Your site is up and running without a hitch; but is it achieving your goals? One of the biggest mistakes clients make when requesting a quote for a website is that they only ask for a website. I always recommend that my clients have an analytics program installed to monitor their website’s activity. How do you know what your return is on your investment (positive or negative) without a way of measuring the use it’s getting and more importantly whether you’re achieving the goals you set out to accomplish?

Let’s say you have analytics installed already. How do you make heads or tails of the information being sent to you? I have 1000 hits per day! Great, but are those people landing on your page by mistake and immediately leaving? It’s important to have expert advice on how to interpret the data so you know just what is going on. Even more so you need guidance on what you can do to fix the problems once you have identified them and tell you what the next step is.

As you can see it can be rather costly and there are lots of caveats to get caught up in. Luckily we have a solution that we created just for you. We call it an Online Presence Package (OPP). With an OPP you get everything you need to get a website up and running with out the huge startup costs because payments are monthly and spread out over the year. Furthermore, you get the analytics to know what is doing with your website. Last but not least you have support from web experts that are there if you need them and can offer guidance on what the best next steps are to maximize your returns. We have taken care of everything so you don’t have to worry about anything. The domain, hosting, email, setup, maintenance… it’s all included. Whether you’re a professional with a practice of one or a large company we have a package for you. Call 514-909-8773 today to find out about the package for you starting at just $65 per month.

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What do I need to build a website?

3 essentials of any home (page)

Most people have no idea what is involved in creating a website. Think of your website as your home. Every home needs land on which it can be built; this is your Web hosting account. Just like the property, the hosting server is where your website is physically stored. The second thing you need is the house. So you hire a general contractor to build the house. That’s the Web Developer who designs and constructs your website to your specifications, time line, and budget. Finally, you need an address so that people can find your home. That’s the domain name (www.yourdomain.com).

How do I start?

Whether you need some tutoring to help make sense of the world (wide web) or you need a comprehensive plan to tackle your new (or revamped) online presence, Web by Craig is here to help. We have a proven track record of delivering custom websites that are on time and on budget. Call today for a free consultation…

Thinking Web?
Contact Craig!
514-909-8773

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However there are lots of things Twitter is not. Here are 4:

1. A great place to sell products. I am sure you can cite a case of a firm using the service to sling stuff. However, for most companies, most of the time, it is a weak sales channel.
2. A place for real connection. Many will disagree with me on this. I suppose it depends on the definition of real connection, which I firmly believe can occur on the web. Twitter’s structure – i.e. its 140 character limit – doesn’t make it easy.
3. A place where your “friends” are likely to help you move a couch IRL. See number 2.
4. A good broadcast channel. If you produce digital content for your business or just personal reasons, you occasionally need to pimp it by sharing it on social networks. I use Twitter for this. My analytics program tells me that other social networks, like Facebook, are FAR more effective in terms of driving traffic and generating clicks. For most people, most of the time, the service is not well designed for pure play broadcasting. If you commit to conversing and combine that with broadcasting you’ll do better.

Jackson Wightman is the creator of MakePR, an online course that empowers small businesses to score their own press coverage without insane agency fees. At Web by Craig (WbC) we have assembled a team of specialized experts, like Jackson, to help you or your business acheive its objectives. Call today for a free consult. 

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With all the advancements in technology, it is no wonder that dirty messages are flinging across the airwaves. Instant cameras attached to devices that can share photos in the blink of an eye, coupled with the impulsivity and risqué sexual behaviours of a hormonal pubescent teen, equals sexting. While sexting can have legal and social ramifications of its own (child pornography charges, reputations ruined, personal photos published, etc.); it’s the associated behaviours that cause the real damage. What is important to note is that ‘sexting’ teens are 82% more likely to be having sex compared to the non-sexting teens! Furthermore, it’s riskier sex!!! Is the technology causing the behaviour?

Sexting is more likely the result of teens’ attitudes towards sex than the cause of them. “It may be a reliable indicator of actual sexual behavior,” says researcher Jeff R. Temple, PhD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch Health. In May, British officials issued a report stating that teenage girls are experiencing increasing pressure to text and email sexually explicit pictures of themselves, with many accepting it “as a fact of life.”

So if this truly is an indicator of where our youth is sexually, what can we or should we do? Some media outlets, like MTV, have started to address the issue by warning teens of the potential risks associated with sexting. Sites like thatsnotcool.com bring the issues related to teens and technology to the forefront and allow kids to join the conversation and be educated. Parents have to talk to their  kids and educate themselves on the realities of a modern day teenager. In some cases, a therapist or a psychiatrist may be called for, depending on how risky and/or frequent the behaviour is. There are many  resources for parents coping with sexually active teens and pre-teens. For example, there are online articles from experts, forums for discussion amongst parents, as well as, real life support groups for both parents and teens.

Craig Steinberg has been in the web industry since 1996 and is the owner of Web by Craig, a Montréal-based web and marketing services company. Whatever your online needs, WbC can help you, from consultation and training to design, print and programming. We do it all (well almost). Remember:

Thinkng Web?
Contact Craig!

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E-retail, online shopping, e-commerce

Shopping online offers a wide range of advantages for consumers: it is often faster, cheaper and more convenient and the product range is virtually infinite, including clothes, books, toys, movies and music (both digital and physical), tickets, classes and even groceries and delivery. Plus the service industries are selling packages and promotions online through their own sites and deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial. The industries are investing more and more into e-commerce especially with the impulsive convenience of being able to purchase anywhere at anytime with Smartphones. You can browse, read user reviews, and even try on your clothes on a virtual version of yourself to mimic, or replace, the old fashioned shopping experience. Fun Facts: Amazon.com, which started in 1995, is the most popular online shopping site today and the most popular item purchased on tablets (like the iPad) was apparel.

As a business owner you can reach a much wider customer base and sell all over the world assuming you can ship your products. You can make a big impact on your returns by focusing attention on local customers and geo-targeted online advertising. A great way to encourage your clients to buy online is by offering free shipping. 48.8% of e-commerce transactions during the first quarter of 2012 included free shipping. It is also important to streamline the checkout process in your online shopping cart or purchasing experience. Make it as quick and simple as possible (you don’t want to lose customers because they get frustrated trying to buy your products). People are very visual and photos are often more important than a detailed description but it all depends on what you’re selling. No matter what you have to make your product appeal moreover you have to convince the visitor to click “buy now”.

What is required to start selling online? You could get a domain name and build a website with a full fledged shopping cart which calculates tax and processes credit cards or you could use a 3^rd party website like ebay or amazon to sell your merchandise. Each end of the spectrum has its advantages and disadvantages. To oversimplify, your own e-commerce system will be more costly upfront but give a much higher return in the long run. 3^rd party sites will allow you to sell a limited range of products but at a cost; they take a percentage and/or fee. Furthermore, you don’t have as much control over how you market the products. There are also mixed solutions like using your own site together with a 3^rd party payment gateway or shopping cart like paypal and opencart.

Whatever you’re selling, be it product or services, wherever you’re selling it, be it on the web or on a smartphone, WbC Web Design can help you get up and running quickly so you can sell sell sell!

Contact us today for a free consultation. 514 909-8773

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If you are planning to establish a mobile presence for your business or organization one of the first considerations is whether you want to create a mobile application for users to download (app) or a mobile website, or perhaps both. Mobile websites and apps can look very similar at first-glance. Determining which is most suited to your needs will depend upon a number of factors, including target audiences, available budget, intended purpose and required features. Both apps and mobile websites are accessed on handheld devices such as smartphones (e.g. iPhone, Android and Blackberry) and tablets.

A mobile website is similar to any website except it has been designed for the smaller handheld display and touch-screen interface. Apps are actual applications that are downloaded and installed on your mobile device, rather than being opened with a browser. Users visit device-specific portals such as Apple’s App Store, or Android Market (now Google Play) in order to find and download apps (sometimes at a cost). Generally speaking, a mobile website should be considered your first step in developing a mobile web presence, whereas an app is useful for developing an application for a very specific purpose that cannot be effectively accomplished via a web browser. There are a lot of benefits to having a mobile version of your website that apps can’t provide: mobile websites are instantly available, to users via a browser across a range of devices. Apps on the other hand require the user to first download and install the app from an app marketplace before the content or application can be viewed – a significant barrier between initial engagement and action/conversion. Mobile websites can be updated instantly, are found and shared more easily (by publishers and between users), can’t be deleted (the avg. lifespan of an app is thirty days), are cheaper and faster to develop, etc… So when should you build an app?

Despite the many inherent benefits of the mobile web, apps are still very popular. Generally, if you need one of the following, an app makes sense:

• Interactivity/Gaming
• Regular Usage/Personalization – If your target users are going to be using your app in a personalized fashion on a regular basis (e.g. EverNote)
• Complex Calculations or Reporting – Take data and manipulate it with complex calculations, charts or reports (e.g. banking or investment)
• Native Functionality or Processing Required – mobile web browsers are getting increasingly good at accessing certain mobile-specific functions such as click-to-call, SMS and GPS. However, if you need to access a user’s camera or processing power an app will still do that much more effectively.
• No connection Required – If there’s a need to provide offline access to content or perform functions without a network/wireless connection.

WbC Web Design has created mobile versions of websites for many clients. Whether from the outset or converting an existing site into a handheld-friendly version let WbC help you grab hold of the fastest growing market share. Contact us for a free consultation today wbcwebdesign.com 514-909-8773

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How to pull off the ultimate event

If you’ve ever planned a wedding, Bar Mitzvah, business conference or any big event you know there is a lot of work and costs involved in the planning and execution. However, you can pull off an amazing event for less money and with less effort thanks to help from a few websites and some creativity.

First step to planning the ultimate gathering is picking the date and letting people know about it. Be sure to check the calendars to see if there is anything happening on or around that date. Google Calendar allows you to add national and religious holidays to your calendar and you can always do a search for the date. WhichDateWorks.com is a free service that makes simple work of finding the best time for a scheduled event. Choose a good location. About.com has a great event planning section with lots of advice on choosing a location. Don’t forget to check user reviews online if it is a restaurant or big venue.

Once you have locked down a time and place you will want everyone to know about the event but you’ll also want to create some buzz and an attractive invitation is a great way to encourage attendance. WbC can create you a custom invitation that will give the impression you want and with a little creativity and flexibility on a budget too! Nowadays, printed invites are only part of the equation. While we love to design and print our specialty is the web. Why not turn that smashing invitation into event branding and use the same look and feel for everything from a save the date and seating cards to customized menus and thank you cards. Use the same theme on the Facebook event or e-vites which we can help you set up and promote. We can even create a basic website where guests can find all the info, RSVP, and even post and view photos after the event. If it’s a paid event visitors can register and purchase spots online. There are lots of ways to market your event online and off. For example, using sites like Meetup, Eventbrite, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Upcoming. You can also print banners and flyers or create a contest or give-away. WbC can help with all of that and we can even write your press release or invitation and have it translated into several languages!

So now that everyone is excited about the upcoming gathering how do you get it all organized? First, make a checklist and a budget. Thegreatevent.com has a free checklist and sample budget you can print out (or copy paste into Word to modify).

When the day comes and everyone is arriving, be sure that you keep people happy and that you’ve optimized your event to create additional buzz. Have high-speed wireless available – this allows people to tweet and converse more easily. Promote following the event’s Twitter account for event updates. Don’t forget to have a unique hashtag for the event. Have a web page or even a giant whiteboard where people can share their social media contact information too.

For people who cannot attend the event, consider setting up a live stream. Live video services like Ustream and Mogulus make it possible to stream out key portions of events. You don’t have to stream everything – just the good stuff. If you can’t stream, upload videos to YouTube afterwards.

Finally, and most importantly, listen to your audience – do they complain about a specific speaker, the food, entertainement, or a lack of responsiveness? Address their needs by tracking the Twitter conversation for a large event. For small events, simply ask them for their feedback or have an online survey guests can fill out.

From planning and organizing to promotion and execution let WbC Web Design‘s team of experts help you pull off the ultimate event. Contact us today for a free consultation.

514-909-8773
Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Web Site

Additional Resources:
Event Planning Apps 

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Part of branding yourself includes how you sound on paper. Words create a huge impact on our psyche. Quoting films and film characters has become apart of our daily lexicon, when we think of brands to buy taglines from ads whisk across our brain, and the websites that stand out in our mind the most are well written, easy to read, and catchy. Good writing across all mediums, be it academic, journalistic, or prosaic, is an essential component in how you present yourself to others and this is especially important to a website. In addition to using the right keywords to optimize your site so that it’s found in search engines you also want your visitors to stay on your site once they arrive. Even more importantly, you want them to take action like clicking buy or registering. In technical jargon that’s called a conversion because you convert the visitor into a buyer. The best way to increase your conversions is with well written content and catchy titles – but not all of us are writers. Good news! WbC works with professional copywriters, editors, and proofreaders so you can get the most out of your website and online marketing campaign. When you combine visually stunning graphics with enticing content and thought out navigability, your website is guaranteed to have a major return on your investment (ROI).

www.wbcwebdesign.com
Facebook.com/WbCwebdesign
Twitter.com/Design4Success
Plus.google.com/101143768564754226327
514-909-8773

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While there is no single rule for determining if something is legit there are a few guidelines you can follow. Use common sense. Take the second to ask yourself: Is this from someone I know and trust? If it’s from a supposed organization (like the government, financial institution, charity) ask your self is it normal for them to be contacting me by email, and not in writing? Is it professionally written without spelling mistakes or grammatical errors? Are they asking me for money or personal information? Promising some thing unbelievable? Look at the address and the links of the website or email do they match the place they claim to be coming from or pointing to? What if it’s not that obvious; go with your gut. If you have any doubts try looking it up on Snopes.com the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumours, and misinformation (especially good for those letters propagating misinformation about the middle east, not teaching evolution, or any controversial subject). Even just Google it!

So you have determined it’s a scam what do you do? Usually you can just delete the message or post. However, you can also be a good ‘netizen’ by reporting the fraud to the RCMP (info@antifraudcentre.ca)! If you have already given out personal or financial information then start contacting your bank, credit bureau, and local police, in addition to reporting the email to the RCMP. The RCMP also has a section of their website dedicated to frauds and scams with a wealth of information (http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/scams-fraudes/index-eng.htm).

In addition to being vigilant you can:

• Set up spam or junk mail filters in your email program.
• Use a primary email address for friends and colleagues and a completely separate email address for online activities like filling out forms or joining online communities.
• Never reply to, or click on a “remove” or “unsubscribe” link in a suspicious spam message. If you do respond, it will confirm your address and cause you to receive more spam.
• Never click on any links in sketchy messages or on suspect websites.
• Keep your software and OS up to date.
• Make sure you have trusted anti-virus software which is updated and protects against malicious software (malware).
• Never click on any window that pops up on your computer screen claiming that your system has been infected.
• Don’t open attachments in your emails unless you know what you’re opening and where it’s from…

There are a billion and one different shams out there and there’s no better way to protect yourself than using your judgment. However, you can improve your judgment by educating yourself about some of the most common techniques and what you can do to protect yourself.

Let me answer your questions… just ask: QandA@wbcwebdesign.com
Facebook.com/WbCwebdesign – Twitter.com/Design4Success – 514-909-8773

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Once you create your account in Google+ you can edit your profile and start adding friends to your circles. Instead of adding or following everyone as a friend you drag-and-drop people and/or companies to different circles like family, friends, acquaintances, etc… You can create your own circles and add to several circles. Your profile also displays who is in your circles, and who has added you to their circles. You can change the privacy settings on the left-hand side of your profile to make this data public or private. So why should you create circles in the first place? Simple: you want to share different things with different friends. You may want to share a risqué photo with your close friends, but share a link about your company’s newest hire with just your business network. Google+ Circles gives you the ability to have this kind of control over both what you share and what appears in your stream.

There are a few differences between the Google+ Stream and the Facebook News Feed. Posts by your friends move back to the top based on which post has the most recent comment, though eventually older posts are eventually buried in the stream. Instead of “liking” a post, you can “+1″ a post — this is part of Google’s push for the +1 Button. You can also share posts with your circles or mute a post if it’s clogging up your stream.

One feature that’s a big hit is Hangouts. A novel twist on the traditional group video chat, lets up to 10 users simultaneously video chat with each other and it’s definitely received a positive reaction from the Google+ community. It has so many features unto itself we couldn’t even list them all here: hold hangouts via Android smart-phone, share your screen, draw together, create and edit documents together, hold topic-based hangouts, broadcast your hangouts…

Of course there is a lot more to Google+ including great media sharing capabilities for photos and even the ability to edit video before posting. Surprisingly there was no search capability when it launched but Google has finally added search capability. Businesses’ abilities to create brand pages was also only added to the G+ repertoire recently but all the major brands are already on there and you would be remiss not to join them. However, this new kid on the block still has some growing pains.

Google+ still has some kinks to work out. It doesn’t work with Google Apps accounts and the Stream is too “noisy”. Posts are pushed to the top whenever there’s a new comment, something that most users think is unnecessary.

If you’re wondering how to import all your friends from Facebook, it is doable but they don’t make it easy. The best way to do it is using a Yahoo! Account to import your Facebook friends and then import your Yahoo! Contacts into Google+. If you’re already using Google+, add us (WbC Web Design) to your circles for interesting articles like this one and other goodies.

If you have any questions about Google+, Facebook, Social networking or the web in general don’t hesitate to ask:
QandA@wbcwebdesign.com
Facebook.com/WbCwebdesign
Twitter.com/Design4Success
Plus.google.com/101143768564754226327

For a complete guide to using Google+ see Mashable’s article here.

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