The Write Imprint

Start Your Business Engine Seminar

admin — Sat, 04 May 2013 19:13:35 +0000

Thinking of starting a new business? Still in start -up mode? Wanting to grow or expand your business?

If your answer to any of the above questions is YES – for yourself or someone you know, this free Seminar is perfect.

We’ll cover the essential ABC’s (Accounting, Business Banking, and Communications/Marketing) with lots of time left over for Q & A, to help you Start Your Business Engine and get on the highway to success!

Thursday June 6, 2013

Doors open 6:30 pm – Light refreshments available

Seminar 7:00pm – 8:30pm

Sherwood Library, 467 Upper Ottawa St., Hamilton Ontario

Space is limited, so reserve your seat(s) now through EventBrite

April ABC’s Offer

admin — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:56:33 +0000

Save 10% on writing, marketing, graphic design, & illustration services, AND $100+ in great savings on custom website design & development, or a complete website packages.

A) Receive a one-time credit on your first invoice equivalent to 10% off any NEW writing, marketing, or graphic design/ illustration services.

B) Any NEW custom website design/development will receive FREE basic website hosting for the first year, a $177 savings value!

C) Save $100 on a new WordPress Simplicity™ Complete Website Package

Offer ends April 30, 2013

3rd Anniversary Savings

admin — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:19:36 +0000

There are 3 ways to save during our 3 week, 3rd Anniversary Celebration: Save 10% on selected services + $100 off a Complete Website Package + the first 3 customers get an extra $100 BONUS savings!

1. Save 10% – Receive a one-time credit on your first invoice equivalent to 10% off any NEW

Custom illustration/graphic design services (ie logos, brochures, labels, business cards, etc.)
Custom website design & development services
Writing & marketing services (includes marketing plans and copy writing for web or print)

2. Save $100 on a new WordPress Simplicity™ Complete Website Package

3. BONUS $100 Savings offer: The first 3 customers to take advantage of our 3rd Anniversary Promotional Offer will receive an additional $100 credit on their first invoice!

Offer ends March 8, 2013

$169 PPC Adwords Offer

admin — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:59:07 +0000

If your business has never had a PPC Campaign before – have we got a deal for you! FREE PPC Campaign set-up – value $69 PLUS FREE – $100 Google Adwords credit (after initial $25 spend). Save $169 with this great offer! Only available to the first 5 takers, so contact us ASAP if you want this fantastic savings. Offer ends February 13, 2013

New for 2013!

admin — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 17:30:08 +0000

Professional commercial photography and custom illustrations are the newest creative services available to our clients.

SEO and Google+ Local ABC’s

admin — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 20:10:51 +0000

The increasing importance of Google+ Local (also known by it’s former incarnations, Google local business listing & Google Maps) in 2012 cannot be overstated when it comes to SEO and ranking for your website.

Here’s our best tips for SEO and Google+ Local, the ABC’s if you will:

A) Ensure you have created a Google+ page….although other social media forums used by business such as FaceBook and LinkedIn have been around longer and (currently) have more users, Google is the largest search engine….and it stands to reason that maybe just possibly, Google would view a Google+ page as equally if not more important, than other social media apps.We’re not saying don’t have Facebook & LinkedIn pages for your business (you should), we’re saying make sure you have a Google+ Local page, and make it a priority.

b) Have good content on your Google+ Local page in terms on information about your business, pictures, your logo, address, and of course links to your website, etc. This is your opportunity to use keywords etc. to ramp up the potential for your page to rank in search results. Whether you’re in Markham, Toronto, Hamilton, or Timbuktu – make sure you mention that on your page as well!

c) Ask your clients to review your business on Google+ Local. Google implemented Google+ and added in the Local portion as part of their philosophy that social media/word of mouth is becoming increasingly more relevant to their users. That said, obviously a good review never hurts and the more positive reviews, the better.

Blog post courtesy of Anita Hamilton

Hamilton Busy Bee Shoppers Village Event

admin — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:07:00 +0000

The Write Imprint will be at the inaugural “Busy Bee” Shoppers Village event on July 6th,at the Hamilton City Centre (former Eaton Centre). We’ll be showcasing our marketing services, graphic design work for web design & all types of print design. I’m looking forward to meeting shoppers and the other vendors face to face. If you’re out and about that day, please stop by and say hi.

Blog post courtesy of Anita Hamilton

2 Ways Small Business Can Leverage LinkedIn

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 13:23:10 +0000

So you’re a small business owner and know you need to get started on social media. Or maybe you’re already there but not necessarily they way you’d like to be. Here are a couple of tips for how you as a small business owner can leverage the professional social media icon “LinkedIn” to help market your business, it’s products & services, as well as your personal expertise, online:

1. If you haven’t already done so, establish a Company page on LinkedIn for your business. Fill out the overview and products & services pages for it and keep the them updated. If you need to hire new talent, post a job on the Careers section of your company page. And periodically, check out the Page Statistics so you know what kind of traffic is looking at your company on LinkedIn. For a quick tutorial on the Company page see this “how-to” video on the Linked In site.

2. Of course, you should already have completed your personal LinkedIn profile. Now’s the time to personalize the LinkedIn url for it so that folks looking for you online can find you more easily. Business Insider has this to say: “By default, LinkedIn gives your profile a wonky URL with a bunch of numbers and letters. To help clean it up, you can choose a custom URL for your public profile. This will help Google bring your name up in search, plus it makes you look more reputable to people searching for someone with your skill set. To change your URL, go to your edit profile page and scroll to the “Public Profile” section. Click “Edit” next to the URL to choose a new one.”

Go to Business Insider for their complete set of LinkedIn tips.

Blog post courtesy of Anita Hamilton

Time for a New Web Design?

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:10:15 +0000

When is it time for a new web design? When your current website looks so outdated even your grandmother says “get with the times”? Or perhaps, when you find that customers are commenting that your current web design doesn’t exactly enhance your reputation online?

Hint: A sure clue that’s it’s time for an updated web design is if your website is right or left-justified in appearance….even if it’s only a few years old, this was a style that went out of date years ago and tells viewers that you’re not keeping up with the times online.

In the web design world, 2 years is like a decade…no self-respecting store owner would go 10 years without updating their store layout & design, in order to keep things current & appealing and draw in more clients.

The same goes for a web site, your online store / marketing platform. If your current web site design is more than 2 years old, it’s probably time to take a fresh look at it. You may not need an entirely new website / web design, perhaps a fresh take on what’s already working and a re-jig of what isn’t, is all that’s required.

Contact us for a FREE Zebra Quest™ consultation and we’ll review your website with you – no obligation. Best of all, to celebrate our own newly re-designed website, until April 30 2012 we’re offering a FREE business card design with a new custom web design project. Full details on our Promotional Offers page.

What is a CMS?

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:46:01 +0000

And why do I want it?

CMS stands for “content management system”, meaning, the type of website that can have the content (written text and images) on it easily “managed” (meaning, edited – ), without requiring a programmer.

Traditional static (non-cms) websites require a programmer to make even minor updates to the website. Programming code is not for the faint of heart or uninitiated…many different languages (PHP, XHTML, etc.) and databases are used in the web design & development world today. Training and experience in a specific language may be required to do so much as change a date on a website.

Hence, the huge advantage of CMS web design & development. With a CMS website, non-programmers can usually make most updates or changes that are desired to the written content or images, by themselves. Typically minimal training or orientation to a specific CMS takes all of 10-30 minutes and away you go.

There are many CMS on the market these days, not all are created equal though. Some CMS are proprietary, meaning the web design & development company that designed a website using that particular CMS, does not allow other web design & development companies to make any changes to it. They may charge a fee for it as well. Other CMS’ are open source (free), meaning all web developers are welcome to develop new functionality for the CMS. WordPress CMS is a great example of an open source CMS (and the CMS we specialize in here at The Write Imprint).

So when shopping around for a new web design or completely new website, unless you are a web developer / programmer, you should have an open-source CMS at the top of your website wish list.

Blog post courtesy of Anita Hamilton