It has been a great year for us here at Ryan Design Studio. We have successfully transitioned to the 4.1 branch of X-Cart and have also been working closely with a Search Engine Optimization firm to come up with an installation package and 'skin' for X-Cart that does extremely well in the search engines. We implemented over 50 custom designs into X-Cart this year, some completely new sites and some makeovers. Our Streamlined Checkout module has been a great success for the clients we have installed it for, with conversion percentages increasing in the double digits. All of our custom designs now include this module, as well as the Thickbox dynamic resize function for product images.

As it is the time of year for resolutions, I have a few that I hope to keep:

- I will be posting some comprehensive 'guides' for e-commerce and search engine optimization. Many of our clients come to us not knowing a thing about selling on the web, and with over 200 e-commerce sites under our belt we now know a thing or two about how to create and maintain a successful store.

- We will soon have a full demo of our modified X-Cart system available.

- We have developed a number of partnerships in the past year in various markets from Search Engine Optimization to hosting, and will soon have a 'Partner' page that list all of these firms.

And finally, my biggest resolution will be to update this blog more than once a month! Just about every day I come across a tip, trick or mod for X-Cart that is worth sharing here, and I will do my best to take 10 minutes each week to post them. We are currently in the process of hiring some additional help, which will hopefully give me some more time to focus on things like this instead of coding and designing all day! Speaking of which, if you are a graphic designer or PHP programmer and are looking for some freelance work, please feel free to drop me a line with your resume and work experience.

In closing, I would like to sincerely thank everyone who allowed us the opportunity to work with them this year. There is nothing more satisfying than transitioning a site from that lovely default X-Cart skin into something that truly reflects the client's business and tastes. Each site is a unique challenge, and I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to enjoy what I do each and every day of the year. I hope you all have a great Holiday, and a successful 2008!