SandCloud Designs : About my Website


Why choose Empowered?
http://empoweredinternet.com/why-empowered.asp

The web is filled with countless vendors, all claiming to be the right choice for your business needs. How do you know whom to trust?
At Empowered, our mission is to be the trusted source for all web-related projects. We have built a solid reputation by treating our clients with respect and providing them with expert advice to guide them through the chaos of the web. No company can provide every need in-house while providing competitive pricing which is why we have aligned ourselves with local vendors. By sharing work within the community, we ensure that our clients are in touch with the right professional for any service. Empowered facilitates more clients in a month’s time than most design companies facilitate in a year which allows us to obtain discounted rates on all vendor services that we then pass along to our clients.

Ok, so do all these idealistic views really work? We all know the proof is in our track record. In July of 2005 we were a brand new company starting up in Honolulu going up against over 100 web design firms. There were half a dozen power-players who had a strong grip on the market. Each of these players had between 25 and 50 clients with the exception to one firm who had 100 clients all of which were built up over 3-5 years time. In contrast, with just over one year in the market we now command the most clients in the state of Hawaii with over 250 custom designed websites. At Empowered we successfully deploying over 20 new clients each month, where-as our competitors struggle to sign 3-5 in a month. Three of the once power-players have moved into other niche industries ranging from kiosk design to cell phone sales just to stay afloat.

How did we achieve this status in just one year? A morally grounded company, we are guided by high values and the strong desire to bring a change to the way the internet is managed. Although our designs consistently exceed our clients expectations and our customer support is the best in our market, our real advantage is the ZeppOS management tool.


What makes ZeppOS different?

The market is catching on to the fact that website owners are now more savvy than ever. The market will no longer allow webmasters to nickel and dime them each time a minor update needs to be made. Content Management Systems (CMS), or more appropriately Web Content Management (WCM) systems have become more mainstream within the last year. However these systems are polarized in their functionality and usability, limiting you to a simple web presence or an over-complicated portal with no middle ground.

ZeppOS web content management is a total site management tool allowing the control over every aspect of your site. Although other systems mimic portions of the functionality we provide, no other system is as holistic as the ZeppOS tool. A product created by The Zeppo Network, Inc., the software is unique in its creation, rather than its development done in a lab then distributed to the public in the hopes that the system is a fit for the market, we have created our system in the trenches as it were. Many of the software's main contributions have been provided directly from our clients and the software has gone through major advancements over the last 3 years.

Our component library containing extended web functionality in modular formats was also inspired by our clientele. We have seen that websites should grow as the clients business grows. Most CMS systems are not modular and are designed for a niche market providing little or no flexibility in the final outcome of the site (e.g.. a Real Estate website manager will not allow you to plug in an ecommerce store). ZeppOS not only allows for enhanced functionality within a site but also seamlessly integrates desired elements of this functionality into otherwise static content pages.

ZeppOS is one of several immerging product lines in The Zeppo Network, Inc.


What is The Zeppo Network and what is their concept of Web Empowerment?

Empowered is a proud subsidiary of The Zeppo Network, Inc., a leading provider of innovative web management software specifically designed to empower individuals, businesses and associations to take full control of their own web presence. It is the goal of The Zeppo Network to repave the internet with the ZeppOS management tool. A notably lofty goal, we believe we can turn this dream into reality due to our track record to date and the tremendous support we have been given by our investors and partner distributors.

Zeppo believes that true advancement of the internet is at a standstill. Despite the popularity of Web 2.0 standards, where we scatter interactions across the internet which are loosely bound together by blogs, Zeppo believes in a centralization of web. Until the internet is united by a common platform, there will be no way to harness its full potential. Just as the personal computer adopted Windows as its operating system, the internet should also have a standard platform.

If a standard web solution were in place it would increase the quality, accuracy and consistency of the internet, while drastically minimizing redundant labor required to develop and deploy websites. Moreover, the results of continued efforts in Web Empowerment and internationalization will simplify the way the internet is managed, uniting the web with one platform scalable enough to be a viable solution for any sized web presence while localizing itself to accommodate all nationalities. Search engines and directories must rely on internet users to populate their directories or use spiders to crawl the internet trying to find relevant information. Limited to managing two types of information, text and media, search engines desperately try to attach relevance to their searches, but it is impossible to truly categorize information, as search engines are limited to indexing only the static content output from a website.

However, through a standardized web solution, new opportunities for uniting the internet become available; directories could be fed information from websites organically with a high degree of accuracy. If harnessed correctly, search engines could intuitively identify text, media, products, services, and events, then filter results by industry, location and date! Moreover, website owners using a standard web platform would be able to manage their own information through their website as well as populate related online and offline distributors with their products and services. The culminating result would be better exposure for website owners and increased accuracy for internet visitors. Imagine the ability to search the internet for a future event in a Hawaiian town on a specific day, or for an obscure product in a specific category where the owner/author never had to lift a finger to promote it.

This concept of Web Empowerment describes the breaking down of the technological barriers of the internet. In the past, management of information required specialized knowledge and technical skills; however, in recent history an onslaught of various content management solutions were deployed. These solutions either provided web versions of existing complex third party editors or over-simplified web building solutions; both scenarios limited their own usefulness and further contributed to the pollution of the internet.


Additional Information: ZeppOS Core Functionality

Integrated Functionality:
Site Search
Dynamic Site Map
Privacy Policy & Terms of Use
Print Mode
Send to a Friend
Dynamic galleries with slideshow capabilities in both thumbnail and Flash Multimedia modes
Page Hit Counter
RSS/XML output
Navigation & Content:
Ability to easily add, modify or delete pages in a multi-tiered environment
Archive content with ability to revert to previous versions
Ability to enable/disable content approval process allowing administrators the ability to approve or deny suggested content changes.
Integrated WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) content editor
Fully configurable WYSIWYG editor toolbar and settings
Find and replace functionality
Access Levels:
Easily create and manage website administrators and members
Assign members to access and distribution groups allowing for easy targeting of both website security and communication.
Ability to set member/administrator roles and permissions through a matrix of site functions.
Customizable member preferences including member handling and site security settings
Administrative member search by field or member history and ability to sort/save queries with description for later use
Member reporting to include identification of missing or duplicate data
Export member list to Excel, Word (Mailing labels) or HTML
Appearance Management:
Ability to load multiple templates into ZeppOS platform
Easily switch between templates during holidays, special occasions, or in case of complete graphic redesign
Easily modify CSS and Template HTML through graphical interface
Supports dynamic cross browser compliant JavaScript dropdowns or formatted menus
Document Library:
Comprehensive Image, Media and Document library
Ability to upload multiple files through intuitive interface
Dynamically resize and generate thumbnails of images while uploading
Group files in configurable folder structure
Complete Website Control:
Multiple language support
Highly configurable Meta-Data/Search Engine Optimization (SEO) friendly
Configurable date/time settings
Integrated ICRA content rating
Site Map Configuration
Privacy Policy & Terms of Use Generator
Implement word filter for un-moderated visitor input
Block access by IP address
Website Link Checker
Analytical Reporting/SEO Tools:
Integrated Google Analytics statistics
Integrated Google Sitemap generator and validation
Member Opt-In/Signup:
Allows member profiles to be created by both visitors and administrators
Choose which target member groups visitors will be assigned to
Members able to add themselves to public groups or request access to private groups
Ability to require terms and conditions agreement
Ability to set required member signup fields
Member able to opt-out of communication groups
Secure website access granted to members by group
Custom tailored member area (referred to as ZeppOS Member Desktop)
Membership Management:
Securely pay membership dues online
Archive expired members into inactive status
Query member status reports
Prompt members for renewal membership dues or event sponsorship fees
Target members via email with news updates and/or surveys
Identify bounced emails and generate report for harvesting updated emails
Event Management:
Display events by date range, category and approved status
Format events in calendar and list view
Link events to ZeppOS Article Manager for more additional information

Additional Information: ZeppOS Additional Functionality

Standard Components:
http://empoweredinternet.com/zeppos-standard-components.asp
Entry Manager
Survey manager
Article Manager
Directory
Employment Manager
Elite Components:
http://empoweredinternet.com/zeppos-elite-components.asp
Knowledgebase/Frequently Asked Questions Manager
RealEstate Manager
Banner Advertisement Manager
Communication Manager
eCommerce Manager
Model Manager
Resort/Property Manager


 
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