Since the first version of the Penguin update went live in 2012, Google has been especially focused on weeding out Black Hat SEO and rewarding sites that offer valuable content. Google’s penalty algorithms will tag sites using unscrupulous methods of gaining visitors to their sites. One of the elements they have focused on is inbound…
Embarking on an online marketing campaign or website development project for your Calgary business without a solid understanding of your target audience is basically a lot of wasted effort. To maximize your marketing investment, you not only need to know where you want to sell your product. You want to know who wants to buy…
At Emphasize we take pride in treating our clients with the respect they deserve. Customer relationship management is first on our list of priorities, and we take advantage of all the tools at our disposal. Customer relationship management (CRM) programs are super helpful for keeping your lead generation details, contact information and customer preferences together…
I manage the social media accounts for many of our clients, so I am always looking for ways to increase their profile. But in an ethical way, always. Thankfully, in partnership with my my fellow content producers at Emphasize, I am able to easily provide relevant content with value, essentially practicing good social media behaviour…
As an online marketing specialist I rely a lot on the expertise of reputable names in the business. Among those I turn to often are the Neilson Norman Group and Hubspot. The Neilson Norman Group (aka NN/g) has been around since 1998, and have thoroughly established themselves as the website usability gurus. They have been…
We’re about to head into a new year, and all of us at Emphasize want to say thanks for trusting us with your business and wish you a safe, happy and healthy holiday. I am personally looking forward to seeing what another year will bring! I like to take advantage of the turning of a…
I meet a lot of new clients every year. My first job is to convince them that Emphasize Design is the Calgary website design company they should hire to create their online marketing campaigns. With nearly ten years in the business and tons of good stuff in our portfolio to show off, I’m proud to…
Even though my specialty is inbound marketing and bringing you the best ROI for your Calgary business’s promotion, even I can admit that it is far more difficult to earn a new customer than to keep an old one. That’s why building and retaining customer loyalty is one of the most important parts of owning…
Before I go into the benefits of inbound marketing for getting the most out of your return on investment (ROI), first here’s a reminder of what outbound marketing is. The most classic example is the old-fashioned vacuum cleaner salesperson. At one time it wasn’t so weird to have your doorbell rang by a stranger selling…
As Emphasize Design’s inbound marketing specialist I encourage our clients to make the most of their website. Rather than a static few pages that are basically just large Yellow Pages ad, we can include a number of content elements that encourage interaction with your site, and hopefully, your products or services. Downloadable whitepapers, well-used calls-to-action…
Your business’s brand is more than just your name and logo. It’s also the feeling people get when they experience your product. Your brand should convey what they need to know about you and your business, express what should be expected in a customer relationship with you and also be flexible enough to be able…
The perks of entrepreneurship are many, but so are the challenges. A good business idea is a starting point, but it takes time, energy, and investment to turn that idea into a successful, sustainable business. The good news is that you will find plenty of help available, from both the Alberta government and other small…
There is so much advice on how to write a great social media post that it can be easy to get overwhelmed, especially if you’re just getting started. I’ve had the benefit of hands-on experience while running our ED social accounts for years, and working with our web design team. That experience has allowed me…
One of the keys to success with online marketing is understanding analytics. If you know how to make sense of the data, analytics will reveal major insights about your marketing over time. Making sense of the numbers is a big part of my job at Emphasize Design. I am the one who makes sure you…
It used to be that a few “black hat” website marketing techniques could pretty much guarantee a spot on the first page of a Google search. But these sorts of attempts to “cheat the system” have been made detrimental – and even damaging – through a series of algorithm updates. Over the past five years…
Google’s Penguin algorithm has been a big story in the SEO world since it was first unleashed in 2012, and the latest update contains good news for websites that have been punished by Penguin in the past. The primary goal of Penguin is to root out and punish sites that use spammy link-building practices, either…