cgWerks no longer offers website design and hosting services. We will continue to create informational resources via our blog, YouTube, etc. Site-redesign to reflect this, coming soon.
Website design and marketing services for Victoria, Vancouver, and the world!
cgWerks provides Web design and online marketing services including: premium Website hosting, site maintenance, content management, marketing strategy (search engine optimization – SEO, social media – SMO/SSO, blog, podcast, etc.), and the planning needed to begin your Web presence or take it to the next level. Or, to put it more simply…
We make you awesome on the Web!
No matter the type of business or organization, you need to have an Internet presence. Even if your business is unrelated to technology or the Internet, having a Web presence is seen as a matter of customer service. It is also a simple matter of visibility – the Web is where people now look.(1)Did you know that 80% of potential customers will check out your Website (or note there isn’t one!)? And for ‘word-of-mouth’ referrals (the best kind!), over 50% will never end up talking to you, because they rule you out before they get that far. Guess why? Your online presence (or lack thereof). source And, it doesn’t matter if you are big or small, work locally or internationally, the Web is quickly becoming as localized in nature, as it is global. (2)Have you noticed how Web searches often return the businesses near you at the top? We provide services to businesses and organizations locally in Victoria, BC, Canada, but we also work with clients located around the world.
And, if you want to optimize your exposure and customer experience, it takes much more than ‘just a website.’ You have to manage social media (Facebook, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, podcasting, blogging, etc.) and decide how to integrate these into your website design and marketing strategy. (3)ex: According to John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire episode #501, there are now over 575 million active podcast subscribers, performing over 45 million searches per month for areas of interest to them. Such subscribers are essentially pre-qualified potential customers.(4)Google searches which have an associated YouTube video often appear above other top search results. Creating an strategy of integration between your website and social media is now crucial to success and creates incredible opportunity for business expansion or reaching a larger audience.
cgWerks offers a range of services focused on the needs of real businesses and organizations.
If you are already familiar with managing a web site, but need occasional technical assistance and would like better web hosting, we provide the support and training necessary for a robust and successful Website. We also help you understand and approach online marketing opportunities with which you might not already be involved.
We use WordPress to maximize flexibility and ease of use, while decreasing maintenance and implementation time. Most people familiar with word-processors can make updates to the content of the site with just a little training.
If you would rather keep your focus on your business and your clients (or feel you lack the above expertise), we pride ourselves in providing full-service web design, site management, and Internet presence guidance. We handle as little, or as much, as your needs require. Notice a desired Site change on your way to the airport? Call or e-mail and we’ll take care of it.
But, full-service means more than this in the context of your Web presence. We’re always thinking of ways you can increase your influence in the online world: be it better connecting through social media, new Website features, or starting a podcast, we’ll suggest a strategy and guide you through the process.
As mentioned above, we typically use a content management system known as WordPress to construct and maintain your website. Many believe WordPress is just for bloggers, but this is a misperception. It is actually the world’s leading content management system, or CMS. WordPress offers many advantages over a set of static web pages.
Dynamic content – Probably the most important advantage is that the content is not static. WordPress makes it easy keep content fresh and change the layout or structure as needed.
User empowerment – WordPress makes it relatively easy to involve end users in the process. It provides a word-processor like interface to edit or create content. Even structural site changes become greatly simplified with WordPress.
Responsive design – This is a term for a type of web design and web-serving technology which adapts the content to the device it is being viewed on. In other words, whether people are viewing your site on their home computer, a tablet, or a smart-phone, they will get an optimized view of your site on their device. A good responsive WordPress theme helps maintain this highly desired characteristic across your entire Site.
Extendability – WordPress has an impressive collection of ‘plugins’ available to extend its capabilities. Whether it is some custom way of displaying content or an e-commerce shopping system, chances are there is an off-the-shelf solution available, dramatically reducing implementation time and cost.
SEO (search engine optimization) – For your site to be found, it is important that it appear near the top of the list on popular search engines such as Google for relevant search terms. Think about your own web-browsing… how many times do you go beyond the first few pages of search results, if even past the first page? WordPress increases your probability of achieving this by making the creation of new content easier (relevant content is king for SEO), but also assists in adding the proper data (called meta-data) to your site that the search engines look for. We implement the best SEO plugins and guide you in optimizing your content.
SMO/SSO (social media optimization) – With the proliferation of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc., it has also become very important that appropriate content from your site be posted and linked to your social media presence on the Internet. We also utilized special WordPress plugins to assist in this task, as well as guide you in how to utilize social media sites in your overall on-line presence. This includes coaching on using technologies such as video (YouTube and Vimeo, etc) or podcasting to support existing clients or reach potential new ones.
Maybe you don’t have a website yet, or want to redesign the one you have. We’ll work with you to make that happen, including:
proper planning for site structure
user experience
visual appearance of the site
assistance in gathering content
transition (technical and logistical)
This is what we are talking about when we speak of web design. It is more than just how the sites looks.
That said, we realize the look can be subjective, and that there are designers out there with more or differing talents from our own. We think our work is pretty good, but if you want something different, we’ll happily work with your artists and designers. (5)So long as they are tech-savvy enough to realize that sometimes technology needs to constrain artistic freedom.
We take care of your site so you don’t have to. This not only includes the technical aspects of keeping it running (hosting, backup, updates, etc.), but can also include the day to day content updates and changes you need.
Our normal business plan provides two hours each month (6)These two hours must be used within that month, and do not roll-over or store up. of site maintenance and content addition/editing. This means that if you think of some content you need added or changed on your way to a meeting, just call us and we’ll take care of it. On the other hand, maybe one of your staff wants to learn how to publish an article, update a graphic, or build an e-commerce store-front. We can provide the training, and even walk them through it online if you like. (7)We use advanced remote conferencing software like Join.me and Skype to show you how to do something, or watch you while providing guidance – however you learn best. Or, maybe you want some advice on posting to Facebook, starting your YouTube channel, or a podcast.
Of course, we are happy to work beyond those included two hours, either on content updates, or on larger design and feature implementation projects.
Web hosting is typically overlooked or under-appreciated. That’s probably because it is the invisible aspect (most only think about the web design aspect, until something goes wrong with the hosting), but also due to the number of inexpensive solutions being advertised. You shouldn’t have to understand all the details… that’s probably why you are here. But, we do think you should understand that not all hosting is equal, and that it does affect your site and business.
It needs to be reliable. This includes the site being there when your customer is (site monitoring, protection against attacks, etc.), as well as good backup and testing functionality (ie. you don’t want your clients to see when that new e-commerce plugin trashes your front page).
It needs to be robust. You don’t want your site to choke up right when you’re finally getting exposure through some major media outlet.
We’ve found a solution we feel perfectly meets these requirements, and we’re happy to share the details (in fact, we encourage you to look!)… or you’re welcome to just trust our expertise and enjoy.
Some businesses and organizations just need a simple website – some pages and maybe a blog section – at the very start; most soon need more. It might be adding forms to collect information or make requests. Maybe you need a price estimator for your services. How about a map to display all your locations or provide directions? Then you decide to put your product catalog online and setup a customer-service portal or a membership site.
We decided to start including some of these common features and add-in tools with our service. This ends up saving you quite a bit of money.
Our current collection of included tools delivers an initial savings of over $800 USD (9)We display these amounts in USD because most of them are services or products sold in USD. However, we bill clients in CAD, so the savings are even greater for Canadians., and annual savings of almost $700 USD. For details, see our premium web hosting page, features and tools section.
Did you know that 80% of potential customers will check out your Website (or note there isn’t one!)? And for ‘word-of-mouth’ referrals (the best kind!), over 50% will never end up talking to you, because they rule you out before they get that far. Guess why? Your online presence (or lack thereof). source
ex: According to John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire episode #501, there are now over 575 million active podcast subscribers, performing over 45 million searches per month for areas of interest to them. Such subscribers are essentially pre-qualified potential customers.
Google searches which have an associated YouTube video often appear above other top search results. Creating an strategy of integration between your website and social media is now crucial to success and creates incredible opportunity for business expansion or reaching a larger audience.
We use advanced remote conferencing software like Join.me and Skype to show you how to do something, or watch you while providing guidance – however you learn best.
We display these amounts in USD because most of them are services or products sold in USD. However, we bill clients in CAD, so the savings are even greater for Canadians.
