Zefty.com is an online allowance tracker/manager, primarily for parents, but useful by tech-savvy kids as well. The site was designed and developed entirely by FusionAge owner Brandon Wolf.

Wolf states, “I originally wrote Zefty for my own use. My daughters would constantly complain that they were supposed to get a weekly allowance, but it was hard for them (and me) to remember to make sure the allowance got paid. One of the primary functions of Zefty is an auto-deposit of allowance, so it solves a fundamental problem in my household. I later wondered if I was the only parent with this problem and decided to write Zefty for use by the masses.”

The site has taken off in the two weeks it’s been live—1200 users in total, with over 500 parents joining last week alone.

Wolf further says, “Zefty doesn’t use real money, so it’s more of a tool...and an educational one at that. As the parent, I’m the bank. When my girls need money to go skating or to buy some gum, I’m essentially an ATM. Rather than just taking the cash out of my wallet, I give them the cash but remove it from their Zefty account. Conversely, when they get birthday money from relatives, they can hand me the cash and I will deposit it in addition to their allowance. It’s a simple ledger system, really.”

It’s that simplicity that makes Zefty so popular. It’s been featured on numerous blogs and popular sites such as eHub and LifeHacker, which have undoubtedly increased Zefty’s exposure.

“The cost also helps—I figured if I’m going to write an app that teaches fiscal responsibility, my target audience are going to be money-conscious parents, so I made Zefty free.” Wolf adds.

FusionAge’s most recent project is the overhaul and face lift to the Allen’s Tree Service, Inc. website.

Allen’s Tree Service, Inc. has been serving the St. Charles, Lake St. Louis, Wentzville, St. Peters and the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan area since 1978. They are dedicated to providing their clients with personalized and professional arbor, plant, and lawn care. Allen’s Tree Service is accredited by the Tree Care Industry Association and is both a Member and Certified Arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture. In addition to their highly competent and thorough tree services, Allen’s Tree Service brings their experience in lawn care and landscaping by introducing Allen’s Lawn and Landscape Maintenance.

FusionAge is honored to have been involved in this project, and believes their site presents a more modern, professional, and visually appealing look befitting such a prominent local company. The site uses earth tones, rich gradients, with a prominence of green throughout and a wood pattern background in the header. The site (especially the navigation) was re-worked from the ground up for better Search Engine Optimization. FusionAge employed AJAX for the Tree Info sections, to make the wealth of information Allen’s offers more user-friendly and more easily read.

Does your site need a makeover? contact FusionAge today!

It’s been over a year since the site was overhauled and, while some people really loved it, I have to keep things fresh and interesting. Plus, I needed to assert my message with less wordiness.

You’ll notice a stronger emphasis on typography, less on animation and bells-and-whistles. In fact, not including the portfolio, the entire site uses only 28kb in graphics (and the logo is 22kb). This goes to show “less is more” and how we can achieve a beautiful look without overdoing it on eye candy.

I decided to mute the “FusionAge Orange” a bit in favor of a more subtle color scheme. The design was inspired by some of the more prominent design blogs and resource sites out there, and keeps the simplistic, modern and clean look I’ve always strived for.

I welcome your thoughts, shoot me an {encode="feedback@fusionage.com" title="email at "}.

FusionAge is proud to sponsor this year's Fiesta De Mayo, a Business to Business interactive networking event.

This after-hours celebration from 4-8PM on May 17, is provided by the St. Peters Chamber of Commerce and will be held in the Sanford Brown College Building on the lower level.

Food and drinks will be provided by Vista Grande and only requires a donation to participate. The turnout is expected to be around 300 people/businesses.

If anyone from the Chamber is interested in Sponsoring, as FusionAge is, please contact Kristie Freed at  636.447.3336. Booths are also available ($50 for new members, $100 for current members).

Details:
Who: All Saint Peters, MO Businesses
What: Fiesta De Mayo Business to Business Celebration
Where: Sanford Brown College Lower Level (7800 Veterans Memorial Pkwy, St. Peters, MO)
When: May 17, 2007 4:00PM - 8:00PM
Why: To network, enjoy some great food, and have fun!

From now until May 1, 2007, I am offering a free, no-obligation Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Analysis. Whether you're a customer or not, I would like to provide you with some free expertise on how to enhance your website to ensure it's found by the search engines more easily.\

What You Get

A complete, thorough document outlining your website as viewed from a search engine. My comprehensive SEO analysis will show you where your site aligns with or falls short of SEO best practices. From your content, to the coding of your site, I will tell you exactly where you shine, and where you could use some polish.
Take the report back to your web developer or (again, no obligation) we can talk about how to get you where you need to be so Google, Yahoo, MSN Live, and other major search engines rank you properly.

Why I'm Good

Do a search for  st. peters web design (or saint peters web design) and you'll see I show up first. Most of my clients are at the top or near the top for the keywords they selected when I began work on their project.

Why You Need It

81% of all website traffic comes from search engines. Don't assume your name alone is all that's necessary to be found. If your site is on page 8 or above of a search result, most likely your traffic (and business) is suffering as a result.

How to get Started

Call or email me. I'll give you a start and end date for the analysis, typical turnaround will be about three to seven business days.

Two websites in one week—needless to say it was a busy one. I'm proud to announce one of my oldest customers has had a complete overhaul, and it is by far one of my most premier sites developed to date. Please visit ElectricTrainOutlet.com to see the site.

Electric Train Outlet (ETO) is one of my oldest customers, and I've known the owner, Bob Jacobson, for about 7 years now. He was a little reluctant to have his old site redesigned, but I'm certain he's ecstatic about the results. What was once a tired, dated website has turned into a fixture of beautiful design, functional sensibility, and high performance.

Bob is a great and interesting guy, and really knows his stuff (read a great article about him from the St. Louis Post dispatch here). I'm especially grateful he allowed FusionAge the chance to work on it. While I'm not an avid model train hobbyist myself, I always enjoy stopping by the store—it's definitely a fascinating experience.

You can read more about the site/effort in my portfolio.

Congratulations to Titan Commercial Real Estate in Chicago, IL on the launch of their new website, TitanCommercialRealEstate.com. This site was developed by FusionAge, and designed primarily in partnership with Clean Slate Graphics.

The site is a fully functional real estate application, allowing full management of real estate listings, agent information, and financial data. You can read more about the site features in my web development portfolio.

SAINT PETERS, MO—In an effort to expand the presence of FusionAge in the community and interact with other local businesses , FusionAge is proud to be a 2007 Member of the St. Peters Chamber of Commerce.

"Joining the St. Peters Chamber of Commerce is an exciting opportunity to not only network with other local businesses, but also be involved in local technology-related issues and opportunities," states Brandon Wolf of FusionAge.

FusionAge is one of six local businesses in the Chamber's "Website Development" category.

Wolf further adds, "Web design and development is an integral part of marketing, especially small businesses, which I hope to reach and offer the level of service that only FusionAge can provide. Reciprocally, The St. Peters Chamber of Commerce will be an invaluable resource in helping accomplish that mission and will undoubtedly provide growth for FusionAge. So it is most definitely a mutually beneficial step."

The St. Peters Chamber of Commerce currently serves 270 area businesses and features an extraordinary amount of events and networking opportunities throughout the year. The St. Peters Chamber of Commerce can be reached via phone at 636.447.3336 or email .

I just completed work on CleanSlateGraphic's website and I've added them to my portfolio. This was primarily a programming job: they provided the layout, I sliced it up into XHTML/CSS and added some JavaScript effects.

I've set up a partnership / trade-in-kind relationship with CleanSlateGraphics and will be utilizing their talent and skill in print media when consulting with my customers on branding efforts. CleanSlateGraphics, in return, will utilize my services when they are in need of additional help with web design.

My cheesy title aside, Bla.st is another one of those why-didn’t-I-think-of-that models that is simplistic but makes sense from a revenue-generating standpoint.

Basically, you create and upload a logo (270x165) and pay so much money to have it placed higher than the other logos. As of this posting, I currently have the #1 spot—cost me $35 but hey I’m an early adopter and if this thing takes off...I’ll always have October 27, 2006 as my 15 minutes of Bla.st fame.

Of course, if it doesn’t take off...I’ve never heard of this bla.st website—somebody hacked my paypal, ripped me off for $35 and made this post. For shame! 

I felt it would only be proper to launch version 2 of FusionAge on the 4th of July.

It’s been a long while in the making (the first update to this site in almost 2 years), but I finally found the time to take care of my own site, and update it to a more current look. I also toned down the flash a bit to give it a more updated “Web 2.0” look, without overdoing the whitespace that is common among those themes. I hope everyone likes it, I’m quite pleased with its result.