News

New Staffing Website for Existing Client

2008-05-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

Qualified Business Solutions (www.q-bsolutions.com), operating out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a Strategic Workforce Management company specializing in professional recruiting/staffing and consulting. The company customizes recruiting efforts to meet clients' positional availability needs and offers consulting services designed to show companies how to operate in the HR sector more efficiently.

SAMSA provided website design and development for the new Qualified Business Solutions website and continues to provide web hosting and database administration. Ben Murphy, SAMSA programmer, provided all database work for the new Qualified Business Solutions website. A unique feature added to the new site is a candidate search system that allows the client password protected administrative control to add, edit, and remove records. A nearly identical search system was also set up for careers. Database development also included creating a database to store candidate records containing three fields - category, title, and description. The layout of the candidate database was copied to create a job postings database.

Doug Billot, owner of Qualified Business Solutions, speaks about his experience working with SAMSA to get the new website developed, "We have always had such a great relationship with SAMSA in respect to our other divisions online and offline needs, it was a very easy decision to turn to SAMSA for our new divisions needs. The experience was great. We were able to effectively communicate on a daily basis with a variety of different people that were directly involved in our site from brainstorming to implementation. Most of our requests were implemented immediately and just about every modification we needed to have in place was handled with wonderful speed and accuracy. I would without a doubt absolutely recommend SAMSA to other businesses in need of similar web development assistance."

One of the great things about the new website is the ability for clients to search real time candidates. The current recruiting and tracking software platforms have been directly linked to the website so that the newest candidates are available for client's review in real time. This great tool allows candidates to apply, view, and post their resumes online and have them available to be searched by clients through the website if they meet qualifications.

Another unique tool is the online staffing request. By listing a variety of information that clients can customize, Qualified Business Solutions offers a faster, more efficient way for partners' needs to get to recruiters, making the results faster and more reliable. The faster the right candidate can be put in an open position with a client, the more money and time the client saves; this is especially important in the crucial initial training time needed in any new position both for the candidate and the client.

Billot notes the amazing layout of the new site, "We have a great homepage that is extremely easy to navigate. Secondly we get right to the point in our competitive literature. Any user will immediately know exactly what we offer which, with some companies, is a very hard thing to determine. We are very lucky to have such a unique layout that is not only wonderful to look at but extremely reliable and efficient."
Qualified Business Solutions is working hard to be able to expand in the future. Its new division has the ability to service clients worldwide. A larger headquarter office is anticipated in the future, making way for additional personnel to join the team and help grow and service the client base. For more information on how Qualified Business Solutions can help your company with recruiting, staffing, or HR consulting, please visit www.q-bsolutions.com or call 616-242-1399.

Photography Studio Gets Fresh New Website

2008-04-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

Fresh Focus Photography (www.freshfocusphotography.net) is a family photography business operating out of Vassar, Michigan. They specialize in on-location shoots for High School Senior and Family portraits. Fresh Focus is owned and operated by Brad and Kim Jenks. Brad has worked as a photojournalist in local television news for over 20 years and Kim is known for her creative flair at her workplace of over 14 years. Together their talents compliment one another to make a great team.

Fresh Focus Photography senior portrait sessions are both on-location and in-studio to accommodate every senior’s needs including yearbook portraits. Fresh Focus Photography completes most senior portraits on location, utilizing portable backdrops that can be taken right to the location shoot - a studio is available for accommodating inside shoots and yearbook portraits. Most family portraits emphasize outside poses surrounded by nature rather than a studio setting. Unlike other photography businesses, Fresh Focus Photography allows clients to build their own portrait packages with the sizes and quantity of photos they want at a reasonable price. The studio is a proud supporter of their local community donating to special events whenever possible. Fresh Focus Photography invites you to give them the opportunity to photograph your memories.

SAMSA provided web site design and development for the new Fresh Focus Photography website. The site sports a fresh look and unique features such as customer specials and a private login area for clients to view their portrait session. SAMSA Programmer Ben Murphy provided custom programming in conjunction with a robust photo gallery that serves as a communication point between the photography studio and clients. Fresh Focus was in need of a password protected photo album feature for their customers. These albums contain watermarked, web quality proofs of their orders.

Murphy explains, "The client wanted a gallery where an administrator could manage users and create galleries for those users. We used a combination of open source and custom-developed PHP and MySQL solutions. Another unique feature on the site is a rotating album of thumbnails found on the homepage, which was a challenge but well worth the effort. Murphy states, "This has been a fun project. I was able to experiment with the new techniques and provide added functionality to an already extensive framework." SAMSA currently provides web hosting and database administration for Fresh Focus Photography.

The Jenks' team describes their experience working with SAMSA to develop the new site; "We selected SAMSA to assist us because SAMSA is a local company based in Saginaw, and we have a strong belief in community support. SAMSA is very easy to work with - they have been open, willing, and able to provide what we needed throughout the process of getting the site developed. They are flexible and go out of their way to work with you, unlike the national chains. We would recommend SAMSA to other businesses in need of similar web development assistance – they worked with us to develop a solution that meets our needs.."

SAMSA Completes Website Development for Oil Company Client

2007-10-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

Paxson Oil Company, located in Saginaw, Michigan, is a family owned business which operates a network of retail convenience stores, petroleum stations, and car wash facilities serving Saginaw County. The clean locations offer inside ATM's and pay-at-the-pump features. Operating under the "Fast Pax Convenience Store" name, Paxson Oil Company provides quality Marathon brand fuels.

Paxson Oil Company was in need of having a website developed and hosted. After looking at various other websites and noticing SAMSA as the developer and/or host for a handful of them, Julie Neumann, Vice President of Finance explains that Paxson immediately gave a call to SAMSA to see how they could assist them. SAMSA provided them with web design development and serves as their web host.

SAMSA Internet Department Manager Hillary Norfleet notes, "A unique feature we included on the Paxson Oil website is a password protected file upload area that the client may upload printable monthly coupons to promote return visitors." Neumann explains her experience working with the SAMSA team thru the process of getting the website developed, "SAMSA made the whole process very painless for us. We would definitely recommend SAMSA to others needing similar web services. They have been very timely and helpful in explaining all necessary information to us."

Paxson Oil Company plans to continue growing its business. They recently opened up a car wash on North Michigan in Saginaw and in the near future this location will be opening self-service bays. The company is continuously looking for ways to improve and expand its business to serve its customers. Paxson Oil Company continues to market kerosene, home heating oil, diesel and gasoline to residential, farm, distributors, wholesale and retail customers and also offers bio-diesel products. New customers can save a penny per gallon. Check out the Paxson Oil Company website often for monthly specials and coupon offers.

SAMSA Completes E-Commerce Shopping Cart System for Musical CD Conversion Client

2007-09-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

CD to Digital LLC, located in Bay City, Michigan, is a service-based company that converts or "rips" music CDs into the popular MP3 and FLAC audio file formats. MP3s can be played on nearly all digital playing devices and FLAC files may be edited or re-encoded. The converted files allow customer's to load them onto their computer, home digital music system, iPod, or other portable music player. Many people have hundreds of CDs sitting on shelves or in piles that would love to "rediscover" their music but don't have the time or inclination to do it themselves. CD to Digital is a fast, affordable, easy-to-use professional service available to fulfill these needs.

Kathleen Garrett, owner of CD to Digital, sought out SAMSA to help her get her website up and running. SAMSA assisted her with the shopping cart portion of the e-commerce website and also hosts it. She notes, "I chose SAMSA because it was important to me to work with a company that was based locally - I wanted to be able to meet in person at certain phases of the project." SAMSA programmer Josh Taylor states, "We integrated PayPal checkout with a simple PHP-based shopping system. It allows us to manage the shopping and purchasing process as we wish, and lets PayPal take care of the checkout process. This saves development time and cost for both the client and us. It's a simple, yet professional, shopping cart system to use."

Garrett describes her experience working with the SAMSA team to getting the shopping cart system activated; "They were very helpful. Going into this, I had a lot of general knowledge about how website shopping carts worked but no specific experience with setting one up. We talked about different options available, and the expense associated with each one. As the shopping cart was being developed, I was able to test it out and suggest changes where necessary. They gave me specific directions for how to update my site once it was up and running." Garrett adds, "I would recommend SAMSA to other businesses that need web services. I was very pleased with the services they provided. They were able to meet with me and start working on my site almost immediately. They kept me up-to-date with progress reports on a regular basis, responded promptly to my questions, and were flexible when I had last minute additions. There were no hidden costs - the amount they quoted was the amount that was charged."

CD to Digital uses professional custom-made software and hardware to convert music. It minimizes inconsistencies with high quality error detection, and they're able to include metadata for each individual track by utilizing the advantageous Get Digital Data's GD3 Database. Customers are able to place their orders online and in turn they are sent all materials needed to safely ship their CDs. Staff processes the order and sends a final shipment that contains their original CDs, and their new digital library on DVD as well as a laser-printed color index of their entire collection organized in a three-ring binder. Customers have the option to have their music saved to a purchased hard drive as well as having their music loaded onto their iPod. Free pick-up and delivery service is available in the Bay City, Saginaw, and Midland, MI areas. Most orders are fulfilled in 3-5 business days.

SAMSA Completes E-Commerce Website for Fundraising Client

2007-09-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

Presidents and Co-Founders of ScripCents, LLC, Jane Leeuw and Mary Ellen Murphy, saw a need for a more effective way to fundraise. Since its inception in 2005, ScripCents, located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, has successfully offered non-profits a faster, easier, and more profitable way to meet their fundraising goals. From schools, churches, youth groups, sports teams, band boosters, and beyond, ScripCents is dedicated to maximizing a group's fundraising return, while minimizing the effort an organization has to put into it.

ScripCents came to SAMSA with a partially completed e-commerce website that needed to be completed. ScripCents states, "As for working with SAMSA, we were in great need of a web designer that could take our site to the next level. When we came to SAMSA we had a mess on our hands from a previous designer and SAMSA has come through for us in getting us up and running. We look forward to continuing our growth with SAMSA. As we develop our business, our website must grow with us." In completing the programming of the website, items that were of particular priority included:

- Ensuring registered users (Coordinators or Individuals) work in the proper shopping mode and ensuring that the order form displays the type of user that is logged in. The user mode controls such attributes as pricing, payment method, and product availability.
- Ensuring that category and navigation links are displayed the same for both Coordinator and Individual users
- Ensuring the product activation flag found in the administrative portion of the site accurately includes or excludes products at the site
- Replacing the link beside each product on the order form page with a thumbnail image for the product and including any required product disclaimer text
- Replacing the functionality of the category links with a subset of the order form that contains only the records in the selected category
- Investigating reported problems with proper charging for individually packed items
- Ensuring correct credit card icons are displayed during checkout in order to maintain credibility and authenticity of the site

By purchasing gift cards in volume from national, regional and local merchants, ScripCents receives a discount. The company then passes along the discounts to the non-profit organization. Whenever an organization buys these discounted gift cards (scrip) from ScripCents and resells them to its members at face value, it realizes the difference as profit. With over 150 merchants to choose from, everyone is able to participate in buying things they strictly want or need without spending a penny extra. ScripCents is the only scrip company currently accepting credit card as a form of payment for scrip. Currently, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is piloting this program throughout Michigan with the future goal being to implement this concept throughout the country. The list of vendors working with ScripCents continues to grow. From restaurants, department stores, and local specialty businesses, to grocery stores and various types of entertainment and gas stations, most merchants welcome the opportunity to increase sales. As mentioned by many participating merchants, "People often times spend more than they initially planned once they come into the store." Not only do merchants appreciate programs that keep customers regularly doing business with them, many gain satisfaction from supporting non-profit organizations. What began as a small venture in Kalamazoo, Michigan has now expanded to Indiana, Ohio, California, Texas, and Florida.

SAMSA Develops E-Commerce Shopping Cart System for Long Time Client

2007-09-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

Amato Industries, Inc. has been operating for 76 years and is a third-generation family business that operates brick-and-mortar locations in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Fairfax, Virginia. They're also available worldwide. The company currently operates three main divisions - Dry Cleaning and Laundry Supplies, Heating Oil, and Amchlor Swimming Pool Chemicals. It is expected that Amato Industries will see a lot of growth in the future in its divisions.

SAMSA recently developed a new online shopping cart system for Amato Industries to replace their single "billboard" website. The new site is search engine optimized (SEO), and the Amato staff is able to load all products themselves through a secure web-based administration area. The new e-commerce site allows Amato to showcase many of its in-stock items on a rotating basis to a greater range of customers. A unique and crucial feature that was built into the website is the identification of distinct tax zones for each location that Amato ships products from. SAMSA expects to add a new "Featured Products" module to the implemented system in the near future which will allow Amato staff to easily indicate which products will be displayed on the home page. Joe Amato, President and Owner of Amato Industries, Inc. explains that within days of going live on the web, Amato received orders for items offered and shipped the merchandise. He further explains that all of the staff, from sales to warehouse, is excited about the possibilities of the new e-commerce site. Mr. Amato states, "We really enjoy working with the SAMSA web development staff! They truly understand current e-commerce technology and were able to implement a solution that meets our needs. Amato Industries has relied on SAMSA since 1993 for all our computer needs. They are extremely conscientious, and it is clear they care about our business."

Amato sets itself apart from other web-based companies in that it has its own local delivery fleet. All of Amato's locations stock all products, thereby allowing faster shipping times and superior staff knowledge of offered products. Joe Amato proudly adds, "It is our people that set us apart from other Web Offerings. We are a Brick and mortar business with a knowledgeable staff of product specialists that stand at the ready to answer your questions and assist you with your order."

Joe Amato welcomes and invites new customers to the site; "Come and check out our live product offerings. Give us a try and you will not be disappointed!" Amato Industries welcomes your suggestions and comments via the "contact us" tab on the website, dropping an email, or giving a telephone call.

SAMSA Completes Design and Development Project for Real Estate Client

2007-08-31T07:57:00.000-07:00

SAMSA recently finished up a website design and development project for its client Michigan Listing.com. Michigan Listing.com is an alternative to utilizing traditional real estate firms or For-Sale-By-Owner websites. Their new website features a listing program, completed by SAMSA, where sellers can directly list their property for sale on the website.

The site was made to show real estate home listings both from an IDX (Internet Data Exchange) Website as well as listings that are specific to the Michigan Listing.com website. SAMSA programmer, Josh Taylor, explains, "In regards to storing and managing the listings, services, and orders, everything is stored in a mySQL database and displayed with PHP programming. For Michigan Listing.com staff, all of the listings and order information are manageable via an easy to use custom-made administration panel designed for ease-of-use." With the guest listing services offered by most of the states' MLS systems, Michigan Listing.com can place property in any of the local MLS systems, which is used by agents and brokers to find properties for their buyers.

In the near future SAMSA will be working on a new development for Michigan Listing.com that will involve a "mash-up," or web application that combines data from multiple sources into an integrated experience, of Google's mapping API with RealComp. Google Maps give potentially interested real estate buyers a visualization of the area in which the real estate is located. RealComp is a real estate database offered through RealComp Internet Data Exchange in which participating brokers consent to display their active listings on other IDX participants' web sites.

Headquartered in Brighton, Michigan, Michigan Listing.com has been serving real estate buyers and sellers throughout the state of Michigan since 2004. Michigan Listing.com offers four unique selling programs from For-Sale-By-Owner to Full Service, all that saves money for both buyers and sellers throughout the state of Michigan. Programs include Virtual Tours, Home Warranties, and listing on high trafficked sites like Realtor.com, Yahoo Real Estate, MSN, and AOL. Agents for Michigan Listing.com are licensed realtors and members of the Michigan Association of Realtors and National Association of Realtors.

Newsletters ("ListServs") Serve as a Marketing Tool

2007-08-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

Electronic newsletters (commonly called "ListServs") are a very important tool for an organization of any size to keep customers up to date with its latest products and company information. Newsletters also have a unique marketing advantage - by offering an opt-in newsletter subscription to its customers, an organization can showcase new products to repeat customers or offer special discounts, resulting in increased sales. Compared to the costs incurred in producing and distributing print newsletters, the cost is very low to utilize an online newsletter.

This email based communication tool allows an organization to send out news, coupons, and other promotional material in a simple way that reaches an unlimited number of people. One or multiple ListServs may be set up. SAMSA is able to set up two-way messaging that allows list members to respond to messages in a way that reaches all members - or SAMSA may tailor a one way ListServ that prohibits responses to mailings. It is SAMSA's guarantee that all information will be securely protected if you choose to have your ListServ in a password-protected area with member-only access.

Newsletters can be maintained in both plain text and HTML formats. Plain text is the simplest form, displaying only the written content. The HTML format shows a branded look that includes color, graphics, etc. Subscribers have the option of which format they prefer to receive.

Newsletters distributed via the World Wide Web have great flexibility. They can be sent via email, posted to a website, or a combination of both. When posted to a website, they can be archived on the site for future reference.

There are some federal guidelines to follow when offering a newsletter subscription. The Federal Trade Commission's CAN-SPAM Act has four major provisions for commercial emailers that must be followed when offering newsletter subscriptions. They are as follows:

-Header information must not be misleading; it must accurately identify the routing information and sender
-Subject lines cannot be misleading in regards to subject matter
-The organization must provide an opt-out method for the customer should they decide they no longer wish to receive the newsletter
-The emailed newsletter must be identified as an advertisement and list the sender's valid postal address

For more information on the CAN-SPAM Act visit the Federal Trade Commission website.

For more information on Newsletters and how SAMSA can assist you with your unique commercial emailing needs, visit SAMSA's Website Discussion Board Creation and ListServs page.

SAMSA Completes Programming and Web Development for Client Offering Various Builders Exam Practice Tests

2007-08-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

System and Market Services of America, Inc. (SAMSA) recently completed programming and designing a website for client ETG Solutions, Inc. ETG Solutions, located in Livonia, Michigan, is a testing preparation website for various builders licensing state exams and in the near future will expand to offer a Continuing Education course via its user-friendly online customer interface. In developing the site, ETG's primary consideration was scalability in order to accommodate as many testing markets as possible into their product list. SAMSA hosts the site.

After creating a business plan for the project, designing their system logic and database, ETG began its search for a firm that could deliver their specifications. Matthew Endersbe, President of ETG Solutions explains, "We interviewed companies from Nevada, Iowa, Arizona, India, and Texas. We found SAMSA on Google, interviewed them, and found the staff to be very knowledgeable. We talked to the President and developer about our system logic and database blue prints (ERD), and they gave us feedback that indicated a high level of expertise in the Server Side programming that we were seeking to incorporate into our website. From the beginning, ETG Solutions had a very good feeling about its decision to employ SAMSA as its Information Systems developer, and now in hindsight, we are comfortable to say that we made the right decision."

In regards to working with the SAMSA team thru the process of getting the website running live, Endersbe states, "Our site was a very difficult task. It was designed from the ground up and SAMSA saw the entire project through in a timely and professional manner. SAMSA has been an invaluable component in the design, development, and implementation of our proprietary site. They have been there from the beginning and stuck with us the entire way through. As a former professor of mine said, "Tough times don't last but tough teams do;" SAMSA did just that. They were dedicated to the project until it was completed and completed correctly. ETG will be returning to SAMSA for its future Information System needs and will continue to recommend SAMSA to business associates and partners."

ETG plans to systematically add additional states to their website for the Building and Construction industries that is scheduled to be completed within the next six months. After all conforming states have been added, ETG will begin work on its second phase of adding the Continuing Education resources for those states that are in most need of these services.

SAMSA Staff Attends PHP-Tek Conference

2007-05-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

SAMSA recently sent three of its staff members to the PHP-Tek Conference 2007 held May 15-18 in Chicago, Illinois.

SAMSA president Michael Stackhouse states, "Our goals in attending the PHP-Tek conference were to ensure SAMSA remains on the cutting-edge of development practices and to learn about emerging Internet development issues and practices. The SAMSA team that attended brought diverse perspectives to the conference including sales, design, project management, development, and testing."

Internet Department Manager, Hillary Norfleet, says, "I was excited by some new software tools which will help us work more efficiently. It was also very interesting to learn about the PHP Women's group."

In regards to attending the conference, SAMSA programmer Josh Taylor states, "I thought the most intriguing session was the one focused on PHP security. We were given a good overview of security issues and vulnerabilities that will overall help SAMSA continue to be on-top of developing secure applications for all of our clients."

Dedicated to continuously updating skills and taking advantage of the latest technology to bring to the table for clients, staff split up to attend as many sessions of interest as possible. The conference was informative, useful, and staff gained new perspectives for some of the projects they're currently working on.

Security related sessions featured discussions on attacks that web-based applications face, from viruses to hackers. The purposes of these discussions were to show attendees how to secure data the most effective way, keep users safe, and prevent future attacks. The sessions attended include:

-Dependency Injection in PHP
-Cryptography, Keeping a Secret
-PHP Security by Example
-The Truth About Sessions

SAMSA attendees learned about emerging and upgraded technologies and how to properly use and implement them in sessions like:

-Programming with Microsoft AJAX
-PHP and Ajax: Web 2.0 Beyond the Buzz
-Upgrading to PHP 5 with Style
-APC @ Facebook

Effective ways to increase the number of visitors to client websites, in depth information about accessibility, and other pertinent SEO information and techniques were presented in other lectures. Sessions that covered new ways to optimize performance include:

-PHP, Accessibility, and Search Engines: Enemies no longer!
-Top 15 Ways to Kill MySQL Performance
-Lock Your Database Application!

Amongst the informational sessions, SAMSA staff learned that the World Wide Web continues to evolve and the SAMSA team is committed and prepared to meet its clients' ever-changing business requirements, ranging from the most simplistic to most modern concepts, programming, coding, and data encryption methodologies.

SAMSA Offers New Enhancement Tool for E-Commerce Clients

2007-04-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

SAMSA recently announced a new E-Commerce enhancement tool designed to make back-room operations easier for users of SAMSA's e-commerce solution. The initial installation was for Gentle Solutions, LLC. The new system works extremely well when integrated with the OS Commerce shopping system, as it allows merchants to use their website to process phone or mail orders more efficiently, thus saving a great deal of time.

Alternative solutions that Gentle Solutions considered were far too costly, so they asked SAMSA to come up with a product that would re-use aspects of their
e-commerce website, thereby saving money. Users add new customers within their site's administration area by filling out a brief form and confirming the information. The new customer account is then created with a randomly generated password, and a welcome email containing their confidential password is sent to the customer's specified email address. The final step, if the customer wishes to pay via a credit card, is to charge the credit card. Upon providing necessary credit card information, immediate results will follow.

In regards to working with SAMSA to provide the module, Tricia McDaniel, owner of Gentle Solutions states, "SAMSA has been great to work with. A staff member is always available, and they do a fantastic job! They were right there to help us and we are very pleased."

Tricia explains some of the benefits of having the module, "The new module has cut down on paperwork, time, and has made us more productive. It makes our lives so much easier!" She would absolutely recommend potential users to have it installed by SAMSA and for those considering having the tool installed on their site, Tricia says, "What are you waiting for!?"

Gentle Solutions, LLC (www.sleepawayfat.com) located in Midland, Michigan provides consumers with all-natural products that help them lose weight and feel better about themselves. In comparison to competitors in its industry, Gentle Solutions' unique E-Commerce site offers a larger selection of packages to choose from.

SAMSA Installs UPS WorldShip Integration Software for Client

2007-04-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

SAMSA recently installed the UPS WorldShip Integration system for CSH Incorporated. This system saves CSH a great deal of time in regards to importing customer information from the CSH website to the UPS system. The system also speeds order processing by enabling CSH staff to export unshipped orders directly from its website's ecommerce system into their UPS WorldShip software. Before the new software, the original method of typing and/or copying data from the CSH site to the UPS screens was time consuming and subject to errors.

UPS WorldShip, a Windows-based shipping software system, is an excellent tool for organizations encountering high volumes of shipping. The address book feature allows users to store frequently used customer addresses. The system also allows users to gather pertinent information used for customer service inquiries and invoice processing via a simple integration, amongst several other efficiency related features and perks.

In regards to seeking out SAMSA to help implement the new software, Dan Turnwald, owner and President of CSH Inc. states, "SAMSA seemed to be a cost effective way to incorporate the majority of our needs with our LAN to start and grow a website with our available products." When Dan Turnwald thinks of SAMSA, he says, "They (SAMSA) have good customer service and versatility." He adds, "I (CSH) hope to grow with the assistance of SAMSA and hope that SAMSA continues to stay up to date with technology, methods, service, and never loses site of its customers and their need for timely, skillful service."

CSH Incorporated, located in Chesaning, Michigan, is a manufacturing and distribution corporation. CSH manufactured products include mechanical float switches and water and power alarms with low tech applications. Along with other products like electric motors, pumps, fans and other related items, CSH products are distributed via the World Wide Web. CSH Inc. strives to offer its customers items at the best price possible while being committed to providing excellent customer service, all made possible with the staff's knowledge of identification and location of products.

CSH plans to enhance their site by adding additional related items. While finishing listing products currently available to them with their current suppliers like A.O. Smith, Fasco, Hydromatic, etc., their future plans are to seek out competitively priced companies and expand their name brand items by adding additional related items that are in demand.

About System and Market Services of America
SAMSA is lead by a highly qualified group of diverse business and technology professionals whose collective backgrounds include marketing, business development, software engineering and design, accounting, administrative, copywriting and customer service experience. This in-depth experience is in a well-rounded cross section of business sectors specializing in healthcare, government agencies, transportation, manufacturing, distribution, wholesale, retail and education. SAMSA offers full IT services to clients in the state of Michigan, and web based and programming work for clients around the world.

SAMSA Completes Website Project for New Client

2007-04-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

President of Access Capital Group, Mike Rygiel, says that he chose SAMSA to develop the website because he feels that SAMSA is responsive and reasonably priced, he also noted good team work. Mike states, "I think SAMSA was able to take our ideas and content and develop them into an easy-to-operate website."

Access Capital Group, Inc. (www.accesscap.net), located in Walled Lake, Michigan, was formed in 2001 and carries over ten years of professional experience in the equipment leasing and financing industry. The full service equipment leasing company specializes in serving the transportation, industrial, and construction industries but also provides equipment leasing and finance solutions for a wide array of businesses. With a solid background in helping numerous businesses with their equipment financing needs, they proudly serve a range of customers, from vendors to dealers and direct end users.

Access Capital Group prides itself in its proactive customer service. They are always striving to provide more efficient and effective service to their current network which consists of dealers and customers. Their business is confidently growing -- with a large share of new business coming from referrals. ACG plans to implement a marketing campaign that will involve industry-specific internet advertisements in the near future.

The new Access Capital Group website is very user friendly and is designed to be able to help companies or dealerships decide if equipment leasing is right for their unique situations. A special feature on the site includes a Quick-Quote page that lets visitors easily contact one of ACG's customer service representatives in real time. When using the online form to contact a representative, the customer, dealer, or vendor inputs specific equipment information which allows ACG to provide a rapid response. Another feature is downloadable PDF forms available for access by prospective clients. The ACG team strongly feels that time is of the essence and when customers need equipment and financing immediately, these special customer service features on the website are great for their network members (dealers and end users) to have at the tips of their fingers.

SAMSA (www.samsa.com) uses server-side include files to ensure conformity throughout the site, while offering site wide changes to be incorporated quickly and easily. SAMSA will maintain the website in which they effectively designed to ACG's graphical specifications.

President of Access Capital Group, Mike Rygiel, says that he chose SAMSA to develop the website because he feels that SAMSA is responsive and reasonably priced, he also noted good team work. Mike states, "I think SAMSA was able to take our ideas and content and develop them into an easy-to-operate website."

ACG invites businesses considering a capital equipment acquisition to visit their website or contact their office directly for a no obligation consultation.

SAMSA Completes Short Message Peer-to-Peer Programming Project

2007-03-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

SAMSA is proud to announce the recent completion of Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) programming for Cellular One of East Texas, a local wireless provider dedicated to fulfilling the needs of those who live in East Texas. Headquartered in Lufkin, Texas, Cellular One of East Texas is an integral part of the communities in the area they consider home which includes Angelina, Nacogdoches, Cherokee, Sabine, San Augustine, Panola, Rusk and Shelby Counties. Cellular One is a network of wireless providers committed to bringing communication services that keep people connected to those most important in their lives.

Cellular One of East Texas sought a company that could both develop a solution to allow the public to send text messages to their cell phone customers and could also host the application over a virtual private network (VPN) connection for added security. Chris Pease, Technical Services Manager of Cellular One of East Texas explains that he sought out SAMSA because SAMSA's technical expertise is superior to other web solution providers in the area. SAMSA began work on the project in late 2006 and completed work in February 2007. SAMSA developed the form for submission of SMPP text messages to Cellular One of East Texas subscribers as well as the confirmation of message sent page. The messages are sent via a VPN tunnel that is established between SAMSA and Ericsson servers. The SMPP page is hosted at the SAMSA facility.

Pease describes the experience working with SAMSA; "SAMSA has been great to work with. They are very responsive to our requests and have produced excellent results. SAMSA is an extremely responsive and technically savvy group. I would recommend them to others for web services."

Other features on Cellular One of East Texas' website includes current promotions, online shopping, ringtones, viewing and paying bills online, and much more. Cellular One of East Texas strives to continuously improve its network by adding sites and offering services tailed for its local residents.

About System and Market Services of America
SAMSA is lead by a highly qualified group of diverse business and technology professionals whose collective backgrounds include marketing, business development, software engineering and design, accounting, administrative, copywriting, and customer service experience. This in-depth experience is in a well-rounded cross section of business sectors specializing in healthcare, government agencies, transportation, manufacturing, distribution, wholesale, retail, and education. SAMSA offers full IT services to clients in the state of Michigan, and web based and programming work for clients around the world.

SAMSA Completes Project Utilizing Microsoft Access

2007-03-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

SAMSA recently wrapped up a year-long Microsoft Access programming project for Fourth Seacoast Publishing Company, Inc. located in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Fourth Seacoast Publishing is the publisher of ocean freight and air freight guides that provide specific contact information for several airports and sea ports in the United States and parts of Canada. The areas covered are Detroit, Chicago, Boston/New England, New York/New Jersey Metro Area, Atlanta, Miami/Orlando/Florida, Houston, Los Angeles; San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area, and the Pacific Northwest.

In early 2006, SAMSA was selected in a competitive bid to redesign the key enterprise software component that makes publishing these guides possible. In addition to bringing the application to a modern software development platform, the redesign lays the ground work for allowing Fourth Seacoast to efficiently publish guides via their website, which is one of their future goals. SAMSA Vice President Rick Stuart states "We chose Microsoft Access as the development language for this project so we could rapidly deploy a solution that met all of the goals expressed by our client. Once a directory is ready for publishing, directory listings are exported to Quark for final production - we are very pleased with the results of this project." This has allowed Fourth Seacoast to create alphabetical "yellow page" listings that are fundamental to their 12 annually published air & ocean cargo transportation reference directories. The HOUSTON QUICK CALLER AIR CARGO DIRECTORY is the first directory completed with the use of the new software.

Tom Buysse, President and Publisher of Fourth Seacoast Publishing explains that their former database system was operating on an obsolete format and they had no one to perform service or upgrades. SAMSA was eventually chosen after it was determined that they would be able to provide a new system and options. He points out that they (SAMSA) were professional and had references/existing clients that spoke very highly of them. Remote Desktop was set up which has allowed SAMSA to perform work in a way that accommodates for the physical distance between offices and it has also allowed Fourth Seacoast Publishing employees to conduct work remotely.

A unique feature currently found on the website is the lists of air and ocean cargo service providers by region. In the near future Fourth Seacoast Publishing plans to continue adding print directories in certain major Airport Air Cargo Gateways as well as enhance the website, create a searchable database, and implement a fee charged to people for access to this information via the website. SAMSA will be helping to create the Searchable Database.

Buysse states, "SAMSA employees are professional. They deliver what they promise. They are also good 'people persons' which you don't always see with computer technicians or programmers, and they are able to communicate in English at whatever technical level is needed." He describes the experience working with SAMSA; "So far this has been a very good experience at almost all levels. Rick Stuart is the primary reason for this. He is detail-oriented and really cares about the systems he develops, to make sure they not only work properly, but that the users of the system are able to work with it in an easy, logical manner. And Rick is always attentive to our needs and problems as they arise, no matter how small."

About System and Market Services of America
SAMSA is lead by a highly qualified group of diverse business and technology professionals whose collective backgrounds include marketing, business development, software engineering and design, accounting, administrative, copywriting, and customer service experience. This in-depth experience is in a well-rounded cross section of business sectors specializing in healthcare, government agencies, transportation, manufacturing, distribution, wholesale, retail, and education. SAMSA offers full IT services to clients in the state of Michigan, and web based and programming work for clients around the world.

SAMSA Appointed Channel Partner for Charter Business Services

2007-03-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

System and Market Services of America ("SAMSA") announced today that they will serve as a Channel Partner for Charter Business, a division of Charter Communications, Inc. Charter recently announced restructuring of its third-party distribution channel in order to open channels for information technology, networking and telecommunications integrators for large and enterprise businesses.

SAMSA participated in a 24-month piloted Charter Business Channel Partners program that took place in Michigan and Wisconsin service areas and was successful in integrating Charter Business services for several clients. Charter Business utilized Charter's robust fiber-optic based network services and SAMSA's expertise to offer solutions to SAMSA clients. SAMSA President Michael Stackhouse states, "We are extremely excited about Charter's commitment to the business community and about their selection of SAMSA as a Channel Partner. With Charter's help we have successfully implemented applications such as teleradiology and remote worker networking for our clients as well as supplied them with reliable high-speed Internet service."

The Partnership Program accommodates IT/Networking/Telecommunications integrators and other network service providers like cable multiple system operators, regional telecommunications carriers, and competitive local exchange carriers. Charter is expanding the program by adding ample channel managers and a program specific organization to support its markets in Michigan and Wisconsin as well as nationwide.

About Charter Communications:
Charter Communications, Inc. is a leading broadband communications company and the third-largest publicly traded cable operator in the United States. Charter provides a full range of advanced broadband services, including advanced Charter Digital video entertainment programming, Charter High-Speed Internet access service, and Charter Telephone services. Charter Business similarly provides scalable, tailored and cost-effective broadband communications solutions to business organizations, such as business-to-business Internet access, data networking, video and music entertainment services and business telephone. Charter's advertising sales and production services are sold under the Charter Media brand. More information about Charter can be found at (http://www.charter.com/).

SAMSA Completes Website Project for New Client

2006-12-11T10:49:00.000-08:00

Access Capital Group, Inc. located in Walled Lake, Michigan, was formed in 2001 and carries over ten years of professional experience in the equipment leasing and financing industry. The full service equipment leasing company specializes in serving the transportation, industrial, and construction industries but also provides equipment leasing and finance solutions for a wide array of businesses. With a solid background in helping numerous businesses with their equipment financing needs, they proudly serve a range of customers, from vendors to dealers and direct end users.

Access Capital Group prides itself in its proactive customer service. They are always striving to provide more efficient and effective service to their current network which consists of dealers and customers. Their business is confidently growing - with a large share of new business coming from referrals. ACG plans to implement a marketing campaign that will involve industry-specific internet advertisements in the near future.

The new Access Capital Group website is very user friendly and is designed to be able to help companies or dealerships decide if equipment leasing is right for their unique situations. A special feature on the site includes a Quick-Quote page that lets visitors easily contact one of ACG's customer service representatives in real time. When using the online form to contact a representative, the customer, dealer, or vendor inputs specific equipment information which allows ACG to provide a rapid response. Another feature is downloadable PDF forms available for access by prospective clients. The ACG team strongly feels that time is of the essence and when customers need equipment and financing immediately, these special customer service features on the website are great for their network members (dealers and end users) to have at the tip of their fingers.

SAMSA uses server-side include files to ensure conformity throughout the site, while offering site wide changes to be incorporated quickly and easily. SAMSA will maintain the website in which they effectively designed to ACG's graphical specifications.

President of Access Capital Group, Mike Rygiel, says that he chose SAMSA to help with the website because he feels that SAMSA is responsive and reasonably priced, he also noted good team work. Mike states, "I think SAMSA was able to take our ideas and content and develop them into an easy-to-operate website."

ACG invites businesses considering a capital equipment acquisition to visit their website or contact their office directly for a no obligation consultation.

SAMSA Proud to Announce Client's New E-Commerce Site

2006-09-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

Silver Creek Industries, Inc., the gift industry's premier source for art glass gifts and decor, is proud to announce the launch of their new E-Commerce site http://www.buysci.com. Owner's Kevin and Amy Edgar recently acquired Artistic Gift's Inc. and combined with their original Open Windows line, they are now able to provide retailers an even larger collection of American made and hand-painted art glass gifts and decor. Predominantly designed for wholesale trade, Silver Creek Industries also offers public consumers the opportunity to find products they would like to purchase as gifts from retailers carrying their products - truly welcoming all visitors to their site.

The launch of the new website is part of an integrated marketing program that supports the thousands of retail stores that sell Silver Creek Industries' products. A 2006 print catalog features top selling products but because it only represents a small number of the items, SCI designed its "on-line catalog" to be a companion and supplement the print catalog.

The wide collection of art glass gifts and decor is made up of twenty-eight themes total, including wildlife, gardening and flowers, family and friends, and many other much loved pastimes, special occasions, and holidays. Site visitors can view thousands of products by searching by theme or by style. When an occasion is viewed, the user is provided a listing of products that are identified thematically with that occasion. No product will be missed because each appears in more than one category. Best sellers are also noted. Most items are described intricately to give retailers as much information as possible to make their buying decisions.

There are a vast variety of special features on the website for registered users which makes it truly unique. First time registrants receive a special 5% discount that is good to use on their next order. To make sure wholesalers are signing up, potential registrants must have wholesale credentials to create an account. Users can expect to receive special discount offers and new product announcements via their email. Retailers carrying Silver Creek Industries products are listed on the website in an area titled, "Retailer Locator" which helps individual consumers find retailers in their area that carry these unique products while helping to bring business to the product carrying retailers. Placing orders is very secure process beginning with the registrant logging on to their unique account. Pricing and order history is viewable while logged in. Retailers also have the ability to "special order." This entails Silver Creek Industries mailing one of their products to a customer's home or nearby retailer that carries SCI products but doesn't carry a particular one the customer wants or is out of stock. Retailers are also able to enjoy the permanent shopping cart, multiple-store ship-to address book, and on-line order history features that help to save a great amount of time while shopping online.

Terese Mallory, Marketing Director for Silver Creek Industries, Inc. explains that the company plans to showcase their newest offerings on the site. She also explains that as more customers become registered users of the website, Silver Creek Industries plans to supplement traditional marketing with electronic communications like newsletters via email to customers who wish to receive them.

The greatest challenge faced and obstacle overcome in building their new E-Commerce site was creating a current image library of products and a product information database for their several thousand products that was once two separate products (images and descriptions) and making it into one combined "catalog."

Silver Creek Industries chose SAMSA to develop and host their site because of the robust functionality and flexibility of their software and services. When asked her opinion of SAMSA, Terese Mallory says, "As a marketer, I am rapidly becoming a big SAMSA fan! They're a first-rate organization - tops for their responsiveness to customer needs and tops for their creativity in problem solving."

SAMSA Offers Web Site Search Add-On Tool

2006-08-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

Internet search engine software ht://Dig is a great add-on for your web site. Licensed under GNU General Public License, the tool itself is free of cost to use. For a modest fee, SAMSA can install the system to your site for you. The features of this beneficial web site tool are numerous:

Search Related Features:

Intranet searching allows for many servers on a network to be searched by the ht://Dig tool which acts like a browser
Boolean searches allow users to conduct complex searches by using Boolean expressions like "AND" "OR" and "NOT" to narrow down the amount of search results
The "search depth" for documents can be from many sets of machines to a lesser, more restricted number
Search results can be configured as you desire, HTML templates are provided
Algorithms can be specified to aid in searches. These include search for exact match, synonym, metaphone, and substring and prefix, amongst many others
HTML, PDF, and plain text files are searchable.
Keywords can be added to documents with the means to make them more visible and ranked a high match for users searching such terms (keywords will not show on the document when it is viewed)
Sub-search database sections by setting up a search in which documents with a particular URL pattern are returned. This is especially useful if you want to make your data searchable but don't want to use another database or search engine to do so.

Security Related and Other Features:

The ability to be reminded via e-mail of expired documents is a result of meta information attached to HTML documents that notifies the owner to remove or modify something on a page, such as images that are labeled but no longer "New"
Protect documents from unauthorized users by signing a name and password for ht://Dig to use when retrieving documents. This can be used to index parts of a server that are protected.
WWW Robots (also commonly known as Spiders) exclusion

Yahoo Inc. Introduces New Web Site Product

2006-08-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

In competition to shine in the limelight and regain its "futuristic" search engine popularity, Yahoo Inc. has recently introduced a product that will be of great value to web masters and site owners alike.

With Yahoo! Search Builder, users are able to add custom Web search functionality to their site. What does this mean? You can create a search engine on your own website. It can be geared for whatever your website's topic may be.

From your website, a customer can input a keyword(s) to search for. They may then choose to search for it on your site or on the Web. What is exciting about the Web search option is that you handpick trustworthy sites to set as ones to search when this option is chosen. This opens up doors for networking with organizations that complement your own. For example, a supplier and manufacturer of similar items that both use this tool could help send traffic to one another. Yahoo! Builder includes a News search feature as well.

Web masters and/or site owners analyze their "mini search engine" to see what searches users are conducting through it. Traffic and user reports are also generated, giving owners an idea about the growth of their engine.

The success of this new tool depends on how many web gurus adopt it. Even in its early life, it is being compared to prestigious competitors and its potential functionality ranks among the highest. The downfall of this tool is that site owners aren't able to monetize, at the present time, on the user searches.

See how SAMSA can help you meet your Internet marketing needs.

SAMSA Strives to Stay atop the Latest Technology

2006-08-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, August 1, 2006, SAMSA added RAM (Random Access Memory) to their UNIX server. This doubling of memory ensures the greatest success in keeping client websites running at top notch performance. There are currently 100-150 customer websites running on the server.

In the near future, SAMSA will be purchasing a different server to replace its present UNIX one. The new server will be roughly twice as powerful as the present one. It will also have nearly triple the amount of storage space.

What does this mean for clients? In general, more capacity will be able to be devoted to client websites. With the extra space, SAMSA will be able to upgrade a majority of software to their newest versions that tout more capabilities. The implementation of the new web server is planned to take place within the next two months.

The Importance of Monitoring your Web-Based Business's Downtime

2006-08-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

Most E-Commerce businesses don't operate their own servers. They outsource it to a professional organization, relying on them to keep all aspects like databases, email, and shopping cart software properly running. It's important to monitor the amount of downtime that your website experiences. Left unnoticed, it could be a disaster discovered too late to fix.

Potential customers are skeptical to do business with an establishment that doesn't have a professionally aesthetic and clean running site. If people visit your site and find it unavailable, they may move on and fulfill their needs by a competitor. Professionalism is crucial!

Even though your web site may be accessible, it's important to check that all of its special and critical features are working. Customers get frustrated when they want to purchase a product but the shopping cart isn't working. You could lose a great deal of business in one day if no one is aware that a problem exists. The bottom line result of this is suffering revenue.

Search engine spiders visit your website both in its uptime and downtime. However, if a page is down, your search engine ranking for that page could suffer. It's possible for it to drop from a higher position or completely fall off the charts if it is down for too long.

If you're using a pay-per-click service, visitors that attempt to view your site when it is down most often results in a charge to your advertising account. Your advertising dollars are being wasted when this occurs.

Every website experiences an error or downtime at some point. The key to deterring frequent downtime periods is being proactive about searching for problems and having a plan to get problems fixed as quickly as possible.

Web failure is possible to avoid when you choose the right professionals to keep your site fully running and functioning. The SAMSA team cares about your success and offers a Network Uptime Maintenance Plan, E-Commerce Solutions, and other Internet Services to meet your needs.

SAMSA most recently added RAM (Random Access Memory) to its UNIX server which doubles its memory to ensure smooth running of client sites.

Google Makes Their Mark on Cell Phones

2006-07-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

Google Inc. has begun offering yet another new service, "Google Maps for Mobile." This new technology allows cell phone users to retrieve highway traffic data and is currently offered in 30+ larger metropolitan areas throughout the United States. Mobile phone users that have an activated Web Browser are able to choose a destination available from Google Maps. In turn, Google Maps calculates and displays the route with detailed directions and real-time traffic information for that area. The color key for highway conditions is as follows; Red areas indicate congestion, yellow/orange areas reflect slowdowns, and green indicates clear travel with no expected tie-ups.

Other features of this service include bird's eye view images of your selected destination, drag and zoom features that allow you to manipulate the map, and area business location and contact information. The free service can be accessed and downloaded via your cell phone's Web Browser at http://google.com/gmm.

Lawsuit over Google Remains

2006-07-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, July 27th, 2006, an Arkansas judge granted final approval for the class action case brought about by Lane's Gifts and Collectibles filed in February 2005. Advertisers alleged that Google let third parties drive up their advertising fees by committing "click fraud." Having made no changes to the suit, Judge Joe Griffin lets it stand that Google will have to pay out online credits to customers as well as legal fees. Google has also agreed to put forth more effort in protecting its AdWords customers.

The accusation of not protecting customers against "click fraud" when using keyword advertising services, has also happened to Google's rival, Yahoo Inc. A preliminary settlement took place in June for them on a separate lawsuit. Click fraud can be summed up as a third party (person or automated program) clicking multiple times on an online ad with the intentions of raising the costs for that particular advertiser.

To aid its customers from "click fraud," Google Inc. announced a new AdWords feature. Advertisers using AdWords will be able to see more detailed data regarding invalid click activity when logged into their accounts. Reported fraudulent clicks are filtered in real time thus never resulting in a debit, or charge, to their advertising account.

SAMSA can assist you with setting up a Google AdWords account. Full management of your Google AdWords account by SAMSA's Internet department is also available.

The Importance of Backing Up Your Data

2006-07-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

We don't always realize how much of our work is stored on our computer or think about what would happen if our information was lost. We don't generally consider the questions, "What if we turn our computer on and an important computer program or application isn't functioning? What if a catastrophic problem results in emails not arriving to their destination?" Having jam-packed days, we go through our normal routine of saving documents and programs to our hard drive and/or a removable saving device occasionally, but that is the typical extent.

We have all experienced the loss of something important that we had been working on and were so proud of, if only we had backed it up before the office network crashed! Designing a back-up plan that is most appropriate to your business, based on a variety of criteria, is a must-do. The rule of thumb is to back up all important documents, files, software, programs, and other applications. There are a variety of devices for doing so, such as floppy disk, CD, or via removable USB mass storage device.

It's also important to take into consideration the components that make up your website. Whether you maintain it or rely on a professional organization such as SAMSA, it's crucial to know how much, if any, and what, is backed up in case of unforeseeable troubles. The list can be long or short, depending on how much data you consider crucial to your everyday operations. Possible items for back-up include web pages, graphics, audio and video files, configuration files, databases, and procedures that describe the how-to's and list settings for the items that keep your site running.

There are some back-up options that stand out greatest for backing up websites, including the idea to develop your site offline and upload it to the host. In this case, web site data can be saved on an additional hard drive or other removable storage device. The second option is to develop your site on the host's computer and download it to yours, where you can then save data.

Regardless what kind of data you are backing up, the frequency in which it must be done depends on the frequency you change it. You may choose to do backing up for certain documents daily, or other data that is manipulated less, monthly. It's also important to periodically check your backed-up data, to ensure it works properly.

Servers and networks are also important to think about when backing up your data. In case of fire, flood, electricity problems, or property destruction, amongst others, it's important to have an off-site storage location. Check out the Remote Network Backup service SAMSA offers to see how they can help you back-up your network.