ABS Website and Internet Services Report
TO: Board of Directors, American Bladesmith Society, Inc.
From: Dan Cassidy, ABS Webmaster
Date: May 20, 2013
Overview of ABS Internet Services
The ABS Website, Forum, Membership Application, Store, and Gallery have now been online since April 17, 2010. The related ABS internet services on the ABS YouTube Channel, Constant Contact, Pinterest, Twitter, ABS Webpage on the Blade Magazine website, Google Apps Educational Edition, and 24/7 Telephone service complement and work with the ABS Website to serve our members and the public.
In summary, since the ABS Website and related services have been online the American Bladesmith Society and its educational programs have gained exposure in countries around the world, joining the ABS is now immediate and has increased our membership, calls and emails are answered the same day, store sales have increased, and we have more effective communication with our members.
The following pages provide details of the features and services that are now being provided to our ABS members and the public.
2013 Statistical Highlights
(As of May 20,2013)
ABS Website averages 938 visitor views a day (678 as of June 2012)
ABS Forum more than 1,290,345 visitor views (569,409 as of June 2012)
ABS Forum has 661 members and 7,250 posts
ABS Forum visitors “Online at Once Record†is 201
ABS Photo Gallery more than 479,004 visitor views (307,242 as of June 2012)
ABS YouTube Channel more than 183,570 views (78,000 as of June 2012)
ABS YouTube Channel videos have been viewed in 159 countries and 754 subscribers
ABS YouTube Channel most popular video “Bill Moran-Forged Blade†with 27,285 views
ABS Pinterest website (new) has 5 Boards, 146 Pins, and 115 followers
Constant Contact Monthly Email Newsletter majority open within 8 hours
ABS Website
The ABS Website provides a gateway to educational, school, event, news, techniques, testing, and contact information for our members and the public around the world. The site features a biographical page for every Master Smith and Journeyman Smith. There are many popular tabs including the ABS YouTube Channel videos and the Techniques section: Master Class, Tools and Jigs, and Glossary which not only offer to educational materials but also draw new traffic to our website through the search engines, such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo.
We are now averaging 938 daily visits to our website from viewers in more than 100 countries.
Membership Application
Sally Cassidy manages ABS Membership Services and worked to develop the application. Anyone in the world with an internet connection can join the ABS through the Membership Application on the ABS Website. Our members can conveniently login and renew their membership, update their contact information and check their membership status.This year 60% of ABS members renewed online.
As of this date we have 1,125 ABS members in 18 countries. More than 95 % of new members join through the ABS website and most then immediately join the ABS Forum.
Sally uses the admin side of the Membership Application to generate the U.S. Postal address lists for mailing the three American Bladesmith Journal issues and the Piney Woods Hammer-In flyers. This information helps us to accurately send Postal mail to valid addresses and save on return postage costs. Sally also generates the email lists for the monthly ABS Email Newsletters, occasional informational emails, and the rest of the ABS hammer-In flyers which are sent by email through Constant Contact to save postage costs.
The membership application alsoprovides verification for the identity of new Forum members and for confirming eligibility for JS and MS candidates. The membership application database contains the official membership records for the ABS and this database resides on the Atlanta Virtual hosting server. It is accessed by our website admin staff after login from anywhere in the world that they have internet access.The PrivacyPolicy for this information is: “Your privacy is important to the ABS and we collect and responsibly store the information that you provide to us. The ABS will not sell or provide your contact information to anyone.â€
ABS Store
The ABS Store is managed by Cindy Sheely. Duties that Cindy performs utilizing the website, Membership Application, and the Store include the following:
Preparing monthly reports of sales
Shipment of merchandise
Management of the admin Order File
Creation and mailing of membership cards and new member packets
Generation of Statistics in every area of sales and cost of goods
Bank account reconciliation with Authorize.net and Square (credit card processing)
Reconciliation of daily transactions processed by Authorize.net with the daily sales amounts
Preparation of all financial reports for the ABS
Cindy is in daily communication with me as the webmaster and Sally Cassidy, membership services, to coordinate many issues and provide service to our members. Cindy uses many software applications including Quick Books and Excel for her reports and tracks all transactions in the store.
ABS Forum
The ABS Forum has several components: forums, photo gallery, and calendars. The Forum has been an excellent communication tool where ABS members around the world can communicate easily and instantly with each other. The content of the topics and posts on our ABS Forum can best be described as technical Bladesmithing information and news about events and members.
The most popular topics have been about tools, heat treating, testing,and Damascus. Only ABS Members can write or post to the Forum but the public can view most areas and we have had more than 1,290,345 total visitor views of our Forum as of this report.
Top Categories on ABS Forum in 2013
Tools, Equipment, and Jigs
Heat Treating
Apprentice Corner
ABS Master Smith and Journeyman Smith Testing
Damascus Steel
ABS Hammer-Ins
Topic of the Month
American Bladesmith Society Schools
ABS Member News
I administer the Forum and have to approve every new Forum member. I create new forum topic categories, set and enforce the rules, and constantly monitor everything. Master Smiths Steve Culver and Brion Tomberlin serve as the Moderators and each average 15 hours a week moderating, assisting members, answering bladesmithing questions, and writing tutorials for the Forum. We make sure that all questions posted are answered which is usually the same day. The moderators and I stay in daily communication on Forum issues and developments.
The ABS Forum has functioned very well and there have not been any issues with member’s conduct. The user name on our Forum is the ABS member’s real first and last name, and their ABS rating is posted.
The moderators and I would welcome and encourage more participation on the ABS Forum from our Board Members to welcome new members and from our Master Smiths to answer bladesmithing questions and further our educational mission.
ABS Email Newsletters
I use Constant Contact for the ABS Email Monthly Newsletters to our ABS members but have the ability to send an unlimited number of emails in the event of breaking news or an emergency. The American Bladesmith Society has been awarded the “All Star Award†in 2012 and 2013 by Constant Contact for our use of this product because of our administration and content.
I have now composed and sent 40 consecutive monthly ABS Email Newsletters to our members. 95% of ABS members have accurate email addressesand usually at least 50% of our members have opened the ABS Email Newsletter within hours of receipt.
I try to recognize and mention as many member’s names as possible in each Email Newsletter, and include links to recent ABS Forum articles, events, member news, and new ABS YouTube videos.
ABS YouTube Channel
The ABS has its own customized YouTubeChannel which I recently re-designed. Our videos are displayed on the YouTube website and I have also inserted the YouTube player inside of the ABSwebsite. Currently, ABS YouTube Channel videos have had 183,570 views, been viewed for 255,776 minutes (4,263 hours), have 754 subscribers, and have now been viewed in more than 158 countries.
I administer our Channel and edit and upload all videos. I have to approve ALL comments about the videos by visitors before a comment can be posted on the ABS YouTube Channel which is time consuming but ensures that only appropriate comments are approved and publically displayed. Below are the all-time five (5) most popular videos on our Channel.
As part of our new YouTube Channel re-design I created a short “Video Trailer†which is an introduction to our videos and the ABS.
ABS Pinterest Channel
We have a site on Pinterest which is the fastest growing social media after Facebook. I am able to “pin†or post photos or videos from our ABS website and YouTube Channel. I have set up “Boards†or folders for ABS Schools, Hammer-Ins, Bladesmithing Techniques, Member’s Work, and ABS Testing. We reach a wide audience and there is no cost to the ABS.
The link to the ABS Pinterest site is, Click: http://pinterest.com/abswebmaster/ so please take a moment to look at this new site.
Google Apps Educational Edition
We use the Google Apps Education Edition for our internal website domain email system. There are many additional apps and features available for our use in the future. I filed an application as a nonprofit corporation to Google so there is no cost to the ABS for these services which I administer.
There are many services available that ABS Board members could take advantage of including domain name email, Google groups, and cloud documents. These services could facilitate better communication and are free to the ABS. Google continues to add services and apps almost daily to our educational apps edition.
ABS Twitter
We have an ABS Twitter site and we are able to post news of events,new topics on the ABS Forum, and our latest YouTube videos. This is a new feature for us and we will see how member participation develops. There is no cost to the ABS.
Google Translate
The American Bladesmith Society now has members in 18 countries and we routinely receive requests or answer questions in languages other than English. We use Google Translate to more effectively communicate with our members and the public in counties around the world. In the past month alone Sally and I have used Google Translate to answer emails in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian.
Blade Magazine Website- ABS Webpage
The ABS page on the BladeMagazine website is where we have photos of ABS events, photos of award knives,and ABS YouTube videos. Blade has actually embedded our ABS YouTube Channel in their website making our videos even more accessible.
We reach an additional audience through the Blade Magazine website and the Blade Online staff has been very supportive of the ABS and our educational mission. Blade usually features one of our YouTube videos or an ABS event in their monthly email newsletters which reach thousands of additional knife enthusiasts around the world.
24/7 Telephone Answering Service
All calls to our main ABS telephone number are answered live 24/7. After business hours an operator on our service answers “American Bladesmith Society, may I help youâ€. We have provided the service with a written script and set of instructions for the operator to follow to ensure the proper handling and routing of messages. The operator sends an immediate email to the appropriate staff or board member with details from the call received.
This system has worked very well to provide live professional service to our members and the public and enabled us to return calls the same day as received.
Miscellaneous Additional Websites
As the ABS Webmaster, I also post details of our events and ABS news and announcements on several other websites including: CKCA Forum and Don Fogg’s Bladesmith Forum.
This helps us to reach as many as possible at no additional cost to the ABS.
Conclusion
The ABS Website team has worked together as a coordinated unit to bring a high level of service and a quality online experience to our members and the public. Steve Culver, Brion Tomberlin, Sally Cassidy, and I serve the ABS members as unpaid volunteers.
Sally and I appreciate the privilege of having had the opportunity to serve the members of the American Bladesmith Society in 18 countries for the past 4 1/2 years during the long development stage and now Online.
Respectfully Submitted,
Daniel J. Cassidy, ABS Webmaster
Director, Board of Directors
American Bladesmith Society,Inc.
Dan Cassidy
Journeyman Smith
Send an email to Dan
Wow Dan!
That is the most comprehensive report, covering a stupendous scope of work and services, I have ever seen! THANKS for all you and your team do!
I just joined Pinterest due to the link in this report. I didn't notice you mention Facebook. Did I miss it or is there a reason we're not on it?
We use Google services and Gmail at the the school I teach at. It works very well for us. The online document sharing (Google Drive) is especially useful for collaborative work.
I hope you (and/or others) will forgive me if I make a perhaps less than flattering comment about the printed organ of the ABS, the American Bladesmith Journal. It seems to starkly lag behind the quality of content and form of its new digital counterparts. Have y'all thought of revamping that and offering it in a pdf version along side of the printed version? Many of us might prefer that, which would likely reduce production costs as well as improve content and presentation.
Thanks again for this amazing work in cyberspace!
Aloha, Phil
Thank you Phil!
I don't have anything to do with the Journal. I am the Online side of the ABS.
The projects that I do administer have saved the ABS a lot of money on printing and postage by using Constant Contact for the ABS Monthly Email Newsletters, Hammer-In flyers, dues reminders, and special notifications. The savings are in the thousands of dollars annually while Constant Contact only costs $300 a year (and my time which is free) for unlimited service. I might also point out that with Constant Contact I am able to use it as a delivery device for documents ( ABS Bylaws or long reports), videos, and photos.
Dan Cassidy
Journeyman Smith
Send an email to Dan
Those are some most impressive statistics Dan. Thank you for compiling this information and sharing it with us.
Thank you Brion and Steve for what you do for our forum.
Dan and Sally -- you are truly our unsung Heros! I cannot begin to express the gratitude I have for all that you have done and continue to do for our organization.
I sincerely appreciate all that you do.
Brian
Thank you Dan and Sally. This website has been a especially bright shining example of where the ABS is going. This shows that the leadership of the organization is trying to see far ahead and swing the ship in alignment to assure education as well as accessibility to it's membership. This website has become the hub of communication for the ABS, no doubt saving needless hours of phone conversation and travel.
I have never contacted you Dan without a very quick response even though you might be away from your home computer. The newsletters are informational and include links in case I want to "catch up" on the latest, although I check it about every day anyway. It can spoil a guy, you know.
