be so exciting. We realize that, so at least let's give them something entertaining to read, or provide something special from your site that no one else can do.

Yea, that's it, something unique!

Our programmers at Grinnell have a few tricks up our sleeves, and we can custom build web-based applications for you to provide to clients or employees, or just for yourself if needed. For example, here's a few examples of projects we have built already and a basic description of what they do:

Mileage Tracking:
This app we wrote for ourselves to keep track of all our moving and shaking. It allows employees to log in anywhere (even at a client's site...neat!), and update their mileage. It also allows for a description of what they did, and the ability to switch between miles or the odometer reading, along with the background math needed to figure their mileage for the pay period and multiply it by the per mile rate (MATH! NOOOO!). At the end of the pay period, it can email mileage directly to the boss and then reset the sheet to be ready for a new pay period. Don't worry, the data is never deleted, and you can search the database for any range of dates at any time.

Employee Check-In / Availability:
One of our clients needed a way to have employees which were offsite check in with them to let them know if they were available. We customized a web-app that allows those employees to log in remotely and update their status. In addition, there are notes they can add and also the ability to notify the employer they have completed the check in. Per the employer, we set the date and time to automatically populate so the employee even has a timestamp to the minute of when they checked in.

Hurricane Notification System:
This app we built with the intent to adapt it to any business that requests it. With it, we provide the employer a login administrator password, and give a special link to the employees which we placed on the employers main page of their website. If a hurricane comes to visit us, it typically scatters employees everywhere. They can go to the main page, and check in with the employer, telling them where they are and if they are safe. In addition, the employer can log in from any computer and see who has checked in, and also update the front page of the site with messages so they can stay in touch. This does not need to be installed on a computer, it is accessed through their website, so if the employee flees to Dallas or even Florida (I know, why would you go there to escape a hurricane), they can check in and see what is going from anywhere.

Member Directory
We recently completed a project to create a member directory in which we setup the site with administrative logins, and allow them to 100% manage their member directory online. The web interface allows them to create new accounts, disable accounts for those who didn't pay member dues, send out emails to active members, and provide very specific breakdowns of what each member's specialty is. All of this is searchable, and can be managed completely from the site by the company we built this for. This directory is used by over 300 other companies.