200+ Not-for-Profit Association Chooses The Agency@Think and WordPress for its New Concept Website.

July 15, 2009 - PRLog -- When the Tennessee Wedding & Events Specialists Association (TWESA) decided to replace their old website they had a long wish list. First it had to appeal to a very web savvy target market and be easy to use across multiple generations.  It needed to be up-datable and expandable.  It needed to be fully optimized for both social media and search and compatible with mobile devices. It needed to integrate membership accounting functions such as membership applications and online renewal. Surprisingly what they chose was a website built entirely on the WordPress blog platform designed by the Agency@Think and called a Dialog-Site because of its ability to facilitate communication with different audiences and social networks.

TWESA turned to the experts at the Agency@Think to find a solution. What they got was more than they expected. The new TWESA.com is a full website including extensive galleries, blogs, video and member listings all built on a WordPress platform.  It is fully integrated into social media such as Twitter and Facebook, even the calendar has its own RSS feed.  This is just what visitors see.

On the non public side, members are able to post to the site as well as update their listings. The Agency@Think included a member’s only blog that functions more like a Facebook wall or a Twitter feed. Since the private blog is fully optimized for mobile devises, members can use it as an instant way to communicate with each other while working an event. The importance of having a private “one to many“ back channel means of communication on a busy event day is priceless.

A very important factor in choosing WordPress was the ability to incorporate membership management and accounting functionality. The site now has the ability for new members to apply and pay online, members to renew or upgrade online and automatically bills members when their annual dues are up. The system generates full reports on member billing and accounting activity; eliminating many dollars previously paid to an accountant for billing and record keeping. Because WordPress integrates so easily with so many plugins, the Agency@Think was able to set the payment function up completely with in PayPal eliminating the need for and expense of a traditional shopping cart.

Search Engine Optimization is important for any website. Previously TWESA had been paying over $200 a month for SEO. With the new site, because it is built on the semantically correct WordPress Platfom the site is virtually self-optimizing. With each new post or listing the site’s search power increases. But at the end of the day it is results that count.  The new Dialog-Site website design of The Agency has increased search engine referrals over five fold in just its first 30 days, with no additional advertising, SEO or other time and expense.

According to Vicki Sanders, President of TWESA, “When we started this project I don’t think we fully grasped the possibilities. The Agency @Think understood our needs and not only showed us what was possible, but even added functionalities we never even knew existed that would benefit us.”

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