Published October 2004

Software an easy-to-use tool for creating, updating Web site

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

A Monroe high-tech company — Efinity Technologies — has developed a low-tech Web site solution that’s ideal not only for small businesses but also for nonprofit organizations that need to reach out to supporters at low cost.

“There are so many Web site programs that are so complicated to use that they sit on a shelf. We didn’t want that. We designed a low-cost software program that lets people create their own Web site and update it easily, from anywhere,” said Efinity’s project manager, Mark DeLong.

And people do use it, either by making their own Web site or by hiring Efinity to do a more professional site and then using the program to easily update their site, he said.

Image courtesy of Efinity Technologies The Virtual Site Manager program is nontechnical and intuitive, even providing easy development of advanced Web site features such as slide shows, tables, image editing, video clips, a search feature and more.

“No matter how you create your site, the bigger problem for people is keeping it current. We’ve all seen out-of-date Web sites, particularly on small-business and nonprofit sites because they can’t afford to constantly pay a Web designer an hourly rate just to change a date or phone number or to add a new paragraph or change a staff name,” DeLong said.

The secret to Efinity’s success is its proprietary Virtual Site Manager software that allows clients to control their own Web site, creating, updating and publishing pages on the Internet without the usual expense or delay when using a developer for everything.

“With this program, we have even low-tech customers telling us they’ve updated their sites from the beach, from their office, their home,” said Account Manager Jeff Cornish.

The VSM program is nontechnical and intuitive, even providing easy development of advanced Web site features such as slide shows, tables, image editing, video clips, a search feature and more.

Also, there’s no software to download or update, since the VSM program is an Internet-based system through Efinity Technologies. Using any PC system with Internet access and Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, users can update their site from almost any location. Web sites are not limited to a specific number of pages or users, so nonprofits or businesses don’t have to buy a copy of software for each computer.

Clients using the simplest, Express version of Efinity’s software include the EquiFriends therapeutic equestrian program (www.equifriends.org), with Corstone (www.corstonellc.com), a Snohomish general contractor, using the Professional version and businesses such as Pacific Northwest Fitness (www.pnwfitness.com) using the Enterprise version of VSM.

Other Web site clients include Stocker Farms (www.stockerfarms.com), Digital Document Services (www.ddocinc.com), Bratwear (www.bratwear.com), Apollo Theater (www.apollotheatre.org), the American Red Cross of King & Kitsap Counties (www.seattleredcross.org) and NetLodgings.com (www.netlodgings.com).

Schools, churches and nonprofits benefit by using templates to create their own Web site and the VSM program for updating it, which solves the next major problem once a Web site is created.

“One reason we developed the VSM program last fall was because we were feeling guilty having to charge clients our regular rates just to update their Web site,” DeLong said. “All upgrades to the software are free, so there’s no expense for keeping up to date.”

He said schools can assign segments of a Web site to a variety of teachers, who can only develop pages or make changes on their particular section of the site. Nonprofits can use the same program to maintain a site, with managers of various programs each having their own Web site area to create and update information.

“Nonprofits have time and volunteers to help out but not the money, so we created a good program that makes good use of volunteers. We’ve also created a wide variety of templates to make choices easier for Web site development,” DeLong said.

“Web sites are considered to be current, to have the latest information. If they are outdated, it leaves a bad impression of the business or nonprofit agency. This software solves that problem for them,” said Vaughan Seifert, who heads up business development for Efinity.

More information is available at Efinity Technologies’ own Web site, www.efinitytech.com, or by calling 360-805-8483.

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