Monday, December 15, 2008

Auction-Corner.com

Month 2 for Auction-Corner.com;

December was another good month for auction-corner.com. Average visitors per day increased to 70 with a total of 2187 visitors for the month. We also had a few sales with one of our members getting a sale in the $500 range I believe.

However, we still need to get more members before this site becomes truly successful. Therefore, the owner of the site has decided to extend the free trial period through Jan 31, 2009.

If we still do not have the kinds of numbers that we need, we may consider extending the FREE TRIAL period even longer, plus we have been talking about charging a LOW FLAT MONTHLY Membership Fee that would allow you to bid on and post UNLIMITED ITEMS. We will have more information on the options available once we RE-LAUNCH with our new and improved design and functionality. This should occur sometime early next year.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Auction-Corner.com

After much anticipation and months of programming, Auction-Corner.com has been released! We officially launched the easy-to-use auction website on Nov 5, 2008.

Here are some surprisingly decent first month stats;

Avg page views per day : 753
Avg unique visitors per day : 51
Total Visitors for Nov 2008 : 1537
Total pages views for Nov 2008 : 22,591

We have already recognized many ways to improve upon auction-corner.com and there is a lot of work ahead of us. The list of suggested improvements is very large. We have talked many times that I'll probably still be programming for the next year. The project is huge and the time investment is sacrificial, but the end product should prove to be successful.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Hale Ministries Update

Since I have been including articles about The Jeremiah House and other ministries of ours, I thought it might be good to include an article that explains a little bit about what we believe in and why we do what we do.

Hale Multimedia LLC is comprised of two generations (third up and coming) of Hales. Howard and Pat Hale adopted Brian and his little sister in the mid 1970's. Howard's mother, the late Eula Hale, was also one who believed in adoption. She adopted a little sister for Howard at a young age. Howard and Pat instilled solid principles into their children that had a very positive impact, especially on Brian.

As a family of believers in the blood of Christ, we understand that we are nothing without Him. Therefore, we continually thank God for the forgiveness and grace He has shed upon us all. We believe that we should serve Him in whatever ways we can, without expecting anything in return.

Most of the ministries that we are involved in center around serving the Lord.

Howard and Pat have served in numerous capacities in their lifelong church at Plymouth Congregational in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Howard has also been named 4-H Volunteer of the Year on more than one occasion for all the free announcing he does for the community. Howard also announced the Cougar Basketball games for 14 years at our local Junior College. Howard gives credit to God for giving him the vocal chords that allow him to be a successful announcer and radio personality. Patricia Hale served as a Speech Pathologist with ESU 13 for many years before retiring a few years ago. Since then, she has taken on home visitations for the sick and elderly as her personal ministry and enjoys it very much.

Brian Hale has had a heart for service for a long long time. He seldom hesitates to help someone in need. Over the years Brian has served in many capacities including as a soldier in the U.S. Army Medical Corps as well many other service related organizations. He has served as a Youth Leader and is currently Game Director for Zion AWANA, Chair of Building and Grounds, serves on the Leadership Team and Missions Committee and manages the multimedia sound system at Bethel Baptist Church. Brian also volunteered to provide Christian, National and Local newscasts to KCMI radio for over a year before being named Director of The Jeremiah House Children's Ministry in Scottsbluff where he had been a volunteer since 1999.

Brian was blessed to have finally found the servant minded partner of his dreams when he met Andrea Bauer in late 2003. Andrea was very like-minded when it came to helping others and the two of them have truly enjoyed serving together. Andi served as a Camp Fire leader and was Choir Director for Zion Evangelical for several years before getting married and starting a family with Brian. She has also served in the AWANA program at Zion since 2000, as VBS Director and Nursery Director at Bethel Baptist since 2005 and as Publicity Director for MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) since 2007. Andi also helps design and maintain numerous websites for non-profit organizations, sings on the Praise Team and graciously helps her husband with his ministries.

We give God all the credit for allowing us to serve Him. We believe it's the right thing to do and we'll continue to do so, even though we know that we could make more money doing other things. It's not about money. It's about serving others for Christ Jesus who died for us all. That's a debt that is even bigger than the U.S. Deficit, which is in the trillions. We simply pray that our community, our great nation and this world are better off because of our service in His name.

For a list of current ministries that we are involved in, visit www.haleministries.com and may God Bless YOU for taking the time to read this long post!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

The Common Sense Fix

Years of bad decisions and stupid mistakes have created an economic nightmare in this country, but $700 billion in new debt is not the answer. As a tax-paying American citizen, I will not support any congressperson who votes to implement such a policy. Instead, I submit the following three-step Common Sense Plan.

I. INSURANCE

Insure the subprime bonds/mortgages with an underlying FHA-type insurance. Government-insured and backed loans would have an instant market all over the world, creating immediate and needed liquidity.

In order for a company to accept the government-backed insurance, they must do two things:

1. Rewrite any mortgage that is more than three months delinquent to a 6% fixed-rate mortgage.

a. Roll all back payments with no late fees or legal costs into the balance. This brings homeowners current and allows them a chance to keep their homes.

b. Cancel all prepayment penalties to encourage refinancing or the sale of the property to pay off the bad loan. In the event of foreclosure or short sale, the borrower will not be held liable for any deficit balance. FHA does this now, and that encourages mortgage companies to go the extra mile while working with the borrower—again limiting foreclosures and ruined lives.

2. Cancel ALL golden parachutes of EXISTING and FUTURE CEOs and executive team members as long as the company holds these government-insured bonds/mortgages. This keeps underperforming executives from being paid when they don’t do their jobs.

This backstop will cost less than $50 billion—a small fraction of the current proposal.

II. MARK TO MARKET

Remove mark to market accounting rules for two years on only subprime Tier III bonds/mortgages. This keeps companies from being forced to artificially mark down bonds/mortgages below the value of the underlying mortgages and real estate.

This move creates patience in the market and has an immediate stabilizing effect on failing and ailing banks—and it costs the taxpayer nothing.

III. CAPITAL GAINS TAX

Remove the capital gains tax completely. Investors will flood the real estate and stock market in search of tax-free profits, creating tremendous—and immediate—liquidity in the markets. Again, this costs the taxpayer nothing.

This move will be seen as a lightning rod politically because many will say it is helping the rich. The truth is the rich will benefit, but it will be their money that stimulates the economy. This will enable all Americans to have more stable jobs and retirement investments that go up instead of down.

This is not a time for envy, and it’s not a time for politics. It’s time for all of us, as Americans, to stand up, speak out, and fix this mess.

from Dave Ramsey at www.daveramsey.com

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Stock Market 'Surprises'

Wow! The DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) dropped 777+ points on Monday the 29th. Experts say that meant 1.2 trillion dollars in losses. Doing the math, that comes to just over 1.5 billion dollars per point! I thought that was interesting. However, what I found out after doing a little research, is that Tuesday's 486 point jump was the third largest single day point INCREASE in the history of the stock market and was only 13 points away from the all time record of just under 500. Tuesday's increase calculates to an increase in value of $750 Billion in one day. One day.

I also learned that 5 out of the top 11 all-time single day increases occurred in 2008 and the all-time record closing bell occurred less than a year ago in October of 2007. If the DJIA is an indicator of a good or bad economy, then the economy must have been doing better than ever last September when the stock market closed at all-time highs of over 14,000! Right? Wrong. Don't let the news about the stock market pursuade you to panic. The Stock Market != The Economy. (does not equal) It's certainly an important element in the overall assessment of the economical picture, but it is based too much on emotion and speculation.

The stock market was due for another adjustment. All one has to do is look at history and you will find that the frequency of the 'crashes' is increasing to every several years now. However, history also proves that the market ALWAYS bounces back over time.

I've got a question. If the DJIA gets back to pre-Monday levels, would that be like it never happened? What does it mean to lose billions of dollars one day, only to 'win' it back?

The stock market reminds me of computerized card games I used to play as kid. You start with some pretend money and play until you're broke... then you ask for more credit and play long enough to win again. As long as you can keep playing long enough, then you will eventually win (break even). Compare that to stocks. If you can afford to keep playing long enough, you will 'win'. If you panic and for some reason sell when prices are sinking, you will inevitably lose. Ride the tide, don't rely on emotion and the market will eventually rebound. Look at history, it shocked me and I would like my message to be to encourage everyone about being more optimistic about the future of the United States. God has a plan for America. Let's do what we can to seek His will and live it out. 'Be careful to do what the Lord your God commands you'. ~ Dueteromony 5:32

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Radio Network Expansion

What's this mean to our website clients?
It's huge! How many website companies have radio advertising on a national scale AND are willing to use it to promote their website clients? I only know of one... Every time we add a new station to our network, YOU benefit.

How can I measure if the radio advertising is working?
To see how many visitors we have driven to your website, visit www.agmarketonline.com and do a search for your business. Click on your banner or name, then click on the yellow link in the black bar labeled "view search statistics". The national average click-through rate for search sites is between 3-4%. How does your site stack up? Contact us if you would like to improve this to get even more customers to your website.

How do we have all this radio advertising?
Howard Hale produces several nationally syndicated programs and provides them to radio stations at no charge. (Horseman's Corner, Cattleman's Corner, Harvest USA, Ag News, Opening Markets & Closing Markets). In return we get a bunch of air time. Instead of being greedy by selling the ads and keeping the money, Howard graciously allows us to use the advertising to help promote our clients! So we built a well-organized, easy to use search-engine type website that lists our clients, then we advertise it every day M-F on some 28 stations in 8 states (currently). We recently added 4 in Scottsbluff, 1 in McCook, 1 in North Platte and 2 in Grand Island. To view a complete list of stations, visit agmarketonline.com/stations.

Auction-Corner.com


Beginning in April, we started work on our largest website project ever and it's just about ready for launch. Auction-Corner.com is being developed to compete with eBay in a number of ways. We have a client who has been using eBay for years and they came up with several things they thought we could improve upon, then hired us to build it!

Our primary goal is to simulate the way auctions work in the real world. We are very close to launching this website to the public, so we thought we would give you, our clients and readers, the first chance to check it out. We will notify everyone again when it's officially ready, just be watching for it!

ELITE 100

We've developed a radio & internet advertising co-op that is limited to 100 businesses who want to promote their business on multiple radio stations and search engines for the price of one. The package includes hundreds of personal endorsements from Howard Hale for your business (by name) on multiple radio stations PLUS your banner will be shown in the search results as well as a feature member on agmarketonline.com. The fee is only $99 per month (and no long term contracts). Call or email if you might be interested.

Jeremiah House Update

We are excited to report that Brian Hale was recently named Director of The Jeremiah House Children's Ministry in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

Our vision is to share the hope and love Jesus Christ with children and their families. We have over 30 volunteers from several churches and bible colleges and a typical Tuesday evening brings around 30 children for a hot meal, bible study, singing and activities from 5:30 - 7:00 pm at our ministry center at the corners of 12th Street and 12th Avenue across from Overland Park.

For more info about the Jeremiah House including how to donate or volunteer, visit our website at www.jeremiah-house.com.

Client Toolbar Updated

We told you about our new custom toolbar that we created just for you last month. This month we want to let everyone know that we are constantly adding new resources to the toolbar, so you are encouraged to download and install it as often as you wish. Our updates will be automatically added to your new toolbar. Visit www.halemultimedia.com/toolbar to download your updated toolbar anytime! This month we added some new links under Resources as well as the radio programs that we added when we got the broadcasting contract with Hometown Family Radio Group on 8 more radio stations in Nebraska. See the article "Radio Network Expansion" for more details and if you are looking to advertise at a great price, be sure to check out "ELITE 100".

Billing Reminders

We have gone to a monthly billing policy, HOWEVER, we want to remind you that YOU CAN STILL PAY ANNUALLY if you wish. It does save you TWO MONTHS and it's one check to write versus 12. You can also Pay your Bill Online via credit/debit card through your Control Panel Login or by calling us. We accept Visa, MasterCard, AMEX and Discover as well as Paypal.

Marketing Tip #4

Marketing Tip #4 - Think Like Your Prospective Customers.

This answers the common question, 'How will people find my website?' You are applying a vital principle of marketing when you put yourself in the shoes of those searching for you. This is especially important when it comes to dealing with search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, etc. Do some brainstorming and come up with every possible keyword or key phrase that someone might type into a search engine when looking for the type of product or service you have to offer. We have developed an extremely easy way for our website and agmarketonline clients to have full control over updating these vital elements without ever having to contact us. Just login to your Control Panel and click on the update account info link in the grey area. Still need help, contact us!

Mission Trip Update

Anyone who has ever gone on a mission trip understands what it's like to serve no matter the circumstances. It's all for Him who died for us, so no matter how far it is, how much it costs or how many attacks satan tries to throw at us, it's all worth it! I am sure we have been called crazy many times for doing what we do, but that's ok. We enjoy doing whatever we can to help others.

Let's see if you think this is crazy... We spent two weeks raising money through speaking at churches and doing bake sales, then Andi spent several hours the night before packing up the minivan. We took off early Thursday morning headed to the Great White North and drove all day through Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and into Canada. We arrived at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan around 11:00 pm and bedded down on the hard basement floor at our partner church there before heading to our final destination about 4 more hours north the next morning. We were one of the first families to arrive at the Shekinah Retreat Centre (about 50 miles north of Saskatoon) at about 3:00 pm on Friday. Our primary purpose for going was to provide Vacation Bible School for the children, only to find out that they did not have any multimedia equipment that we were told they had. No internet, no computers, no projector, no screen and really no area big enough for our full production. We ended up using our laptop so we had the kids sit really close and be really quiet (haha) so that everyone could hear the tiny laptop speakers! For classroom space we used our own families sleeping quarters. This years theme was Outrigger Island with a Hawaiin setting so as recreation director Brian brought beach balls, frisbees and some other light games... which would have been great if the wind hadn't been gusting all weekend! God is SO awesome. He makes us WANT to work with missions by giving us these little challenges and ALWAYS provides a solution when we remain faithful to His purpose. Everything worked out exceptionally well and the kids and their parents had no idea what we faced to pull things off.

Since this was our second year serving with the same association we had more opportunities to really get to know everyone. We also noticed how much more the kids opened up to us this year! We believe that children need stability and for them to see some familiar faces leading them really made a big difference. Last year was kind of a blur for us all, but this year was all about building relationships. We received so much more personal joy knowing that those kids were looking for us and almost expect us to return every year!

The camp wrapped up Sunday afternoon by 2:00 pm and Brian had everything packed up in the van around 3:30 pm. That's when we got to thinking about travel plans... It dawned on us that we were carrying alot of Canadian money and it was a weekend... Labor Day Weekend. Canadian banks are closed on Labor Day as well. We wondered if American gas stations in North Dakota or Montana would take our currency. It was doubtful, which proved true. Therefore, we did some math and it appeared as though we would NOT have enough US dollars to get all the way home. One of the pastors there did have $33 USD that he let us exchange our Canadian dollars for and he graciously topped off our gas tank right outside of camp ($55 CAN). No one else had ANY USD, so we figured we would fill up right before the U.S. border and put our faith in God to get us home. We said a prayer and took off headed for the States. We were anxious to get home so we traded off and drove through the night and the next day. We made it home safely by noon on Labor Day Monday. Do you believe God provides? We certainly do! We got home and counted our remaining cash. We had $33 USD and $55 CAN. Whoa! Is God cool or what? Like our 3 year old son Brayden always says, "God is Real" and we believe it!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Website Client Toolbar

We came up with another customer service improvement again this month. Have you ever forgotten how to login to your Control Panel to update your website? There are so many different places to login nowadays! We decided it was time to build our own easy-to-install, guaranteed virus and spyware free website client toolbar to make your life easier. There are plenty of free toolbars available from companies like Google, Yahoo, MSN and others. However, I worry about spyware and other forced advertising, plus they all seem to include a bunch of stuff I never use. We have built a toolbar that includes Customer Support and Control Panel Login buttons as well as links to all our major websites and other helpful resources. It even includes a nifty radio station player that allows you to listen to any of our radio programs instantly or you can customize it with your own favorite streaming stations. It also displays your current local temp and of course gives you a search bar. All of this plus more is included in this free download available at www.halemultimedia.com/webclienttoolbar/toolbar.html.

Jeremiah House Ministry

As the previous article on KCMI stated, Brian is no longer working with the station in any way now. God is obviously calling us in a different direction as Brian was recently named Director of The Jeremiah House Children's Ministry in Scottsbluff, NE which he has served with since 1999. It's just another instance of God's awesome timing when it comes to opening new doors when one closes!

The Jeremiah House is a ministry in which Brian has been serving for almost 10 years now and is located in the same neighborhood in which he grew up. Brian and his little sister were living on 9th Street when they were taken in in 1974 and eventually adopted by the Hales in late 1976. Since Brian joined the military and travelled the world, all to end up serving back in the same neighborhood he feels that God has brought him full circle for His purpose.

The Jeremiah House is a Children's ministry of Bethel Baptis Church in Scottsbluff who's goal is to share the hope and love Jesus Christ with the children and their families. We have over 30 volunteers from several churches and bible colleges and a typical Tuesday evening brings around 30 children for a hot meal, bible study, singing and activities from 5:30 - 7:00 pm at our ministry center at the corners of 12th Street and 12th Avenue across from Overland Park.

For more information about the Jeremiah House including how to volunteer, please visit our website at www.jeremiah-house.com.

KCMI Radio Update

Some of our local area Nebraska and Wyoming customers may have noticed that Brian is not doing Local, National or Christian News for KCMI FM 96.9 anymore. The new management at the station decided to eliminate local news and go with an outfit out of Washington for their other news. Brian had been providing news to the station at no charge since February of 2007. We have been repeatedly frustrated with their new management and had already decided to ask them to find someone else to host and maintain their website when they called with that same suggestion. Therefore, as of this month we will no longer be working with KCMI. We will, of course, continue to work with the other 28 radio stations in our 8 State Network and are currently negotiating with several more Nebraska stations to join the network in the very near future.

We all felt that is was mutually beneficial to go a different direction and we pray that our little local radio station will someday again be strong and successful.

Clickthrough Statistics

AgMarketOnline.com is a rapidly growing website that is advertised on our radio network of 20+ great radio stations in NE, CO, MT, ND, SD, KS and NM and is getting hundreds of unique visitors every day. What's even better is the fact that those who are visiting agmarketonline.com are clicking through to our customer's websites at a rate that is higher than the global average by several times! Some of our clients are getting clickthrough ratios in the double digits. Your clickthrough ratio or CTR is calculated by dividing clickthroughs by your total exposures. Google, Yahoo, MSN etc average around 2-3% CTR. Some of our websites are averaging 5-10 times that!

AgMarketOnline.com is doing a great job of driving potential customers to your website. Now let's make sure we're doing everything on your website to capture and convert these visitors into more money for you.

Marketing Tip #3

Marketing Tip #3 - Keep Your Website Up To Date.

Your goal should be to sustain a steady influx of new and return visitors to your website. If you don't give your website visitors a reason to return, they won't. If your website is built properly, it will give your prospective customers a predisposition to do business with you. It's important to keep things fresh, even if you are not actually selling anything on your website. You are selling yourself and your business! If your website does not appear maintained, they may get the wrong impression about how you handle things. Your website is a direct reflection of your business, so keep it current. Some of our customers send us the updates while most of you have some level of control over updates. If you feel you need more control over updating your website or if you need more training, please contact us!

Labor Day Mission Trip

We are headed to Saskatchewan, Canada over the Labor Day weekend once again this year to provide support for the Annual Northern Lights Pastoral Conference. Churches in Canada are fewer in numbers and much more spread out, creating a real need for fellowship and support. Once a year, pastors and their families from all over Canada travel long distances to get a little refreshing. Our group will provide teaching for the Pastors, a vacation bible school for the children and we will even take time to pamper the wives. It's not a typical mission trip as you might imagine, but we feel it's very important to take care of our pastors and their families. We may not have cell phone service or internet while we are there, therefore it may be difficult to reach us. If you have an emergency, the Shekinah Retreat Centre has authorized me to give you the phone number above to reach us while we are there. We will leave Nebraska early on the 28th and arrive at our destination the afternoon of the 29th. We will probably depart Canada on Sunday evening the 31st and arrive back home late Monday night. We will resume normal business hours on Tuesday the 2nd of September.

Billing Reminders

Most of our clients have been receiving monthly invoices lately, as opposed to us sending out annual invoices. We made this announcement several months ago and have finally gotten the books converted over.

We also want to remind you that YOU CAN STILL PAY ANNUALLY if you wish. It does save you TWO MONTHS and it's one check to write versus 12.

Also, don't forget that you can View and Pay your Bill Online through your Control Panel Login. We accept Visa, MasterCard, AMEX and Discover as well as Paypal.

Special Offer Extended

We will CUSTOM DESIGN, PRINT and DELIVER 1000 High-Gloss professional stock business cards that will match the look of your website for only $69.00! Our website shows a $7 shipping and handling charge, but if you order before September 30th we will pay your shipping for you. I compared this with several local printers and some national ones and the average was around $90 for this quality and quantity PLUS shipping and handling charges. Give us a call or send us an email to place your order. We will confirm your order details and send you a proof before ordering to ensure absolute satisfaction! Visit www.halemultimedia.com and click on the Printing tab to see several samples of our work.

Contact Manager Upgrade

One of the primary goals of any advertising, especially a website, is to generate contacts. A website contact can be a prospective customer that has potential for improving your bottom line. Additionally, tracking your website contacts gives you a quantifiable means for measuring whether or not your website is being utilized. It's not the only measure of the success of your website, but it's part of the equation.

Here's the problem... 'Email' as we know it today is NOT a 100% dependable tool yet. (I will rejoice along with you when the day comes when it's foolproof, but please don't hold your breath!) Therefore, any website contacts that are sent only by email have the potential of NOT reaching you! (Due to spam filters or other internet glitches) Because of the nature of email, I can guarantee that there are contacts that are never responded to. That's like having a customer standing in your store and no one helps them, so they leave mad.

We have a solution! We have developed a database that will permanently record all your website contacts for you and make them available to you from your Control Panel Login, anytime, without ever having to check your email. We normally charge $225 for this feature. However, we want to show our appreciation for your continued business, so we are offering this upgrade for only $75! Your upgrade would include 1) additional security for your contact form itself 2) a permanent database to store your contacts 3) the ability to add/edit/delete AND reply to your contacts directly from your Control Panel Login!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Computer Corner Debuts!

Introducing The Computer Corner Radio Program - "Bridging the Gap between Humans and High-Tech"

Brian has been 'fixing' computers since 1978 when his dad sold off one of his top horses to buy an Apple IIe computer with... get this... no hard drive and a whopping 64K of memory... for $3800 (which was a bargain at the time)! Over the years, Brian has collected an extensive database of computer and internet tips that he wants to share with everyone, so the Computer Corner program has been in the works for quite some time. Now with the emergence of some of the nastiest viruses and spyware in history, combined with the fact that 80% of Americans own a personal computer, the time has come to launch the tips program!

You can listen to sample broadcasts by visiting www.halebroadcasting.com. We are contacting radio stations nationwide to see if they would be interested in carrying this practical one minute program geared toward the average frustrated computer user, but you can listen to it directly from our website anytime!

New Design Releases

Here are a few of our newest design releases for July 2008;

Gateway Realty
Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Gateway Realty Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Valley Insurance Services
Gering, Nebraska

Valley Insurance Services Gering, Nebraska
Troyer Harness & Equipment Co.
Ft. Lupton, Colorado

Troyer Harness & Equipment Co. Ft. Lupton, Colorado

To learn more about these clients, visit www.websiteportfolio.net

AgMarketOnline Update

AgMarketOnline.com is a rapidly growing website that is advertised on our radio network of 20+ great radio stations in NE, CO, MT, ND, SD, KS and NM and is getting hundreds of unique visitors every day. Visit agmarketonline.com and search for your business. If you don't find it, give us a call! A basic membership is FREE as long as you are hosting with us.

This advertising cooperative has grown from just a few paying members a couple months ago to the list you see below.

* Antique John Deere Tractors
* Brighton Feed and Saddlery
* Minatare Arena
* Ted Robinson Cow Horses
* U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc
* AmerCan Corp
* Bridle-Bit Training and Tack, LLC
* Bruce Laird LLC
* Diamond Double T Ranch
* Eaker Harvesting
* Eyster Harvesting, LLC
* Hermesch Custom Harvesting
* Keimig Harvesting
* Kulhanek Harvesting
* Lancaster Harvesting LLC
* Misener Family Harvesters
* Neufeld Harvesting
* Right Way Training
* Roland Harvesting and Trucking
* Vision of Unity Horsemanship
* West Winds Farm
* A W Thorne Land & Cattle
* AAA Custom Harvesting
* Bashor Ranch
* Daniels Harvesting
* Eberts Harvesting Inc
* Grove Harvesting
* J and H Harvesting
* Olsen Custom Farms
* Thurman Harvesting, Inc
* Torrington Livestock
* Twombly Arena Performance Horses
* Vieth Brothers Harvesting

To find links to any of these Advertising Coop members, visit AgMarketOnline.com

Website Testimonials

Get your website a little special attention by submitting a website testimonial to us to be featured here like this one from Mark Schultz at Western Sleep Medicine...

“We are so pleased with Hale Multimedia. The website design was outstanding. They had a feel for our business from the get go and really enhanced our message. The support has been great, training excellent, and they are always accessible for questions and updates. Response to the website has been incredible!“

New Live Support!

We are always looking for ways to improve our customer service. In January we downsized since the extra 'help' was actually a huge distraction from properly responding to our clients' needs. In late March we launched our own Project Management Software that helps us track every little task. In May we added an easier, more dependable way to send us a Support Request from any page of our website at halemultimedia.com. Last month we improved the security of our contact forms by adding a randomly generated verification system called a 'captcha'. This helps eliminate computer generated spam.

This month we established a new easier-to-remember toll free number and we have added a New Live Support Feature which gives anyone the ability to quickly connect to us directly through a real-time live chat window. There are no program downloads and no sign-up forms to fill out! Just click on Live Support on any page of our website, enter your name and your email address and click Login. If we are logged in and sitting at our computer, then you will get us instantly. If we are away, it will let you know to contact us through the Support Request button on our websie, or you can give us a call. We want to give you every opportunity to contact us.

Marketing Tip #2

Marketing Tip #2 - Get some professionally printed business cards that match the look of your website.

Marketing your website is not that difficult, especially when you have a company behind you that is willing to share a few tips. We value your website and advertising business and are more than happy to pass along a few pointers to help bring more traffic to your website, and therefore more potential customers to you.

It's a simple formula; expose your website to more people and you will get more traffic. One way to do this is to have professionally printed busines cards that match the look of your website. We have established relationships with several printing companies and can pass along some great offers. Marketing Tip #1 was 'Don't Hide Your Website' which appeared in our April Newsletter.

Now I don't know about you, but we get offers in our email everyday for 'FREE Business Cards'. We have found out that 'FREE' isn't really free. Most of them require you to use their website to builld the cards yourself using one of their templates and they will charge you a nice fee for shipping and handling. If you want to use your logo, get a glossy finish or a heavier stock, that will cost extra as well.

We want to help. We will CUSTOM DESIGN 1000 High-Gloss professional stock business cards that will match the look of your website AND deliver them to you for only $69.00! Our website shows a $7 shipping and handling charge, but if you order before September 1st we will pay your shipping for you! I compared this with several local printers and some national ones and the average was around $90 for this quality and quantity PLUS shipping and handling charges. Give us a call on our new toll free # at 800 783-1103 to place your order. We will confirm your order details and send you a proof before ordering to ensure absolute satisfaction!

New Toll Free Number

Our New Toll Free 800 Number is 1 800 783-1103

We will be discontinuing our old 877 number very soon, so start using the 800 number immediately. All of our other numbers remain the same.

Security Certificates

We recently found an excellent vendor for installing security certificates. This puts a padlock on your website, giving your website visitors a higher level of confidence knowing their information is safer with this added level of security. Call us for details.

Happy Birthday Brayden

We know that many of our faithful website clients and friends prayed for Brayden three years ago when he was born 3 months premature at just over 2 lbs. We celebrated his birthday on July 11th and he is now a completely healthy and strong little man within all normal ranges. Thank you for your prayers!

Friday, July 4, 2008

KCMI Drops Our News

KCMI FM 96.9, a ministry of Christian Media, Inc. out of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, recently announced that they will no longer be carrying Christian, National and Local News from Hale Broadcasting. After providing free programming to the station for nearly two years, the station's Director Gary Almquist notified Brian Hale that they would no longer be needing the news programs. Hale Broadcasting will continue to produce nationally syndicated programming for the other 26 radio stations in Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Wyoming and New Mexico. Howard and Brian Hale are in negotiations with several more radio stations across Nebraska to expand their news network. Stay tuned for more on this development!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

New Design Releases

Here are a few of our newest design releases for June 2008;

Just Dandy Clothing Store
Cheyenne, Wyoming

Just Dandy Clothing Store Cheyenne, Wyoming
Broadway Office Supply
Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Broadway Office Supply Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Western Sleep Medicine
Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Western Sleep Medicine Scottsbluff, Nebraska

To learn more about these clients, visit www.websiteportfolio.net

Advertising Coop Expands!

AgMarketOnline.com is enjoying it's success as a place to advertise and promote our clients and what they have to offer. The website is advertised on our radio network of over 20 major radio stations in NE, CO, MT, ND, SD, KS and NM and is getting hundreds of unique visitors every day. We built AgMarketOnline to help encourage those who are doing business with us to do business with others in the same network. Everyone knows about Google. However, I am sure that anyone who has done a search on Google realizes that the monster search engine often times produces quite irrelevant results and isn't organized by Category or Type of Business or anything for that matter. It's one big search engine with millions of unrelated sites. AgMarketOnline.com is a well organized website that is agriculturally focused, but includes more than just 'Ag' products or services. Besides, 'Ag' people buy the same things city people do!

Since some people might think that their website or business doesn't fit well on an agriculturally focused website. Therefore, we have expanded our Advertising Cooperative to include several other non-ag search sites. The first major website I built in 1996 was www.1bestdirectory.com. This little search engine has received over a quarter million visitors over the years and will soon be completely revamped along with the next search site I built called The Internet Gold Pages at www.internetgoldpages.com. We have also purchased www.1bestsearch.com and www.onebestsearch.com and will be utilizing these as well.

Here's the best news for you... Our clients' websites will be listed on all of these at NO CHARGE as long as you are a hosting client! Our AgMarketOnline Members will also receive the additional exposure at no additional charge.

Improved Contact Forms

We are constantly striving to improve our clients' websites. One of the most important parts of any website is it's contact form. Hackers and Spammers build computer robots to submit bogus information and potentially dangerous files through contact forms. We are busy implementing a new methodology that will discourage this and at the same time improve the quality of the contacts you receive. To ensure the more secure forms work, we MUST have your CURRENT email address on file. Visit your Control Panel and update your account info with your current email address you want contacts sent to!

Filtering ***SPAM***

Last month we told you that we have SpamAssassin, a leading Server Based application that MARKS any suspected email with ***SPAM*** in the subject line so that you can set up a simple filter to Delete these emails automatically. Here's how to do that...

For Outlook Express : click on Tools, Message Rules, Mail, New, check Where the subject line contains words, check Delete It, click on contains specific words, enter ***SPAM*** in the box, click Add, click OK 3 times.

For Incredimail : click on Tools, Message Rules, Add, select If Subject Line Contains, type ***SPAM*** in the box, select Delete It and click OK.

New Testimonials Section

Testimonials are like pictures... they're worth a thousand words! We will be featuring testimonials from our clients in future newsletters and on several of our websites, so be sure to submit yours to us. It's just another way to bring more attention to your website! You can email your testimonials to support@halemultimedia.com.

Beating High Gas Prices

None of us are happy about the high gas prices. In fact, it has probably caused a tremendous hardship on those who depend on the fossil fuels to operate their businesses. Some businesses have even had to close their doors due to the outrageous increases in operating expenses. Fortunately, there is a thing called the World Wide Web and we are finding ways to take better advantage of this resource. Since we are in the business of building the World Wide Web, we feel it is our duty to help our clients understand how to use the internet more effectively. We will be passing along tips whenever we find them, so be sure to read each of our newsletters. First, let's take a look at the somewhat surprising internet usage statistics for both the United States and around the world... (see Internet Usage Statistics post)

Internet Usage Statistics

I started using the 'internet' way back in the mid 1980's, although it wasn't commonly called that yet. No, I didn't invent it, haha, but I did experience it through a service called 'Compuserve' where you could visit a single text only 'shopping' site to purchase a few things. It was a long distance phone call and the connection cost per minute. The charges were added to your phone bill, so once my mom got the first $100+ phone bill, I was on restriction! Then, in 1989 I was blessed with the opportunity while in the U.S. Military to help develop a 'message' tracking system for Major General Travis in Heidelberg, Germany. We now call this message tracking system 'Email' and everyone knows what that is. Even though the 'internet' has been around since the 1950's in it's rawest form called 'Arpanet', you could legitimately say that the World Wide Web is still in it's infancy, although it's growing at a phenomenal pace. Here are a few statistics that show that the internet (and more importantly ecommerce) still has a lot of room to grow...

  • Personal Computers in-use in the U.S. tripled from 1995-2005 to around 1/4 Billion PC's.

  • PC's per capita reached 80% in 2006 and is projected to reach 98% in 2012.

  • The number of U.S. Internet users increased by 53% from 2006-2007 to 210 Million!

  • The number of Internet users worldwide was 2M in 1990, 45M in 1995, 430M in 2000, over 1 Billion in 2005 and is now 1.4 Billion!

  • Worldwide internet use increases by 140 Million users each year meaning it will hit 2 Billion in a few years!

  • Ecommerce as a percentage of total retail sales has tripled since 2001 when it represented 1.1%.

  • Ecommerce in the U.S. increased 13.6% from 1st Quarter 2007 - 1st Quarter 2008 to $33.8 Billion!

  • That $33.8 Billion in Ecommerce represents only 3.3% of all U.S. Retail Sales leaving plenty of room for growth!

    Another interesting fact is that the U.S. is not the country with the most internet users. China surpassed the United States this year with 227 Million Internet users and that represents less than 17% of their population, whereas 75% of the U.S. population uses the internet.

    My research findings confirm what I suspected when I claimed that the Internet is in it's infancy. With improved security, faster connections, increasing wireless connectivity, more PC's and other mobile devices accessing the internet and millions more internet users everyday... it's fairly easy to predict that Ecommerce will continue to increase over time.

    With gas prices through the roof, it only makes sense to drive less and surf more. If you are offering something for sale and your website is not taking advantage of the technology at hand, please contact us! We have setup dozens of ecommerce solutions and are ready to help you. Furthermore, if you are still driving to town, or even just across town to do your shopping, you should consider utilizing the web more. Nowadays, the only requirement to purchase something online is a debit card, so you don't even have to have a credit card. Even if you don't actually purchase something over the web, like a house or a horse, you can still save time and gas by browsing before you take that drive!

    Sources : U.S. Census Bureau, Wikipedia & The Computer Industry Almanac, Inc.
  • Friday, May 16, 2008

    Fuel Price Locator

    For this month's featured resource we have selected a nifty website that tracks gas prices around the country.

    Just enter your zip code in the site below and it tells you which gas stations have the cheapest prices (and the highest) on gas in your zip code area. It's brought to you by MSN and is updated quite frequently.

    Thanks to Steve at Crystal Clean Carpet Care for sharing this handy resource with us!

    autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx

    Thursday, May 15, 2008

    The War Against SPAM

    I HATE SPAM. Let me repeat that... I HATE SPAM! Doesn't everybody? Unfortunately, there are countless idiots out there that are somehow profiting from people's inability to filter and therefore ignore these 'incredible offers'.

    Hale Multimedia has a strict ANTI-SPAM Policy that guarantees our clients and the rest of the world that we never have, and never will, participate in such a huge waste of time. Spammers are so sneaky and deceitful that they will even steal legitimate email addresses from me and you and disguise their junk mail as if it were coming from you or me! Please keep that in mind if you receive SPAM that supposedly came from us, 'cause it DID NOT come from us. We will NEVER stoop to the level of mass email marketing with SPAM!! Arggh, did I mention I HATE SPAM?

    We have installed SpamAssassin, a leading Server Based application that MARKS any suspected email with ***SPAM*** in the subject line so that you can set up a simple filter to re-route these emails to your Trash Can or Deleted Items automatically. If you need help setting up your email filters, please submit a Support Request through www.halemultimedia.com and we will give you the proper steps depending on which email program you are using.

    Email Tips on Forwarding

    Almost all E-mails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. This is a great way to get names and "cookie" tracking information for telemarketers and spammers - to validate active E-mail accounts for their own purposes. The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of "active" E-mails to use in SPAM E-mails, or sell to others that do. Avoid the temptation of forwarding any unnecessary email.

    You can do your friends and family members a GREAT favor by sending this information to them; you will be providing a service to your friends and will be rewarded by not getting thousands of spam E-mails in the future! Also, please keep in mind that E-mail petitions are NOT acceptable in Congress or any other organization. To be acceptable, petitions must have an actual signature and full address of the person signing the petition.

    Read the full story here... http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.asp

    Our Newest Website Clients

    One of the most interesting parts of our business is that we get the opportunity to work with a diverse range of businesses. Every month we get to learn about something new! This month we learned about Skateboarding, Infrared Heat and Sleep Medicine (among other things)... I guess it goes very well with our slogan, 'Expand Your World'.

    For the past several months we have been doing our best to help our clients by including helpful articles in our newsletters, leaving little room for a section we used to include that highlighted our most recent website clients. We have decided to bring it back this month and we will try to fit it in each month on an ongoing basis.

    Meanwhile, we have a lot of catching up to do... The following list of companies represents our newest clients from the latter part of 2007 to the present. A few of those listed below are recent redesigns done for existing clients.


    We would like to welcome the following clients to our growing Website Portfolio...

    • 5 Star Ranch Event Center, Lyman, NE
    • BoardSlide T-Shirts, Mitchell, NE
    • Broadway Office Supply, Scottsbluff, NE
    • Broken Arrow Angus, Harrison, NE
    • Burnett Farm & Ranch, Cheyenne, WY
    • Custom Programming Unlimited, Gering, NE
    • Dan D Party Corner, Cheyenne, WY
    • Dennis Cattle Company, Grady, OK
    • Denny & Associates, Cheyenne, WY
    • Front Range Structures, Ft. Collins, CO
    • Hope Basketball Academy, Chad, Central Africa
    • JBC Oil Inc, Scottsbluff, NE
    • Just Dandy Clothing Store, Cheyenne, WY
    • KidzArk Ministry, Sterling, CO
    • Mitchell Organized Baseball, Mitchell, NE
    • Mothers of Preschoolers, Scottsbluff, NE
    • Nebraska Boer Goats, Scottsbluff, NE
    • Rosenau Enterprises, Lemmon, SD
    • Steve's Drum Shop, Scottsbluff, NE
    • Tadz Online, Bayard, NE
    • Valley Insurance Services, Gering, NE
    • Western Insurance Services, Ft. Collins, CO
    • Western Nebraska Regional Airport, Scottsbluff, NE
    • Western Plains Business Solutions, Scottsbluff, NE
    • Western Sleep Medicine, Scottsbluff, NE
    • Whitney's Infrared Heaters, Scottsbluff, NE
    To visit their websites, go to www.halemultimedia.com and click on the Portfolio tab or you can visit www.websiteportfolio.net. If the client cannot be found in our porfolio, that probably means that their website is in production and not publicly launched.

    Customer Support Upgrades

    Since we decided to STOP hiring Customer Service Reps and handle it ourselves, we have made a number of major improvements in the area of Customer Support. Our average turnaround time for requests that are properly logged has dropped significantly! Just from the time that we got rid of the non-performing employees and shut down the Gering Office on Jan 15th, we have already developed our own Project Management Software! In fact, we have built a new tracking system that automatically adds your Support Request into our Project Manager as long as you submit your request through our website at www.halemultimedia.com.

    Just look for the Support Request Button on the top right of nearly every page. We also manually add requests that come via email and phone, but the best way to get your request noticed is to make any requests for support through our website from now on.

    Tuesday, April 15, 2008

    Is It Time to Redesign?

    We are very thankful for the many website clients that have been with us for several years. Andi and I look back at some of the older designs and immediately start daydreaming on how we could improve on them. We have learned so much since designing those first sites! We do believe in keeping the general feel of your website consistent, but we also believe that a design review should ultimately occur every couple years. Some of the older websites are in dire need of a complete redesign while others just need a little 'sprucing up', but in either case, we feel that there are a lot of you out there that could benefit from a review. For our existing clients that have been with us at least two years, we are offering a free review with a 50% discount for any redesign work. Email support@halemultimedia.com and let us know you want us to review your website and make some recommendations.

    Brian On The Radio

    Another facet of Hale Multimedia LLC is Hale Broadcasting. Brian's father Howard established Hale Broadcasting over a decade ago and has been delivering an array of national radio programming to dozens of radio stations. Howard's success on the radio has inspired Brian to do more on the radio side of things. In February of 2007 Brian started providing Local News to KCMI Radio (FM 96.9 www.kcmifm.com) and found it to be a rewarding ministry. They really needed the help and Brian volunteered. Since then the station has asked Brian if he could provide National News as well as Christian News and he was happy to help. If you have any kind of event or news story, please submit it to brian@kcmifm.com and you may just get your news story on a radio station that can be heard around the world. (through our online streaming)

    AgMarketOnline Sets Record

    AgMarketOnline.com is an Advertising Cooperative established in 2004 to help our clients promote their websites through our national radio programs. As a website hosting client of Hale Multimedia, you currently receive a complimentary Level 2 Membership in our AMO COOP.

    One of our primary goals is to establish a sense of community where members first look to other members when it comes to searching for products and services online. We are bringing buyers and sellers together through a well-established, easy to use website that is promoted nationally through Radio, Internet and Print Media.

    AgMarketOnline.com has grown from a handful of hits a month to several hundred unique visitors every day with thousands of searches being conducted for a wide variety of products and services. Last month (March 2008) AgMarketOnline.com presented 20,874 unique pageviews to thousands of unique visitors. This broke our previous monthly record of just over 16,000 pageviews.

    What does this mean for you? It means that your website is getting more exposure every day. Visit www.agmarketonline.com and see for yourself. There is a small counter that will show you how many times your business has been found when visitors search. Try it. Search for your name. You'll see the number of times your ad banner has been viewed. For any of our Headline Sponsors (banners that appear at the top of the page) we also provide a statistic of how many people have actually clicked through to their website from AgMarketOnline.com. A Level 3 Membership is what gets your banner randomly displayed at the top of all the pages and is available to our clients at 50% off of the normal $50 per month membership - or $25 per month (plus whatever you are paying for hosting).

    If AgMarketOnline.com was just another website trying to sell banner ads online, then it would get lost in the shuffle. Let's face it, there may be more webpages in existence than there are human beings on the planet. How many website companies do you know of that have an network of 20+ radio stations in 7 States promoting their website? We do. Every single day, AgMarketOnline.com is promoted on great radio stations in Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas and New Mexico. This is an advertising coop worth taking a very serious look at. You receive this free membership by virtue of your hosting with us.

    Marketing Tip #1

    Marketing Tip #1 - Don't HIDE Your Website!

    This sounds ridiculous, but follow me on this one... Let's say you're thinking of starting a new business... Would you open a new store, get a new phone and HIDE your address or phone number from everyone? NO. You would promote it as much as possible, right? You would probably hang out a sign, tell your friends and family and maybe even do some other advertising. Would you include your new business name, phone and address in your ads? OF COURSE you would! I have heard and seen some very good ads from our clients, but too many ads are leaving out your website address! Remind your advertising reps to include your website address in ALL of your advertising. It doesn't cost any more to include your domain name in your ads and it helps maximize your advertising dollars.

    Reciprocal Linking

    One of the best ways to increase your exposure on the internet as well as increase your search engine rankings is to develop an aggressive strategy of reciprocal linking. The questions most frequently asked are 1) who can we link to and 2) how do we do it? The general rule is that it is legal to put a link to anything or anyone you wish on your website. Whether they reciprocate the favor and link back to you is what requires a little more work. We have developed several key strategies to help you in this area. Interested in learning more? Email support@halemultimedia.com and ask us about taking advantage of our Reciprocal Linking Strategies.

    Understanding Email

    Let me take you on a trip around the world in a few seconds... a few days... or maybe forever... Send an email to yourself. Your email will travel an unpredictable number of places around the world, relying on factors too numerous to mention to eventually arrive back at it's original destination, or NOT. My point? Email is absolutely unpredictable and NOT to be used in a manner that you DEPEND on it for your livelihood. Many people believe JUST BECAUSE we are hosting their website, that we are also responsible for the performance of their computer's ability to access email. We are not. We do have some ability to help you with your INCOMING email IF you are using your domain name as your email address. If you are having trouble SENDING email, please call your internet service provider.

    What is website hosting?

    We have promoted our website design and hosting business for the past 12 years to a point where most people think of Hale Multimedia when it comes to hosting their website. This is great! We have successfully used our marketing expertise to brand ourselves as the one to turn to for website services.

    However, this facet of our business is only a small part of what we do. Hale Multimedia began as a company whose primary purpose was to help others promote their website. We only started developing and hosting websites out of sheer demand. We've built literally thousands of webpages and are currently hosting around 300 websites, giving us the experience and client base to expand our services beyond simply hosting websites.

    Technically speaking "Website Hosting" is little more than an empty storage locker. Virtually anyone can 'host' a website. As long as the website is there and the hosting company is up and running, then the world sees your website (provided there are no issues on the viewers end). We offer so much more than just website hosting.

    All the work we do behind the scenes to make sure your site is on the search engines, the promotion through www.websiteportfolio.net, www.agmarketonline.com and others, as well as all the other exposure we have created for you is completely over and above what is expected of your normal website hosting company. We do it because we believe in promotion so much that we are giving these services to you at no additional charge. Search Engine Optimization alone can cost you hundreds of dollars if purchased separately from companies that advertise this kind of thing. We include it at no additional charge! We are also very generous with our knowledge and expertise in the area of website marketing and the very principles of website design. Most of our customers are not utilizing half of what we offer. We believe that without intentional, purpose-driven and effective website promotion, you might as well not have a website.

    Saturday, March 15, 2008

    Advertising Coop Announced

    AgMarketOnline.com
    One way we show appreciation for our hosting clients is through AgMarketOnline.com. If you are not listed, let us know! This powerful search engine is advertised daily on 20+ radio stations in NE, MT, ND, SD, KS, CO and NM. The website has been recently overhauled and is getting a mass of searches everyday! We are trying to encourage our clients to do business with others within this cooperative.

    Know Your Domain Registrar

    Your Registrar is where you bought your domain name from. It doesn't matter so much who you bought it from, but you need to know who it is for your protection. There are several companies out there that will send you notices warning you of your domain expiration. They are attempting to trick you into switching your registration over to them. Do pay attention to notices from your actual Registrar and if you are not sure who that is, CALL us before it's too late! We handle 95% of our clients' domains. This mistake could jeopardize your website.

    Search Engine Rankings

    Everyone wants to have their website on the first page of the major search engines but only a handful ever achieve this kind of success. There are a slew of factors that determine your position at any given moment in time and each search engine has their own formula (or algorithm) that determines just where you show up. Furthermore, these algorithms are highly protected and are hidden from the public. We have provided a list of the most common factors below;
    • Website Title (Meta Tag)
    • Website Description (Meta Tag)
    • Website Keywords (Meta Tag)
    • Domain Name
    • Text on your pages
    • Link Popularity
    • Last Time Updated
    • Longevity of Listing
    If you would like to know more of the details on each of these factors and how we might be able to improve your search engine rankings, please contact us. Our goal is to help those who take their website serious enough to ask for help!

    Our Easy-Update Technology

    IMPORTANT NOTICE Regarding Our Easy-Update Technology
    The number one feature that has set us apart from much of the competition has been our Easy-Update Technology. We developed this technology from the ground up back in 2001 and been improving on it ever since. This technology is what gives our clients the ability to easily update certain elements of their website instantly. Our website clients who have updateability and are hosting with us are given access to our Easy-Update Technology through a simple Control Panel Login. Each client wishing to have updateability suggests to us what pages or features on their website that they want control over and we custom build their website to work with our Easy-Update Technology. As long as our clients are hosting with us, they have access to this updateability. The source code behind the Easy-Update Technology belongs to, and remains property of, Hale Multimedia unless other special arrangements are made. All content, databases and website files are property of the website client. If a client chooses to host their website elsewhere, we will remove our footer tags and any other proprietary code and burn the clients' files onto a cd-rom. There is a one time $80 charge for this service. The request for transfer must be in writing and sent directly to Hale Multimedia. For your protection, we do not honor requests from other website providers, so please contact us directly if you wish to transfer your hosting.

    Merger with Hale Broadcasting

    In order to accomplish our goal of focusing on promotion, we have partnered more closely with Hale Broadcasting to concentrate on the marketing and advertising side of things. Brian and his dad Howard have been working closely together since 1999, but this new merger places a much higher priority on taking care of our customers' websites and our own websites. Hale Multimedia LLC is the new company formed from this merger. We will continue to produce dynamic, professional Easy-Update Websites like we always have, just with a much clearer focus on quality vs. quantity.

    You will also catch Brian Hale doing the Local News, National News and Christian News every weekday on KCMI FM 96.9 or online anytime at www.kcmifm.com. This is just one of the Hale's ministries that they love helping with. For more information about the Hales, visit www.haleministries.com, www.halefamilywebsite.com or check out their Christian Bookstore at www.halefamilybookstore.com.

    Thursday, March 13, 2008

    History of Hale Multimedia

    Hale Multimedia started out as a website promotions company back in 1996 at Ft. Sill (Lawton, Oklahoma) under the name of World Wide Web Directories. Founder Brian Hale had the vision 12 years ago (2 years before Google even existed) that there was a great need to create an internet directory to help people find websites more easily. Brian created a search engine called 1 Best Directory (www.1bestdirectory.com) and a printed publication called The Internet Gold Pages to help those who don't like sifting through the millions of results you get when you search for something. Unfortunately, in 1996 the focus on promotions was a little ahead of it's time since only about 1 in 10 local businesses even had a website and many of those were not happy enough with their website to want to promote it.

    Therefore, as Brian went around talking to businesses about promotions, most of them ending up asking if he could design or redesign their website for them first. The promotions idea was a great one, but the need for better websites couldn't be ignored.

    After a year long self-taught crash course in html, Brian officially started producing commercial website in late 1997. After two years of experience in website design in Oklahoma and lots of research on the Western Nebraska area, he found the need was just as great there. Therefore, in July of 1999 Brian moved back to Nebraska to serve his hometown community with his new found skills. Brian's dad, Howard Hale, owns and operates a radio broadcasting company called Hale Broadcasting where he produces 3 different daily radio programs that get played on 20+ radio stations in seven states. Prior to Brian moving home, Howard's programs were delivered to the radio stations via a pre-recorded telephone bank where the stations would call in and re-record the broadcasts. This process was cumbersome compared to what we knew we could do with the internet. Therefore, Howard and Brian worked closely together to deliver the broadcasts in a much higher quality and easier to use streaming mp3 format.

    Where we are NOT going...
    Hale Multimedia has experienced steady growth from just a handful of customers in 1999 to the thousands of webpages that we have out there today. We have seen many other website companies and individuals come and go over the years. God has blessed with an attitude of NEVER QUITTING despite the many challenges we have faced in this constantly evolving business. So, let's squash one rumor that's floating out there right now... HALE MULTIMEDIA IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE, especially not out of business!

    Where we ARE going... (Quality of Service vs. Quantity of Websites)
    Now that the ratio of businesses with adequate websites has hit an all time high, the time has come to shift our focus away from mass production back to where we started... website promotions! We will continue to develop new websites, but our primary focus will be on quality of service vs. quantity of websites. We've done a great job of marketing our own business as we now have website clients in 20 U.S. States, Peru and Africa. However, we feel like we could be doing a better job promoting our clients websites so that their website becomes a more profitable investment. We have created some great avenues for promoting our customers' websites like www.websiteportfolio.net and www.agmarketonline.com amongst others. However, when our focus was formerly on mass production, we failed to properly develop these valuable promotional outlets. Therefore, we have recently re-designed both of these to do a better job promoting our clients' websites. Check them out and do a search for your business. If you are not listed yet, let us know!

    Friday, February 15, 2008

    Hale Ministries

    We feel it is our duty to give back to God in whatever way possible. We are involved in several ministries with just a few of them listed here. We do not want any praise or credit from our involvement. We simply want to help make a difference in God's Kingdom.

    Without Him, we would have nothing and we would be nothing. Thank you Lord for giving us the heart and the abilities to serve YOU!!

    Here are just a few of the places that God has allowed us to serve;

  • Bethel Baptist Church Praise Team (Andi sings and Brian serves as soundman)

  • Bethel Baptist Church Nursery (Andi is Nursery Coordinator)

  • Bethel Baptist Church Vacation Bible School (Andi is co-director of VBS and Brian serves as soundman and teacher)

  • Zion Awana Program (Andi is the Worship Music Leader and Brian is the T&T Game Director)

  • Jeremiah House Ministry (Brian has been serving this ministry since 1999)

  • KCMI Radio (Brian & Andi serve as webmasters and Brian broadcasts Local, National and Christian News every weekday)

  • MOPS International (Andi serves as Publicity Chair and Webmaster for the local chapter of Mothers of Preschoolers)

  • Passing Shadows Ministry (We do whatever we can for this wonderful music ministry of Lyndsay Jackson)

  • Canadian Mission Team (The entire Hale Family packs up once a year to serve as support for the Pastoral Retreat in Saskatchewan, Canada)

  • We offer a huge discount, often times free hosting to several churches, ministries and youth programs in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and even Peru and Central Africa.
  • Our Marketing Philosophy

    In order to get maximum exposure for your products or services, we feel is it necessary to use a variety of advertising media. In other words, when it comes to advertising, we do not believe in putting all your eggs in one basket. However, we also realize that an unfocused campaign can be a big waste of money if it doesn't motivate your potential customers to contact you.

    Our goal is to create a consistency in your advertising program that promotes brand & name recognition. People won't always be ready to buy your product or service when they hear or see your advertising. Therefore, we will create the best impression that we can, so that when they are ready to buy, they think of you first.

    Because we have worked in all areas of advertising, we can offer a subjective viewpoint of what might work best for you. We have advertising experience in Radio, Print, Television, Billboard, Telephone, Direct Mail, eBay and of course, the Internet.

    Who is Hale Broadcasting?

    Howard Hale has been providing agriculturally focused programming for radio stations in several states for over 15 years. Visit www.HaleBroadcasting.com to listen to or download The Harvest USA Report, The Horseman's Corner and The Cattleman's Corner radio programs.

    Brian Hale has been providing Local, Christian and National News to KCMI FM 96.9 since February of 2007. Visit www.HaleBroadcasting.com for current and archived newscasts.

    We have experience writing and producing radio ads for different types of businesses all over the U.S. If you need help with ad copy, we can do an exceptional job for you. Or, if you are looking to advertise on our national network, give us a call!

    About Hale Multimedia

    Hale Multimedia is a family-owned Christian business. We are a small rural based company that has grown because of our passion to help others. We are determined to help our clients benefit from our years of experience and diverse talents in graphic design, website development, radio broadcasting and our unique ability to communicate with the average person about their marketing needs.

    Brian Hale is the founder of Hale Multimedia and has been using computers and building databases since 1978. He does some of the design work now, but primarily helps with the backend database programming that makes our websites updateable by our customers. Brian has also worked in sales and marketing since 1991.

    Andrea Hale has been designing websites full-time since 2004. Prior to joining her husband in the business, Andi worked at Aurora Loan Services for 10 years. Her ability to work under pressure has been a great asset to our team.

    Howard Hale owns his own company, Hale Broadcasting, but serves as an advertising and ag marketing consultant. His three national radio programs (Harvest USA, Horseman's Corner and Cattleman's Corner) are a big reason why we have website clients in 20 states across the U.S.

    Top Reasons others give for choosing Hale Multimedia;

  • Our passion to help others
  • Our extensive knowledge of the internet
  • Our vast marketing expertise
  • Our low prices and quality guarantee
  • Our ability to communicate in plain English
  • Our years of experience
  • Our Christian principles
  • Our professional designs

    If you are looking for help building your website, please don't hesitate to contact us. We will help you understand your options from doing it yourself for free to letting us handle everything. We are not lacking for business, so you can trust us to give you a straight answer. We'll even pay for your phone call... give us a ring toll free at 1 800 783-1103 or click here to submit a sales inquiry.
  • Monday, January 21, 2008

    Our Pricing Philosophy

    We have been told several times that our prices are too low, but we feel that there are a lot of website companies that are simply overcharging for their services. We are a small, family-owned Christian company that believes in charging an amount that is fair to everyone. Our website design rate is $40 per hour for standard html and $75 per hour for programming and is based on the actual time it takes us to build each project. With so much experience building websites, we have become very efficient with our chargeable hours. An average website project used to take us about a week to build. Now we can now build an average website in about 12-15 hours of chargeable time. Sure, you can find places that are cheaper, and you can certainly find quotes way above ours, but we feel we are offering a very competitive value for the professional services we offer. Visit www.websiteestimator.com to learn more about pricing or to get a quote on your website project.

    Sunday, January 20, 2008

    Customer Support

    We have several different ways that you can get help. The very best way is to send a request through our Support Request button on the top of nearly every page on our website. You can also contact us through our toll free number at 1 (800) 783-1103, our local number at (308) 632-4653, our cell phones (Brian 308 220-8260 / Andi 308 220-8261) and we even have yahoo messenger accounts (Brian = halebroadcasting / Andi = she_ra1967).

    Our Experience

    With literally thousands of webpages under our belt, our design experience speaks for itself. We have worked with several different types of companies and individuals to help accomplish their goals on the web. However, we are not just a website design company. Rather, we are a marketing force that uses several media sources to get your company noticed. We believe that getting a website is not enough. It's what happens after a good site is built that gets customers to your doorstep. We have alot of valuable advertising and marketing experience. Howard Hale has been a highly respected and listened to broadcaster since 1984. Brian Hale has worked for radio stations, printing companies, internet companies and several different sales organizations in his 20+ years of marketing.

    Tuesday, January 15, 2008

    Our New Direction

    Hale Multimedia has been designing websites for over 12 years now. We love designing websites, but have experienced many costly frustrations with contract employees and server companies. Unfortunately, none of them has ever delivered the kind of customer satisfaction and up-time dependability that we expect for our customers. Therefore, we are shifting our focus from mass website production (15-20 per month) to a more deliberate pace (5-10 per month) while promoting the faithful customers that we now have more effectively. We are excellent marketers and will continue to design new websites and improve our current customers sites, but our primary focus is now on marketing & promotion.

    We are also working more closely with Hale Broadcasting in the field of Radio Broadcasting. Howard Hale has been producing quality radio programs for over a decade that are played on 20+ radio stations across 7 states. Brian Hale has also adding to his radio experience lately as Christian Media Inc's newscaster. Brian has been doing the Local News, Christian News and National News for KCMI Radio (FM 96.9 and online at www.kcmifm.com) every weekday since early 2007 and has on-air experience as a sportscaster for stations in Colorado and Oklahoma. Brian will be working more closely with his father Howard in his Minatare, Nebraska studio on the radio side of things, but will also continue along with his wife Andi to develop top quality, professional, easy-update websites.

    We are looking forward to serving you for years to come!

    Tuesday, January 1, 2008

    My First Blog

    Happy New Year everyone... I have been avoiding the whole blogging scene because I felt that it was pretty much a waste of time. We have been blessed with a precious family of six to care for as well as all the ministry work we are involved in, not to mention how busy we are designing and promoting our clients' websites all over the world... so I didn't really want to spend a lot of time 'blogging'. However, if we can use this blog to help our clients and our ministries to stay up to date with what we are doing at Hale Multimedia, then this is a good thing. Many times in life things are a simple misunderstanding that could have been avoided with better communication. If this accomplishes that, then blogging is a positive thing and not a waste of time.