Project Details
Maryanne of Urban Life Media wanted to create an online magazine aimed at women in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, that highlighted products, events, fashions and more found in their area. She wanted to bring daily snippets of culture and fashion to members’ inboxes, as well as making the content available on a centralized website, and also wanted the site to welcome member involvement in the form of a member-reviewed directory of local shops, restaurants & services. Lastly, she wanted to be able to offer advertising spots to local businesses.
Using Expression Engine, I was able to build a site perfectly tailored to Maryanne’s needs with the help of only a couple of additional modules for the ratings feature and members’ favorites feature. I customized the member registration to include a daily mailer sign-up that adds new members (via double opt-in) directly to the daily mailer mailing list, and custom-designed a daily mailer template that coordinates with the site’s design. I also set up OpenX, an ad server that allows Maryanne to add new advertisers and campaigns to her site via a user-friendly administrative control panel.
After less than a year, Maryanne was ready to expand the site. ExpressionEngine made it easy to add content sections to her site, and I updated the home page design to include an expanded navigation bar, a category slider, some additional content boxes and larger advertiser spots.