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Google Apps Now G Suite

googlecloud_partner_badge_150New Harvest is an official reseller of Google’s suite of professional tools formerly known as Google Apps for Work. Today, Google announced that they have renamed their online services to Google Cloud. Additionally, their productivity tools in Google Apps for Work have been renamed to something more, shall we say, short and suite.

Introducing G Suite

As an official Google Cloud Partner, at New Harvest we already knew that Google’s tools were pretty suite.

Check out Google’s press release.

The Mobile Majority

It’s time for our annual look at how Peace Country web surfers are carving the web wave. Specifically, what types of devices they’re using, and how they’re arriving on your website.

It goes without saying that we’re all using our phones for everything from work to playtime. So when you’re the one trying to get information into the hands of existing and potential customers, you’re going to need a fast-loading, easy to navigate mobile (and touch) friendly website.

But really… how big a deal is this for Peace Country businesses and local governments? With rural areas comprising large portions of the local trading areas, is it really as big an issue here than in say, New York, New York?

It is.

When we reviewed the stats for our higher trafficked local government websites, which tend to provide a good cross section of all types of users, we noticed that over half of website traffic was on mobile devices (including tablets).

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Where is it all coming from? Aren’t phones less easy to navigate and find information on?

To find the answer, we need not look further than the notification you probably have on your phone’s home screen right now.

Facebook.

The means by which a user finds their way on to your website is called a “Channel” (see Google’s terminology). When reviewing the same website as above, we saw that “channels” were pretty evenly split among three categories:

  1. Social
  2. Organic Search
  3. Direct

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Stats showing “Social” as the channel means they arrived by clicking on something in a social media feed, usually Facebook.

When they’ve arrived through an “Organic Search“, they have found you in a search result, usually Google.

And finally, if they’ve arrived “Direct“-ly, they likely typed your web address in manually.

So your next three questions for your marketing staff should be:

  1. Are we using our social media profiles effectively?
  2. Are we showing up well in search results?
  3. Are we emphasizing our website’s domain name in our promotions and printed materials?

Answering those questions will help to ensure you’re riding that online wave better than ever!

Sept 20 Workshop: 5 Steps to Climb Google Results

We’re at it again! This time in Fort St. John.

We’re presenting at the Fort St. John Chamber Luncheon on September 20, 2016!

Why would you want to attend?

The phone book is dead. If your next customer doesn’t know your company’s name, how will they find you?

Go Google yourself right now – try doing a search for your company’s most profitable product or service. Can you find you?

How to get ahead of your competitors in local search listings doesn’t have to remain a mystery. Don’t miss this event, where you’ll learn 5 of the most important factors that determine who ends up on top.

Register  through Eventbrite to attend this event & guarantee seating.

May 17 Workshop: 5 Steps to Climb Google Results

We’re presenting at the Dawson Creek Chamber Luncheon on May 17, 2016! Why would you want to attend?

The phone book is dead. If your next customer doesn’t know your company’s name, how will they find you?

Go Google yourself right now – try doing a search for your company’s most profitable product or service. Can you find you?

How to get ahead of your competitors in local search listings doesn’t have to remain a mystery. Don’t miss this event, where you’ll learn 5 of the most important factors that determine who ends up on top.

RSVP with kathleen@dawsoncreekchamber.ca today!

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Small Business Secret Weapon: Social Media

Is your business feeling a little anti-social?

Everyone knows how prevalent Facebook is, but have you been able to put it to use for your business or organization? Some of our clients are seeing over half of their website traffic come as a result of their Facebook presence. What are you missing out on?

From time to time, we host social media workshops that give a bird’s eye view of how to put social media to work for you (let us know if you’d be interested in coming to the next one). But if you’d like the one-on-one intensive evaluation of how social media can become your secret weapon, we can help brand your social media profiles, help you strategize your social media campaigns, or even help keep them up to date on a day-to-day basis.

Get in touch with us, and get social.

Getting (Mobile) Friendly

With mobile devices becoming the primary tool of online interaction and information gathering, it has become of great importance to have websites that provide quick and easy access to the information, regardless of what device you’re using.

Google knows this, of course, and in their endeavour to provide relevant content to anyone using their search engine, they have now begun penalizing websites that are not considered mobile-friendly by lowering them in the search rankings when a user is searching from their mobile device.

And so now you’re asking: “Is my website mobile-friendly?”

Google makes finding that answer incredibly easy. Enter your website address in the tool found at:

We’d love to help you build a website that is mobile friendly and appealing to users on all devices, and that ensures that Google is providing your website as high in the rankings as possible to those searching online.