I’m no front-end developer – I’m new to the world of website development, and technical jargon was, prior to working at bv02, foreign to me.

We’ve received a lot of questions lately about whether or not our websites are SEO friendly, and the answer to that is, well, yes. Every website our automatons developers create are optimized to rank highly in search engines.

But hearing these sorts of concerns from our clients prompted me to write a post on what exactly SEO is. The more our clients understand it, the more they will benefit from it.

So here, in layman’s terms, is what SEO is and the role it plays in online marketing. But hey, I’m still learning too, so bare with me.

To put it simply, online marketing and SEO strategy are by-products of each other. Online marketing has become an integral part in the growth of a website. Whereas SEO generally focuses on organic traffic through a whole range of techniques, online marketing then ensures that the website remains in competition towards growth and visibility.

What does this mean for the client?

Well, the value in SEO, such as keyword optimization and link building to name a few, can result in higher return on investment and conversion rates for your website.

Below are some of the benefits of search engine optimization:

Sales and leads – Increasing keyword rankings on search engines where customers are looking for products and services can increase both traffic and sales.

Customer Service – Making support information, such as frequently asked questions, easier to find on major search engines will increase the level of customer service, thus reducing potential costs in the long run.

Public Relations – Journalists and bloggers alike use search as their primary filter for research. Making it easier for to be found on search engines and social media platforms can attract unbeknownst exposure.

Social Media – In order to maximize the benefits of social media marketing, (that’s a whole ‘nother post) it’s important that your content is optimized. Content that cannot be easily found via search is a lost opportunity to reach your target audience.

Bottom line? The web is very social in nature. Participation – sharing, voting, commenting and linking – is what makes a website gain traffic and popularity.

As support grows for newer browsers like Google Chrome and the upcoming Firefox 4, HTML5 is starting to catch on. That means we’re about to see some exciting new features on the horizon.

One of the most exciting features in HTML5 is geolocation. With a user’s permission, websites will be able to tailor content to that user’s specific location. The applications for this could be huge – everything from promoting local events to targeted ads to “check-in” services like Gowalla and Foursquare.

There’s a simple demo here which showcases the functionality ( works in Chrome, Firefox 3.6, Safari 4 and Opera 10.5 – Internet Explorer won’t support most HTML5 features until IE9 comes out next year, unfortunately ). The browser asks for the user’s permission to use his/her current location and displays the appropriate Google map. No input required.

There are plenty of paid, third-party tools like ip2location that provide this functionality already, but as HTML5 starts becoming more widely supported they will largely be replaced by this open standard.

As a University Alumni myself, I frequently remember searching online for a number of the items listed below. I remember searching as if I had been on Safari. Reflecting on the amount of time I spent lurking my own school’s online website and Intranet (and not studying!) makes my skin crawl. Somethings just need to be kept simple, and informative.

Happy Monday!

via xkcd

There’s no denying that I work with a talented bunch here at bv02.The innovative and forward thinking of each of our ten employees is,

a)    What makes us a leading web marketing company in Ottawa, and

b)   The reason I was so eager to work at bv02. I’m telling you, the sheer intelligence is both inspiring and motivational.

This past winter one of our well-respected developers, Matt Davidson, created a mobile-friendly site with a friend that uses open data from the National Capital Commission to provide Ottawans with canal conditions and entrance information for the Rideau Canal.

In a recent article in Computer World Canada, the author outlined what developers are doing with the new open data movement. Four major municipalities in Canada – Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver, have started opening their data for public use through the Web. From the creation of websites to iPhone apps, Canadians are taking full advantage of open data, and Matt Davidson’s “Canal Conditions” was featured first in the article.

This comes to light after a GovCamp event that took place in Toronto this month. Steven Green, director of marketing and communications at the Government of Ontario Cabinet Office, hosted a discussion by posing the question, “If you had to pick one – social media or open data – what would it be?”

Unfortunately, the rapid flow of new content in social media makes it difficult for governments to keep up the pace. As such a large bureaucracy, governments typically work at a slower pace than the private sector due to government obligations and privacy protection.

As governments attempt to determine whether social media is here to stay, cities across Canada are following the open data trend.

Read the full article here.

Congrats Matt!

We’ve updated our work section! Check it out.

Palladium Insurance is a company that is all about relationships. Their mission is to bring exceptional customer service back into an industry that has next to no human contact or empathy. With a recent relocation to a more comfortable and attractive setting in Kanata, Palladium Insurance wanted a website to reflect their benevolent approach to business. Launched in May, bv02 worked closely with Palladium to creatively develop, strategize and design a new site that better suited Palladium, but more importantly, their customer’s needs.

Adding the functionality of receiving a quote through their website moved the business forward like never before by taking it online. The “Get a Quote” button featured on the home page and throughout the site, enables customers to get a home, auto or life insurance quote with the click of a mouse.

With the launch of their new website, came the launch of a blog – providing clients with up-to-date industry information, upcoming events and addressing any questions or concerns.

bv02 was pleased to work with Palladium Insurance. We successfully built a website for them using the latest technologies, that will ensure a high return on investment and customer satisfaction.

For more information, check out our work page or go straight to Palladium Insurance.

On Wednesday Facebook officially announced that their wildly anticipated location based feature, Facebook Places was up and ready for business. Two days later it has slowly began trickling into Canada,  it seems to be available sporadically throughout the country. As always with every Facebook announcement there has been an out poor of questions, blog posts, and of course scrutiny. As I have not been able to test it out, I will leave the scrutiny aside. What you will find below is an executive summary of what Places is and how to address any privacy concerns you may have.

What Exactly IS Facebook Places?

Facebook Places is a new location “check-in” feature that allows you to share your location with your friends, to see where your friends are, and to discover new places in real time from your mobile device. Facebook Places has already launched on touch.facebook.com  for devices such as the iPad,  and a new version of the iPhone app is now available for you to either update or install.

Once you have updated/installed or visited  touch.facebook.com, you simply go to the Places icon and tap the “check in” button which will provide you with a list of nearby places. If your location does not appear in the list you have the option of searching or creating it. After checking in, your check-in will create a story in your friends’ News Feeds, as well as show up in the Recent Activity section of your page.

It is important to consider that this new feature of Facebook isn’t about sharing your location with the whole world- it’s about sharing places you find with your friends and networks. In saying that, it is important to note that your friends can, by default, check you in without your explicit approval by tagging you. Places tags can be removed by using your mobile device or a web browser and it functions the same way as removing yourself from a photo or video tag. You also have the option to turn off the accessibility for friends to check you in places. Keep reading for more information on how to set your privacy settings for this feature.

What About Foursquare and Gowalla?

Facebook has announced a Facebook Places API with read, write & search API and early partnerships with Yelp, Gowalla and Foursquare. If you are sitting there scratching you head trying to figure out what exactly that means that’s okay! To break it down into plain english, when you check-in with these services you will now have the option to choose if you would like share your check-in with Facebook Places. This service has been announced to only be available in the US but will be gradually rolled out to the rest of us.

What Has Facebook Done To My Privacy Settings (This Time)?

Because of the last Facebook privacy scandal, it seems as though Zuckerberg emphasized the privacy elements associated to this feature during this announcement last Wednedsay.  If you are weary of Facebook Places or you simply want to limit your involvement  with it, I have included an easy “how to” video. This video will provide you with a brief walk through of how to change your privacy settings for this new feature.

How Long Unit Facebook Cashes In?

I see this application as an opportunity as a major cash pull for Facebook, but the question remains as to how long it will take them to begin capitalizing on it? To give credit where credit is due, Facebook typically waits until they have produced a solid quality product that they can stand behind before they start monetization. As with other location based applications, the potential here for advertisements, rewards and incentives is massive and cannot be disregarded. I look forward to seeing how they monetize the platform in its early stages.

What Do You Think?

Will you guys being trying out Facebook Places now that it is available in Canada? Will you use it to connect and share with your friends? Do these location based application raise red flags for you?

It is too early for me to determine my final opinion, so I would love to hear your thoughts.

In 2010, the Canadian College of Health Service Executives celebrated 40 years of advancing the management of health services in Canada. CCHSE has set the bar for professional excellence, and in honour of this milestone, bv02 created a website to showcase their hard work and dedication over the past four decades. bv02 collaborated with CCHSE to design and develop a functional and inspiring site that accurately displays their evolution.

The image gallery on the homepage highlights the memorable moments over the years. The website also features a historical timeline that exposes their vital contribution to advancing health services management in Canada. The implementation of social media tools, such as Twitter and Flickr, extends the accessibility of the website while providing personal value for their target audience.

bv02 worked under a short timeframe in the development of the anniversary website for the College, but swiftly and consistently delivered a site that received high satisfaction when presented to the CCHSE Board of Directors. It was a pleasure working with the Canadian College of Health Service Executives – They are a terrific board and it’s evident that they have a vested interest in local chapter and national health initiatives.

For more information, check out our work section or go directly to their website.

ExpressionEngine 2.0 has been in beta for awhile, but EllisLabs has recently dropped the “beta” and started selling ExpressionEngine 2.0 as a full-fledged product. No worries for existing users – anyone with a current ExpressionEngine 1.x license can still download the latest version (1.6.9). Existing users will be able to upgrade to an ExpressionEngine 2.0 license for $50.

What’s new?

The biggest difference at a glance is the new control panel. The layout is much simpler, and the landing page is broken down into simple “Create”, “Modify” and “View” tabs. The interface is legible and easily customizable.

On the technical side, ExpressionEngine 2.0 is built on the CodeIgniter PHP framework, which gives developers access to a powerful library of features.

The downside is that existing sites will require a little fine tuning before they’re ExpressionEngine 2.0 ready. Also, third-party add-ons will have to be updated to work with ExpressionEngine 2.0. Some existing add-ons have not yet been updated, but there are a large library of ExpressionEngine 2.0 compatible add-ons at http://devot-ee.com/add-ons/ee2/

ExpressionEngine 2.0 is a big step forward for an already robust CMS, and we look forward to using it to build some amazing sites.

Admittedly I used to think this concept was purely fluff.  Until recently.

I’ve been putting quite a bit of thought recently into what our corporate culture is here at bv02.  I’ve come to believe that every organization is responsible to put together a list of core values.  Until that list is clearly communicated to your employees, they have no real basis to mold their performance on.  All employees deserve a set of guidelines outlining your expectations for acceptable behaviour, and until they are provided with those guidelines, do you have any right to reproach them for not meeting those guidelines?  Or better yet, how and when do you decide to reward them for “outstanding” behaviour?

bv02 has a very unique corporate culture that I am very proud of.  There are plenty of companies out there that build websites, but we believe that we are part of something bigger and better – and we all share this belief.  I believe that it is this core value that makes our day-to-day experience more exciting and more rewarding than I ever thought a ‘job’ could be.

Despite all this, I intend to include this topic on the agenda at our next management meeting.  Why? Because I think culture and core values are subjects that need to be revisited once in a while.  As an organization evolves, so will its culture.  These discussions create a renewed sense of excitement about your job, your team and your life in general – that’s a good enough reason alone to include them on the agenda once in a while.

Welcome to Matt’s video corner. I realized recently that I shoot a lot of video.  I shoot video of the things I do, the events I attend, and the places I go.  I’ll be posting updates of all the videos that the bv02 team and I produce for fun.

So. Here is a video summation of my trip to Algonquin Park earlier this year. Enjoy!

Algonquin Park Camping 2010 from Matt Davidson on Vimeo.