Saffire Blog

Saffire Sofware Updates

As our current clients can probably tell you, one of the great things about being with Saffire is that there is never a dull moment! Saffire was pretty powerful in its beginning, but the longer we’re in this industry, the more we learn about the features that events need to build their online presence. Luckily, … Continue reading “Saffire Sofware Updates”

As our current clients can probably tell you, one of the great things about being with Saffire is that there is never a dull moment!

Saffire was pretty powerful in its beginning, but the longer we’re in this industry, the more we learn about the features that events need to build their online presence. Luckily, our programmers are talented and they can keep up with our vision!

Every new Saffire site we launch has increased functionality, and of course, we’ve been updating our current client sites along the way too so they’re never old or outdated.

Today, we are excited to announce the launch of a new version of the Saffire Software! We wanted to take this opportunity to catch you up on the latest and greatest features available to you.

With Saffire you can now add unlimited pages to any section of your site with unique Dynamic Page Creation functionality. These pages can have links, photos, PDFs and much more! You completely control your site’s navigation and what information goes where on each page.

Additionally, you can add completely customizable forms with unlimited fields to any of these pages, making it easier to collect and track any information from your customers.

Finally, we’ve added yet another opportunity for you to build your email list. After one of your customers shares a photo, they now have the option to sign up to receive your newsletters. As you probably already know, email marketing is our top recommendation. It’s inexpensive, its effective and now it’s easier than ever with Saffire!
We’d love to chat with you about these features and the other exciting tools Saffire has to offer. Give us a call at 512-430-1123 or sign up for a demo.

Become a Saffire client and share our excitement in marketing your event online.

Saffire 101: Control Your Website’s Navigation

At Saffire, we want to help the fair industry feel empowered by giving them complete control of their event’s website content. Because you know your event best, it is inefficient and frustrating to wait on an outside resource to make changes. Things happen far too quickly in event marketing to rely on someone else to … Continue reading “Saffire 101: Control Your Website’s Navigation”

Today, we’ll begin a series showing you some ways Saffire makes it easy to market your event online by having the power to change your website in a flash!

One important thing you can do to entice people to come to your event is to organize your event into main categories (e.g. fair, competitive events, rodeo), so that people can immediately find something of interest. The trick is for it to not be too complicated and overwhelming, because that causes people to leave your website.

In this video, we’ll show you how Saffire displays your event categories, as well as how easy it is to rename them and change their order on your website. Enjoy, and let us know any other features you’d like for us to highlight!

This is just one reason to be a Saffire client.

Fire Relief: The Concert for Central Texas

The Austin office had the opportunity to support our neighbors in Bastrop last night by attending Fire Relief: The Concert for Central Texas. It was an evening filled with some of the best live musicians around and a great example of our community pulling together to support one another. The lineup included Texas Country All-Stars … Continue reading “Fire Relief: The Concert for Central Texas”

The Austin office had the opportunity to support our neighbors in Bastrop last night by attending Fire Relief: The Concert for Central Texas. It was an evening filled with some of the best live musicians around and a great example of our community pulling together to support one another.

The lineup included Texas Country All-Stars like Asleep at the Wheel, Lyle Lovett, Randy Rogers, Willie Nelson, Dixie Chicks and George Strait!

There were so many great moments last night, we wanted to give you a little glimpse of the greatness by sharing our favorite things about the concert.

Kendra: I loved George’s understated cool presence, how the Dixie Chicks didn’t try to show us anything new but just reminded us how amazing they were, and how Willie still made me so happy after all these times seeing him. Great show!

Rebekah: Last night, I witnessed the perfect combination of some of my favorite musicians when Ray Benson, Willie Nelson and the Avett Brothers sang “On The Road Again.” I mean really, nothing can top that….except maybe the Dixie Chicks singing “Cowboy Take Me Away.” Please don’t make me choose a favorite!

Jessica: The best part of last night was simply seeing so many amazing Texas artists, in various stages of popularity and stardom, pooling their talents to help raise money for a fellow Texas community in need. For me, it was my first time to see Flaco Jimenez and the Texas Tornados live, as well as Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, both of which lived up to the iconic status I had built up in my mind. And while it wasn’t’ my first time to see George, Willie, the Dixie Chicks or Asleep at the Wheel, it was a rare and special thing to see them all together in one night. Throw in a few guests spots from Coach Taylor (a.k.a. Buddy Jackson, a.k.a. Kyle Chandler), and consider my night completely made!

Cassie: You know I’m a country girl at heart, so this was definitely the event for me. Seeing the Dixie Chicks was fantastic. It was like going back to middle school all over again. Randy Rogers Band was a nice addition too – gotta love some good Texas Country! I was so proud of the city of Austin for the large turn out. Events like this show what our city is made of, and I’m proud to call it my home!

We wish we had photos to show you, but iPhone photos just won’t do this concert justice. Check out concert photos here!

We’d also like to remind you that you can still do your part to support the people of Bastrop!

Text FIRE to number 84465 to donate $10 to the Central Texas Wildfire Fund through the Austin Community Foundation.

My Trip to NALS & RMA Conference

I’ve just returned from the North American Live Stock and Rodeo Managers Association conference in Red Lodge, Montana. And I can sum it up by saying, what a hoot! These are the nicest people you’ll ever come across, which really validated our decision to focus on this industry. I couldn’t decide whether the people were … Continue reading “My Trip to NALS & RMA Conference”

I’ve just returned from the North American Live Stock and Rodeo Managers Association conference in Red Lodge, Montana. And I can sum it up by saying, what a hoot!

These are the nicest people you’ll ever come across, which really validated our decision to focus on this industry. I couldn’t decide whether the people were more like a family or a small town, but they were so welcoming and appreciative of our sponsorship; I truly loved my time with this special group.

I sponsored the conference on the advice of Bucky Lamb, the CEO of our wonderful partner Rodeo Austin. He said there were no guarantees, but he felt this would be a receptive audience to our message. I only went with the hope that I’d make some friends in the industry, and I certainly did. But I think I even gave some events something to think about in raising the bar on their online presence.

One thing I was struck by is just how many issues these event coordinators face besides online marketing and their event websites. I am so engrossed in the online world that it’s easy to forget it is only a small (but important!) part of the myriad of details it takes to put on a successful event.

There was a great session on social media, where I got to hear Steve Richo and Mark O’Shea from Noise New Media give some fascinating statistics and advice on integrating social media into an online marketing plan. There was also a surprisingly informative presentation by Marion Gellatly at Powerful Presence about business etiquette, where I learned I break approximately 76.8% of the rules! Oops. (More on that in another post.)

But the most fun was in the amazing places Justin Mills of The NILE (the host of this year’s conference) arranged for us to see – from a cattle tagging manufacturer to a bull testing facility to a belt buckle store to the Buffalo Bill Historic Center to World Famous Pig Races and great meals at Irma Hotel and music by a very entertaining songwriter who shared this funny quote: “Drink, because the brain cell you kill might be the one that was holding you back.”

Thank you to everyone at NALS & RMA! It was great to meet you, and I’m already looking forward to next year!

Does your event website measure up?

Over the next several days, we will be sharing tips with our readers how to maximize the value of your event website. To be the first to get the scoop, follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Trust us, you aren’t going to want to miss this!

Over the next several days, we will be sharing tips with our readers how to maximize the value of your event website.

To be the first to get the scoop, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Trust us, you aren’t going to want to miss this!

South Texas State Fair Website is Live!

It’s a Good Time to Have a Great Time at the Fair! And we couldn’t agree more. We recently launched a new Saffire Website for YMBL and the South Texas State Fair. Take a look! This project presented some new challenges to our team and we were happy to provide YMBL with everything they were … Continue reading “South Texas State Fair Website is Live!”

It’s a Good Time to Have a Great Time at the Fair! And we couldn’t agree more.

We recently launched a new Saffire Website for YMBL and the South Texas State Fair. Take a look!

This project presented some new challenges to our team and we were happy to provide YMBL with everything they were looking for in a webssite.

Because the focus of the website changes so drastically between fair season and the rest of the year, we created two very different designs for the site. We wanted customers to know the focus immediately once arriving on the site so they could find what they were looking for quickly. You’ll want to check out their site again in a few weeks to see the year-round design.

We incorporated our ecommerce platform into their site so they could sell tickets online for the first time. They can now accept payment online for tickets, vendors, sponsors and YMBL memberships.

This was our first time to create a “Member’s Only” section for one of our event websites. The Member’s Only section allows YMBL members to update their profiles, pay for memberships and see upcoming community events as well as member specific events.

Now, you’ll just have to trust us on how good the Member’s Only section looks, because we can’t show you. After all, it is Member’s Only!

We also helped The South Texas State Fair expand their reach with social media and already has over 100 Facebook fans!

Chris Colletti and his team at YMBL were a pleasure to work with and we can’t wait to hear about their successful event this year.

SXSW

Our team has been busy at SXSW Interactive the last few days and we can’t WAIT to share with you all the new stuff we’ve learned. Still not sure what SXSW is exactly? Check out this fun video from CNN.

Our team has been busy at SXSW Interactive the last few days and we can’t WAIT to share with you all the new stuff we’ve learned.

Still not sure what SXSW is exactly? Check out this fun video from CNN.

The power of DIY

Wow. We’ve been building big websites for a long time. And for about a decade, we’ve been telling people that not only would we never build a website without tools to manage it themselves, but we feel that web developers who do are borderline unethical. I know, “them’s fighting words.” But think about it. There … Continue reading “The power of DIY”

I know, “them’s fighting words.” But think about it. There is great technology out there to manage website content. So why would a web developer not allow a client to make changes themselves? We think it’s because they want to charge for changes, thus keeping their revenue stream flowing.

Again, having worked on big websites for so long, we rarely think about the fact that many smaller websites don’t have the choice but to depend on their web developer to make changes. Yesterday, I talked to someone who could get instant changes from their web developer (So rare!).

But today, the fair manager I talked to isn’t so lucky.

He had gone through nightmare experiences with web developers; promises were made and broken. Even simple changes could go 7-10 days without being made. All from a guy down the street.

When I explained the features of Saffire, he didn’t mince words. He said that lots of fairs and rodeos can’t afford web agencies, so they try to get it done locally. And they’re frustrated. He said people need what we offer. They know they need it. But they don’t know how to get it. So I see our job as to help them by showing them!

Saffire creates event ecommerce websites that people can manage on their own, and it’s simple. One of our favorite things to do is to show it to people. They literally can’t believe how easy and even fun it is to see changes they make on their password-protected admin site appear on their customer site… instantly!

So if you want to see Saffire in action, just give us a call at 512-480-8566. We’ll be happy to kick the tires with you and show you just how fun DIY can be.

The guy down the street

I started doing market research today on what people are looking for in their event websites. On my first phone call to a fair about her event website, I found out that she was pretty happy with the guy down the street who does their website. This was great to hear, since most of the … Continue reading “The guy down the street”

I started doing market research today on what people are looking for in their event websites.

On my first phone call to a fair about her event website, I found out that she was pretty happy with the guy down the street who does their website. This was great to hear, since most of the time, I only hear from people who have had very bad experiences with their web developers.

But on the other hand, it’s hard to know how to sell against this guy. Our team isn’t that big, but we have people who specialize in project management, writing, marketing, user interface, HTML, graphic design, programming, server/security management, etc. And they are all different people… in some cases more than one who perform the different skills needed to build a high-quality event website!

What I want to tell event directors is, we want to be your guy down the street! What would it take for you to give us a shot? Seriously, we want to know!

We know it’s scary to call a company in Austin, Texas. Whether you’re a couple hours away or a several hour plane ride, you may be concerned about being able to get a hold of us.

But having been in business since 1998, we can assure you we’re not going anywhere. And we give you the tools to manage your site yourself (and with all our resources, your site will surely be so much higher quality than a one-man show). So you can rest easier that you have everything you need to manage your website.

Since a picture says a thousand words, here are photos of some of our team members. See? We’re really not that scary!

New and Improved Rodeo Austin Website

We just launched several updates to the Rodeo Austin website for this event season, all of which are now in Saffire Websites. As you can see from the slideshow, we kept all that was great about the site and just made it better. VIEW ALL EVENTS TAKING PLACE AT A SPECIFIC LOCATION MORE FLEXIBILITY FOR … Continue reading “New and Improved Rodeo Austin Website”

We just launched several updates to the Rodeo Austin website for this event season, all of which are now in Saffire Websites.

As you can see from the slideshow, we kept all that was great about the site and just made it better.

VIEW ALL EVENTS TAKING PLACE AT A SPECIFIC LOCATION
MORE FLEXIBILITY FOR EVENT DETAIL PAGES
ADD SPECIFIC ITEMS TO SELL ASSOCIATED WITH AN EVENT
IMPROVE THE USERS EXPERIENCE ON THE SITE

We added a “Locations” page so you can view all events taking place at a particular location.

We also added a lot of options for Rodeo Austin to control an event page, including all the new tabs in the Admin Site view above like specific event sponsors, important PDFs, URLs, Results and even the order in which all these new features appear on the page.

We also added a way for you to associate particular “Items” with an event. This can be used in several ways, including selling tickets from various price levels, different times of an event and even different dates of an event. This allows Rodeo Austin to give their customers even more specific information about an event.

Overall, we are so happy with the site improvements and glad we were able to make the site more user friendly for both visitors and Rodeo Austin!