I have been asked to Join Richard Clement to present a session at this year’s WRCUP Conference at UVic.

Richard and I will be spending this time critiquing websites for journalism students.

From the conference’s Facebook Event page…

Our conference will take place from March 22-24th at the University of Victoria. We are looking to bring dynamic speakers from Victoria’s vibrant journalism community to our conference. Accommodation will be provided by the Strathcona Hotel, right in the heart of downtown Victoria. A short 15 minute bus ride on public transportation will bring you from the hotel to campus. Victoria has an amazing number of local brew pubs, nightclubs, and other venues sure to keep any cuppie satisfied for the night.

For more information, please go to: http://cup.ca/?page_id=1594

Click for information rom the Canadian University Press website.

Click for the conference Facebook page

Tips and Tools Sheet

The post Jon Valade Presenting at WRCUP 2013 appeared first on IdeaZone.ca.

So I thought it might be time to test out the Facebook ads. IdeaZone has been staying consistent at 360 Facebook likes for almost a year. Granted there have been a number of interesting discussions but I really did not think that we were growing on this particular network.  Anyone who has a Facebook business page has seen the ‘Build Audience’ link at the top of the page and the ‘Promote’ link at the bottom of every post.  I thought it might be time to invest a small bit of money to test this.

Here are the results after two weeks.
The IdeaZone Facebook page went from 360 to 521 likes and continues to grow by about 5 likes per day.
We also went from an average of 160 people reached per week to 15,412. This is significant now matter what type of media you are using to connect with potential buyers.

Here is what I did.
I started by creating a Facebook ad designed to get more ‘Likes’. The link to start this process is always in the sidebar on the right of your Business Page.  I specified a budget of $5.00 per day to a total of $20.00. For a low cost test, this was worth the budget.
While that ad was running, I selected a handful of messages to promote to my friends and friends of friends. The cost of this was $6.00 per message for  5 messages. The total cost was $30.00.
So the results I got came at a cost of $50.00 over the course of two weeks. Although this is more then I intended to pay, the reach I got is a much better value than any other available media.

The post Facebook Reach appeared first on IdeaZone.ca.

A week later I was told that we were one of two businesses up for the award.  I bought the tickets for the awards gala, enjoyed an outstanding meal with Michelle at The Butchart Gardens, and… received the Honourable Mention.  Although I would have preferred to have taken home the Crystal Award, I was proud that IdeaZone was getting some recognition for the community service work that we have been doing.

A couple of weeks ago I was informed that we were nominated for another business award. This time it is through the Victoria Chamber of Commerce. I am still unclear as to who nominated us but I am looking forward to finding out how this will play out. Getting the recognition in Victoria is fantastic and we are looking forward to the win this time.

Wish us luck.

The post Business Awards appeared first on IdeaZone.ca.

Join me at WordCamp 2013 for an one-hour session on WOO Themes and WOO Commerce.

WOO Themes and WOO Commerce will transform your WordPress website into a powerful online eCommerce store. Delivering enterprise-level quality & features whilst backed by a name you can trust.

Curious, come and join me at 4:00pm on January 12^th for WordCamp 2013.

During this session we will be:

• Installing a WOO Theme and WOO Commerce ready child theme
• Installing the WOO Commerce plugin
• Going through the custom WOO interface to personalize the theme
• Looking at the WOO Commerce administration and setting up
  • The general settings
  • The commerce pages and navigation
  • The tax tables
  • Shipping options
  • Payment gateways (PayPal)
• Setting up product categories
• Setting up a basic product

This presentation will be geared towards website managers, designers and developers and assumes that the audience has a general knowledge of the WordPress administration section.

ALSO, once again IdeaZone will be hosting The Idea Zone where you can come and get one-on-one answers to all of your WordPress questions.

Visit  WordCamp Victoria 2012 online for more information.

The post Woo Themes and Woo Commerce Unveiled at WordCamp 2013 in Victoria, British Columbia appeared first on IdeaZone.ca.

Welcome to IdeaZone’s Awesome WordPress Plugin Pick of the Month. This month I am introducing….

jQuery Slider Shock

The best content slider available. This plugin is easy to manage and FREE!!!

Available features include:

• Add thumbnails on any of the four sides of the slider
• Create a video slider or get external sources
• Add videos from any of your favorite videos host
• Mix videos and images inside the slider
• Show the slider wherever you need it
• Several sliders in the same page
• Add a background to the text captions inside the slider
• Add captions to your slides with adjustable width and position
• Add background patterns via external URL
• Choose delay time
• Select a specific image width with customizable margins
• Add thumbnail labels and select a color or a pattern background
• Pick a style for title and text
• Select the style of the arrows

There is a commercial license available starting at $19.00 that adds a few more features including:

• Fully responsive, mobile ready
• Multiple slides sources, including external: Custom Slides, Posts (WordPress), Custom Post Types (WP), Taxonomies (WP), External RSS, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter and Instagram
• Several transition effects
• Access to premium slider skins

Find out more HERE

The post Awesome WordPress Plugin Pick of the Month appeared first on IdeaZone.ca.

All websites created by IdeaZone.ca are now responsive. This graphic, done by Amee at our partner company North Studio, expertly explains why.

The best solution to displaying your website on a mobile device is starting your build using responsive design solutions.

Via: NorthStudio.com

The post A little bit about responsive web design…. appeared first on IdeaZone.ca.

With over 174 million users, LinkedIn is a professional network, much like a 24/7 Chamber of Commerce meeting or a ‘Super-sized’ tradeshow. I will start by letting you know that a LinkedIn Profile Page (for you as an individual) is different from a Company Page.

Your Profile Page allows you to:
1. Re-connect Find past and present colleagues and classmates quickly.
2. Power your career Discover inside connections when you’re looking for a job or new business opportunity.
3. Get Answers Your network is full of industry experts willing to share advice. Have a question? Just ask.

If you do not have a company page, follow these easy steps (from LinkedIn’s Help Center) and view their short video.

1. Click Companies near the top of your home page.
2. Click the Add a Company link in the upper right area of the page.
3. Enter your company’s official name and your work email address.
4. Click Continue and enter your company information.

*If the work email address you provide is an unconfirmed email address on your LinkedIn account, a message will be sent to that address. Follow the instructions in the message to confirm your email address and then use the instructions above to add the Company Page.

Now, you will need to add information to the page including:

Overview Tab - This includes the basic company information and provides a high-level overview, you will also see status updates and friends and colleagues who are connected to the business.

Here’s some helpful character counts for specific fields:

• Company Name: 100 maximum characters.

Products and Services Tab - see LinkedIn’s guide  Remember to add images, videos, your website URL links and clear direction for each category. Make use of the Spotlight feature to grab your visitor’s attention.

Company Status Updates – share what’s happening with your company. Make these updates professional, short, and engaging.

Recommendations - Consumers are depending more on word-of-mouth and referral marketing to make their buying decisions. Build confidence in your products and services with recommendations from past clients. Don’t send a blanket request to many people, target clients for whom you have recently completed a large project or sold products to. Remember to ask for recommendations for specific products or services (so you don’t end up with a general recommendation) and always say ‘Thank you”.

Recently, I shared 10 ways to use LinkedIn’s features to your Company page stand out, promote your brand and generate leads. Please feel free to view, download and share my slides.

>>>>> DOWNLOAD MY PRESENTATION SLIDES <<<<<<

…. Stay tuned as I will be creating a post for each tip so I can provide you with greater detail.

As always, I would be happy to answer your questions, respond to comments and hear your LinkedIn promotion strategies.

The post Build and Maximize Your LinkedIn Company Page appeared first on IdeaZone.ca.

Here are a few more websites that we launched in the summer of 2012:

Dr. Angelina Corradini  — http://drangelacorradini.com/
Hepatitis C Society of BC — http://hepcbc.ca/
Dr. Jean Marmoreo  —  http://drjean.info/
Saanichton Law   —   http://www.saanichtonlaw.com/
VI Fitness  —  http://www.vifitness.ca/
Walker Product Group   —-  http://walkerproductgroup.com/
Esquimalt Juan de Fuca Conservative Association  —  http://ejdf-conservatives.ca/

The post Summer 2012 Projects appeared first on IdeaZone.ca.

by Jon Valade

Over the last few years, IdeaZone has had the pleasure of working with a fair number of non-profit, community based societies. Some of these include The  Child and Family Counseling Association, Community Options for Children and Family, The Cridge Center , The Epilepsy and Parkinson Association and The Hepatitis C Society, just to name a few.

I thoroughly enjoy these types of projects with the biggest challenge being able to deliver a great product on a ‘non-profit’ budget. Recently we have published two websites within this category, these being, The Community Action Plan on Poverty and Bridges For Women. (Volunteer Victoria is currently on the chopping block)  The professionalism of these management teams, along with the sheer delight they have expressed at the outcome of the projects, has made these two developments extremely rewarding for myself and my team.

The Community Action Plan on Poverty http://www.caponpoverty.ca/

The Community Action Plan on Poverty has been created by organizations in B.C.’s Capital Region convened by the Community Social Planning Council.  This multi-sector coalition has developed a Community Action Plan on Poverty (CAP on Poverty) to guide commitments with a concrete annual program of activities to create outcomes. All members of the public, community, governmental, business and other stakeholders are invited to participate by endorsing the Community Action Plan and by pledging a specific community action to work towards the goal of reducing and preventing poverty in the Capital Region. Mary Katharine Ross, the Communications Manager for the Community Social Planning Council, is a WordPress enthusiast that has been involved in many local events sponsored and hosted by IdeaZone. She approached me with the idea for this website and a plan that included IdeaZone building the framework for the site with herself populating the pages.  The WordPress theme is a custom theme designed from scratch by IdeaZone. We set up the plugins and sidebar widgets and Mary Katharine did an outstanding job of populating and optimizing the content. Visit the site and make a pledge. They are easy to fulfill and can make a world of difference where it counts.

Bridges For Women http://bridgesforwomen.ca

Bridges is a gutsy, innovative community agency. Their employment training and supportive programs inspire women impacted by violence or abuse, to reclaim their lives and build economic security. Bridges draws on its extensive knowledge of the impacts of abuse on employability, to provide education, training and consulting to community agencies, employers, and government. A few years ago, Elissa Bergman, Fund Development and Communications Director at Bridges, approached IdeaZone to deliver a quote for another non-profit project. Unfortunately that project did not move forward but we were glad she asked us to work with her, and Executive Director Victoria Pruden, on the website for Bridges. It is very rare that a company or association is this prepared for the development process. This team had their entire website planned before our initial discovery meeting. Developing this site proved to be a very streamlined process allowing us to deliver a custom WordPress theme, along with a complete shopping solution, well within their expected timeline and budget.

The post Highlighting New Non-Profit Projects appeared first on IdeaZone.ca.

Would you like to save money on your website maintenance? Well, starting today, you can!

We’re offering bundles of maintenance time at special rates. Take a look…

Normally, five hours of maintenance time costs you $500.00 but you can now

buy 5 hours for $450 (a $50 saving) or 10 hours for $800 (a $200 saving).

If you are interested in buying blocks of time, please email us at jon@ideazone.ca.

The post Save money on Website Maintenance appeared first on IdeaZone.ca.