Time To Support Our Paralympic Athletes
March 10th, 2010

By now, the excitement of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games that blasted throughout the entire nation of Canada is beginning to wear off...but not by much. Still very proud of the nation's accomplishments at the Games hosted by Vancouver, British Columbia, many Canadians still speak boastfully about the record-setting 14 gold medals won by Canadian athletes last month.

Arguably the most memorable and most important gold medal was the very last one snapped up at the Games. Thanks to an electrifying overtime goal in the men's hockey final by Nova Scotia's Sidney Crosby, the Canadian men's hockey team brought the entire nation to its feet screaming in joyous triumph. The gold medal and subsequent singing of “O Canada” to cap off the Olympics was the perfect ending to the event.

So much so, that Synergy Marketing Consultants is elated to announce that we are currently offering business owners a limited edition plaque commemorating Crosby's golden goal and Team Canada's amazing victory over the United States' men's hockey team in the tournament final. To get one before they run out, call us up at 1-877-748-9884 right away to speak to one of our representatives. This commemorative plaque is not available through orders on our website.

As much as we remain proud of our Canadian Olympians, however, QMI Agency's Robin Anderson reminds us on The Toronto Sun's website today, that the Paralympic Games begin in just a few short days. It is his hope that Canada can maintain its pride and energetic momentum displayed throughout the Olympics and carry it into their support of the Canadian athletes participating in these lesser-observed Games.

He notes that these athletes do not request sympathy for their disabilities but instead humbly ask for support and admiration for their abilities in each of their respective sports. There are so many reasons to admire them, writes Anderson, as they are capable of doing what so many of us are not. Ironic, right?

Asks Anderson: “Think it is tough to play hockey? Try doing it on a sled, having to use your arms not only to propel yourself but to carry and shoot as well. Think slalom looks difficult? Try hurtling yourself down that same hill at incredible speed – without the benefit of arms or legs.”

We are reminded that the Paralympic athletes are extremely talented in spite of their supposed shortcomings. They, of course, have overcome great adversity in order to rise above their hardships. This, insists Anderson, is deserving of a medal in itself.

It's time to cheer again Canada. The excitement isn't over. In some ways, it's just beginning. We now have both the opportunity and the duty of supporting our athletes and fellow Canadians as they battle through adversity and prove that there is no such thing as “I can't”.

As Anderson reminds us, “If you've ever watched these amazing athletes, you quickly learn that those two words don't even enter into their vocabularies.” So Canada, we ask you to join us in cheering on our Paralympic athletes in the hope that we will be all unified in the singing of our national anthem many more times over the next couple of weeks. Once again...Go Canada!

Google Can Be Great Revisited
March 9th, 2010

In yesterday’s blog, we discussed a number of tips provided by Derek Gehl, who is Entrepreneur.com’s “E-Business” columnist. He is also the CEO of the Internet Marketing Center which is an online firm that helps people begin their own internet businesses. Gehl offers up a wealth of information on utilizing the popular search engine, Google to help promote your business and get it to the top of the lists for online users researching your industry.

In today’s blog, we continue to offer a few more of Gehl’s helpful suggestions from his August 2005 article. Have you heard of AdSense? Gehl explains that this is one of two advertising avenues that are offered by Google. Essentially, these are third party ads that your website hosts allowing you to make money each and every time that someone clicks on the ad and moves off your site.

Now, of course, it is not necessarily a good idea to direct traffic away from your site. But ensuring that you are compensated each time that you do isn’t such a bad thing. Gehl informs readers about one of the smartest ways to utilize AdSense.

He writes: “Google matches the ads to your site by finding similarities in the keywords of each. The good news is, you can set a filter to prevent your competitors' ads from appearing on your website, and you can customize the appearance of the ads so their background color is the same as your site's, making them look more like informative content than sales pitches.”

The amount that your company can earn utilizing AdSense depends on how much the advertisers are paying Google for the keywords and how many visitors click on the ads on your site. The better you optimize this feature, the more lucrative it can be for you.

The second of the two advertising opportunities is AdWords. These are ads for your business that Google places on other sites for you. One of the greatest aspects of this feature is that you control how much the ads cost. Each time your ad is clicked, you pay that amount. This can range anywhere between five cents and one hundred dollars. You may also set a daily budget so that your cut-off amount is not exceeded.

As Gehl explains: “Google uses the keywords you chose to help them place your ads on sites that have content relevant to yours, so you can be assured the traffic you're paying for is highly targeted. AdWords reach 80 percent of internet users, and you can define their target region and language.”

These two advertising opportunities are both relatively inexpensive ways of ensuring a greater presence for your business on the internet. They help to provide a good gauge on what people think about your products and/or services. If you find that you are not generating enough traffic to your sites, it will indicate that you may need to readjust your marketing strategy and create new ads.

Google Can Be Great
March 8th, 2010

As always, we welcome you to another amazing week of the Synergy Marketing Consultants Blog. Your readership helps for us to continue to prove that the internet is a fabulous way to promote your business in a very inexpensive way. Last week, this blog touched on the popular social networking sites that are out there like Facebook and Twitter. We commented on the success that many business owners have had promoting their companies on these sites.

Well, of course, there are a number of other sites out there that allow you to increase the reach of your business. One of the most obvious is the ever-popular Google search engine.

As put by Derek Gehl from his August 2005 post on Entrepreneur.com, “If you're not already advertising with Google, it's time to get cracking! With more than 81.9 million unique visitors each month, Google.com is a huge source of potential traffic for your business.”

As Gehl explains, “Google has a wide variety of services, tools, labs and advertising avenues that every online entrepreneur should know about--yet many people are unaware that Google is much more than 'just' a search engine.”

Gehl outlines a number of ways in which companies can utilize Google to help with their promotional strategies. Firstly, he stresses the importance of getting your website ranked. This way, your potential customers will be directed to your website whenver they type in something of relevance to your industry in their search engines.

Imagine being one of the first restaurants to pop up when someone types in “great places to eat”. Gehl explains how this can be achieved: “To show up in the first page or two of results, you'll need to optimize your website to achieve the highest ranking possible. You may already be aware that you need to spend some time getting the right keywords on your website and increasing your 'link popularity.'”

Gehl reveals that Google genreally only looks at the first block of text it encounters on your your website and uses it display on search result pages. So, to catch the eye of potential customers, it makes sense to have your first paragraph be as interesting as possible. He also suggests that it be about 300 words in length including a number of “keywords”.

If you have done your best to optimize your site, Google will research your webpages. However, it isn't possible to know exactly when they will “crawl” your pages and how much of each page they will index. Gehl advises that you submit your site to Google Sitemaps in order to increase the likelihood of your entire site being “spidered”.

He explains: “After submitting your site, Google creates and stores an XML file that allows for instant updates and indexing whenever your site's content changes. This is like having your own data cable running from your computer directly to Google!”

We'll continue to visit this topic in tomorrow's blog.

Go Green
March 5th, 2010

We often discuss the many ways in which businesses can gain greater success through a variety of key business practices. There are a lot of things that business owners can do, however, that not only benefit themselves but the entire environment around them. Literally.

Do you consider your business to be eco-friendly? We're happy to say that we have a number of clients who have made great use of some of our products made from recycled material who imprint the phrase “Always Thinking About The Environment” on them.

But both our clients and our own office, alike, can partake in other actions to assist the environment at large. Susan Ward of About.com offers up a number of different ways in which you can make your business more environmentally friendly. These relatively easy and inexpensive tips can help you do the world a huge favour. You, in turn, will benefit as well.

Firstly, Ward suggests that you should turn off all equipment when it's not being used. How often to we leave our computers on overnight for the simple sake of not having to turn them back on in the morning? Says Ward, shutting down equipment can “reduce the energy used by 25 percent; turning off the computers at the end of the day can save an additional 50 percent.”

Of course, this will save you on your electricity bill as well. Secondly, Ward encourages you to communicate through e-mail as often as possible. No paper means no waste. Unless it is absolutely necessary, do not print these e-mails. A lot of materials will be saved as a result.

She continues by advising businesses to reduce fax-related paper waste “by using a fax-modem and by using a fax cover sheet only when necessary. Fax-modems allow documents to be sent directly from a computer, without requiring a printed hard copy.” Also, if printing documents is absolutely necessary, save paper by always double-siding your printouts.

Outside of equipment and material usage, it is important to have proper upkeep of the office facilities. The restroom is a place where saving the environment can be made easy. “Do not leave taps dripping,” offers Ward, “always close them tightly after use (as) one drop wasted per second wastes 10,000 litres per year.”

Paper used in the restrooms should be manufactued with as much recycled contents as possible, insists Ward. As well, it's a good idea to choose suppliers who take back their packaging for reuse.

Finally, Ward believes that refurbishing your old furniture instead of buying new will not only be less expensive for your company but will be better for the environment as well. Many people look very favourably upon eco-friendly businesses. Therefore, the benefits to “going green” are numerous.

Free Giveaways Can Produce Profits
March 4th, 2010

So McDonald's has decided to go ahead give out free coffee without any purchase required for the first two weeks of March. It's pretty hard to compete with free isn't it? Some may wonder how the billion-dollar fast food restaurant can profit from this. Others are probably thinking that McDonald's is so rich, it could give out all the free coffee in the world and still turn a profit.

While that idea may be true, McDonald's is clearly aware of the advantages of a free promotion. This is the same restaurant that continues to be a leader in the fast food industry regardless of the mountains of evidence out there proving that its food is harmful. That being said, the restaurant is surely aware that giving out free coffee will do for them exactly what they want. And that is to bring more people into their restaurants.

Chances are, those who show up for the free coffee will likely decide to purchase something from the menu. Now, as everyone knows, McDonald's is a major company. So how can smaller business owners make use of the same type of promotional strategy? Is there something that your business can offer for free that will bring more customers into your store?

Now we know where you think we are going with this. And yes, it does go without saying that one of our amazing promotional items will make a very useful marketing tool for your company. There is no question about it. Free can't be beat. People love receiving gifts. But what will keep them coming back?

Stoney deGeyter of SearchEngineGuide.com recognizes the value in giving away “free stuff”. In his article, “Make Money Giving Things Away For Free”, he discusses a number of ways that this apparent act of generosity can become very lucrative. Noting that the internet provides many things for free – blogging platforms among them – he admits that he once wondered how anyone made money anymore.

“But free works,” writes deGeyter, citing an experience at Costco to prove his point of view, “every now and then I take a walk through Costco on a weekend. Inevitably they have all the sampling booths set up for you to sample their food. It's not a free meal, but it is a free taste. And its enough to make some people want to buy the full package.”

Another way that giving away something for “free” can work for companies is through the concept of covering costs. Free shipping for first-time customers is an example deGeyter provides that helps for businesses to secure more clients use their services.He writes: “Many online stores offer 'free shipping' for first time buyers, or better yet, on all orders. You often see offers of 'get a free X when you purchase Y.'”

It all about incentives, says deGeyter, but it is important to know how much to give away for free. A good business owner knows that there must be a solid balance between giving things away and ensuring that his or her client base sees value in the product or service being offered. There must be a creation of desire to make a purchase, or else the business can't possibly succeed.

“We live in a society that loves to get things for free. But the good business person knows that if you gave everything away for free then there are little opportunities to make money--or live for that matter,” says deGeyter. So be smart about your giveaways...and enjoy that coffee.