Our brief was to design & build a new online news portal for the offline publication, FTSE Global Markets, with complete SEO best practice, site monetisation and user database leveraging preferences, interest areas and email alerts. Their target audience is Institutional Investors.

We had to ensure that approx 2,500 previously un-indexed articles were featured on the major search engines, and provide a monetisation platform for the future as well as a consolidated subscriber database.

We imported all existing content into our prefered Open Source platform, Joomla, and provided an elegant and intuitive User Experience (UX) via a bespoke template designed by us. We implemented an automatic and manual SEO best practice approach and bridged the Content Management System (CMS) with an Email delivery system (MailChimp) to collate as much subscriber information as possible, and allow for personalised communication.

We are also in the process of building a QR code generator in the CMS to link the offline editorials with the enhanced online content.

The site has just been live for a very short time, but we have achieved Google News inclusion in record time. We now have 39,000 pages indexed within Google, and are delivering contextual banner advertising throughout the website and email newsletters. The entire subscriber database is now clean, online, ABC verified and actively updated on a regular basis.

Visit the new FTSE Global Markets website
A full case study on the Joomla Community Magazine

Marshall Arts are the sort of client an agency would kill to have on its books; proactive, creative and trusting. As devoted fans of live music, we are delighted to have the opportunity to service the digital needs of one of the foremost concert promoters in the world; Marshall Arts books include Paul McCartney, Elton John, P!NK, George Michael, Peter Andre & Whitney Houston.

Visit the site at: www.marshall-arts.com

3B has been a part of the FESPA family for over 10 years; we’ve watched the FESPA team grow to become a truly Global Federation of some repute.

In that time we’ve had the oportunity to revisit their numerous and varied websites, both in terms of form and function. Their web presence now forms the backbone of a comprehensive and cohesive New Media strategy that includes (but is not limited to) all aspects of Social Media, news content, blogging and communities - all wrapped up within a striking and attractive main site portal site and its satellites.

Visit the site at: www.fespa.com

Leaderboard Golf are the proud owners of five golf centres and hotels, and 3B are building what is set to be the world’s leading golf authority website for them, to open a whole new set of revenue streams.

The site is contributed to by the Leaderboard staff, with extra copywriting and monetisation guidance being offered by 3B. The site is built in an organic and modular style which allows for unlimited expansion and adaptation as requirements change or new opportunities are found.

This has been a very exciting project for 3B, bringing together everything we have learnt online since we began developing world-class website strategies in 1998. It is the complete solution, bringing together design and branding, search and conversion optimisation, multiple monetisation approaches and content creation services.

Visit the site at: www.leaderboardgolf.co.uk

This is the website for the yearly art and antiques fair hosted in Chelsea by the British Antique Dealers Association.

We built them a site that features a customised directory of exhibitors, and 3B assist with registration and ticketing for the event. The press login is managed by BADA’s PR company and is completely automated. We also set up various Social Media assets, and trained and advised with regards actioning their Digital Marketing strategy.

Visit the site at: www.bada-antiques-fair.co.uk

The 3B team have just returned from this year’s sensational Joomla Convention, “J and Beyond” – a 4 day celebratory geek-fest of all that is wonderful in the world of Open Source. This is the second year that Jack Bremer & I have attended, and this year we took along our Lead Developer, Jordan Worner, and our Head of Search, Hugh Williams.

It can’t go without mention that this is also undoubtedly a social occasion! Whilst the vast majority of delegates’ time was spent deep in code, it cannot escape the notice of anyone who has viewed the many personal photo galleries and blogs that sprung up during and immediately after J and Beyond that the friendships forged and renewed were toasted and lubricated by the finest ale that Rolduc had to offer... and more often than not it was very fine indeed.

Now supports Joomla 1.7!

 

Zendesk is the web-based customer support system and community platform used by thousands of companies worldwide.

We use it at 3B and wanted to allow clients to submit tickets through our site, using the "Dropbox/Feedback Tab" as well as provide that functionality to them in the admin area of their own Joomla sites, to send support requests through to us. Zendesk Dropbox for Joomla! was born.

Setup your Dropbox/Feedback Tab in Zendesk directly (Settings > Channels > Feedback Tab), grab the box ID number from the generated snippet, throw it into this Joomla! plugin and off you go - the rest of the controls are right there in Joomla. Please note that there are some options that you can currently only set in the Zendesk Feedback Tab generator.

Features:

• Change the text displayed in the Dropbox tab with ease
• Change the position of the tab between left and right
• Display the tab on the site's frontend, backend (admin) or both
• Use the Joomla user's email as the submitter's email address if you want
• Prefill subject and description if you want, for consistently formatted tickets
• Replace the tab with an image
• Hide the tab an use a link to open

Please download using the link below.

Should you migrate your website from Joomla 1.0.x to Joomla 1.5.x?

There is a lot of information online about this subject but we at 3B Digital know the answer is a resounding "YES!". We have been using Joomla as a CMS (Content Management System) for around 4 years and over this time we have been delighted with its ease of use and potential for development.

Joomla 1.5.x is a very different beast from Joomla 1.0.x and for this reason is not a straight-forward upgrade, and has to be migrated methodically and expertly. Essentially you must start with a fresh install of the site and migrate the data and the third party extensions to the new site.