A new website for AGF Group

Since the implication of my department within AGF Group, we often heard that our presence on the web was lacking and that our site content was not up to date. Even though most divisions, as well as our own department, agreed unanimously with that observation, we had not been able to address this before the recent months.

It is therefore with great pride that we announce the launch of a new web site for AGF Group as a whole. The new site was designed with the help of our web partner, Über Communication. As the site will soon be available online, we take the liberty to present a brief overview of the principles behind the design of the site. First of all, it was clear that we wanted to bring together all sectors and divisions under the same roof. Moreover, even though the Group is a major organization, it was essential to enhance the presence of each individual division and its specific content. That dichotomy of a large group with a local flavour reflects the true essence of AGF Group, and it had to be apparent in the site. While surfing from the Group homepage, the visitor can rapidly grasp the extent of all activities, while having the opportunity to go from one sector to the next, or find a more specific division. You will also note that the site was designed so that visitors can easily and directly access a specific division when looking for that division on the web.

With regard to the content of each page, the new website allows us to rapidly and easily make changes and modifications. Every division will have the possibility to access the web content manager to modify local content. The modifications will then have to be approved and published by our webmaster, Anne-Marie Leduc. We therefore invite you to visit the web page of your own division and then communicate with your General Manager, to coordinate the changes that everyone wishes to make. A specifically appointed person in each division can contact us to make the required changes in content. Of course, the site allows the publication of pictures pertaining to achievements, local news, and available jobs. Once again, the structure was designed to allow easy browsing through the various information, globally, as well as locally.

As for referencing, our dear friends at Über developed a strategic study of keywords allowing us to do everything possible in order to optimize our performance on the web. At that level, it is important to understand the notion of cost-benefit to properly structure our site. We have therefore analysed our competitors’ websites and the keywords used by visitors to find our products and services. Once that was accomplished, we had to identify the areas that would help us stand out, in order to appear more often within the framework of searches on the web. We do not pretend to appear first for all keywords and among all competitors, but we kept in mind the optimization of our performance according to the amount invested and potential return. On the other hand, web positioning due to natural referencing (the content of the site) is not the only option. In the next months, we will also initiate keyword purchasing campaigns in order to rapidly increase our performance with regard to specific strategic terms. In brief, keyword purchasing allows a site to appear first automatically when people search for specific terms. We often notice sites that use such strategy, since they appear on top of the page and are identified with the label “Ad” next to their website address. This approach will allow us to evaluate the relevance of certain terms, but also to obtain rapid results.

I hope that you will be as satisfied as we are with the results of this major project. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us.