Tag Archives: web marketing calgary

Find your ideal customers on social media with these 3 tips

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social media marketingToday we are going to answer Jeff’s question, who writes, “What are three tips for finding the right customers on social media?”

That’s a great question. And if you are wondering that yourself, keep reading for the answer.

Identify your ideal customers:

If you know who your right customers are, you’re two steps ahead of many of your competitors.

The next step is to typify them in an archetype or in a demographic.
So for example, maybe your customers are typically affluent women in their thirties and forties.

Now you have concrete data you can use to research what social networks that particular demographic uses the most.

In this case of our example, that would be Pinterest. Doing a little bit of market research in the beginning will help you create the bare bones of a social media strategy and save you a lot of hassle and time making mistakes through trial and error.

Identify target location:

The second thing to do to find your ideal customers on social media, is narrowing your target down to a geographic area. Again, this provides you with a concrete benchmark, from which you can conduct more market research.

Specifically, there are hashtags that are used for each specific geographic area. Do a little bit of research and find out which are the most popular ones for both your geographic location, as well as the interests of your demographic so you can capitalize on their interests by getting involved in conversations about trending topics and more.

Pay for it:

Another thing you can do to get in front of your ideal networks is advertise.
The social media networks we participate in have amazing data collected on all of us. Thus, they’ve got very specific demographic information available for you to advertise and get in front of an audience that maybe isn’t part of your existing community.

Solicit Reviews:

The last thing that you can do is solicit referrals and recommendations on all your social media properties by having people endorse you. Endorsements not only provide new customers with a level of trust that you’re a reputable business, but this activity also provides exposure to your recommender’s network, who are much more likely to buy from you than a total stranger.

How have you found your ideal customers on social media? Share with me in the comments below.

And, if you found this valuable, please consider sharing with your network!

You can also watch this one minute tip as well as others on our Youtube page!

3 Pro Tips for Choosing your Business Domain Name

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internet marketing strategyWhatever your business or industry, choosing the right domain name for your online presence can have a big effect on your future success. While the wealth of options available to you mean there might not be one single best choice for your needs, making a bad decision can certainly hinder your efforts; your internet marketing strategy, your lead capturing, and ultimately your sales.

A good domain name should be unmistakeable and represent accurately what your company is all about, and there are certain ways to help ensure your chosen domain achieves these aims.

Once you’ve settled on what you decide to be the best domain for your business, you can even think about which others might work in your internet marketing strategy too.

Read on to find out how all this can be done.

Ease of use

Crafting the perfect internet marketing strategy, only to have it undermined by an awkward domain name, would be almost criminal in the modern business world. If you want people to remember your domain name and ensure it will always be typed in correctly, it has to be as catchy and simple as possible.

This means anything overly long should be avoided, as are aspects that can be commonly mistyped. These include double ‘L’s or ‘T’s, unnecessary points, dashes, underscores, or numerical figures.

Company initials are good for shortening long company names, easy to remember, and are very difficult to misspell. If your company’s initials are already taken, anything else you choose should be short, sweet and to the point.

Pros and .coms

For companies based in the United States, the .com domain is still the most desirable suffix for those wanting to be seen as an authority figure in their industry. Luckily, here in Canada, the .ca domain is just as recognized, and can actually be of benefit to your company image if you’re looking to serve mainly local customers.

Depending on the nature of your business, the recently released batch of new gTLDs (generic top level domains) can also help you to project the right image from the extension on your domain name. Although .gov has long been used by government sites, .edu by educational facilities and .org often used by non-profits, the options now include such evocative terms as .guru, .consulting, .world, and .ninja, extensions that are regularly played with in the world of the modern internet marketing strategy.

Smart use of any of these can result in a more memorable domain name for your business than .com ever could, meaning a little time and research before deciding on yours is highly recommended.

Domain event

If you are planning different campaigns, either as part of your internet marketing strategy or offline marketing, another tip is to create multiple domain names that include different keywords related to your business. These could be your location, your product or service, the benefit your product or service gives to your customers, or a combination of any of the above.

By registering bestpizzaincalgary.com or imhungrynow.ca, you can use them as a split test to see which yields the better results, both as part of your internet marketing strategy and on print material like flyers or distributed menus.

We’re often asked ‘what’s in a name?’ When it comes to domains, with all the options out there and the pitfalls inherent in choosing a bad one, there’s actually quite a lot. Take the time to make sure you get yours right.

To watch one of our one minute tips on this same subject, follow us on Youtube!

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCH: Premiere Custom Homes

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premiere-custom-homes2We are very happy to announce the launch of the new Premiere Custom Homes website!

This fresh, contemporary and hip design uses a minimal amount of text, which lets the dazzling images speak for themselves and make a powerful, lasting impression.

Plus, the responsive design means the website design is mobile friendly, and will automatically resize to accommodate each visitor’s device. So whether the website is viewed on a tablet, phone or PC it will always dazzle and look perfect!

Check out the new website at http://www.premierehomesltd.ca/

Also stay tuned this fall for video testimonials from some of Premiere Custom Homes’ satisfied customers!

 

Your Turn!

I’d love to hear your questions or challenges – Tell me in the comments below.

And, if you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Laurel LindsayLaurel Lindsay is a Calgary Internet Marking Consultant & President of The New Media Group Inc. She has over 8 years hands-on Internet Marketing experience.

Laurel is enthusiastic and passionate about helping people live better lives by leveraging the power of the internet.

 

A Digital Entrepreneur’s Manifesto

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digital-entrepreneur-manifesto

A manifesto is a document that outlines your Intentions, Motives and Views

Being a business owner or entrepreneur, freelancer or contractor is inherently a political act.

You have the autonomy to create an economy from your 24 hour day.  You can make real your vision of the world and expand it outwards through your livelihood.

Be the change you wish to see. The world needs what you’ve got.

Now is the most potent time in history to be an entrepreneur.

Powerful reach formerly attainable only by the elite is now available for dollars or for free. The Internet frees you from the restraints of geography and time zone. Whatever reason you have to do the work you do, whatever change you seek to make, you can do it.

Now. Powerfully.

Harness the power of the internet- hire abroad, promote for free, work in your PJS, go viral, correspond with business royalty, automate tedious processes, sell your products.

 Anytime. Anyplace. Online.

No more do you need to be stifled by how it’s always been; top down, 9-5, cubicles, economic uncertainty. Don’t let that dreamer part of you die. It’s time. It’s here. It’s being done.

Working to live not living to work.

The four hour work week.

Laptops and wifi on the beach in paradise.

Say no to mediocrity in work and in life.

Harness the power of the Internet, show the world what you’ve got

—

Your Turn!

I’d love to hear your questions or challenges – Tell me in the comments below.

And, if you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Laurel LindsayLaurel Lindsay is a Calgary Internet Marking Consultant & President of The New Media Group Inc. She has over 8 years hands-on Internet Marketing experience.

Laurel is enthusiastic and passionate about helping people live better lives by leveraging the power of the internet.

 

What is a USP and Why Should You Care?

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what-is-USP

 

 

 

 

 

When people ask me “what I do,” I can respond in two ways:

1. I can say “I have an online training program” and watch their eyes glaze over with boredom.

2. I can say “I help entrepreneurs make money using the Internet!” and watch their faces light up with interest and excitement.

Obviously, I choose option #2. And when you identify a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that makes your prospects sit up and take notice, you’ll generate the same positive response.

Creating your USP

The key to creating a Unique Selling Proposition (a.k.a. an Elevator Pitch) is to look at what you offer from your target audience’s point of view, and speaking to their needs. How can you BENEFIT them? How will you make THEIR lives better? What are THEY concerned about? And just as importantly: WHY are you a better choice than the competition?

Here’s an example using a fictitious dog training company. The company could say “we train dogs” and watch their potential customers yawn. Or, they can say “we help young families keep their sanity by turning problem dogs into family animals with my mobile training and exercise program” and make a positive, immediate impact.

See the difference? Your aim is to WOW people with your USP!

Where Your Opportunity Lies

A market that is not being adequately serviced existing businesses is where your opportunity lies.

To carve out a niche for, you can generally compete with other businesses on any two of these elements: Price, Quality, Delivery.

Competing on price is usually a bad idea, as you have to sell huge volumes in order to make a profit – and you’re vulnerable to getting undercut by a competitor who is willing to sell for less. What’s more, your customers won’t have any loyalty towards you, because you’re providing the cheapest price; not the best solution.

If you can find something in the delivery of your product or service that people will really value, and it isn’t being provided by your competitors, then you’ve got it made!

For example, my clients love that we don’t give them homework! We understand that they’re busy. So while our competitors find new ways to make life complicated and tedious, we pride ourselves on making the entire web design and Internet marketing process extremely EASY. Without a doubt, our ability to make our customers’ lives simple and easy is a major reason why they choose us vs. our competitors.

What’s more, although our prices are reasonable, we aren’t the cheapest – and we don’t try to be. Our customers are more than willing to pay for the value that we provide them. And delivering VALUE is what business is really all about! Can you give customers what they really want, at a price that they’re willing to pay?

Differentiation=Value

During your USP development, you need to find out what it is that you do differently – and better – than your competitors.

Remember: this has to be something that addresses a customer concern that goes beyond the obvious (or else your competitors would already be doing it!). If you’ve done any prospect or customer surveys, this information can usually be found in the answer to this question:

Why haven’t you purchased X yet?

A Simple and Powerful Formula for Creating Your USP

You don’t need to be a marketing expert to create your USP. Here’s a simple and powerful formula to get you moving forward:

“I solve TARGET MARKET’S PROBLEM with my UNIQUE SERVICE to deliver a BENEFIT.”

Or alternatively:

“I deliver BENEFIT to TARGET MARKET by SOLVING THEIR PROBLEM with my UNIQUE SERVICE.”

My company helps ____________________ (Target Market A)

Who ___________________________________(Target Market B)

By_______________________________________(Differentiation A)

To _______________________________________(Differentiation B)

OR:

I ______________________________( Differentiation B)

To ______________________________ (Target Market A)

By _______________________________(Target Market B)

With my ___________________________(differentiation A)

 

Your Turn!

I’d love to hear your questions or challenges – Tell me in the comments below.

And, if you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Laurel LindsayLaurel Lindsay is a Calgary Internet Marking Consultant & President of The New Media Group Inc. She has over 8 years hands-on Internet Marketing experience.

Laurel is enthusiastic and passionate about helping people live better lives by leveraging the power of the internet.

Dr. Kunz – Website Development – A Case Study

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Here’s what we did for Dr. Kenneth Kunz.  And, what he had to say about it:

Dr. Kunz is a Medical Oncologist residing in Victoria, BC. 

Objective: Protect his credibility by creating a professional and comprehensive website. Showcase his credentials, offerings and schedule in order to facilitate booking talks.

Recommendations:

Create a search optimized website, complete with professional photography. Aggregate all information and offerings from existing pdf files, his CV, media outlets etc. Organize them in a manner that would be easy to read and search.

Results:  A website that

  • articulates the core benefits of his work, mission and vision
  • provides comprehensive information on his wide range of talks
  • publishes numerous news sources/articles that discuss his work
  • features an schedule that he could easily update
  • provides a way for site visitors to book him for a lecture

Become Our Next Success Story- Let’s Talk

5 criteria of a successful seo provider

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calgary skylineSEO is the techie acronym for Search Engine Optimization, and SEO Packages are a service that helps optimize your presence on the web in order to display on or near page one of the search engines for particular search terms.

You may have been approached by the big yellow book company preaching the merits of SEO packages, with prices ranging from $300-$3000 a month, but SEO in Calgary doesn’t have to be that expensive.

It’s common knowledge that a page one presence on the search engines is a great way to ensure a steady flow of leads to your website. So obtaining a reliable provider of your SEO packages is recommended, however it may be baffling that there is such a huge variant for SEO packages in Calgary. It can be confusing especially when you don’t understand what is being offered.

With SEO packages, whether you’re in Calgary or around the globe, it’s important to know what is being included and excluded from the package you’re looking at:

Here are 5 elements to consider when you’re shopping for a Calgary SEO provider:

1. Keywords.

a. Amount of keywords targeted aren’t as important as the quality of the keywords targeted. If no one is searching for the key terms your targeting, being on page one will not net you any new business.

b. Should the keywords be popular enough to have a lot of searches, ensure they are words that pertain to the segment of your business you want to grow. Getting traffic for fireplace repair when you sell new fireplaces, for example, doesn’t help your bottom line.

2. Time.

a. How long are they telling you it will take to get page one placement? Some places offer 24 hour turnaround and some offer results in 6 months.

3. Services:

a. Keyword Analysis and Recommendations
b. Site Analysis and Optimization Recommendations (even better if site optimization is included)
c. Google + Local – claim and optimize the page
d. Sync Google + Local with your site
e. Google Adwords Account creation, ad creation and monitoring
f. Reporting
g. Backlink creation – number doesn’t matter more than quality
h. Directory submissions – number doesn’t matter more than quality
i. Blog post creation, optimization
j. Article submissions
k. Tailored Strategy
l. Adaptable to new techniques/technologies

4. Adaptability:

A big downside to many companies that offer SEO packages in Calgary is that they are cookie cutter offerings that don’t factor in the ever-changing state of the web.

For example, there once was a time where you could get on page one of Google without paying a dime, within 24 hours simply by creating a keyword heavy Facebook or Twitter account name.

Now that isn’t the case any longer, but wouldn’t it be nice if your Calgary-based SEO company knew about ALL the factors that play into how your site is ranked, so you can be nimble enough to capitalize on these types of discoveries?

5. Placement:

Are you getting any kind of guarantee of where your website will rank on the search engines. This is one of the most important factors to shopping for an SEO Package in Calgary or elsewhere. Anyone can claim your Google + local page and charge you $300 a month for doing nothing, but will it be optimized enough to show up first in the search results?

 

Want to learn more? Book a complimentary 20 minute consultation with an experienced internet marketing consultant.

 

Your Turn!

I’d love to hear your questions or challenges – Tell me in the comments below.

And, if you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Laurel LindsayLaurel Lindsay is a Calgary Internet Marking Consultant & President of The New Media Group Inc. She has over 8 years hands-on Internet Marketing experience.

Laurel is enthusiastic and passionate about helping people live better lives by leveraging the power of the internet.

 

3 Solutions for Adapting to Mobile Web Design

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mobile web site design calgaryThese days when you’re looking to improve or overhaul your web design, factoring in how it will look to handheld device users may be a factor to consider.

Mobile devices include smart phones and all manner of tablets.

Mobile device usage on your website

According to w3 schools, mobile device usage still accounts for less than 2% of overall web traffic, however in North America and Web Savvy cities like Calgary, these numbers tend to be much higher.

Check out your Google analytics or web traffic statistics to determine what percentage of your audience is on a handheld device when they land on your site. More importantly though, how are they behaving once they get to your website? Do you have a high bounce rate from handheld device users? Are their page views dramatically less than those on laptop or desktop devices?

If your handheld device audience is clearly turned off by your existing website design, and they’re a large percentage of your website visitors, you may want to consider a mobile web design.

That being said, you have 3 different options, with three different prices to address the needs of mobile device users on your website.

Here are 3 different options of mobile web design:

A mobile friendly website: This essentially means your website isn’t offensive or broken to the user. It ensuring your website is scalable and simply displays as a smaller version of itself on devices such as android, iphone, ipad etc.

Addition of a mobile plugin: A great and cost effective option for WordPress websites is a plugin that, when configured correctly, can display a mobile specific version of the website to your visitors. Essentially appearing as a large menu to start, this provides a quick an easy way for your visitors to get to where they want to go on your website. A mobile web design plugin can be installed in a medium sized WordPress website in roughly 10 hours. So, the cost will vary depending on your web designers rates.

Creation of a specifically mobile web design: For businesses with a large stake in the market of mobile users. An option where we create a whole new web design that is geared specifically to the needs of the user. All non-essential content and navigation is stripped down, providing only the required navigation and content that a user will need.

About as expensive as a standard web design, a specifically mobile web design takes into consideration the reduced screen size, and hurried nature of today’s users.

Often, screens will be basically empty except for a link to call, get directions with Google maps or place their order online/sign up.

The mobile web design user experience

Converting casual browsers to sales is typically easier for the retail business and handheld device user, as often the user is en route to purchase the product or service and needs simply to identify what location is the closest and most appropriate for fulfilling the user’s needs.

In this case, often all that is needed is a large phone number or map.

By considering the visitor usage, the 3 different options and the user experience, you can determine the best mobile web design solution for your unique business.

Learn more about web design services.

 

Your Turn!

I’d love to hear your questions or challenges – Tell me in the comments below.

And, if you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Laurel LindsayLaurel Lindsay is a Calgary Internet Marking Consultant & President of The New Media Group Inc. She has over 8 years hands-on Internet Marketing experience.

Laurel is enthusiastic and passionate about helping people live better lives by leveraging the power of the internet.

 

Featured Project: Fine Line Industries Website Overhaul

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“One of my greatest pleasures is replacing an embarrassing, ineffective website with a website that not only looks great but functions well and provides a tangible contribution to my client’s success.” Laurel Lindsay,

web-design-beforeIt was my pleasure to work with Darrel Sneath to redesign his incredibly outdated site (shown on the left ) and provide him with a web design that he can be proud of.

Web Design sure has come a long way since the 90’s. Beyond building an attractive online brochure, we strive to create an online asset which performs several important tasks for our clients.

Typically the most important role a website plays is as a hardworking member of the sales team, however the degree to which it does so depends on if our client wants to grow or maintain the volume of business they’re doing.

In the case of the web design we recently launched for Darrel Sneath of Fine Line Industries, his reputation for quality has his small shop at capacity almost all the time.

So, instead of sending a steady stream of qualified leads from the internet, we took a more conservative approach to Darrel’s online strategy development.

First, for brick and mortar businesses that don’t want to massively increase their sales, a new web design primarily acts as legitimizing factor. This kind of site really delivers by providing the who, what, and why of the business, as well as its products and services, in an informative and professionally presented manner.

The second job of Fine Line’s website is to act as passive part of the sales team; a place where past projects, client testimonials, and all manner of proof of expertise and performance can be found.

The third job of a web design, if resources are optimized, is to function also as a customer service tool.

With this particular web design project, we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to design and develop a site that does all three.

As such, his old web design (pictured below) was doing more harm than good to Darrel’s reputation.

Being so committed to his client’s success often creates a paradox for businesses in the image industry.

Darrel was simply too busy to take on the task of redeveloping his website, and months and years passed before he received the email from his brother Del at Carbon Steel Buildings announcing Del’s new website. (www.carbonsteelbuildings.com)

Darrel ensured he did his due diligence before deciding to work with The New Media Group, contacting several firms before he chose us.

We worked very closely with Darrel to ensure the web design accurately reflected the excellence in quality workmanship he’s known for.

The end result is a web design that is easy to read, and has a highly impactful look and feel. This site also does an incredible job of showcasing Darrel’s work. Lastly, but not least, the staff and clients of Fine Line Industries can save time and headaches emailing large design files, instead uploading them through the client login section.

Darrel got the best value from the experience knowing he was going to get a great final product. “I had high expectations and they were met”

Darrel said he would definitely recommend The New Media Group for anyone looking for help getting their web design to accurately reflect their business.

web-design-after

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Turn!

I’d love to hear your questions or challenges – Tell me in the comments below.

And, if you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Laurel LindsayLaurel Lindsay is a Calgary Internet Marking Consultant & President of The New Media Group Inc. She has over 8 years hands-on Internet Marketing experience.

Laurel is enthusiastic and passionate about helping people live better lives by leveraging the power of the internet.

 

10 Domain Name Registration Do’s and Don’ts

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Successful Internet marketing or website design begins with a few not so sexy details that need to be taken care of first.

domain-name-registration-calgaryOne of these details is domain name registration.

The process is an extremely important, yet often overlooked part of marketing your business online. If you’re new to dealing with it, here is some basic information you should know, including 10 important do’s and don’ts.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is a website address, for example, www.thenewmediagroup.ca.

It’s not a website itself – it’s just the actual name which comes after the “www.” part.

It is essentially the internet equivalent of your business name and you need one in order to have a professional online presence, period.

What is domain name registration?

Domain name registration is the process of purchasing and registering your website address.

You can search for what domains are available through websites called domain registrars.

There are plenty of registrars out there, and like buying anything you want to be careful who you pick.

I personally recommend Godaddy.com because they’ve always provided me with good service.

How does domain name registration work?

You search to see if your domain is available and then you purchase it for a period of time. You will need to pay this fee yearly to stay registered.

They are inexpensive, usually about $20 or so a year.

5 Domain name registration DON’Ts

  1. Don’t pick a name that is an acronym of your business name. No one will remember it
  2. Don’t pick a name that is longer than 15 or so characters
  3. Don’t pick a name with dashes
  4. Don’t pick a .org or .net, unless you’re a not for profit
  5. Don’t let your website designer handle your domain name registration for you unless it states in your contract you own the property rights to everything they do on your behalf.

5 Domain Name Registration DO’S

  1. Do pick a name that’s easy to remember – think in terms of benefits or keywords – we own BESTCALGARYWEBDESIGN.COM for example
  2. Do pick a .com or .ca
  3. When you’re in the process of domain registration, do click the Auto-renew option. This ensures you’ll be automatically billed each year, and won’t risk losing your domain
  4. When you’re in the process of registration, do make sure the email address you input is one you will be able to access in the long term as, you’ll need to access it if you need to make any changes to your website hosting provider
  5. If a web design company is handling your registration for you, do be sure they put you as the Registrant and Administrative contact- this ensures if anything goes wrong with that relationship you can get access to change providers.

Domain name registration privacy

If you don’t choose the privacy option, the billing address your credit card company has on file will be made available to anyone searching to find out who owns your domain.

If you want this information kept private, select the privacy option.

Domain name registration in Canada

When you register a .ca, it’s mandatory to create a CIRA username and password. You’ll get the request via email.

Be sure to keep this information on file. You’ll need it if you want to make changes to your domain name registration.

Your Turn!

I’d love to hear your questions or challenges – Tell me in the comments below.

And, if you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Laurel LindsayLaurel Lindsay is a Calgary Internet Marking Consultant & President of The New Media Group Inc. She has over 8 years hands-on Internet Marketing experience.

Laurel is enthusiastic and passionate about helping people live better lives by leveraging the power of the internet.