With the passing of a busy, successful decade it was time for Helen’s popular website to enjoy a facelift!

Helen’s website uses a system called MyRealPage, a popular content management system for real estate agents.

We did not custom design Helen’s new look, we chose one of MyRealPage’s modern templates and customized it to fit the look and content she wished to share with her clients. The new MyRealPage templates are clean, modern and easily customizable.

The result? A cost-effective, updated, user-friendly website to better reflect Helen’s thriving business.

Here is a before shot of the website. Please click here to see Helen’s fresh new design!

Owner Wendy is a savvy business woman with great ideas and over the past two years since Winks opened its doors, she has been spending more time online.

The existing Winks website was beautifully designed but lacked functionality. There was no CMS on the site, so the website designer was the only one who could make updates. Sound familiar to some of you? It’s a pain, isn’t it?

We moved the existing design of the site over to a WordPress format, to allow the client to update new products and news (blog) on her own. We updated the navigation, as the old navigation had too many layers and it was a bit confusing. The site is set up to show examples of the beautiful selections available in-store, though it has been designed so that online shopping could easily be implemented.

Perhaps one of the most important updates to the Winks website was its SEO. The previous site was nowhere to be found in the search engines. It just one week the website is now showing on the first page of what we had optimized for: Chilliwack home decor, Chilliwack gift store, etc. With a little more work around this, I know they will be #1 in no time!

Into Chocolate Candy & Confections is a specialty sweets store located in Fort Langley, BC. They carry nostalgic candy, imported chocolate, decadent fudge and just about any kind of confection your heart can desire. It has long been one of my favourite local places to visit for gifts, or just to pick up something sweet for myself!

Their online presence was lacking and the existing site had tons of great information, but the design didn’t capture the nostalgic, traditional candy shoppe feel that they were seeking. We were thrilled to take on this exciting project!

The owners decided that they wanted to sell gift boxes and baskets from their site, so that people didn’t have to live close to Fort Langley in order to experience the fun selections that Into Chocolate carries. We set up a simple post-style shopping cart in WordPress. It works well for their requirements, it’s easy for the client to update and it’s easy for the consumers to order their products.

Being that they have some close competitors in their small village, SEO was top of mind. With their previous website, Into Chocolate was not showing up in searches for Fort Langley candy store, Fort Langley chocolate or anything remotely close to this. You will now find their name in the top 3 listings of any variation of these searches!

We would love it if you’d take a wander over to IntoChocolate.ca and see what they have on offer! Their charming store is an absolute treat to visit, but if you’re not in the area do check out their gift baskets under the Shop tab.

This Ottawa mortgage brokerage is one of the most successful brokers in their region, and now they have a fresh new website to convey that message!

We are pleased to have launched OttawaMortgage.com this morning. This was a collaboration between myself and Tanya Beaudoin, my design partner for this project.

Is your website in need of a redesign? I would love to share the benefits of using the WordPress platform.

This client came to us with a website that was functioning ‘just fine’, but was in need of a facelift. The most important thing to the client was the ability to manage their own content and to have it easily integrated with their social media networks. WordPress, the format we prefer to work on, is an excellent content management system and a perfect fit for this type of request!

The existing site was also not performing well in the search engines. With a background in online marketing, I have a great understanding of what is attractive to the search engines and am proud to own very high performing websites. At the time of publishing this blog post, the Algoma Mortgage site has been live for literally only 10 minutes. Please check back to my blog in the coming weeks for an SEO case study on this website.

Here is a photo (below) of their old website. Click here to check out Algoma Mortgage’s fresh new design!

Is your website in need of an online facelift? Are you considering investing in a website for the first time? Let’s chat about how a custom design WordPress website will help you attractively market yourself to your customers and to the search engines.

In 2010 I attended Twestival Vancouver hosted by Rebecca of Miss604.com. It was a fantastic fundraiser. Tons of fun, lots of money raised. While I was thinking of attending Twestival Vancouver 2011, I decided that the Fraser Valley was a big enough region that we should have our own. It was also the 2nd anniversary of Fraser Valley Pulse and it was time party!! So, I signed us up, invited Caree Bray and Teri Conrad to join me in the planning, and Twestival Fraser Valley hosted our inaugural event at Coast Hotel & Convention Centre in Langley.

Twestival is a worldwide Twitter fundraiser that was hosted in dozens of countries on the same day! In years past, Twestival had supported one global cause. This year, Twestival organizers were able to raise funds to support a cause that was in their own community.

We had a live feed at the event so everyone could watch the big screen to see what was happening at other Twestivals in our time zone.

I’ve been told event planning and fundraising are where my talents shine (blush). I think it’s just because I love it so much! Organizing Twestival was easy for me. I had two objectives: to throw super fun party and to raise a whack of money for our charity.

Calling upon great local businesses and performers I had in my network, as well as a few new ones recommended by my partners and their contacts, we put together a busy, fun event. There was air brush tattoos, loads of delicious food, beer and wine tastings from local producers, a photo booth, live bands… even contortionists!

Our event was, in my opinion, a smashing success. Click here to visit our Twestival blog and learn all about the event. The best part? 100% of the services and products to make this event happen were donated. We didn’t have any expenses, therefore all money collected from ticket sales, silent auction and raffle prizes, went straight to our chosen charity.

We were proud to support Canuck Place Abbotsford. We raised $8470 that night and I am so, so proud of our community for their generousity. Our sponsors, prize donors, volunteers and partners were so generous.

I learned this summer that Twestival folded its operations a couple of months ago, but they may resurrect to help in fundraising efforts for natural disasters and other global efforts in the future. That team worked SO hard! I know how much work it was to collect and coordinate for one event – imagine being responsible for 150 all at once! Kudos to Twestival for all your hard work.

Being that Twestival ran the same week as Fraser Valley Pulse’s anniversary, I will likely continue this local fundraising tradition next March with something similar. It’s a fun way to get the community together and to bring online offline. Stay tuned for details and contact me if you’d like to get involved!

The AMSSA Vancouver Diversity Health Fair will be held at the Croatian Cultural Centre on Saturday, February 12, 2011. The fair, the largest of its kind in Canada, was created to provide a range of health and wellness to newcomers to Canada, immigrants and ethno-cultural communities.

This year’s theme is Physical & Emotional Well Being. The fair, and its website (!), is available in 8 different languages. Visitors to the fair will enjoy 50+ exhibitors, health screenings, cooking demos, cultural performances and lots more.

This project brings me back to my Monster.ca/TMP Advertising & Communications days, where I liaised between my clients, our creative department and of course international media outlets.

I have been securing media sponsorship for the fair, busy writing pitches and advertisement content, looking for creative ways and avenues to promote this non-profit event. Having been ‘on the other side’ of the media, running Fraser Valley Pulse for the past two years, I believe I have a much clearer view of the creative and directed pitches that catch the attention of the media.

After securing sponsorships, I have now moved into more of the promotions for the fair. I’m pitching editorial media contacts, introducing different aspects of this dynamic health fair to targeted traditional media outlets and bloggers. I’ve secured some TV spots already and look forward to getting some more great press for this awesome event! As well, we have been engaging people online using the fair’s social media networks, growing its recognition with the locals.

I’m also really focusing on adding a grass roots approach to promotions for this event; something that hasn’t been focused on much in the past. The client’s target audience are not necessarily English speaking, many are brand new to the country… where do we find these folks? Literature will be distributed this year to places of worship, community centres, friendship centres and at busy transit hubs. AMSSA’s volunteer coordinator and myself will be training this year’s volunteers next week and then we’ll be sending them out to spread the good word!

I’m thrilled to be working on this worthwhile event. The work is honestly so much fun for me and I’m learning a lot. It’s quite a heavy workload, especially all of the interview scheduling, looking for promo opportunities and organizing where to send the volunteers. But I’m loving every moment of it!

www.amssadiversityhealthfair.org

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A Virtual Assistant is a business owner who offers professional administrative & creative services from their home office. They provide the same services as a traditional in-house employee, for a fraction of the cost.

What services does a VA provide?

While most VA companies are able to provide administrative tasks such as answering calls, organizing emails and word processing, many Virtual Assistants specialize in areas such as communications/marketing (hint, hint), web design, real estate, HR, recruitment…the list goes on.

Who should hire a VA?

A Virtual Assistant can work for just about anyone! A student who needs a paper proofread, a busy mother who needs help organizing a party, a business professional who needs professional administrative assistance but can’t afford to hire a full time employee. We can lend a hand to anyone who needs it!

Is it cost-effective to hire a VA?

Virtual Assistants save you money in a number of ways. We handle all of our own expenses – you do not have to worry about benefits, office space, vacations, sick time. We have all our own equipment – you do not need to purchase anything for us to get our jobs done. We only bill for the time we worked – no breaks, idle time, vacations – we can accomplish tasks in less than half the time of an employee who works 40 hrs/week. Most importantly, Virtual Assistants work WITH you, to ensure success of your business, and your customer satisfaction. While you are focusing on revenue-generating tasks, we are working as your virtual shadow, ensuring all the ‘little things’ are taken care of.

Should I hire a VA who lives near to me/ my business?

The great thing about hiring a Virtual Assistant is that we are virtual! We can work for anyone, in any time zone. 99% of our projects are completed online, with correspondence by email, telephone, fax & online messaging services

How much does a Virtual Assistant charge?

Most Virtual Assistants charge between $20 – $50/hour, or a flat fee/monthly packages, depending on the project. You may think that is a lot – but please take a look at the cost-analysis of hiring a VA over a traditional administrative assistant – you will be stunned at the amount of money/time a VA can save you!

As part of this new beginning Double You has a new look, a new service menu and a blog! Over the past 2 years I have commited 100% of my blogging energy to FraserValleyPulse.com, which has been tremendous, but hasn’t really updated my clients and followers as to what I’m up to with Double You. This blog will be updated regularly with my current projects, articles, random thoughts, helpful tips and more. I hope you will follow along!

Happy new year everyone. Looking forward to seeing how amazing, successful and fabulous 2011 is going to be. 2010 was pretty fantastic in my land, 2011 has some big shoes to fill!

And so it begins…