New Server Update

We are happy to announce that we have a new server and we were able to get the database connectivity figured out. Great teamwork!

We have moved a whole bunch of websites over to the new server, but it's still realistically going to be another month before everything is completely off the old server.

The New Server is with the same company we have been using as our official registrar company for several years now.  We are hoping that by moving these two web services under one roof, it should make dns issues easier to troubleshoot.  We have had reports from website clients that they cannot view their website.  We can see it and they can't, or sometimes vice versa.  We look at the dns and it looks right, but sometimes it will work without the www. in front and sometimes with it.  It makes no sense.  I have my a records and my cname set up the same way as I always have.  The old server company cannot explain it, so they get the boot.  We believe that sometimes you just have to clean house.

With Andi in the front office, Joyce Lana at Reception, Brian in Marketing, Howard in Broadcasting and James as Mr. Fixit - we now have an office team of very positive and enthusiastic hard workers who understand how important their jobs are.



Sent from my BlackBerry® Storm

Brian Hale
Hale Multimedia LLC
308 632-4653
800 783-1103

Moseley McGill website

Welcome to our newest website client in Scottsbluff!
Sent from my BlackBerry® Storm

Brian Hale
Hale Multimedia LLC
308 632-4653
800 783-1103

RS Auto Sales of Scottsbluff

Hale Multimedia would like to welcome one of our newest website clients; RS AUTO SALES of Scottsbluff, Nebraska! The new website will be ready as soon as we get the inventory photographed and added into the database.  Ruben has dozens of great looking cars, trucks and vans for sale.

New Branch Office

Congratulations to Elmer Weeks of Conroe, Texas!  Mr. Weeks formed Weeks Multimedia today and will be managing our 1BestSearch.com branch office for Eastern Texas.  This is an exciting opportunity for us as we extend the success of our local search technology to the great folks in one of my favorite states!  We are looking forward to working with Mr. Weeks.

Senator Ben Nelson

You have probably already heard that Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson gave in to the pressure of the giant political machine and voted FOR Obama Care.

I am disgusted at soon to be former nebraska senator ben nelson. He caved in and sold out a nation to benefit his own state. Hasta la vista america as we know it.



Sent from my BlackBerry® Storm

Brian Hale
Hale Multimedia LLC
308 632-4653
800 783-1103

A Thankful Spirit

I am so thankful for all the volunteers serving God through J House. Thank you Andi, Mrs. Householder and the Lara's for wrapping presents! Thank you Melody, for all you do!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sent from my BlackBerry® Storm

Brian Hale
Hale Multimedia LLC
308 632-4653
800 783-1103

Mr. Fixit

We are delighted to announce that we have helped establish a new business in town... Mr. Fixit PC and xBox 360 Repair. James Soundsleeper is the hardest working person I have ever met. His new business is located inside our new offices at 2013 Broadway in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
Sent from my BlackBerry® Storm

Brian Hale
Hale Multimedia LLC
308 632-4653
800 783-1103

Our New Offices

Come check out our new offices at 2013 Broadway in downtown Scottsbluff, Nebraska!
Sent from my BlackBerry® Storm

Brian Hale
Hale Multimedia LLC
308 632-4653
800 783-1103

New Blackberry Storm

Well, it took me several years of resisting but I finally broke down and bought a new mobile device.  I will be posting to this blog via my Blackberry Storm.

Dinner with Obama

Once upon a time, I was invited to the White House for a private dinner with the President. I am a respected businessman, with a factory that produces memory chips for computers and portable electronics. There was some talk that my industry was being scrutinized by the administration, but I paid it no mind. I live in a free country. There's nothing that the government can do to me if I've broken no laws. My wealth was earned honestly, and an invitation to dinner with an American President is an honor.

I checked my coat, was greeted by the Chief of Staff, and joined the President in a yellow dining room. We sat across from each other at a table draped in white linen. The Great Seal was embossed on the china. Uniformed staff served our dinner. The meal was served, and I was startled when my waiter suddenly reached out, plucked a dinner roll off my plate, and began nibbling it as he walked back to the kitchen.

"Sorry about that," said the President. "Andrew is very hungry."

"I don't appreciate..." I began, but as I looked into the calm brown eyes across from me, I felt immediately guilty and petty.. It was just a dinner roll. "Of course," I concluded, and reached for my glass. Before I could, however, another waiter reached forward, took the glass away and swallowed the wine in a single gulp.

"And his brother Eric is very thirsty." said the President.

I didn't say anything. The President is testing my compassion, I thought. I will play along. I don't want to seem unkind. My plate was whisked away before I had tasted a bite.

"Eric's children are also quite hungry."

With a lurch, I crashed to the floor. My chair had been pulled out from under me. I stood,brushing myself off angrily, and watched as it was carried from the room.

"And their grandmother can't stand for long."

I excused myself, smiling outwardly, but inside feeling like a fool. Obviously I had been invited to the White House to be sport for some game. I reached for my coat, to find that it had been taken. I turned back to the President.

"Their grandfather doesn't like the cold."

I wanted to shout - that was my coat! But again, I looked at the placid smiling face of my host and decided I was being a poor sport. I spread my hands helplessly and chuckled. Then I felt my hip pocket and realized my wallet was gone. I excused myself and walked to a phone on an elegant side table. I learned shortly that my credit cards had been maxed out, my bank accounts emptied, my retirement and equity portfolios had vanished, and my wife had been thrown out of our home. Apparently, the waiters and their families were moving in. The President hadn't moved or spoken as I learned all this, but finally I lowered the phone into its cradle and turned to face him.

"Andrew's whole family has made bad financial decisions. They haven't planned for retirement, and they need a house. They recently defaulted on a subprime mortgage. I told them they could have your home. They need it more than you do."

My hands were shaking. I felt faint. I stumbled back to the table and knelt on the floor. The President cheerfully cut his meat, ate his steak and drank his wine.

I lowered my eyes and stared at the small grey circles on the tablecloth that were water drops.

"By the way," He added, "I have just signed an Executive Order nationalizing your factories. I'm firing you as head of your business. I'll be operating the firm now for the benefit of all mankind. There's a whole bunch of Erics and Andrews out there and they can't come to you for jobs groveling like beggars."

I looked up. The President dropped his spoon into the empty ramekin which had been his creme brulee. He drained the last drops of his wine.

As the table was cleared, he lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. He stared at me. I clung to the edge of the table as if were a ledge and I were a man hanging over an abyss. I thought of the years behind me, of the life I had lived. The life I had earned with a lifetime of work, risk and struggle. Why was I punished? How had I allowed it to be taken? What game had I played and lost? I looked across the table and noticed with some surprise that there was no game board between us. What had I done wrong?

As if answering the unspoken thought, the President suddenly cocked his head, locked his empty eyes to mine, and bared a million teeth, chuckling wryly as he folded his hands.

"You should have stopped me at the dinner roll," he said.

Wake up, America!

Panhandle Meat Goat Expo

Just a reminder to everyone that we will have a booth at the 2009 Panhandle Meat Goat Expo at the Scotts Bluff County Events Center in Mitchell, Nebraska on June 6th and 7th.

Our focus will be on marketing and promotion of a meat goat operation. See you there! Look for us under the name of AgMarketOnline.

1BestSearch.com

1bestsearch.com is a local search engine designed for the wyobraska region of the U.S.

This area, which includes the entire panhandle of Nebraska and Easter Wyoming, encompass about 30,000 square miles and has a population base of about 90,000 people.

That's a lot of territory to cover at today's fuel costs. If you are looking for anything in this region, try www.1bestsearch.com. It is easy to use and even fun to search with!

Here is a quick glance at the traffic stats on 1bestsearch.com

• We averaged 28 unique visitors per day in our first full month
• We averaged 119 unique visitors per day in our second month
• We averaged 212 unique visitors per day for the next quarter (Feb-Apr)
• We averaged 315 unique visitors per day in our sixth month (May)

• A running total of 115,000+ searches have been already performed
  
• Over 1,000 local searches are performed every single day
• Local businesses have already secured new customers through 1bestsearch.com

Our traffic will continue to increase as we add new features including our brand new $5 Classifieds, a community calendar, local weather, local news and local sports, local obituaries, local restaurant guide, local church listings, local schools, local employment, local real estate, local media and other useful resources.

The advertising value of 1bestsearch.com is profound and is making a difference in our community. Check it out today. Google it if you wish... 1bestsearch.com!

5 Crucial Components

I found a pretty decent article on website design so I am posting it here. It's called '5 Crucial Components of Web Design' and it was written by Woody Longacre of Internet Web Design. (My words appear in italics). - Brian Hale

5 Crucial Components of Web Design

Professional website developers know the importance of web design and the role it plays in making a website successful.

Designing a successful website is no easy task, especially for someone who is new to the world of web development. With the help of web development applications many people can and do create decent websites. But decent in most cases is not good enough to make a site successful from a traffic or financial standpoint.

There are five crucial components of web design that you must focus on in order to make a site valuable to its visitors and successful for you.

- SEO (Search Engine Optimization) -
Getting free traffic to your site.

- Usability (User Friendliness) -
Ease of navigating around the site and finding desired information quickly.

- Aesthetics -
Visual appeal.

- Content -
Valid, up to date, relevant information (should be easily updateable too).

- Graphics -
Eye candy that relays relevant visual information to the visitor.

by Woody Longacre, Internet Web Design

I agree with the first 4 elements but believe that the graphics fall under Aesthetics. The 5th component on my list would be your marketing plan. You must promote your website through as many 'traditional' ways possible... You cannot expect random internet traffic alone to drive your entire business. - Brian Hale, Hale Multimedia

WyoBraska Tea Party

It's time for all of us to stand up and defend our constitutional rights before they are all taken away by an administration that has completely abandoned the principles this nation was founded upon. Please visit www.wyobraskateaparty.com, the official website for the Tea Party that began on the Scotts Bluff County Courthouse lawn on April 15th, 2009.

All New Control Panel

As many of you have probably already noticed, your Control Panel looks quite a bit different now. We created a new look but kept all the best features.

You can now update your Account Information, Description and Keywords right from the first page. You can also send us a Support Request from there as well now. Other sections that were improved or fixed were the Website Statistics and View/Pay Bill Online and there are now buttons to our Blog and Newsletters.

Not everyone has updateable pages on their website, so for some of you, that button (Update My Website) will not work.

If you would like more updateability on your website, please contact us!

Auto Thumbnailer

One thing that will slow down a website is photos that are too large. We have always encouraged our clients to optimize their photos before uploading and many of you have done a great job with this.

However, to make it easier for our clients we developed an Automatic Thumbnailer function that can be built into your Control Panel. Instead of having to resize every photo and/or upload an additional thumbnail, we have a simple upgrade that will take care of all that for you on the fly. All you have to do is upload your original photo and the computer will do the rest. This will GREATLY decrease your website's load time and save yourself a bunch of time and possible headaches.

This upgrade to your photo uploader takes about an hour to install and would therefore cost $75. (one-time fee added to your next statement)

If anyone is interested, simply contact us!

Auction-Corner now FREE!

We recently improved several different things on Auction-Corner.com and re-released the newest design this month. One of the coolest changes was the fact that the owner decided to make it 100% FREE. No Listing Fees, No Selling Fees, No Fees period.

Other major improvements include the addition of a For Sale Items section as well as a Wanted Items section that allows you to tell others exactly what you are looking for.

The owner has told us that the site will probably remain free through 2009, so this would be the very best time to get registered and start posting items.

New Design Releases

Here are a few of our newest design releases;

Gering Zion Church
Gering, Nebraska

The Rock Pile
Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Vicki Begley Realtor
Scottsbluff, Nebraska


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

Search Engine Scams

Over the past 12 years we have encountered literally thousands of spam emails CLAIMING that they could GUARANTEE that MY SITE could be on the FIRST PAGE of the major search engines. We've even received a few telemarketer calls of this nature, but mostly by email.

Either way, we do not recommend spending extra money on the search engines. We have been able to achieve first page results without ever paying any search engine a nickel.

I am not saying they are not a legitimate company, but let's analyze something...

WHAT IF, out of the millions of spam email (unsolicited, you did not ask them to email you), WHAT IF they got say... 1/10 of 1% of the people to buy in to their deal. 1/10th of 1% of 1 million spam emails would mean about 1000 people could have their websites on the first page.... hmmm.... let's see, there are usually 10 per page... see my point?

I have to laugh at companies who send out an infinite amount of spam hoping to sell something finite that they CANNOT guarantee.

It just doesn't add up and they know it. They are COUNTING on thousands of people to just say, 'what the heck, it's only $12.95 and if I lose it, so what'.

Like I said, my recommendation is to delete the email or ignore the telemarketers. If you feel that your website is not getting enough traffic, then we can certainly take a look at the same things they would and we'll do it for our customers for free!

New Network Radio Station

We are excited to announce that we have added a new radio station to the Hale Broadcasting Network... KGYN in Guymon, Oklahoma! This is a powerful 10,000 watt 24- hour station that reaches all of the Oklahoma panhandle as well as most of the northern Texas panhandle and even into parts of Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. Click here for a Coverage Map.

More radio stations means more exposure for our clients. We will let you know what programs they will be carrying as soon as we finalize the details.

Newest Website Clients

We have been heavily involved with our larger projects over the past 3-4 months (Auction-Corner & AgMarketOnline), but we did find time to launch a few new client websites;

Bethel Baptist Church - Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Bruce Laird Horses - Torrington, Wyoming

Colorado Horse Coalition - Longmont, Colorado

Crofoot Ranches LLC - Lubbock, Texas

Crossing Fellowship - Gothenburg, Nebraska

Ferguson Agency, Inc. - Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Homestead Appliance - Scottsbluff, Nebraska

JBC Inc. - Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Jones Mortuary - Mitchell, Nebraska

Kleager Insurance - Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Living With Meaning - Gering, Nebraska

M 4:2 Ranch - Brady, Nebraska

Midwest Pest Control - Lisco, Nebraska

Prairie Sky Foods - Minatare, Nebraska

Prairie Vine - Mitchell, Nebraska

Schafer Elevator - Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Sunflower Clydesdales - Plainville, Kansas

Valley Bank & Trust - Gering, Nebraska

Western States Bank - Ft. Collins, Colorado

Whole Farm Energy Systems - Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Zach Anderson Memorial - Williston, North Dakota


Welcome to all of our newest website clients! You can find these websites by going to 1bestsearch.com or agmarketonline.com.

Google Mail Servers

We recently learned that Google has been providing free email servers since 2006 and decided to look into this as a possible option for us. We knew if it worked for us, we could assist our clients in making the transition.

We set up our own email accounts on google apps for halemultimedia.com. It was easy to setup and we noticed an immediate reduction in spam and how easy it was to use google mail with our own domain. It did not take long to make the decision to advise all our customers of our new recommendation to use the google mail servers. We will even make the switch for you at no charge.

What does this mean to you? it means that will have better email service and the only thing we will have to do is walk you through changing a couple settings in your email program. Once those are reset, you won't do anything any differently than before. Your email address won't change and you won't have to do anything any differently... That is unless you want to take advantage of their easy to use web interface to check and store your email. I liked it so much, I don't use anything else now unless I need to dig up an old email. It even has contact manager and calendar that are super easy to use.

1BestSearch.com Stats

We debuted 1bestsearch.com on Nov 26th, 2008 with 36 days left in the year. The first few days Andi and I were the only ones getting on the site, but by the end of November (our first full month) we were averaging 28 people every day viewing around 560 pages a day. We felt pretty positive about this since it was only our first month.

Our growth in the second full month was spectacular. We averaged 119 unique visitors viewing 1443 pages per day in January 2009. Totals for the month of January : 44,746 pages viewed by 3700 visitors. More than 26,000 local searches were performed and clickthroughs exceeded 30,000 in a single month!

1BestSearch.com is working!

Anyone who upgrades their free listing to a Featured Business gets access to their own statistics plus several other benefits. Upgrade for as little as $12 per month.

Remember, this search engine is advertised every day on several local radio stations. Get your business listed if it isn't already.

1BestSearch.com History

1BestSearch.com is a LOCALLY FOCUSED search engine developed by Hale Multimedia primarily for the WyoBraska Area.

My passion for search technologies began when I was programming in dBase back in the 1980's. Databases are developed to organize your information so that you can find what you're looking for FAST. That's exactly what search engines are supposed to do. However, most major search engines give you results that are not well organized. I think this is what has motivated me to develop a more well-organized, easy-to-use search engine that will provide you with relevant results quickly.

This 'little' search engine already has quite the history behind it since 1BestSearch.com is really a culmination of several previous search websites dating back as far 1996.

My first search site was really more of a links site that was created before I knew how to tie my database programming into a website. Therefore, I handcoded every link, one at a time. I was very fortunate that the area I selected to make a directory for (Southwest OK) only had a couple hundred websites at the time! This is how The Internet Gold Pages began. I moved back to Western Nebraska in 1998 and by 2000 I was starting to learn php and mysql and it wasn't long before we had our first truly database driven search site. I wanted to focus on helping my hometown community so I created a WyoBraska Area Gold Pages website and produced a printed version that was distributed for free. The database just kept growing and I soon realized we would have to expand our scope beyond our area. Therefore, 1BestDirectory.com was born. This site was designed to incorporate several different areas of the country in one database, while still keeping them seperated by region or area of the country. 1BestDirectory.com became a widely used search engine in several countries but it was becoming too much like the major search engines. Since there were so many links submitted by the public, the directory became cluttered and was in dire need or reoganization.

However, the reorganization had to wait.

By this time we were getting extremely busy just keeping up with all the website design work. Between 2000 and 2007 we went from 45 website clients to almost 300 with our average website value tripling, leaving little time to work on our own sites.

Finally in 2008 we made the decision to bring back the Gold Pages under a new name and improved functionality - 1BestSearch.com.

We launched the new 1BestSearch.com on November 26th, 2008 (the day after Thanksgiving). Our goal is to create and maintain the most comprehensive, well-organized locally-focused search engine.

Growth Through Adversity

Wow, another year has come and gone!

We've always believed that we grow through adversity and January was a great month for growth! We have been battling spammers for quite a while and it came to a head in late December. So bad that we decided to take serious action. Once we decided to look at other server options, it all became clear. We have decided to separate our web server from our email server. (Right now they are one in the same) Furthermore, Andi did some great research into mail server options and found that Google offers a tremendous service that is absolutely free and more dependable than our email server. Therefore, we are in the process of transferring everyone's email to Google Apps. Once every last client is transferred, we can completely shut down the old email server.

What does this mean to you? it means that will have better email service and the only thing we will have to do is walk you through changing a couple settings in your email program. Once those are reset, you won't do anything any differently than before. Your email address won't change and you won't have to do anything any differently... That is unless you want to take advantage of their easy to use web interface to check and store your email. I liked it so much, I don't use anything else now unless I need to dig up an old email. It even has contact manager and calendar that are super easy to use.

Even though this mail server issue has set us behind on re-launching the new design for auction-corner.com, we knew that it was something that had to be done to save the web server from being shut down.