"In terms of finding new clients, the number one method is still word-of-mouth. So I tell everyone I meet what I do, whether it be in person, on the telephone, or by email." 

Belonging to business organizations and networking through online email lists is another source of new clients, as well as a source of support.

"I am forever grateful to the Women's Designer Group, an email list made up of about 600 women web designers, who generously share information and answer any questions that may come up during my work day." Monica also belongs to two online business email lists, Canadian Entrepreneurial Women, and Island Women, a group of business women on Vancouver Island and in the Gulf Island region, which she's found very helpful for business-related questions.

Being a member of her local Chamber of Commerce, the International Webmaster's Association, the National Web Design Association, and the HTML Writer's Guild gives her access to many resources and allows her to advertise on their Web sites.

But her most powerful marketing tool is her MonicaWorks Web site. Although she attracts many of her clients through word-of-mouth referrals, "about 99% of them look at my Web site and more specifically my portfolio before they contact me the first time."

Promoting the site is an ongoing process. Anytime that she finds a site willing to add a link to hers, she takes advantage of it. Having many links causes the search engines to see her site as more important and recently a search for "web design" saw MonicaWorks coming up 67th out of 3,600,000 sites on Google.

Monica views her Web site as valuable advertising. "Being on the Internet allows me to advertise 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year." And a Web site is richer and more flexible that other forms of advertising. Monica points out that she can change her Web site at any time, which she wouldn't be able to do with print advertising, and is able to put far more content into a Web site than would fit into a brochure. 

For Monica, the results of having a Web site "have been extraordinary. I have clients across Canada and the United States who have been able to see what I do just by accessing my site."

Next page > Meeting The Challenge > Page 1, 2, 3

 You can contact Monica Hogg at monica@monicaworks.com , by phone at (250) 539-3004,or visit the MonicaWorks Web site. 

MonicaWorks is all about communication. Our mandate is to create an elegant website for you, which communicates to your visitors exactly what you want it to ... and to do it with appealing images and easy navigation.

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If you would like your business to be considered as The Canadian Small Business of The Month, email me at sbinfocanada.guide@about.com, and I'll send you a questionnaire. While completing a questionnaire is no guarantee of being featured in this series of articles, all completed questionnaires will be considered.