Web/Tech

In one of their latest efforts to colonize all of cyberspace, or at least whatever Microsoft can’t hide, Google has created an easy-to-use and highly effective customizable search tool. In particular, the new tool allows registered Google users to create a search box capable of:

• Including one website, multiple websites, or specific webpages
• Host the search box and results on your own website
• Customize the colors and branding to match your existing webpages

Each one of these features is useful for standard orchestra websites and even more valuable for those sites which are becoming more complex and dynamic. Let’s examine each of the features individually…

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Right on the heels of the How To Connect With New Media series of articles the Chicago Symphony rolls out an updated press page at their website which contains some of the items from my Marketing Wish List…

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Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times published an article about an interactive seating chart tool being developed for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s website. Called Seat Buddy, the online tool promises to let website users get a better look at the inside of the concert hall as well as what Seat Buddy’s founder described in the article as the hall’s depth…

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I was hoping that Monday’s article about the "Ode To A Ford" project would spark a comment or two about the added value Ford’s microsite added to what is a straight-up viral ad campaign. I remember having a conversation with a colleague who doesn’t work in the orchestra business and isn’t a musician about a year ago and we were talking about the quality of orchestra website education sites. In general, we concluded that most weren’t very educational from the perspective of getting the user involved in the subject material. "As someone who doesn’t know much about classical music to begin with, I don’t come away from educational pages feeling like I learned anything." …

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