540 Interactive

Driving bottom line Results for Clients, and Their Customers

Like many other early entrants to the Internet, Young Money (YM) started with a very basic web site that was severely limited by its outdated appearance and navigation.  YM wanted to bring its web presence into the new millennium and improve functionality and navigation issues.  YM also wanted to explore new ways to drive advertising revenue, and track traffic and where the traffic was coming from in order to more proactively serve its advertisers. The original site was kicked off in 1998, in conjunction with the launch of the publication. YM finally put out a RFP to address new needs and desires in late 2002.

Early in 2001, youngmoney.com realized they were not capitalizing on a burgeoning revenue opportunity: the optimization of advertising dollars. This acknowledgement required a new site and backend system to be created; and a top-flight technology partner to make their next step a reality.

Young Money was also looking for better control and management of the content across the site, so that it would tie more closely to the print publication. They hoped to have the site serve as a foundation or core info port for users across the Internet. This also called for a customized content system that was simple enough to use by the non-technical staff.

Why 540 Interactive

Of all the groups involved in the proposal process, 540 Interactive met the predominance of the detailed specifications that had been laid out by YM. Their enthusiasm and technology expertise was evident and they were eager to not only address the RFP as it existed, but also begin to show how they could expand on the RFP to address future needs as well. 540’s client recommendations were stellar and reflective of what YM wants in it partners/vendors: collaboration, customer-responsiveness, and creativity. 540 Interactive’s professionalism was evident; their responsiveness unparalleled throughout the process, and their technical history had shown a demonstrated return to their clients.

540 Interactive was able to explain their content management and overall e-marketing solution philosophy and demonstrate in live time how their ideas could work for YM. From Young Money’s perspective, the process achieved the hoped-for result of finding the right group.

The Result

The Solution: A fully optimized web site and back-end content management tool. A complete overhaul of the graphical layout and look and feel of the front end of the site. Using UNIX/open-source code structures, the Adobe creative suite, and SQL database components.

A content management tool that employs in-line functionality with live-time site view, enabling user to see changes reflect, as they will in live environment.

What 540 Interactive has built for YM is a fully optimized website that has been built to current industry standards. The new site allows for greater growth, control and management of content, and data management relative to web traffic and activity. The site has been constructed to better leverage the advertising possibilities for YM’s advertisers.

The optimization components address YM’s desire to have its site be at the cutting edge of performance and delivering results for its advertising community.

As well, the new CMS now allows for changes to be seen in a “live-test” environment, a new element that makes it much easier to visualize the changes that will be pushed across the site.

The new front-end design is significantly stronger and closer in look-and-feel to the actual print publication that users are familiar with. The graphics are improved and can now be more flexibly moved around the site, ensuring a constant visual freshness. There is also ability to more easily make each page look unique from page-to-page, and elements can now be easily swapped out to give a fresh, new look and feel. This also allows for test-bedding the advertising possibilities taken by advertisers and makes possible the measurement against past efforts, thereby ensuring the highest results possible.

540 Interactive also developed a “library” of content and articles (pulled from all across the site), and YM is able to make changes to most any area simply by pulling content from the library. The backend system makes finding information, past articles, and ad alternatives easier and simplifies the ability to make mass, or singular, updates.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the content management solution built by 540 Interactive, allows for fresh, user-friendly content to be distributed across the site on an as needed, and consistent basis. The change is a marked upgrade from the previous environment that was wieldy and non-responsive, and ultimately an improvement that responds directly to Young Money’s core audience.

What exists today is a great foundation for future elements and growth in the site, namely the sale of goods through the site. And what has been created also ensures a better education platform for educators and institutions to make use of. The classroom resources page is a new element that allows educators to more closely interact with various resources that will help their class plans.

The site and backend CMS allow Young Money to more effectively address their audience, serve their advertisers with better results and manage their site with less hassle and more efficiency than ever before.