Laurie is another example of a real estate agent that switched firms but didn't want to switch website providers; she wanted to stick with Hollman Media, LLC. In Laurie's case, the company to which she was moving was also one of our existing customers. While this made the transition more convenient, it still did not solve the problem that the colors and other branding elements used on her site needed to be updated.

In addition, Laurie wanted to go the extra mile and have us create a unique home page design that matched her identity. Working closely with Laurie, and listening to her likes and dislikes, we were able to come up with a home page design that fit her strategy and matched her personal identity.

The Minden Opera House had been using our PickMyTickets.com, comprehensive ticketing system successfully for a few years. They were selling plenty of tickets--many of them online--but they felt like they could do better. The problem was bridging the gap between the Opera House's existing website and the PickMyTickets.com website from which the tickets were actually sold. They expressed concern over their inability to update their website with timely information about their events as well as a desire to create a seamless ticket buying experience online for their customers.

The Opera House hired us to help manage and re-develop its site and to tightly integrate it with the PickMyTickets.com website. The result is a marriage of two sites; PickMyTickets.com updates MindenOperaHouse.com with real time ticketing information, and in return, MindenOperaHouse.com updates PickMyTickets.com with current promotional information about the Opera House's upcoming events.


Read the Opera House's thoughts about the transition and new site.

When you know what your customer base wants, you give it to them. It is a gross misunderstanding that website visitors want to see flashy bells and whistles on a website--THEY DO NOT. They want to see product and they want to see it quickly and effortlessly. So why not provide that for them?

Re/Max Executives told us how they wanted their listings to look on their site. They were already using our listings tools to enter their properties. This part was not to change. The KearneyRemax.com site is a great example of how we can develop a completely custom site that can be updated through our standard interface. The key is to keep data and design separate and marry the two only when the page loads. This allows us to design completely unique sites for completely unique companies, all of whom use the same set of tools to update their sites.

A recent change to the Re/Max site allows the page to pull listings directly from the MLS. The listings on the Re/Max site are updated every minute, so your search results are the most current available.

Take a look at the diversity of the sites we showcase on our site. Nearly all of them use the same set of tools to update their sites in-house.


Read comments from Rocky Gieser of Re/Max Executives.

Listeners tend to interact with their stations' websites while listening to those stations. With this in mind, we worked with The Island's engineers to tap their playlist and push their current song lists out to the site in real time. This is not entirely uncommon. But then we took this concept one step further and opened up the site to real-time voting, allowing listeners to rate the current and last songs based on three easy-to-understand options. This creates a running log and "popularity index" that the station can use when determining the validity of future playlists.


Read comments from 107.7 The Island's webmaster.

Perhaps the fastest-updating real estate site in the greater Omaha area, DonPeterson.com uses RETS (real estate transaction standard) to check for updates from the MLS every minute!

With over 5,000 residential listings in the Omaha MLS, this site is built to handle large chunks of data intelligently and efficiently. Using our custom compression methods, preview images load up to 4 times faster than some other competing sites. The search features are built with the consumer in mind. The "Advanced Search" feels more like a "basic" search because of its simplicity. The easy-to-find feedback mechanisms make inquiries about listings as easy as a few clicks.

An array of backend tools allows the Don Peterson staff to easily add in additional listings outside the MLS, track traffic and leads, and update 90% of the site on a moment's notice.

Another fast-updating real estate site in the Columbus area is CapstoneRealtyOnline.com. The site uses RETS (real estate transaction standard) to check for updates from the MLS every minute, so your search listing results are the most current results available.

The search features on CapstoneRealtyOnline.com are built to be as simple as possible. It's easy to narrow down the results to the ones you really want, and the built-in feedback tools allow you to inquire about a property with just a few clicks.

Special programming requirements are quite common, even for a basic brochure-style website. This was the case for Vintage Title & Escrow Company. The VintageTitle.com website features an online order form that sends information to the company in a format that is compatible with the company's existing software. This eliminates redundant entry and prevents errors.

Vintage Title also requested a simple calculator that could be used by a visitor to quickly calculate premium amounts based on predefined parameters. This was handled with a few simple JavaScript functions and an extremely simple form.


Read comments from Vintage Title.

Hits 106 appeals to a younger demographic, and hence, the antics that sometimes go on at the station--both on-air and off. The crazy, wacky Morning Zoo crew, in particular, likes to take things to a whole new level.

Sometimes special people have special website requirements. Often our site manager tools can accommodate these requirements, but sometimes our ongoing support is helpful to have on standby. Take for instance the April 1st, 2009 prank where the station changed its name from "Hits 106" to "Hits One Thru Six." To pull it off in convincing fashion, we helped create a new home page wallpapered with a new logo and a "New Website Coming Soon!" announcement. The page was to run only from 5:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

The prank proved to be a hit and created a buzz, particularly among the local university and younger listening audience.

Not every business can afford a big, bad, beautiful website. But sometimes a creative approach can get you real close.

HitTheBricksKearney.com is a joint effort between many mom-and-pop shops in downtown Kearney, NE. These small town innovators pooled their resources together to create their own comprehensive marketing campaign. We helped with the website part of the campaign.

To help compete against other big box stores and to rekindle an excitement for shopping downtown Kearney ("The Bricks"), the Kearney Downtown Improvement Board hired us to build a site that allows downtown businesses to self-promote through banner ads, stories about downtown events, and a unique login that allows each business to update its own web page within the overall website.

The result is an affordable alternative that is tightly targeted to a specific audience.

2010 Update: The City of Bridgeport site was updated in May of 2010 to be more standards-compliant. During the upgrade, Hollman Media combined 4 existing sites into one site to make management and expenses more efficient for the city.

A new series of reporting tools were built into the content management system. These new tools allow residents to notify the city of problems, such as street problems and animal control issues.

City administrators can use the reporting tools to customize the email addresses to which the problems are sent. Administrators can input a series of "policies" that dictate when the reported problems should be elevated in status and sent on to additional staff.

Customers are automatically emailed a tracking link where they can check on the status of reports at any time. They also receive email notifications any time the statuses of their reports are changed.

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What options are available for a small town when it comes time to hire a website developer or a designer? There are some established and reputable companies out there that deal exclusively with civic sites. Some can be quite expensive.

The same advice applies to city government as it does to any other business, organization, or individual; before you open your wallet, know that you are getting the best value regardless of price. What kind of ongoing support is available? What tools come standard with your management system and can more features be added in? Can you customize my site to be different from every other city site?

How many years of experience does my site's creative designer have? How about the programmer? How many years have they been with your company? Who is going to be on the other end of the phone when I have a problem?

Ask lots of questions. The City of Bridgeport did. We're happy to have the city as a customer.

Read what the City of Bridgeport's City Administrator had to say about working with Hollman Media, LLC.

Images will make or break a site. Other things will, too, but images have the most immediate impact on presentation. When providing or picking out pictures with your web developer, take the time to find high quality, professional-looking pictures. It makes a HUGE difference in the design process as well as the final look.

Finding good images was not a problem when developing a website for Scott A. Casper, a well-published leader in Nebraska wildlife photography. His jaw-dropping photos have graced the covers of dozens of magazines as well as his website at ScottCasperPhotography.com. Full-size prints of Scott's pictures can be ordered and professionally framed after visiting his site at ScottCasperPhotography.com.


Read Scott's comments about promoting his photography on the Internet.

KHYM 103.9 FM is a Kansas-based Christian radio station with a very specific and loygal customer base. The station hired us because it wanted to provide its audience with a site that it would find easy to use and relevant to its faith.

The result is a clean, cogent site that makes it very easy for visitors to get to their destinations. For instance, online streaming audio is very popular for KHYM, so it was very important to provide easy access to this feature. Overall, simple navigation is also demanded by the KHYM listening--make that surfing--audience. One-layer-deep, universal navigation accomplishes this objective.


Read how KHYM feels about working with the site.

What do you get when a client decides to hire you because you are good with e-commerce, but then he requires that you use his site's existing shopping cart service and also make it integrate with your existing site manager tools? You get minor heart burn, but after that fades, you get a very successful e-commerce site that sells a niche product.

A casual browse of the vendor list on DeepFriedCajun.com is indicative of the big business that is the Cajun Cooker. These fryers mean business and so does Central Cajun Distribution, LLC. This site is a great example of a Hollman Media, LLC customer who knows his business very well. It is best to listen to these customers. They know what they want; they just want to know how to do it. This is where we come in.

Read comments from Central Cajun Distribution.

Sometimes customers move from one company to another and want to take their websites with them. This is particularly common in the real estate field, especially when an online identity has already been established.

Craig Ronhovde was one such customer. When Craig moved from one real estate company to another, he asked us to help transition his website. Although his website was tied into the existing company's website and service contract, we were able to quickly come up with several options to fit his budget and technical requirements.

The result is a very simple, economical site that maintains his online presence without draining his budget.

A lot of calculative work goes into building a brand. A lot of identity elements go into building a brand. These include a logo, a name, a tagline, the atmosphere of the business, colors, pretty much anything involved in the presentation of the company or organization.

The products and services offered by a business also play a role in branding. For instance, offering high quality products and services reflects well on a company. Adding a certain signature style can also help create the brand's identity. Todd Enck understands this.

We worked with Todd to help create the "Signature Quality Homes" idea for his website. It's the idea that T.C. Enck offers a quality of craftmanship that is truly unique.

Streaming audio. Podcasts. A business directory. Exclusive online listener club giveaways. Free classifieds. WeatherThreat.com school and weather-related closings. Calendars of events.

What more could one want in a radio station's website? The radio station behind kliqfm.com is part of the Platte River Radio cluster and prides itself in playing "Today's hits and yesterday's favorites." The same slogan also applies nicely to the station's website.


Read about some of Platte River Radio's favorite features here.

KGFW Full Service talk radio is consistently rated as the most-listened-to station for key time periods during the day. The station's morning call-in show, Talk of the Town, is made up of a very loyal and vocal listener base.

We were able to help KGFW with its website as well as help the station to facilitate real time interaction with its customer base during Talk of the Town. Our PointedOut.com Points-based Listener Club allows listeners to login to their accounts and vote on hot topic issues during the show. These real time polling figures are used daily as part of the show's content and dialogue.

The KGFW listeners love earning points for their input and the station loves the real-time feedback and increased website traffic.

Private schools--like Heartland Lutheran High School in Grand Island--are in a unique and sometimes difficult situation. They rely heavily on tuition dollars to keep their doors open. Tuition dollars are generated on a per-body basis, meaning more students equals more tuition dollars to keep the students educated and to keep the school functioning at its best.

Because of this, private schools must think like a company when attracting and retaining the people that keep it in business. Recruitment and branding is important--not as important as the core values and beliefs of the school--but important nevertheless.

At the heart of private school recruitment should be a good website. One that speaks to the students. One that speaks to the parents. One that can be maintained easily by the school staff with the ongoing support of a professional website development company.


Read comments from Heartland Lutheran's principal about working with Hollman Media, LLC.

What do golf carts have to do with gas stations? A lot if you are referring to Sims Shop E-Z Golf Carts. Located on the parking lot of a gas station/convenience store right off a major highway, Sims Golf Carts has found its own little niche that the business asked us to move online.

While buying a golf cart is generally best done in person if possible, Sims's customers find it useful to preview the carts online first. The owners find it convenient to conduct business over the phone after the carts are put away for the night. It's hard to describe a golf car with words alone, but if the customer on the other end of the line is inf front of the computer connected to the Internet, then describing a cart becomes a lot realistic.

Sandy Pine Systems, Inc. is the largest PIC Multiplier--a producer of breeding stock derived from PIC genetics--in the country. The company needed a website to showcase its size, the extreme isolation of its facilities, its history of healthy animals, and its unmatched reputation.

They had no existing online presence when they hired us, but they had good questions and a good vision.

The result is a brochure-style website that their staff can easily update. For the first time, Sandy Pine Systems, Inc. now has a home on the Internet, a place for their interstate customers to-be.

In 2005, the University of Nebraska-Kearney athletic department and the Tri-City Storm Hockey team contacted current Hollman Media, LLC President Travis Hollman about a big idea. The two athletic organizations felt it would be mutually beneficial to create one website whereby local sports fans could purchase tickets from either venue. The idea was to generate spillover traffic on a website that made buying tickets easy and comfortable.

PickMyTickets.com was born. The site is owned by Hollman Media, LLC and features a full-blown ticketing system behind it. Service comes complete with industry-standard ticket printers, automated inventory control, and a slew of administrative tools that allows our ticketing customers to perform all the major features found in competing ticketing systems...and then some. All of this, believe it or not, is done securely through standard web browsers using a series of very unique and creative tactics.

PickMyTickets.com quickly spread into performing arts and other entertainment venues, including the recently-added Nebraska's Big Rodeo in Burwell.


Read comments from the UNK athletic department.


Read comments from the Robert M. Merryman Performing Arts Center.

Another longtime customer, DJ America has been energizing crowds with experienced announcers for many, many years. DJAmericaOnline.com is another example of an economical site developed to inform and generate leads. There's nothing complex to it, but it accomplishes its goals, nonetheless.

So Read comments from DJ America.

PointedOut.com is an online, points-based rewards club originally built for radio. It was intended to be a powerful listener club service that could be added to any radio station's website. And it still is. But today the club is being used by more than just radio. It has been used successfully by our retail customers and is well-suited for any business that can benefit from an incentive based program.

The truth is that people respond to rewards, even if they are just points with no cash value. It is an powerful phenomenon, so powerful that we were completely amazed at the overwhelming crowds of people that started flooding our customers' rewards club pages and live events.


Contact us for a free brochure or to have your questions answered about how this service can benefit you. Or, read more about our incentive-based rewards club at PointedOut.com.

Hollman Media, LLC has a close connection to the construction and contracting world. It's in our founders' blood. Our company's president grew up as the son of a contractor and spent many hours on the job site. This experience comes in handy when developing sites for other builders and developers. Contractors speak their own language and have their own culture.

It is essential to know your customer's business. This isn't always possible during the first, second, or third meetings, but it can be learned to a point where the website does not suffer. On the other hand, sometimes it's prudent to know your existing strengths and seek out customers who match your existing experiences.

And sometimes they seek out and find you. This was the case with Starostka Group/Star Homes. The company not only develops residential and commercial properties, but it also lists and promotes its own properties. The Star Homes site was a good match for our real estate tools and experience as well as our personal experience on past job sites.


Read Star Home's comments about the website.

Classifieds. Classifieds. Classifieds! Platte River Radio, Inc. in Kearney, NE spelled out the classified ads requirement as a number one priority when the company asked us to take over their site and help transition it into their ideal vision.

The station was already featuring classified ads and it was a huge hit. But the station was looking for something a little different. At the time, Hollman Media, LLC did not have classified ad tools built in as a standard part of our media tools--but we realized this was something that made sense.

We worked closely with KKPR to develop an interface that was simple for existing listeners to use. Then we added it in as part of the Points-based listener club. By doing this, we were able to keep existing classified ad users happy while also significantly increasing new signups in the station's Loyal Listener Club. The classified ad tools are now a standard part of our content management system tools offered to radio, television, newspapers, and other media.


Read the KKPR testimonial.

Here's a few key concepts tha were underscored while developing the Gamma Phi Beta-Gamma Kappa chapter website:

1) It's important to contantly challenge your instinct, particularly when it comes to a domain name. Most great domain names are not available, but you have to check on them anyway just to make sure. That's how we were able to snag GammaPhi.org for the Gamma Kappa chapter. Clearly it is not the only Gamma Phi Beta chapter out there.

2) Sometimes it is necessary and even required to break all the rules, particularly when it comes to a target market with which you no longer personally fit. When the girls at Gamma Phi Beta described the look they wanted for their site, we were skeptically optimistic. After they enthusiastically educated us on the design requirements, we were sold. The result is a young, hip, grunge look that fit the website strategy perfectly.

3) Sometimes it is absolutely necessary to follow the rules, particularly when the national chapter requires you to do so. Never before the Gamma Phi project have we designed a site with such detailed and specific branding requirements. But the marriage between breaking rules and following them to the letter can often result in disciplined chaos that is right on strategy.

Read the Gamma Phi Beta Testimonial.

It was big. Really big. But its site was not; it was practically nonexistent.

An event as big as Nebraska's Big Rodeo in Burwell--an event rich with nearly a century of history and one that sported one of the world's largest outdoor rodeo arenas--deserved something more than just an afterthought.

Sites for event-driven websites require a few key essentials. They need accurate and timely information; updating in-house is a must. Event-driven websites need good presence to generate traffic and excitement about the event; professional design is critical. They need to generate revenue; online ticket integration is a no-brainer.

Hollman Media, LLC specializes in all the above. Our company was chosen to design, develop, and deploy a site that met all these requirements. The result is NebraskasBigRodeo.com.


Check out what Nebraska's Big Rodeo thinks about its site.

Sometimes referrals can be your biggest friend. Many to most of our new customers are referrals. Those who aren't referrals still tend to check our references. Earley Real Estate & Construction fits both categories.

Thankfully we passed the test and we were able to provide a simple website that fit the company's budget requirements. So what do we do when we can't make a budget work for a client? Simple--in that case we provide the referral.

Morgan Plastic Fabrication, Inc. in Lexington, NE produces a niche product--plastic conveyor parts. There are few other fabricators in the United States who do this and Morgan Plastic has a good share of the Midwestern market.

A lot can be learned from a company like Morgan Plastic. Niches generally do better on the Internet than common products and services. Many niches do extremely well. Think about it, there are billions of web pages on the Internet just waiting to be accessed. In many services--real estate for instance--there are millions of other pages and websites competing against yours. Is it realistic to expect that your brand new site is going to be the first result returned by Google when a user types in the key phrase "real estate"? Or if you are a car dealer, can you expect to be the first result for the key phrase "used cars"?

They key to success on the World Wide Web is to define a niche. Your business may already be a niche in itself. Your business may be very common place, but offer a niche approach or a niche solution. Showcase your niche on your website. It will do far better when you do.

The West Central Nebraska Homebuilders Association, or WCNHBA, works to help the residential and light commercial building industry. The organization is composed of many individuals and companies who are out in the field every day and who use their computers at night.

An online location to which these members could turn was important to the association. The WCNHBA.com is open all hours. The association uses our site manager tools to regularly update its members who need the flexibility of retreiving information at a time that is convenient for them.


Read why the WCNHBA's Executive Director recommends Hollman Media, LLC.

A simple design. A simple set of objectives. A tight timeline. A need for results without all the red tape and headaches. What's the result? HousesByTodd.com.

This site is also a great of example of a customer who is in business under his own name, however, that name has certain obvious problems when it comes time to converting it into a domain name. Surenames are sometimes tough when it comes to marketing, especially the hard to spell ones. The key is to find an alternative that won't damage the brand and finding one that will convey a readily identifiable feature. We were able to accomplish this by having both the words 'houses' and 'todd' in the domain name.

Nebraska's Hot Country Y102--KRNY 102.3 FM--has a history of online innovation. It was around 2003 and 2004 that the station first contacted Travis Hollman about the idea of building a better method for sharing school closing information online among area radio and TV stations. From this intial idea was born the concept for the WeatherThreat.com network.

Shortly after that, the station signed on with TechThreat Media--the proprietorship that eventually paved the way to the creation of the company Hollman Media, LLC.

A few years later, the station once again contacted Travis about the idea of building a points-based rewards club. From this, the PointedOut.com Online Rewards Club was created and became an instant smash. Dozens of new club members were signing up daily. Prizes were flying out the door. Remote attendance was through the roof. Club sponsors were knocking at the door.

Keep an eye on this station. The next big thing is sure to sprout from it.

Find a web developer with whom you can work for many years.

We began working with Builders Warehouse in 2001--a company consistently rated one of the most successful home improvement retailers in the country. The turn of the century was a time when many fly-by-night operations were being run out of town. At that time, anyone and everyone with a computer was a web designer and distrust and disappointment was quickly realized by those looking to hire professionals. Respect had to be earned through results.

Today, the same principles still apply. We need to be out proving ourselves daily. We believe that a good company will win over the hearts of its existing customers, over and over and over again. Relationships require constant maintenance, attention, and communication.

Our customers mean a lot to us and we work hard to maintain healthy relationships with them.

Read comments from Builders Warehouse marketing director Scott Casper.

Platte River Radio had been a WeatherThreat.com school closings customer for a few years when they first started asking us website questions. This is pretty normal from our WeatherThreat customers, especially those subscribing to our Advantage school closings service. We have learned that building trust takes time.

The day Platte River Radio decided they wanted to take their websites to the next level was an exciting time for everyone. We knew their company was open to new, innovative ideas. In fact, they demanded them.

The ESPN Superstation website, just like the other three Platte River Radio websites, is a constant work in progress with a well-defined road map. We've worked with PRR to design some really nice site manager tools that have become a standard part of our media package.


Read comments from Platte River Radio?

In the organization's own words, "TOPSoccer (The Outreach Program for Soccer) is a community based training and team placement program for young athletes with special needs."

Not all sites are about creating business or generating revenue. Sometimes sites serve an alternative, but still valuable purpose. At the request of a long-time customer, we helped create NebraskaTopSoccer.com as a tool and resource for a great program.


Read comments from TopSoccer coordinator Roberta Loescher.

Integrity Home Inspection and Testing, LLC (IHIT) is a Kearney-based home inspection company that specializes in radon testing and radon mitigation. The company is one of the only to be certified for both radon testing and mitigation in the central Nebraska area. The company had a web site prior to hiring us, but the site was not complete and wasn't being used to its full potential.

IHIT wanted to become more well-known not only among realtors in the area but also among homeowners. The new site was created to reflect these goals by providing more useful information on the site and by ranking better in search engine results.

"What makes you any different than every other web person who's disappointed us in the past?" We had that question asked of us many times in the past, so it was not unexpected that Rocky would ask it of us the first time we met with him. What caught us by surprise was his insistence on making us prove that we could meet his expectations and, if not, that we would give hime cogent reasons why his expectations were not immediately reasonable.

The truth is that customers hire professionals because professionals are supposed to know more than the customers that hire them. If they don't, then it's a waste of resources. But customers also hire professionals with the expectation that they will listen to them. After all, customers are professionals in their own field.

Be certain to hire a web development company that acts professional while still listening to your professional input about your own business.


Read Rocky's take on our first meeting.

Our first generation of real estate listing tools was built for Kearney Coldwell Banker Town & Country Realty. Our first set of websites powered from one central site was built for the company. The first time we implemented our site manager tools with a real estate client was with Coldwell Banker. We've had a lot of firsts with the company. Maybe that's why they're often thought of as Kearney, Nebraska's number one real estate firm.

With over 15 agents, all of whom have their own domain name and website through us, one might think that this arrangement would be expensive--it's not. The per-agent price for individual websites is quite affordable with our flexible packages designed specifically for real estate agents.

The recent redesign of the Coldwell Banker site adds some new excitement to the page. The new site pulls listings straight from the MLS to show all available homes.

HastingsLink.com earned a lot of traffic each month when we were asked to step in and help with its management. It's important not to immediately shake things up too much with sites this popular. It is crucial that a professional web company help make the transition appear seamless and then, very carefully, work to make the site what you want it to become. The key is to take calculated baby steps as to not offend and distress the people who made the site so popular.

This is where we are currently at with HastingsLink.com. There's a lot mroe work to be done, but the plan is working.

The Internet is great for large organizations that don't have a traditional brick and mortar location. These "virtual organizations" may meet at various locations throughout the year, but they still need a home base. A website is a perfect home base for organizations like these. Nebraska Walk To Emmaus is one such Christian organization that fits this description.

With members spread throughout the entire state of Nebraska, a website provides a practial way for NTWE to shrink the geographical divide that would otherwise separate its members. News and information for nearly every NWTE activity is posted on NebraskaWalkToEmmaus.org.


Read how the NWTE webmaster feels about our site manager tools.

The WeatherThreat.com school and weather-related closings network has a rich history and unique story that can't be summed up in just a couple of paragraphs. It is really best to visit the WeatherThreat.com website.

But if we had to try to explain it in a nutshell, we would just say it like this:

The weather sometimes gets bad and schools, busiensses, and events close and cancel. They rely on many media sources to report this information. They make many phone calls to many different media organizations. Many people tend to call many different organizations at one time.

Both the media and the organizations become overwhelmed with the problems that result.

WeatherThreat.com solves this problem by providing one entry point for communication that is instantly shared across an entire network of media organizations that are relevant to each specific piece of communication; media share and retrieve relevant closings through an automated, online network.

Of course, there are a lot more neat features and benefits that can be read about in more detail at WeatherThreat.com.