Here are a few pictures that I took of the damage:

A lot has happened since he took ownership of the company previously owned by Gerry VanGrootheest. Business has been good, and he is thankful for the great deal of word-of-mouth advertising he is getting from satisfied customers. Ron and his team of skilled, trained technicians work hard in order to help the public with their automotive needs and making the customer happy. This means keeping an eye on many aspects of the customer’s experience, including clean waiting rooms and washrooms – making sure that the shop is inviting to men and women alike.

Realizing that word-of-mouth alone is not enough, Ron tries to reach his (potential) customers in multiple ways. A new locally (using local suppliers as much as possible is important for Ron) developed sign alongside Highway 6, with a new logo, is used to capitalize on True-Centre’s excellent location on Tower Street. True-Centre also advertises in several local publications, like the Wellington Advertiser, Fergus Elora News Express, Smile & Save, FergusEloraCoupons.com (follow the link to find True-Centre’s January-June 2009 coupons) and the Booster. A company needs to be visible many different ways in order to acquire and maintain customers.

Most of his customers are from Fergus and Elora. The fact that this area is slated for growth is being perceived as a positive aspect for business, offering new opportunities. However, managing growth is not always easy. Finding new qualified technicians to deliver a quality service has proven to be a hurdle, where advertising in local papers may not necessarily deliver the desired results. Casting a wider net by placing ads in The Record, Guelph Mercury and Workopolis.com, seems to be more effective. Ron points out that this is an industry-wide challenge, and he would welcome targeted tax credits in order to get more students interested in becoming a qualified technician.

Time permitting Ron would like to use the Internet more often as a marketing tool, but between running his business, managing his staff and enjoying his precious family time, there is little time left to work on a website. Balancing work with family life is a top priority for Ron, and I commend him for it.

For True-Centre, one of the benefits of being a member of the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce has been discounted rates for using the debit and credit card machines of TD Canada Trust. Unfortunately, other benefits such as networking are underutilized right now, as there is little time to get away from the shop as a small business owner.

Ron welcomes you to check out his auto care centre, conveniently located on 825 Tower Street South in Fergus – across from Zehrs.

Contact information True Centre Muffler and Brakes

825 Tower St. S.

Fergus,Ontario

T: 519-843-1240

Owner/Operator: Ron Brouwer

W: truecentermuffler.aaro.ca

E: ronsbrouwer@yahoo.ca

Planning a trip to Elora and surrounding area is not complete without spending some time downtown, of course, with its wide variety of artisan shops and fine restaurants and coffee shops.

And tell them we sent you! :o)

Some of the activities downtown Fergus on December 31st, 2008:

• Live music by One Minute, The Unbreakable Clocks, Sebastian Ennis and The Mod Wolves, Backroads (8:30), Moonshine (11:15)
• Countdown and Fireworks at 9:00 and 12:00
• Storybook character Geronimo Stilton will be at Roxanne’s Reflections Book and Card Shop from 7 to 9 p.m.
• Storytelling in the children’s area of the Fergus Library
• Screenings of Cogeco’s production of “Fergus Then and Now” will run at the Grand Theatre at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.
• Horse-drawn trolley rides around the downtown area, running from 7 to 10 p.m.
• Hot chocolate everywhere! (at least at Melville’s Church, Thompson Funeral Home, Fergus Library
• An alcohol-free and admission-free event for the whole family!

Check out last year’s post with some YouTube videos of last year’s First Night celebrations.

For more information, look for one of the distinctive posters around Fergus, call 519-843-5140 or go to www.fergus175.ca.

Information taken from the Fergus Elora News Express.

Merry Christmas From Us!

October is Small Business Month. Small Business is usually defined as a company with a small number of employees, but that does not mean that its impact or income has to be small. And websites can help a lot to make a real splash.

Websites allow small businesses to play with the big guys. As a sole proprietor you can start your own webshop, and you do not have to worry about renting a store or hiring staff. You can get people to your online store by making sure it is easy to find in the search engines, and you can add many other online and offline promotion activities to the mix. You can grow your small website into a big website without having to add much to your expenses. Small Business – Big Website.

You can also have a small website with a Big Impact. A website allows you to effectively market your invention or niche product in a niche market, making you an expert or “guru” in your field. Again, if your website is easy to find and also easy to use, targeted visitors will find your website and your site will convert many of these browsers into customers. If your website is perceived as being trustworthy, and obvious and effortless in its navigation, you can beat larger corporations!

Being a small business also allows you to be more to the point and personable, for instance by adding a blog to your website. I usually is also a good strategy to add testimonials, case studies, white papers or articles written by you, the expert. These samples of your products and services, or your customer service, will evoke a lot of trust and give a visitor insight into what they can expect from you as a service or product provider. Being honest and true will resonate with your website’s visitors, which can be a great start for building customer loyalty. Small Business – Big Impact.

Using the powers of the Internet you can turn being a “Small Business” into your advantage. So join me in celebrating all our (future) Big-Impact Small Businesses this month!

For more information: contact your webmaster, or email Nardo Kuitert at nardo@u-cwebs.com.

Published in Minding Our Business, October 2008 - Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce

The part that I like most about my consultancy? The usability evaluations, or “website critiques”. Being able to point out the obvious (“Duh!”) that so many people do not see until you point it out to them can be very rewarding.

Yes, many of the usability guidelines are obvious. A lot of dotted i’s and crossed t’s. And many things revolve around a common theme: “Don’t Make Me Think”. Because your website should not make people think – at least not in the sense of “OK, what should I do now?”. Your website should be obvious and effortless – should suck people in.

So how to make YOUR website obvious and effortless?

Well, for starters your navigation should be clear. Cute is often confusing. You can be cute in your written content, but the navigation menu should be crystal clear. It should also be organized in a logical manner, so people understand how the various pieces (pages) are connected.

Hyperlinks within the text (a few, not too many) can be used to direct people from page to page, without them having to think too hard about where to go next. It also helps you to direct your website visitors to where YOU want them to go – your conversion pages, like the pre-sales page, order page or contact form.

Do not forget that trust is a very fragile thing in the online world. Make sure you have a clear and easy to find About Us and Contact Us. Even when you have a home-based business and you do not want to disclose the address: at least mention a town and a Province. The Internet is an International place, and without a geographical marker many people will leave your site prematurely. Ask yourself: would you contact a site owner if you had no idea whether they are located in Fergus, Ontario or in Nhlangano, Swaziland? (yes, you can Google that!)

Don’t make me think!

For more information: contact your webmaster, or email Nardo Kuitert at nardo@u-cwebs.com.

Published in Minding Our Business, September 2008 - Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce.

Well, it is not all cattle, handicrafts and plants. The evenings are filled with noise - sweet noise…

Fergus Truck and Tractor Pulls

One of the main attractions of the fall fair are the Truck and Tractor Pulls. Take a look at the YouTube video below to give you a bit of an idea!

And don’t forget to book your accommodation in Fergus, Elora or Belwood while you are here!

The Fergus Fall Fair is held the second weekend in September.

Well, maybe you do…and maybe you don’t. Many website owners do not know whether their web designer took care of this. And I am saying “took care of this” because a custom 404 error page is something that all web designers should include in all of the sites they create or maintain.

If you still don’t know what it is: compare www.grandriver.ca/aaa with www.tdcanadatrust.com/aaa. Or even worse: www.rogers.com/aaa. You have seen that dreaded page before, right? “The page cannot be found”, which is a 404 error page (404 is the type of error: a missing page). Well, sometimes this happens: you try to access a non-existent page - a page may have been moved, you accidentally type in the wrong URL, someone makes a typo in a link to a site… In this example I just typed in the bogus page name “aaa”.

So if we know that these accidents happen from time to time, on ANY site, it would be helpful if someone could get you back on your way. That generic white “The page cannot be found” page does not really help; what the TD Canada Trust website has is a lot better, with links to their home page, Internet banking page, Internet brokerage service and more – in English and in French. The large fonts look a bit strange, but at least you are being presented with a number of links that lead you back into the site. www.globeandmail.com/aaa is another example of a nice custom error page.

There are a number of ways to create such a custom error page. You can create it yourself, and name it 404.shtml. Many hosting companies have online wizards to help you create a custom 404. Just look for it in your hosting company’s cPanel, VDeck or whatever the name of this control panel is in case. (If you do not have a control panel like this, which also allows you to manage your email accounts, statistics and more, you may want to consider switching hosting companies…) And if you do not fancy doing this yourself: ask your web designer!

Using the abovementioned search tools you can find out what Google thinks of your site. Do you like what you see? If not, then you should maybe spend some time learning how to promote your website, or ask a website professional.

For more information: contact your webmaster, or email Nardo Kuitert at nardo@u-cwebs.com.

NOTE:

why do I keep saying “without quotation marks”? Because in the search engines, quotation marks are search parameters: EXACT match. Searching for “site:yourURL” WITH quotation marks will return search results that have this phrase literally on their site. And unfortunately Google tells me:
Your search - “site:yourURL” - did not match any documents…

Published in Minding Our Business, August 2008 - Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce

Celtic Celidh Concert at the Fergus Grand Theatre

When:
Saturday, August 9th at 8 PM
More information:
Featuring Sandy MacIntyre & Steeped in Tradition, with the dynamic Tom Leadbeater as MC. Come and listen to the Cape Breton fiddle sound that Sandy has been playing for more than 40 years!

Tickets are $15 and available at the Scottish Festival Office or the Chamber office.
Seating is limited!

A Scottish Fergus MarketPlace

When:
Saturday, August 9th
More information:
The Fergus MarketPlace (Queen St. W.)(formerly known as the Fergus Market) is getting in the Scottish spirit and having lots of fun on Saturday, August 9th with clowns, balloons, face painting, food, music, outside vendors and live broadcast on Magic 106.1 from 11 AM to 3 PM.

So come on down and take in some of the excitement…then jump on the shuttle bus and join in the fun at the 63rd Scottish Festival and Highland Games at the Sportsplex!

Bus Transportation From Fergus And Elora To Highland Games

The Shuttle Bus will be running throughout the Scottish Festival Weekend between the festival site, the downtown core of Fergus and, for the first time, Elora!

The Festival Bus Stops Will Be:

Fergus

The Wee Scottish Shop & More (Fergus Marketplace)
The Fergus Legion
The Fergus Information Centre (Chamber Office)
Fergus Library (Downtown)
The Scottish Festival Site

Elora

Grand River Raceway
The Elora Legion

The Festival Buses Will Run:

Friday August 8
5pm – 11pm in Fergus
There will be one run in Elora – with a pickup at 6:30, and a return at 11:00pm

Saturday August 9
9:00am – 11:00pm
All stops, approximately every 40 minutes

*** Fergus ONLY:
between 10:30 AM and 1:30 PM an additional bus will be added
sponsored by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 275 Fergus

Sunday August 10
9:00am – 4:00pm in Fergus
There will be one run in Elora at 11:00am, and a return at 4:00pm

With thanks to our fine sponsors for their generous support:

Grand River Raceway
The Wee Scottish Shop & More
Cherry Hill Entertainment
I Love Chocolate!
Elora & Fergus Tourism
Fleming Fast Freight Inc.
Newdon Industries
Fergus Elora Bed and Breakfast Association (FEBBA)
Royal LePage Royal City Realty
Royal Canadian Legion – Branch 275 Fergus
Royal Canadian Legion – Branch 229 Elora

Let the Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games Begin!

(interested in the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce? Visit their website)