Now that the kids are headed back to school, it’s time for many small businesses to ramp up on some new work. What better way to kick off the season than with bonus and potential savings opportunities on our website plans.

Website annual plan bonus

First, we’re offering a 2-month extension to our annual Maintenance level plan ($800/yr CAD | ~$585/yr USD), or Marketer level plan ($1200/yr CAD | ~$878/yr USD) until September 30, 2016 October 31st, 2016.⁽¹⁾Note: While we’ve extended this deal from September 30th to October 31st, plan details and pricing will be changing in October. We’ll be offering more services in a high-end package, but overall pricing will be increasing. If you’d like to get current pricing, hurry.

This isn’t simply a hosting plan, but a comprehensive ‘website care package’ including world-class web hosting, 1 or 2 hours of support and enhancement each month, a bunch of advanced plugins (extensions) to your website, and even one of the world’s best, and possibly most flexible, WordPress themes.

Aside from the hosting and support time, these add-ons are worth an initial savings of up to $515 USD and an ongoing annual savings of up to $402 USD. And, don’t miss that the level of hosting we’re providing would cost you nearly $500 USD alone.

Of course it should go without saying that this includes our exceptional customer service, proactive engagement with your business goals, and business philosophy.

Hurry though, this sale ends September 30th October 31st, 2016. Contact us for more information or to get started.

CAD – USD exchange rate again near 11-year low

Much to my chagrin, the Canadian Dollar (CAD) has dropped to near an 11-year low in relation to the US Dollar (USD). I say this because many of the services I use to run this business are located in the United States, or bill in USD, raising my costs considerably.

But, if you are in the United States, or work in USD, you have an incredible opportunity to purchase services in Canada at a greatly reduced rate.

It doesn’t matter where you are located

While we’re located in the city of Prince George in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, we also work with companies far away. We use advanced software like Join.me and Skype to effectively communicate, give demonstrations, or provide training and support almost like you were next-door (in fact sometimes better, as you’re at your own familiar computer, as are we).

Unique website design service

We provide a unique type of service unusual in the website design industry. Maybe it would be better to call ourselves Web problem-solvers or Web strategists. We provide an end-to-end solution, which includes planning, strategy, marketing, design, and hosting with full on-going support. But what we’re really interested in is what you do with the site after it is up and running. It’s your online communication tool to the world, and we’re here to help you make the most of that. We bring our 25+ years of experience in IT consulting, Fortune 100 IS/IT, marketing, and design to create a comprehensive communications and business solution, not merely a website.

Start saving today

If you’re based in the United States, why not take advantage of the exchange rate, and save some serious money on your website. If you’re not, you can still take advantage of extending our normal 12-month plan to 14 months!

But, don’t do it just because of the savings. We’ll also provide you with some of the best service you’ll find anywhere on the planet!

Contact us for more information or to get started.

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As many know who follow me, I love podcasts. I am subscribed to over 50 of them. They are a large part of how I keep up-to-date on the latest in podcasting, blogging, website design, WordPress technology, marketing, SEO (search engine optimization), social media, etc.

I also listen to a number of podcasts for personal development, keeping up on the news (apart from the very distorted mainstream media), health and fitness, history, and even my other work in Christian apologetics.

Podcasts are a lot of work!

And, as someone who is now developing a podcast (with another being planned), I’m well aware of how much work and effort these people pour into their shows, often with very little in return, aside from praise of their listeners or click on a referral link. At best, once they become recognized in their genre, they might begin to gain new clients from their efforts. Until then, it’s mostly work with little return.

Awards

But, each year, there are a few formal recognitions of their efforts. One of these is the annual Podcast Awards. What’s nice about this one is that is that it is listener/community driven. First, the podcaster needs to get enough people to nominate their podcast to make it into the top 10 in each major category. Then, they need to muster support from their communities to vote – daily – or as often as possible. This daily voting over 15 days (which began yesterday, May 29th, 2016) helps smaller podcasts with great audience engagement have a chance against the larger podcasts (as they often fail to get as big of percentage of their audience to take action).

Vote now!

So, please go and vote now – and daily – until June 12th, 2016. (Note, you don’t have to vote in every category… just skip categories you don’t want to vote in or have no preference.)

Or, if you don’t listen to a bunch of podcasts, I’d appreciate you helping some of my favorites. (I’m also including Daniel J Lewis’ recommendations. (of The Audacity to Podcast). Daniel has been my primary influence in getting into podcasting so deeply, so I’d love to support him and his community.)

Note: After you vote, you should get a confirmation email, which you MUST click for your vote to count. If you don’t get this, check your spam folder. And, if you promote this on Twitter, please use the  #pca2016 hashtag.

Our Picks

Steve’s picks:

• Peoples Choice: No Agenda Show (interesting and humorous – sometimes NSFW – deconstruction of mainstream media and world events)
• Arts: B&H Photography Podcast
• Business: The Productive Woman (Daniel’s recommendation, see below)
• Education: School of Podcasting (another excellent, how-to-podcast, podcast hosted by our friend Dave Jackson)
• Entertainment: Triplecast (Daniel’s recommendation, see below)
• Government & Organizations: Congressional Dish (crucial to listen to and support if we want to save the USA… Congress is the key. Know what’s going on in there… hint: it ain’t pretty!)
• Kids & Family: Dad Spotlight (Daniel’s recommendation, see below)
• Music: The Bugcast (Daniel’s recommendation, see below)
• News & Politics: No Agenda
• Religion & Spirituality: The Briefing (recommended by James White, the host of my favorite Christian apologetics podcast, The Dividing Line.)
• Sports & Recreation: Packers Fan Podcast (Daniel’s recommendation, see below)
• Technology: The Audacity to Podcast (IMO, the best how-to-podcast, podcast hosted by our friend Daniel J Lewis)
• TV & Film: ONCE – Once Upon a Time podcast

Daniel J Lewis’ recommendations:

• People’s Choice: The Hollywood Outsider (friend of Noodle.mx)
• Arts: Resourceful Designer (member of Podcasters’ Society)
• Business: The Productive Woman
• Education: The Wired Homeschool (friend of Noodle.mx)
• Entertainment: Triplecast (friend of Noodle.mx)
• Government & Organizations: Congressional Dish (friend of Noodle.mx)
• Kids & Family: Dad Spotlight (member of Podcasters’ Society)
• Music: The Bugcast (friend of Noodle.mx)
• Sports & Recreation: Packers Fan Podcast (friend of Noodle.mx)
• Technology: The Audacity to Podcast
• TV & Film: ONCE – Once Upon a Time podcast

The post 2016 Podcast Awards: Voting now open! appeared first on cgWerks.

Well, in combining our old static web site (with tutorials) with this blog (previously a separate site), we ditched some of those old areas of the site. Never fear, they will eventually be back (well, except for that ancient syncing one). We’ll soon have a great new portfolio section and eventually get some of those old tutorials converted to blog articles… along with new ones. Again, we’re sorry for the inconvenience if that happens to be what you were looking for. Stay tuned for more to come.

Image credit: lions, tigers, and bears – oh my! by snarledskein

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