January 4th, 2010 Newsletter

Happy New Year! I don't know about the rest of you, but the Christmas break seemed to rush by far too quickly. We here at G4 Ventures Ltd. saw the end of 2009 as a busy project time and we have some great projects that we will be releasing very soon for our clients (stay tuned for those).

This newsletter will touch on the following topics:

• New Support Tutorials
• Keeping People Coming Back
• Client Spotlight

New Support Tutorials

We are constantly adding to our FAQ section as we receive questions from our clients. The latest additions are:

• How do I upload and link .pdf or .doc files within an article?
• How do I delete files from my content directory within Joomla?

Keeping People Coming Back

Let's assume for a minute that you have begin to see some decent traffic to your website (hopefully you have - if not, you may want to review some of our previous newsletters). So people are beginning to find your website, what are you doing to keep people coming back? Today we will discuss 3 different methods of keeping people coming back:

1. Update your content or publish updates regularly
2. Let people get notifications when site content is updated (RSS Feeds)
3. Publish a newsletter that provides helpful information for people

Some of you are using your websites to sell products and simply by adding new products and promoting them on your website you can help to keep your site content fresh. Others of you have more static websites that not a lot changes on (but you need to find ways of putting up new information for people). Unless you are operating within a global market, there are only so many new local visitors who you can attract on a month-to-month basis. So, you need to encourage current visitors to your site to return to your site (and hopefully tell their friends about it as well). Each of you is a specialist in some area related to your line of work. You need to share what you know with people so that they get to know more about you and your business (and give them a reason to choose you over your competitors). Some of you might think you are giving something away for free, but don't think of it that way - think of it as advertising (for free!). Consider a news section or blog on your website that gives you a place to put up-to-date information for your customers to keep coming back to read.

Once you begin to update information on a regular basis, you will want to give people ways to find out when you have posted new information to your site. A quick and easy way to do this is through RSS feeds. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and what it does is allows people to subscribe to updates from your website. Joomla allows you to quickly and easily create an RSS feed for one section of your website or the entire site if you choose. Every time you publish new content to your site, people who are subscribed get that update in a simple to read format. This feature is great for your clients as it allows them to be kept up-to-date with what you are publishing, but it is anonymous and doesn't allow you to know who is viewing your content (and to market directly to those people).

It is for this reason that we also recommend publishing a regular newsletter that clients can subscribe to. You can use the same information that you post to your website in your newsletter but the added bonus is that you now have the contact information for the people who have subscribed to your newsletter and you can offer them special deals and market specifically to these people (because they have shown an interest in what you are doing). Joomla offers several tools to set-up and manage newsletters within your website so that you can get started quickly and easily.

Not sure how to get started? Contact us to find out how to begin getting your website working for you.

Client Spotlight

From time to time we like to spotlight one of our clients websites. We hope that you take a few minutes out of your busy day to check out not only the services that they offer, but also their website features and design (you may get ideas that you would like to use on your website).

In late November we were approached by a local advertising company about getting a website set-up for them. Because they already do graphic design, they brought us a site design that they had been working on and asked us to make it a reality for them. Levi at Art-Rageous Advertising Ltd. was great to work with and we got their website up and running in record time.

Here is a preview of what their site looks like:

We hope this mailing was helpful. If you found it useful, forward it to a friend. If you didn't, drop us a note and let us know how we can better answer your questions and meet your needs by using our contact form.

Jeff Meadows

Director

G4 Ventures Ltd.

As 2009 draws to a close I would like to take this time to thank each of you for thinking of us for your website design and hosting needs. We have had the opportunity to work with some fantastic people over the past 12 months and hopefully we have helped each of you realize success with your websites.

Our offices will be closed from December 24th - December 28th so that our staff can enjoy the holidays with their families. We will still be offering support in case of emergencies (as always) during this time.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Jeff Meadows

Director

G4 Ventures Ltd.

http://www.g4v.com

November 23rd, 2009 Newsletter

It is hard to believe that November has almost slipped by and we are rapidly heading into December. Despite the recession it has been a very busy year here at G4 Ventures Ltd. and we owe this business to our clients. The majority of our clients are the result of referrals from friends or satisfied customers, and we would like to take this opportunity to say thank you. More and more businesses have been looking at how to squeeze the most out of their dwindling advertising dollars and we are honored to be considered when companies are making the decision on who to trust their website creation to.

This newsletter will touch on the following topics:

• New Website Features
• New Tutorials
• Joomla Sitemaps
• Client Spotlight

New Website Features

We have begun to post our Support Tutorials to YouTube in HD format in order to provide a better tutorial experience for our clients (as well as to create another site promotional stream for the business). You can now subscribe to our YouTube channel directly from our main page or by clicking on the following link:

• G4 Ventures Ltd. - YouTube Channel

New Support Tutorials

• How do I add/edit menu items in Joomla?
• How do I add/edit users in Joomla?

Joomla Sitemaps

One of the features of your website that Search Engines look for is an XML or HTML Sitemap (wikipedia has a good explanation of what a Sitemap is here). This simple text explanation of the pages within your website and how they are linked together allows Search Engines to quickly and easily index the pages within your website (and allows you to hide parts of your website that you may not want the Search Engines to find).

Including a Sitemap in your Joomla-based website is relatively simple. We use a Component called Xmap (more information here) to create Search Engine friendly HTML and XML sitemaps for our clients.

Don't have a sitemap (or not sure if you have a sitemap), contact us and we can get you up and running quickly.

Client Spotlight

From time to time we like to spotlight one of our clients websites. We hope that you take a few minutes out of your busy day to check out not only the services that they offer, but also their website features and design (you may get ideas that you would like to use on your website).

In this newsletter we would like to spotlight a client website that we are very close to rolling out. Cary Kish from Sounds Unlimited Inc. approached us about a month ago asking if we could do anything about his current website. Despite the fact that his current website was still quite functional (he had been using it for several years), he wanted to begin to harness some of the power of the new technology to help interact with his clients more and provide them services that most other DJ companies haven't even dreamed of offering yet. You can view his current website at http://www.soundsunlimitedinc.com and check back over the next week or so to watch his new website being released.

Here is a preview of what the new site will look like:

We hope this mailing was helpful. If you found it useful, forward it to a friend. If you didn't, drop us a note and let us know how we can better answer your questions and meet your needs by using our contact form.

Jeff Meadows

Director

G4 Ventures Ltd.

September 28th, 2009 Newsletter

Well, it is beginning to feel a bit like fall outside. The leaves are turning and the mornings are getting crisp.

This newsletter is the result of a client meeting that I had last week with a new client - Cary from Sounds Unlimited. More and more of our clients are starting to ask about Social Networking and the benefits for their business. I have mentioned the use of Social Networking to help drive traffic to your website in previous newsletters but I realize that many of you need more information on this subject.

So, here it goes:

Should You Use Social Media to Promote Your Site?

I recently watched a YouTube video titled Did You Know 4.0. The premise behind the video is related to the use of technology in education, but at one point in the video there is a reference to US (sorry for the American reference) campaign fundraising in the last presidential election. It states that:

"In February 2008, John McCain raised $11 million for his U.S. presidential bid by attending fundraisers. That same month, Barack Obama attended no fundraisers. He chose instead to leverage online social networks and raised $55 million in the same 29 days."

I couldn't believe these numbers and actually had to check the sources that they cited at the end of the presentation (both numbers were taken from the reported campaign documents). But what does that mean "leveraged online social networks"? Well, what it means is that he used his friends and people who are interested in what he is doing to help generate donations for his campaign. We do this all the time with people that we know. Looking for a new driver, the first thing that I do is talk to my golfing buddies to find out what they are using and where they got it. Need a landscaper to do some work on your yard. Many of you will start by asking around to see if your friends know anyone good. Well, the idea behind social networking is to give your friends the information about your business so that when somebody asks them if they know somebody who does what you do, they give them your information. There are a number of things about social networking that you need to know:

1. It's free! - There are not many types of advertising today that can say that, but the only investment that you have to make in marketing via social networking is the investment of time. Posting information to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter can be done very quickly and let's people know what is going on at your business.
2. You are advertising to people who are interested - The people who are following your Twitter updates or have accepted your friend invitations are all people who are interested in what you have going on (either personally or professionally). So, now rather than putting time and money into advertising that goes to a large number of people who are not interested in what you are doing, you are dedicated time to people who are.
3. Social networking updates help keep your site fresh - The updates that you make to social media sites can also be posted on your website to help keep the content fresh and up-to-date. Regular content updates help keep people coming back to check out your website (and this maintains interest in what you are doing).
4. Showcase the unique things that your business has to offer - Most of the things that your business does are listed on your website already. But what about those things that you occasionally do for a client that put you above your competition? How do you let people know that you are ready and willing to work with them to provide a truly unique experience? You talk about these instances in your social network.
5. Targeted marketing - Social media allows you to target specific sales to specific clients. For example, Westjet is currently using Twitter to promote many of their flight destinations. If you follow them on Twitter, you will be notified of discount codes that can be used at the time of purchase to help you save money. All of this simply for following what they are posting to Twitter (which helps encourage brand recognition and loyalty to their brand)!
6. Reach larger audiences - All forms of advertising have their limitations, but by using a combination of different forms you increase the chances that your marketing reaches the most people possible. In the past 2 weeks I have received inquiries from India, the U.S. (California), and Northern Alberta. Two of these inquiries were the direct result of articles that I have posted within my site that talk about very specific projects that were of interest to these prospective clients.

So, how do you get started? Check out Facebook and create a business page, create a LinkedIn, and a Twitter account and start building your business networks. Once you have some people that you are connected to, start telling them what makes your business so great.

We hope this mailing was helpful. If you found it useful, forward it to a friend. If you didn't, drop us a note and let us know how we can better answer your questions and meet your needs by using our contact form.

Jeff Meadows

Director

G4 Ventures Ltd.

http://www.g4v.com