Mychael Dean has been one of the more striking personalities I have had the pleasure of meeting. When he asked Be-lifted to build his decades of experience into a website it was an absolute pleasure to do.

The idea is to get the most information with  the least clicks. The design has more to do with functionality and content rather than outright bling. The traffic expected is from clients who are interested in having a look-see about the company’s experience. Therefore a method of using slide-shows to show the whole website in the form of images was chosen.

The boxes act as navigation for the site while simultaneously acting as a way to get a rough idea of the companies profile.

The inside pages are all light-boxed images to enable quick and good looking navigation.

The toughest part of the project was to go through the mountains of data and press coverage over the years and arranging it into a usable format. But it is a very satisfying project to have completed. The website can be viewed at http://www.creativityfirm.com/wp

Main Features

• Wordpress Engine Based
• Image Based Navigation
• Lightboxed Images
• Anti-spam Contact Forms

Vivace is run by a group of entrepreneurial young people who believe in creating great experiences. The website they required was a simple affair to provide a launchpad for their services on the internet.

The site was built on a existing template on the Wordpress engine. The emphasis on design is to be perceived as classy yet affordable and down to earth. The graphical accents in the header were actually designed by the guys at vivace themselves.

The site image requirements are taken care of by flickr and email handled by google apps.

Main Features

• Wordpress Engine (Search Engine Optimized)
• Sitemaps, Xml Sitemaps, Google Analytics for Site Stats
• Google Apps for Email & Documents
• Integrated with Flickr for Image Storage
• Tiltviewer Integrated for Flickr Image Gallery
• Anti Spam Contact Forms
• Customized Testimonials Solution
• Share Save Buttons for Social Bookmarking
• Submissions Search Engines & Social Bookmarking Sites.

Update

Fix uploaded for wrong variable on line 55 in rafik_ga.php.
Thanks to Robert Staddon for bringing up the issue.

Google Analytics Plugin For Wordpress MU

This is an english translation of the plugin from this french website revised version downloaded from here. I have only translated the plugin to English so everybody can use it.

Download

wpmu_google_analytics-revised-english.zip (580)

if you have enjoyed this download, please digg this page, spread the word.

WordPress Mu Google Analytics  by Rafik Ouerchefani  -  http://themajesty.asslema.net/
Revised Version from http://www.tajidyakub.net/
Translation: French » English  by George Abhishek Cherian -  http://www.be-lifted.com

Description: A solution for Google Analytics for the entire site and for each blog!

Installation

Upload the files:

wp_content / mu-plugins / rafik_ga.php
wp_content / mu-plugins / rafik_ga / rafik_ga_admin.php

Configuration

To set up Google Analytics on this site:
> Admin. Site> Google Analytics.
Paste the Google Analytics (in the form-”UA-xxxxxxx-x” ).

To set up Google Analytics on a specific blog, blog administrator can set his own blog:
> Options> Google Analytics.
Paste the Google Analytics (in the form -”UA-xxxxxxx-x” ).

That’s it!

Note: Make sure you have the wp_footer hook “<?php wp_footer(); ?> ” in  your footer.php or else it wont work.

Easy To Setup & Learn

The famous Wordpress install is fabulous. It takes fewer clicks than installing a program on your desktop and most hosts offer automated single-click install scripts. Adding to the easy install are the countless themes that you can apply to get your site spiffy in no time.  “This is caveman-simple”, remarked one of my clients. That’s how easy it is to get going on Wordpress. 123 and you are done, especially since the new versions with the better interface has come out.

Easy to Find Help

The trouble with most Open Source platforms is the Help issue. This is something Wordpress cannot be blamed for. The Wordpress community is very helpful and has developed so much stuff that Google search  is the only thing you need to get help. There are also firms that specialize in getting the best out of Wordpress, so if turn-key solutions with support are your thing, Wordpress is there as well.

Easy to Extend

You name it you’ve got it. Wordpress is more than a blog, it is a real cross communication platform. Few other platforms have been so actively developed by so many people. You can use it as a corporate website, magazine, portfolio, address book, online shop etc.. among other things. Oh I forgot it is a bloging platform too. Plugins have been developed to integrate it into all kinds of online services like facebook, flickr, twitter, social bookmarkng sites, google analytics etc.. just to name a few.  Even though too many plugins can slow down a site, The very fact that something something like this exists is a chance for many individuals and small businesses to get their business on the web without costing a bomb.

Easy to Publicize

This is where the real strength of Wordpress lies. Google loves Wordpress as most of the time the content is real. Wordpress has a lot of plugins that enable Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Stuff like sitemaps, Xml sitemaps for search engines, Ping services to bookmarking Sites, Search Engine Friendly URLs etc make Wordpress a formidable tool is getting up search Rankings. Not only that easy integration with Social Bookmarking Sites (DIGG, DEL.ICIO.US, TECHNORATI etc..) and sites like Facebook is a massive plus.

Easy to Backup & Move

Moving is important as most websites will change servers at least one once in their life span. Wordpress has some really easy to use plugins to backup data and to manage the backups. Moving is easy as well with some great migration tools available.

There are a lot of Content Management Systems out there. Some are pretty good, like Drupal, Joomla, Movable Type etc.. but none combine dummy proof usability and a durable efficiency like Wordpress.

So what are you waiting for? Dump that cumbersome slow loading website of yours and Celebrate the freedom of Open Source.

Love Live Wordpress!

When be-lifted started looking for servers to launch a VPS to kick things off we had to do a lot of research. Finally we settled on GPLHOST with their open-source control panel DTC. Our decision has been vindicated by the exceptional performance of the servers that they have. DTC being open source is not perfect and the GUI is not the most beautiful but it sure is easy.

But the best factor is the personnel. They are some of the most helpful people we have met on the web. We would like to thank Damien for his exceptional help. He has been the best in all departments for us in solving issues always ready with an solution. Big thanks to Thomas as well for his DTC panel and all the help.

Thank you guys, we gonna be bugging you for a long time to come!

If anybody wants to check then out they are at www.gplhost.com.

Taisuke is globetrotting rapper from Japan. Raised in Germany, UK, Japan and now in Singapore, he is up on his way as an indie rapper. Having already gotten a flash website, he wanted to set up a blog section as well.

In course of conversation we were able to find that the project was more than just a blog. It is more of a reach-out website to function as an updatable portfolio as well a platform to showcase his work. So the focus was ease of navigation and easy to read typography.

The website features a home page with image based navigation and boxes to show tags, music and a shout-box. The Image Navigation Box points to diferent aspects of the artists online presence ( Facebook, Blog, Myspace, Mixxi etc..). The tags are generated with flash and the shout-box and the music player adds additional interactivity to the front page.

The inside of the blog was kept simple to navigate with blog chronology and includes a flickr gallery and a downloads section.

At the back-end the site is integrated with Google Apps, Google Analytics and has been monetized using Nuffnag and Google Adsense.

Website URL: http://www.tai-yama.com/blog

Main Features

• Wordpress Engine (Search Engine Optimized)
• Sitemaps, Xml Sitemaps, Google Analytics for Site Stats
• Google Apps for Email & Documents
• Integrated with Flickr for Image Storage
• Tiltviewer Integrated for Flickr Image Gallery
• Image Based Navigation on Front Page
• Anti Spam Contact Forms
• Share Save Buttons for Social Bookmarking
• Submissions Search Engines & Social Bookmarking Sites.

Personal Note on Tai

Talented, bright and ambitious are three words which wont even do justice in describing him. Has the ability to be logical as well as be creative a trait found in so few artists and is an absolute stand-up person. You should check out his work at tai-yama.com/blog.

Sarah is a professional makeup artist who wanted to redo her old static website with a more usable solution. She wanted a classy yet funky style with that sends a clear message about her work.

Sarah’s dynamic style is apparent in the design of the site with leopard prints and black and the ’sliding image menu’. A Wordpress engine is used to power the backend so as to keep the upkeep of the website simple.

The Gallery was integrated with Flickr to allow ease of management of images and to save space and bandwidth as well.

Also implemented are events section and a testimonials section along with anti-spam contact boxes.

Google Apps is fully integrated into the backend to have maximum email and storage space. Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools are used to leverage the rankings along with submissions to Major Search Engines and Social Bookmarking sites like digg, technorati, del.icio.us and so on.

You can visit the website at www.facesbysarah.com

Features

• Wordpress Engine (Search Engine Optimized)
• Sitemaps, Xml Sitemaps, Google Analytics for Site Stats
• Google Apps for Email & Documents
• Integrated with Flickr for Image Storage
• Simpleviewer Integrated for Image Gallery
• Javascript Sliding Image Menu
• Detailed Testimonial Section
• Anti Spam Contact Forms
• Share Save Buttons for Social Bookmarking
• Submissions Search Engines & Social Bookmarking Sites.

A Personal Note on Sarah

An extremely intuitive person with very strong will and direction as to what she wants to do. Her attention to detail and dedication to what she does is awesome. If you need someone to get you decked out for that special day this is person you should meet. It has been a absolute pleasure to work with her.