If you are person who has recently moved to Calgary and you were wondering if Calgary has world-class roofing contractors who could easily make and build your roof with ease, the answer is yes. This is because Calgary is a town that has been on the upward trajectory in terms of buildings and skyscrapers. Due to the level of quality of contractors in Calgary, the design of roofs in Calgary has greatly improved. If you want your building to have a roof that matches and exceeds the world standards in terms of how the roof is made, make an effort of calling any of the contractors who make roofs in Calgary. Engaging qualified roofing Calgary experts is vital.

I assure you that you will not be disappointed on the quality of the roof that you will be made for. The roofs that are made by EPIC Roofing are made to be able to withstand the harshest conditions that can arise when your roof has already been made. Some of the common problems that Calgary roof contractors repair include leaking of the roof, the roof being warm enough during winter, poor electrical connections of the electrical wires and sound wires among many other common problems.

The reason why many clients in Calgary prefer Calgary roofing contractors is that this companies offer services at a low price, the Calgary roofing contractors know the design the locals of Calgary hence they can easily recreate the design that which the client wants and also the contractors that come from the neighbouring towns of Calgary and usually shoddy and incompetent contractors. These contractors don’t have the capability to making the roofs of their clients be in a manner that would please there clients.

If you have had problems of your roof leaking due to poor quality of your roof or your house being absolutely cold during winter, you can easily rectify these problems by a simple one phone call to any of the Calgary roofing contractors. The objective of the Calgary roofing contractors is not to make huge profits, there main objective is customer satisfaction. Most of the Calgary roofing contractors know that one you make quality, unmatched and unrivalled roofs, you will definitely start to make profits because your services and products will be on high demand.

Calgary is a concrete jungle that has been aided with the quality roofing and building contractors that exist in Calgary. No matter the design of your roof, the Calgary roofing contractors will make your dream come true.

A few months passed and I got a decent customer base together. I had about 30 people on the list. I called them in a rotating fashion for a few months.

If they needed something I would bring it to them. I got the products from the company at 50 percent off and resold them for about 30 percent off.

While the products were good and ranged from cleaning products to cookies, there was something about the compensation plan that wasn’t working.

I only made money if I ran off my feet and sold things. The meetings came and went and I had to juggle my schedule to be at a certain place at a certain time….when people called for a product I had to deliver. But like a good soldier I went to the meetings and kept selling products.

I wasn’t really losing money but I really wasn’t making any money either. There were people making money otherwise the company would not still be around but in my opinion they were few and far between.

This went on for about 6 months. I then was told about a reworked version of the compensation plan. It would make me a lot more money but I would have to invest a lot more money.

So away I went, I bought the big package of products, hoping my customers would buy the same. For me, that didn’t happen, and while I had a lot of good products at home, I wasn’t selling enough product to get my money back.

I was really starting to wonder if Lifestyles was the way to go.

About 8 months into my business life with this company I got a call that rocked my world. My enroller was leaving Lifestyles for another company.

” Now what” I said. I wasn’t a quitter and I told myself even though my enroller had bailed I was sticking with it.

I kept posting the ads at stores and laundromats. I even got a private line and bought leads. It didn’t help a whole lot. But I was stubborn and kept pressing on but there was no real breakthrough when it came to growth.

The cost of the products, the gas used to deliver those products, and the time expended running around to deliver those products was eating into an already meager profit margin.

The end was near!

My closing thoughts on Lifestyles tomorrow.

Take care.

You will find that this city in Alberta can take you to an arts and culture journey, an adventure through sports and recreation, or wow you with its attractions and dining.

1. ARTS and CULTURE. Calgary is beaming with museums, galleries, exhibits, theaters and the performance arts. This is because its people love the arts and culture and give importance to them through these channels. Not only will you find breathtaking paintings in the city’s museums, but some of the buildings where the works of art rest offer modern architectural magnificence, too. When it comes to performing arts, a number of theaters where ballet performances are showcased. If you find these boring, maybe an aviation museum or a sports museum could tickle your bone.
2. SPORTS and RECREATION. It isn’t surprising that some of the things to do in Calgary include sports. After all, the city was the host of the 1988 Winter Olympics. People expect that the city can provide activities, which have to do with winter sports. Skiing and Snowboarding are popular during the cold months but throughout the year, Calgary offers golf activities, rafting and other water sports. In terms of recreation, the city may be no Vegas but they have reputable casinos. On the other hand, those who want to enjoy relaxing could find day spas and parks and gardens all over the city.
3. ATTRACTIONS. Since the Winter Olympics was mentioned, one of the main attractions of Calgary is the Olympic Park, which has become a staple in any place that has hosted the worldwide sporting event. If you are traveling with the family, the zoo in the city will surely make the children happy. Not only this, a heritage park/historical village also provide tours and the best thing about it, you can experience living during the Old Calgary. A fun day could also be enjoyed by the entire family in a theme park.
4. DINING. When in Calgary, you will not have a hard time looking for a place to eat. In fact, the dilemma would be choosing where to eat since the city is flowing with restaurants, fastfoods and cafés. Doughnuts, burgers, pasta, sandwiches, you name it, Calgary has it. What’s more thrilling is that restaurants do not just offer authentic Canadian food but food from around the world as well. If you want Japanese, Greek, Korean, Moroccan or French, you have nothing to worry about. The city’s got you covered.
5. NIGHTLIFE. If you are traveling with friends, nightlife is for sure on your list. Fear not, Calgary is no sleeping town. For music lovers, the city has a few venues for you. You also have options for clubs where you can dance the night away. However, if you are into a more laidback nightlife drinking Calgary beer, there are also pubs and bars which could fit your lifestyle.

You will never have a boring stay in this vibrant city, which provides a great mix of historical and contemporary scenes. If you are starting to make a checklist for your visit, do not forget to write about the things to do in Calgary

The Canadians have one of the highest life expectancy (ranked 14 in the whole world), with males enjoying up to 80 years of life and females up to 84 years. This is generally a longer life when compared to other countries.  Life expectancy statistics enable us to take a peek into the kind of healthcare, the lifestyle and how the Canadians are taking care of their health. For the citizens to be able to reach more than 80 years of age in this time where fast food, convenience and less exercise, more stagnant and less active jobs, early retirement are amongst the few things that people in the world battle against, it will mean that there must be other factors that enable the citizens to overcome these challenges and live until 80 and more.

It also says that there is accessible and immediate healthcare and that majority of the citizens are able to afford it and that the citizens are aware of where to purchase healthcare or where free health services are available, not to mention the availability of a health insurance coverage and plan.

The life expectancy is not the only thing that should be looked at when measuring the healthcare conditions of a country. Another fact to consider is how many citizens are dying in between the ages of 15 to 60, which is considered to be the adult and most active phase of life. According to the World Health Organization or WHO statistics, there are 83 out of 1000 Canadian males between 15 to 60 years old that die annually, with 52 out of 1000 females between the same age ranges dying every year as well.

This puts Canada into the top 20 least adult mortality rate in the whole world which means there are less adults dying before they reach their life expectancy. This could imply a couple of things such as the country being safe to live in, with a really lower criminal rate and accident rate compared to other countries, and a healthy environment. There must also be easy access to healthcare and health establishments if the adult mortality rate is like this.

Not only are the adults enjoying the lesser number of deaths, the children below 5 are also unlikely to suffer from deaths in Canada. Statistics show that there are 5 children less than 5 years old, in every 1000 live births, which perish annually. This puts Canada in the top 10% of the whole world with the lesser number of deaths under 5 years old. This can mean that pregnant women and the healthcare given to women in general are of high standards with access to a healthy lifestyle and great prenatal and post-natal care. Family planning is also working for the Canadians as their fertility rate is 1.7, which means that the average number of children a reproductive woman gives birth to is from 1 to 2 children.

Another standard to check for Canada’s healthcare is the access to healthcare. Statistics show that almost 85% of the Canadians have their family or personal physicians. There is also no shortage of midwives or nurses as they have more than 90% of this position filled in hospitals, clinics, and healthcare centers. The utilization of healthcare services by Canadians is also high, which means that their awareness of these services must be high as well.

There were 74 out of 100 who are taking contraceptives, 99 out of 100 who are taking antenatal care, 98 out of 100 births were attended by a skilled or a healthcare professional though not necessarily inside a hospital, measles immunization was almost perfectly attended as well. One can also see from the prevalence of smokers (19.3%) in the whole country, heavy drinkers (19%), and those suffering from hypertension or high blood pressure (17.7%) that these are very low compared to the whole world. Canadians must be living healthier compared to a global scale.

Causes of death in Canada has almost the same when compared to other countries, with 34% of it caused by circulatory diseases such as heart attack, ischemic stroke, congestive heart failure, etc. Cancer deaths cause at least 40% with lung (28.9), colorectal (12.4), and prostate (11.4) for males, and lung (25.7), breast (15.8), and colorectal (11.8) for females.

Physical activity is something that more than half of the whole Canadian population participates in, as the survey showed that more than the majority has been involved in physical activities. The number of obese adults in the age range of 15 to 60 is 22.4%, relatively lower than most countries but not enough to put it on the top countries with almost no obese adults living in it. However, overall the Canadians believe that they have good health status, with 61% of them rating themselves to be in this category.

The aforementioned statistics have been collected anytime from 2004 until 2012 and although Canada remains to be one of the healthier countries compared to the world, there are still a lot more that the Canadians and the government can do to make their health and life better. The country has a national health insurance program called Medicare and is giving the privilege to Canadian citizens and residents reasonable access to medically necessary hospital and physician services, on a prepaid basis. The citizens and residents are able to get health benefits by being enrolled in the system. The Canadians and the residents enjoy dental and medical care and other health benefits like emergency hospitalizations, check-ups, among many others.

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Governed from the top by legislators and boards and ruled from the bottom by industry committees and individual operators, the tourism authority exists only at the pleasure of its myriad constituents.  It’s dependent on government funding, but often can’t spend a dime without the co-operation of its private sector partners.

Unlike other association-based marketers, the Tourism Authority’s message is subject to the competing priorities of its individual partners.  The Milk Marketing Board doesn’t have to worry about individual farmers mounting their own campaigns with divergent messages touting the benefits of milk, but the tourism authority is only really effective if it convinces its dozens, hundreds or even thousands of industry partners, each with their own marketing budgets, to row in the same direction.

In this environment, it’s a wonder tourism authorities ever get anything done.  But some are.  Because they’ve managed to shift the paradigm in their business from being an organization focused on co-ordination and driven by consensus to being true marketing resources to their industries.

Some tourism authorities have managed to move beyond the age-old mantra of being “industry-led” to focus on developing innovative ideas that can inspire and unite their industry.  They’ve gotten out of the business of selling “programs” and into the business of creating ideas that their partners want to buy into.

Australia has made the shift, Canada is well on its way, and the USA is taking tentative steps in the right direction.

A key factor that’s driving this change is an aspect of the internet that is sometimes overlooked as the industry focuses on online channels as a tool for commerce.  As the world’s online community has become more global in nature, so too have destination brands.  The days when tourism authorities could position themselves differently in different markets are long over.  What’s the point of creating unique campaigns for every geo-market when the consumer’s next step is to go onto tripadvisor.com and review the global consensus on your city, hotel or attraction?

Computer, fashion and packaged goods marketers have increasingly taken a global approach to positioning and communicating their brands, but Australia is one of the few countries that have adopted the same approach.

The logic is simple.  Greater alignment in the industry translates into a greater cumulative impact and a better return on everyone’s investments.  It’s not about homogenizing the entire industry, it’s about finding the common threads that link each level of the industry together within a destination, then differentiating individual brands while maintaining the common centre of gravity.

Think of tourism brands like Russian dolls.  Each one relates to and is dependent on the other, but each finds their own place in the set and stands alone as a unique individual.

“We’ve got everything most people want in a vacation, except most people” is at once an appeal to travelers seeking something off the beaten path and a promise of comparative solitude.  Most importantly, the brand promise is true to one of the fundamental rules of tourism marketing: be true to yourself and true to what people believe to be true about you.

Panama skates dangerously close to a “best kept secret” strategy here, but manages to put a fresh spin on the idea of positioning a brand based on its relatively small customer base.  Luxury brands use this type of exclusivity to add prestige and badge value to their brand.  But can you position a destination brand (and in this case a whole country) on the idea that it attracts very few visitors?

Florida’s Space Coast thinks so.

Presenting a brand, product or service as a “best kept secret” has always struck me at best as a quaint throwback to the days of covered wagons and snake oil, and at worst as a sign of brutally lazy strategic planning.  It’s right up there with strategies that begin with “Discover…” or “Visit…”.  The fact that very few people buy (or have ever even heard of) your brand is pretty weak rationale for making a “secret” claim.  Marketers are always trying to turn unknown or low-selling products into  “niche brands.”  But there’s often a more apt description for “niche” brands:  crap products and services that no one wants to buy.  The Pontiac Aztek, for example, was a niche brand that appealed to such a niche market that it eventually va-niche-d altogether.

But back to the role of real and perceived truth in tourism marketing.  If you’re like me you probably haven’t thought much about Panama since Noriega was ousted to the strains of Bon Jovi.  And though I haven’t checked its tourism satellite account lately, I don’t think Panama is exactly lighting up the scoreboard with record arrivals.

But there is a role in the tourism world for a destination brand that offers an escape from the often over-commercialised world of travel product.  It may work for Panama.  The Space Coast, on the other hand, is so intimately tied to most peoples’ perceptions of Florida that its lack of “tourists” may be seen as more of a negative than a positive.  We’ll watch and see how long they remain on this track.

Google Trends

shows that there may be a couple of counter-intuitive yet very valuable keywords that the tourism pros are ignoring.  And within the trends are some interesting insights into how Americans perceive Canada and how they go about planning their vacations.

Google Trends is most commonly used to fine-tune keyword selection for websites.  But it also provides an interesting glimpse into what and when people are searching and offers broader insights for tourism marketers.

If you’re not familiar with Google Trends, here’s an example showing the volume of people searching for the keywords “American Idol” in January 2007.  Notice how the trend line is flat at the beginning of the month (when the show was off air), then spikes mid-week when the show airs before declining again until the next week’s program.

While Google Trends is useful in selecting keywords, other tools like Trellian’s KeywordDiscovery application provide a faster way of narrowing down your search.  I needed to figure out whether to use words like “tourism” or “travel” in order to find the most relevant searches.  KeywordDiscovery gave the following results for “Canada tourism”:

And these results for “Canada travel”:

“Travel” was clearly the dominant search term.

So what are Americans searching for when they consider a trip to Canada?  My first instinct was to check for searches involving a few of our major centres.  A Google Trends query on “Toronto travel”. “Montreal travel” and “Vancouver travel” yields the following graph (isolated to show only searches originating out of the USA):

There are a few interesting points here.  All three centres enjoy roughly the same volume of search activity.  Search activity peaks in July, suggesting there are more last-minute vacation decisions than previously thought.  The Canadian travel industry traditionally focuses its marketing efforts earlier in the year (and that may be appropriate in terms of building consideration, but the timing of online efforts may need to be re-evaluated).

As shown on the lower part of the chart, the majority of this traffic is coming from border states (primarily those near Ontario and Quebec).  This makes sense as these areas have traditionally yielded the highest volumes of visitors and it may explain the last-minute planning behaviour as most of these travelers will drive into Canada.

When you include the keywords “Canada travel” in the query, the seasonal swings remain consistent but the city-based travel searches are dwarfed:

The top 10 originating cities also changes dramatically, with more mid-haul centres appearing on the list.

At one point, I thought the superior performance of “Canada travel” might be a quirk in how Google Trends does its calculations, or the aggregate effect of Americans adding “Canada” to a more specific search (i.e. travel banff canada), but the results are confirmed by KeywordDiscovery.  One would also expect the aggregate effect to boost the results of provincial names, but that isn’t the case (provincial names paired with “travel” in Google Trends don’t even yield enough data to display results).

We’ve often seen in research that Americans tend to view our country as a single block called “Canada” and that there is relatively (ok, very) low awareness of provincial names.  The trends in search habits are yet more proof.  All of which points to the importance of having a very strong web offering at the national level (The Canadian Tourism Commission’s Canada.travel is the #1 result for a search on “Canada travel”).

But here’s the real interesting bit, and the part that seems to have been largely overlooked by the Canadian tourism industry: the highest volume search relating to Canada among Americans isn’t “Canada travel” — both “Canada weather” and “Canada map” outperform the travel query.  Most importantly, all three queries produce the same cyclical pattern and originate from the same US centres, suggesting a relationship between travel, weather and maps (ok, not rocket science, but a massively overlooked factor in keyword selection in the industry).  Here’s the chart for weather:

And here’s the chart including “Canada map”, which in turn dwarfs both “Canada travel” and “Canada weather”:

If you search for “Canada map” you get a series of sites offering maps, but nothing relating to tourism:

Searching for “Canada weather” yields a similarly travel-free result.

A search of Google Adwords’ keyword analysis tool shows that both Canada Weather and Canada Map have higher search volumes than Canada Travel:

Best of all, the cost per click for a campaign using Canada Weather and/or Canada Map is less than a third that of Canada Travel:

You can debate whether a consumer is too far down the purchase funnel to be influenced by a destination by the time they start to investigate weather and maps, but the two areas offer a wealth of opportunities for local attractions, hotels and other players in the tourism industry.  More fishing around with Google Trends might yield even more interesting opportunities.