Decades ago, The Bleachery employed 20% of the population of Rock Hill, SC. Then, as with many textile plants, that work moved out of the country, and the Bleachery became an abandoned building – a behemoth separating Winthrop University and Downtown Rock Hill. In 2010, the City of Rock Hill began a $5 million abatement of the property and took ownership of the 24 acres and the remaining buildings. Finishing the abatement in 2011, the question arose: What now?

The city is seeking developers for the Bleachery site. High employment, mixed-use development that would enhance the revitalizing Old Town of which it is a part and further strengthen the connection between Winthrop University and Downtown.

Having a wealth of information (PDF’s galore) about the Bleachery and its buildings, the city needed a central place online to store this information. They needed a doorway to the Bleachery for potential developers around the world. They needed to present the Bleachery as a stand-alone, huge opportunity, but also as part of the larger redevelopment efforts.

The Hive

Needing a website and Internet Marketing, and wanting to capitalize on and create synergy whenever possible, the city came to the Hive. The Hive is an educational collaborative between York Technical College, Winthrop University, and RevenFlo (with pilot sponsorships from Comporium Communication, the City of Rock Hill, and Becca and Harry Dalton). Managed by RevenFlo, the Hive trains students in the work of Web Design & Development and Internet Marketing by having them work on real projects for public sector and non-profit organizations (Learn More about The Hive). The Hive gladly took on the Bleachery project.

RockHillBleachery.com

Content

As we set out to design and develop the Bleachery website, we were given a mountain of content. Piles of documents and folders of photos. The great challenge was to organize the content in a meaningful way, so that someone who is interested to learn about the Bleachery can dig as deep as they are inclined to without ever getting lost or confused.

Design

The Bleachery had no logo or brand to speak of. There was the Old Town brand (the Bleachery is part of Old Town), so we decided to build off of that. We used the color scheme from the Old Town brand. Beyond color scheme, we really wanted to bring together old and new. The history of the Bleachery is profound, not only in Rock Hill but as symbolic to revitalization efforts taking place all around the nation. As we move towards walkable urbanism and reclaiming our historic downtowns, we are faced with the empty shells of past industry. Like many cities so far and many more to come, it is the innovative new use of old space that gives us our uniqueness and vibrancy. Therefore, we wanted to capture that concept in the look and feel of the Bleachery website. The colors speak to the new (bright, almost pastel). The map imagery and PDFs speak to the old.

Mapping

One of the keys to the Bleachery project is the map that we’ve integrated on the home page. The city had no real powerful public-facing use of their GIS map, and they wanted that incorporated into this project. Therefore, we made the dominant experience of the site be an interactive map.

Using the available API, the Bleachery map uses Google Maps, and then pulls in the city’s GIS and leaks it through the Google Map. The map then generates an overlay that is an interactive content mechanism that allows us to pull the most pertinent information from the rest of the site and overlay it across the map of the Bleachery property.

Using the map’s navigation, the user can shift back and forth among four key areas that a developer of the Bleachery will be surely concerned with: The Bleachery, Downtown, York Technical College, and Winthrop University. In each view, a selected amount of information overlays across the map in a visual interactive way. And at anytime the user can drag the map to wherever they want to see and zoom the map. The user can also switch to straight GIS, which is a GIS map controlled by the city and can have on it whatever the city decides to put on it in terms of data (water lines, traffic flows, sewage lines, demographics, etc.).

Conclusion

The website is quite the feat in meaningful usage of mapping technologies as well as meaningful organization of a mountain of content about the Bleachery. As we move forward, the Hive will participate in marketing the site to a local audience in hopes of community buy-in and to a global audience in hopes of finding a developer.

Resources

• RockHillBleachery.com
• CityofRockHill.com
• RockHillUSA.com
• OnlyinOldTown.com
• HiveU.me

Central Carolina Ear, Nose, Throat and Audiology Center is a well-respected, medical specialty practice. Their offices are located in Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Lancaster and Chester, SC.  They have over 20 years of quality medical care experience.

Nature of the Situation

CCENT contracted with the Revenflo Web Team in an effort to improve their overall Internet Marketing. They had websites from different service providers as well as incongruent directory listings and advertising programs. The current websites no longer accurately represented the practice. Also, they did not have the ability to internally affect change to their web materials.

Nature of the Solution

RevenFlo Web Team developed a custom WordPress website designed specifically to meet the needs of the practice. The website included the ability for patients to obtain medical forms online as well as the ability for CCENT staff and contractors to manage the site in a fluid manner. The content in the CCENT website is designed to be impactful and pleasing to the consumer. It also represents the knowledge and expertise of these physicians. To further enhance their site, RevenFlo created a Learning Center category where the physicians can post their educational articles. When the site went live, we trained CCENT marketing staff on how to use the website effectively, how to publish and optimize the website content and utilize their social media accounts.

Summary

CCENT is very pleased with the new website design and with the training and support our Web Team provides to their marketing staff on a continued basis. The marketing staff now has the knowledge and support needed to maintain the site and the practice’s web presence.

Forrest Craig Wilkerson, Jr. was born and raised in Rock Hill. He attended the University Of South Carolina School Of Law, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps at Parris Island, South Carolina and the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina. As a U.S. Marine Corps Captain, Mr. Wilkerson served as a JAG officer, prosecutor, and Assistant United States Attorney.

F. Craig Wilkerson, Jr. utilizes his educational and professional experiences to assist his clients in personal injury, workplace injury and wrongful death cases. He owes much his work ethic to his service in the United States Marine Corps.

Nature of the Situation

With access to website templates designed specifically for attorneys, Craig Wilkerson felt empowered to create a content rich web site for his firm. He soon found the cookie cutter template to be too limiting and time consuming. He was looking for a program that offered him the freedom to personalize the look of his site and to easily manage content. Passionate about his native city, it was important to him to support local Rock Hill businesses whenever possible. A visionary business that would maximize his online presence through development, marketing, and management.

Nature of the Solution

RevenFlo Web Team designed a WordPress website with content specific to Attorney Wilkerson’s practice. RevenFlo optimized his content and began marketing his web presence. Using sites like Yelp, Google Places, and the Yellow Pages, RevenFlo was able to update and manage the firm’s presence on the web.

With countless solicitations from third party advertising and directory listings, Mr. Wilkerson enlisted RevenFlo Web Team to advise which services bring the greatest value to his practice.

Summary

Attorney Wilkerson now has a website rich in relevant content, one that gives his law practice a meaningful presence on the web. RevenFlo Web Team experts enabled Craig Wilkerson to gain greater insight into nuances of Web Design & Development and Internet Marketing and alleviated his personal time commitment to web management. Since working with RevenFlo, Attorney F. Craig Wilkerson, Jr. stated he is pleased with his working relationship with RevenFlo and the ease in which they communicate their knowledge and ideas.

The Country Inn & Suites Rock Hill offers its guests comfortable hotel rooms, convenient amenities, impeccable service and an ideal location. Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, Country Inn & Suites Rock Hill is both close to the South Charlotte Business area as well as Carowinds theme park, Cherry Park, and many other attractions. In addition, guests can enjoy free high-speed Internet access, an outdoor pool, a Fitness Center and complimentary breakfast. Whatever your itinerary, you’re sure to have a great stay at Country Inn & Suites.

Nature of the Situation

Country Inn & Suites found that their competitors were showing up in more places than they were. Because hotels rely heavily on third party sites for increased click through rates, there is a heightened priority to show up on sites like Orbitz, Expedia, and Travelocity.

Nature of the Solution

RevenFlo’s Web Team investigated all important and relevant third party sites to see if Country Inn & Suites was showing up, where they ranked in comparison to their competitors and how we could increase their presence on the sites if necessary. RevenFlo also conducted a site audit for their main, looking for possible site optimizing improvements.

After investigating a number of Third Party Sites, RevenFlo found that advertising programs with Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, as well as some others would produce the most presence for Country Inn & Suites Rock Hill. Upon client approval, we were able to start up Cost-Per-Click programs with Travelocity, Orbitz, and Expedia as well as sign up for business listings with Trip Advisor and The Travel Series. The site audit showed a couple areas including the “Local Attractions” page and the “Local Area” page that could be improved. RevenFlo communicated with the site owner, as well as Country Inn & Suites Corporate to improve those pages. Pictures were also taken and updated in order to improve the hotels web appearance as well as to show off their newly renovated space.

The Result

Country Inn & Suites Rock Hill now shows up amongst competitors on important third party sites they were not showing up on previously.  They are experiencing higher rates of booking via third party sites and are pleased with the improvement in placement.  They now have a more up to date site which features more relevant attractions, restaurants, and business parks.

Core Search Group, which is located in Columbia, SC, is a recruiting company that recruits top-level software engineers for the financial industry.

Nature of the Situation

Core Search Groups is a previous client of the Revenflo Web Team. Our Web Team designed a site for the Core Search Group in Joomla and over the years out grew the site design. Core Search Group now required the ability have all of their tools in one central location and needed their blog to be linked directly to their website. One very important need they had was the ability to control the way the jobs they posts would appear in third party job posting sites like Indeed and SimplyHire. Overall, Core Search needed to have the website updated to the most innovative technology.

Nature of the Solution

Our Web Team redesigned the Core Search Group website changing it from a Joomla site to a WordPress site.  First, we chose a theme from Elegant Themes and customized it to fit the need of the client. Next, we customized the content and the way it is organized on the website. Revenflo Web Team also designed multiple custom RSS feeds so the client would meet the requirements of Indeed and SimplyHire.   The criteria for submitting job postings to each of these services varied.

Summary

With the new site design, Core Search Group is now able to post its jobs on Indeed and SimplyHire, while maintaining control over the appearance of each individual post. The blog maintained by Core Search Group is now accessible from the WordPress site. Overall, they really like the new look and feel of the site. Plus, it’s performing much better in search.

The Charlotte Knights are a minor league baseball team that represents Charlotte, NC. They are Triple-A affiliates of the Chicago White Sox. They currently play at the Knights stadium, which is located in Fort Mill, SC, an outlier community of Charlotte, NC.

Nature of the Situation

Charlotte Knight’s marketing department was interested in a targeted online marketing approach that would increase attendance at the home games and bring attention to the other amenities  Knights Stadium has to offer.

The Charlotte Knights management contracted with a RevenFlo Web Team in an effort to articulate and develop a way to approach this.  Previous attempts by them to generate an increase in patron traffic did bring in visitors but it was not at the rate they desired.

Nature of the Solution

RevenFlo Web Team proposed an internet marketing campaign that focused on social media, article marketing, Pay-Per-Click advertising and interruption marketing.

Our Web Team began the process of generating articles about the Charlotte Knights and then posting these articles to channels on the internet that would bring value to the client. These articles and posts were about many of the amenities the Knights Stadium offers and made the visitors more aware of the Knights. The web team also took to social media, specifically Facebook, and began engaging and posting information on the up coming games and promotions the Knights had to offer.

Summary

The results of the internet marketing campaign for the Charlotte Knights are that there has been a significant increase in ticket sale at the Charlotte Knights home games. It also created more of an awareness of the Knights stadium and what it had to offer the kids, parents, and the community.

TheRock Hill School District Foundation is a non-profit 501 c 3 organization that works very close with the Rock Hill School District Three.

The core business of the foundation is to support programming that enhances the teaching and learning experience. Grants may be awarded to district faculty and staff for district-sanctioned activities that are outside the financial support of the school site and/or general operating budget. A volunteer board of directors independently manages the Foundation.   Sponsors and volunteers in the community generally give funding through donations. Directors represent all aspects of the Rock Hill Community.

Nature of The Situation

The Rock Hill School District Foundation had a website, but it was a bit outdated and did not represent the vision of the foundation.  They desired a newer and fresher look that would reflect their vision and goals.  They needed a better way to connect with their supporters and the ability to display the activities  they were working on.  Since the foundation relies on donations, they wanted a way to receive donations via the website.

Nature of the Solution

RevenFlo and The Hive students began the process of collecting pictures, information, and content for The Rock Hill School District Foundation. Then, we rewrote the content to make it original and keyword optimized.

We selected WordPress as our technology for the project, and we began the process of strategic wireframing. In this stage we made critical decisions about what content goes where and what functionality exists in the site. We worked with the client to flush out the details.

Next, we moved into the design stage and created graphic designs of the site could look like aesthetically. We explored the color scheme of the logo and added some extras graphical features to make the site visually compelling.

After design, we moved into development and created a custom theme for the WordPress technology that suited both the design and the wireframe (functionality and all). With a fully developed website filled to the brim with keyword optimized content about the Foundation, we began the process of testing, tweaking, and editing. We also began the process of training the staff of RHSDF to manage the content on the website themselves (a critical part of their strategy).

Summary

The new design gives the Rock Hill School District Foundation the ability to better inform their visitors of the events and activities going on within the foundation and district. Visitors can donate via the website, and they can read articles and view images of the various events.

The Children Attention Home is a non-profit 24-hour emergency shelter and long term facility for children who have been removed from their homes for abuse neglect and/or abandonment. The three buildings are licensed by the South Carolina Department of social services and serve up to 42 children.  The home opened its doors in 1970 and has served victimized children from across the state of South Carolina. The home continues to serve children from all counties in South Carolina.

Nature of the Situation

The Children’s Attention Home had a website but they felt the site needed to be brought up to date with new fresh information about the home and what it does.

Nature of the Solution

Revenflo and The Hive students began the process of collecting pictures, information, and content about the Children’s Attention Home. Then, we rewrote the content to make it original and keyword optimized.

We selected WordPress as our technology for the project, and we began the process of strategic wireframing. In this stage we made critical decisions about what content goes where and what functionality exists in the site. We worked with the client to flush out the details.

Next, we moved into the design stage and created graphic designs of what the site could look like aesthetically. We explored the color scheme of the logo and added some extras graphical features to make the site visually compelling.

After design, we moved into development and created a custom theme for the WordPress technology that suited both the design and the wireframe (functionality and all).

With a fully developed website filled to the with keyword optimized content about the Children’s Attention Home, we began the process of testing, tweaking, and editing. We also began the process of training the staff of Children’s Attention Home to manage the content on the website themselves (a critical part of their strategy).

Summary

The Children’s Attention Home now has a WordPress website the better reflects the mission of the organization and the public will now be better informed of the activities and needs of the facility.

The Carolinas Student Travel Connection (CSTC) was formed in 2008 as a means of attracting qualified student group tour business to the Charlotte region. The partnership was established to highlight the outstanding student travel opportunities in the Charlotte region, while demonstrating that the area can provide economical, accessible, educational, performance and multi-day itineraries for student tour operators and educational professionals.

The CSTC also serves as a liaison between student travel planners and attractions, restaurants, lodging and service providers in the region. The current participants in the program are Visit Charlotte, Cabarrus County CVB, Rock Hill/York County CVB, and Olde English Tourism District.

Nature of the Situation

Carolinas Student Travel Connection had a one-page website with contact information on it, and that was it. They wanted to create a website that would be a resource for people doing research on what attractions are available for touring and visiting in the greater Charlotte NC area, and what those attractions have to offer students.

Nature of the Solution

RevenFlo and Hive students delineated all of the attractions that the site was to cover. We created an elaborate architecture of these many attractions and began the process of collecting pictures, information, and content for each location. Then, we rewrote the content to make it original and keyword optimized.

We selected WordPress as our  technology for the project, and we began the process of strategic wireframing. In this stage we made critical decisions about what content goes where and what functionality exists in the site. We worked with the client to flush out the details.

Next, we moved into the design stage and created graphic designs of what the site could look like aesthetically. We explored the color scheme of the logo and added some extras graphical features to make the site visually compelling.

After design, we moved into development and created a custom theme for the  Wordpress technology that suited both the design and the wireframe (functionality and all).

With a fully developed website filled to the brim with keyword optimized content on the many attractions in the greater Charlotte area, we began the process of testing, tweaking, and editing. We also began the process of training the staff of CSTC to manage the content on the website themselves (a critical part of their strategy).

Summary

The new site displays all of the attractions the Charlotte region has to offer. Now visitors can plan their trips and print a copy of Google maps.  They can also link to the Carolina Students Travel Facebook page to stay up to date on the latest events.

In 1972, Luke Elrod, honorably discharged from the JAG Corps of the United States Army, began eight years of general practice in the upstate of South Carolina. In 1980, Luke returned to Rock Hill, South Carolina and started his own practice, The Elrod Law Firm, focusing on personal injury and workers’ compensation claims. During the ensuing years the firm’s practice expanded and a number of partners, many former prosecutors, joined the firm.

Today, Luke Elrod, David Benson, Tommy Pope, Jack Leader, Harold Staley, and Andrew Creech now make up the Elrod Pope Law firm.  Elrod-Pope Law Firm serves clients with personal injury, workers’ compensation, medical malpractice and social security disability matters. It has offices in Rock Hill at 212 E. Black Street and by appointment only in Lake Wylie at 264 Latitude Lane, Suite 102.

Situation

Elrod Pope came to RevenFlo Web Team with an existing website that was professional in its look and had appropriately written content.  With new leadership in the organization, the firm wanted to find ways to use the internet more effectively.  Elrod Pope already had an internet savvy marketing director, Attorneys who were well acquainted with FaceBook as well as video, but they needed a more organized and concerted effort in their marketing. They hired a marketing manager and then came to us for a Web Team.

Solution

Elrod Pope’s existing site was not set up in a way that allowed for dynamic content.  RevenFlo was able to reorient their site so that it would include strategic content marketing.  Elrod Pope Law Firm now has a rotating marquee, the ability to display news posts and also videos.  They now have a website that provides more internet marketing opportunities for the firm, including search engine optimization and social media marketing.