One of the best ways to keep your website fresh and interesting for your loyal visitors is to add new content. Not only will it encourage them to keep coming back on a regular basis but it will help your website stay at (or close to) the top of Google search results pages (provided you are using the right keywords in your content).

The type of website you have – static or content managed – and how much time you have available, will determine whether you can add or change content on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. I recommend changing your content at least monthly, but if your time or budget is limited, choose things that are quick and easy to change or add.

Below are 10 quick and easy ways to update your web content you might want to try. (more…)

Whether it is business cards, brochures, newspaper ad or website you need to have a clear direction. A creative marketing piece means nothing if it does not convey the right message, targets the right audience or uses the correct medium. Before you start you need to ask some questions:

• What do you want to achieve through your advertising?
• Who are you targeting?
• What message do you want to convey?
• How will you reach your audience?

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After two weeks of intermittent down time of my website and having to manually fix the problem, to the chagrin of one or two clients who couldn’t gain access when they needed to, I decided to switch my hosting over to GoDaddy.ca (really it’s an American company, and I swore I would stay with Canadian, but enough is enough already).

Apologies to anyone who couldn’t get to my blog on Kaz Design Works or the business directory on www.powerfulwomen.ca I’m a great web designer, but can’t always find my way around the control panels of web hosts to find the relevant bits of information I need to get things like databases up and running.

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If you’re a regular tweeter you’ll know that there’s more to tweeting than meets the eye. Since Twitter’s inception thousands of twools have been created. (No, that’s not a typo… I just made that word up… or rather I started off with Twitools, but thought maybe twools sounded better.)

According to Jason Hiner of Tech Republic, this has been made possible due to Twitter’s simplicity and the ability for open API (application programming interface) development, which has allowed developers to experiment with tools and utilities to improve Twitter’s functionality.

Since not all twools are useful, Jason created a top 10 list of useful tools for business users. Up till now I only used one twool, but that’s probably more to do with a lack of time rather than a lack of need. Nevertheless, I thought I’d share his list with you, and even went as far as checking some of them out.

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Or, in other words, get more bang for your buck

I had a meeting a few days ago with a potential new client who needed to plan her marketing material budget for her first year in business. After a long discussion, I went back to the office and drew up a budget for her, but decided it wasn’t just a matter of providing a quote. Knowing how new businesses struggle in the first year, coupled with today’s economy, I wanted to give suggestions on how she could get more bang for her buck.

Now, I am not a marketing guru; my expertise is more in layout and design. However, I hope the knowledge and experience I’ve gained during my many years involved in the newspaper and advertising industries, together with what I’ve learned since deciding to go into business two years ago, have enabled me to give her some food for thought.

Here are the suggestions I made, edited, re-written and additional information added for a wider audience. They mostly relate to saving money on print material. (This is a long read… you might want to sit down with a cup of coffee first!) (more…)

This morning, at the Guelph-Wellington Business Enterprise Centre’s monthly networking breakfast, I heard an interesting presentation by Shelley Reed of Reed’s Writing Block on how to create a successful email campaign to market your small business.

She gave some great advice and tidbits about maintaining your brand image, who to target, how often to target them and how to avoid your emails ending in the recycle bin or spam box. I thought I would share with you some of what I learnt during Shelley’s presentation.

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Karen and partner Joseph at the start of the 2009 Ride to Conquer Cancer, a two-day 200 km bicycle ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls in support of Princess Margaret Hospital. Photograph courtesy of event photographer and friend Edwin Santiago. View more of his fantastic photography at www.edwinsantiago.com.

So, this past weekend I participated in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, a 200 km bike ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls in support of the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation. What an awesome experience! Over 3,500 participants raised a record breaking $14.5 million for cancer research. Fantastic!

Now, I’m not an avid cyclist. Actually, I hadn’t been on a bicycle for over seven years until I bought a bike in April, so I only had two months to train. With the inclement weather we had in April, busy work schedule and fundraising every other weekend, I didn’t train as often as I would’ve liked. But, I managed the whole ride, even the hills up the escarpment, albeit very, very slowly.

And, I found the whole experience so inspirational, from seeing an 81-year-old blind man riding tandem to witnessing a young lady with only one leg complete the entire ride on her tricycle, that I plan to do the whole thing again next year. Only this time I will be able to start my training much, much earlier. In fact, I’ll be out on my bike again as soon as my legs have stopped aching!

Why am I telling you this. Because I will be out there wearing the official Ride to Conquer Cancer shirt that I wore on Saturday! And I will be seen by thousands of people during the course of my training! Great advertising for the sponsors on the shirt.

Thousands of potential customers see your logo & website address

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