Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Mar 20/00) - In a place like Nunavut, electronic business is a "natural," says David Thomson.

"I think it is a powerful tool," Thomson, Industry Canada's senior information, products and services officer, said.

There are two niche markets in Nunavut, eco-tourism and traditional carvings, adds Larry Hudon, with Industry Canada (marketing and information services).

As part of the recent Nunavut Trade Show in Iqaluit, Thomson and Hudon gave a workshop on e-business on March 9.

Hudon said the eco-tourist remains an affluent, educated individual.

"You're challenge will be to differentiate yourself from others selling eco-tourism," he told those attending the workshop at the Legion's cadet hall.

As for carvings, e-business can also be extremely beneficial when it comes to marketing, Hudon said.

E-business is a "visual medium" and carvings can be viewed three-dimensionally online, he said.

Sterling Firlotte, Gjoa Haven's economic development officer, was among about 10 people to attend the workshop.

He says that through an economic plan, Gjoa Haven has identified eco-tourism as a product that has potential benefits for the community.

"We do get polar bear and muskox hunts, but there is (currently) very little on the eco-tourism side," he said.

He adds it is hoped that an eco-tourism product can one day be developed and marketed online.

"Down the line, we have plans to get into that (electronic marketing) but we have to be able to deliver the product. We're at the point of (developing) that product."

Thomson said Nunavut companies looking to market online should check out the competition.

"You can see what people in other Northern remote places are doing. Certainly, they are facing the same kind of challenges and they merit monitoring," Thomson said. "Some people put way too much information on their Web site," Hudon added.

Hudon and Thomson also talked about the nuts and bolts of Web sites.

"Graphics don't sell your product. But if pictures are important, use thumbnails. Pictures take time to open and people on the Net have no patience," Thomson said.

"Don't give them a reason for leaving your Web site by having too many graphics."

And when trying to get your Web page to come up first for Web surfers using search engines, there are things individual businesses can do. Someone using a search engine will almost always scan only the first or second page of items that appear as a result of his or her search -- that's just 10 to 20 of what is often a list of hundreds or even thousands of Web pages.

"How do I get myself sorted to page one? If you're buried in the heap you're buried for life," Hudon said.

Well, if you want your Web page near the top of this list, make sure every page has a title that describes what the site is about, said Hudon.

Use metatags that relate specifically to the site and make sure the desired brand name is in the URL. Metatags are invisible tags in Web site documents. They are used when Web pages are built. URLs, or, universal resource locaters, are Web site addresses.

Another beneficial move is to link to other sites because search engines tend to rank linked sites higher, Hudon said. And make sure if you are linking to another site, that site is linked to yours, he said.

"Money is being saved on the business to business side.

"How do I compete with the elephants? Don't. Partner with them and go after niche or shoulder markets," Hudon said.