Think Local Market has announced that they will be holding a new session of their popular “Byte Sized” seminars in McLennan, Alberta on January 31st and February 1st.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) - Jan 24, 2012 – Think Local Market – an Alberta online store where northwestern Alberta businesses showcase and sell their products and services locally and around the world – has announced that it will repeat its popular “Byte Sized” seminars on Internet marketing on January 31st and February 1st. The sessions will once again be led by Calgary entrepreneur, web designer, and online marketing expert David West, and are available for immediate registration at: http://svy.mk/thinklocallab

According to Think Local Market Project Manager Brad Rabiey, the decision to have David West back as the featured speaker and presenter was an easy one. “The response we got from our attendees about the November sessions has been overwhelmingly positive. People really seem to appreciate getting practical advice on things like social media, and finding customers over the Internet, and they also like that David gives it in a fun and easy style.”

He also adds that the upcoming sessions will be structured differently than they have before: “Instead of working in half or full-day sessions, we have decided to break things into one hour, forty-five minute blocks this time. That way, attendees can choose the exact programs they want to hear, and can stay for more advanced sessions if they choose to. ”

West, who has previously spoken for companies, business associations, and even government audiences throughout Alberta, says that the Think Local Market events are amongst his favorite. “There’s nothing quite like getting to work with these types of audiences, hearing their questions, and seeing how the information we give can help them to grow their businesses. Whether you have one employee or hundreds, taking advantage of opportunities on the Internet is usually one of the fastest ways to become more profitable.”

Attendees to the event will have the option of attending a number of sessions, ranging from basic web design and online marketing tips, to advanced presentations that build upon earlier lessons. Topics to be covered in these “Byte Sized” seminars include:

Search Engine Optimization Basics: Reaching the First Page of Google and Beyond

As the world’s leading search engine, Google registers more than 2 billion hits on a daily basis. That already makes it – along with the other major search engines – a marketing tool with nearly unmatched power. With the recent growth of local searches, it’s becoming even more important, whether your potential customers are just down the street, or halfway across the globe.

Social Media Marketing: From Facebook to Twitter and Other Social Sites

There are tens of thousands of business owners and managers throughout Alberta who have found that they greatly enjoy using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, but have no idea how to use them as marketing tools. As more and more business – both online and off – is driven by personal relationships and recommendations, it’s important that every company know how to take advantage of social sites as part of their overall strategy.

Using YouTube and Video Marketing to Get New Customers to Tune in

Because of the extraordinarily high volume of traffic it receives, and the fact that the site plays more than 1 billion clips each and every day, YouTube is sometimes referred to as “the world’s second-largest search engine.” While that’s not its biggest role, technically speaking, it can help Alberta businesses to find more customers if they know how to use the site as a marketing medium.

Blogging as a Bottom Line Business Tool

Even though there are literally millions of blogs in existence, many business owners and managers discount their value as marketing and promotional tools. Few online marketing avenues require so little in terms of investment, and offer so much in customer retention, market positioning, and search engine benefits as business blogs do… but only if you know how to put them to their best uses.

Registration Now Open

Due to high demand for the sessions, talks have already started to bring David back again later in 2012. Business owners, managers, and their employees who are interested in attending the January 31 sessions should register online at http://svy.mk/thinklocallab, or visit http://bit.ly/yLoDHA for more information.

Public Seminar Series in Calgary

Continuus has also updated it’s public seminar series and registration is now open to the public for 11 Byte Sized Seminars in Calgary, Alberta. Visit the public registration site here – http://bit.ly/continuuspc

For more information, including interview and photo requests, contact David West at Continuus Internet Consulting

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It can be easy to get the itch to imitate something you’ve seen a competitor do online, especially when they’re sitting well ahead of you in the search engine rankings, or expanding their company at a time when you’re treading water and are struggling to get by. In fact, we meet with small business owners every day who are motivated to make a change in their website or online marketing plan simply because they’ve seen someone else do the same.

There are times when a competitor’s move can inspire or necessitate doing something different, but take care that you don’t choose a losing Internet marketing strategy.

Why do we point this out? Because not everything is as it appears from the outside. Unless you have a great deal of personal insight into your competitor’s books, there’s nothing to say that they aren’t pouring a lot of time and money into the wrong things. Or, it could be that they’re drastically increasing their Internet marketing budget simply because the rest of their business is doing so badly. It’s surprisingly common for struggling companies to turn their efforts to find new customers after it’s already way too late.

To keep you from copying someone else’s mistakes, here are a few quick things to look for when examining a competitor’s website or online marketing campaign:

Run the numbers. Take a hard look at what the other company is doing and try to make an educated guess at what kind of return they’re likely to be seeing from it. You won’t have all the figures, naturally, but by talking to your web design team in thinking about prices and percentages, you might be able to come closer than you think.

Imagine what a similar activity will cost you. If you were to try the same thing, or something similar, what would the cost be? Compare that to a conservative estimate of what you think it’s earning them, and then try to decide whether it’s an idea that’s even worth considering.

See if there’s a better or more efficient way. Often times, the first business to try something isn’t the one that gets it right. See if there isn’t some way to improve on your competitor site or idea, and you might just make the breakthrough that they weren’t able to find.

Effective online marketing takes a lot more than a small business website. Contact eKzact – One of Calgary’s best web design teams – today to find out what we can do for you.

Amazing as it seems now, there was a time not so many years ago when no one, except the most tech-savvy small businesses, had regular access to a webmaster or IT professional. Granted, those people were around, but you generally called on them when you needed something fixed, not because you wanted one on staff. Now, of course, nearly everyone has an internal or contracted team to keep their small business site up and running and their technology online – to go without would quickly put your company at risk.

That’s how I’m starting to feel about community managers – men and women whose job it is to keep your online content and social profiles up to date and moving forward.

Why? Because as with all things on the Internet, change is coming faster than most of us had anticipated. Social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter aren’t just gaining steam – they are bulldozing any previous notions we had about how customers find us and communicate with us. The profiles you have on these websites affect everything from your repeat business to your online reputation, and even search engine optimization. To go without them means to give up valuable ground to other companies who would love to take new accounts away from you.

The way a community manager fits into this mix is by making sure your posts and profiles are all up to date, on point, and keeping your online marketing efforts in sync with one another. That’s why, here at eKzact, we’ve made our community manager a big part of our ongoing work, and invite you to take advantage of this service. The web (and especially social network marketing) has simply gotten too big, and too important, for most of us to keep our hands around while still running our companies – why not let a professional help us keep things moving in the right direction?