eBay Canada has enhanced the access to its site by placing a toggle at the top of each Web page to allow buyers to search for items in English, French or both languages at once. Sellers are now free to list their goods in whichever official language they wish.

5 million Canadians are registered users of eBay, and 775,000 people in Québec buy and sell on the site. According to eBay Canada, more than 30,000 Québec SMEs use the site as a primary or secondary source of income.

The new service was kicked off with a charity auction by Montréal Canadiens goaltender Cristobal Huet, who posted a ceremonial first listing en français.

To visit the site, go to: www.cafr.ebay.ca.

Creating Buzz Online: Internet Marketing for Small Business
October 24
12 noon – 1 pm

How do I market my small business on the Internet? Explore popular topics such as search engine optimization, email marketing, blogs, online advertising and other Internet marketing strategies. Benefit from practical examples, clear definitions and plenty of Internet marketing tips. You will want to arrive early for this must-see presentation!

Aldo Zanoni, CEO and managing director, Omni Technology

Privacy Policy Generator

Developing a privacy policy can be one of the more difficult stages of developing your business web site. One strategy is to look around at what others have posted and using that as a template to get started. However, you may miss out on things that they have chosen to omit. OECD, the Organization for Economic Development Co-operation and Development has a privacy policy generator for getting you started.

The privacy policy generator is based on the OECD Privacy Guidelines which are designed to represent an international consensus of balancing the effective protection of privacy with the free flow of personal data. Much like Alberta’s privacy legislation PIPA, openness is a key principle of the OECD guidelines.

The OECD privacy policy generator walks you through a questionnaire that produces a draft privacy policy for you to download. The questionnaire is very detailed and allows you to make reference to Alberta’s privacy legislation. The downloadable privacy policy is fully editable so you can make any necessary changes.

The generator web site also contains a good document on developing a privacy policy. To check out the privacy policy generator go here.

For more information on Alberta’s privacy legislation visit the web site of the provincial privacy commission.

For more information on the resources located at the E-Future Centre related to online legal issues go here.

Small Business Week 2006!

Every year, Small Business Week (SBW) is celebrated across the country. It’s a time to recognize the importance small business has on our economy and in our communities. This year SBW is October 15-21, 2006 with some communities celebrating it October 22-28th.

The Business Link works with the Alberta Chambers of Commerce to bring you the Small Business Week in Alberta Website, www.sbwalberta.ca. Be sure to check it out. It will be available September 20 - October 30, 2006. On the website you will find a registry of events from around the province, business statistics, articles and on-line tools.

If you’re planning an event for Small Business Week, you can register it at www.sbwalberta.ca/registration.asp

Remember to go see www.sbwalberta.ca on September 20, 2006! The site will be updated daily, so visit often to find out about new events.

Small Business Search Engine Marketing
Sept 13
1:00 - 4:00 PM
The Business Link and ELC
Cost: $30.00 + GST

How do your customers find your web site? It might be through referrals, your brochure, or a web link, but chances are they found you through a search engine. In this seminar, you will learn how to optimize your web site to increase your ranking in search engines. You will gain an understanding of:

• How search engines work
• How you can increase your qualified visitors by increasing your rankings
• How to make your web site search engine friendly by making simple but effective changes
• Where and how to register your site
• How to use keywords and various HTML tags
• How to implement other search engine optimization (SEO) techniques

Presenter: Ken Jurina, President, Epiar Inc

To register, go here.

Seminar 2
September 13th
11a.m. - 12 noon

This session covers legal issues around software development, including end user license agreements, Internet and ISP regulation in Canada, domain name resolution on the internet, and Copyright, trademark, and patent issues. Plus, how PIPEDA affects your business, Employee privacy laws, and non-compete agreements.

Ivan Long, Director of Operations for Auto~Star Compusystems Inc.

Contact Alex by phone at 403-528-2824, toll free at 1-888-528-2824 or by email at bizinfo@entre-corp.com for more information.

Are you launching a brand new web site and are looking for some way to build links? SEOmoz.org has a great post “10 Remarkably Effective Strategies for Driving Traffic”. If you are looking for some way to get links to your site, check it out.

Our Fall season of seminars and brown bag presentations is right around the corner. This fall we will be offering a series of quick-to-learn quick-to-use seminars that will help you get the most out of the use of e-business in your business. All of our sessions are held at The Business Link in Edmonton and available through the province via the Entrepreneurship Learning Centre (ELC). To find out if an event is available near you head over to the ELC site.

Small Business Search Engine Marketing
Sept 13
1:00 - 4:00 PM

How do your customers find your web site? It might be through referrals, your brochure, or a web link, but chances are they found you through a search engine. In this seminar, you will learn how to optimize your web site to increase your ranking in search engines. You will gain an understanding of:

• How search engines work
• How you can increase your qualified visitors by increasing your rankings
• How to make your web site search engine friendly by making simple but effective changes
• Where and how to register your site
• How to use keywords and various HTML tags
• How to implement other search engine optimization (SEO) techniques

Ken Jurina, President, Epiar Inc

E-Business Basics
October 3
12 noon – 1 pm

How do I use computers and the internet to help my business? E-Business is more then just selling online or having a website. This session answers how e-business can be used to increase sales, reduce costs, increase market exposure and improve customer service. This is a general overview of e-business and its benefits. Whether you are adding an “e” component to an existing business or are starting a new small business this session is for you!

John Beauchamp, Alberta E-future Centre Coordinator

Creating Buzz Online: Internet Marketing for Small Business
October 24
12 noon – 1 pm

How do I market my small business on the Internet? Explore popular topics such as search engine optimization, email marketing, blogs, online advertising and other Internet marketing strategies. Benefit from practical examples, clear definitions and plenty of Internet marketing tips. You will want to arrive early for this must-see presentation!

Aldo Zanoni, CEO and managing director, Omni Technology

What Users Want from Your Website
November 2
12 noon – 1:00 pm

Ever wonder why so many people come to your site but leave without ordering or contacting you? Unsure where to set priorities for spending limited web site funds? This session will help you assess different ways of judging your web site’s effectiveness, so you can get the most from your web investment.

Tema Frank, President and Founder, Web Mystery Shoppers

E-mail Marketing for Small Business
December 5
12 noon – 1:00 pm

E-mail marketing can be an effective and inexpensive way to promote your products, services or website. During this session you will learn about electronic newsletters, the required tools and how to ensure that your message will not be blocked by spam filters. All this information will help your small business get the most out of e-mail marketing.

Jon Larson, Mymailout.com

Entre-Corp Business Development Centre

Entre-Corp Business Development Centre and the Business First Technology Incubator invite ELC members to participate in the Business First Technology seminar series. To be delivered every Wednesday in September from 11a.m. till Noon, these seminars are targeted at technology based companies however the information presented could be beneficial to other small and medium enterprises (SME’s). Please read below for more information on the individual seminars and guest speakers. For more information and to find out where the sessions are being made available contact Alex by phone at 403-528-2824, toll free at 1-888-528-2824 or by email at bizinfo@entre-corp.com.

Seminar 1
September 6th
11a.m. - 12 noon

This session will tell you about Deal Generator and changes in the financial landscape as it pertains to the tech sector, issues that block deals from closing, and how to improve your chances of attracting the tough money.

Warren Bergen, Executive Director of Alberta Deal Generator,

Seminar 2
September 13th
11a.m. - 12 noon

This session covers legal issues around software development, including end user license agreements, Internet and ISP regulation in Canada, domain name resolution on the internet, and Copyright, trademark, and patent issues. Plus, how PIPEDA affects your business, Employee privacy laws, and non-compete agreements.

Ivan Long, Director of Operations for Auto~Star Compusystems Inc.

Seminar 3
September 27th
11a.m. - 12 noon

The Software Marketing Tips seminar will discuss the various aspects of marketing and distributing software applications. Topics will include: branding your business and products, defining your target market, promotional tactics and the importance of forming partnerships and distribution partners. Attend this information session to generate new ideas about marketing your software product.

Sarah McOuat , Marketing and Channel Coordinator at Auto~Star Compusystems

The short answer is no, not every business needs a website. However, the large majority of small and medium sized enterprises can benefit greatly by having a website. The website could be for e-commerce (selling product or service online) but it can just be used for marketing purposes.

Myriam Saumure, Associate Editor of This Week @ IC wrote an article, “The importance of having a web site,” explaining that many small business do not have a website because of the cost to create one. She also describes that a website is worth the cost, however there is no mention of ways to reduce website costs.

There are 3 basic activities/costs that will be incurred when starting up a website, keep in mind some of the costs will be reoccurring costs. The costs of creating a website are difficult to estimate because of the variety of what a business may want, but a brief estimate can be given.

Three Costs

• Domain Name
• Web Host
• Site Creation and Maintance

A domain name is the smallest of the costs at under $30 a year.

A web host will likely be a monthly fee possibly between $30 to hundreds of dollars, depending on your business needs.

The site creation and maintenance is easily the largest fee at hundreds to thousands of dollars. Obviously, this is where your business can apply the most effective cost reducing techniques.

Some ways to possibly reduce costs:

• Simple, one page website
• Template
• Content Management System

If you are marketing a small company, a one page website might be sufficient. All you may need to market is your business name, address, hours of operation, telephone number and maybe a little description of what you do.

A template is a website that is already created that you add your graphics and text content to. Templates do not offer the most flexibility in design or customization but they can be found free or for a small fee.

If you are having a website built by a developer then you can save money by having a content management system (CMS) as part of your website. A CMS, for example, will allow you to change your text content and possibly graphics, as if you were working in a simple word processor. A CMS will especially be valuable if you will need to make frequent changes to your site, as you can do maintenance yourself rather then paying a developer a lot of money to update it for you.

Myriam Saumure (2006). “The importance of having a web site“. Retrieved July 27, 2006, the article shows the statistics, numbers and proof of why websites are important.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada reported: “Canadian Internet Advertising Revenues reached a new high.” The 2005 numbers are 54% higher then 2004.

This is very good news for small and medium sized e-businesses.

Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada (2006). “2005 Canadian Internet Advertising Grows by 54 Percent Over 2004“. Retrieved July 27, 2006, the article discuses in more detail how the numbers were derived.