Stimulating Conversation is an author marketing strategy company. Authors have a story to tell; that is what drives them to write. We think that story is worth talking about. The conversation of books is marketing. Getting people talking about your book is the key. Stimulating that conversation is our specialty. It is our objective to create cohesive, effective author marketing strategies at affordable prices. Every author's story should stimulate conversation.  
 
We begin our client relationship with an initial conversation to determine the entire story behind the project, scope, expected outcome, and goals. Our professional design team will then create an original design to the client's specifications. Once the original design mockup is finished, there is a back and forth process with the client until the design is exactly as the client envisioned. Once the design is approved, the site is developed in Python, on a Django framework. Content is then loaded via our Content Management System (CMS) which allows the client full access to edit the site. After the content is loaded and approved by the client, the website goes through a battery of testing and auditing². Once the site is working and approved by the client, it is put live to the internet on our web server³, and registered with the free search engines. The site is also optimized for search engines (SEO). Some optional features that can be added to any site are: setting up the website's email client, registering the domain name, analytics, content writing, a blog, social media initiation and coaching, and a marketing program to launch the site.
 
¹Agile methods generally promote a disciplined project management process which encourages frequent inspection and adaptation, a leadership philosophy which encourages teamwork, self-organization and accountability, a set of engineering best practices which allow for rapid delivery of high-quality software, and a business approach which aligns development with customer needs and company goals.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development/
 
²Website testing and auditing includes, but is not limited to:  WC3 compliance testing, cross-browser testing, user interface testing, and audits to ensure that all the links and forms are working correctly.
 
³Stimulating Conversation includes the hosting of the website free for the first year, and then $50 per year after the initial year. The cost may increase if the website has increased bandwidth usage. If the client chooses not to continue hosting with Stimulating Conversation then the HTML may be transferred with all the content intact, but the Python and CMS functionality will not transfer.
 
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 The Mission Statement for Stimulating Conversation:

Stimulating Conversation is an author marketing strategy company. We assist authors in branding and marketing their books/products. We design and implement customized websites to reflect our clients' needs. We educate and coach authors in the art of creating conversation about their books in the expanding world of Social Media. Our success is based on our client's success.
 
The Team at Stimulating Conversation is comprised of professionals providing many skill sets. We use the Agile Management system which encourages individual responsibility and ownership within the priority-setting framework of the whole group for all projects. The diverse backgrounds of the team members provides a better creative flow, idea creation and challenge resolution. Our clients benefit from the cooperative efforts of our professional team.

The Vision Statement for Stimulating Conversation:

 
Stimulating Conversation will be the premier author branding and web developer on the Internet in the next five years. We will be sought after for teaching workshops, seminars, guest appearances, and advise other marketing specialists. Our talented team will have doubled and we will have cooperative contracts with other experts to provide our clients with the specialists' expertise. As a virtual company we will have a bricks and mortar office but most of our team will work from their own locations. Stimulating Conversation's revenue will reach 1.5 million dollars by 2015.