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Facebook for WordPress App

Posted on July 29, 2012 at 3:38 pm by with

Facebook mentionsToday I’ve been playing with the Facebook for WordPress app & plugin, and am just starting to see how powerful this new tool is. It allows you to add your blog content to your FB social network with just one click.

When you publish a Post or Page, it can be distributed to Facebook in a number of ways. You can choose to mention Facebook friends or pages. You can also specify a message that will be posted with the content.

Once published, the content of the post or page will show up on all of the friends and pages’ Facebook Timelines, resulting in more distribution for your site. Mentions then also show up in the Post itself.

Shown in this post are a few screenshots describing this, but you can also see a working version of this plugin at the bottom of most pages and all posts of this site.

I would love to get this working on your site so that you can enjoy this powerful integration. Contact us today and I will schedule this in for you!

Facebook Status

Social Media

Event Websites

Posted on July 29, 2012 at 12:48 pm by with

W3 Ottawa - Women - Wisdom - WellnessWe recently worked with Dr. Nathalie Beauchamp to create this website for her new event for women, w3ottawa.com, all about “Women – Wisdom – Wellness”.

This is a WordPress event theme, so Dr. Nathalie can easily update the schedule, speaker bios, videos, and other information. Women can register and pay online, so that eliminates extra paperwork, telephone and organization time. This is going to be a great event for any women in the Orleans or Ottawa region, so please register and we look forward to seeing you there!

Connect with W3 through Facebook and Twitter.

Portfolio

Business to Business

Posted on May 23, 2012 at 10:29 am by with

Business to Business websiteNew Dimension will work with clients all over the world. One wonderful aspect of the World Wide Web is being able to build solid relationships with clients even over a considerable distance. Such is the case with Chiropractic Leadership Alliance, located in New Jersey. CLA needed a website that would appeal to the business sector, specifically, Chiropractors and Chiropractic Clinics. To do this we gave their WordPress website a total overhaul, designing a clean and simple navigational structure and deleting many old files, sections and graphics.

We also had the pleasure of designing a standalone Locator – FindAGreatChiro.com. We did this together with Escape Radius, who has developed an interface and locator to Google Maps.

Portfolio

Working as a Team

Posted on April 23, 2012 at 10:42 am by with

Orchardview Montessori OttawaWe recently had the pleasure of building a new WordPress site from the ground up for Orchardview Montessori School, located in Orleans Ontario. This project was very enjoyable and smooth, and a big part of that was being able to work with Lola Design. Loreto Cheyne of Lola Design was responsible for the branding of Orchardview. Our job was to take the beautiful logo and colours provided, and apply the branding to a website presence for the school.

Loreto has written a blog post about the experience that helps to illustrate what the design process is like for the client, as well as what a positive experience it can be to work with like-minded colleagues.

Portfolio

Real Estate Website

Posted on March 23, 2012 at 11:06 am by with

This website was developed for Campbell Osler, an Ottawa-based Realtor. Campbell wanted his site to look simpler and more modern than the previous one he had, and he wanted his assistant to be able to update listings, blog posts, pages and photos. We developed a WordPress site that would fit all his specifications, and provided his assistant the training she needed to be able to update the site.

New Dimension Design not only provides a training session when the website is complete, but we install Worpdress Video Training software into the admin area of the website so that if the client needs a refresh on how to add a link, add a photo, crop a photo, etc. – the client can watch a quick video or read in a manual how it is done. If additional help is needed after that, we are only a phone call or email away! Contact us for more information on getting a new website developed, with training included.

Portfolio

Website Creativity

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 4:21 pm by with

Interior Design WebsiteIt was simply a joy to work with interior and landscape designer Chantale Charette on her new website for Studio 853. Chantale’s amazing design is evident in the photos you can see on this site. Because of her level of creativity, she had a lot more to do with the website design process than the average business client. This made it even more enjoyable, as we collaborated and brought together our creative skills to make an end result that will showcase her work to prospective clients.

The two things I love the most about owning and operating New Dimension Website Design are:

  1. Being both creative and business-minded, and developing websites that make a good rate of return for my clients
  2. Developing long term relationships with my clients and having a part in promoting their businesses to grow and change

I am already a huge fan of Studio 853, and look forward to seeing more inspiring work from this company!

 

 

Portfolio

Retail Shop Website

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 3:40 pm by with

Florist Retail WebsiteIt was my pleasure to launch a new WordPress site for Fleuriste Brunet, a beautiful, friendly flower shop around the corner from New Dimension Design in Rockland, ON. At the time they had a very simple brochure website that gave only the most basic information about the shop. It was evident that they needed a website that would convey what made this flower shop unique from its competitors, especially its spectacular floral arrangements and the fact that when one calls this shop, there is a friendly human voice at the other end, ready to serve.

Although Fleuriste Brunet was not quite ready to offer full online purchases, we were able to design their site so that all of the arrangements can be seen online and then easily ordered over the phone. Also, if they decide to implement full e-commerce in the future, it will be a smooth transition.

The website development process was an enjoyable  experience and I look forward to seeing where this company goes in the future!

Portfolio

What is SEO and how can I use it?

Posted on July 6, 2011 at 1:58 pm by with

How can I get to the top?Website SEO (Search Engine Positioning), is even more important than website design.

Did I say that out loud? Yes, I did. You may have just spent a good deal of time and money on your new website – yet if it is not being seen by the right people, it is not worth much to your business.

Every day, millions of people use search engines to find information, products and services. Being at the top of search results can bring potential customers to your website that may be looking for what you have to offer. And this means a good return on your investment.

How can I optimize my website for search engines?

  • SEO starts with building a high quality, well organized website made for humans (not robots).
  • Define why your website exists. What is its purpose?
  • Use search engine friendly URLs – Use your best keywords in your domain name, titles,  folder name, and page names
  • Focus on 5-20 main related keywords or phrases for your entire site. Choose carefully. You can optimize all you like but if people aren’t searching for what you’re selling, no amount of SEO will help you rank or sell more.
  • Style your headings, (in your HTML, use real headings elements throughout your content)
  • Refresh your website with new content and pages regularly
  • Formulate unique titles and page meta data.  Make sure the title of each page is different, and that each page follows a ‘theme’ of keywords unique to that page
  • Use image (alt) tags in your HTML that offer useful descriptive keywords
  • Link in and Link out  – Search engines give more importance to websites that link to other related sites. Campaign to have other sites link to you as well, especially those with existing high ranking. When linking from one page to another within your own site, use your specific keywords or phrases. If possible, don’t just use words like Home, Products, Contact, etc.

What is the ultimate goal here?

The most common misunderstandings of SEO is that it isn’t just important to attempt to increase the level of visitors, but also to increase the level of visitors’ engagement.

We often hear about website hits or visits.  However, it’s not about how many potential customers come to your site, but what they do once they are there.  If all the traffic you are driving to your site does not find what it is looking for, it will just leave.

This is all Greek to me, can you do this for me?

Yes, we can!

We will analyze your visitors with an “engagement index” — an equation that goes beyond “page views” and into the factors that differentiate a loyal, dedicated prospect from a fly-by.

Back to our first rule of SEO, we help you define why your website exists.  We help define up to 7 engagement indicators that define a ‘conversion’, whether it’s time on the site, how many pages they read, filling in a form, accessing your contact page, downloading something, or even making a purchase.  These indicators define the level of customer engagement.

The next step was to track the percentage of overall visits that satisfy each of these categories over time.  More broadly, tracking engagement allows you to put traffic data in perspective. Even if overall traffic for the site is down, but the number of engaged users are up, that still means the site is doing well.

By having a well-rounded SEO strategy and by being aware of factors that engage your visitors, we will help drive up the quantity as well as the  quality of visitors, keeping them coming back and referring them to friends and colleagues.

Contact us now to find out more!

Website Marketing

Everything is moving so fast!

Posted on June 29, 2011 at 8:39 pm by with
Sean & Heather on their Harley

Heather & Sean enjoying some speed!

 

Back in the mid-90′s

When I first started designing websites back in around 1997, the internet arena looked very different from what it is today. The primary objective was to design a website so that it had fast loading speed. We were just starting to hear about Search Engines, and there was a long list of them to submit a site to: Excite, Lycos, Looksmart, Altavista, and Webcrawler to name a few. One of the techniques at the time was to create a landing or gateway page for each search engine. I loved trying to figure out the best way to trick a search engine into ranking my page above others. Needless to say, this activity no longer occupies my time.

Starting a company

In 2005, I co-founded a website design company with a good friend of mine, Jan Matthews. This was when I lived out west near the town of Turner Valley, Alberta. The company, Skyline Design, is an excellent website design company today and even though we now run our own companies, it is great to be able to bounce ideas back and forth with each other. Jan and I were both involved in every area of website development, from start to finish. I would meet with the client, come up with mockups, develop the design into a website, program the site using HTML, javascript, and CSS, and after the launch of the website, maintain the site for the client.

Running a business and doing the work

Launching New Dimension Design in 2007, I loved every aspect of my job – from getting out and meeting with the clients, to figuring out how to make the code work behind the scenes. As time quickly passed, things started moving so fast. I got more clients, more websites, learned new technologies, kept up with the changing methods of online marketing. Every now and then I even opened a graphic design book and got back to the principles of good design.

Building a team

Now that I was running a successful business, I started wondering why I wasn’t having as much fun as I used to. I was starting to feel like a hamster running in a wheel… moving faster and faster, but really not going anywhere and always feeling like I was behind. While sharing these thoughts with friend and fellow business-owner Murray Groen, he suggested that I hire a business coach. Hiring Laura Watson of  Venture Coaching has been one of the best business decisions I’ve made. As a result of my weekly phone sessions with Laura, I have been working on building a team made up of highly skilled and talented individuals who specialize in specific areas, such as website programming, testing, online marketing, and logo/branding design. These people have similar business values to me, and are better at their specific skills than I am.

New technology, old fashioned service

In the last year, New Dimension Design has been growing and changing. But my resolve is strong to never lose sight of the goal, to serve my customers and to see them achieve their goals and dreams. Now that I have a team to help with certain tasks, I am more available to build long-term relationships with you, my clients – and to ensure that your website and graphic design needs are met. I welcome your thoughts and comments – let’s enjoy the ride together!

Our Story

What is WordPress?

Posted on June 29, 2011 at 1:19 pm by with

WordpressThe core software of WordPress is built by hundreds of community volunteers so it has already been tried, tested, and de-bugged on all common browsers. These volunteers are continually working on WordPress to make it work even better, as well as designing thousands of plugins and themes to make your site turn into whatever you want it to be.

Not only is it free, but it is very easy to use even for the novice computer user. It is the best solution we have found for most small to medium size business owners and their staff to be able to change their own content, add photos, add pages, and write blog posts.

Website Design
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