2010 N.W. Ag Show A Hit!

In what has proved to be a difficult market for trade shows, the N.W. Ag Show continues to perservere and buck national and regional trends. This year’s show, just ended January 28th, posted gains in attendance and strong exhibitor sales.

BDC Advertising, Inc. has been the agency of record for the show for the past 5 years and in cooperation with the N.W. Ag Show management team has worked to log steady increases over those years.

To the full credit of the N.W. Ag Show management team has been their continued support and response to exhibitor and market needs. Last year, the N.W. Ag Show brought all their seminars and association meetings on-site with the show which has proved to be enormously beneficial to attendance and sales at the show.

For 2010, BDC Advertising was asked to expand the show’s advertising footprint which includes multiple insertions in some 29 publications, 4 radio stations and an online Adwords campaign. BDC was responsible for all media buys, creative, placement, website development, SEO, Adwords, radio scripts, remote broadcasts, PR, coordination and follow-up.

Even though the show closed just a few days ago, BDC and the N.W. Ag Show management team are already making plans for next year’s show with website updates underway, post-show PR and a top-to-bottom evaluation of show efforts and strategy.

BDC Wins Wilco!

BDC Advertising, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Wilco Farm Stores to our client list. Wilco is an Oregon-based retailer with stores and business interests in Oregon and Washington. Wilco has three distinct divisions starting with 11 retail stores that offer a variety of hardware, farm supplies, gardening, clothing, pet supplies, pet services, fencing, feed and other items. Wilco also has an Agronomy Division and Fuel Division that is punctuated by an enviable emphasis on customer service and customer delivery to the N.W.’s broad and valued agricultural community.

BDC Advertising, Inc. was selected to develop, produce and launch a new website for Wilco that embraces all three divisions and shares the rich and important story of this proud Oregon company. The effort is intended to leverage new web technologies to better connect Wilco’s customers with the company and keep the market apprised of the companies deep product offering and services.

BDC was selected from a field of several and a final group of three after several interviews, submissions and a final presentation that detailed BDC’s tailored vision and thinking.

BDC is expecting to launch the site early this summer.

Securing Website Forms with and without CAPTCHA

There are means to block automated or remote submission of the website forms. Having an unsecured form these days is just asking for a few hundred junk emails a week if not more. There are about 4-5 decent ways of blocking SPAM and potential “hacker” or intrusive programs from abusing our forms:

1. The most elegant in my opinion and definitely the least annoying to users, but not a completely secure or “perfect” solution is currently referred to simply as “Safer Contact Forms without Captcha”. There isn’t really anything tangible to show you a demo of, but an overview of the technology method can be reviewed here: http://15daysofjquery.com/safer-contact-forms-without-captchas/11/ or here: http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials:Safer_Contact_Forms_Without_CAPTCHAs (i think this is the original author of this method, but they’re both the same thing)

Two downsides to this approach are:
1. Users must have cookies enabled as well as Javascript. A teeny tiny amount of visitors will not, but we can prompt them with a message.2. This security concept is based on the current methods that “bad bots” and hacker-programs use, but is in no means actually “securing” anything.
2. Number 2 because it is my second favorite option currently available: Ajax Fancy Captcha jQuery plugin. This one is cutting edge and truly is the best and most realistic way of proving someone is actually a human in todays software abilities and limitations. A live interactive demonstration of this is here: http://www.webdesignbeach.com/beachbar/ajax-fancy-captcha-jquery-plugin

Two downsides to this approach are:
1. “You don’t want to use CAPTCHA’s in general because you just know that requiring your visitors to read squiggly letters
and numbers just to send you a message is going to suppress communication – not encourage it.” – Quoted from the article
in option #1
2. This method is the least friendly to handicap visitors using screen readers, etc. This isn’t a major concern on this project, since we are not subject to be Section 508 Compliant or anything, but it’s always something we should be conscious of. You never want to dishonor the ADA…

3. Option #3 is very widely used and is actually the industry leader in CAPTCHA solutions in the open-source world. You’ve probably seen and used this at least a dozen times on various websites: http://recaptcha.net/plugins/php/

4. Option #4 is another flavor of CAPCHTA that is a little less “bloated” and has more readable characters, but is less effective than Option #3: http://www.archreality.com/jcap/. I’ve implemented this one one of our clients websites recently that you can look at: http://www.plansource.com/plansource/contact

Blue Star Transportation – Portland Airport Shuttles, Charter Buses & More

BlueStarBus.com
ttp://www.bluestarbus.com

Designed by: Gary Hepting
Developed by: Gary Hepting
Project Manager: Gary Hepting

Blue Star Transportation has been locally owned and operated in Portland, Oregon for over 30 years. Their modern fleet of motor coaches, charter buses, shuttle buses, and shuttle vans are ready to serve Portland area business travelers, families, groups, tours, corporations, schools and more. If you need reliable, dependable and safe transportation anywhere around the Portland area, count on Blue Star Transportation.

Blue Star Transportation owns, operates, and meticulously maintains our fleet of over 40 Charter Buses, Shuttle Buses, and Vans. They are not a broker, reseller or agent so there’s never any additional markup or hidden fees. They’re able to offer the lowest rates and personally oversee their staff to deliver the best experience, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!

View Website

Cuddy King Welded Aluminum Ocean Fishing Boats by Weldcraft Marine

The Cuddy King (long version) video explains why this new offshore aluminum fishing boats is the ruler of open waters. See the Cuddy King jump large waves as it heads out for a day of tuna fishing. Compared to fiberglass sportfishers, the all welded Cuddy King is significantly more fuel efficient, offers an exceptionally long range, and maintain its value better. See the Cuddy King in action.