Drupal Searches Spread

Today I was looking at the keyword statistics from Google to see what people were searching for yesterday to get to CommonPlaces.com and I noticed a few Drupal searches that struck me as quite interesting. The first search was for “Drupal Credit Card”, and when I did a search on Google for this keyword, I noticed that we came up 4th in the results page with our Partners page. I looked through the other listings on the page to try to see why someone would be searching for this, thinking maybe Drupal had spread so much that banks were now offering a Drupal themed credit card. I mentioned this to some of the programmers here and Seth showed me this link where a Drupal developer had taken the Drupal image and put it on his bank card. As huge Drupal fans, we all thought that was pretty cool.

Being the stats freak that I am, this got me to wondering how many other Drupal searches we’re showing up for. I was pretty surprised to find that there were ten longtail (longer keywords containing multiple strings of words) searches done with “Drupal” in them this month alone. I dug a little deeper and found out that there were 17 different keywords searches done on Google containing “Drupal” which had brought visitors to our website since the time we started publicizing our use of this software. I’m sure that this trend will continue to increase as more people talk about how great Drupal is, continue to develop more Drupal websites, and as Drupal becomes more and more well renowned as one of the best CMS (Content Management System) platforms.

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Web Project Manager

Download Web Project Manager Job Description

Due to our talented staff and amazing sales people, we are currently seeking to fill the position of Web Project Manager. This person is the technical consultant to the CEO, marketing, customer service, designers, web developers, engineers and the client point person for the entire development life cycle. The Web Project Manager must have excellent communication, technical, and people skills and be adept at managing expectation and risk.

This individual manages the workflow and development of our solutions and services. He or she will manage large and complex projects that have critical impact on our clients businesses. This is a working manager who assigns duties to others and ensures ongoing reporting and project tracking. He or she is the point-person on all knowledge bases and project tracking systems including our Wiki and the Production Management Systems.

Responsibilities:

• Manages the technical project plan, resources, tasks and milestones to drive the project to completion
• Provides Account Management of CommonPlaces Clients
• Guides the project(s) to on-time completion within budget with achievement of stated objectives
• Assigns technical tasks and milestones, measures progress and maintains metrics
• Maintains quality and consistency of website features
• Ensures projects are implemented according to requirements
• Manages and tracks outside developer firms
• Resolve project, design, or resource issues before they cause schedule delays
• Keeps CEO up to date on project status and potential issues

Qualifications:

• 3 - 5 years experience in web project management
• Exceptionally strong interpersonal, communication, presentation and organization skills, as well as a strong desire to succeed
• Expert knowledge of the internet, online technologies and e-business applications a must.
• Understanding of project processes, including scheduling, documentation, risk analysis, and contingency planning
• Understanding of development process, including development, testing, and deployment as well as work breakdown, dependencies, responsibilities
• Advanced skills with Outlook, Word, Excel, Project, and Visio are required
• Highly analytical, logical, and good problem solver
• Able to plan work, organize time, and maintain workflow
• Proficiency in HTML, CSS, Adobe creative suite a plus
• Demonstrated track record of successfully planning, managing and delivery of projects on schedule and on budget

CommonPlaces is an equal opportunity employer with benefits and competitive salary. Corporate offices are located in Hampstead, Southern New Hampshire, only 10 minutes from Rte 93 or Rte 495. Candidates meeting the outlined criterion are invited to submit their resume and credentials to careers@commonplaces.com.

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Greenopolis.com Sponsors Drupalcon Boston 2008

Greenopolis.com (Beta) was featured as a Gold Sponsor of Drupalcon Boston 2008, a gathering of over 800 Drupal professionals.

Boston, MA, March 3, 2008 – Greenopolis.com (Beta) was featured as a Gold Sponsor of Drupalcon Boston 2008. Over 800 Web professionals gathered at the four day event to discuss the future of Drupal and Web content creation. The convention is held twice yearly in different cities around the globe.

Greenopolis.com (Beta) is an educational and collaborative “green” social networking website commissioned by Waste Management and developed by CommonPlaces e-Solutions, Inc. The site was created entirely with Drupal.

So what is Drupal? According to drupal.org, “Drupal is a free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website.” Drupal is also open-source, which means that it can be modified and improved by anyone that uses it.

“It was great to see all of these members of the Drupal community come together in one place and freely exchange ideas. We all left with improved skills and fresh ideas to create better websites and better serve our clients,” said Seth Cohn, a Senior Internet Engineer at CommonPlaces.

Drupal places a large emphasis on user interaction, and facilitates the creation of Blogs, polls, forums, and other user-created content. As a site based on social interaction, Greenopolis.com (Beta) puts all of these features to good use. The result is a very rich user experience that is both educational and fun.

About CommonPlaces
With our years of experience in strategic planning, interactive marketing, website design and development, and web-based application development, CommonPlaces is able to provide you with successful e-business solutions and a competitive edge. Our unique strategic approach to building, designing, and promoting web solutions and applications empowers small to mid-sized e-commerce and e-business initiatives to compete with industry leaders at a fraction of the cost.

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Eric Schmidt Speaks on Web 3.0

Eric Schmidt (Chairman & CEO of Google, Inc. as well as a board member for Apple, Inc.) speaks on the Web 2.0 and where Web 3.0 may take us:

Mr. Schmidt does an excellent job of summarizing Web 2.0 as a new way of building web applications, primarily using AJAX. I would certainly agree that the use of web development techniques such as AJAX have afforded internet engineers the necessary tools to create many of the interactive applications that are characteristic of Web 2.0.Google’s front man then goes on to predict that Web 3.0 will continue the evolution of Web 2.0, consisting of many small applications pieced together. The new breed of applications in this development landscape will be cross-compatible, working with both mobile devices (cell phones, blackberries, PDAs, etc) along with traditional PCs. There will be less restrictive barriers to entry for developers. The new conglomerations of applications will more effectively solve problems, run very quickly, and work everywhere. To top it all off everything will be spread virally via social networks and by people passing on what they find useful and effective to others who share the need for similar software.

This all sounds like a continuation of what we have come to love about the current open source, Web 2.0 world. We can’t wait to be a part of The Web’s next iteration!

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Greenopolis.com Recognized for Design at Drupalcon Boston 2008

Greenopolis.com was awarded for its design at Drupalcon Boston 2008 Thursday, and was praised by attendees of the conference.

Boston, MA, March 6, 2008 – Greenopolis.com (Beta) was awarded First Runner-Up for the Drupal Design of the Year Award Thursday, announced on the final day of Drupalcon Boston 2008, a gathering of Drupal professionals from around the globe.

Greenopolis.com (Beta) is an educational and collaborative “green” social networking website commissioned by Waste Management and developed by CommonPlaces e-Solutions, Inc. The site was created entirely with Drupal.

The Greenopolis site was much talked about around Drupalcon. “We received a huge ovation after our presentation [at Drupalcon],” said Ben Bassi, President and CEO of CommonPlaces e-Solutions. He continued, “People from all around the world would stop me to say how much they liked the site.”

Drupal is a free, open-source software package that simplifies content management for the Web. Drupal facilitates the creation of Blogs, polls, forums, and other user-created content. As a site based on social interaction, Greenopolis.com (Beta) puts all of these features to good use. The result is a very rich user experience that is educational, fun, and now, award-winning.
About CommonPlaces
With our years of experience in strategic planning, interactive marketing, website design and development, and web-based application development, CommonPlaces is able to provide you with successful e-business solutions and a competitive edge. Our unique strategic approach to building, designing, and promoting web solutions and applications empowers small to mid-sized e-commerce and e-business initiatives to compete with industry leaders at a fraction of the cost.

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Ben Bassi Appears on New Hampshire Public Radio

Talent exists in New Hampshire, but the challenge lies in finding it, Ben Bassi told Laura Knoy and her guests on “The Exchange” Thursday.

CommonPlaces President & CEO on New Hampshire Public Radio

Concord, NH, February 28, 2008 - Ben Bassi, President & CEO of CommonPlaces e-Solutions, Inc., appeared on New Hampshire Public Radio Thursday to comment on the experience of running a high-tech business in New Hampshire. He chiefly spoke about challenge of recruiting high-tech employees in the state.

Bassi contributed to “The Exchange,” a daily program hosted by Laura Knoy and featured on NHPR. The featured topic was “Branding High-Tech in New Hampshire,” which contrasted the growing success of the high technology industry in the state with the relative obscurity it continues to operate under.

“We have no problem finding customers [in New Hampshire],” Bassi explained, “but we do have a problem finding good talent.” Bassi expressed enthusiasm with the employees he has found, but addressed the difficulty of locating them in New Hampshire, comparing it to “finding them under a rock.”

Bassi attributed the relative ease of locating high-tech employees in neighboring Massachusetts to the recruiting systems that are in place there. “The state [of New Hampshire] and the university system could do a better job of getting the word out that there are phenomenal opportunities right in their backyard.”

His company, CommonPlaces e-Solutions, provides online business solutions to small to mid-sized businesses through Fortune 200 companies, enabling their clients to compete with industry leaders. Located in Hampstead, New Hampshire, the company currently employs twenty individuals, most of whom live in the state.

About CommonPlaces
With our years of experience in strategic planning, interactive marketing, website design and development, and web-based application development, CommonPlaces is able to provide you with successful e-business solutions and a competitive edge. Our unique strategic approach to building, designing, and promoting web solutions and applications empowers small to mid-sized e-commerce and e-business initiatives to compete with industry leaders at a fraction of the cost.

For additional information, please contact:

CommonPlaces e-Solutions, Inc.
2 Village Green Rd, Suite B-4
Hampstead, NH 03841
(603) 362-8227
http://www.commonplaces.com/

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President of CommonPlaces Speaks on the Future of e-Business

Bedford, NH, February 19, 2008 - The future of the Web, and e-Commerce, lies in user-created content, Ben Bassi, CEO of CommonPlaces e-Solutions, told members of the Software Association of New Hampshire on Tuesday. Bedford, NH - February 19, 2008 - Wikis, Blogs and social networking are not only glimpses of the World Wide Web of the future-they will be a part of the corporation of the future as well.

This is the message that Ben Bassi, CEO of CommonPlaces e-Solutions, Inc., delivered at the Software Association of New Hampshire’s (SWANH) Seminar last Tuesday. Bassi spoke about “Web 2.0,” an industry term used to describe a new conceptual “version” of the Web that relies upon user-created content. He also used the phrase “Enterprise 2.0″ to describe the business model that embraces these technologies.

“The Web is the only form of media that is interactive, and allows the user to feel involved in the process. ‘Web 2.0′ is built upon user-created content,” Bassi told the group.

“As a business, your best asset is your knowledge base…and you don’t own it,” said Bassi. He encouraged the use of the emergent technologies that make up “Web 2.0″ as a means to develop an internal knowledge base and support system that can be retained by the company and can be updated both continually and collaboratively.

With experience as COO of the Firefly Network, and as the initial Vice President of Business Development at Lycos, Bassi has a wealth of experience with developing business strategies and solutions for the Web. His company, CommonPlaces e-Solutions, provides online business solutions for small to mid-sized businesses all the way through to Fortune 100 companies, which allow them to compete with top industry leaders.

About The Software Association of New Hampshire (SwANH)
The Software Association of New Hampshire (SwANH) promotes and supports the software and information technology industries throughout the State. SwANH sponsors networking events, educational programs through its SIGs and affiliates, and discount programs that provide members with opportunities to gain information, connect with resources, grow their businesses, and succeed.

About CommonPlaces
With our years of experience in strategic planning, interactive marketing, website design and development, and web-based application development, CommonPlaces is able to provide you with successful e-business solutions and a competitive edge. Our unique strategic approach to building, designing, and promoting web solutions and applications enables small to mid-sized e-commerce and e-business initiatives compete with industry leaders at a fraction of the cost.

For additional information, please contact:

CommonPlaces e-Solutions, Inc.
2 Village Green Rd, Suite B-4
Hampstead, NH 03841
(603) 362-8227
http://www.commonplaces.com/

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PHP / MySQL Engineer

Download PHP / MySQL Engineer Job Description

Due to our talented staff and amazing sales people, we have even more opportunities for accomplished Senior PHP/MySQL Engineers to learn/build Web 2.0 solutions utilizing Drupal and associated technologies. We’re looking for someone with an aptitude for learning new technologies that is not afraid to push the envelope. You will be working on top ranked eCommerce websites with engineers whose work is known within the industry.

In this role, you will be responsible for working with, and modifying Open Source applications integrated with complex polished designs, which are often supported with advanced backend PHP code. This position requires a high degree of creativity, productivity and the ability to integrate solutions within the CommonPlaces’ product framework. A qualified candidate should have several years of demonstrable experience developing dynamic web-based PHP applications.

Position Requirements:

• 5 to 10 years experience in software development
• Expert knowledge of HTTP, CSS, DOM, PHP, JavaScript, XML and MySQL is required
• Experience developing in eZ Publish, Drupal or other Open Source CMS
• Experience developing social networking applications a huge plus
• Knowledge of web standards
• Experience with high volume/ high availability applications
• Strong LAMP background is required
• Knowledge of Object Oriented programming (OOD), PHP Template Engines (like Smarty, PHPTemplate, PHPTAL), XSL and RSS feeds is desirable
• Ability to adapt to new technologies and learn quickly is a must
• College degree in Computer Sciences or related field desirable

Priority given to candidates that submit sample URLs representing professional accomplishments. Include specific descriptions of your contributions to the projects, including the tools utilized to create your works, along with samples of previous work.

CommonPlaces is an equal opportunity employer with benefits and competitive salary. Corporate offices are located in Hampstead, Southern New Hampshire, only 10 minutes from Rte 93 or Rte 495. Candidates meeting the outlined criterion are invited to submit their resume and credentials to careers@commonplaces.com.

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Web Designer / Developer

Download Web Developer Job Description

Due to our talented staff and amazing sales people, we have even more opportunities for accomplished Web Designers and Developers. In this position you will design and develop HTML/CSS websites and web based applications such as Web 2.0, Content Management Systems and e-commerce. The position requires a high degree of creativity, productivity and the ability to integrate designs within the CommonPlaces’ product framework.

This position requires a high degree of creativity, productivity and the ability to integrate solutions within the CommonPlaces’ product framework. We’re looking for someone with an aptitude for learning new technologies that is not afraid to push the envelope. A qualified candidate should have several years of demonstrable experience developing dynamic web-based applications.

Requirements:

• 5 years minimum experience in designing or developing websites
• Expert knowledge of graphic HTML design and web page layout / creation.
• Expert knowledge of Advanced Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) including: Cross Browser Design, backgrounds, images and z-positions
• Expert knowledge of Adobe Photoshop CS, Illustrator, DreamWeaver MX, and JavaScript
• Basic knowledge of PHP, MySQL, Internet protocols and technologies is desirable

Education/Background:
College degree in Graphic Design/Graphic Arts, Computer Science or related field is preferred. Candidate must have a strong background in web design and web development. Priority given to candidates that submit sample URLs representing professional accomplishments. Include specific descriptions of your contributions to the projects, including the tools utilized to create your works with samples of previous work.

CommonPlaces is an equal opportunity employer with benefits and competitive salary. Corporate offices are located in Hampstead, Southern New Hampshire, only 10 minutes from Rte 93 or Rte 495. Candidates meeting the outlined criterion are invited to submit their resume and credentials.

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Linux Systems Administrator

Download Linux Systems Admin Job Description

Due to our talented staff and amazing sales people, we have an opportunity for an accomplished Linux Systems Administrator to manage our LAMP Servers. You will be working on top-ranked eCommerce websites with engineers whose work is known industry wide.

Responsibilities:

• Diagnose and repair network and hardware issues
• Monitor all systems and provide emergency response to minimize risk, outages, and data loss
• Manage creation of redundant systems and backups
• Be available to check service operation on evenings, and weekends (rare)
• Manage server room, including server installation, cabling, and rack space management
• Manage VOIP phone system for the office
• Convey technical concepts to a non-technical audience
• Positive and responsive attitude to support requests from business
• Create and maintain quality support documentation

Position Requirements:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• 5+ years experience managing Linux in production environments (Red Hat, CentOS & Debian)
• 5+ years experience managing Apache web servers (Apache1.X & 2.X)
• 5+ years supporting LAMP web applications (MySQL5 / PHP5)
• 5+ years experience supporting MySQL or other similar open-source database systems
• 5+ years experience with version control systems, specifically Subversion
• Strong scripting skills, primarily shell and Perl. PHP a plus.
• Strong familiarity with communication protocols, such as HTTPS, SMTP, DHCP, LDAP, SNMP as well as DNS and IP management
• Strong familiarity with production monitoring services: Nagios and Orca
• Experience working with web load balancers, firewalls, and routers
• Ability to adapt to new technologies and learn quickly is a must
• College degree in Computer Sciences or related field required

CommonPlaces is an equal opportunity employer with benefits and competitive salary. Corporate offices are located in Hampstead, Southern New Hampshire, only 10 minutes from Rte 93 or Rte 495. Candidates meeting the outlined criterion are invited to submit their resume and credentials to careers@commonplaces.com.

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