women firms graphic

Google AdWords

Google AdWords is google's pay-per-click program. You know those text-ads you see on the right-side when you're searching google? That's them. They also appear elsewhere, in targeted sites et al. When tied in with google analytics, you can create a very targeted campaign and tweak it so that you improve your R.O.I.

Google provides more than enough information for you to do this yourself, if, of course, you're technically inclined and have the time.

Naturally, this is a management/consulting service we offer. We're statistics junkies and actually enjoy looking at all the pretty graphs google provides.

lies, damn lies, statistics graphic
- Commonly attributed to Mark Twain, but who knew, even this is controversial. Read more about the origins of this phrase.

Promoting your website

Content is King / Google is Queen?

One of the first steps in promoting your website would be to make sure that it is properly optimized so that search engines can find all your great content. And, content, as everyone knows, is king. Rich, informative, and relevant content is what we're talking about. Stuffing your pages with useless keywords is not only a turn-off to potential clients, it can get your site banned. And yet, this unscrupulous practice is still seen on the web. KISS - Keep it simple, and you won't have to worry.

What's this about Google is Queen? Of course, we jest. But, generally speaking it does seem as though google dominates when you're talking about the web. Most of our clients' statistics reflect something like 88-95% of their searches comes from google. Yahoo, Live (formerly MSN and looking suspiciously like google) amongst other players, battle it out for the remaining % of referrals.

The Text Age

Perhaps I should propose the phrase Text is Queen? Queen, as in the most powerful chess player on the board. What's a visual artist to do in the era where the written word is worth a thousand pictures, not the other way around? Learn how to use images judiciously, appropriately and to enhance the content of a website. We love photographs, we love graphics, we love images. But google loves text. If you can't beat em....

A few points when using images:

  • When images are embedded on the web page, make sure your webdesigner includes the "Alt" tag to enhance accessibility. It's also good SEO practice. An example would be "photo of mountains".
  • Keep an eye on file size - even in the broadband era, this is still important.
  • It's good practice to use h1, h2, h3... tags which are styled in css (your designer should know this) rather than have a graphic image be a heading/title. You can still get pretty fonts out of it, but you are limited to what the viewer has installed on their box.

Traditional Media

Good old fashioned direct-mail marketing still works. Otherwise, why would all those realtors be sending us at least 1 postcard a day? Perhaps it's the bubble-proof Vancouver real-estate market, but probably it's the tangibility factor, the fact that you have to handle the piece of paper, and that it catches your attention. So, consider a direct-mail marketing postcard if your budget allows.