Gray Cabaniss of Agatha & Louise just walked into our offices, hugged me, and offered me this gift:
Apparently he just made a couple of good sized online sales that he attributed to what he learned from flyte.
That compliment was almost as sweet as a six pack of PBR pounders.
Late last week flyte launched a Web site/blog for author James Hayman in support of his new novel, "The Cutting." This is actually the 3rd site we've done for Jim, although it's the first for his new job title of "crime fiction writer."
Jim's first novel is called "The Cutting" and takes place in our little hamlet of Portland, Maine. The early buzz is good:
“An extraordinary debut and an exceptional thriller, The Cutting is
razor-sharp, heartfelt, and superbly written. James Hayman is a
tremendous new voice in crime fiction, and this book flat-out smokes.
Hayman writes characters you feel bone-deep and want to meet again and
again.”
—Julia Spencer-Fleming, Edgar Award finalist and author of I Shall Not Want
“Big-city wicked invades the Pine Tree State in James Hayman’s The Cutting. This is a stunning debut that gripped me from first page to last. A thriller of a thriller!”
—Tess Gerritsen, author of The Keepsake
If you're a fan of thrillers or crime fiction you owe it to yourself to pick up Jim's book. It comes out June 23 at your local bookstore or at Amazon.
I enjoyed reading Jim's about page and his description of how he and his protagonist McCabe differ:
Sadly, no mentions of Jim's favorite haunts.
Flyte designed the Web site and built in on WordPress
so that Jim could update the content himself, and enabled the blog for
a two-way conversation that he could have with his readers and fans.
We just took the training wheels off my 4-year-old's bike this weekend. She's not quite ready for a bicycling vacation, but you just might be.
Whether you're looking for an "adrenaline-pulsing challenge" or a "leisurely day filled with stunning naturescapes" there's a new bicycle vacation blog for you.
Designed by flyte and powered by WordPress, the Bicycle Vacation Blog by Summerfeet Cycling Adventures has travel tips, bike buying advice, and lists of the five best places for a lobster roll. And they're just getting started.
Be sure to sign up for for the blog posts via email or RSS to inspire you for your next bicycle tour vacation.
We don't often promote individual ProSites — our affordable Web sites for small businesses — here at the flyte blog, but every once in a while it's nice to list some of the companies that are now using the ProSites.
All of these sites are built on the WordPress platform, allowing our clients to update their Web site without any HTML knowledge or expensive 3rd party software. Just a modern browser is all they need to keep their Web site fresh and smelling like springtime.
We're just about ready to launch a Web site for the Portland Motor Club, a classic car storage facility in Portland, Maine. In the meantime, they hosted an event with the Portland Museum of Art showing off a collection of classic cars and sent over an invitation.
I rallied from my sick bed (cough!) and brought my camera down to PMC's brand new building to take some photos. Enjoy! If you have trouble viewing this you can check it out at Flickr, too.
Tonight's my last class of Introduction to the SLR at the University of Southern Maine, and we're having a critique of our photos. This kind of snuck up on me, but luckily my friends over at Harbor Fish Market were kind enough to let me come in and take some photos for class.
What's so cool about Harbor Fish Market is that it's a real fish market, not a tourist trap. As you can (hopefully) see from the photos, the fish is incredibly fresh and high quality; people and restaurants from around the country order from Harbor Fish.
Entering the retail store is a blast. The floors are uneven and a bit wet…you have to watch your step! Giant lobster tanks line one wall, and local and fish from around the world lay displayed on ice. Unlike some other fish markets in town, the prices are very reasonable, and the people who work there are very real, very cool, and very authentic.
There's a slide show below of some of the other photos I took. If anything looks appetizing you can have fresh, Maine seafood delivered to your door for dinner tomorrow. Just call 1-800-370-1790 x2 and ask for my good friend Robyn. She'll treat you right.
Irreverent. Widow. They're not two words that you might imagine go side by side. Yet, Sandi Amorello seems to make them work.
Sandi came to us a few months ago to help her build a Web site to promote The Irreverent Widow Project: art, writing and exhibits that represent her artistic expression of coming to terms with the death of her husband, Drew, and her subsequent exploration into "midlife courtship."
The site is filled with Sandi's irreverent sense of humor, stories (rated with 1 – 5 tissue boxes), and examples of her art. Much of her stories are free, although she does have stories you can purchase, and will have the first of three books coming soon.
Sandi has also started an Irreverent Widow Blog, and can be found tossing clever bon mots in my general direction over at Twitter where her handle is @sandiamorello.
Flyte designed and built the site on WordPress, the popular open-source blogging/content management system platform. This allows Sandi to update not just her blog, but any page on her Web site without any HTML knowledge and without additional software.
We generally don’t promote our ProSites–our affordable Web sites for small business–when they launch, but in this case I feel that would just be bad manners.
I first met Margie Kelly when she took my Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs course over at the University of Southern Maine. After the course was over, she approached me and asked if I would be interested in develop a Web site for her business; teaching business manners in a blue jeans world.
If you ever have the pleasure of meeting Margie, you’ll know there was no way I could say no to her. She’s sweet, with a great southern accent, and impeccably polite. (No surprise, there.) She exudes warmth and charm and it’s a pleasure to do business with her.
Visitors to her site can learn about business attire (blue jeans or Brooks Brothers), dining skills, and wedding etiquette. There’s also a business etiquette faq.
The idea of business manners and etiquette may seem out of date if all you’re thinking about is which fork to use. However, Margie has worked with giant corporations and camp staff to help them greet parents the right way. She’s helped CEOs and people looking for a new job who are struggling with the interview process.
We invite you to check out her business etiquette Web site.
A few weeks ago I met with the folks from Sabre Yachts and Back Cove Yachts to help develop a social media and Web marketing strategy, and to reinvigorate their blogs. I had some time today as the flood of emails has abated over the past couple of days and Twitter is experiencing major down time. I was really impressed with what I saw.
Both the Sabre Yachts Blog and the Back Cove Blogs are being regularly updated and have a good mix of different types of posts. There’s photos, videos, and great content. What’s best is that their passion for recreational boating is really starting to show through.
At the Sabre blog readers are treated to first hand experience with the Zeus drives, which allow incredible control from a joystick. (Heck, even I can pilot a yacht if you give me a joy stick!) There’s also information about upcoming boat shows and calls-to-action about pending legislation that affects recreational boaters.
Over at the Back Cove Yacht blog there’s some funny posts about boaters’ superstitions and plants that do well on boats…I would have thought this was somehow related to hydroponics, but no.
This blog also weighs in on underwater lights (think back to those neon lights under pimped out cars, but in the water), and also has some nice video of lobster boat racing.
If you’re a recreational boater, or have been thinking of getting a boat or yacht, you owe it to yourself to check out the Sabre Yachts Blog and the Back Cove Blog.
It’s the next best thing to being out on the water!
Friend, client and fellow blogger Annie Mahle is using her blog Maine Adventure Sails for an interesting and bittersweet purpose: she’s documenting the repair work that’s being done on the Schooner J&E Riggin.
A couple of teenagers vandalized their ship a few months back by cutting the lines and the Riggin floated under a ramp. The tide came in and wedged the Riggin under the ramp, causing lots of damage to her.
The Riggin has a lot of fans out there–in fact I interviewed Annie on how small businesses can use a street team to market themselves a few months back. The blog is the perfect tool for the Riggin’s captains to keep their customers abreast of the situation, showing lots of photos of the reconstructive work.
For photos and details, be sure to check out the Maine Adventure Sails Blog.
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