David A. West » Uncategorized

Calgary Search Engine Optimization Consulting Firm Partners with MSP University

David West — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:45:39 +0000

News: 26 Jul 2010 05:53 AM PDT

Ulistic and MSP University announce Strategic Partnership

IT VAR and Managed Services Providers win as two marketing leaders join forces to offer a comprehensive, effective online marketing solution to the channel
Ulistic, a leading Internet consulting firm based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and an organization focused on delivering valuable online marketing services and education within the IT VAR and Managed Services Community, today announced their strategic partnership with MSP University. MSP University is the largest consultancy and online resource dedicated to business transformation and improvement strategies for information technology (IT) professionals and managed services providers globally.

Read the full press release here.
Ulistic Inc., Calgary Search Engine Optimization & Social Media Advice.
MSP University, for Managed Service Providers.

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Ulistic focuses on serving the needs of Business, REALTORS, and Information Technology firms across Canada and United States. Helping your business understand, deploy and leverage social media, search engine optimization and online communications to generate business opportunities and make an impact inside your community and industry.

My business partner Stuart and I are business professionals first. We understand what it takes to run a successful small business.

I invite you to reach out to me personally at 403.775.2205 or email dawest@ulistic.com.

Angel Rodriguez, Frito Lay VP joins Ulistic’s Small Business Podcast

David West — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:57:17 +0000

Tune in live on July 22nd for a very special Ulistic Small Business Podcast with Angel Rodriguez, Frito Lay VP and Leadership speaker.

Join Ulistic’s team along with Frito Lay VP Angel Rodriguez as we discuss Leadership in today’s global economy. Angel recently decided that speaking on Leadership as part of his career at Frito Lay is absolutely required in our world today. Having the right leadership in place for the smallest businesses right through to the largest is crucial to success.

Tune into Angel Rodriguez and the team from Ulistic for a 30 minute discussion on business leadership.

Webcast starts at 11 AM Eastern/8 AM Pacific on July 22, 2010.

If you miss it live, you can always download it or tune in anytime.

Click here and join the “Leadership with Angel Rodriguez” webcast.

Visit Angel Rodriguez‘s blog today.

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My business partner Stuart and I are business professionals first. We understand what it takes to run a successful small business.

I invite you to reach out to me personally at 403.775.2205 or email dawest@ulistic.com.

Webinar: Leverage Facebook Marketing

David West — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:18:43 +0000

How can your small business leverage Facebook?

Looking for the secret recipe on marketing your business on Facebook?

What special tricks can you learn about one of the Internet’s most popular network platforms?

Do you have a Facebook Marketing Strategy?

Facebook is here to stay. Just look at the cover of Canadian Business on July 19 for proof. Is your business ready for the Facebook generation?

More and More businesses are now looking at how they can market through Facebook, create strong networks, build loyal followings and increase sales in their business. Now is the time for your Canadian Small Business to develop a series of Facebook Marketing Strategies that work.

Join Ulistic for a no cost Webinar on Facebook Marketing on July 5, 2010 at Noon Eastern Time/9 AM Pacific.

Stuart Crawford is a Calgary Social Media Coach and works with a number of leading and progressive small businesses across North America. During this 60 minute webinar Stuart will share exciting tips and tricks on how you can market your business with Facebook without breaking the rules. Stuart will share core strategies on connecting with the right folks who will help you build your brand, product or service in and out of the Facebook world. Understand how you can leverage the power of other people’s networks and build a loyal following.

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My business partner Stuart and I are business professionals first. We understand what it takes to run a successful small business.

I invite you to reach out to me personally at 403.775.2205 or email dawest@ulistic.com.

3 Reasons Your Search Engine Optimization Plan Isn’t Working the Way You Thought it Would

David West — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:45:51 +0000

Among online marketers, few things are as misunderstood as search engine optimization. The premise is simple enough: get your site to one of the top rankings for important keywords on Google, Yahoo, or Bing, and new customers will flood in through the virtual front door. The reality, however, is that it’s usually a whole lot harder than that.

Here are three reasons your search engine optimization plans might not be working out the way they were supposed to:

You aren’t being patient enough. There’s no way around this one – SEO takes some time. It’s usually 3 to 6 months before most marketers will even see their site show up in the first couple of pages of search results, and depending on how competitive your industry is, it could be twice as long before you make it to one of the top spots. Just because you aren’t getting a lot of hits yet doesn’t mean your search engine plan isn’t working; be patient, do the right things, and it will.

You are emphasizing the wrong keywords or phrases. One of the great ironies of SEO is that the money isn’t always where we think it is. In other words, even though we think a certain word or phrase is going to be profitable, it might turn out that the best customers are searching for different variations – or something completely different. All you can do, as a marketer, is make an informed guess and then keep adjusting your campaigns as you go along. Eventually, you’ll find the most profitable terms to target.

Your landing pages aren’t doing the trick. Hits mean nothing if they aren’t turning into sales. As important as your search engine optimization content is, it’s just as critical that you have strong sales elements on your landing pages. Make sure to tweak and test different versions so that your buying ratios are improving over time.

The real goal of SEO is never to gather traffic, but to increase sales.

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My business partner Stuart and I are business professionals first. We understand what it takes to run a successful small business.

I invite you to reach out to me personally at 403.775.2205 or email dawest@ulistic.com.

Improve User Experience & Get More Clients

David West — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:31:21 +0000

Bryan Eisenberg, who recently lost ½ his body weight, is not losing anything online.

Improve user experience and get higher conversion goals or advertise for more traffic? All major brands focus on constant improvement. Eisenberg presented at the SES Toronto this morning, and I had the pleasure of sitting in on his session. Eisneberg’s presentation “21 Secrets to Top Converting Websites” was excellent. It was also preceded by a warning that the content is confidential, so I’ll have to be sparse about the actual secrets that he disclosed and simply praise him for the value that the attendees received from his lecture.

A few points that I would like to share… some of my thoughts anyways;

Conversion rate is a measure of your ability to persuade visitors to take the action you want them to take. As was discussed this afternoon, understanding your real-world sales process can contribute to your websites ability to convert visitors to potential sales. If your websites conversion goals are low, you may want to take a step back and revisit your website. Revisit the copy on the site and then revisit the design. Finally, without considering your calls to action and sales process, your site may still fail. At Ulistic, a Calgary based internet consultancy, we preach balance. Balance design, written content and your calls to action. Only balanced websites can achieve their goals.

One of the questions posed during this session, “should a website owner Improve user experience and get higher conversion goals or advertise for more traffic?”

The point being that without constant review of usability, written content and conversion goals a website owner may well consider saving their money. A website that does not convert visitors to clients is just another pretty picture.

Cheers

David West

SES Toronto is Underway – Here’s the Plan

David West — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:47:47 +0000

Stuart Crawford & I are on the ground and registered at the Toronto Search Engine Strategies conference.

Stuart has selected a series of alternate speakers sessions to participate in. It was relatively easy for us to choose the sessions that peeked our general interests. One of the reasons that Stuart and I are excellent business partners is our evolving core areas of practice. My focus has always been technical. Specifically around website layout, conversion and search optimization. Stuart has successfully built interest in several businesses, including Ulistic, by leveraging both face to face as well as online social opportunities.

There is no doubt that the roads are crossing between Social and Search and I am looking forward to exploring this over the next two days at the Toronto SES conference.

Here is the plan for today;

The keynote speaker today is Mr. Perter Morville, President, Semantic Studios.

10:15 – 11a the conference floor is open.

11a – 12p – the first session that I will attend, “21 Secrets of Top-Converting Websites”

1p – 2p – Information Architecture, Site Performance Tuning, & SEO

3:45 – 5p – Bringing SEO In-House: The Pros & Cons

Off to Toronto for #SESTO – Search Engine Strategies Toronto

David West — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:32:35 +0000

Stuart, already in Toronto, and I will be attending the Search Engine Strategies conference June 10th and 11th. We have been invited to participate wearing our “press” passes and will be blogging through the event. We both consider this an honour and look forward to learning from our peers and sharing our thoughts with you as the Conference proceeds.

The SES Toronto event is in it’s 7th season. The longevity of this seminar is a reflection of the importance of search and how it has impacted business owners. Some industries have indeed become reliant on being found online and as competition has heated up over the past decade, so have the skill levels of search optimization practitioners. Being able to attend learning events like SES is one of the many keys that separates professionals from people who switch from selling “Franchised Workout Bootcamps” one day to being your Internet Marketing Consultant the next.

I am excited to be heading out to the airport in a short while to shoot off to the big city of Toronto. Many of you may not know, but I lived and worked in Toronto for two years after high school.

Stay tuned as Search Engine Strategies 2010 Conference & Expo is about to begin. See you there!

David A. West

The Simple Things in Life Are Free

David West — Sat, 29 May 2010 16:10:26 +0000

Very often the simple things are the ones that work too. If you need to collaborate, keep track of things to do or manage projects then here are some web-based apps that are free or nearly free that you should have a look at.

Have you heard of Paste Interactive? These folks are doing some pretty nice work in the world of Software as a Service (Saas). They have produced several applications that are free for you to use (or nearly free). I found these guys several months ago and recently received an invitation to the beta of their newest app called “Paprika”

Paste’s primary apps include Jumpchart, Staction and now Paprika.

Jumpchart is an app that allows web designers to mock-up website content into an interactive interface that allows navigation and work flow, just like a real website. Clients and contributors can then access the moch-up and comment. Reasonable fees are applied as your account grows.

Staction is Paste’s response to group collaboration. Taking all that works from the world of Social Media sites like Twitter, tagging and keywords Staction positions itself to simplify your groups collaboration. Reasonable fees are applied as your account grows.

Paprika uses a simple text based system to keep track of all your tags, dates, and todos fast, and easy. While only in beta, I have to admit, I really like Paprika! After creating a “wiki” type page for a project or task list, you can easily navigate and find items. You can share each page (or project) with collaborators via a private web address. Paprika is free for now and is currently by invite only. I have a few invites in my inbox if you want to try it, comment below.

While the above apps are cool and clearly going to get traction, if not already, I really like this one little “subordinated” application. I say it is subordinate because the little link is tucked way down on the page of apps. http://pleasenotify.me/ Please Notify Me is a tiny little app, that really is quite brilliant. Brilliant because we all need it and because it’s just so darn simple.

Please Notify Me is a little form, no membership account required, where you simply send actionable items to anyone you wish. They will be notified of the actionable item by email. Hear’s the easter egg… they will be reminded daily and so will you! They will continue to receive reminders daily until they mark the item as completed. Really, who doesn’t need this? http://pleasenotify.me/

Visit the folks over at Paste and check them out. I subscribed to their blog in hopes to be the first to learn about the next innovations coming out of Paste!

Visit Paste today and see what they are up to – Paste Interactive

David West

Will Flash Ever Work on the iPad?

David West — Sun, 16 May 2010 02:43:44 +0000

The iPod, iPhone and the new iPad all have the Safari browser installed. The Safari browser on these mobile devices do not support Flash. Apple will likely be investigated under U.S. Anti-Trust laws. Their policy to not allow Flash is backwards and contradicts what the users of their devices want. Well, that is what I used to think, before reading Apples letter on their website that has put this into a different light.

The founders of Adobe recently posted a letter, and stated that Apples approach in this case is opposite their own approach to openness.

“We believe that Apple, by taking the opposite approach, has taken a step that could undermine this next chapter of the web — the chapter in which mobile devices outnumber computers, any individual can be a publisher, and content is accessed anywhere and at any time.” http://www.adobe.com/choice/openmarkets.html

In Apples response to Adobe, they write a compelling argument as to why flash has not been adopted on mobile devices. They go on and state that;

“Even if iPhones, iPods and iPads ran Flash, it would not solve the problem that most Flash websites need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices.” http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

That statement alone supports my long time argument that websites developed in Flash have a higher cost of ownership to the website owner.

I really did think that Apple was simply stonewalling… putting off the ‘inevitable’ inclusion of flash on mobile devices. I did believe that they are simply protecting the iStore by not allowing flash devlopers to create web-apps for the mobile devices. After reading Apples letter regarding flash, I have changed my mind.

Live Blog – LinkedIn for Business Introduction

David West — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:24:36 +0000

Join me here at 8:45 for a live blog – Stuart Crawford will be starting the Linkedin for business seminar in Calgary. I will live blog the first half hour or so of the seminar.

LinkedIn for Business

The ABC’s of Google Search

David West — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:34:50 +0000

Join Stuart Crawford and David West from Ulistic, leading Calgary SEO Professionals for this very special mentoring breakfast at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce in the heart of downtown Calgary. There will be plenty of free parking at the IMPARK lot across from the new Bow Tower (North) and James Short Parkade (East). We have free parking until 9:30 AM secured for this special Calgary business networking and mentoring event.

During this mentoring breakfast, the team from Ulistic will share with you how to search effectively on Google plus other search engines. Maximize your search results and the time you spend looking for information online. There are many secrets to getting the information you need online, and how to go about searching for it. During this breakfast, you will learn the tips and tricks from the some of the best in the business.

Your registration fee includes a great breakfast from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
Come out and meet other business professionals in Calgary and learn a couple of new tricks to enhance your online searching.

Event starts at 7:30 and runs to 9 AM.

Why You May Want to Adopt Social Media

David West — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:35:34 +0000

To make friends and grow your “circle of influence”

No doubt some people are using social media sites like Twitter to build a list of loyal followers and to follow people of influence. The “social circle” can become an important influence on some. Others may be influenced. A great example of this potential influence is how Google is now returning a mix of search results, including “Results from people in your social circle…” Who better to trust than someone you know?

Drive Traffic to Your Sales Funnel

Probably one of the areas of Social Media that creates the most contraversy… but don’t kid yourself, a lot of people are using social media to drive traffic to their marketing website.

Listen to What is Being Said

Don’t want more friends? Not worred about using social media to drive interest in your products? At the very minimum, if you are not in the social circle, you may miss an important opportunity to manage your reputation. This may be one of the reasons many business owners are adopting social media. Reputation management does not have to be a full time job, but one day, it might be.

And on Another Note…

The VAR Guy, wrote about “Seven Signes Your Social Media Coach is a Fraud” today. He has whipped up a good converstation that is worth pondering. Thanks VAR Guy for your kind mention of Stuart and Ulistic.

I recently had a bit of my own rant about Social Media Consultants, among other… here.

Cheers,

David

Is Your Calgary Social Media Consultant Holding Back?

David West — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:16:11 +0000

How about your Search Engine Optimization expert? Do they hold their cards so close to their chest that you have no idea what their next move is?

“Baby Google” Causes a New Industry Called SEO

Only 10 years ago, when Google search was in it’s infancy, a whole new industry started to appear. Search Engine Optimization consultants, or SEO’s, as they are commonly referred to, emerged as a new industry. Over the years there have emerged some excellent SEO practitioners, as well as some less than desirable. Most SEO practitioners continue to do the work of Search Engine Optimization for their clients, but the act of doing SEO is something that can be learned. It is something that can be taught. As the purchaser of these services, I assert that you should have, at minimum, an entry level understanding of what you are buying.

Where Do the Best SEO Practitioners Come From?

Some of the best Calgary Search Engine Optimizers, that I know of, have evolved from website developers into website marketers. It is natural that someone who develops hundreds of websites would be challenged to help their clients get those sites on Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERP’s). I have also witnessed some very driven entrepreneurs create very powerful online brands by doing their own research and implementation. You can effectively get your own website to perform online.

There is no Secret Sauce or Magic Relationship to Page 1

Beware the Search Engine Optimizer that tells you there is a secret formula. A silver bullet that only they can shoot, a special relationship with Google… I met one of these new SEO practitioners recently. My red flags were flying pretty high by the end of our little chat. Unfortunately, the website owner doesn’t typically know enough about this industry to protect themselves from people like this. More and more website owners are tuning in though, and as a result making better decisions when finding trusted advisors.

Enter The Era of a New Industry – and a bunch more confusion

11 years after Google revolutionized the word “search”, a new industry is spinning up. Companies are being driven to find a Social Media Consultant. Enter the era of a new industry, and another confusing purchasing decision for small business owners. Business owners have to decide to learn and do it themselves, hire an employee, or hire a consultant. This industry is, in my humble opinion, even more crazy than that of website development, or search engine optimization. We are seeing people who were Virtual Assistants yesterday touting themselves as an expert in Social Media the next. I’m sorry, but just because you can open a Twitter account or use Facebook does not make you the best advisor for a legitimate business.

We found this at a recent blog posting in Calgary;

I have been helping businesses market themselves for over 10 years, starting off with promotional products and now with Social Media. I understand the value of 140 characters

Anyone Can Tweet – But Does a Tweet in the night get heard?

There is more to Social Media Consulting than just opening accounts and shouting at the World. Having a fundamental understanding of the tools and technologies helps. Having the ability to craft good messages and manage relationships – essential. Having a social media action plan that gives purpose to your chatter online – essential. At the end of the day, if participation in the social aspect of the Internet does not position your business as the experts in your industry, and if it does not allow you to own your online reputation, then what are you getting out of these efforts?

How Many Red Flags can you raise?

If your Social Media Consultant simply brushes your questions off with the assertion that they are the expert, “just leave it to me”, then you should raise a red flag. If your Social Media Consultant does not teach you with the intention that you or your own staff can take ownership of your online “persona”, then you should raise another red flag. If you do not control your social media accounts online, you are at the will of your consultant. Raise another red flag.

Know What You are Buying…

You can learn how to do these things yourself. Indeed you may want to stay focused on your core business. In any case, being educated about these industries will make you a much better purchaser, should you wish to hire a consultant.

Ulistic, a Calgary Internet Consulting firm, combines the power of search with the power of social to turn website havers into website owners. We have developed a website owners training process that will empower you to take ownership of your online marketing. Is it time to get started now?

Cheers –

David

What if You Had No Control At Your Website

David West — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:13:17 +0000

As social media and the onslaught of “free-for-all” user contributed content storms the web, until recently one of the few areas you had complete control over was your own website. That recently changed.

Google has launched it’s new “Sidewiki” as a portion to the Google Toolbar. Now as people surf the net they are being encouraged to comment on any website that they visit.

From the moment I upgraded my toolbar to give this “sidewiki” a little go, I can see there is certain degree of anxiety based on the postings on Google’s own sidewiki own page…

Travis Claridge wrote “How will this affect business and advertising? – this is a very scary tool from the aspect of a business and advertising. How deos a buisness prepare for the PR onslaught and respond to issues brought up through this service? Worse yet… if they don’t adapt quickly they will never even see content written about them.”

Kevin Fox wrote, “Promising, I’m glad to see Google try this… As Google explains their algorithm for comment position – irrelevant or unhelpful comments should sink to the bottom.” He also wrote, “I’m curious how Sidewiki will impact SEO, or will it be a whole new venue for SEO?”

It begs the questions also, when will Sidewiki “comments” be returned as actual relevant search results that then link to the related page?

Skye B wrote, “This is a place for “word of mouth” so to speak. Hopefully with the help of majority of surfers it will be spam free. No more websites or blogs that don’t offer a chance to readers to speak their mind. Some websites don’t post your comments if you don’t agree with them, but those days are gone! Freedom of speech for everyone! Thanks Google”

Interesting that this person, under an alias name, is also the one most concerned about freedom of speech – but won’t put their name to it.

A little shoot over to YouTube to see what viewers of Google’s sidewiki video are saying… and wow, some very interesting comments. Of course, comments that are welcomed at YouTube may not be so welcome at your marketing website. At YouTube when you post a video you have the option to moderate comments and you can decide which comments should be public… Google Sidewiki does not give website owners the ability to moderate user contributed content.

MrSaxaman1973 wrote, “Those talking about “Freedom of Speech”. This has nothing to do with YOUR speech. It has to do with the website owners Freedom of Speech. You need to be a website owner to really understand. We assemble websites the way we do on purpose. To provide info and services that YES, make us money, but its our money that we are putting on the line & our decision on how to use it. SideWiki is taking that away by enabling random users the ability to direct visitors ($) away from our investments! “EVIL”!!!”

Over now to the seroundtable.com forums to see what the search optimizers are chatting about. Ah, they are chatting about blocking users from accessing websites if they have the Google toolbar installed. Interesting. The chatter here is to either convince Google to allow webmasters to opt-out on a site by site basis or to simply block users or redirect them somewhere else, like maybe Bing.com for example.

Whitenight commented at webmasterworld, “…this is a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

Just like with Twitter, my jury is out on Sidewiki. I am not sure how this is going to pan out. I can safely say, it is causing a bit of a stir online.

David

Canadian Small Business Blog

David West — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:56:34 +0000

Stuart Crawford from Bulletproof InfoTech is at it again, yes, he is starting another blog focused on delivering information to the small business community throughout Canada.

The Canadian Small Business Blog launched over the past weekend with a goal to help entrepreneurs, small business owners and those who work in small business from coast to coast to coast in Canada have a place and a voice in our vibrant community. Small Business is a healthy community and the cornerstone of our economy right here in Canada. With over 97% of business in Canada employing less than 250 staff members, it will be this community which rebuilds Canada after the great economic reset.

Stuart, Vice President at Bulletproof InfoTech, a firm focused on delivering Calgary and Red Deer firms with quality IT services, computer repair, computer solutions and technology consulting has only focused on small business throughout his entire career. “My passion is to help small business get the right information technology so they can build a strong business”, says Stuart.

Check out the Canadian Small Business Blog today at http://www.smallbusinessblog.ca.

Do You Want More Leads from Your Website?

David West — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:57:04 +0000

Has the economy slowed your business down?

I talk to a lot of small business owners in a week and the general consensus is that most companies have seen a decline in revenue over the past 12 months. You really have two choices to make when your business is slow – cut expenses or increase sales.

Do You Want More Leads from Your Website?

You may have the ability to increase the leads that your website generates. Have you heard of Search Engine Optimization – my guess is yes. It’s quite a buzz right now. That and “Social Media”… things like Twitter, Facebook and Linked In.

What does all of this SEO, social media stuff mean?

If you are even slightly confused or feeling overwhelmed trying to both understand and implement an online marketing program – we have a solution for you.

What does it do for your business website?

If you cause enough banter online and direct the focus of the various media to your marketing website, the search engines respond by showing searchers links to your online presence. The louder you banter… more traffic. A well designed website with clear conversion goals will convert those visitors to potential clients. That’s what search engine optimization, social media and video syndication can do for your business.

I’d like to Introduce you to Ulistic

I would like to introduce you to ULISTIC Inc. Our focus is completely on internet consulting and marketing. Here are some of the things we want to help you with;

Managed social media, yes we can do it for you. Become a part of a growing Twitter pool and let work at driving traffic to your website or blog
Search Engine Optimization, get your website showing up on Google for the important keywords and phrases that will generate new leads.
Website conversion goal review and optimization. Getting traffic is only one part of the big picture… is your website really ready to greet guests and compel them to call you?
Social Media Coaching and Setup. One and one setup and design of your Facebook company page, LinkedIn, and Twitter account. Setup to automatically cross syndicate you blog writing, tweets and status updates!
Internet video production and syndication – with a focus on getting traffic!

IE 6.0 – or as I call it Internet Exploder 6.0

David West — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:14:14 +0000

I was glad to see the recent statistics for website browser usage at the w3school site showed that Firefox is now the dominant web-browser. The simple fact that there are still stats for IE6 are indicative of the issues that Microsoft brings to the web-browser world.

In November 2002 a combined 83% of users used either IE 5 or IE 6. Internet Explorer 6 was released on August 27, 2001, a few months before Windows XP. So it begs the question – why the hell do so many people still have IE 6.0 on their computer? Someone must have the answer… let me Google..

Here is what one blogger wrote;

“Internet Explorer 6 is always a hot subject of debate. We’ve talked about it here many many times. The forums are full of folks trying to troubleshoot it. The CSS support is problematic and the JavaScript support is proprietary nonsense.” Source

I believe that a great number of computers in Corporate Calgary are still using IE 6.0. Accordng to stats 90% of the World uses Microsoft Windows – 67.2% Win XP and 18.4% Vista (w3school.com May 2009). So, Microsoft released Vista and 67.2% of their customers did not precieve enough value to upgrade…

This morning when I logged into my computer, I was soon prompted by FireFox to download their newest version of this popular web-browser – v 3.5. So why can’t Microsoft push their browser upgrades in the same manner. Am I missing something here?

Please, people… check your browser and if it was released in 2001 – it’s time for a change.

Download FireFox today. Your IT support team won’t mind

Do You Fully Understand Your Blackberry?

David West — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:29:09 +0000

Do you have a Blackberry and struggle to understand some of the basic functions on how to use this device?

If you do, you are not alone. Many business executives, sales people, service engineers, and all other workers have these wonderful devices that are suppose to make our lives easier and keep us productive while away from our office. However, many of us continue to struggle with even some of the basic use of our Blackberry devices.

Bulletproof InfoTech has the answer for you!

Register today for your special half day seminar on June 23rd (morning and afternoon sessions) and take the first step to understanding how to use your blackberry today. Calgary business special price is $199.00 for this 3 hour seminar, held at the Calgary Coast Plaza Hotel at 1316 33rd Street NE. Special Group discounts are available, please call Stuart directly at 403.206.2233 to get yours.

Members of our networking group get in for $139.00, you save $60.00…

You will walk away with valuable insight and knowledge that will save you hundreds of dollars in roaming fees when you travel. When you finish this session, you will have knowledge that will provide you with instant return on your investment and return on life.

Red Deer course available on June 24.

Thank You for your time

Partnership – A Difficult Ship to Navigate

David West — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:42:24 +0000

Join Stuart Crawford from Calgary’s Small Business Specialist, Bulletproof InfoTech and George J Sierchio from Action Business Partners as we discuss one of the most difficult areas of business today, Partnerships. Partnerships can help your business succeed in new areas with business partners and also allow you a bit of a safety net with others to share your risk. Water dangers lurk beneath the surface when you go into unchartered waters? George and Stuart will discuss and share some of our experience with business partnerships, what works? What doesn’t? What to do when you are doing all the work? We will also share tips and tricks to bring your partnership back up to the surface or when you decide to abandon ship.

Listen live to Small Business Radio on Friday, March 13 at Noon Eastern/9 AM Pacific Time. Listen live at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/smb.

Miss an episode, catch up on back editions online today.

Are you interested in being interview and sharing your story, email Stuart today at radio @ stuartcrawford.com

A quick note to remind you of the blogging course tomorrow

David West — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:06:25 +0000

Tomorrow is our blogging course, if you haven’t registered yet – visit https://www.ekzact.com/training/index.php

Would You Say that to my Face?

David West — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:55:18 +0000

Is it just me, or do some people say things in email message that they wouldn’t dream of saying to your face?

I remember when email was just evolving. I read a note on etiquette and one of the things that the author said was that “at some point all people will send an email that they will regret”. How many times do you reply to message that raise your hair… only to delete the response. Some email messages have me actually leave my desk and take a walk.

One thing I have noted is that when people are frustrated or feeling lost in a process they might shoot off a note that is borderline rude. It is clear that they haven’t really thought it through. More often than not, the email message is “out of character”. You know, when you think to yourself “that doesn’t sound like Mrs. X”. What is the best way to deal with it? Ironically I think the answer is to rely on an old technology. Pick up the phone and call.

It seems apparent that people are more apt to write things in email that they quite frankly wouldn’t say to your face. Am I wrong about this?

I always remember that note about “one day regretting an email that I have sent”. I always ask myself, would I say that to a person if they were in the room with me? If the answer is no… the email gets deleted.

The workplace has to be respectful. The respect is recipricol and has to apply equally between service provider and service receiver. Some times written corrospondence shouldn’t replace a good old fashioned telephone call.

Tell me your thoughts on this… I would love to see your comment added below.

Cheers -
David A. West

TJW Piano Recital 2008

David West — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:11:13 +0000

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Travis participated in his annual piano recital recently, this is the video of his music. Michelle is his instructor and has been since he started piano lessons. Enjoy the music!

Executive Diamond Services – Testimonial

David West — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:39:03 +0000

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Garry and Brooks of Executive Diamond Services gave this testimonial for eKzact Solutions. Executive Diamonds is a Calgary Jeweller that works with clients by appointment in their offices. Located in SE Calgary at the South Centre Mall.

Visit us at http://www.ekzact.com

Extreme Tech Makeover Interviews

David West — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:31:23 +0000

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Stuart Crawford interviews industry leaders including Heather Douglas of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and Arlene Dickinsen of Venture Communications and the hit show “Dragons Den”. These quick interviews were conducted at the announcement of the Extreme Technology Make Over that IT Matters is running.

eKzact is proud to stand among many other vendors of business services as a sponsor.

Calgary Video production by eKzact

Calgary Extreme Technology Makeover

David West — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:36:17 +0000

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IT Matters Extreme Office Technology Makeover

Your business can win up to $50,000 in brand new technology to kick start 2009!

eKzact Solutions Inc., a Calgary Web Design company has contributed a complete marketing web site makeover to the Extreme Package. Along side sponsors like IT Matters, Research In Motion, Rogers, Microsoft and DELL, we are pleased to participate as both a sponsor and on the advisory board for the Calgary Extreme Technology Makeover.

What could your company do with a $50,000 Office Technology Makeover?
Is your business technology outdated? Enter to win a technology overhaul for a faster, more productive work environment.

The only requirements are that your company have 550 employees, a minimum of 5 PCs and you are based in Calgary, Alberta. The winner will be announced at a special event in January 2009.

Visit ExtremeTechMakeOver.ca and register to Win!

How Does Your Site Perform?

David West — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:32:32 +0000

It is difficult, sometimes, to convince a client that their website is actually performing quite well. Clients expectations, sometimes, far exceed their websites ability to perform. Google Analytics offers an industry leading statistics engine for website owners and developers to track and trend website performance.

Using Analytics to better understand how visitors behave, we can determine how they are finding a website, what search engines are people using and what keywords visitors use when searching. We can also review bounce rates and the number of pages viewed by a visitor.

The one thing we could not do in the past was demonstrate to the client that their websites performance is good, or bad, based on benchmarking. It was nearly impossible to demonstrate that other websites of similar size and nature perform better or worse than the clients website.

Google has “stepped up” and changed this by introducing “Benchmarking”. As users of Google Analytics, we have been given the choice to share the statistical data gathered from our websites. In return, Google has made the “Benchmarking” data available back to us.

Google states that there will be a minimum of 100 accounts compared in any given category. Some categories could potentially have thousands of sites being benchmarked.

The data from participating sites is averaged and anonymized through the aggregation process, then classified into a category. We limit the effects of outlier sites from the aggregate data in each category to help ensure that the benchmarking data is most representative of the industry vertical you choose to compare your site against.

Google Analytics Benchmarking Help

Google exposes vertical categories when there are enough websites that fall into the category. If a category for your vertical market is not showing, it is likely because there is not enough data to create a direct benchmark. You will still be able to benchmark websites of a similar size.Google Analytics benchmarking currently allows us to show a comparison for the following metrix;

Visits – unique visitors to the website. Not hits… hits don’t mean anything.
Bounce Rate – did they pop in and out again…
Pageviews – total number of pages viewed during the reporting period.
Avg. Time on Site – how long did the “stick”.
Pages/Visit – how many pages a visitor viewed for this visit.
New Visits vs. Returning Visitors

We currently add analytics to all of our accounts where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Online Marketing services are involved. If you are a website owner and would like to have Google Analytics installed on your website, please feel free to contact us and we would be glad to help you.

Understanding how your website is performing in relationship to search, online marketing and in comparison to your vertical markets is critically important. If you have a website and are not measuring it’s success, you may be missing an opportunity to improve.

Getting visitors is okay – Getting customers better!(tm)

Regards,

David A. West
eKzact is a leading Calgary Website Design company.

Slow Down and Serve: 4 Ways to Achieve Client Loyalty

David West — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:59:28 +0000

Is excellent client service at an all-time low? Just take a look around today
’s high-paced, low-loyalty and skilled-labor-shortage economy, and you’ll see that the level of client service is quickly diminishing. But does it have to be this way? Maybe if people just slowed down

read more | digg story

Blogging in Calgary Course – Great Stuff!

David West — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:05:28 +0000

As a small business owner it can be difficult to “get out” and take courses. When a great course comes along though, you just have to make the opportunity to attend.

Stuart Crawford has been running a series of course in the Calgary area for small business owners, including his “Blogging in Calgary” and “Facebook for Business”.

On Stuart’s “Blogging in Calgary” site, he says,

“Blogging is rapidly becoming one of most effective ways to get your message out about your services, your industry, the products you sell or any other market and business trends that affect your business.”

I would add, that blogging can be addictive and fun.

During the course yesterday, a small group of entrepreneurs came together and learned about Blogging for business. Stuart did an excellent presentation, followed by a thorough demonstration of Google’s Blogger tools.

During the session, I was inspired to add a couple of new ideas to my “blogging book”. It’s the little pad I keep in my shirt pocket to write ideas for my next blog entry. I affectionatly refer to it as my “blook”. Stuart keeps his Blackberry handy, to jot down his blogging ideas.

I have to say, I truly enjoyed this course. Stuart is doing a great job of brining Calgary Business owners together. He is forming a community!

Stuart’s next event is on Feb 6, 2008 at the Calgary Coast Plaza Hotel at 6 PM. You can contact Stuart through his blog at StruartCrawford.com.

If you would like a free blog on the internet, you can sign up at Calgary Business Online. It’s fast and simple.

Our business, a Calgary web design company, has been promoting the use of blogging in business. We offer a hosted solution based on WordPress. If you think you would like a blog with a 100% custom designed look and feel, please visit eKzact and complete our quick request for a proposal.

Cheers,

David A. West

Is It Your Own Name?

David West — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:25:50 +0000

Own domain names to stop the misappropriating of your personality. Apparently the premier’s personality was recently misappropriated by an Alberta Blogger.

In light of daveberta’s recent receipt of a letter from our premier (whom I am afraid to name here). daveberta registered the domain name edstelmach.ca, soon after he was appointed premier of our Province (notice I didn’t say elected). daveberta then forwarded the domain name to his own blog space, where he is know to have differing opinions than our government. He in fact, uses the premiers name quite freely, when he is writing about the premier. Some might say that it is appropriate use of the name. The whole issue begs the questions – Is it your own name or do you own your name?

In any case, he is under threat of suit by the Premier’s lawyer. You can read the letter from the lawyers at this link. In daveberta’s blog he comments;

“…I am still surprised that the +150 staffed Public Affairs Bureau failed to complete the simple task of registering a $14.00 domain name ”

Even Jim Campbell, with the Alberta PC’s conceded it was a mistake not to register the domain name.

A point well made, I thought. Now, I don’t necessarily recommend running out and registering every domain name possible, but do consider managing your tradename and your “personality” on line.

If you have a unique domain name, or if you are trying to find a great domain name, consider checking the alternative extensions of the same name. I once used a domain name, in the early days of the internet, that was singular. The same domain name, but plural, lead to a porn site. I dropped the domain name. I recommend that at minimum, my Canadian clients, select the .com and .ca version of their domain names. Check to see who is using the other versions, including singular, plural and with hyphenation. You may be accidentally associated with other domains that are your competition or that promote products or ethics that could harm your corporate image.

We also, refer our clients to the Federal Government’s trademarks database. Check that your domain name and business name does not conflict with any registered trade names. While you are there, consider registering your own trademarks or trade names to protect the ownership of your domain names. If you own a domain name, and someone else later registers a trademark for the same name, you stand a chance of losing the domain name to the registered trade name holder. Many people who open a corporation feel that their corporate name is instantly a protected Trademark. This is not necessarily the case… Provincial registration of a named corporation does not relate to a proper trademark registration, which is a Federal service.

Do you own, and protect, your corporate and domain names? Do you think that it was appropriate for daveberta to use the premiers name in a domain name pointing to his blog site? Did the premier over react, or is he right to demand the transfer of ownership of the domain name to his own benefit?

Months Go By Faster as I Age.

David West — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:11:59 +0000

Helen and I were reflecting yesterday that time goes by faster and faster as we get older. I commented that it seemed like just yesterday that we put the Christmas decorations back into the garage. Here we are, December, thinking we had better get the decorations out again. As we prepare to move the eKzact offices to a larger space, and a shorter commute from home, we really haven’t had time to pause.

I stopped putting Christmas lights on the house a decade ago. It was a ritualistic confirmation that I am still nervous on a ladder, so I stopped doing that. I was the guy on the block who still had the Christmas light out until May. I should have just left them on until December.

Today in the office I realized November was still up on the wall… I thought to myself, if I don’t change the page now, it will be January. Then I remembered that we bought one hundred or so 2008 calendars to give to clients. This became one of my objectives for this week, get the calendars in the mail. Maybe I should just put up the 2008 calendar today and not bothered turning to December.

This year, after the holidays, I think I’ll save myself the effort and leave the Christmas decorations out until next December.

Note to self: Mail Calendars this year.

Welcome!

David West — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:58:52 +0000

Welcome to DavidAWest.com.

So, who is David A. West? I am the owner of eKzact Solutions Inc. a Calgary website design & development company. I have been planning on starting a blog for some time now. My intention is to use the blog as an opportunity to extend our business website’s content in a more casual manner.

While a traditional business website doesn’t really allow for ramblings or general sharing of ideas – the web 2.0 world of blogging is all about getting “involved” in your website.

I am inspired to start blogging, in part because of Stuart Crawford, who has really become a key mentor and partner for me in business. His near daily blogging has drawn my attention. I really appreciate his manner and style, both personally and in business. He is one of the daily reminders that have brought me to finally start our blog. I consider myself a lucky person for having met Stuart. Stuart is one of the owners of IT Matters, a trusted Calgary information technology service provider.

Please feel free to contact me or reply to any of the entries in my journal.

Cheers.
David A. West