QuickSilver recently launched a new site for FairTax.org that’s primary purpose is to educate those who know nothing about the FairTax and generate involvement and donations.

FairTax.org’s mission is to bring to law a new tax system that would replace our current income tax. Under the FairTax Plan, every person living in the United States would pay a 23% national sales tax on purchases of new goods and services. This rate is equal to the lowest current income tax bracket (15%) combined with employee payroll taxes (7.65%), both of which will be eliminated. (FYI: The FairTax Plan is the only tax plan that proposes the removal of the payroll tax allowing you to keep your ENTIRE paycheck!)

Americans for Fair Taxation, a 501 (c)4 organization, hired QSI to redesign the website to improve the overall visitor experience and better educate them -  enough to spur involvement. After conducting a review of all the organization’s digital assets, QuickSilver was hired to redesign the website first. Three important objectives were agreed to:

• Streamlining the site’s content;
• Rewriting content to be clear and concise (for a laymen who knows nothing about the tax system); and
• Create an environment where visitors would feel compelled to take just 5 minutes to learn about the FairTax with the goal being: Get Involved, Donate, and Subscribe.

The end result was an updated website that’s to the point. “We really wanted to provide those who didn’t know about the FairTax with enough information to stay and learn first. Then, feel strongly enough about its premise to take a stand and get involved,” says Jeannine Lee, who managed the project. “It’s too early to measure the results (it launched March 14), but early findings show that more visitors are staying longer. We continue to monitor the findings and test and adjust certain messages until we find the results desired.”

Before and After images of the website are below:

There is still quite a buzz about the new Facebook Timeline for brand pages. Just in case you gave up Facebook for Lent, Facebook launched the Timeline feature for brand pages on February 29. On March 30, all brand pages will be converted to the new format. This only gives you a couple of weeks to decide how you will represent your company with Timeline.

If you’re still looking for some guidance on how to begin, below are the most important features for creating a successful brand page.

1. First, you must enable your Timeline preview on the brand page by logging in as an administrator.
2. Next, determine your cover photo. The exact size of  the cover image is 850 x 315 pixels, but it has to be at least 720 pixels wide to fill the space properly, and it must follow the rules: it cannot contain contact information, pricing or purchasing details, any call to action, or references to Facebook activity such as asking visitors to like your page. The photo should be representative of your brand in a positive manner and appeal to all customers. Don’t forget that your profile image will slightly cover up the bottom left hand corner of your cover image. To upload a new profile image, the size must be 180 pixels wide. Check out a few of these brands to get inspiration for your page: CocaCola, ESPN, Starbucks, Nike, Livestrong, Southwest Airlines or Dallas Mavs.

Once you are happy with your new cover photo, you can publish the images and go live with Timeline or you can wait until March 30 when everyone is automatically converted.

After you have converted to Timeline, you can start building a “true timeline” by noting important dates with related photos. We love that Timeline lets you tell your story. Think about adding the date your business was founded, important milestones, images of print advertising, historic images, or videos or pictures of those important milestones. And of course, if you need help getting it all done in your already-busy schedule, just give us a call.

QuickSilver (QSI) answers the growing demand for affordable, professional looking websites with a new product, QuickBox! “For years, we’ve had small businesses contact us with budgets that did not fit QSI’s custom designed sites and systems. Last year, we decided to develop a solution to meet this growing need,” explains QSI President Jeannine Lee.

QuickBox uses WordPress as the basis of its content management system (CMS) along with customizable features and plug-ins. QuickBox is designed to help small businesses, non-profits and other professionals develop their online business presence on a budget. Think about it as an online brochure, 5-10 pages, mainly informational with no bells and whistles; just good clean design. ”Today, anyone can go find a free WordPress or other CMS theme and spend a few hundred dollars on it. Yet when it’s all said and done, it still looks like everyone else’s. Our experienced staff can help you save time and money while building a dynamic, attractive website that engages your target audience,” says Jeannine.

QuickBox allows you to choose from four templates (Metropolitan, Informational, Classic, Showcase), select an affordable package with customizable features, and work with our experienced staff along the way. Each package offers the tools you need for a successful website, from SEO plugins and photos galleries, to social media and analytics monitoring. Plus we’ll submit your new site to major search engines upon completion. Packages also include a year of hosting and an hour of training.

If you, a client, or a friend can benefit from a QuickBox website, call 800-665-2174 or email us.

We’ve just launched a site for Ham Orchards that’s going to make you wish for a peach right now!  This North Texas peach orchard started with just a few peach trees on a whim in 1979 and with 6,000 trees and growing, it is now one of the largest family-owned peach orchards in the country.

Last year, Ham Orchards came to QuickSilver ready for a website that was all about their wonderful peaches and farm market products. They needed a website where they could make quick updates no matter where they were – in the Farm Market store, out in the orchard or in the office. Then there were all the thousands of customers who had written letters telling their “Ham Orchard” story — how better to engage them and capture those stories then through social media?

QSI’s answer was a fresh, fun design in WordPress that boldly displays their products and easily communicates the most important information on the home page (yes, it’s Texas and we’re obsessed with weather!).

“We love the new website,” says Richard Strange, son-in-law of founders Dale and Judy Ham. “It is very user friendly and operates seamlessly. The QuickSilver team recognized our business needs and developed a website that truly reflects our operation with a fitting theme within our budget.”

At QuickSilver, we tried all of their fresh fruits, vegetables and many of their Farm Market jar products. We can’t say enough wonderful things about the flavor of the peaches, the yumminess of their peach ice cream and cobbler, and the wonderful “no-sugar” jams. We encourage anyone in the North Central Texas/East Texas area to take a road trip to Terrell, Texas between mid-May through August (we bet once you go, you’ll be hooked!). Take your friends, your children or just yourself. There’s blackberry picking the first few weeks of the season, there are grilled hamburgers to enjoy in the Pavillion and there are always the best peaches in North Texas to savor.