BCWebMedia.com

You are looking for a web designer for your company website right now, so you came here to find information on the best web designers available. Good news - that means you’re smart. You only want the best of the best for your business.

But I have some bad news for you. A web designer is probably the last person you want to trust with your online presence.

This article is about the difference between a web designer and a marketing integration specialist, and how you should decide which one to hire.

A web designer will:
- Charge up to tens of thousands of dollars to design you a nice logo, and create a pretty looking website.
- They will integrate flash into your website, to make it look even fancier (although it will load a lot slower, and the search engines HATE flash…)
- They will design your site to look nice, but not bother with any search engine optimization (which is how you would get traffic to your site.)
- Once the site is complete, they will ask you to write your own information for the home page, about page, contact page, and other elements, and will then “copy and paste” your content onto your new website.
- They will deliver the website, and tell you that it is now up to you to get visitors to it and figure out how to get the site making money all on your own.

Whereas a Marketing Integration Specialist will:
- Charge a more reasonable fee for the actual design of the site, and outsource your logo design to their trusted partners.
- Only integrate flash into your website in the form of online commercials and customer testimonials delivered on video.
- Create your site using a platform that is search-engine friendly, and completely optimize your site to get huge traffic from Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
- Write all of the information and content for you using sales principles, to get you the maximum response possible for your website.
- Integrate testing and tracking options into your website, so you can see what is getting people to call you and what isn’t working.
- Use other methods to drive massive traffic to your brand new website, so that your website becomes a profitable asset.
- Integrate lead generation auto-response technology right into the site, so your potential customers are followed up with automatically via email, and their contact details are sent directly to you.
- Provide ongoing tweaking of your website using the testing and tracking system to get you the best results.
- Consult with you on your goals, and give you the details on the right solution - not just the most expensive one.
- Integrate your website with your offline marketing methods to gain more exposure.
- Help you implement customer retention programs in your business, to keep those new customers buying from you.
- Conduct a marketing audit, and help you cut out underperforming advertisements.
- and a whole lot more…

Plus, a Marketing Integration Specialist will provide you with a FREE consultation and a FREE proposal for your business, telling you the exact steps they will take with no obligation to purchase their services.

As you can see, a web designer is probably the last person you should trust with your online presence. If you’d like to speak to a marketing integration specialist, visit www.thecanadiancopywriter.com or call 604-392-7076 for a no hassle, no obligation FREE consultation!

Amen, brother Fortin! It is insane how many emails are just copycatting everyone else these days… I can literally watch my inbox, and read one email. See what it is promoting. Within 24 hours, I can easily delete 40 emails - because from the subject lines, I can tell that they are promoting the same thing.

What ever happened to standing out with your subject lines? Giving before receiving? Law of reciprocity? Dare I say, I’ve never written an autoresponder email without a shred of content in it like these people do every day. I’d be more than willing to help them - and I’d make a darn big difference to their bottom line, too. Just as you would, Michel.

Unfortunately, you can’t convince a drowning man to calm down and float - he’s too busy flailing about, trying not to breathe. Same with a lot of these marketers. We can’t convince them to calm down and respect their lists, because they’re too busy flailing around and trying not to go broke.

Like I said in a recent salesletter I wrote… Money doesn’t go away, it just moves away from the people who have mismanaged their resources, and into the hands of the people who deliver the most value. Obviously, if these marketers are dying off (which I think they soon will, if they don’t make a change), then their money will go into the hands of those who truly provide value.

You can’t ride on your name forever - even Bill Gates still has to work for credibility.

Okay, so some of you may have been wondering why on earth I would make the main page of my copywriting portfolio a blog. Shouldn’t there be a sales letter here? Something compelling you to hire me now because I’ll make all of your dreams come true?

I’ll be frank. There are a few reasons why this front page is a blog instead of a sales letter. Some of them make perfect business sense, and some of them probably aren’t the wisest choices profit-wise, but they are personal preferences and/or beliefs that I’m not wanting to compromise for the sake of this website.

First, most minisite designs absolutely suck for SEO purposes. So with my logic, I figure if I can get my portfolio ranking well for my main keywords (things like “hire a copywriter”, for example) because I’m using Wordpress and my competition isn’t, then YAY me!

Second, most salesletters written by a copywriter for their own services… Well, they suck. Not all of them do, but a good proportion of the copywriter sales pieces I have ever seen don’t do a very good job on selling me to hire that person. They do a fantastic job of selling me on the idea of hiring a copywriter, but chances are, if I didn’t want to hire a copywriter I probably wouldn’t have ended up at their standard form portfolio salesletter, no?

Third, I like to be different. I like to stand out from the crowd, and do something a little out of the ordinary. There are other people who use a blog at their portfolio site, so I’m not completely unique, but I think it is important. After all, who wants to hire a copywriter who can’t innovate even just a little bit? If we can’t be different from everyone else, we can’t be better, either!

Fourth, this blog is a filter. Yes, I will admit that. You can read my blog posts and gauge my personality, and if it isn’t something that you like, then you probably won’t contact me. That works well, because I have discovered after years in this copywriting business that clashing personalities make for bad projects on both ends of the spectrum. It is pretty clear to me that if you’ve read my blog posts, and you contact me, that we’ll get along OK – which is important to both of us.

And because I primarily blog about advanced business topics instead of the “flavour of the month” in internet marketing, I also filter out the tire kickers. Chances are, if you’re interested in reading about direct mail promotion statistics, browser heat mapping, local press release distribution, and my thoughts on all flavours of email marketing, you’re serious about your business and serious about improving it. Either that, or your day job is boring as hell and you like to research obscure topics. Either way, I’ve got your attention.

And fifth (and finally), I will have a salesletter up on this site. Not here, but on its own page within the site so I can direct people to it. I won’t go into boring details about why you need a copywriter, why the other copywriters suck, etc. etc. like some individuals do. It will be a short, hard hitting piece on exactly why you need MY help. So the fifth reason would be… It isn’t done yet. Although you can see an adaptation of it at www.thecanadiancopywriter.com

So that is my bit. Five reasons why I don’t have a salesletter on the landing page of my portfolio site. Like I said, they may not all make perfect business sense, but it is the way I choose to do things for integrity reasons. And if it gets me a few points with my readers, prospective clients, or my peers in the process – then I don’t see one thing wrong with it.

Hmm… I’m starting to like this “being different” thing.

So you’ve thought about sending out a press release to announce new services, new products, new prices, or even how current news is affecting your business or your customers.

You go online, and find a multitude of companies who will blast your press release out across the internet to various online news sites either for free, or for a fee.

But this is content that relates to your local business – is there really a need to send your press release to Google News and The New York Times?

Well, the short answer is yes and no.

Yes, you should send your press release out to services like Google News, especially if you have backlinks to your main site in the content. But no, you don’t really need to send out your press release to national papers if your target customers are purely local. There is simply no point.

Here is the best, and most effective way of sending out a press release that will actually make a difference in your business…

Step One – Write out the press release with a local flair. Include the name of the city you are from, or a local landmark, or make it relevant somehow to local people.

Step Two – Use a free online press release distribution service like PRLog.org to send your release to services like Google News, online blogs, etc. This is great for SEO purposes, but it likely won’t get you any clients at all. For that, you’ll need to…

Step Three – Find the contact information for the editor for your local newspapers. Small town newspapers may only have one editor, while bigger newspapers will likely have an editor specifically for the section you are targeting. Find their name, email address, or mailing address (perhaps even fax number.) Send them an email asking if they accept press releases via email, or better yet, give them a call. Tell them a bit about your story, and ask if they would accept a copy of the release via email. If they say yes, email it off – if they prefer another method, do that instead.

This pretty much guarantees that your press release is getting into the right hands to get coverage that will actually help you, and saves you a substantial amount of money over online services.

Of course, if writing press releases and talking to all of the various newspaper editors isn’t something you want to do, you can always hire a Marketing Integration Specialist. They can help you to integrate the online and offline functionality of an effective press release in a way that will actually get you more business – instead of online services that will be spamming your press release to newspapers that won’t publish your content anyway, because it has no local relevance to them.

To paraphrase, this article uses a recent eye movement study to analyze consumer viewing trends on the web. A few key points…

- The eye is pulled towards text headlines first (meaning too many graphics in your prime space is just a waste!)

- People seem to scan the left side of everything, from headlines to bulleted lists - so you want to put your most powerful words first!

- You have exactly 1 second to catch someone’s attention before they leave your page.

As you can see, some of these certainly have major web design implications. At least, for those of us who are interested in making a profit from our websites!

Check out the original article here.

Chilliwack, BC May 20^th 2009 — With approval of new anti-spam legislation looming in Ottawa, many business owners are concerned with what impact these laws will have on their marketing activities. The Electronic Commerce Protection Act, it would seem, has no interest in protecting electronic commerce itself.

While consumers are expected to embrace the new regulations with open arms, business owners may have a tough road ahead. “Email marketing is the most cost effective way to reach your target customers,” says local marketing consultant Cherilyn Woodhouse from http://www.TheCanadianCopywriter.com. “These new regulations could mean some big problems for small businesses, unless you have specialized knowledge in email marketing. Everything from $10,000 fines to more than a decade in jail.”

According to Woodhouse, a small business can easily add 20% to their bottom line each month simply by using an email marketing strategy. And the costs of becoming compliant with the new legislation are minimal, especially when compared to the profit potential.

“Consumers are moving online, more and more each day. Every business in Canada should be using email marketing to its fullest potential” said Woodhouse, “as long as they are being smart about it. Having an expert on your side can pay off in more ways than you can imagine.”

The new legislation has met initial all-party support in the House of Commons, and is expected to move into committee hearings in the coming weeks.

For a free email marketing consultation, including information regarding ECPA compliance, please visit http://www.TheCanadianCopywriter.com

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Okay, so since I worked hard to get this blog up and then pretty much abandonded it, left to function purely as a portfolio site, I’ve decided that enough is enough - I need to stop ignoring my faithful BCWebMedia.com! So every time I find something news-worthy for the online world to see, I will post it here.

Who might be interested in reading what I have to say?

Small businesses who are looking for cost effective lead generation solutions

Small to medium businesses who are looking to create/improve their online presence

Online businesses who are struggling with lead generation and/or are seeking other revenue streams

Internet marketing consultants who want to keep up to date on industry insider information

And anyone who likes reading material geared to the individuals described above!

First post… A press release that I just wrote up regarding the new anti-spam legislation soon to be passed in Canada. Could be scary stuff - worth a read.

I posted this on my old blog, last year… Just as relevant as ever, I thought I would repost it now that my new blog is back up and running. So, without further adieu, here is my 2007 Earth Day Rant!

My Earth Day Rant - Originally Published April 23rd, 2007

Tony started it, so I’m going to get in my 2 cents.

Global warming is NOT caused by us.

See, a couple million years ago, there was an “ice age”. Everything was all frozen, and you had to wear a jacket in the summer. (j/k, you probably would have died north of the 49th parallel)

(Ok, it was 20,000 years ago (thanks Maximus!) but I’m still saying a couple million years, primarily for effect. )

Slowly, the earth started to warm up. And now, we’re still warming up. Soon, we’ll start to cool down again, and go back into an ice age.

Get it? Its a natural cycle that has been going on since our lovely planet was created, and it will continue regardless of how much you drive your car or use aerosol spray.

Now, I’m not saying you should litter & just forget about our little planet. We don’t want it to get covered in garbage long before we have to worry about it getting too warm.

BUT - we are not the primary cause of global warming & climate change. The earth itself is.

SO - I’m going to still be conscious of our lovely planet. But I’m not going to be another fear monger, telling you to stop driving etc etc.

AND FYI - a study came out recently that shows some alternative fuels are actually WORSE for our environment than gasoline.

And no, our oil reserves aren’t just going to dry up. Thats our lovely government working with the oil companies to drive prices up and grab more taxes. See the connection there?

The earth - in all her infinite beauty - knows what shes doing. So stop freaking out, and enjoy our planet!

My earth day rant is officially over.

- Cheryl

While checking my email this afternoon (I now do it once a day, very liberating to close the email program.) I came across several confirmation emails. Now, I’ve tested and tracked a lot of things when it comes to confirmation emails, and I know what works. But apparently, nobody else gives much thought to them.

Heres a simple tip that will increase the number of people who confirm & complete the optin process…

Make sure the confirmation link is “above the fold”.

By above the fold, I mean that if you view it in your email program, the link shows up without you having to scroll down.

Why? Possibly because when people see that link, they know what it is, and just click it by default. I actually did a test, and wrote “purple monkey dishwasher” above my confirmation link, and had the link above the fold. The result? 85% confirmed their optin, the other 15% asked me what the heck I was talking about.

So from now on, instead of using that space to explain why you’re emailing people, just do a quick 2-3 sentence blurb, and let it go. And yes, this works in other niches as well.

Try it - you’ll enjoy the results!

- Cherilyn

I was having a conversation with one of my proteges awhile back during the Q & A session I hosted, and an interesting point came up. When it comes to mini-courses, how much content is enough?

Though my immediate answer is “there is no such thing as too much, just be sure to make your point (get the click) every time”, I’ve been thinking about this, and I want to share something with all of you - my loyal readers.

In email copywriting, believe it or not there are four distinct styles - and only 4. I’ll use some popular gurus to illustrate the styles…

Mike Filsaime & Gary Ambrose prefer the personal touch, telling you how they think and feel about products & giving good nuggets of info. Their emails are always engaging - like a sales letter in email format.

Clayton Makepeace is the hard-sell, personal approach. He doesn’t tell you how he thinks or feels about a product, because the only ones he promotes are his own. Instead, he sells you on the product using hard-sell tactics injected with his personality (which, if you’ve ever read his emails or heard him speak, is hard to resist!)

Myself and some other marketers like Rick Butts use the “hey, its just me” approach - we talk like its just a couple of friends over a casual dinner. We expose our personalities, and make you feel at ease. For example, the subject line of an email I sent out yesterday was “Pobody’s Nerfect!” - because the teleseminar I had scheduled for yesterday evening had to be canceled (John Taylor, the guest speaker, was stuck out of town).

And finally, there are those like Tellman Knudson (now), Bill Thorn, Cody Moya, etc who essentially copy & paste their promo emails from the affiliate area of the product they are promoting. I imagine with an hour or so of extra effort, they could double the pulling power of those promotions - but thats just my opinion 

The bottom line is, there are really only a few ways to go - but all of the high-performing styles use personality. Don’t hide behind your email. In today’s high-tech low touch world, being yourself is to your advantage. Just ask Mike Filsaime! - Cherilyn