If you’re wondering where we have been, it’s because we’ve been setting up the new shop for Signs by Elephant. We’ll be able to offer clients Large Format Printing such as Vinyl, Real Estate Advertisement, 3D / Dimensional, Vehicle Decals, Backlit, Halo Lit, Window Graphics, Floor Graphics, Custom Designs, and much more! Like us on Facebook for more updates > BC Web Pros

The pace has slowed down enough for us to write a post and take care of some web designs. We love staying as busy as we are, but it’s nice to get back to our personal lives. Come the end of the month, we all will be moving to a new home just as winter welcomes spring in.

In addition to all of that, we also will have a storefront opening up down at Silver Star Car Wash! So keep an eye out for us the next time you’re passing by.

Cheers,

- Dave

So tonight (this morning, since i’m posting this at 6am) I’ve finally uploaded some of our projects:

GreatLasVegasInvestments.com – Participating Mortgages/Real Estate in Las Vegas, Nevada

BCContractor.ca – A place for Contractors and Tradesmen to Connect in British Columbia

StoritPlace.com – Vernon, BC Storage Facility

BCRailing.ca – Railing Services available in British Columbia

CidelMoving.com – Vernon, BC Moving Company,Cidel Moving has been in the moving industry for over 35 years

Let us know what you think! Visit our Contact Page

Cheers

I always like to remind myself that the businesses I’m contacting are people just like myself. And that means that they too, get easily annoyed when someone is pushing a service that I have absolutely no interest in. I do my best to state exactly what it is I can do for your business and will always send an email or fax before ever calling. The best thing a business owner can do if they really aren’t interested is to reply back politely.

I’ve already heard stories about the Web Designer who they paid a fortune just to do small changes and updates to an existing site.  Or how when they needed to talk to the Web Designer about their website, he or she was no where to be found.

I can clearly see why building and maintaining a relationship with each client is a vital part of growing your business:

1. It helps to spread around recognition of the excellent work you do
2. You’ll receive more referrals if you can relate to people and see where people who don’t have an understanding of online marketing are coming from
3. An increase of happy clients who understand and can see the results of your services
4. It makes life enjoyable!

Aside from the business benefits, it’s just great when your work and personal life can flow effortlessly. What I do in my web designing and online marketing, I do with the same amount of enthusiasm I have for understanding life just for the sake of being the best I can be.

Image Source (I do not take rights over the image in this post):

http://www.discountwebpagedesigns.com/pics/groupconf200.jpg

Between 2006-2007, classified ads in newspapers dropped between 14 percent and 20 percent.  While traffic to online classified websites increased from 37 million users to 46 million unique users (according to market research firm ComScore). That’s an increased traffic of 23 percent.

Here are a few reasons  why a local business would benefit from establishing an online presence:

-Customers get to check out your products or services themselves and answer their own questions on your website. (You get people in your shop that have a serious intention of purchasing)
-A website is an affordable means of portraying your companies credibility where bigger corporations would usually have the upper hand. (Gives the impression your company is doing well)
-It’s cost effective compared to any paper advertisement such as YellowPages, local classifieds, bench ads etc. (A one-time cost, not including Search Engine Optimization)
-You get honest, unbiased, customer feedback from a simple review form on your page.
-With the constantly growing technology that is adapting internet into everyday life, it’s becoming a necessity to get online or be left behind.
-A quick and effective way of informing the newest promotions available. Ending the promotion is just as easy.
-With social networking, you get to build personal relationships with customers online. This is a chance for smaller businesses to get ahead, customers appreciate a company that is involved within the local community.

So with a simple web design, the right marketing approach, together with SEO (Search Engine Optimization), it’s easy to see why many businesses are establishing an online presence.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/30/AR2007083002046.html?hpid=sec-tech

I used the example of “Video Games” here because I used to run a gaming website and this was a trend that was important. Notice that video game sales raise right around christmas and new years. This is important because, depending on your client, it can change your marketing strategy completely. For example, when I ran this video game website I had a fairly tight budget and, although the site was making money, I wasn’t willing to spend that money frivolously with Adwords. So, for the majority of the year I worked on the essentials of good SEO and continued to create content that was relevant to the site. Come mid December, I put everything I had tucked away into Adwords and pinpointed last-stage buyers while the market was hot with enthusiasm.

Now, if I had had a larger budget for the site, I would have run adwords continuously throughout the campaign (probably using much broader search terms in the slower parts of the year). It’s always a gamble, and knowing the trend of your particular niche will allow you to shift your strategy accordingly and make the most of your campaign budget.

Traditional marketing techniques such as radio ads, newspaper ads, and television commercials all have varying degrees of effectiveness. This form of marketing depends on research into your target demographic, and then attempting to pinpoint the optimal location for your ad based on that research. It’s very much a shot-gun marketing technique in that you are hoping to hit as much as possible without having much precision. Does it work? yes it does, but it’s expensive and it only works for as long as you continue to pay for it.

For some clients, particularly those who have larger marketing budgets, this might seem like a good idea (especially since it’s a familiar idea), but I often urge them to reconsider. A successful marketing strategy shouldn’t chase people around trying to get their attention, it should place your product directly where people are Already looking for it.

This is the beauty of the internet and it means a profound change from gimmicky one-line billboards to useful and interesting content that will satisfy the potential buyer. People want to find information that interests them, content that’s both entertaining and helpful, and they will trust the person who provides it to them reliably.

ex. Imagine that you have created a great Pirate Adventure game for the computer. Good SEO is like having a flyer for your game in every copy of Treasure Island in every library around the world. It’s there for the people who are already interested in the topic.

I say this often to my clients in Calgary, SEO is an investment in time. Rather than building a house quickly that looks good for a short while but has constant repair and maintenance cost, SEO is a slow process of establishing a solid foundation of content while also creating a relevant network of links to your website.

For small business and entrepreneurs in Calgary, SEO techniques are the most feasible and cost effective. SEO offers traffic over the long term, even when you have stopped putting money into the campaign. It is a long term investment with long term payoffs. One year of proper SEO campaigning can provide clients for years to come.