A Blog is a fantastic way to update your audience and inform them about specials, about events, new products and services as well as general information about your organization. Starting a Blog is easy but can be challenging at the same time. Today we would like to talk a little bit about some of the challenges and give you some advise how to overcome them.
Why should I have a Blog?
This is often the first question clients ask us. With so many Blogs out there, why should you start one too? The reason is simple, because you can use this platform to update your customers about situations you may not want or need to put on your website. You can also use a Blog for online promotion support, meaning you can more frequently talk about a new or existing product and “remind” your clients of its existence. Or maybe you are working on a project and want to publish updates about stages you have reached. But a Blog is also a platform that allows you to show new clients that your organization is still active. A website often reaches a stages where not that many updates happen, depending on your business of course, but a Blog allows you to be more active.
Which Platform should I use?
There are several options available. The popular once are WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr. It is advisable to check out each of them before starting your Blog, just to get an idea which one you feel more comfortable with.
What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
You can create an account and Blog with wordpress.com in just a few minutes. You will be a bit limited when going with the free version and have to accept advertisement on your Blog. If you want to be in total control you can download the software used to run WordPress at wordpress.org and install it on your web server. The software is open source and the download will be free. However if you decide to ask a professional to setup you Blog with WordPress be aware that they will charge you for their time. You also will have to pay for a domain and for hosing your WordPress Blog.
Your first Blogpost(s)
You will start with a blank page and this is for many the first barrier. Many of our clients who started a Blog had that experience and needed support to get through the first couple posts. Here are some tricks that might help you:
Start writing about yourself, your organization, the products and/or services you offer
Ask friends for feedback
Try to work on a schedule for your updates
Be aware that the first few post might only be read by a few people
How often should I publish a new post?
This depends on factors such as industry, your time, your audience and of course also your products and services to name a few. You are welcome to contact us for a free consultation where we can advise you further.
Self posting vs professional writer?
A professional writer can be very beneficial in the long run and can save you a lot of time and even money. However, we like to encourage clients to start their Blog on their own. To make it easier for our writers to set the right tone for your Blog we like to ask you to provide us with a draft for the first couple posts. After that we will just ask you for the topics and the research will be done by our team. We have different packages available that are based on your needs. All our packages are flexible and you can upgrade, downgrade and even pause services as you go. You will always have a professional team on your site for as long as you want. Services include maintaining the Blog, posting updates on your Blog as well as providing reports. If you are interested in learning more about us feel free to check out the links below:
Social Media became in the last couple years more and more important also in regards of promoting your business online. With so many platforms to choose from it is understandable that especially newcomers can feel a little overwhelmed. Today we would like to post a few general questions business owners often have and answer them.
Why should I use Social Media to promote my business?
There are many reasons to use social media to promote your organization. One very important is transparency. This may sound wired but this is actually one of the most important reasons especially for new businesses. Just imagine you find a product on a website you have never heard of, provided by a company you don’t know. Would you give them your address and credit card details without hesitation? Now imagine you find the same company on Facebook and see that they have a lot of fans plus a lot of great reviews. It is now so much easier to trust them. If the same company has not only Facebook, but also Twitter, YouTube and some other accounts were they are actively post and interact with their audience you will feel much more comfortable to use their website.
Another reason for using Social Media is feedback. As soon as you have build an audience you can ask them for feedback. For example: You have a bakery and your blueberry muffins are the best. Now you feel it is time to introduce muffins with a different flavour, but before you go and buy the ingredients you can ask your customers if they would like to buy them. And later you can even ask them how they liked them.
Last but not least you can use various social media platforms to advertise. Depending on the platform you may be able to place a banner, text or even video ad. We compared text, banner and video ads in our post Promoting your business online: Online Advertisement
Should I use every single platform?
Well, it doesn’t hurt if you secure an account with the mayor platforms, just in case you want to use them later. However, if you don’t use a platform frequently you shouldn’t mention it on your website nor encouraging people to follow you when you know you won’t use it.
Which platforms are best for my business?
General speaking you may want to have a Blog and a Facebook Page, even if you are a B2B business, a LinkedIn Page might also be a good idea. We know some business owners who really like using Twitter, while others don’t know how. Google Plus and YouTube are also great platforms and there are of course various location based services such as Foursquare and Yelp you want to check out, especially if you are a restaurant or pub owner. Depending on the nature of your business you may want to plan which platform to concentrate on and which you can keep for later. In our free consultations we help you to figure out which one might be best for you.
Social Media Expert vs Do It Yourself…
This is not easy to answer. Some business owners love to use social media and to update their audience while others prefer to leave it to an expert. In our consultation we often bring up the example of using an accountant or doing accounting on your own. Some may find it easy and do not want to use an accountant while others prefer to have one. It is up to you what you feel is best.
How much does it cost to have an agency managing my social media needs?
It largely depends on the kind of platforms you want to use, the amount of updates you would like to provide to your audience and also how many platforms the agency has to manage for you. Another factor is if you need someone for setting up the account as well as your goals. Many of our clients like to combine related services such as Social Media Management and Social Media Advertisement.
All our packages are tailor made, this is why we offer free consultations to get to know you, your goals, your needs as well as budget. We also offer flexible packages so you can increase, decrease or even pause our services depending on your current situation. To learn more about us feel free to follow the links below.
We started working with Mario Schiopu from MarioFit.ca in September 2012. Mario is a Karate Champion, Krav Maga Instructor, registered Holistic Nutritionist & Sport Nutrition Advisor, a Certified Fitness Consultant and experienced Athletic Performance Coach, Mario is one of the most passionate researchers on Fitness, Nutrition and Healthy Aging. When he turned 50 his goal was to raise awareness for a healthy lifestyle by participating in the 2012 BC Karate Championship Tournament. He attached this goal to a fund-raising event called MarioFitFightingForKids.com to gain the motivation he needed to compete. Mario was facing in the tournament much younger champions and won in the end the silver medal. MarioFitFightingForKids.com had 7 official Sponsors and 32 official Supporters. We raised for the Children’s Hunger Fund and the BC Children Hospital more than $4,000. In summer 2013 Mario received the Champions for Change Award for this event.
Beside this fantastic achievement Mario also realized during the time we worked with him the power of social media and with our help he started updating his Blog more frequently. He is posting about various health, fitness and self defence related topics on his Blog MarioFit.ca in English and Romania.
He also became involved in the Vancouver Martial Arts Academy, started training Josh to become the next Karate Champion, gave self defence classes in various community centres, schools and even the UBC.
For 2014 MarioFit.ca has already big plans and we from teccrab inc. are very happy and excited to be part of it. If you want to learn more about MarioFit.ca please follow one of the links below:
One of our fantastic clients is Craig, who is updating his Blog tangledthoughts.ca frequently. Craig is a first class hairstylists located in Vancouver Downtown and his Blog is not just about Hair.
Since April 2013 we are working together with Craig and our goal was to establish a Blog that would be informative and fun. Thanks to Craig’s excellent writing skills and his fantastic sense of humour his Blog became step by step more successful and popular.
The first steps for a new Blog as well as new Facebook Page are always a bit difficult. You start with a blank page, nobody is following your updates and we often get the question if it is worse putting so much time and effort into it. We always answer that question by referring to other clients who had the same problems when they started using social media.
In our experience the first 100 fans are always the hardest.
Craig is at the moment at 87 fans, only 13 more to go and he has his 100 fans on Facebook. Important to mention is that we managed to reach this goal with a very low budget in just a few month. Craig is using one of our smallest packages, which includes frequent meetings and tips to improve his overall online visibility.
Craig is in our opinion an excellent example for a small business owner who is successfully using Social Media to improve his online visibility without spending a lot of money and we are very happy to support Craig and have him as a client.
In Episode 8 of INTERNeX HiGHLIGHTS of the week we included another great INTERNeX EXPLOReR were we went to Gastown.
Clare tells us a little bit about the history of Gastown, about Gassy Jack, talks about hidden gems such as the Cottage Deli and mentions the bike race, which was held last week.
Clara also had a chance to interview one of the many fantastic Bartenders of the Blarney Stone. Come and check it out:
If you like our videos and want to get one produced for your organization, please contact us at info@teccrab.com
The INTERNeX HiGHLIGHTS of the week
and the INTERNeX EXPLOReR are
We started in May a new video project with INTERNeX. A show for their candidates to inform about upcoming trips, events and pub nights. We as well included in each video a short INTERNeX EXPLOReR where we introduce different locations in Vancouver.
Usually each episode is about 3 minutes long, but for episode 7 we went to see another of our clients, Craig from tangledthoughts.ca, where one of INTERNeX PR interns received a special treat. Craig is one of the best Hairdresser in Vancouver and you can usually find him in THE salon beauty bar on 505 Thurlow Street.
We needed for the production and postproduction of that video about 3 days. Little fun fact, while filming in THE salon beauty bar, another film crew closed the Thurlow Street in front of the salon to shoot a scene for the upcoming Godzilla movie. I admit it was very cool to produce a video right next to the big boys.
We also would like to mention that we had to change the format in episode 7 a little. The reason is because Clara, one of INTERNeX PR interns, is usually editing the videos. But for episode 7 we had to do the entire postproduction ourselves. Unfortunately we forgot to copy the intro and music Clara used for her videos and had therefore to improvise.
We hope you will enjoy the video and look forward to your comments.
We wish all our employees, interns, clients, partners and friends a very Happy Canada Day. Many of you know that July 2013 is for teccrab inc. a very special month. Not only have we partnered with a hosing company located in the Netherlands, we also work on a new concept for our website and will soon move into a fantastic office located in Downtown Vancouver. A strong relationship with a Vancouver based web developer will allow us to concentrate more on our online marketing packages without loosing the ability to offer high class websites to our clients. More about this will be revealed this month.
To celebrate Canada Day we have uploaded a new timeline picture, which you can find below. We hope everyone has a great day. Happy Canada Day 🙂
One of the greatest compliments you can get is when a client appreciate your services so much that they even post about it on their own Blog. INTERNeX just did this today in a very nice way. Please find here what they had to say about us:
Our Summer Party in 2012
Last summer we enjoyed and incredible Summer Party! But that was just possible to all our sponsors! One of them was teccrab. It just launched its new website. It’s quite impressive so you should check it out!
What does teccrab have to offer?
If you want to start selling your products or have your own presence online, teccrab can help you to develop your website.
If you are looking to improve your presence on the World Wide Web, teccrab can design online marketing strategies for your potential new customers.
If you are planning to have an event teccrab have their own Public Relations departments so don’t doubt on contact them.
R. Simon Kaebe, founder of teccrab
R. Simon Kaebe, founder of teccrab
If you need a promo video for your event, I specially recommend you to contact them… their job is just amazing!
And last but not least…maybe you are interested in knowing a little bit more about all the the World Wide Web world, in that case you should contact them because teccrab offers IT Classes as well!
When you work doing your passion, do you know what happen? Brilliant results! So if you really want to have or to improve your online presence, just give them a call!
Thanks again teccrab for your help!
Cheers,
Irene
INTERNeX International Exchange
Suite 200 – 211 Columbia Street
Vancouver BC -V6A 2R5-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Phone: +1 (604) 662 8149
Email: pr@internexcanada.com
Thank you INTERNeX for the compliments and we are looking forward to provide more services to you hopefully in the near future.
There is exactly one month left to “MarioFit Fighting for Kids in Need” event. I can’t tell you how excited I am for this event. This is crunch time at teccrab! As a major sponsor, we have been doing all the online marketing to make this event as successful as possible. This includes developing the event website, which if I may say so, is looking pretty awesome.
If you haven’t heard, teccrab is currently working on this project to promote Mario Schiopu’s fight at the 2012 BC Karate Championship Tournament. Simon was at the Zone 5 Qualification round this past Sunday to cheer on Mario for officially qualifying to the main event on November 17th and 18th. A huge congratulation to Mario and we are very proud of him!
Mario is a former Romanian Karate Champion and is a certified 3 Dan Black Belt instructor by the World Karate Federation (WKF). After turning 50 years old, he wants to prove that with his knowledge in fitness and living healthy, he is more than competent to compete and win against much younger athletes. We have just launched the blog where Mario will be updating his training and progress daily!
Mario has a big heart and I can tell especially after meeting his family and his two gorgeous little girls. He wants to use this attention he has gained from all his sponsors and supporters for a good cause: helping children in need. Mario has picked two charities very dear to his heart: Children’s Hunger Fund and BC Children’s Hospital.
Living in Vancouver, it is easy to ignore all the people in the world that don’t have as much as we do. We really hope that this event will be able to provide awareness and much needed resources to children who are desperately in need of food or medical treatment.
As for you faithful teccrab blog readers, here is a little sneak peak for what’s to come. We filmed a questions and answer video with Mario yesterday which took about two hours to do, but will be edited down to about 10 minutes. Stay tune as it will be ready in a short couple of days!
It is always a great moment to start a new project. But working on your own project is in my experience often even harder than working on a project of a client. Maybe it is because your client gives you some structure and will pressure you to finish a project in a certain time, but if you create your own website you don’t really have anybody pushing you to finish it other than yourself. I also often noticed that you can find yourself in the position to come up with many great ideas how to present yourself and don’t realize that you loose yourself in small details.
I am building websites since 1997 and created sites for insurance companies, travel agencies, restaurants, educational services, non profit organization, scientists, energy consultant, magazines, TV channel, events, movies, construction companies and many more. I had the great opportunity to meet many fantastic people over the years and to build for and with them amazing websites, but working on my own site was always the biggest challenge for me.
Today I cleaned up my server and deleted all the sandbox sites I created over the last couple years. I used those sites to test new systems, modules and extensions. I got rid of old MySQL DB which I wasn’t using anymore. Uploaded the latest version of Joomla and redirected my domains to new destinations. I have a concept in mind, a good product to sell and look forward to work on my own new website to present my services.
Something that is different from when I started is that I am much better organized. I get less distracted and am more focused. This Blog will hopefully encourage you, some new web designer, to do the same and start working on your own project. See yourself as a client and do what you would do if you were one. It will take time and you may need to step back a moment to finish the project that actually will pay the bills, but you will see at the end it will pay off if you tread yourself as if you were your own client.
Starting a new project is always exciting and I am looking forward to work on the new teccrab website.
A Blog is a fantastic way to update your audience and inform them about specials, about events, new products and services as well as general information about your organization. Starting a Blog is easy but can be challenging at the same time. Today we would like to talk a little bit about some of the challenges and give you some advise how to overcome them.
Social Media became in the last couple years more and more important also in regards of promoting your business online. With so many platforms to choose from it is understandable that especially newcomers can feel a little overwhelmed. Today we would like to post a few general questions business owners often have and answer them.
We started working with Mario Schiopu from MarioFit.ca in September 2012. Mario is a Karate Champion, Krav Maga Instructor, registered Holistic Nutritionist & Sport Nutrition Advisor, a Certified Fitness Consultant and experienced Athletic Performance Coach, Mario is one of the most passionate researchers on Fitness, Nutrition and Healthy Aging. When he turned 50 his goal was to raise awareness for a healthy lifestyle by participating in the 2012 BC Karate Championship Tournament. He attached this goal to a fund-raising event called MarioFitFightingForKids.com to gain the motivation he needed to compete. Mario was facing in the tournament much younger champions and won in the end the silver medal. MarioFitFightingForKids.com had 7 official Sponsors and 32 official Supporters. We raised for the Children’s Hunger Fund and the BC Children Hospital more than $4,000. In summer 2013 Mario received the Champions for Change Award for this event.
One of our fantastic clients is Craig, who is updating his Blog tangledthoughts.ca frequently. Craig is a first class hairstylists located in Vancouver Downtown and his Blog is not just about Hair.
In Episode 8 of INTERNeX HiGHLIGHTS of the week we included another great INTERNeX EXPLOReR were we went to Gastown.
There is exactly one month left to “MarioFit Fighting for Kids in Need” event. I can’t tell you how excited I am for this event. This is crunch time at teccrab! As a major sponsor, we have been doing all the online marketing to make this event as successful as possible. This includes developing the event website, which if I may say so, is looking pretty awesome.
Mario has a big heart and I can tell especially after meeting his family and his two gorgeous little girls. He wants to use this attention he has gained from all his sponsors and supporters for a good cause: helping children in need. Mario has picked two charities very dear to his heart: Children’s Hunger Fund and BC Children’s Hospital.
teccrab inc. | Blog 