Status Report on Automation of CounselingSeattle.com

The Webmaster's Report
What is the time-schedule for completion?
How do you log-in to CounselingSeattle.com?
The GOOD NEWS about changes at CounselingSeattle.com
What is the nature and scope of the project?
Why make the changes?
What Action will counselors need to take to continue their listings?
What will it cost?

Now is the time--phase one of the project is completed!

As of August 5, 2008, CounselingSeattle.com is ready for counselor / advertisers to log-in and set up an account or edit an existing account or advertisement. 

An email message addressed to all our current advertising counselors is on its way to you 8/5/08 and gives current counselor / advertisers their user name and temporary password. 

If for some reason, you have not received your email by Wednesday August 6th, please check your email junk mail folder to make sure that it has not been misdirected to that location.  If your email is not there and you believe you have a current listing on CounselingSeattle.com, please Contact Us by email and include your full name and email address.

The site is ready for you--log-in, right now.

Look for a "Counselor/Advertiser Log-in" link at the upper right corner of the home page: http://www.CounselingSeattle.com/  We will also be sending out a mailing and an email to existing advertisers.
 

The Good News About Changes at CounselingSeattle.com

The Good News is that there will be NO annual renewal fee for 2008-2009.  The other good news is [when changes have been completed]: (1). you log in once to open your account and verify the information in your current listing information is correct.  (2.) Thereafter, you will be able to log-in and make changes in your listing information directly online.  (3.) You will be able to log-in and enter or modify your advertisements for office space for rent, new therapy groups, or workshops directly on line and pay for them using your credit card. (4.) You will be automatically notified by email of any charge to your credit card. And (5.) The first initial of your last name [or business name] will no longer affect the order in which your listing appears on the geographic page.

Once the new system is in place the counselors who renew their account FIRST (create their new on-line account) will be listed FIRST on the geographic counselor pages. New counselors who sign up in 2008 will be added at the bottom of their respective pages.

As webmaster, I have long been concerned about the order of people on my web pages and have felt it unfair that new listing such as "Alfred Able" should be placed at the top of a page, above long established ones, simply because it's required by alphabetical order.  The alphabet will no longer rule! (Except in the "Name Index.")

What is the nature and scope of the automation project?

When completed, all the advertising functions of CounselingSeattle.com will be automated.  Counselors or other advertisers will be able to log in, create an account, enter the text for a professional listing or a group therapy ad, or announce a workshop, etc. and submit it for publication.  Counselors or other advertisers will be billed monthly for their listings and therapy group ads and will be able to change the text or discontinue the ads when they no longer apply.  Rather than writing a check and mailing it to CounselingSeattle.com, you will now be able to charge it to your credit card.

Why make the changes?

Since 1999, the site has grown to 230 pages.  There are 25,000 to 32,000 unique visitors to the site each month and as many as 104,000 page views per month. 

Many of the web pages require current reporting and frequent updating.  Done manually, setting up one individual counselor listing may require working and posting to four or five different web pages and creating links between them.  The automation will start eliminating some of those extra steps.

The complex and time-consuming annual renewal process and manual handling of checks will be history.  Counselors who who retire or move or go on maternity leave can log-in 24 hours a day to quickly update, suspend, remove or reactive their listings--so the site will always be up-to-date and display current information about available counselors.

The changes will speed up the addition of material to the site both for the submitter and for the webmaster.  All submissions will still be reviewed by the webmaster prior to publication on the site.  Webmaster research assistance for more effective counselor listings will be more readily available, but only on request and for a small fee.

What action will a current counselor/advertiser need to take to continue their listings?

Once the programming is completed and tested, current counselors will need to log in to create an account, log-in name and password and activate your listing for 2007-2008.  If you are a current advertiser/counselor, your current listing information is being entered into the new database so that it will not be necessary for currently listed counselors to completely re-enter their information--only to verify that existing information is correct.  Log in using the user name and temporary password sent to you in the announcement email.  Counselors will be listed on geographic pages in the order that they log in and activate their new accounts.

What will it cost?

Counselor listings will be $8.98 per month (less than one-third the rate of our nearest competitor).  For advertising rates on all other ads, see the advertising page.

CounselingSeattle.com is paying for these automation changes and will be paying additional monthly server and credit card processing fees in the future.  We wouldn't do it, if it weren't worth it.  However, setting it up has been a time-consuming and frustrating process.

Your feedback is always appreciated.

Floyd Else, MA, LMHC, NCC, Webmaster
[My job is helping counselors make money.]
 

             

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