Google just announced changes to its Ad Words policies for phone numbers that will impact your budget and ad performance.

Google added a new policy prohibiting advertisers from posting their phone number in the text of the ad. This change is intended to force searchers to click the ad to get the phone number of the business. As things are now, businesses have a pay per click (PPC) budget and rely on a combination of clicks and Free Impressions to get the most bang out of those advertising dollars.

It is quite common for people surfing the web to simply read the phone number off of a pay per click ad and then call the business without ever clicking on the ad. This is what business owners call a Free Impression.

Of course, from Google’s perspective this is not a good thing because the more clicks an ad gets, the more money Google collects from the advertiser.

To enforce this change, any ad submitted with a phone number in the display text will now be held indefinitely (until the phone number is removed).

If you still want to have a phone number connected with the ad, Google will install a little ‘phone’ icon that encourages people to click your ad and reveal the phone number.

With this change, pay per click ad budgets will be eaten up much faster than in the past. Conservative estimates suggest that for every click on an ad, businesses were getting as many as five phone calls from Free Impressions. So what will businesses have to do to get the same ‘juice’ out of their existing pay per click ads? Double, triple or even ten times their previous PPC budget?

And there’s more bad news!

With the growing popularity of mobile devices, Google has given advertisers the option of adding a clickable call button to every PPC ad. With this option, mobile users will be able to call you directly, simply by clicking on your ad.

This sounds like a great idea, until you realize that Google will charge a minimum of $1 for every one of these direct phone calls, plus the cost of the ad click, which ranges from $1 to as much as $8 for highly competitive ads.

These changes are set to take effect in the spring of 2013.

Industrial NetMedia has already filed a complaint with Google. Their response? “The majority of our customers won’t be affected. This will add conversion tracking for phone calls, which is a big benefit to the advertiser.”

Well, if that was true, what would be the point of Google implementing these changes in the first place? Of course advertisers are going to be affected.

What recourse do businesses have?

Let Google know what you think. Here is a link to many methods to contact Google to provide feedback. https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/8206?contact=1&rd=1

Another recourse is to find a way around using Google, which really isn’t an option. As long as the searchers are using Google, businesses will continue to advertise there.

You will have to stop putting your phone number in your pay per click ads and instead direct people to your website, where they can find all of your contact information. This will be a very expensive and inconvenient alternative when your business relies on phone calls for sales.

Until these changes take effect, Industrial NetMedia will continue to use PPC ads as we always have, with phone number available on the display text for the Free Impressions. After that, we will be removing phone number from our PPC ads and advising our clients to do the same.

Bill C-28 deals with the sending of mass emails, and specifically targets those who employ mass emails as a regular marketing technique in business. Although the term spamming comes to mind, there is a legitimate role in mass email marketing that does bring financial benefits to businesses. That being said, Bill C-28, will bring about legislation that will hinder marketing from businesses and can reduce the viability of small businesses.

The forthcoming Act, that will stem from Bill C-28, can bring about a shift in how we do business. But, before we continue, it is important to address the popular position of many in business towards Bill C-28.

Many have used an alarmist approach to this issue, which does not fairly garner a balanced response. Correspondence is circulating with the position that Bill C-28 will bring about regulations that take a "ban-all" approach to commercial electronic messages (CEM) or emails. This is misleading.

The “Ban-all” position is not true, because Bill-C-28 does address what it identifies as, "implied consent", and defines that consent liberally even to the point of placing a time limit. In business, that time limit is two years in order to establish a commercial business relationship that provides consent to send an unsolicited CEM. Although this appears to be restrictive, It is reasonable to assume that many business owners who are emailing clients have a business relationship that has been established within a two year period. The Bill goes so far as protecting that business practice for services, products, subscriptions, investments, goods, land interest, property rights, investments and gaming, even bartering. All these are covered by definition as found in Section 10 of Bill C-28.

Bill C-28 also provides the ability to CEM, where the business doing the communication is an Association, such as the Chamber of Commerce, Political Parties and Charities, and those organizations that have a two year relationship with individuals on a volunteer basis.

It is important the business commuity take a more balanced approach at this forthcoming legislation instead of using the alarmist "ban-all" position.

With the provisions of implied consent, and the requirement of obtaining consent prior to communicating electronically with a prospect, Bill C-28 is at least identifying two legitimate sales practices, while clearly preventing the act of mass emailing prospects based on purchasing data mined from other sources. In this respect Bill C-28 will not actually hurt small business. However, as in many foisted regulations it will force businesses to compliance and in doing so expend capital and resources through changing business practices.

An area that may cause concern is found in the penalty sections of Bill C-28. Specifically, how the Act will dole out punishment. Like many laws it will take time for Canadian businesses to adjust, and like many laws there will be casualties. Specifically the contradiction found in the penalty section of the Bill. Section 20(2) states, "The purpose of a penalty is to promote compliance with this Act and not punish."  After stating that position, we see in Section 20(4), "The maximum penalty for a violation is $1,000,000 in the case of an individual, and $10,000,000 in the case of corporation."  Although these are maximums, the forthcoming Act will leave a great deal of interpretation and power to whomever sits in judgment of the person accused of contravening the Act. It is reasonable to assume that even a penalty of $5,000 can kill some businesses.

The costs to businesses to create policies and procedures to protect themselves from false accusations will be stifling. It will cost in terms of time and resources. It will cost in terms of increased liability insurance. It will cost in terms of decreased marketing efforts. In the end, due to the international nature of the internet the sincere efforts of the Canadian parliament will not solve the original problem, the proliferation of spam.

Bill C-28 should be looked at from a financial perspective. When the root of most decisions is usually driven by money, what is the financial motivation for this bill? A simple look at the fundamentals of the situation, reveal a possible motive. Marketing for business is a revenue generator for many major corporations. Facebook and Google are great measures of how big this industry is. Their model is to gain profit from advertising. Until now, there has been no way for government to gain any revenue or tax from email. The choices for the government to gain revenue from email advertising would be to license and tax CEM or regulate and penalize. The first step in this process would be to regulate through bill C-28 then at some date in the future, apply licensing to gain revenue. You can see this already in motion. There will be a public outcry over C-28, that says we still need email as a form of marketing. This will pave the road to implement licensing on email advertising to avoid penalties.

Ever felt like you had to travel to Edmonton to find a decent restaurant? Did you know there are (at last count) 64 restaurants in Leduc, offering a variety of elegant, fast food, casual and ethnic dining options?

And those numbers are increasing! A brand new Harvey’s just opened up on 50 Street (in the Sobeys parking lot). Cora Breakfast and Lunch opened this summer next to the Shoppers Drug Mart and Leduc Common has added several new restaurants in the past year or so.

What’s the easiest way to keep up with Leduc’s ever growing ‘menu’ of restaurants? www.leducrestaurants.com is a brand new directory that lists all of our city’s restaurants. Listings include food style, menu items, contact info and links to the restaurant’s website and Google map location. Sort the list by name or cuisine to speed up your search on this mobile-friendly website.

www.leducrestaurants.com also includes restaurants from Nisku and from the Edmonton International Airport.

Whatever you’re hungry for, find it at www.leducrestaurants.com

Don’t see your restaurant in our directory? Visit www.leducrestaurants.com to add your listing or to inquire about advertising opportunities in this directory.

Are you planning to hire more staff in the coming months? Have you noticed that it’s becoming more difficult to find qualified applicants for open positions within your company?

The Alberta government is predicting an increased demand for trades people, labourers, oil & gas workers, electricians, machinists and miners over the next several years.

In fact, the province is anticipating a shortage of about 7,000 workers across all industries in 2013 and an accumulated shortfall of about 114,000 workers by 2021.

A number of factors are expected to contribute to this predicted shortfall, including continuing economic growth, increased global energy requirements and the loss of retiring baby boomers from the job market.

Businesses can’t enjoy all the benefits of economic growth in this province if they don’t have enough workers to do all the jobs required.

Consider this:

• The number of employed Albertans is projected to increase by 206,300 between 2012 and 2015
• Labour supply pressures in the oil sands are expected to increase
• The demand for supervisors across all industries is expected to be above average in the coming years
• Alberta’s unemployment rate was sitting at 4.5% in October 2012 and expected to drop further in 2013.
• In 2006, 10.7% of Albertans were aged 65 or older. By 2026, it is expected that 17.9% of Albertans will be aged 65 or older.

The good news is, migration to Alberta from other provinces and countries is also expected to increase over the next few years as the unemployed come here seeking jobs and the already-employed come in search of higher paying jobs.

Is your company prepared?

• To replace retiring veterans with younger workers who don’t have the same experience and skill levels?
• To capitalize on the influx of people who will be coming to Alberta in search of jobs?
• With strategies that will inspire loyalty in your existing employees to keep them from being lured away to other companies?

Act, don’t react.

Get ahead of the game by planning today for your future employment needs with innovative online business products from Industrial NetMedia.

HR Director helps streamline your human resources department. Keep up with your employees – past, present and future. Capture and process new applications directly on your website. Easily track and organize work crews. Access complete employee files, including certifications, training schedules and performance records. Plus HR Director is fully integrated with your business website.

ShiftShaper lets you take control of your employees’ schedules, while complying with union rules about rescue crews and finding replacements for workers who are sick, late or on vacation.

SafetySpot and EduSpot make it easy to set up customized training, safety and orientation courses to bring new employees up to speed with your company policies and procedures. Courses are set up online so they can be accessed anywhere you have an Internet connection. Employees don’t have to be sent out for training courses, saving you time and money!

To learn more about any of INM’s online business products, check out our website at www.inmca.com or call 780-739-5850.

Let us introduce you to The INM Insider a quarterly update from Industrial NetMedia!

What’s happening at INM? Let us tell you about some exciting projects we are working on, introduce you to some great new websites we’ve designed and share what we’ve learned about the latest industry trends.

SiteBuilder Tools

Do you know how to edit your website? INM’s custom SiteBuilder Tools is one of the most user-friendly website editing tools in existence. We ought to know ’cause that’s how we designed it! Keeping your website fresh and up to date is vital, but often neglected because website administrators are sometimes intimidated or afraid to mess up the code on their website. Some websites editors are simply too complicated for the average website administrator to master.

SiteBuilder Tools, on the other hand, is as easy to use as any word processor. SiteBuilder Tools training is included when you have INM build your new website. During training, we show you how to use the web page editor, add and delete pages from the website menu, insert pictures, videos and links – we even tell you what to do if you make a mistake!

Do you know how to get help?

We recently installed a comprehensive SiteBuilder Tools Help menu on all of our websites. Here you’ll find step by step instructions for completing almost any editing task on your website. Of course, you can still call INM for extra assistance if you get stuck. We’re always glad to help. In fact, if you have new people in your office who aren’t familiar with SiteBuilder Tools, call INM today to book a training session – 780-739-5850.

Trends in Technology

How does your website look on a tablet or cell phone? Responsive vs. Mobile Design is the latest topic of discussion among bloggers. It references the growing number of people who access the Internet exclusively through their mobile devices, which of course, have smaller screens than laptops or desktop computers. Websites built for laptops and desktops, with lots of text and pictures and complicated coding, don’t function nearly as well on smaller devices. The main point of discussion centres on whether it’s better to go with a dedicated mobile website – which will probably require you to have two websites – or with a responsive web design that adapts itself according to the screen size on the device you are using.

INM is taking the lead on this issue by building responsive formatting into all of our websites so our clients can be confident their websites will look good and function well no matter what device they are viewed on.

This topic is explored more fully in a recent INM blog post – (blog url coming Thursday)

Insider Tip of the Month

If you find it daunting to keep up with all of your business’s social media sites, save some time by setting up Cross Posting. This means you can have your Facebook updates posted to Twitter and your tweets automatically posted to your Facebook page. Two posts for the price of one? Sounds like a great deal!

In Facebook, go to the admin panel, choose Edit Page then Update Info and Resources. Under the heading Connect with People find Link Your Page to Twitter.

In Twitter, find the head icon in the upper right corner, click the arrow and choose Settings, then Profile. Find Facebook and follow the directions.

Of course, if you are an avid updater and understand how to use Twitter, you should keep them separate and make unique posts to each. This will make higher quality Tweets.

Recently Launched Websites

We love to brag about your new great-looking websites! Check out some of our favourites from the past few months:

Alberta Heater Sales & Service

Alberta Mobile Power Service

Cast Perfect Products Inc.

Wilhauk Beef Jerky

Fort McMurray Victim Services

Leduc West Antique Society

Products under development

Rig Management System. We are currently working on a Rig Management System that can be fully integrated with your website. This system will accept online employee applications and can integrate with employee tracking systems, training courses, rig assignments and rig profiles. Accessible remotely with a fluid, easy to use design, INM's Rig Management System can become an industry standard.

In our next issue …

Have you heard about Bizoogle?

Bizoogle is a free business directory and search engine currently under development right here in Leduc! Learn more in the next edition of The INM Insider, coming in January 2013.

To discuss your project ...

Please contact Brian K. Hahn, Accounts Manager at Industrial NetMedia
brianh@inmca.com
780-739-5850
#206, 5904 - 50 Street; Leduc, AB; T9E 0R6

Do you know how your business website appears on mobile devices?

How important is it to have a website that functions as well on mobile devices as it does on lap tops and desk top computers?

According to recent statistics from Pew Internet (June 26, 2012), 55% of adult cell phone owners in America use their phones to go online at least occasionally. The same study found that 31% of those cell phone Internet users go online almost exclusively using their cell phones – and that number is growing fast!

The convenience and portability promised by the first cellular phones, released in 1983, have finally been delivered by today’s mobile devices that have features, coverage and even battery life that few could have imagined 30 years ago.

As cellular technology improved so did signal quality, making mobile phones more practical for regular use in an ever increasing number of locations around the world. Then came texting, GPS and data plans, smart phones and tablets with touch screens. Today a growing number of people rely solely on their mobile devices for phone calls and texting, business calendar, camera, games and books and access to the Internet.

Like it or not, mobile devices have arrived and they are here to stay.

So what can you do to ensure your website appeals to visitors (and search engines) no matter what device is used to access it?

There are two main schools of thought on this issue:
1. Businesses should develop separate websites for desktop devices and mobile devices – including repurposed content and smaller pictures more suitable for mobile
2. Businesses should develop websites that automatically reformat themselves depending on which device is being used. This is known as responsive website design

Mobile sites
Creating a separate website for mobile devices seems like the obvious answer for businesses that want to appeal to mobile users. With a dedicated mobile site, content, pictures and design are optimized for smaller screens and the interactive features of mobile devices, such as touch screens and click to call directly from a website. Having a dedicated mobile website can really benefit certain types of businesses where clients are most likely to want immediate and direct interaction for things like movie listings, restaurant reservations, book downloads and online ordering.

However, developing two websites raises the cost significantly, as well as increasing the amount of time required to properly update and maintain both sites.
Another consideration is that if you have two different websites, your ‘link juice’ will be divided between them, making both weaker in the eyes of the search engines. Back links are one of the most important factors that search engines like Google consider when ranking your website so you want to squeeze every possible bit of ‘juice’ out of those valuable links.
And just as important, users don’t want to feel like they are missing something by using a stripped down version of the ‘real’ website.
What users want is the full website experience on any device they choose to use, whether that’s a laptop, desktop, tablet or smart phone.

Responsive websites
As the name implies, responsive websites are built to automatically reformat themselves for particular devices. What happens is, the website developer sets up parameters that determine the layout of the web pages depending on the screen size. So the web page displays a certain way on your laptop, reformats itself when you bring it up on a tablet and then again when you access the same website on your smart phone. Responsive design even adapts to the horizontal or vertical orientation of your device.
Reformatting can involve a lot of different things: moving and truncating menus, hiding photos and changing text layout, for example.
There are many benefits to using responsive design, starting with the money and time you save by developing and maintaining one website, rather than two.
Responsive design is better for the search engines as it reduces duplicate content, doesn’t dilute your link ‘juice’ and is preferred by Google.

One major downside of responsive websites is that the pages are often larger and load slower on mobile devices. Users expect pages to load quickly and won’t wait around long if they don’t. Web developers have to keep this in mind, taking advantage of new technology like HTML5 to design responsive websites that work well on both large screens and smaller screens and also accommodate the interactive nature of mobile devices.

Mobile first
From the beginning, the idea of responsive design has been to downsize a ‘regular’ website to fit the smaller screens of mobile devices. However, some web developers have recently started promoting the idea of mobile first, which basically means designing a mobile website and expanding it to fit larger screens rather than the other way around.
Mobile first makes mobile design a priority rather than an afterthought, according to Brad Frost, a blogger and speaker who has done extensive research on responsive vs. mobile design.
“This mental shift in design strategy has designers wire-framing, Photoshopping, prototyping and presenting on small screens first (rather) than trying to cram large, complex desktop designs onto small screens,” Frost wrote in a recent blog post.
“Mobile first styling results in smaller, more maintainable and easier-to-read code.”
Blogger Josh Byers puts it this way:
“It’s the idea that you are not building a web page anymore but rather a ‘network of content’ that can be arranged and displayed to show it off in the best way possible, no matter where it is being viewed. We should start designing for the mobile device and its constraints and then allow the site to grow.”

Mobile first also refers to an entire generation of people who primarily access the Internet through mobile devices.
“One of the most potent facts here is … that many users will likely only ever see the mobile version of your site. That’s an astounding revelation, isn’t it?”
– J. Johnson (March 13, 2012)

With all of the arguments surrounding responsive and dedicated mobile websites, everyone seems to agree on one thing: improving the overall user experience has to be the priority because if users don’t have a good experience with a particular website, they will leave and they likely won’t be back.
Industrial NetMedia is taking the lead on this issue by building responsive formatting into all of the websites we develop. Dedicated mobile websites are also available if clients want to go that route. By choosing to work with INM, our clients will find that their websites work well on all types of devices.

The ability to communicate using sophisticated language is what sets us apart from the animals. We begin using language before we can actually speak and by the time we hit Kindergarten, most of us have a fairly impressive vocabulary and are certainly capable of using those words to get almost anything we want.

So why is it that communication between intelligent adults can sometimes be so difficult?

Somewhere between learning to talk and taking our first steps into the working world, we realize that everything we say will not always be greeted with praise and adulation. We also learn that expressing our ideas and opinions opens us up to criticism so we compensate, either by speaking less or by speaking louder.

Considering that the design team is mainly made up of communications professionals and that the website is itself a communications tool that will be used by the client to ‘talk’ to her customers, communication issues on such projects should be fairly minimal, right?

Well, not exactly. Like true love, the course of a website development project doesn’t always run smoothly from beginning to end.

Good communication between the client and the design team is essential to ensuring the final product looks and functions as the client intended and is something all involved can be proud to put their names on.

Job #1

When it comes to developing a website, there will be things the client knows or does best and certain things that can best be accomplished by the design team. So, the first step is to establish “who needs to do what”, so the project can proceed efficiently.

The client is the expert on her business. She knows her industry, customers and products. She has all the practical details that are so important, like contact info, hours of operation and specific services offered.

The client also has to tell the design team her preferences in terms of colours, styles and other websites that she likes or does not like.

In the end, the website represents her and her business, so the client is responsible for the information and graphics that are published. She needs to be confident that the website is properly branded to her business and does not contain any false information or project an image she does not like or that she disagrees with.

The more information the client can provide up front, the easier it will be for the design team to create the website she wants. Better to offer more information than necessary and let the design team whittle it down. Otherwise your website may end up being little more than an expensive online business card.

The design team consists of at least one project manager, programmer, web developer, graphic designer and copy writer. Each member of the design team has his own area of expertise and they work together to develop the best website possible within the scope of the project. While the client will own the website, the design team also has a stake in the finished product and certainly wants to create something to be proud of.

For the process to move along smoothly, the client has to step back and let the design team do its job. She has to remember that she hired them for their expertise in web development.

As for the design team, they have to keep in mind that the client ultimately owns the website and has the final say when there are decisions to be made.

Keep the lines open

Communication is vital throughout the website development process. If the design team stops consulting with the client, the website can easily veer off in a direction she doesn’t like or agree with. If the client stops responding to the team’s requests for feedback and further information, frustration can quickly set in as the development process grinds to a halt.

The important thing is for the team and the client to keep talking. When communication breaks down and things start to go wrong, it can be easy to forget that everyone involved has the same goal: to create an amazing website both client and design team will be proud to put their names on.

Tips for clients:

• When it comes to designing a business website, there is literally no limit to the things you can do and the ways they can be done. Because of this, it is very easy for the scope of a project to expand beyond the original plan. To guard against cost overruns, you need to be very clear with the design team about what you want your website to look like and what your website goals are.
• Frequently Asked Questions are a great tool for developing content for your website. Come up with a list of questions that you know your customers ask you all the time, answer them and provide that information to the design team. Consider having an FAQ page on your website as this is great for helping improve your site ranking on the search engines. FAQs are naturally rich in key words and phrases that people use when searching for your products and services on line.
• It is vital to have strong graphic images and compelling photos on your website. You can take your own photos of various aspects of your business: staff, buildings, products, equipment, clients, etc. In some cases, it makes sense to hire a professional photographer to make sure your photos are top quality. If there are certain graphics you want on your site, you can inquire about the cost of having your design team create them for you. Photos and graphics can also be purchased from online sources, such as istock.com. Remember that copyright laws do apply to graphics and images found in the Internet. When you download images from the Internet, there is no guarantee the photos will be of good enough quality to use on your website.
• Before talking to the design team, take time to surf the web. Look at competitors’ websites along with others and really think about what it is you like and don’t like about them. Take notes and write down website addresses. Bring this information to the design team as it will help when they start to develop your website.
• Ask questions! There are no stupid questions. Better to ask than wish you had. Things left unsaid or questions left unasked can create problems later in the process.

Tips for Design Team:

• Be sure to take notes at every client meeting, write down what is agreed upon and also save all e-mail correspondence. That way you will have written documentation of the project scope and also a list of everything you need to do for this particular website. You may think you’ll remember everything that’s talked about, but you won’t!
• Don’t hesitate to ask for what you need from the client and ask questions if something is unclear. Better to get everything straight from the start than being forced to back track because the project started moving in the wrong direction.
• Keep the tech talk to a minimum to avoid boring the client or scaring her away with confusing jargon. That doesn’t mean you should patronize or talk down to the client either.
• Don’t do all the talking. Listen to the client and give her time to think and respond to your questions.

Tips for both client and design team:

• Set a realistic timetable and a deadline for going live and try to stick to it.
• Be understanding if there are delays. Things happen – people get sick, people get busy, machines and cars break down … Sometimes deadlines have to be pushed. There’s no point stressing about it if there are legitimate reasons for the delay.
• Agree on a communication timetable. Set a regular time when the client can expect an update on the progress of her website, whether it’s once or twice a week or Monday mornings at 10 a.m.
• Answer e-mails and return phone calls as soon as possible.

Is it really THAT important for your website, blogs and social media pages to be free of grammar and spelling errors?
After all, it seems that very few people on the Internet even bother trying to use the correct terminology, spelling, tense or punctuation in their status updates, posts, blogs or even online ads!
Actually, that’s a good enough reason right there! You can stand out from the crowd, just by dubble checking your spelling and grammar before posting something online.
The sad reality is, people don’t generally notice good spelling and grammar, but they almost certainly notice when you get it wrong.
How many times have you been reading a blog or someone’s Facebook post and given up completely because it was just so confusing, unclear and rittled with mistakes? Or pointed out those mistakes to everyone in the vicinity so you could all share the joke about someone’s really bad typo?
Everyone makes the occasional typo. No one is exempt from that rule!
Plus, everyone has certain words or grammar rules that they continually struggle with, whether it’s remembering the difference between it’s and its or forgetting when exactly i before e applies or never knowing when words starting with w require an h, we all have something that trips us up.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to get it right more often than not.
Think about that last post you read that was full of errors. How quickly did you lose all faith in the writer’s credability? After the first error? The fifth? The fifteenth?
At what point did you just give up and move on to the next article, realizing that whatever information you might gain was simply not worth the effort of trying to decipher the actual meaning behind the words?

Tips for getting it right:

• Use spell check. But remember that spell check doesn’t know everything. For example, there are differences between US and Canadian spellings – and spell check is often American!
• Also keep in mind that spell check may not help if you use the wrong word but spell it correctly, such as with compliment and complement. These two words look alike and sound alike but have very different meanings. (When someone compliments you, they are telling you how great you are. When someone complements you, it means you work well together.)
• Look up words you don’t know before using them. www.dictionary.com is a quick way to check the definition and spelling of a particular word
• Take the time to figure out what all those squiggly green and red lines in your copy actually mean. You don’t always have to do what spell check/grammar check says, but it’s a good idea to see if they might have some good suggestions to improve your writing
• Get someone else to proofread your copy. There comes a time when you really can’t see the forest for the trees, so to speak. A fresh perspective and a fresh set of eyes is always welcome
• Don’t try to impress people by using big, fancy words or complicated sentence structure. Just be yourself. Try to write like you talk.
• Avoid speaking in the passive voice. Instead, use active sentences. Consider the difference between saying ‘The phone was answered by Bob’ and ‘Bob answered the phone’.
• Trim the fat! As much as you probably love the sound of your own voice, you would do well to remember the expression ‘Less is more’. When it comes to writing, it usually pays to keep things succinct.
• Edit your work. The secret to great writing is actually re-writing. And then re-writing some more!

Like it or not, grammar and spelling do matter. People judge the value of your message by the words you use and how you use them, whether it’s a Facebook status update, an ad campaign or an e-mail to a client.
Still don’t believe it? What went through your mind when you noticed the spelling errors in the above article?
For the record, this writer does know how to spell double, riddled and credibility.

INM is an Edmonton Web Development company with a focus on Internet Marketing, Social Media and Search Engine Optimization. We also specialize in Website Rescue and Redesign, taking old, tired or outdated websites and bringing them back to life.
 

"You can have the best product or service in the world, but if people don't buy - it's worthless. So in reality it doesn't matter how wonderful your new product or service is. The real question is - will they buy it?" - Noel Peebles

As a business owner, you likely spend a lot of time thinking about the financial health of your company. Can you cover your costs? Will you make any kind of profit this month? Is there room in the budget for a much-needed capital investment?

What you need to realize is, your customers don’t think about those things. Nor should they be concerned about your bottom line or the future of your business. In fact, when businesses fail, the first thing most consumers want to know is if they can score some of the merchandise or equipment at rock bottom prices.

A consumer is defined as one who consumes or one who acquires goods and services for his own personal needs. By their very nature, consumers are selfish beings, focused on their own immediate needs and wants. In other words, the main question on the mind of a consumer when considering any kind of purchase is: “What’s in it for me?
“If I plunk down a portion of my hard-earned money, what will I get in return?”

It’s your job to convince the consumer that he will get better products, service and value by doing business with you than he will anywhere else.

So how does any of this apply to your business website?

Mike Kuefler from Industrial NetMedia, a website marketing and SEO company in Leduc, says a website visitor will decide in about three seconds whether the website he is looking at will give him what he needs. If the home page is confusing or unattractive, if he can’t easily find what he’s looking for, if the site looks old or contains obviously outdated information or if the links just seem to go in circles, that visitor will be gone and he won’t likely be back.

In addition, by leaving your site so quickly he has told the search engines your site is not relevant. Google keeps track of those ‘bounces’ and counts them against your website. Too many bounces can result in a reduced ranking on the search engine pages.

Look at your website from the perspective of a customer.
• Is it easy to navigate? Do all the links work? Are the buttons and links highly visible? Do the links help your visitor find what he is looking for?
• Is the most important information easy to find? Are the menu items clearly labelled? Is your phone number or other contact information prominently displayed? Is all the information on your website current – especially on the home page?
• Does your home page information tell your visitors exactly what you are selling and why they should buy it from you? Is your home page content compelling, persuasive, readable and interesting?

If you want your website to do its job – which is to draw visitors and convert them into paying customers – you need to stop thinking like a business owner and start looking at your website from the perspective of an impatient consumer whose main concern is WIIFM?

Industrial NetMedia is an Edmonton Web Design company that specializes in Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Social Media. For more information or to arrange a free consultation, please call 780-739-5850 or visit www.inmca.com

Know someone who needs a business website?

Refer a friend to Industrial NetMedia and play a round on us at Leduc Golf Club.

Until August 31, 2012, if you bring us a new client, we'll present you with two passes good for 18 holes of golf each plus a power cart rental at Leduc Golf Club!

And hey, if that new client happens to be you, that works, too!

At Industrial NetMedia, we build above par websites that don’t cost a lot of green.

When it comes to Internet Marketing, social media and search engine optimization, we’re the real Pros.

We’ll build you a great-looking website and then use our expertise to make sure it can be found by Google and the other search engines. And we don’t stop there! We’ll make sure to give those who visit your website a compelling reason to hang around for a while and learn more about your products and services.

INM also specializes in Website Rescue and Redesign, which means we’ll take your old, tired, outdated or ugly website and bring it back to life.

Contact INM before August 31, 2012 and quote promo code 4653 to qualify for this promotion

When it comes to Website Design and Search Optimization, you get what you pay for.

It’s a cliché because it’s true.

As more and more businesses realize their need for some kind of online presence, the number of options is also increasing exponentially. Smart business owners do their homework and consider the pros and cons of professional web design versus template or DIY options and even social media pages.

Weigh all your options

Do-it-yourself or template web sites are a much cheaper option than professionally designed web sites. Do-it-yourself means finding an online service that walks you through the process of creating your own website.

The problem here is, you should probably have at least a passing knowledge of computer language, html and other computer code or you could be in for a frustrating time of it.

A template website service gives you a predesigned site where you just plug in your info, maybe choose your colours and upload a few images.

The downside is the very definition of a template website means your options are limited and your website may end up looking almost identical to someone else’s. In fact, if you choose a popular template design, you could find there are a lot of websites out there that look almost exactly like yours.

But if being unique isn’t something you care about, then a template website could be a good option for you.

What will all those savings really cost your business?

So you manage to get your brand new DIY or template website up and running, but then what?

How will people find your website?

How do you know if your home page is compelling enough to make visitors want to contact you or buy your product?

Do you know how to track website visitors?

What if something goes wrong?

When considering a template or DIY website, you need to think carefully about who will be hosting your site and what kind of support services they offer, especially if your computer skills are limited. Is your host available by phone or online chat any time of the day or night to help you figure out why your site won’t load? If not, can you afford to be without a website for hours, days or even weeks if they don’t respond to your request for help right away?

Another thought on this topic … How much is it worth to you to deal with real people you can talk to one on one, rather than some faceless Internet entity?

Where do you rank?

If you’re looking at getting your own website, you’ve probably heard the term SEO, but do you know what it means? SEO – Search Engine Optimization – is all about making your website attractive to the search engines, like Google, Bing and Yahoo. Those search engines scan web pages using algorithms that determine how those pages will rank when someone types certain key words into the search bar. Professional web designers and SEO copywriters take the time to research key words and phrases particular to your products and services and then use those words when they develop the content for your website. While no one can guarantee you a #1 search page ranking, proper use of SEO can make the difference between having your site show up on page one or page three or page 10 of a search result.

And SEO is only one component of your overall Internet Marketing plan, which could include social media, online ads, blogs and link building.

Location, location, location

When you set up your new website, it will have an address or domain name. You may also hear it called a ‘url’. Your domain name should be fairly short, easy to remember and use words naturally associated with your business, products and services. When you hire a professional web design company, their experts will work with you to get the best possible domain name for your website. If you use a template or DIY website, your options will be limited and you may even have to include the host’s url as part of your website address. For example, www.johnsautoservice.randomwebhosts.com. Not only do you end up with a weak domain name that will potentially direct visitors to your host instead of you, it’s a painfully long web address for people to type in.

It’s all in the numbers

Analytics is another one of those mysterious Internet terms that people throw around, but not everyone really understands. The good news is, professional web design companies have people who DO understand analytics and can make sense of all that data and statistical information. What analytics comes down to is tracking the number of people who visit your website and how long they spend on your site or looking at any particular page. Analytics can also tell you how well your site is ranking on the search engines and identify problem areas for you to address. For example, maybe you aren’t ranking well for one particular key word but a different phrase is doing better than expected. With this information, you can adjust the content, improve your search engine ranking and draw more visitors to your website.

A word about social media pages

What do Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and the others have in common? They are all great ways to advertise your business and draw visitors to your website at virtually no cost to you! But they are no substitute for an actual website, dedicated solely to your business.

Another benefit of choosing a professional web designer is that they can help you create great-looking social media profile pages and even design a variety of apps to complement them.

Other web site extras you can talk to a professional web designer about include e-commerce solutions, members-only pages, photo galleries, lead captures, blogs and links.

Being a business owner is all about balancing costs and benefits; weighing money saved against time spent and potential profits lost or gained. A template or DIY website might appear to be cheaper but you will probably have to settle for a lower quality product and could end up paying a lot more in the long run when you factor in the time and stress of building and maintaining your own website.

Let the professionals at Industrial NetMedia in Leduc take the guesswork out of your online marketing plan. Call 780-739-5850 or visit www.inmca.com today to book your free consultation.

The withdrawal of IRP* 16 has created some concern among companies in the oil and gas industry that the safety orientations they have invested so much time and money in will now have to be completely re-written to meet a new set of standards.

According to Roy McKnight, Manager of Initiatives with Enform, that is simply not the case.

Enform, the safety association for Canada’s upstream oil and gas industry, works with six industry partners to help companies achieve their safety goals – the Canadian Association of Geophysical Contractors (CAGC), the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors (CAODC), the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA), Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC) and the Small Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (SEPAC).

McKnight said IRP 16 was originally developed in 2001 as a guideline to provide the oil and gas industry with information on Basic Industry Safety Orientation Programs, which outlined what good organizations should be doing regarding the orientation of new, young and inexperienced workers. The idea was to use the information in IRP 16 as a guideline during the development of general safety orientation programs, keeping in mind that provincial and federal OHS regulations would always take precedence. It was hoped companies would use IRP 16 and co-operate on their safety orientations so contractors and employees wouldn’t be forced to re-learn the same basic safety information over and over again.

As McKnight explained it, the IRP 16 document got too specific and too complicated and was debated endlessly before it was finally rolled out in 2003. IRP 16 was more than 100 pages long and “very, very detailed” McKnight said, with many “requirements”. He added that much of the information was so specific that it only applied in certain situations, yet there was nothing in the document to clarify that point.

In the end, he said, many companies weren’t following the IRP 16 guidelines anyway, simply because the document was too long, too complicated and too detailed.  On the other hand, he added, some companies were using IRP 16 as if it was to be adhered to and followed above provincial and federal OHS regulations. IRP 16 was never intended to supersede those regulations, McKnight stressed, it was always meant to be merely a guide.

When IRP 16 came up for its regular review in 2009, the first question asked was whether the document was continuing to meet its intended purpose. When the answer was a rather resounding no, the Industry Working Group decided it was time to withdraw IRP 16 and replace it with a much simpler document that would clarify the original purpose.

McKnight explained that it wasn’t enough to simply update IRP 16, a full-scale change was required. For starters, he said, the very name – Industry Recommended Practices – was misleading. The replacement document is called simply what it is: a General Safety Orientation Guideline.

In just 28 pages, the GSO Guideline clearly describes the requirements of General Safety Orientation programs. “It’s shorter, clearer and reflects the western Canadian OHS requirements and nothing more,” McKnight said.

Responding to concerns about existing safety and orientation programs, McKnight said a review process is in the works and will be released by the end of 2012. Companies will be able to submit their existing general safety orientation programs electronically.

McKnight noted that a list of self-reviewed and declared programs will no longer be maintained. He also added that Enform will not be reviewing third party developed orientation programs as the employer is responsible for the accuracy of the content and for making sure all employees have successfully completed the general safety orientation. Because of that reality, it is the company that must submit its own general safety orientation for review.

IRP 16 was actually one of about 24 industry recommended practices that have been developed by industry and administered by Enform. McKnight said the Drilling and Completion IRPs are all very technical documents, on specific topics such as critical sour drilling, minimum wellhead requirements and snubbing operations. They are also regularly reviewed and updated, he said, but at this time there are no plans to withdraw any of those IRPs.

In the end, McKnight said, it is hoped that the GSO Guideline will accomplish what IRP 16 couldn’t – assist companies in developing general safety orientation programs for their new, young and inexperienced employees and allow more widespread co-operation among companies and recognition of commonalities in orientation programs, which will help reduce redundancies.

Ian McCabe, a Certified Health and Safety Consultant who provides on site safety training for oil and gas companies across Alberta, is concerned that the issues that plagued IRP 16 won’t be resolved with this new document.

“What I don’t see here is a willingness for each sector to accept each other’s certificates,” McCabe said. “A worker could still end up having to do three of these courses.”

He added that even though the GSO Guideline clearly states that the oil and gas industry recognizes the Petroleum Industry Training program (PST), the Construction Safety Training System (CSTS) and the Pipeline Construction Safety Training Course (PCST) as approved general safety orientation programs, some individual companies are still unwilling to recognize certain of these certificates. For example, he said, company A might insist on all their workers having CSTS certification, while others will only accept PST certification.

“There’s never going to be a standard if they don’t co-operate,” McCabe said.

GSO was officially released as of January 1, 2012, but it is still somewhat in process, McKnight said. Over the next several months Enform and its partners will roll out a marketing plan to explain and promote the GSO Guideline, complementary tools to allow for adoption of the GSO Guideline and an equivalency process for those companies with existing robust general safety orientation programs.

* An IRP (industry recommended practice) is a set of guidelines developed and prepared by government and industry experts to offer advice to management and operators in the oil and gas industry.

For more information on the GSO Guideline or to find out how you can get your own custom safety courses online, contact SafetySpot at 780-739-5850 or visit the SafetySpot website.

Love it or hate it, Facebook’s new Timeline format is great for business pages! It’s visual, it’s easy to use and there are a lot of unique ways you can use it to promote your organization.

Plus, Timeline generated a buzz of renewed interest in Facebook at a time when some users were maybe starting to get bored with this particular social network.

For business owners, your Facebook Timeline page is like having a big interactive ad promoting your company 24 hours a day, much like your website.

Unlike your website, your Facebook Timeline page is extremely dynamic and can be redesigned daily, with input from you, your clients and your fans with every comment and picture posted.

But let’s back up a little.

The first step in creating a successful Facebook business page is to design or post a compelling cover photo. The cover photo is the first thing people see when they visit your business page. It should be an image that people will remember, one that draws the eye and speaks to the heart of your business. Remember, your cover photo image can’t have any obvious sales pitches (like us to win, save 50%, get a great deal, etc.) but it can contain your logo or words pertaining to your business. It can be one strong image or a collage of pictures.

The next step is to go to the admin panel and click ‘Manage’ so you can adjust your settings and permissions, as well as filling in the basic information about your company. Don’t forget to upload a profile picture. This is the image that will appear every time you make a post, upload a picture, comment on someone else’s post, etc.

Also under ‘Manage’ you can add and delete administrators and manage your apps.

Spend some time looking around this part of your page. You might be surprised at some of the interesting and useful things you find.

While you’re on the admin page, take note of the ‘Messages’ field. This is where people can send private messages, rather than posting them on your public page.

The key to getting the most out of Facebook for your business is to keep your content and your page fresh by:

1. Posting regular comments, updates and photos
2. Encouraging friends and fans to add their comments and photos to your page and share posts from your site with their friends.

What exactly does ‘regular’ mean?

You don’t have to be on Facebook every hour of the day, but you should be updating your status daily. You should spend some time checking out other people’s FB pages and making comments of your own a few times a week. You should definitely respond to any comments, questions or messages posted to your page as soon as possible, just like you would any other e-mail or phone message. To be sure you don’t miss anyone, go to ‘Your Settings’ and set up automatic notifications to be sent to your e-mail whenever someone posts, comments or sends a message to your page.

What should your posts look like?

It’s tempting to use your status updates to advertise your products and services, but if people just feel they are being ‘sold to’ all the time, they will quickly lose interest in your page.

Better to provide interesting tips and information related to your products and services without actually selling all the time.

In fact, the best way to promote your business is to get a conversation going that draws people to your Facebook page and keeps them there for a time.

If people like your posts and your Facebook page, they will remember you the next time they need what you are selling.

This doesn’t mean you can’t advertise upcoming sales or promote aspects of your business on Facebook, you just shouldn’t do it with every post.

The biggest downside of the Timeline format is the loss of the so called ‘fan-gate’ welcome page that allowed you to offer incentives to visitors to encourage them to like your Facebook page. Of course, you can still try and encourage people to like your page, but the big draw of the fan-gate was that the visitor had to click ‘like’ to gain entry to your main page. It almost made you feel like you’d joined an exclusive club.

Without the fan-gate, you are forced to become much more creative in finding ways to earn ‘likes’ and get people talking about your page.

The upside is, the welcome page you already have doesn’t have to be discarded, it can be converted into an informative app that visitors to your Facebook page can view whenever they want.

Take advantage of Facebook’s built-in options to make certain posts stand out.

‘Pin to top’ keeps one post at the very top of your Timeline. Only one post can be pinned at a time and it only lasts for seven days, but it is a good way to promote upcoming sales or other events. Of course, you can ‘re-pin’ an item if you really want to keep it at the top longer than a week.

‘Highlight’ stretches a post across both Timeline columns. More than one post can be highlighted at the same time and it lasts indefinitely, however, highlighting doesn’t keep a post at the top of your Timeline. It will move down as newer posts come in.

Both pinning and highlighting can be undone any time you want.

One of the great things about Timeline is that it gives you the chance to lay out the entire history of your business, highlighting important anniversaries and milestones that occurred along the way. Look at the status bar where you should see an option for adding Events, Milestones and Poll Questions to your Timeline.

Poll questions are a great way to generate conversation. You can solicit feedback on your products and services or ask customers what they thought of a recent promotional event. You could ask a question just for fun or to start a conversation.

One last piece of advice: make important information easy to find.

One of the main reasons people visit Facebook business pages is to find specific information about that business or organization. If visitors can’t easily find your web address, e-mail address, phone number or whatever it is they are seeking, they aren’t going to spend much time looking for it before they move on.

Industrial NetMedia has thoroughly researched the new Facebook Timeline format and we’ve already updated our own and several clients’ pages, including installing apps and designing unique cover photos. If your business’s Facebook page needs a new look, INM can help. Visit our Facebook page or call 780-739-5850 today to arrange a free consultation.

The Internet is buzzing with talk of the new Facebook Timeline format, which is already in previews and officially takes over on March 30, 2012.

The jury is still out on whether or not the Timeline format will be good or bad for business in the long run and the debate will likely go on for some time.

The new Timeline format does have its drawbacks, but it also opens up a lot of new possibilities and opportunities for Facebook business pages. The trick is going to be taking full advantage of this new and improved marketing tool.

The Downside

The loss of the welcome page is the biggest blow, as it was a great way to encourage page likes and direct visitor traffic. But even this setback doesn’t have to be fatal. The new Timeline format offers plenty of other ways to engage new visitors and old friends.

And by the way, the welcome page doesn’t have to disappear altogether. It can be made available for viewing in the apps section, though, of course, it won’t have the same effect since it will no longer be a ‘fan gate’.

Another downside of the new format is that the Timeline makes it really obvious, really quickly, if you aren’t regularly updating your Facebook page. Anytime you stop updating your page, it shows up as a big whole in your timeline. Many businesses find it difficult to keep up with their social media sites now. The new Timeline format just adds to that pressure.

But you know the point of having business pages on social media sites is to interact and engage with your clients. The ‘new normal’ for doing business in this century means making social media work for you, which includes making the time to keep your Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites current.

In other words, the new Facebook Timeline format just forces businesses to do what they should have been doing all along.

The Upside

One of the nicest features of the new Timeline format is the huge cover photo, which presents an amazing opportunity to promote your business visually and make a great first impression on new visitors. This image will be the first thing anyone sees when they find your Facebook business page, so it has to be good!

It should be a compelling image that represents your business and attracts attention for all the right reasons. It should also be branded to your logo, your business cards and your website so you can present a consistent image to your clients.

There are rules about this cover photo. It can’t contain any direct promotional language (Save 50%), calls to action (Click here to get … ; Like this page … ) or contact information for your business.

However, it can be a collage of pictures and it can contain your business name or even a slogan. The cover photo must be at least 399 pixels wide. The maximum size allowed is 850 pixels wide x 315 pixels high. If it’s smaller than that, the photo will be stretched to fill the allowed space, according to Facebook.

Coke and Starbucks are examples of excellent cover photos.

The profile picture, tacked on to the bottom left corner of your cover photo, is the image that will appear in the newsfeed with your status updates and comments. It can be your logo, a business card, anything you want, really, and it can contain promotional language or contact info, but remember, it isn’t very big so too much text will make it seem cluttered.

Directly below your cover photo, on the left side, is the About section. This is where you will put your contact information, mission statement and some general information about your business history, products and services, promotions or whatever else you want your customers to know about your business. Some of the info will appear right on the page, the rest is hidden unless someone clicks for it.

With the new format, photos and apps are front and centre, just to the right of the About section. Photos are a great way to engage people without saying a word. As before, your photos will be divided into albums and there is no limit to the number of albums or photos within each album. So maybe start with a portfolio album, featuring past project successes. Set up an album featuring your product line. How about an album of photos submitted by your customers, showing them using your products?

As for apps, there are dozens of possibilities – online ordering, maps, videos, calendars, job postings, testimonials and customer stories – just use your imagination. (check out Coca Cola’s Facebook page, they have made really good use of this apps section - https://www.facebook.com/cocacola )

And by the way, there are no rules against calls to action and promotional language in this section, so go ahead and post your ads, flyers and other promotional products here.

The Timeline

The rest of your Facebook business page is devoted to the actual Timeline. Posts are arranged around a line down the middle that represents the timeline of your life – or the life of your business, to be more accurate.

Posts are divided by years and months, even days and hours depending on how frequently things are posted to your wall. The Timeline also includes comments and photos that others post on your page, as well as a ‘Likes’ section that shows all the people who have liked your Facebook page.

Again, this new format really forces you to keep your site updated to avoid those dreaded holes in your Timeline.

Timeline posts can be highlighted, which means they will be enlarged to the width of the entire Timeline. Hover your mouse over the right corner of the post box. Clicking the star will highlight the post.

Clicking the pencil opens up several editing options. Click ‘pin to top’ to bookmark a post to the top of your Timeline for seven days. This is perfect for advertising sales or other business events. The pinned post is identified by the little gold bookmark in the top right corner.

Notice there is also a ‘change date’ option that gives you the chance to fill in some of those holes in your Timeline by actually changing the date on a specific post.

Admin Panel

This is the ‘back stage’ portion of your page, visible only to administrators. This is where you manage your page, edit your settings, upload photos and apps, manage administrators and change the information that is visible to the public.

A new feature of the Admin Panel is the ‘build audience’ tab. In a way, this is a substitute for your ‘fan gate’ welcome page. It basically allows you to increase the number of fans and direct traffic to your page by sending notifications to your existing friends and e-mail contacts. ‘Share this page’ puts a general notice about your business on your news feed for all of your friends to see without contacting them personally, much like what happens when you post a regular status update.

‘Create an ad’ does exactly as it says, helps you build a pay per click ad with a link to your Facebook page. Pay per click ads are one of those great Internet tools that allow you to advertise your business while keeping complete control of your costs. As an added bonus, with pay per click you know exactly how many people are viewing your ads so it’s easy to determine how effective they are.

The Admin Panel is also where you will receive private messages and notifications.

This is only a sampling of the many features and options available with the new Facebook Timeline page. As with most things, it has its good and bad points; some people are going to love it, others are going to hate it.

Like it or not, your Facebook business page will be switching to the Timeline format on March 30, 2012. INM can help you prepare for the switch with a newly designed cover photo and apps for your new Facebook page. Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to book your free consultation with Industrial NetMedia.

When businesses are struggling financially and owners are looking for ways to trim their budgets, the first instinct is often to cut back on advertising and marketing.

While understandable, it’s a short-sighted solution that will likely do more harm than good to a company in the long run.

The only way to grow your business is to bring in new clients. Without some kind of advertising or marketing plan, how can you make your business known to the hundreds, maybe thousands, of people in your area who would love to buy from you but don’t know you exist?

To be honest, the instinct to move away from advertising in traditional media is not necessarily a bad one. Traditional print, radio and TV ads are expensive and there’s really no way to know for sure if they are working or how many people were reached by a particular ad.

Thanks to the Internet, we are no longer limited to traditional methods of advertising.

The Internet has revolutionized the advertising industry by offering creative, affordable, effective options that allow you to market your business aggressively, even on a tight budget.

Most importantly, the Internet is interactive. People can literally reach out and touch websites and ads, they can click links, comment on a breaking news story, respond to someone’s blog article, ‘like’ things on Facebook, post videos and photos – the possibilities are endless. And the same applies to Internet Marketing – there really are no limits.

Internet Marketing starts with your website

 “A well-designed website is the key to success,” says Mike Kuefler, owner of Industrial NetMedia, a Web Design and Internet Marketing company in Leduc, Alberta. “More customers are searching online for products and services than ever before. Google is the new Yellow Pages.”

Did you know that more than half of your new customers should be finding your business through your website? If that isn’t the case, you need to ask yourself why.

The answer probably lies in the design of your website.

Industrial NetMedia builds websites that act like a funnel, drawing people in and converting them into customers, using search engine optimization, social media, link building, lead captures, unique page designs, compelling copy and interesting graphics.

Online ads

Internet Marketing doesn’t end with a great website. You want to make your presence known on the Internet in as many ways as possible and online ads are a great way to do that. There are several types of online ads, but one of the most popular and effective is the pay-per-click ad. This is exactly what it sounds like – you only pay when someone clicks to see your ad. Not only does this allow you to track exactly how many people are reading your ads, it helps with your budgeting! You set the limit on how much you want to spend so there are no surprises. When the number of clicks reaches your budget limit, the ad is turned off until the beginning of the next cycle. Pay-per-click ads are available for as little as pennies per click. Just as an example, if you set a budget of $100/week and each click costs you 5 cents, when you reach your budget you will know that 2,000 people have clicked on your ad.

You can also purchase ad space on websites, social media networks and search engine pages much like you would a display ad in a newspaper.

Social media

Facebook, Twitter, Google +1, LinkedIn, Youtube – you’ve probably tried at least one type of social media. But did you know your business can benefit from becoming a part of the social network? In fact, it’s not a stretch to say that if your business isn’t connected, you are missing out on hundreds of potential clients. At last count, Facebook was claiming more than 800 million users, about half of those checking in every day. Facebook and the other social networks are a relatively inexpensive way to advertise your business to a LOT of people. INM can set you up with a great looking business profile page. Then you offer an incentive for people to click that little ‘like’ button at the top of the page. The incentive can be more information about your business, the answer to a fun trivia question, inclusion in a draw, a coupon – just about anything you can think of that would tempt people to ‘like’ your page. Once someone likes your page, your business appears in their newsfeed. The average Facebook user has about 130 friends, each of whom will see your company name and something about your business with every status update, comment or post you make from that point on. Ten ‘likes’ potentially exposes your business to 1,300 people.

Link your social media pages to each other and to your main website to bring even more traffic and customers into your business.

You are the expert

Another unique, inexpensive way to promote your business is through blogs, articles and press releases. Don’t let the term ‘blog’ intimidate you, blogs are basically online newsletters that let you reach out to your customers and keep them up to date on what’s happening with your company – upcoming events, special sales, new products, whatever you want to tell them about. Having a blog on your website is a great way to keep the content fresh and dynamic. Blog entries don’t have to be long, but you should add new ones regularly (at minimum a couple of times a month) to continue generating interest.

Online press releases and e-mail flyers are simply the cyber version of the press releases and flyers you are no doubt familiar with. As well as being cheaper to produce and distribute, they are environmentally friendly! Plus, you can target your mailing list to hit specific clients or even send different versions of your flyer to different customer groups. And since there are no printing or mailing costs to worry about, you can create new flyers or send out a press release as often as you want.

It’s probably fair to say no one knows more about your business than you do. You are intimately acquainted with the products and services you sell and could probably talk about them all day long. Why not take some of that knowledge and write it down? Informative articles are a great way to gain the attention of the buying public and set yourself up as an expert in your field.

The main thing to remember is not to think of them as advertisements, but as helpful, informative articles, with tips, tricks and advice for the readers. Remember, people mainly want to read about themselves and things that concern them. Your articles should be interesting and entertaining, as well as offering valuable information that your readers will appreciate. That’s not to say you can’t mention your business at all, just keep the sales pitch to a minimum.

There are plenty of sites that publish online articles in dozens of different categories. They offer guidelines for submission, as well as advice and information to help you improve your article writing. Start with articlesbase.com, ezinearticles.com and copyblogger.com.

When your business is facing hard times, that is definitely not the time to stop marketing. The reality of business is, when you think you can’t afford to advertise, that’s when you can’t afford not to advertise. Fortunately, these days advertising no longer has to be an expensive shot in the dark. You can use the power of the Internet to affordably market your business to the whole world.

For more ideas about how you can grow your business using Internet Marketing, contact Industrial NetMedia at 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to set up a free consultation.

You know your business needs a website. There’s no getting around the fact that Google has replaced the Yellow Pages as the go-to source for business information.

Your website can be a powerful marketing tool that brings in a regular stream of customers and helps grow your business.

Or it can be rendered useless by the following common web design mistakes:

1. Buried benefits – You’ve probably heard the expression ‘bury the lead’. The phrase originated with newspapers and referred to stories where the most compelling and interesting information somehow ended up at the end of the story. Since people tend to skim the first few paragraphs of a story looking for the most interesting bits of information, it’s not good practice to hide those juicy morsels where they may never be found. The same thing applies to your website. It’s estimated that you have about three seconds to grab the attention of any visitors before they move on. What are they looking for in those few seconds that will convince them to hang around longer? Mainly, they are looking for a reason to stay. What is the number one thing people are interested in? Anything that pertains to themselves! You have about three seconds to let them know you have the products and services they are seeking, what’s in it for them if they do business with you, rather than your competitor and that your website is easy to navigate. If you bury that information behind layers of company facts and figures, you will lose them.
2. No clearly defined goal – The first step in building your website, before you even come up with a design or theme, is defining your website goals. What do you want your website to do for your business? What do you want people to do when they arrive at your website? The answers to those two questions will determine how your website is designed; what extra features you need and how they are laid out; and what content and graphics will be included on your pages. A lot of websites are just put up with little thought given to the actions you want visitors to take that will lead to them becoming a customer. If you don’t know what you want your website visitors to do, how can you expect them to do it? And how will you know if they do?
3. No stats tracking – How many people are visiting your website on a daily, weekly or monthly basis? How are people finding your website? How long are they staying on your site? What is your bounce rate? The Internet is highly interactive and almost everything that happens within it can be tracked, but many business owners fail to take advantage of the various tracking and usage system available to them. A tracking system lets you know if your website is working the way you intended and gives you a heads up on any potential problems.
4. ‘We’ focussed – It’s worth repeating: People are more interested in themselves than anything else. If your website content – especially on the home page - focuses mainly on your company’s history, accomplishments and staff rather than on the ways your products and services can benefit your visitors, you have not given visitors a reason to stick with your website. All of that other information can and should be included on the inside pages of your website where your visitors can find it once they have decided to explore your website a little further to learn more about your business.

Industrial NetMedia is a web design and Internet marketing company in Leduc. We specialize in website rescue and redesign, which means we can edit your content, give your site a bit of a boost, overhaul the whole site or even start from scratch and build you a brand new site. We build websites that avoid those common pitfalls – they rank well on the search engines, attract visitors and convert those visitors into customers.

To learn more about how INM can help turn your website into a powerful marketing tool, call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to set up a free consultation.

Are you managing a large number of students and classes?

Juggling a busy schedule of client meetings?

Co-ordinating bookings for a sports field, rec. centre or arena?

Let INM build you an online database management system, custom designed to suit your organization.

Our online database management system is ideally suited to keeping track of a database of students, class times, instructors and locations. Student self-registration, online payment, mass e-mails and a bulletin board to announce last minute changes are just some of the options available.

Athletes and sports teams are just as competitive off the field when it comes to securing the best practice times. Keeping several different user groups happy can be challenging for an arena or sports field manager. With an online database, you can easily track practice times, cancellations and schedule changes, making your job that much easier.

Realtors, wedding planners, homes party consultants, contractors and freelancers – if your business involves booking jobs or events or scheduling regular client meetings, it is vital that you keep on top of your availability. INM can set you up with an online calendar, either for your private use or to show open times to your clients. You might also consider an interactive booking form where clients can provide you with their contact information and some preliminary details about their upcoming event.

INM recently developed an online registration system for BMS Bootcamps in Leduc that helps the trainers organize their classes and students. First we built them a brand new website that looks great and is already bringing visitors in and turning them into customers. Then we created the online database system that allows people to register themselves and pay for their classes online. The trainers can keep track of the number of people signed up for each class, they can send messages to individuals or everyone registered for a particular class and they can add and delete classes as necessary. The website also features a banner for announcing location changes and other updates and a blog system that the trainers can use to post informative articles and information.

INM would be happy to talk to you about your website, whether you need a new one or the one you have needs an overhaul, and what it would take to set up an online database for your business.

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to arrange your free consultation.

Change is inevitable and many of the things we count on today will not exist in the future.

This seems to be especially true in the cyber world, where new technologies are continually being developed to replace old or outdated software.

One older technology that has been refusing to ‘go gently into that good night’ is Adobe’s Flash animation.

Flash has been the animation standard for many, many years and can be found on nearly every computer in existence. (Some research suggests it has been downloaded onto 98% of computers).

According to one article, Flash technology is the main reason sites like Youtube and Hulu have exploded in popularity over the past few years. And the main reason we have fast, reliable access to online videos at all.

But now, after years of fighting to save Flash, Adobe has abandoned plans to continue developing new versions of Flash for mobile devices.

It’s difficult to understand why such a popular product has fallen out of favour, but it seems maybe Flash was its own worst enemy. The very fact that Flash was everywhere and used in so many different ways – some of which it was never originally intended for – ultimately led to its demise.

Flash animation is a great way to add movement and life to web pages. It is also used to facilitate streaming of videos on line. Moving characters, changing colours, rotating text, your imagination is really the only limit.

It was so successful that someone had the brilliant idea to build an entire website using Flash animation. The idea caught on and soon Flash websites were everywhere.

One major downside of a Flash-based website is that the search engines can’t read the content, which leave Flash websites in the dust when it comes to search engine rankings. That problem has actually been addressed to a certain extent in recent years and the search engines have found ways to read the more of the content on Flash websites, but non-Flash websites are still better for search engine optimization.

Another issue with Flash websites is that they are not easy to edit. It’s vital to keep the content on your website current and fresh for both the search engines and for visitors to your website. Outdated content is a sure way to bring your website down in the search engine rankings. With Flash animation sites, very few end-users are capable of editing their own web pages, which means they must pay a programmer every time the website needs to be changed, costing them time and money.

Splash down

Splash pages were a so-so idea that really took a turn for the worse with the addition of Flash animation. A splash page, also known as a splash screen, is a website intro page, rather like the cover of a book. Unlike books, however, websites don’t need a cover page! Well, OK, there are certain cases where an intro page has some benefit, such as choosing which language version of a website you want to navigate to.

For the most part, however, these intro pages are either a chance for the website administrators to advertise products or for web designers to show off. The addition of Flash animation took splash pages to a whole new level of annoying as users were often forced to sit through some fantastical animated graphics loop – usually accompanied by an unwanted elevator Muzak audio track – while searching frantically for the ‘skip intro’ button.

Splash pages aren’t so bad if directions for navigating through them are clear and precise.

But if almost everyone who stumbles on a splash page immediately starts looking for the exit, what is the point of having a splash page?

Other common complaints about Flash animation include the following: it slows down page loading and can actually bring older computers to a virtual stand still, especially in combination with dial up Internet service; Flash sucks power and creates security and privacy issues on mobile devices; basic keyboard functions like copy and paste don’t work properly on Flash animation sites.

Apple bites back

With all of that, Flash was doing just fine, thank you, until it came up against the power of Apple.

Flash animation is usable on both Mac and Microsoft computers, but it is definitely NOT an Apple product.

That was made abundantly clear a few years ago when Apple made the decision to bar Flash applications from the iPhone. In fact, the Flash animation prohibition became a part of the iPhone user agreement.

Apparently the problem, at least as far as Apple is concerned, is that Flash is not just animation software, it is an application development platform. In other words, by downloading Flash onto the iPhone, users could potentially find a way to download apps, music, videos and games without going through Apple or the iTunes store. This would, of course, cost Apple money. More importantly, it would subvert Apple’s absolute control over their users, in terms of their choice of apps, software and programming.

New direction

Adobe put up a valiant fight in support of Flash and even relished the victory of securing a place for Flash on Android and Blackberry mobile devices.

But in the end, Adobe decided they will no longer continue to develop new versions of Flash for mobile devices, opting instead to embrace HTML5 for the future. In fact, Adobe Edge, an HTML5 and CSS3 animation and design software – in other words, an eventual replacement for Flash – has already been in previews since August 2011.

Industrial NetMedia still uses Flash animation to enhance client websites when requested, but our web experts prefer to use newer technologies and follow current trends in web design. Flash websites are still not ideal for search engine optimization and continue to present challenges in editing. INM prides itself on building websites that rank well on the search engines and are easy to edit, so it makes sense that we would avoid creating Flash websites.

However, to paraphrase the great Winston Churchill, “this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning …” for Flash.

Flash is still widely used to facilitate online video streaming and it still exists on the vast majority of computers around the world so there is no danger of it disappearing into the ether anytime soon.

Did you know INM recently updated Sitebuilder Tools and created several new add-ons to enhance your existing website and bring in new traffic?

There are lots of ways INM can boost your existing website, starting with a simple overhaul of the content and photos. Out of date information is one of the surest ways to lose customers – and the attention of the search engines. Google wants to see websites that are current and fresh, not old and stale. At the very least you need to keep your website’s home page current, but the other pages need regular attention, too.

Did you know that all of INM’s websites come with Sitebuilder Tools, a simple editor that makes changing the information on your web pages as simple as using Microsoft Word? No html knowledge is required. If you have never used Sitebuilder Tools, or if you need a refresher course, give us a call and we’ll get you up to speed.

Of course, if you don’t have the time or don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself, INM’s experts can do it for you.

If you are looking for ways to increase the traffic to your website, it might be time to consider setting up some complementary social networking sites. That’s right, Facebook and Twitter aren’t just for fun anymore, they are valuable business tools that help spread the word about your website and your business. INM knows all the tricks to setting up great-looking business pages on Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, YouTube, Google+ and other social networking sites.

Consider setting up a stylized Twitter update that links your Twitter feed to the home page of your website. When you post a tweet, or if someone else tweets about your business, those comments will automatically appear on your home page.

Blogs are another great way to increase traffic to your website and, just like Facebook and Twitter, they generate feedback and customer comments about your business.

Increasing web traffic to your site is a good thing. Turning those visitors into actual customers is even better. Let INM set up a lead capture on your home page and you’ll be amazed at how many potential new customers you make contact with. A lead capture is simply a way to collect basic contact information from visitors to your site. It works by promising something – further information about your business, a coupon, a special discount, whatever you can come up with – in return for a valuable business lead. The idea is, if someone is willing to go so far as to provide you with their name, phone number and e-mail address, chances are they are very interested in your business and the products and services you sell. There are several different kinds of lead captures that INM can set up for you.

Is your website consistently generating new customers and helping your business grow? If not, it may be time to inject some new life into that old, tired website. INM specializes in website rescue and redesign. We'll update the content and graphics, overhaul the SEO and get your website working the way you intended.

There are several ways INM can rejuvenate your website:

Graphic redesign

Home page redesign to help convert visitors into customers.

Search Engine Optimization – make your website easier to find in Google

Cool animated effects

Photo gallery

Image carousels

Facebook pages

Integrated Social Media Sharing and news threads

Newsletter subscriptions

Shopping cart

Calendar with announcements and events

Blog (Simple or WordPress)

Videos and YouTube

Secure membership area

Professional copywriting

Business cards

Brochures

Lead capture

Press Releases

AdWords or Facebook pay per click campaigns

Prepaid website update packages

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to arrange a free consultation.

If you have a large work crew, it can be a nightmare trying to keep track of everyone’s availability, days off and overtime. Not to mention what happens when someone is sick or doesn’t show up for their regular shift.

Shift Shaper from Industrial NetMedia may be the answer.

Shift Shaper is a web-based application that takes the stress out of crew scheduling by tracking everyone’s hours on an online calendar, including overtime, days off, sick days and training days.

With Shift Shaper, rescue scheduling is a breeze! The smart system automatically sorts the overtime availability call list, ranking off-duty crew members according to Union rules for assigning overtime shifts. Start at the top of the list and work your way down until the shift is filled.

Shift Shaper tracks each crew member’s time off by day, month or year. It allows you to place limits on the amount of overtime and track the number of overtime hours. You can even track refused overtime, as per union rules.

Shift Shaper is an efficient program that takes the confusion out of scheduling, reducing the stress on managers and letting them put their time to better use!

Shift Shaper eliminates understaffing and overstaffing. Save money and headaches by having just the right number of crew members on the job every time.

With Shift Shaper you can review employee schedules, manage shift changes, use the call list to fill shortages, set up crew shortage alerts and ensure continuous crew coverage for every shift.

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below for more information or to book a demonstration of Shift Shaper.

Word of mouth is the cheapest, most effective form of advertising. Thanks to the Internet, you can now ‘spread the word’ about your business without actually saying a word, simply by encouraging other websites to link to your business website.

Link building works by combining word of mouth, networking and calling in favours.

It's all about trust

The idea behind link building is that the person posting the link obviously trusts the business in question to deliver quality products and services or he wouldn’t recommend it to his own customers.

It’s like having a friend tell you they got great service from a particular business. You’re going to trust first hand information from someone you know far more than anything you read in an ad, no matter how clever or compelling it is.

That ‘trust’ factor is what impresses the search engines. They consider every one of those links to be an endorsement of your business. So the more links you have, the better your website search engine ranking will be.

Goes both ways

Link building is not a one way street. The best way to encourage someone to link to your website is by offering to link back to their site.

Use your networking skills, talk to other business owners, particularly those whose businesses complement yours. You already share a similar customer base, why not help each other out?  If you operate a hardware store, for example, your website could exchange links with a contractor. Or a piano teacher could trade links with a music store.

As with every other aspect of your website, the goal is to improve your bottom line by increasing the number of customers who buy the products and services you are selling.

Every business that links to your website exposes your company to more potential customers.

One thing to keep in mind: while search engines do like to see lots of sites linking to your website, they also consider the quality and relevance of those links. According to Google's Webmaster Tools Help, the best way to gain relevant links is by creating unique, relevant content for your web pages; content that will generate interest and gain in popularity on the Internet. Just exchanging links with lots of people, purely for the sake of improving your search engine ranking might actually harm your reputation with the search engines.

Where do you start?

Creating a Facebook business profile page is probably one of the best ways to generate leads and links for your business. The average Facebook user has 130 friends. Every time someone ‘likes’ your Facebook page, they are agreeing to advertise for you because from that point on, your status updates will appear in their newsfeed for all of their friends to read.

Plus, the search engines love Facebook! Links from a Facebook page are considered to be of the highest quality, mainly because Facebook pages have the potential to be seen by so many people.

Ads on Facebook that link to your business website are another great tool. They can be targeted very specifically to appear on the home pages of people who are most likely to be interested in your products and services. In other words, only people who are likely to be interested in your business will see your facebook ad.

INM will set you up with a Facebook business page that is branded to your main website. We can also put you on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+ or whatever social media networks you prefer. Facebook and Twitter feeds can be linked to each other so whenever you update your Facebook status, your Twitter feed automatically updates.

After that, link building is all about the leg work. Ask people in your network of friends, family and business associates to exchange links with you, especially if your businesses complement each other. Remind them that links are good for their website, too.

Your business only appears in the newsfeeds when you post something new, so take the time to make regular updates to your Facebook and other social networking sites, at least a couple of times a month.

Put your Wetaskiwin business on the map with a brand new website, designed by Industrial NetMedia.

INM is a Leduc web design company that helps Wetaskiwin businesses generate new customers using our expertise in web design, search engine optimization and Internet marketing.

INM will design a great looking website for your Wetaskiwin business and then use SEO techniques to make sure it gets noticed by the search engines and draws traffic to your business.

Search engine optimization (SEO) means using keywords and phrases to help your website rank higher on the search engines – Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.

INM has worked with several clients in the Wetaskiwin area, including Alberta Box Company Inc., The Pipestone Flyer, Energy Flow Systems, Speth Drilling and Brides Eye View.

Maybe you already have a Wetaskiwin website, but it’s no longer bringing in new clients. Or maybe it’s just old and tired and needs an upgrade.

INM specializes in website rescue and redesign. We’ll rework the design, update the copy, upload new pics, apply the latest SEO techniques and trends and give your website a whole new lease on life.

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to arrange a free consultation with Industrial NetMedia.

Quick, what are the two things your website needs to be successful?

(1)Visitors and (2) a way to turn those visitors into customers!

How do I get people to visit my website?

Your website is one of millions that exist around the world. Even in your own town or city, there are hundreds competing for the attention of local residents, many selling similar products and services. Most of your new clients should be coming to your business through your website, but how can people visit your site if they don’t even know you exist?

How can you make your website stand out from the crowd and convince even a fraction of those people to visit your site?

The answer lies in the somewhat mysterious process known as SEO.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is actually a pretty simple concept: figure out the keywords people use when searching for your products and services and then work those keywords into the content of your website so the people searching for your business can find it online. If you think about your own business, you could probably come up with a few keywords right off the bat. They are the words you would type into the search bar if you were trying to find something specific online. INM will seek out the most popular search terms for your business, the ones most people are probably going to use when searching for a particular product or service.

The ‘mystery’ lies in the complex rules and algorithms employed by the search engines that actually determine how websites will rank on their pages. Those rules and algorithms change frequently and each search engine – Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. – has its own list.

Sounds complicated, but never fear! INM has mastered search engine optimization and has the inside track on the best ways to keep your website climbing the ranks of those search engine pages.

Turn searchers into visitors

So now your website is coming up high on the search engines. The next step is for the searcher to actually choose to visit your website instead of another one on the same search engine page. That’s where titles and descriptions come in. The title is basically a headline that is intended to grab the attention of the searcher and compel him to read the description. The description – also known as a metatag description – is a short paragraph that summarizes your website and gives the searcher a reason to click over to your site.

Leduc - Edmonton Web Design company
www.inmca.com
Edmonton web design and Internet Marketing specialists in Leduc. We are experts at creating dynamic Edmonton websites that dominate search engines.

Once a person clicks over, they instantly change from searcher to website visitor. Mission accomplished!

Well, half of the mission, anyway.

Convert visitors into customers

So now you have people finding and visiting your website. That's great!

But it doesn't do you much good if they just visit and leave without engaging with your business in some way.

INM designs websites that help visitors connect to your business, starting with the compelling design, clever copy and interesting photos and graphics.

Then we install lead captures, contact forms and 'calls to action' that encourage visitors to take that next step.

Lead captures and calls to action are types of contact forms where visitors leave their contact information in exchange for something from the business - information, a price quote, a return call or e-mail, etc.

Once someone has provided their contact information, your business has gained a genuine lead and that person can legitimately be called a customer.

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to set up your free consultation with Industrial NetMedia TODAY!

Just an hour down the road, you'll find Industrial NetMedia in Leduc, a website design and Internet Marketing company that specializes in helping your Camrose company bring in new customers.

Did you know most of your clients should be generated by your website? Industrial NetMedia knows how to help you make the most of your website, using search engine optimization and other Internet Marketing techniques and tricks.

Search engine optimization (SEO) simply means figuring out what keywords and phrases people use when looking online for the products and services you sell and then strategically embedding them into the content of your website. At INM, we are SEO experts and have the skills to help your website rank higher on the search engines.

Central Alberta is where we live and where we find most of our clients, including a few you might recognize: Berube Homes, The Pipestone Flyer, Bosch Hydraulic Connections, Springer Valves, Leduc Co-op and Stageworks Academy of the Performing Arts. We would love to add your Camrose business to our growing list of satisfied web design and Internet Marketing clients.

Industrial NetMedia offers competitive prices on premium websites for small businesses on a budget. We also offer a 20% discount to non-profits and charitable organizations.

Our websites are custom built to suit your goals and your budget. Site Builder Tools make editing and updating your site as easy as using Microsoft Works. But INM is happy to take care of maintaining your Camrose website if that isn't something you want to do.

INM also does website rescue and redesign. If you have a website that is no longer generating new customers or just looks old and tired, let the experts at INM bring it back to life.

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to arrange a free consultation with Industrial NetMedia.

Industrial NetMedia is a website design company based in Leduc.

We are experts in web design, copywriting, SEO, Internet Marketing and creating unique, compelling online and print advertising materials, including logos, business cards, e-mail letter campaigns and brochures.

We custom build premium websites to suit any budget. Start with our small business package and then add whatever extras you need, such as photo galleries, secure log-in-only areas or additional pages. Our custom Site Builder Tools make it easy to edit and keep your Fort McMurray website current. Of course, if you'd rather not, INM is happy to handle the maintenance and upkeep on your site.

Industrial NetMedia is very community minded. Here in Leduc we are active in our Chamber of Commerce and other local organizations. We also offer a 20% discount on products and services to any non-profit or charitable organization, such as Victim Services or FCSS.

INM has worked with companies of every size, from first time entrepreneurs to large corporations, and in just about every industry you can imagine - oil and gas; trades; construction; schools; health, wellness and self-improvement; pet care; weddings; etc.

INM specializes in website rescue and redesign. If you already have a website but it isn't getting the results you hoped for, let INM give it new life. We'll rejuvenate the design, overhaul the content, update the graphics and apply search engine optimization techniques, whatever it takes to ensure your website starts getting noticed by the search engines - Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to arrange your free consultation with Industrial NetMedia.

Industrial NetMedia knows what it’s like to be a small business because we ARE a small business, located in a small city. We know how important it is for businesses to work together and support each other and their community.

INM is proud to be an active part of the business community in Leduc and supports several local non-profit and charitable organizations, both financially and with donations of time.

Those organizations include the Leduc and District Chamber of Commerce; the Leduc Black Gold Rodeo Association; Leduc Drama Society; Leduc Links Connect; Leduc Victim Services; Rise Up Ministries; and Equitable Child Maintenance and Access Society.

INM offers competitive rates on services for small business owners on a budget. We also offer a 20% discount to non-profit and charitable organizations. Past clients include Victim Services, an Edmonton preschool and many people just starting out with a new online business.

How many times have you paid for a newspaper ad or one on radio or TV, and wondered if it was really worth what it cost? Is there any real way to determine how many people actually paid attention and absorbed the information you were trying to impart with traditional media ads?

Advertising on the Internet is a whole new ball game.

The Internet is interactive. Customers can literally reach out and touch your online ad.

The Internet is dynamic. Online ads can be almost anything you want them to be. With flash animation, graphics, audio and video tracks, the possibilities are endless.

The Internet is immediate. Ads can be posted online and live within minutes.

The Internet is accountable. You can keep track of every time someone reads your online ad, either with a built-in tracker or by using pay-per-click ads.

Pay-per-click ads are just what they sound like: you are only charged when someone clicks on your ad so they can read it. That has to be the most cost-effective type of advertising ever invented!

Pay-per-click ads start as low as a few pennies per click, depending on where your ad is posted. The best part is that you have complete control over the amount you pay. For example, you could set a limit of $500 a week. When the clicking on your ad has reached that limit, the ad is turned off until the next cycle starts. So if your pay per click cost is 5 cents, when you reach that $500 limit you will know that 10,000 people have read your ad.

There are so many ways pay-per-click ads can benefit your business.

First of all, they help with budgeting. No longer do you have to wonder how much advertising might cost you next month. You set the limit.

Another benefit is that your ads end up being seen almost exclusively by those who are truly interested in your products and services. The reality is, we all encounter enough ads every day that it’s unlikely we would deliberately click one open unless we really wanted what that ad is offering.

Online ads can be linked to your business website. They can be designed with lead captures built-in, so those who click on your ad can leave their contact information. They can be posted to the search engines, to facebook or other social media sites, to popular news or information sites or on the website of another business.

Let the experts at INM help you launch your Internet Marketing campaign. Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to arrange a free consultation.

A copywriter uses words to persuade people to take certain actions. A website copywriter has the added task of strategically embedding certain keywords and phrases into the content of a website to attract the attention of the major search engines.

"Google' it

Think back to the last time you turned to the Internet in an attempt to find some information. Maybe you would say you 'Googled' it. Google is certainly not the only search engine, but it is probably the best known. Yahoo and Bing are the other big ones that you've probably heard of and used.

Most of us use these search engines regularly, without giving much thought to how they actually work. The search engines, like Google, have devised a system that scans websites and uses a set of complicated algorithms to determine how they will rank on the page when certain key words and phrases are typed in by the Internet surfer. The point being to give the searcher results that match as closely as possible to what he is looking for.

If you were searching for a mechanic to fix your car, for example, you wouldn't want the search engine to show you car washes, gas stations or movies with the word car in the title. You would want a list of mechanics and car repair shops, preferably in your local area, to get your car fixed as quickly and affordably as possible. That's what the search engines do, they filter the results to weed out the millions of websites that don't contain the information you are looking for and narrow your field of choices.

What's the word?

If you live in Leduc and are looking for someone to help treat your bad back, what would you type into the search bar? leduc chiropractor; chiropractic services edmonton, massage therapy leduc, leduc physical therapist ... as you can see, there are dozens of possibilities. INM seeks out the best keywords and phrases and then works them into the content to bring your website closer to the top of the search engine rankings. This is known as Search Engine Optimization. The better the SEO, the higher the website will rank on the search engines.

At INM, we are SEO experts

The real strategy in SEO is keeping the copy readable while still making the best use of those important keywords and phrases. It used to be that website pages could literally be stuffed with keywords, the more the better! But search engines are getting smarter and they now give preference to sites that consider their human readers, as well as the search engines. If the copy is so stuffed with keywords that it's unreadable, your search engine ranking will actually drop.

If you think your website needs an SEO overhaul, let the experts at INM perform a free website evaluation. Along with search engine optimization, we'll assess your website design, content and graphics and make recommedations.

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to arrange your Free Website Evaluation.

Search Engine Optimization gets you noticed by the search engines and helps improve your ranking. But it's the titles and descriptions that help convince searchers that your site is the one they have been looking for. A top ranking on the search engines means little if people still aren't choosing to click over to your website.

As the name suggests, the title, also known as the title tag, is the 'headline' that appears on the search engine page. Like any headline, the title should grab the searcher's attention and provide a snapshot of the products and services you offer.

Leduc - Edmonton Web Design company

Website design Alberta – experts in Search Engine Optmization

The description, also known as the metatag description, is the short paragraph that appears under the title. It gives you a chance to provide more info about your business and really let searchers know they have found the right website.

Edmonton web design and Internet Marketing specialists in Leduc. We are experts at creating dynamic Edmonton websites that dominate search engines.

You may have already noticed that the title and description are rich in keywords. SEO applies to every aspect of the website content and design - titles and descriptions are no different. If anything, strategic use of keywords in titles and descriptions is even more important than on the rest of the page.

The title and description are your one chance to sell your webpage to Internet surfers and persuade them to visit your site,

Put yourself in the mindset of the searcher. The more clear, concise and compelling the information in the title and description, the more likely you are to click over to that website. No one wants to waste time visiting a website that doesn't have what they are looking for so if your description is muddled or confusing, it's less likely someone will choose to visit your site.

Every page of your website has its own title tag and metatag description and provides another opportunity to use search engine optimization to draw traffic to your website.

The experts at Industrial NetMedia have mastered SEO and know how to write effective, compelling titles and descriptions that turn Internet surfers into website visitors.

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to arrange a free consultation.

You would never consider starting up a new company without having a business plan in place. And that business plan would almost certainly include marketing ideas and strategies.

So why is it that so many business owners put up a website without even considering an Internet Marketing Plan?

Having a business website these days is a necessity. People expect it.

By people, I mean all of those potential customers out there who are looking for the best place to buy the products and services you are trying to sell.

But your website has to do more than sit there, looking pretty, waiting for people to notice it, because that just won't happen.

For your website to be effective, it has to be designed in such a way that it stands out from the crowd, ranks high on the search engines and converts Internet surfers into visitors to your website. Only then can you turn those visitors into customers.

INM will help you develop a professional, effective Internet Marketing Plan, customized to your business and your website goals.

Website goals, you say? That’s right. Before making any layout, content, keyword or photo choices, you need to decide exactly what it is that you want your business website to accomplish for your company.

Those goals are the foundation of your Internet Marketing Plan, nothing else will work or make sense until you have them in place.

What are your website goals?

Are you a new company that needs customers to get off the ground?

Maybe you’ve been in business a while but are looking to boost sales.

Maybe you’ve decided to start selling products and services online.

Could be that your business is expanding and growing and you want a fresh new website to help get the word out.

Or maybe you want an online presence to promote your business and advertise your phone number and address to new and existing clients.

Your goals and your Internet Marketing Plan are unique to your business and your situation.

INM will research your competition and their websites, apply our expertise in Search Engine Optimization to get just the right keywords and phrases into your content and use the various other strategies at our disposal, including social networking, ad words, link building and lead captures, to establish your Internet Marketing Plan and help you reach those website goals.

For more information, or to set up a free consultation, call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below.

Industrial NetMedia creates affordable, custom, online health and safety training courses – specific to your industry, your company, your policies and your people.

You provide the information, INM puts it all together into an easy-to-use training program that is available 24/7, anywhere your employees have Internet access.

With Safety Spot, your employees can complete their safety training at work, at home, even on the road, any time of the day or night.

Reduce costs

Sending employees away to training courses can be expensive. Online safety training courses from Safety Spot eliminate travel costs and the need for replacement workers.

Relevant training

With Safety Spot, your employees don’t waste their time and yours learning irrelevant information. The lessons, exercises and tests are all based on information you provide, using equipment and policies your employees will encounter every day on the job and set in locations they will actually recognize. Course administrators assign employees to individual courses and modules so they only take the ones they need.

Because we build the courses based on your information, Safety Spot training works for any industry – oilfield, food services, hospitality, construction, telecommunications, etc.

Safety training is not an option, but you can choose the most cost-effective, convenient, relevant way to get your employees up to speed and safely on the job in record time.

Call Industrial NetMedia at 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to arrange your free consultation.

Impress your colleagues at the next AGM with a professional multimedia presentation that packages the necessary information in an interesting and memorable format. Create custom-built safety and training videos to bring new employees up to speed on your policies and procedures. Use video sales aids to connect with your customers and improve your numbers. Be the hit of the annual office Christmas party by presenting a hilarious slide show of candid pics.

Let the experts at Industrial NetMedia take the stress out of preparing for your next presentation by combining amazing graphics and photos with the necessary facts and figures and your selected music tracks to create professional-looking PowerPoint slide shows, CD-ROMs, training and promotional videos, flash animations, sales aids or web-based presentations.

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to set up a free consultation.

What are your goals for your Beaumont business website? Industrial NetMedia specializes in web design and Internet Marketing for small businesses like yours.

We offer affordable, competitively priced products and services for businesses on a budget, starting with our small business package. Various add-ons and extras allow you to customize your website to your personality and your business needs.

But we don't stop there! Our SEO experts make sure your website gets noticed by the search engines, draws in visitors and turns them into customers.

We also specialize in website rescue and redesign. If your existing website is tired, outdated or just isn't getting the job done for your business anymore, the experts at INM can give it a new lease on life.

Industrial NetMedia has designed websites, logos and print advertising materials for several Beaumont and area businesses, including Berube Homes, Ensign, Ellerslie Road Preschool and Hitek Nisku.

Stale colours, tired designs, outdated information, bad photos and you can never seem to find what you’re looking for.

If you find your own website boring, confusing or frustrating, imagine how your visitors feel!

Could be that’s why the calls have dried up. You know, the ones from people saying they found you through your website.

Don’t give up on your website! Let the experts at INM jumpstart your old website and get it working for you again!

We’ll start with a redesign of the home page layout, change the colour scheme, add in some sparkling new graphics, give the whole thing a fresh new look. INM can install social media links and lead captures to get the traffic flowing to your site again, set up a blog system so you can easily keep visitors and clients informed about anything new going on, and link your facebook or twitter feed right to your home page.

To really drive in the traffic, INM will do a search engine optimization (SEO) overhaul on your entire site. We’ll update the content, make sure the information is all current, and research the best keywords and phrases, the ones people actually use when looking for the products and services you are trying to sell. INM’s experts know how to use those keywords and phrases, strategically embedding them in the content of your website, to improve your site’s ranking on the search engines.

We’ll make sure your web page titles and descriptions are compelling. Titles and descriptions are what appear on the page after you type your search term into Google or Yahoo. They are your only chance to convince an Internet surfer to visit your website, so they have to be good! Remember: a high ranking on the search engines isn’t enough if your titles and descriptions don’t turn surfers into visitors.

But what if my website was built by another company?

Well, that’s where the rescue part comes in. INM can move your site over to our servers, rework the layout and content and basically bring it back to life. You can even keep your old domain name – or we’ll set you up with a new one if that works better for you.

For more information on Website Rescue and Redesign – and to find out how we can bring your old website back to life – call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to set up your free consultation with Industrial NetMedia.

It’s vital that you keep your website up to date. Nothing turns a visitor off faster than clicking over to your website and seeing outdated information. If you don’t care enough about your business to keep things current and fresh, why should they?

Unfortunately, many people are intimidated by the thought of actually making changes to a website page.

If the idea of editing your website pages gives you nightmares - or worse, is preventing you from setting up a website in the first place - Industrial NetMedia has the solution.

Thanks to INM’s custom-built Site Builder Tools, updating your website information is as easy as using Microsoft Word. Even those with only basic computer skills can learn to perform quick and easy updates.

Site Builder Tools is a part of every INM website design. With a quick tutorial from the experts at INM, you’ll soon be editing text, adding and deleting pictures and many other things you never thought you’d be able to do with your own website.

What else can Site Builder Tools do?

With Site Builder, headers, footers and sidebars can be edited all at once, with just a few keystrokes. This saves you countless hours, especially when your website grows beyond 10 or 20 pages.

Internet browsers are constantly being improved and upgraded, which can alter the look of your website. As the Internet grows and changes, so does Site Builder Tools. INM applies all relevant updates to your website so that it continues to function in the way you intended.

And you know, if you do run into problems with your website that you can’t resolve on your own, INM is available 24/7 to help get you back on track and your website back online.

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to set up your free consultation with INM and learn more about Site Builder Tools.

What’s trending on Twitter today? What’s the latest topic being discussed on Facebook?

What if people were talking about your website or telling their friends about the great service they got at your store or about an amazing new product they could only find through your business?

INM will install social media links that connect your website directly with Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Youtube and other social networking sites so visitors can ‘like’ your site, make comments or share a link to your website.

It's a similar concept to the comment cards you used to see in restaurants, but social media links work so much better because it's immediate, it's easy for the customer, they get to say whatever they want (not fill in some pre-written survey) and the information goes directly to other potential customers.

It’s no secret that word of mouth is the most effective - and cost effective - type of advertising. If someone you trust tells you they had a great experience with a certain business, chances are that’s where you’ll turn the next time you need what that business is selling.

When someone talks about your business on Facebook or Twitter, they are sharing that great experience with dozens of their friends and acquaintances all at once.
Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to learn more ways INM can use social media links to increase traffic to your website and turn those visitors into customers.

Copywriting is the art of using words to inform, persuade and/or convince someone of something.

In terms of web design, professional copywriting informs about the business, convinces visitors to stay on the site and persuades them to buy the business’s products and services.

Good copywriting grabs the reader’s attention

It isn’t often that you go looking for advertisements, yet you know you encounter dozens of them everyday - on TV, on the radio, in newspapers, on roadside billboards and online. Think about a couple of advertisements you noticed today. What made them stand out from the rest? Why did you remember them and forget most of the others?

The first objective of copywriting in web design is to capture the reader’s attention and hold it. This is why headlines are so important. Headlines are your first chance to make an impression on your reader. If the headline grabs their attention, they will probably read the first paragraph. If the first paragraph is good, they will continue reading and so on.

If the headline on the web page doesn’t grab them, they will be gone.

A second objective is to impress your web page on people’s memories so the next time they are thinking about the products and services you sell, your name is the one that comes to mind.

A third objective is to have that website page or ad read by as many people as possible. This can happen a couple of different ways. One is by having people see your website and tell their friends how great it is. Another is by driving traffic to your website using Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In fact, if you want your website to help grow your business and reach your Internet Marketing goals, both of those things have to happen.

Good copywriting is customer focussed

What is the one thing people care about more than anything else? Themselves!

If you want to keep someone’s attention, talk about them and the things they are interested in. Talk about what’s in it for them if they stay on your website. Tell them about all the ways they will benefit from doing business with your company. Give them a reason to contact you for more information.

Good copywriting is easy to read

As important as the words themselves is the way they are presented on the page. For most people, a large, solid block of text is intimidating and they won’t even attempt to read it. It doesn’t matter how clever the copy is if the website visitor is turned off before he reads the first line.

It’s better to have the text broken up into shorter, easy to read paragraphs, using subheads, graphics and bullet lists. If the text layout encourages them to read the first paragraph, then that clever copy can actually have the chance to grab their attention and keep them reading.

INM's experts know how to create web pages that are appealing and readable.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO simply means using keywords and phrases to increase your website’s ranking on the search engines. The trick to SEO is figuring out exactly which keywords and phrases people use when they are looking online for the products and services you sell.

For example, if someone living in Leduc is looking for a web design company, what words will they type into the Google search bar? Web design Leduc, Edmonton website design, web design companies, web design for small businesses - the possibilities are endless.

INM has mastered SEO and our experts know how to choose the best keywords and phrases and strategically embed them into the content of your website to draw the attention of the search engines and attract visitors.

You keep in touch with your friends on facebook, you’re a regular ‘tweeter’, you read and comment on several different blogs, but it’s all just for fun, right?

Did you know you can use social media to help grow your business as part of your Internet Marketing Plan?

In fact, if your business isn’t part of the ‘social network’, you could be missing out on connecting with hundreds of potential clients.

Facebook alone boasts more than 800 million active users, about half of whom log on every day. The average facebook user has 130 friends, according to facebook’s own stats.

Twitter’s stats aren’t quite as impressive, there are only about 100 million active tweeters, give or take a few hundred thousand.

There are so many blogs and blog systems that it would be impossible to even guess how many people take part in that process every day, especially if you consider those who comment and ‘join the conversation’ along with those who actually write the blogs.

What does this mean to you, a business owner looking for creative ways to draw traffic to your website, attract new customers to your business and improve your bottom line?

Industrial NetMedia can set you up with a custom facebook business page that reflects the style and design of your website. Once the page is set up, every person who ‘likes’ your business page puts you in direct contact with all of their facebook friends, who will see all of your updates in their news feed.

Your facebook, twitter and blog accounts can be linked so every tweet, comment or facebook update you make appears on your other sites, as well.

How do you attract ‘likes’?

They say you can’t make people like you and that’s probably true.

However, you can offer them a compelling incentive to ‘like’ your facebook business page, knowing that every ‘like’ exposes your business to an average of 130 potential customers.

I know of one business that offered to put all of their fans - everyone who likes them - into a draw for some free stuff once the number reached 250.

Get creative! The incentive you offer can be as simple as more information about your business or the answer to an interesting trivia question. You could offer a printable coupon or a ‘mention this page’ discount. Others have offered entry into a contest or raffle. The more creative and compelling your incentive, the more likely people are to 'like' your page and encourage their friends to do the same.

The best news for you in all of this is that Industrial NetMedia has all the tools to get you set up with a facebook business page, a twitter account, a blog or whatever other social media site you prefer.

Call 780-739-5850 today or use our online contact form to book your free consultation.

Industrial NetMedia builds websites that generate new customers and help grow your Edmonton business. We are located just 15 minutes south on the QEII, across the highway from Edmonton International Airport. In fact, it's probably an easier drive here from Edmonton's south side than to the city's downtown!

We have provided web design, Internet Marketing and other services to many Edmonton businesses, including Ellerslie Road Preschool, Seasonal Impact Group, Argus Machine, Arctic Spas Edmonton and Africa Untamed.

Once we have created your custom-designed website, we'll put our SEO experts to work making sure your website ranks high on the search engines and brings in visitors.

Keeping your Edmonton website up to date has never been easier, thanks to Site Builder Tools that make editing your web pages as simple as using Microsoft Word. Of course, if you'd rather not go there, we're happy to keep the site current for you.

Our web design and Internet Marketing packages can be adapted to suit any budget and affordable maintenance packages let you control as much or as little of the website upkeep as you want.

Call 780-739-5850 or use the contact form below to arrange a free consultation with Industrial NetMedia.

We were talking in the office recently about ‘burying the lead,’ which essentially means hiding the most important, interesting or attention-grabbing information somewhere down the page rather than putting it up front and centre where it belongs.

The phrase has its origins in the newspaper industry. People who read newspapers tend to skim for the most interesting bits. If you want someone to read your whole article, you have to catch their attention and give them a reason to keep reading.

It’s the same thing with websites. When people are surfing the Internet, they tend to skim around until they find something that grabs their attention. The key is to hook them fast. Statistics suggest you have less than three seconds before they move on.

Why is it so important to keep visitors on your site?

There are several reasons, actually, the simplest one being the longer a visitor stays on your website, the more likely he or she is to become a paying customer, which is the whole point of having a website in the first place – to sell your products and services.

Another reason is to keep your bounce rate low. When someone visits your website and immediately clicks away, that’s called a bounce. The visitor didn’t find a compelling reason to stick around so they left.

Search engines obviously don’t like to see a high bounce rate, as that implies there is something about your website that turns people off. Once the search engines notice a high bounce rate, they will reduce the ranking of your website.

What can you do in three seconds?

In short, tell your visitor what's in it for him if he hangs around a little longer. Keep your main message simple and strong. Use bold phrases and short paragraphs. Make good use of graphics, pictures and colours.

Be creative! Remember that people love discounts and specials. They love to feel they are getting in on some deal that no one else knows about. Make them an offer, such as call and mention our website for 10% off your next purchase.

Be careful not to promise something you aren't willing to deliver on, however. When people get great service they will tell people. If they get bad service they will tell EVERYONE!

According to Wikipedia, a web host is a company that leases out space on a server and provides Internet connectivity to its clients.

Industrial NetMedia is a web host that does so much more!

INM doesn’t just set up your website and send you off, armed with nothing more than log in and password information and a bunch of buttons you are afraid to click on.

At INM, we put the service back in web host service. And we’re available 24/7 if you experience any problems with your website or other online services.

The best part is, you can be as ‘hands-on’ or hands-off’ as you want. Affordable maintenance packages allow you to hand the reins over to INM and let us have complete control of your site’s functionality.

Or we’ll teach you how to manage your website, update content using Site Builder Tools, add and delete pages, change out photos, etc.

But what if my website wasn’t built by INM?

That’s OK. We can take over hosting and administration of an existing website, whether you built it yourself or had it done by another web design company.

If your website also needs to be updated, refreshed or renovated, we can do that, too! In fact, we specialize in website rescue and redesign.

If you are unhappy with your current website or web hosting service, call 780-739-5850 today or use our online contact form to set up a free consultation.