February M9 Newsletter

» So Why Don't You Have A Website?
» How Content Helps Your Site
» Case Study - Marari Network Solutions
» SEO Analysis - M9 under the Microscope
» Programmer's Corner

It used to be that the only reason companies would have a website was if they wanted to sell something.

That's not true anymore.

These days' businesses are expected to have a website, just as they are expected to have business cards. You wouldn't walk into a business meeting without bringing business cards and nor can you expect to be in business today without a website. If you are missing either business cards or a website your customers will begin to wonder if you're fly-by-night, disorganized or just badly prepared. Business cards and websites both promote clarity and respectability, it's that simple.

Websites Today
These days' websites do much more than simply sell products. They tell visitors about the business as a whole, not just about the company because today's consumers are savvier. Websites can give details that allow consumers to make better, more informed choices about what they need and whether they need it. Websites become a connective point between the customer and the business, a point that is open twenty four hours a day; seven days a week (see M-9's Customer/User Interaction).

Reaching Out
Websites can act as business cards and provide valuable contact information but they can also do other things. They can be designed to capture and hold information like a flesh and blood receptionist. And, by tying directly to email and electronic newsletter systems, websites provide a simple and effective means of communication that is hard to beat (see M-9's E-Mail Newsletter solution).

The Sky's the Limit
Websites can be advertising billboard (see M9's Custom Design solution), a repository of forms and price lists (see M9's Content Generation and Content Management solutions), a place to put testimonials and sales sheets and a source of information for everyone! In fact these days websites reflect the business, they are a proof of credibility . . . And, on top of all that, websites can still be used to sell something! (See M9's E-Commerce solution.)

Send Us an Email if you want to know more!

Nationally and internationally Canadian businesses are coming face to face with two conflicting truths. The first truth is that, on the internet, content is king (see the articles in
M9's Newsletters in September 2007, Content is King, and November 2007, Effective SEO Options in Website Design). That statement can be translated as meaning that good, original content on a website makes it more attractive to search engines (the basic element of Search Engine Optimization or SEO).

Good search engine rankings mean that the site will attract more traffic and, hopefully, more customers.

What Does Content Do?
Good content does the following:

* Good content attracts search engines to the site
* Good content attracts appropriate links to the site (which also attracts more search engines to the site)
* Good content place the website as an expert in the field (any field)

And, lastly:

* Good content attracts readers (I left this for last because it is the readers who are actually your clients!)

The Second Truth
Good content is vitally important to businesses on the internet and that concept conflicts directly with the second truth facing businesses today which is that most employees in Canada lack the necessary literacy skills to produce that content. Indeed, according to the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey released through Statistics Canada (http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=89M0022X), 4 out of 10 Canadians lack the literacy skills needed to function effectively in today's business world.

That means that businesses need to communicate more effectively with their clients via the internet at the same time that they are less able to actually communicate.

Where to Turn
The M9 Corporation can provide the skills needed by today's businesses immediately. Check out the Solutions available; Content Generation, Content Management and the E-Mail Newsletter. Through these services we can make your site as strong and focused as possible and, along the way, attract visitors like never before.

Contact Us if you would like to know how we can help you communicate better with your content!

This month our case study focuses on Marari Network Solutions, a Winnipeg-based company run by Ari Novikoff. Ari has been working with computers for more than 25 years and, prior to starting Marari Network Solutions, Ari was involved with developing and maintaining information technology (I.T.) systems with the Fort Garry School Division, the Assiniboine South School Division and KORTEX Computer.

Launched in 2007 Marari Network Solutions currently looks after more than 20 clients. Offering a wide variety of I.T. solutions Marari has also created the Marari Websentry and Mailsentry to help business owners in their day-to-day management of their company computers. Additionally Marari can provide custom network security strategies along with data backup and recovery planning. They also offer an excellent and informative monthly electronic newsletter for anyone interested.

M9 is proud to be associated with this forward-thinking and innovative company!

Marari Network Solutions is located at 587 Mathias Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2V 1P1 and their phone number is (204) 981-2646. Their excellent website is located at www.marari.net

Last month I decided to apply content-based SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies to the M9 Website to see how our SEO theories worked in practice. The results were interesting, to say the least.

The Experiment
Basically I tracked six categories on Google.ca to see how the M9 Corporation ranking changed over a six week period. Since lower rankings on the Google search means sites are more likely to be visited by the curious my goal was always to lower the numbers. The categories I chose to monitor were: Winnipeg Web Development, Winnipeg Web Design, Winnipeg Web Content, Winnipeg Web Writing, Winnipeg Internet Corporation and Winnipeg SEO. In order to sample the results I ran searches from December 17, 2007 to January 29, 2008.






As you can see the numbers show a steadily increase in the M9 site's popularity. That increase in popularity means more traffic which translates directly into more (potential) customers. The single case where the ranking increased was in the category of Winnipeg SEO, the category which I did not attempt to influence.

Winnipeg SEO - The Control Group
As I said above I did not attempt to influence the ranking of the term "Winnipeg SEO." I did this so I could find out if there were fluctuations within Google rankings normally, in other words "Winnipeg SEO" was my control group. If its ranking dropped for Winnipeg SEO during the test I would know there was some other agency at work.

Why the Improvement?
The change in M9's ranking is directly attributable to two separate elements.

First M9 produces a monthly E-Newsletter which provides a regular source of fresh, original content for the site (we also offer this service to our clients; check out the option at E-Mail Newsletter. Secondly the content of the E-Newsletter was optimized which meant that the language was chosen to be attractive to the Google search engine (again this is a service we offer to our clients as part of our Content Generation service at Content Generation.

Conclusion
Content-based Search Engine Optimization works. Predicated on tracking both the psychology of the reader and the technology of the engines it is possible to improve a site's ranking simply by choosing the right words. And that translates into more visitors and more potential clients.

Note to All Concerned: The Continuing Story . . .

Ian Prentice, our Lead Programmer, continues to be locked in an office, programming frantically.

He says "Hi."

As soon as he has caught up on his programming then Programmer's Corner will continue.