Archive for October, 2007

26
Oct 2007

Tracking a web site…

Posted by Steve  >  Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Web Design & Strategy
No Comments

Tracking a web site has obvious business advantages. The most important is being able to track how your support advertising is working. It’s not hard to do, it merely requires being aware that it can be done and allocating resources to monitor it monthly.

To explain this further, it allows the ability to track pageviews and visits and is a critical marketing strategy.

Some example statistics from a recent advertising campaign we created are shown below. The first set of numbers are pageviews and the second set, the number of visits to the site (we’ve shown relevant example numbers, not actual numbers).

July Pageviews: 9,750, Visits; 2,340
August Pageviews; 9,293. Visits; 2,350
September Pageviews; 9,260. Visits; 2,333
October Pageviews; 9,607. Visits; 2,340

> November. We launch an large advertising campaign in 45 newspapers across two provinces. We get a large jump in Pageviews to 18,252 and in total visits, 5,340. A 100% jump in interest. Now is the time your web site had better be able to convert that interest.

December Pageviews; 10,753. Visits; 3,216
January Pageviews; 8,850. Visits; 2,143
February Pageviews; 8,344. Visits; 2,141

> March. We increase ad spending in local markets. We get an increase of roughly 30% online to 12,549 pageviews and 3,553 visits. Once again, conversion becomes critical. You want to be able to close those sales.

You can clearly see from the spike in traffic that the advertising campaigns and marketing concepts we conceived generated interest, which is exactly their job function and was very effective marketing.

The problem is / was that the clients web site did not convert traffic effectively due to the original design not being designed to specifically convert that interest… so the interest our advertising campaign generated was not as effective as it could have been due to insufficient resources being allocated to conversion and training.

Once we then paid attention to conversion issues on the web site, we generated more and better qualified leads which a sales rep could follow up on. It’s not rocket science… it’s respecting that each process along the way requires equal attention.

We pay particular attention and advise our clients to follow through online with the entire campaign, visually, with a three click process guiding the interested parties tthrough to either an actual online purchase opportunity or to a lead generation page from which a follow-up can be made.

There’s no point in spending the money on an advertising campaign if you don’t allocate the resources to complete the investment online.

With good creative direction, the entire process re-inforces your brand, generates interest to your web site, allows tracking for your ROI measurement and generates either a lead or a sale. This is where we believe our experience provides value to our clients, in every step of their creative marketing process.

25
Oct 2007

Sailing in the British Virgin Islands

Posted by Steve  >  Sailing
No Comments


Sailing and diving in the British Virgin Islands with Steuart and Fran aboard Two if by Sea was our best trip ever… from the moment we landed to being picked up by our friends, Steuart and Fran and whisked away to Two if by Sea, the trip was perfect.

The first morning we headed off for The Chimneys. And what a re-introduction to diving it was.

We anchored the boat at the Ocean’s Edge and slowly entered the water to descend to forty-five feet and head towards a spectacular site called The Chimneys which is, as you guessed it, a chimney-like vent which starts at forty-five feet in a large cavern and ends at the surface as you make you way through a small but comfortable opening ten feet below the surface. The light pierces it and forms a spectacular spotlight effect when you are at the base of the vent. Just Wonderful.

After snorkeling around a while, we also discovered that you could swim through the rocky outcrops above the water and within one of them was a hollow area which was just great as well. A deep pool surrounded by rock and coral engulfs you while inside, but you had better be a fairly strong and confident swimmer.

Later, we lifted anchor and headed off towards The Bitter End Yacht club and anchored off a small island just west of the club for the night.

The next morning, we set sail around the tip of the island and while we had plans to head to Anegeda, we chose to tack off towards the Baths on Virgin Gorda.

The Baths are truly amazing. Boulders the size of apartment buildings are leaned up against each other and in the center form a walkway which is incredible as you wander your way through 100 ton boulders perched inches above your head.

Our next stop was the world famous Wreck of The Rhone. Widely regarded as one of the best wreck dives in the Caribbean, the two halves can be dived separately. The Bow lies in 60 ft – 90 feet – divers can swim inside the ships hold and see coral encrustations along with many fish. Diving inside a wreck that has great ambient light is always fun On our first dive, Yim and Fran stayed above the wreck and followed our bubbles through the dive.

Lobsters and crabs apparently often hide inside the wreck. And I mean crabs. I found one that had at least a four foot span.

Outside of the wreck, the foremast and crows nest can be seen along with the boilers, condenser, wrenches and winch.

The stern, often done as the second dive (15 ft-60 ft), shelters lobsters and octopus hiding in the metal work of the boiler gear box housing, the rudder and the propeller. Many fish varieties including Barracuda, Southern Stingrays, Eagle Rays and Turtles live in this National Park area.

We swam through the open area beside the propeller… it’s a great spot to boost a divers confidence in safe conditions.

Read more on www.oceansedge.com

14
Oct 2007

Branding The Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda

Posted by Steve  >  Branding, Travel
No Comments


When I began working with The Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda, it was an emerging concept which I helped Ed Williams refine, which included advertising, signage and collateral materials.

Working with tourism oriented clients has always been my strongest interest. Travel is a strong interest of mine.

This Brand Identity has remained in place for more than fifteen years now. A fine example of the value my experience brings to a project.

“Steve worked with us for a full year establishing an image for The Royal Naval Dockyard as a marketable tourist destination. He not only succeeded in doing this but also allowed us to make many other considerations due to his technical skills and inherent understanding in printing.

Steve’s ability to take an idea to it’s fullest extent while maintaining the parameters established by an organization will certainly give his clients that all important value for money spent with the maximum creativity.”

Mr. Edward Williams. Development Manager.
The Royal Naval Dockyard.

9
Oct 2007

Bottom Trawling

Posted by Steve  >  Conservation
No Comments


This spectacular squid is discarded bycatch on a Spanish bottom trawler.

Ancient forests in danger … deep under the ocean. Biologists estimate that somewhere between 500,000 and 5,000,000 marine species have yet to be discovered. But many of these species are in serious danger from the world’s most destructive fishing practice – bottom trawling This is truly the last undiscovered wilderness left on the planet.

The deep ocean floor has its own mountains, called seamounts. They rise at least 1,000 metres above the surrounding seafloor. Amazingly, the Earth’s longest mountain range is not on land but under the sea – the Mid-Oceanic ridge system, which winds around the globe from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic. It is four times longer than the Andes, Rockies, and Himalayas combined!

Seamounts are uniquely rich areas of biodiversity. Think colourful forests of attached cold water corals, soft seapens, sponges and seawhips, sea spiders and lobster-like crustaceans. Many seamount-dwelling species are not found anywhere else, and it is believed that some are confined to only one or two individual seamounts!

Number 1 Threat: Bottom Trawling

Unfortunately, the commercial fishing industry has gotten to know about the rich pickings that exist in deep waters. The industry has extended its unsustainable fishing practices into previously unexploited deep waters and seamounts using a technique called bottom trawling.

Bottom trawling involves dragging huge, heavy nets along the sea floor. Large metal plates and rubber wheels attached to these nets move along the bottom and crush nearly everything in their path. All evidence indicates that deep water life forms are very slow to recover from such damage, taking decades to hundreds of years – if they recover at all.

If allowed to continue, the bottom trawlers of the high seas will destroy deep sea species, before we have even discovered much of what is out there. Think of it as driving a huge bulldozer through an unexplored, lush and richly populated forest and being left with a flat, featureless desert. It’s like blowing up Mars before we get there.