Problem is, if you have a website that’s built for regular computers, it likely won’t display properly on a smartphone. Worse, some elements may not even function.

If you had to choose between two suppliers and one had a website that worked on your smartphone and the other one didn’t, who would you choose?

Make it easy for your current and potential customers to engage with you by having a mobile web presence that’s optimized for smartphones.

Need more convincing? Here’s what the Google “Our Mobile Planet Initiative 2012” report says about smartphone use in Canada:

Smartphones have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Smartphone penetration is currently at 33% of the population. 60% access the Internet every day on their smartphone and most never leave home without it.

Appearing on smartphones is critical for local businesses. 87% of smartphone users look for local information on their phone and 89% take action a result.

Smartphones are critical shopping tools with 69% having researched a product or service on their device. Smartphone research influences buyer decisions and purchases. 20% of smartphone users have made a purchase on their phone.

Smartphones help advertisers connect with consumers. Mobile ads are noticed by 86% of smartphone users.

Smartphones are also a critical component of traditional advertising as 57% of smartphone users have performed a search on their device after seeing an offline ad.

Search engine optimization is critical: 64% of smartphone users look only at the first page on search results. That’s where you need to be.

Want to go mobile? Get in touch.

One of Iron Lava Corp’s business association/community solutions in the Calgary area is yourcalgary.ca, a website that makes it easy for business associations and their members to get noticed.

Once set up, all your members have to do is register their company by creating an online account with a description of their business, location and contact information and an image.

Keywords can be added to help member listings rank higher in search results. Members can update their page at anytime – and they can link social media to their page for automatic Twitter updates.

Turnkey Solutions – Canada-wide

And we’re not just focusing on Calgary. Our turnkey solution is perfect for communities, cities and business associations across the country. Hyper-local or province-wide.

yourcalgary.ca is an example of how Iron Lava Corp can help you easily offer:

- enhanced business listings maintained by members

- more effective and co-ordinated communications with business group members and the public

- effective search engine optimization (SEO) for business associations & its member businesses

This kind of service is perfect for Business Revitalization Zones (BRZs), Chambers of Commerce & Professional Associations. Contact us for more information.

RebelMouse was founded by Paul Berry, the former chief technology officer at the Huffington Post. The company’s concept for RebelMouse “is based on the idea that people are proud of what they share on social networks, but are starting to feel embarrassed about their websites. RebelMouse creates your social front page, building a dynamic site around what you share.”

The RebelMouse page updates itself constantly with content from your feeds. But, you can tweak the page by adding your own links, editing content and move things around. You can even create slideshows.

It’s easy to create RebelMouse pages for different feeds or any combination of feeds. So, a page for your company might not include your personal feeds, but a page for you might include company feeds AND personal feeds. You can also follow #hashtags and include their content as well.

Here’s what the Iron Lava Corp page looks like:

RebelMouse is free, but the company plans to offer paid plans. A $3/month plan for individuals with custom domain (yourname.com) and a $3/week corporate plan for businesses with a custom domain (businessname.com).

You can also add a RebelMouse “feed” widget to your blog or website by cut and pasting code from your RebelMouse page. Here’s what ours looks like:

And, if you’d like to add content directly to your RebelMouse page from the web, you can add a “stick this” button to your favourite browser.

RebelMouse is constantly evolving with new features and options. It’s an easy and attractive way to help get your clients interested in your social media feeds and display them all in one spot.

If you’ve got questions about RebelMouse or social media, just drop us a line.

ilava.co was designed to take long, unwieldy URLs and make them shorter. Short URLs don’t break in emails, they don’t waste your allotment of 140 characters in a tweet and they’re easier to use in Facebook posts.

With ilava.co, you simply enter your long URL and we’ll create a shortened version that you can use anywhere for as long as you’d like.

The basic functionality remains unchanged, but it is easier than ever to create a category for your link.

The basic steps are:

1. Mouse over the category button that best applies to the link you want to shorten:

• News – the URL will begin with 411ne.ws
• Music – the URL will begin with 4musi.ca
• Politics – the URL will begin with polit.ca
• Sports – the URL will begin with sprts.ca
• Drinks – the URL will begin with hops.cc
• Calgary – the URL will begin with yyc.mx
• Calgary’s Marda Loop area – the URL will begin with marda.tv

2. Cut and paste your long URL in the window.

3. Enter up to 10 characters to customize your URL. This will appear at the end of your custom link. For example: if you choose the NEWS category and enter SNOW as the desired URL, the result will be 411ne.ws/SNOW.

4. To generate the URL, enter the code “g4small” in the code box. This helps us prevent spammers taking advantage of our free service.

5. Click the “Get Short URL” button.

6. Your custom and much shorter URL appears below. Simply copy it and start using it anywhere you want.

And finally, a reminder of our terms of use:

While the ilava.co URL shortener may be used by anyone, anywhere in the world, there are some uses that are not permitted:

• Creating links to pornography
• Creating links to sites promoting hatred and/or violence towards any group of people. You can, however, make links to politicians and political parties.
• Creating links to spam and other online scams
• Creating links to other URL shortening domains

Give ilava.co a try today. If you’d like to discuss a custom solution for your business, just get in touch.

EFC Developments Ltd. offers a full spectrum of real estate development and tenant management services to aviation focused clients. This includes initial facility design consultation through to the leasing of existing office or hangar/terminal space.

Iron Lava Corp worked with EFC Developments to create a logo and build their website. The logo needed to be professional, easy to read and had to invoke the building and properties of the aviation industry.  This is the final result:Once the logo was designed, work began on a website that had to accomplish several tasks:

First and foremost it had to work as a client portal, allowing tenants to communicate directly with building managers and to be able to request service. The solution also included project management capabilities.

In addition, the website had to have a property listings section that was fast, easy to use and clearly provided information to prospective tenants.

Another important component was a careers section where EFC Developments can easily post job opportunities and visitors are able to apply online.

And finally, website content had to be managed online by EFC Developments. This was accomplished by using Iron Lava Corp’s custom built CMS.

If you’re looking to establish or grow your online presence, contact us for a consultation.

Twitter has made several changes to user’s profile pages. The changes apply to twitter.com and mobile applications and they can really help enhance your business image.

From this point forward, when you upload a new header image on mobile apps or via twitter.com, the same image will appear whenever anyone views your profile — across all apps and the web. You can upload your header photo anytime, from anywhere. If you want to change it hourly, it’s very simple to do.

Why the change? Twitter feels that the new profiles will “help you get to know people better through their pictures.”

The Twitter Blog explains: “Photo streams now appear below anyone’s most recent Tweets on iPhone, Android and iPad. Swipe through the stream to see the photos other users have shared or tap any thumbnail to view their photos in fullscreen. While the header photo keeps your profile simple and consistent on iPhone, iPad and Android, you will also still have an additional photo — a background photo — on twitter.com. Upload a background image to complement your header and profile photos.”

In an example of how ingrained Twitter is in today’s media, the announcements were made on NBC’s Today Show.

This is what the Today Show website had to say:

“There’s now a huge header image that runs across the top, sort of like the banner image that Facebook users have on their timelines. The page itself has been reoriented to play up other visuals as well: Your avatar is no longer tucked in the corner, but will display front and center. The photo stream, too, has been moved up, and will now be accessible on the apps.”

The Problem

WE NEED A WEBSITE!!!

Websites today are as important to businesses as gills are to fish. Glenmore Park Dental (GPD) understood that an effective website would educate clients on their procedures, increase awareness and improve credibility.

Some features that interested GPD included

• Personalized email addresses for staff
• A visually appealing design; and
• An organized site map

GPD wanted a site with a little personality. Interested in being more than just another place to get your teeth cleaned, it was evident that GPD was community focused and wanted a little extra spice. With this in mind, Iron Lava Corp got to work.

The Fix

Familiar with creating easy-to-use websites, organizing information and creating site designs that massage your eyeballs, Iron Lava Corp forged yet another showpiece.

This work of art included quality images provided by Visual Hues Photography. Additionally, Iron Lava Corp provided some writings that helped give voice to GPD’s unique personality. A little dash of Franks Red Hot if you will.

The site showcased GPD’s community involvement and introduced their staff. It portrayed Glenmore Park Dental in a sense that jived with its community of staff and clients.

The Benefits

Educational, reputable and revealing. The site was an accomplishment and yet another relationship was formed.

Glenmore Park Dental is now able to interact with clients through personalized email accounts, educate clients both before and after surgical procedures, and overall, provide a more complete customer experience.

The Problem
It was simple, the Marda Loop BRZ was looking for an affordable way to effectively showcase their community in a manner that was organized, informative and accessible. The previous website had outdated content and an unconventional navigational style. It was time for a tune up.

The Marda Loop BRZ approached Iron Lava Corp to create an affordable solution. Iron Lava was no stranger to community involvement making them the perfect candidate for the BRZ.

The Fix

The logic behind the creation stemmed from Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s ideology that less is more. The solution? A hosted service that can be licensed to any BRZ or business association in Alberta!

The design promotes uniformity among businesses, and BRZ’s alike. The template allows businesses within a BRZ to create personalized and editable business listings by adding a service description, logo, photographs, news and events. Companies may also choose to add social media links and add their individual twitter feeds.

Businesses that register have greater chances of being located. Whether by map or in a Google search, businesses are search engine optimized for maximum visibly. Businesses’ physical location are displayed on the right column of the page in Google Maps to provide visual assistance for customers locating your business.

The Benefits

Benefits to Marda Loop business owners include:

1. Creating personalized and editable business listings;
2. Enhanced communications with clients and potential customers; and
3. Enhanced search engine optimization (SEO)

Benefits to Marda Loop visitors include:

1. Having business listings and info available at their fingertips;
2. The ability to see local sales and promo’s at their favourite shops; and
3. Local news and updates

If you are a BRZ  or business association and are interested in displaying your communities unique atmosphere, please contact Iron Lava Corp for more information.

Are you a company that realizes the importance of building an online presence in today’s socially connected community?

There is now a way for members of the Marda Loop Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ) to create an effective online presence. The Marda Loop BRZ has teamed up with Iron Lava Corp to provide an online solution that will get your company recognized.

Easy to Use

The platform easier to use than your favourite social media application. Simply register your company by creating an account, describe what your business or service has to offer, where it is located, and attach picture that describes your company. Easy as that!

Get Noticed Quicker

To ensure that your business will appear higher on the results of a Google search, you have the option of adding ‘Keywords‘ that describe your service. These keywords are words that your customer might enter in a Google search to find your company or service.

For example, if a business provides a delicious slice of authentic Italian pizza, keywords would be similar to these:

• Pizza
• Italian
• Italy
• Authentic
• Calgary
• Marda Loop
• Gourmet
• Delicious
• Restaurant
• Delivery etc.

Awesome! Your company now has a better chance of being one of the top results on a Google search.

Keep Them in the Loop

Have events that your customers are dying to hear about? Link your Facebook and Twitter to keep them updated on important news and events. Your Twitter updates are pushed directly to your webpage to seamlessly collaborate your accounts.

You can even create events on your page that may be featured on MardaLoop.org’s Events page. What a great opportunity advertise your event.

If you are in Calgary and your business is a member of the Marda Loop Revitalization Zone, sign up now at www.MardaLoop.org and be heard!