QuickLearn: Search Marketing 101

Do you want to attract more visitors to your website?

Register for the QuickLearn business training series. Our first session is Search Marketing 101.

QuickLearn: Search Marketing 101
presented by Alexandre Brabant of eMarketing 101
hosted by Monique Trottier of Boxcar Marketing

April 11th
10:00am - 12:00pm
Location: Workspace, 400 - 21 Water Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 1A1

Cost: $150

Search marketing is one of the cheapest, most cost-effective ways to promote your company and drive qualified leads to your website.

Most people find search engines to be a mystery. How do I get my website to rank higher in search listings for key phrases related to my business, products or services? Should I consider paying for advertising placement on search engines?

Effective search marketing and optimization is the key component to any successful online presence. If you are unsure of how search works, how to integrate search into your existing promotional campaigns, or why search is important to your business--this is the session for you.

Register Online Today

For more information or to register in person, contact Monique Trottier at 778-837-9012.

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Alexandre Brabant is the president of Vancouver-based eMarketing 101. He is a leading Search Marketing Specialist and the Co-Chair of SEMPO Canada, Canada’s Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization.

Jumpchart: A Great Tool for Creating Wireframes for Websites

Jumpchart is an online wireframe development tool I have recently started using to plan website information architecture on a current project. The big selling point is the interactivity of the site, where both myself and the client can make changes as the site begins to evolve.

If you build websites for a living, you know that content organization and approval can be an overwhelming process. We’ve all tried flowcharts, and wireframes, html mocks… even paper. All of these suffer from crucial flaws… They’re not interactive, and they carry no momentum into the build phase.

Instead of a traditional paper wireframe that is flat and hierarchical, you can quickly create something close to the end product website. Jumpchart allows you to quickly look at possible structures for your site and solve any potential problems in the early stages. The program is also very user friendly for clients new to web design development, and gives them a clearer idea of the look and feel of the final product. All files created in Jumpchart can be export for use in the continued development of the site.

I could go on about the many selling points of Jumpchart, but you should just go watch the Jumpchart video tour.

Photojojo Creates a Time Capsule of Your Flickr Account

If you are a user of Flickr (the world’s best photo sharing site), and have regularly uploaded photos for the multiple years you’ve been on the site, then you may have a huge archive of thousands of photos at this point. How often to you get the chance to revisit photos from a year ago, or even farther back? Possibly never. Well Photojojo has come up with something called “Time Capsule” and it may just be the thing for you.

“Every couple weeks, Time Capsule digs up your photos on Flickr from a year ago, choosing the ones that are most interesting (most views, comments, and faves), then sends them to you in a quick email.”

I signed up for it a few weeks ago, and have received two newsletters so far. The selection of photos show up with the captions I’d written to accompany them on Flickr, and are a very generous size. I like this tiny slice of life from a year ago showing up in my inbox, and revisiting shots posted the previous year.

You can sign up for Time Capsule here.

Have a website? You’re in the media business

One of the most challenging things we have to help clients understand about the web can be summed up in the following statement:

If you have a website you’re in the media business.

True, it may be the micromedia business — small audience, small content archives and no advertisers. But you’re in the media business nonetheless. You communicate through media. And so media-business practices, guidelines and lessons need to apply.

Today I discovered I have good company saying it. John Battelle, author of The Search writes:

Today, I’ll assert, no matter what business you think you’re in – be it making widgets or providing a service, you’re now in the media business, plain and simple. Those that recognize this shift will succeed, those that ignore it will atrophy and eventually become irrelevant.

Now, what do I mean by the media business? Well, let’s start where all good businesses start: with the customer. Your customer’s media habits have changed dramatically in the past ten years. More likely than not, your customers spend nearly 15 hours a week online – it’s where they play, communicate, interact with services, and shop and research major purchases. In short, your customer has developed a major new media habit. The question is: Has your business?

If you want to understand more about how the web affects your business (and your website) please read: you’re in the media business now.

And if you like it, part two lives here: The Successful Business Owner Is a Great Conversationalist.

Social Media Training in Toronto

We don’t get to Toronto as often as we might like. Just this past weekend we had a long conversation with a friend from Toronto that made us consider a trip. Nothing planned yet, but thinking in the works. (Are the tulips up yet on Queen?)

But interesting work keeps happening in Toronto, and we thought we should highlight an upcoming example.

From June 22 to 24 our friend Sarah Pullman is leading a session called Social Media Training for the Social Change Sector.

No one working in social change these days can afford to ignore the opportunities offered by the web. Most organizations get stuck, though, on “How do we do it?” “Where do we start?” and “Who can help us?” Interest in high, but the talent pool of people equipped to understand, prioritize, and implement these tools and ideas remains limited.

We’ve gathered the best and the brightest leaders in this sector, and we’ve put together an agenda that will help take your organization to the next level. Each participant will emerge with new technical, creative, and leadership skills, a powerful network, and a customized, comprehensive “Web 2.0 Plan” for their organization.

Here’s the agenda for those interested.

BC Book Prizes Launches New Website

Boxcar Marketing is pleased to announce the launch and re-designed of the BC Book Prizes website.

The BC Book Prizes, established in 1985, celebrate the achievements of British Columbia writers and publishers. The seven Prizes, plus The Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence, are presented annually at the Lieutenant Governor’s BC Book Prize Gala in April. The Prizes are administered and awarded by members of a non-profit society who represent all facets of the publishing and writing community.

Finalists in each category were announced on Thursday, March 6. To view the BC Book Prize finalists visit the 2008 BC Book Prizes webpage.

Tickets for the April 26th Lieutenant Governor’s BC Book Prize Gala are on sale now for $70 and can be reserved through the BC Book Prizes website.

Boxcar Marketing would also like to thank Joslin Green of PLAYER Industries, who designed the site, and Eric Barstad of Shadow Box Creative Media Ltd., who handled the programming.