To think, just a few years ago, content strategy wasn’t even a part of our vocabulary! Now, it’s the first critical step in almost every website we develop. In case you’re new to this term, at Top Draw, content strategy is the process of planning, developing and managing online content that is focused on creating the best possible user experience. Here are just a few of the tools we use to help make that happen.
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Being new to the intensely complicated yet wonderful world of technology can be a challenge. How do I know? I’m in that stage right now. For those of you who understand my position or may even be in this very position yourselves, I’ve asked the Top Draw team to come to our rescue.
Let’s start with the basics, the web jargon that we need to understand before anything else makes sense. How many of these terms do you already know?
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The typical posts here on the Top Draw blog are usually centered on our industry or our customers, but I wanted to write something a little more personal this time around.
Life sometimes takes us to places we never expect. In my case, it was halfway around the world to Santiago, Chile, where I lived for the past year.
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Normally, that subject line would be cause for concern. But not this time!
That’s because the email was from James Lafferty of Advantage Signs, who was being a bit tongue in cheek with how incredible their new website was at delivering new business. In fact, the new search engine optimized website was delivering so many new orders that they now have to build a 10,000 square foot addition to their building.
By ranking highly on the right key phrases from Google, getting a 3X increase in website traffic, and having an easy to use website that customers love, Advantage Signs now has to worry about expansion and hiring, not lead generation and sales.
Do you want to have so many sales that you have to tell off our president? Give us a ring.
When you begin any website project, you’ll undoubtedly hear the term ‘wireframe’. Much like an architectural blueprint, a ‘wireframe’ is just that—a static, no-frills schematic of your website. Defining content organization, functionality, and navigation are just a few of the objectives behind wireframing. Intentionally left boxy and plain, wireframes are an invaluable tool in defining the purpose of any website without the distractions of colour, brand integration and/or personal preference.
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We incorporate some form of a blog into almost every website we develop. Why?
Blogs are most effective when new posts are added on a regular basis. But without good organization, they can turn into a long list of chaos – or by default, a very random collection of chronologically-entered posts. That’s where categories and tags come in. They help organize blogs and make it easy to find or search for articles of interest. There are many benefits to having neat and tidy categories, but first and foremost, they create a positive user experience and allow you to spend more quality time with your visitors. In this sense, categories are must-haves in a blog.
So what’s the difference between tags and categories and how and when should you use them?
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This question has come up a few times in conversations with clients and co-workers, so I thought I’d write some of my thoughts on it.
Desktops are the defacto choice for most office workers. They’re cheap, upgrade-able, repairable and generally powerful. You typically get more for your money. And unless you go into very high end, they’re a better choice for heavy-lifting applications like CAD, Photoshop, etc. What they lack is portability. Need to bring something into a meeting? Grab that USB stick, shared drive, login, or a print out of your document.
If you want to work from home, you’re seriously hamstrung in environments. Although, if you use Google Apps and other online services, you could get away with not having your native office environment to work in. Then there’s always LogMeIn or PCAnywhere.
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Greetings! My name is Peter Wegren and I am one of the most recent additions to the Top Draw team. I am a recent graduate of the Digital Media and IT (DMIT) program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and, naturally, I was very excited to have the opportunity to join a such great team at a well-established internet marketing agency here in Edmonton.
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Junior Achievement is the only organization that teaches entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work readiness to students at all levels of the school system. This organization maximizes student potential by exposing them to real life business leaders that teach tangible, relevant, and relatable lessons in order to prepare them for success in the global economy.
Recently Top Draw web designer, Wendy Yeung, created an infographic to be used as a quick fact sheet regarding the impact that the local JA Northern Alberta and Northwest Territories office has made on young individuals. As illustrated by the infographic, JA Northern Alberta & NWT delivered programs to over 20,000 students in 2013 and is striving to achieve their goal of reaching 40,000 students by 2016, with added help from quality volunteers and financial support from our Alberta business community.
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For the past 32 years, NAIT has held an awards banquet for students enrolled in the Promotional Campaign Planning course. As part of the curriculum, students create campaigns for various clients and present their proposals to their peers and the course instructor. After the class presentations, the top teams are judged by a panel of industry professionals. Upon completion of the final presentation, the panel provides constructive feedback and determines the winners of numerous awards.
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Top Draw is a web design and internet marketing agency that identifies and creates online opportunities. Through expert analysis, inspired design and proven search engine optimization strategies, we build websites that generate leads and sales.
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