All search engines have a way to determine what websites, or web pages, should be listed on the first page of a search. In google’s case, the action of getting your website on the first page of a google search is called PageRank. Google uses a cast linking structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. AKA – if there is a link form Page “A” to Page “B: then google looks at that link as a vote for Page “B” by Page “A”. Plus it will also look at the value of the page that makes the vote.

For example, if Page “A” has a lot of votes then itself, then it’s vote for Page “B” will mean more to Page “B” than a vote coming from a page that has no votes. As your PageRank increases in the google search engines and remains there, your website, will be viewed as more and more valuable to Google over time.

The key to all this is what google refers to as keywords. Google uses sophisticated matching techniques to find pages that are important and relevant to what the keywords that people are looking for.

For Example: If I am searching for Winnipeg Web Design or Winnipeg Online Marketing, I want to find the pages that are most relevant to those topics. If I’m searching for Winnipeg Carpenter then I want to find websites that are relevant to those topics.

These are some of the reasons that it is important to have your website designed to optimize your online marketing efforts. Your business will grow because of it.

Happy Web Designing and Online Marketing!!!!!

It is not very often that we build a website where our clients don’t want to make changes from time to time, or in some cases, day to day therefore one of the important aspects of our web design and online marketing service is educating our clients on the options they have to update their websites.

The simple explanation of this is that our clients have two options

• You can do it yourself using out state of the art technology that is as easy as using Word

• We can do it for you. Prior to launching your site we would agree whether the best option for your needs would be a monthly rate or a per hour basis.

Which option you choose will be completely dependent on the amount of changes you believe you are going to have to make in order to achieve your business goals. If you’re going to need to be making a lot of changes then it would be more convenient to do them yourself or have an employee do them for you. If not, then it would probably be more economical to do them yourself.

We’ll work with you to make sure that you know your options and help you choose the option that will help you reach your business goals sooner than later.

Happy Web Designing!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a common misconception out there that states that the most important part of a website is to make sure a website “looks nice” to the viewer. When some of our clients first come to us they want to talk all about design and we always make sure we make it very clear that a “A pretty website is nice to have but what is the point of a pretty website if no one is going to see it. What this means is that when we talk to our clients about building a website we work with them to develop a “full circle” plan that will achieve the results they want.

When it comes to getting a site found, you need to have a marketing plan in place. It can be an online plan, an offline plan or a combination of the two. Here is a brief description of the options and few tips for each:

Offline: Uses traditional forms of advertising and word of mouth

• Choose a simple and/or familiar domain name

• Use a “.com” if possible (it is the most common)

• Make your website the focal point of your marketing efforts – Have all brochures, flyers, etc. point people to the website)

Online:

• Uses all or a combination of SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay-per-click) and social networking

SEO: Search Engine Optimization

• Uses video, article writing, keyword linking and press releases to drive your site up the page rankings in the search engines – the higher the ranking the more traffic you will get.

PPC: Pay-Per-Click

• This is paid advertising online and uses keywords, which allows you to find your niche market online

Social Networking:

• Building a contact list through media sites like youtube.com, facebook.com, twitter.com and digg.com

It is vitally important to have a complete plan to make sure your website gets seen so that you can get the results you need from your website. We can ensure that you get the website you want AND make sure it gets found. Sign-up for a FREE consultation at www.vinemultimedia.com.

Until next time – HAPPY WEB DESIGNING AND MARKETING!!!!!!

Before we can answer the question of whether you need a website designer or a website developer to develop to create your website we really need to define what the difference between the two are.

A website designer is defined as a person who conceptualizes and plans out the site, or in other words the are the ones who bring the vision to reality.

A website developer is defined as the person who builds and maintains the site. They use HTML, produce flash, streaming media, etc. to get your website functioning properly and live on the internet.
When it comes to what we provide, we will do both services, as will most well established website development firms. The difference comes in their experience, style, and the ability to take the website and market it properly online. Therefore when you are looking for someone to build your website, it is best to make sure you are asking the right questions. Questions like:

• What is their experience?

• What does their previous work consist of?

• Do the sites that they have developed look “clean and well organized”?

But the most important thing you need to have is:

• A feeling of “trust” with your chosen web developer that your aspirations for your site are going to become a reality.

Until next time – Happy Web Designing!!!!!

One of the many should ask questions that we advise people to ask us or who ever they are working with for the website development is – How can a website reduce my workload?

We tell people to ask this because, no matter what business you are in, an effectively built website should be able to reduce your workload because it provides a 24-7 “home” for information that your clients/customers want. Whether you are a plumber, toy store owner or an accounting firm, your website will be the “home” for all sorts of information and news that your customers are interested in.

Here are a few examples of the leverage that your website will provide:

• Any information (static info or “news”) will be readily available to your clients at all times. You will spend less time explaining a change in policy, or promoting a new item because you can simply refer people to your site.

• Your products can be available for purchase 24-7, and their purchases will not require any employees, or yourself, to complete.

• Any forms or applications that your clients need on a regular basis will be available to your clients 24-7. Your employees will no longer have to spend time making form copies, organizing form storage and/or physically getting the form for your clients. They can simply refer your clients to your website.

These are just a few examples of how your website will reduce your workload. In order to have a website that achieves all of your business and personal needs, contact us today, your Winnipeg web design and online marketing specialists, for a free consultation.

Until next time – Happy Web Designing!!!!!!

Winnipeg Web Design and SEO/Online Marketing Before we answer this questions lets define exactly what each one is

What is a Website?: is any multiple page object accessible through a browser

What is a Blog?: it is actually also a website but it is a website that contains short, frequent posts with user comments

Whether you blog or create a website will depend entirely on your budget, time and goals. If you want a formal and designed site with structured information and longer articles, then a website is the way to go. If you’d like to have an ongoing conversation with your viewers then the blog is the way to go

If we are posed this question by one of our clients we first, learn their goals and then offer our advice BUT if you’re looking to maximize you online presence and increase your customer satisfaction then we advise that you do both. This is because they feed off of each other and help to get your websites higher page rankings.

For more information contact our office and one of Marketing Specialists will help you find the best strategy for your business needs.

HAPPY WEB DESIGNING!!!

Winnipeg Web Design and SEO Marketing: There are a lot of people that have asked us in the past about why they need a website. These people generally have a “traditional” type business and they have a hard time seeing the value that a website could bring to their business, especially, if their business is doing well without it.

In most of these cases, it is simply a matter of us finding out a little more about their marketing strategies, business operations and the business in general to determine exactly how a website can help these people grow their business with very little additional cost.

How a website could help your business
1. Leverage – Traditional businesses can use their website as a leverage tool. For example – if you ran an accounting firm, you could have all the forms that your clients need to fill out on your website which would accomplish 2 things for your business
a. Your employees could focus on more important things rather than be searching for forms for your clients
b. Your customers would be able to access these forms from the comfort of their own home and on their own schedule – creating a better client experience

2. Marketing/Lead Generation – Through simple and extremely low cost marketing of your website, a traditional business owner can have a consistent flow of new, ready-to-purchase leads.
3. Customer Interaction and Retention – A website will keep your customers engaged with what your business is doing. It allows customers to become, or stay, familiar with you and your products/services on regular basis. It’s almost like you can build a level of trust with your clients/customers without talking to them in person.

Of course, we could go on and on about how a website can help your business but that would be counter-productive. The important thing to understand is that, the Internet is here to stay and as time passes, it is only going to become more and more prevalent in our society. Therefore, if you can learn how to use it to your advantage right now, you’ll gain an advantage over your competitors.

Until next time, Happy Web Designing!!!!!

the amount of time it takes for you to have a website designed, developed and brought live is dependent on a number of things. A lot of which you can control by making sure you are very clear with your expectations with your web designer. When we build a site a website for one of our clients we sit down with them at the start and map out an execution plan to make sure everything is understood ahead of time. What a lot of our clients don’t realize is that, in most cases, because they want to write the content themselves, they are responsible for having the content complete in time to take the site live. This is generally a little more work than what was anticipated and it can delay the entire process sometimes so we advise, right from the start, for our clients to begin working on their content so everything can be brought live at the same time. We also give our clients the opportunity for us to write the content for them. This allows their content to be professionally written and takes a huge load of work off of their shoulders so they can focus on the core strengths of their business.

With all that being said, as a general rule we advise our clients that the design and development of their site will take between 4-6 weeks.

Happy web designing!

What is Site Maintenance?

This sounds like a pretty simple question but for those that are new to building websites and online marketing, learning the terminology can sometimes be an overwhelming task. Especially when life is busy and learning new things takes time. Site Maintenance is simply the work completed to properly upkeep your site and make sure that it is functional. This service can be automated (by letting us do it for you) or you can use our software to make the changes yourself.

Happy web designing!!!

www.vinemultimedia.com/webdesign.php – How long does it take to get a website designed, developed? This is a fantanstic question and it’s one that needs to be asked when you are having your website completed by someone else. There are a lot of different variables that go into this and they may include some or all of the following:

• How complex is your site?
• How interactive do you want your site to be?
• How busy is your web designer?
• How busy are you? (you will have questions to answer and content to create if it isn’t already)
• Do you have a logo or brand colors that you can use or do you need one developed?

The average site takes about 2-6 weeks to complete. The more prepared you are and the better the communication you have with us the better your chances will be to having a website up and earning you income sooner, rather than later.

Happy web desigining! For more information visit: www.vinemultimedia.com/webdesign.php