Category Web development

Jan 17 2015

Five ways to identify weaknesses in your website and how to fix them

I’d like to talk about a topic that most people avoid.  It’s a taboo topic because most business owners are typically positive, upbeat individuals who tend to avoid the negative.  Heaven forbid that any pessimism ever shadow the company!  But… is it pessimism to admit one’s weaknesses?  Absolutely not!  So long as once the weaknesses are identified, the beholder of said information approaches these weaknesses with positivity and puts into place a plan to eliminate them.

 Identifying weaknesses in your website

So then, when talking about websites, how do we find our weaknesses and more importantly what do we do to fix them?

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Dec 23 2014

How to Choose the Best Vendor for Your Project

Supplier managementOver the past several months my company has been inundated with a higher than average amount of request for proposals.  While we’re used to being solicited for several proposals every day, the last few months we’ve witnessed more than triple!

Every week we take the time to determine which ones we will bid on by using our typical approach.  At the beginning of each day we sit down and prioritize, consider the types of projects along with the quality and detail within each.  Finally, we assess the feasibility of any budgets identified.

I’ve noticed a trend that is evidently growing.  A whole lot of request for proposals start out with wording that reveals an issue with the contract awarding processes of many companies.  While the wording slightly varies, it typically starts with “We previously hired a development team that could not deliver….”

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May 8 2013

N-VisionIT Interactive CEO Brent Mondoux receives Forty Under 40 Award

Ottawa Top Forty Under 40Thank you to my wonderful team at N-VisionIT Interactive for motivating me each and every day to give 100% and push myself outside of my comfort zone. Being recognized with a Forty Under 40 award is an honor and I consider it our entire team’s award, I couldn’t have done it without all of you.

Enclosed is a letter that our company sent to our customers and partners, but I’d also wish to thank all of my loyal blog readers as I sincerely appreciate your input, feedback and emails on a daily basis.

Dear Customer,

Every time we work on your website, mobile application or social media, we’re thinking about the big picture: How can we help you help others?

Because of N-VisionIT’s philosophy and because of the support of clients like you, our co-founder and CEO Brent Mondoux has just received the Forty Under 40 award from the Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce. The award, which received 150 nominations this year, recognizes top entrepreneurs who give back to the community.

“I attribute this win to our team’s success,” says Brent, who co-founded N-VisionIT with Reid Ivens in 1999. Since then, our business has gone on to build websites, mobile applications and social media marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies including the likes of Sara Lee and Sony as well as both the Canadian and the U.S. government.

Just four years after we opened, N-VisionIT was named one of Profit Magazine’s Hot 50 Companies. Why? Because, as you know, N-VisionIT cares about helping you connect with and take care of your customers.

“We’re not here just to make clients more money. We’re making clients products and services that will help people, and this award is proof of that,” says Brent, who was named one of Ottawa’s Forty Under 40 because of his expertise in web development and social media, his achievements with N-VisionIT and real estate firm Amplified Investments, and his philanthropic efforts.

Thanks to a client list that includes you, we’re able to donate website creation and other resources to help charities and non-profit organizations help the less fortunate. Since we created N-VisionIT Gives Back, we’ve built websites that have helped raise money for rare diseases and donations for the homeless.

Please join us in congratulating Brent in his commitment to making the world a better place, and in his contribution to businesses like yours which are striving to do the same.

Sincerely,
The team at N-VisionIT Interactive

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

Apr 16 2012

How can I make money with my website?

Make money with websiteHaving talked to thousands of entrepreneurs over the last decade and a half, I’m still surprised by the large amount of companies that are still starting businesses without viable revenue models.  In fact many entrepreneurs are starting companies without any revenue model plan whatsoever!

Granted, there are companies without revenue models that have sold for breathtaking bounties.  Just this recent quarter, Draw Something sold to Zynga for $300 million and Instagram sold to Facebook for a whopping $1 billion.

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Jan 27 2012

What’s an Internet presence? If you said ‘website’ you’re so 2000!

I’ve been having a lot of discussions about what an Internet presence encompasses.  Only a few years ago this conversation would have been brief, discussing primarily website presence, but today an Internet presence has dramatically evolved into much more!  Today Internet presences aren’t centralized around just a website.  While a website is an absolutely essential aspect, other presences have also become vital in ensuring an edge amongst competitors.  Chances are if you’re not there, your competitors are and they’re gaining business from potential customers that don’t even know you exist.  This is almost like if you were a farmer trying to sell your fruit and vegetables on a side street when there’s a huge farmer’s market around the corner.  Quite simply… by not using common sense you are missing out and helping your competitors to get rich while you accept the status quo!    Aspects of an Internet Presence
Jan 19 2012

Internet website acronyms and abbreviations

 Internet website acronyms and abbreviations After years of discussions with thousands of business owners, I’ve come to the realization that there’s no single location to find clear, concise and non-technical descriptions of keywords related to our industry.  For this reason, I’ve decided to create a list of acronyms and abbreviations used when describing projects related to Internet presences on all mediums – web, mobile and social media.

Because technology evolves so quickly I will be adding to this on an ongoing basis so that hopefully it can remain a helpful and useful resource for our leads, clients and any website visitors that may come across this.   If there are acronyms or abbreviations that you feel are too technical and require a more simplified description, or if you feel I’ve missed one that should be added to the list, please leave a comment.

Please feel free to bookmark this resource and refer to it on an as-needed basis.

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Jan 12 2012

The Dimensions of a Successful Website (Part 4 of 4): Functionality

Welcome to the last of the 4-part series that focuses on the dimensions of a successful website.  Congratulations, you’ve made it through all four parts and can pat yourself on the back because clearly you’re dedicated to ensuring the success of your website!  Last in this series, but not least, I’ll be addressing functionality.

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Jan 12 2012

The Dimensions of a Successful Website (Part 3 of 4): Organization

Welcome to the third of a 4-part series that will focus on the dimensions of a successful website.  Today I’ll be addressing the topic of organization.  I’ve had tremendous positive response to this series already receiving dozens of emails, comments and inbound links from all over the Internet so clearly I’m hitting on a valuable topic that many business owners understand the importance of leveraging the Internet as an important ingredient in gaining and maintaining a competitive advantage in what many would refer to as the new economy, one that is significantly more volatile than historically.

Before I get into the topic I’d like to re-iterate what I consider to be a successful website.

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Jan 10 2012

The Dimensions of a Successful Website (Part 2 of 4): Design

Welcome to the second of a 4-part series that will focus on the dimensions of a successful website.  Today I’ll be addressing the topic of design, but, before I do, I’d like to thank all of my readers for their comments, emails and phone calls over the last few weeks.  I never thought that only a month into creating my blog I would have more than 2,000 views and several dozen emails and calls.  I am truly blessed to be able to help so many wonderful businesses take their success to the next level!  It’s a privilege to make a difference one valuable customer at a time.

Before I get into the topic I’d like to re-iterate what I consider to be a successful website.  To me, a successful site is one that accomplishes all of the following goals consistently on an ongoing basis.

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Dec 20 2011

If You Build It, Will They Come?

The dawn of the Internet era.  The “dot com bubble”.  Everyone was entranced by the misconception that if they built it, success and riches would ensue.  It was surreal, the entire world was filled with excitement, a reinvigorated sense of energy almost as if a whole new world was discovered, full of innumerable opportunities and dreams to be fulfilled.  Was it all a fallacy?  No!  Then what went wrong?  The same thing that goes wrong over and over again in so many technology projects.  The failure to plan.  While many people would argue that it was more complex than simply an omission of planning and the argument would quickly spiral into a complex in-depth discussion that covers topics ranging from business to finance to sustainability, in the end every time I’ve had this debate I’ve come out with the glorious prize of the opposing party slowly lowering their head and mumbling “You’re right”.  This is not a reflection of my argumentative skills, but merely my ability to showcase the evidence and help them to understand where it all did in fact go wrong.  The failure to plan happened at every stage – planning, investment, sustainability assessment, cashflow analysis, accountability profiles and the list goes on.  It’s scary to realize how many individuals had their hands in the pot, but nobody spoke up… we were all simply spellbound. Continue reading →