Baltimore, MD, January 4, 2010 – G.1440 today announced the completion of an agreement to be acquired by Constellation Software, Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary Constellation HomeBuilder Systems. The talent and technology of G.1440 will remain in Baltimore, where the company will continue to operate under the same name and management team. With a portfolio of over 20,000 customers in over 30 countries, Constellation will help solidify G.1440’s position in the market and help it grow as Baltimore’s technology leader.

Founded in 1998, G.1440 provides a range of technology services, including web design, online marketing, custom application development, and IT staffing. The Baltimore company’s depth and range of services made it attractive to CSI.

“By bringing expert teams in web design, marketing, development, and tech staffing together, G.1440 offers a hybrid solution unlike any we’ve seen,” says Dexter Salna, President of Constellation HomeBuilder Systems. “With a 12 year history of growth fueled by repeat business from an impressive client list that includes many of Maryland’s premier companies, G.1440 was a natural fit for the Constellation family.”

“With Constellation we’re in an even better position to empower our clients through technology,” said Larry Fiorino, G.1440’s President and Founder. “We’re excited that CSI has recognized what our clients have experienced – the immense value that our design, development, marketing, and staffing teams bring when they work together. This acquisition is great news for Baltimore!”

Financial details of the acquisition are not being made public.

About Constellation Software, Inc.

Constellation Software Inc. is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “CSU”. Constellation is an international provider of market leading software and services to a number of industries across both the public and private sectors. The Company acquires, manages and builds vertical market software businesses that provide mission-critical software solutions to address the specific needs of its customers in those industries. Constellation Software, Inc. is in no way affiliated with Constellation Energy – a Baltimore based energy company.

About G.1440, LLC.

G.1440 is a 12 year old Baltimore based technology firm that provides End-to-End IT solutions that Get IT to Work for leading companies nationwide. With services including custom web application development, web design, online marketing and tech staffing, G.1440 stands out by offering hybrid IT solutions – the right mix of technology, the people, and price – working with clients however clients need us to. G.1440 was founded by Larry Fiorino in 1998 and was previously a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Media Inquiries
Tim Kassouf
marketing@g1440.com
(410) 843-3823

Advertising Age published an article earlier today detailing how Facebook has limited application developers from using user information in ads, and it’s a good read: http://adage.com/digitalnext/post.php?article_id=138256

The bottom line? Publishers still have an open platform to create apps that include “virtual goods, subscriptions, advertising, or whatever you choose.” But Facebook has drawn limits around excessive use of personal user information that can be used, shared, etc.

Both as a Facebook user and an online marketer, I think this is great. For the most part, I don’t use 3rd party apps on facebook. Most of the functionality that I need and want comes baked into facebook and its proprietary applications. While other apps might be interesting or fun, they’re always so annoyingly bent on world domination that they’re so bogged down with ads and sharing requirements that they’re ultimately not worth whatever small benefit they would have provided.

Making applications less annoying and safer for users has the potential to increase adoption of apps in general, which would benefit marketers using apps effectively.

But I’m still a huge fan of the “Block this application” button, and have no plans to install “Little Green Patch” anytime soon…

G.1440 is currently working with US Lacrosse, the national governing body for Lacrosse in the US, on a full overhaul of their websites and use of technology in general.  US Lacrosse has many key stakeholder groups that each have different needs online, and they house a tremendous amount of data on the site, which makes site usability the ultimate challenge.

How do we get the information that people need to the people that need it?

Luckily, G.1440’s team are experts at designing web usability.  Our process is thorough and starts with research – after all, we can’t deliver important information until we know what information is important!

As an online marketer, it’s exciting whenever we’re able to help improve the user experience on a site.  A great user experience is the key to long customer relationships and referrals.

But creating a great experience starts with users, and in this case you can help, too!

If you’re familiar with US Lacrosse, take a few moments to fill out our brief 9 question survey, or participate in a card sort:

http://www.uslacrosse.org/enews/websurvey.phtml

For many of us, Google is a life line to the worlds information…..anytime we have a question, we “Google it”…….type in a few words and voila….there you are….pages and pages of information related to your search. There is, however, a controversy brewing regarding companies taking advantage of Google’s search engine and adwords by purchasing “pay per click” ads that use a competitors name in their ads.

For example, if company A and B are competitors, A can buy an ad using B’s name. When someone searches on B, Google will show links for both companies. To make it worse, the paid ad will at times appear above the “natural search” link…..making the competitors ad come up FIRST. Now companies have to pay to be the first link for their own name.

Think about it….this does not happen in any other marketing or media. If I buy commercial time on Fox Baltimore, my competitor’s ad does not run before or during my ad. If I buy an ad in the Daily Record, my competitor cannot make sure that his ad runs at the same time.

Pay per click ads are displayed on Google’s search pages and are a major source of revenue for Google. Each ad is presented as several words and a link on the top and on the right side of all the natural search terms. When you click on the link, Google is paid a small sum that is usually from pennies to a couple of dollars. Most of Google’s revenue comes from pay per click ads as they are paid every time someone clicks and they serve millions of ads on a daily basis.

So why is this a problem?
The problem is on many levels….first of all, it allows a competitor to “profit” from their competitors marketing and branding. Every time someone searches for your company and/or product names, your competitor’s ads will be displayed at the same time and potentially take business from you. Some reports indicate that this could cause confusion in the marketplace since more than one companies information is presented when a customer/prospect searches on a company name. Lastly, this forces you to “pay” for your own name…..since you are now bidding against your competitor for your name to come up first in the search ads that are displayed.

So what should you do?
If you have a business website, then you should go to Google as well as all the other search engines. Search on your company name and see what results you get. Pay particular attention to the paid search ads that come up. You should perform this search at least once a month. If you find that your competitor is coming up every time you search, then you should consider contacting your attorney to see what your options are.

On Friday we launched a brand new redesign of g1440.com, and as cliche as it must sound… we’re pretty excited!

Here’s what John Hill, our Vice President of IT Solutions had to say:

Good People of G.1440, you gotta check out our new website! At the end of a Friday workday and workweek, take a moment and check it out. You’ll be very impressed with your company and your team of web designers, developers and marketing experts. The new site is a GEM.

Kudos to Matt Deville for leading the effort (and producing most of the design and graphics all by his little ‘ole self) and special thanks to Tim, Buddie, Nat, and Adam for all their hard word. It’s a real beauty, folks…

Stay tuned… spring is springing and so is G.1440.

Have a great weekend. We’ve got a lot to celebrate!”

When considering a website redesign, think about what the purpose of the redesign is beyond the aesthetics. Ask yourself what primary action do I want the user to take upon reaching our homepage.

When HR wants to add Careers in the main navigation, gently tell them that adding it would distract clients from the primary goal of the website but that it can certainly be within the utility navigation at the bottom. If someone is looking for a job, they will spend longer than the average 8 seconds trying to find the link.

Another common interloper on homepages is the news. Having a prospective client read your news is rarely the main action you want them to take. If the news must be on the homepage, then consider putting it below the fold where it won’t be a distraction.

Give your users what they want on your website. After all, your website isn’t there to announce the corporate picnic this weekend – it’s there to position your brand and drive sales!

The web is a necessity.  Having a web presence that reflects your brand and articulates your message is no longer a luxury for successful companies, it’s a pre-requisite for doing business.  However, once you have a beautiful, functional website, the next question is usually pretty clear.

How do I get people to my website?

This is no doubt the number one question for web-marketers, but I’m not so sure it’s the most important anymore.  Because it takes no effort to leave a website, dragging people to a web page is only as good as their desire to be there.  So, the more important question is: How do I engage my target audience?

MAKE THEM WANT TO COME

The obvious part of this lies in designing a website that itself is fun, engaging and useful.  If people can’t find the information that they want and need quickly – they’re gone and good luck getting them back.  A web site MUST start with the user.  What are they here for?  Are you bringing them to what they want, or making them root for it through pages and pages of meaningless corporate nonsense to find it?  There’s a reason that G.1440 has become experts in designing web usability.  This will not only lead to keeping the traffic that you get, but it will inherently drive traffic as more and more users spread the word about your www dot awesomeness.

DON’T CHANGE USER HABITS – COME TO THEM!

But the second part of this proposition is a little more elusive.  Instead of focusing on how to drag people away from what they’re doing to spend time on your company’s digitial brochure, why not bring the message to where they are already?!

This isn’t as simple as just throwing up a MySpace page.  It takes a bit of research, but ultimately you want to know where your target customers spend their time online.  Then take the message to them!  Contribute to the blogs they read, either as a guest writer or as a commenter.  Create applications for the platforms they use.  Be creative!

You can also use your existing users for some of this legwork.  Open your content up for others to use.  A great example is http://www.mtvmusic.com.  MTV just made every music video ever available for embedding (along with a host of other original content).  So now I can share Thriller with all of you – while promoting MTV – how nice of me!

Your website should really only be one part of a multi-media marketing mix.  With social networking, micro blogging, and all the other web 2.0 tools that comprise “social media”, the opportunity to engage your target market has never been better!

Remember the web is an interactive communication medium.  Not a content delivery platform.  It’s not TV: Part 2.  People have to want to see what they’re looking at.  In fact, some of the latest research shows that online ads don’t really work well anyway!

There’s no single solution that will work for everyone, but it’s certainly worth it to put in the time to find a digital marketing strategy that works for you.