The footer on your website is often the last thing your visitors are going to see. That also potentially makes it the last opportunity to keep users on your site. Often in the process of web design, a footer might be the last element to be addressed, and it’s often quite tempting to speed through it with common elements like a sitemap and copyright or legal information. While a sitemap makes sense, since it gives users the opportunity to learn how your site is organized, or give them a better idea of how to find what their looking for, it’s not very entertaining, or engaging. It might be a good practice to put less emphasis on a second navigation area for your site, and more emphasis on content the users came to your site to see in the first place.
Archive for April 2010
Account Management is a give and you will receive process
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010Recently we have hired an account manager to concentrate on our current customers. I am so pleased to have this position filled as it is very important to our company to service our current clients and maintain a close relationship. Our process has consisted of offering free consulting to all our current clients and suggest improvements they could make to their website and what online marketing tactics we feel would work for them.
Flash and SEO – The debate that never rests
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010Flash is a very misunderstood and misrepresented part of SEO. Designers and even developers tend to love it and SEOs try to avoid it like the plague. I tend to fall into the latter side of things (no big shocker since I’m an SEO) but I do believe that Flash can be utilized in a way that will have your entire web team singing Kumbaya in no time.
Like any conflict, it all comes down to compromise. Finding the happy medium.
Google Places allows business owners to claim their business and customize their listing on Google Maps
Friday, April 23rd, 2010Google Places allows business owners to claim their business and customize their listing on Google Maps. Updated business details will appear on Google Maps, Google.com search and mobile results, and GOOG-411. Advanced features, including coupons and impression statistics, allow business owners to enhance and monitor their online presence.
- Local customers already search Google for the products and services you offer. Create a business listing to be sure they find you.
- Keep your address, phone number, hours of operation, and more up-to-date. Even create coupons and display photos and videos, all for free.
How Canada’s Web Shop is green!
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010It’s Earth Day today, and that got me thinking about what we’re doing for the environment. Some of the things we do are for personal practicality, but it turns out some of those practices help the earth too!
Canada’s Web Shop uses network based services to share information and products between employees as a matter of speed and efficiency in our daily workflows, but the result of that is a nearly paperless office. It’s odd to find the printer out of paper, because we just don’t use much!
Analytics Terminology – Sound Smart! (and stop using the term “hits”)
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010For those of us that have been around for a while, there are certain terms and references that make us cringe. This is especially true when talking about web site stats and analytics. So, I’m going to break down some of the terms that are commonly found and referred to when looking at site stats.
My number one recommendation/pet peeve…
Stop using the term “hits”.
It’s hard to say how people were using the term “hits”. Sometimes it sounded like they meant page view, sometimes like visit, and sometimes like visitor. All three very different things. Hey, what’s the difference between those three anyway?
Canada’s Web Shop Named the Seventh Fastest Growing Company in Manitoba
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
We’re thrilled to announce that we made Manitoba Business Magazine’s list of the 40 Fastest Growing Companies in Manitoba 2010. This year, we were named the seventh fastest! This is our second consecutive year on the prestigious list. In 2009, we were 13th.
To celebrate the achievements of all 40 Manitoba businesses, the magazine held a gala on March 18, 2010 at the Marlborough Hotel in Downtown Winnipeg. John McDonald, Justin Nedecky and myself (Lyndsay Walker) were on hand to accept the award.
We look forward to continued growth in 2010 with exciting new projects, a growing staff, and a cutting-edge, evolving suite of online marketing services.
Cater your online marketing suggestions to internal resources
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010It seems certain online marketing companies pitch the same tactics no matter what. This to me does make sense. We recently visited a prospect and right at the start he mentioned that his internal staff resources are light or maxed out with their current jobs. So immediately I thought of items that we could do for his business that would not involve a lot, if any, of his resources. Search Engine Optimization, Pay per click advertising and Facebook advertising are three excellent tactics that we can basically do for the client with very little input from the client. These tactics, implemented properly, can drive a lot of leads and for this particular client worked perfect for the type of conversion he was trying to accomplish.
Focus Groups are Dead
Monday, April 19th, 2010I find it easy to be confident in the products and services I offer in the online marketing industry. A big reason for this confidence is the measuring tools that online resources provide to show consumers what their advertising dollars are accomplishing, or their return on investment.
Advertising mediums like print, T.V and radio have never, and will never be able to support their product offering like online marketing can. I’m sure a radio station can tell you how many people listen to their broadcasts, but can they tell you how many people were listening to your commercial? Can a T.V station tell what aspects of your commercial caught people’s eye? Print advertising can’t even tell you how many of your advertising dollars get thrown directly in the garbage before anyone ever has a chance to read them.
5 Best Free Online File Storage and Sharing Services
Friday, April 16th, 2010Sharing a big file over email is never fun and it doesn’t always work. So I’d like to share to you what I use whenever it calls for that kind of situation. Here are my top 5 best free online file storage and sharing services:
1) Dropbox (2GB Free)
The free Dropbox account comes with 2GB of space and if you need more than 2GB of space, dropbox offers Pro plans for up to 100GB.
Visit https://www.dropbox.com
2) drop.io (100MB Free per drop)
drop.io’s free “file drop” is 100MB each. drop.io offers upgrades to 10GB and 20GB drops.





