The IdeaZone Team

JON VALADE

OWNER, CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Effective design is not about the medium; it is about the message. It is the ability to convey this message to the intellect, and a feeling to the senses – whether it be on paper, on a computer screen, or communicated through the ear

Understanding this is what makes Jon Valade unique. Whether it be designing print material, WordPress website design or music in his recording studio, Jon’s approach is the same – you must convey a clear message, with simplicity, beauty and grace. His style is modern and edgy but he always keeps the client’s goals at the forefront.

Jon also believes that while creative talent is significant to the profession of Graphic Design, it is equally important to treat clients and colleagues professionally and with respect.

Jon has been developing websites and producing high impact corporate communication art in Canada since 1995 from his home in Victoria, B.C. He has a wide range of clients in Canada, the US and abroad.

Website design using the popular WordPress platform has given Jon a competitive edge, allowing unlimited creativity while providing easy updates and edits for clients.

“In an era where frequent website updates and online conversations are the key to being found in a Google search, you need to be able to communicate directly with your customers through your website,” says Jon, “ We have a product that allows people to do that easily, and retain all the advantages of excellent custom design.”

Jon’s design experience extends back over 20 years in the industry, including two years as Vice President of the Vancouver Island Chapter of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada. Currently, he is on the Board of Directors of the Greater Victoria Film Commission.

Career Highlights

Renowned, award winning, creative director and production manager with over 20 years of industry experience ranging from print collateral, multi media development and website design.
Portfolio approved for membership with the Graphics Designers Association of Canada where he sat for two years as Vice-President on the board of directors
Considered one of Victoria’s foremost authorities on WordPress development, social networking and HTML5/CSS3 development
Educator and public speaker on topics ranging from Social Media, proper creative design for web applications and custom WordPress website design and development
Expert knowledge of all Adobe software, MS Office, Cubase, Basecamp and other production & development applications
Experienced managing production teams including graphic designers, programmers, copywriters, photographers and third party service providers
Active host, participant and educator in numerous WordPress and Social Networking conferences and events

Personal Highlights

YES Victoria 2016 —
- Board of Directors
Greater Victoria Film Commission 2010 — 2013
- Board of Directors
Graphic Designers Association of Canada 2007 — 2010
- Three years on the Board of Directors
- Two years as Vice President (Electronic Media and Website Design) of the Board of Directors
North Douglas Community Center 2007 — 2010
- Co-founded a computer education center offering free classes to marginalized students
- Classes include Microsoft Office, website design and operating system management

DANIELLE HOBBS BURGESS

SENIOR DEVELOPER

As an Open Source Developer, Danielle expertly creates websites using WordPress Content Management System. Danielle’s background is in XHTML, CSS, PHP, and open source development—specializing in WordPress development.

Danielle’s interest in development was sparked in 2005 and in 2009 she graduated with a Diploma in Open Source Development. Since then, Danielle has continued to hone her craft, keeping up with advances and trends in her field. She dedicates a lot of her free time to researching what’s new in WordPress and Drupal communities and is fearless when it comes to experimenting with, and implementing, new and innovative development methods and ideas.

Her favourite aspect of her job is delivering the finished product to clients: being able to bring clients’ visions to life and seeing their subsequent satisfaction is an immensely fulfilling conclusion to a project for Danielle.

On the weekends, Danielle is likely still working on websites, but she also makes time to enjoy the sunshine, good food, and most of all, her family.

REESE RICHARDS

DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER

Reese has been dancing with Google since way back in 2005. An avid marketer, throughout his long online career, Mr. Richards has had the opportunity to work with small, local businesses and enterprise level clients as well as on several of his own businesses.

Being a business owner himself, Reese understands what it takes to be successful online, testing and tweaking new strategies on his own online properties before successfully rolling them out for IdeaZone clients.

In the offline world, Reese is a gadget lover – appreciating the time and energy these tools afford. In the online world, his love for gadgets turns into a love for online tools, software, plugins and extensions; anything really, that will do the job better and faster.

This love for tools translates into a knowledge and familiarity of a plethora of online marketing tools and software including (but certainly not limited to) the following:

SEO Tools – SEMrush, Screaming Frog, MOZ, SEMrush, Majestic, Deep Crawl, Xenu, Copyscape
Local SEO – Whitespark, BrightLocal, MOZ
PPC – Facebook Page / Audience Insights, Facebook Business Manager / Ads Manager / Power Editor, Google Adwords
Analytics – Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Hot jar, CrazyEgg
Keyword Research – SpyFu, Keyword Spy, Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, Keywordtool.io, AnswerthePublic, Google Trends
Social Media Tools – Hootsuite, Buffer, BuzzSumo, Bitly, SocialMention
Email Marketing – Aweber, GetResponse, Constant Contact, MailChimp
Landing Pages – Click funnels, Leadpages, Thrive
Graphic Design – Canva, PicMonkey, Photoshop
Project Management – Trello, Podio, Wrike, Asana, Todoist, Teamwork
Programming – basic HTML & PHP

If he’s not playing with tools and gadgets in his spare time, you can find Reese creating something in his wood working shop or thinking deep Jack Handy type thoughts while lounging in his hot tub.

JORDAN KEATS

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIST

Jordan Keats works in digital marketing as a strategist, developer, and trainer. His first job was with Ideazone in 2009 after graduating from Royal Roads University with a degree in Professional Communications. At that time he worked in sales, copywriting, and training on WordPress and social media.

After Ideazone, Jordan went to Stikky Media learn how to optimize WordPress and Drupal sites for SEO and integrate Social Media and AdWords campaigns into an overall digital marketing strategy. In 2012, Jordan became a teacher at Q College, building course curricula and helping hundreds of people learn HTML, CSS, JQuery, Javascript, PhP, WordPress, Ecommerce, Information Architecture, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Analytics, Ads, Webmaster Tools and more. In 2016, Jordan was promoted to Senior Instructor. His interest in advanced WordPress custom theme development and user experience design, lead to the development of a new advanced course for Q College, and a desire for more practical experience in his professional career. In 2017, he worked for LeapXD as a digital marketing generalist, as a project manager and a user experience design facilitator.

Jordan’s value proposition is that he “loves solving high value digital business problems using technical solutions”. For his personal consulting clients he’s been increasing Ecommerce sales and leads year after year using the skills he’s learned in these combined roles.

Since the beginning of 2019, Jordan has brought these years of experience back to Ideazone as a Digital Marketing Strategist. “It’s the same old game, only the interfaces have changed”.

The IdeaZone Team

JON VALADE

DANIELLE HOBBS BURGESS

REESE RICHARDS

JORDAN KEATS

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