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“From the beginning, Darren Shaw from Whitespark Web Development took the time to understand our website redesign needs and target audience. We wanted a website with a clean and easy-to-navigate design, which focused on search engine optimization (SEO) and a simple-to-update content management system. In every regard, Whitespark surpassed our expectations.
The website has been live for just over one month and site traffic has increased by over 500%. This is a massive increase in traffic and one which we had never anticipated. The increase in traffic can be completely attributed to Whitespark's redesign and the SEO best practices used. Moreover, the site is now extremely easy to navigate. Many of our stakeholders, who use our website on a daily basis, have commented on the ease-of-use and navigability of the new site.
Whitespark put in a tremendous amount of work and the results are evident in the final product. I would wholeheartedly recommend Whitespark for any future website redesign needs as I am confident that Darren's company ranks among the best in Western Canada.”
Derek Hopfner
2008 Executive Coordinator
Student Legal Services of Edmonton
Also, see this blog post on the 500% traffic increase
“Whitespark and in particular Darren Shaw put together a number of excellent websites for our hotel operations. We were looking to develop attractive sites along with an easy to use content management system and Whitespark was able to give us everything we were looking for.
With our previous sites, simple changes took weeks to implement by an outside party. Today they take minutes and we complete them ourselves when and whereever we want. For example, the head of our hotel group recently wanted to change the operating hours listed for our restaurants, add new lunch and dinner menus, and announce a special event. With the Whitespark CMS, I was able to do this in less than five minutes.
Darren also uses leading edge technologies to put the sites together and integrates the tools we need to maximize our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts. We now feel we have a website that will serve as a foundation to drive more traffic to our hotels and make our advertising dollars more effective - that is, fulfill the promise of the Internet.
Finally and most importantly, the feedback from our customers has been fantastic.”
Bruce Alton
Chief Operating Officer
Nunastar Properties Inc.
Explorer Hotel - Yellowknife, NWT
Frobisher Inn - Iqaluit, Nunavut
“Prior to working with Whitespark we had worked with several different web development companies over the course of about 6 years. These companies all underperformed in terms of delivering cost effective solutions to our needs and we had difficulties attempting to hold these companies to task with regular updates to our website.
We were introduced to Darren Shaw and Whitespark Web Development when we were searching for a new web development company. Darren demonstrated his abilities in web design and content management system development and deployment. Darren by far had the best ideas and concepts on how to create functionality without complexity, so we chose Darren to provide web services for EvelineCharles.
Darren has excelled in all areas of the original design concepts. The CMS designed for EvelineCharles is used every day by our marketing department to keep information fresh and up to date. The CMS is very easy to learn and use. Any issues that we experienced during development usually involved a third party provider such as the website hosting company or the ecommerce card processing company. In every case Darren worked with all parties to expedite a solution. The project stayed on task and on budget and we are very satisfied with the results that are in many cases better than originally envisioned.
We continue to work with Whitespark on a regular basis for new features to our website and search engine optimization. Darren has earned our trust at EvelineCharles and shows incredible integrity with all aspects of his business. I have no hesitation in recommending Darren and his company in developing and deploying web sites and applications to complement the site.”
Barry Charles
Chief Information Officer
EVELINECHARLES SALONS & SPAS
http://www.evelinecharles.com
http://www.ecacademy.com
“In early 2009 my partners and I were debating whether to expand our shop’s informational web page into an e-commerce website. We sent an email enquiry to Whitespark Web Development. Darren Shaw of Whitespark responded immediately to our enquiry. At our first meeting we discussed with Darren our hesitations regarding the feasibility of our proposed venture. However, his enthusiasm and positive attitude towards our specialty shop convinced us that we were ready for a more dramatic online presence.
The individuals involved with Stylus Fine Pens + are devoted to quality pens and paper, but our computer knowledge is limited. However, we did know that we did not want a generic website created from a “cookie-cutter” template. Darren’s response was, “Do not worry, that is not the type of website I build for my clients.” The resulting e-commerce site that Darren and his team at Whitespark created for us is specific to our aesthetic preferences and our technical requirements. These features are present both in the front end (that the user views and navigates) and in the back end, where the CMS is sophisticated and easy to use.
The development of a custom programmed e-commerce website is an involved process, both for the developer and the client. Darren was able to explore and find solutions to circumstances and issues that arose along the way. We placed our faith in Whitespark’s knowledge and abilities in website development, and we have been rewarded with an e-commerce site that we are very pleased with, both technically and visually.”
J. N. Leech
Co-owner
Stylus Fine Pens +
“I have been very impressed with the level of service and professionalism displayed by Darren Shaw of Whitespark Web Development. During my recent work on a website redesign with Darren, his level of knowledge and consulting toward building a premium, effective and efficiently running website has been outstanding. As well, his attention to detail during the process of the redesign as well as post-project completion has been incomparable. Once the site was complete, Darren’s attention to follow-up questions, issues or concerns were met with speed, detailed explanations, and effective solutions.
The CMS system Darren created is by far, in my opinion, the most user-friendly and efficient program I have encountered. Darren is willing to accommodate the client with ongoing needs to maintain the site with efficiency and ease using the CMS and I feel confident in using the CMS to maintain a polished, professional, and consistent look and feel of the redesigned website.
Thank you Darren for all of your work and I look forward to working with you again on projects in the future.”
Regards,
Ann Lukey
Green Dot Marketing
http://www.verespicton.com
“Thanks to Darren (Whitespark Web Development), we have now achieved a site that is everything we have ever dreamed of, hoped for and beyond. His generosity, kindness, unbelievable patience, and overall greatness as a human being, made the web design process thoroughly enjoyable and successful.
In addition, Darren was willing to put in early mornings and sleepless nights just to make sure that our site was perfected. He even took time while on vacation to ensure that our site launch went off without a hitch, which in our opinion, speaks volumes of his character and his dedication to those he works with. Darren’s diligent efforts and attention to detail is appreciated more than we can really express, as without Whitespark’s involvement, The Carbon Farmer Inc. would have a very limited existence in the world.
We have received nothing but positive feedback from those who have visited our site, and thanks to Darren’s expertise, we are already very visible among all of the popular search engines. We look forward to partnering with Darren in our future web site endeavours.
Thank you for all that you do Darren!”
Brad Rabiey and Rebecca Edwards
Directors
The Carbon Farmer Inc.
http://www.thecarbonfarmer.ca
“I would have to say without a doubt, Whitespark is the most professional and service oriented web development/design company I have ever been involved with. After we parted ways with our initial web development company (on account of poor account management on their part), we conducted an exhaustive search for the best possible web development/design value out there. We spoke to many of the top rated developers in Western Canada and as a result I can confidently say Whitespark was the perfect match for our organization.
Darren Shaw’s service, response times, quality of work, creativity and sincere passion in seeing his clients succeed is unparalleled, not to mention far superior to our previous developers. Under the guidance of Darren, with only working together for two months, our website has reached an all time high in sales and has earned us thousands of dollars in additional revenue. Choosing Whitespark was the best decision we ever made as we are now on the fast track to website success.”
Mark Holowaychuk
Owner/Founder
Live Pure Inc.
http://www.LivePureHealth.ca
"Darren literally saved me and my website from a near disaster when we started collaborating on my website. It needed serious rescuing from 2 very unfortunate prior experiences. Our working together has been nothing but smooth going. He gives helpful and thoughtful advice and is always ready to make my life easier. I have learned a ton from him and continue to grow because of him. We have formed a very comfortable, reliable working relationship which is invaluable. I can't say enough...I am deeply appreciative."
Caron Malecki
Owner
http://www.caronm.com
"Whitespark has been a great asset for gravitypope and our website right from the beginning. From site development, redesigns and SEO campaigns, the expertise and professionalism of Whitespark has made our site grow and has been nothing but an asset for our web presence."
Jon Berg
Director of Internet Sales and Marketing
Gravity Pope
http://www.gravitypope.com
“UTSB Research has a staff of only two people, so we were worried about the amount of work involved in the launch of a new website. Darren at Whitespark was great to work with. He took care of everything and made the creation and implementation of our new site really easy.”
Jenaya Webb
UTSB
http://www.utsb.ca
“We recently hired Whitespark to construct our website and could not be more pleased with the result. There was a large amount of information to wade through and organize in an easy-to-follow manner, but Darren did it. We are extremely pleased with the result and would recommend Darren to any other company wanting to build a website.”
Heather Robertson
Co-owner
Folkgraphis Frames
http://www.folkgraphis.com
“We are very pleased with the new web site you have designed for Norcada! The graphic design is beautiful and the page layout is very well structured. The content management software is also working very well for us. We are proud of our new web site and have been showing it off to everyone we know!
I appreciated the enthusiasm and constructive suggestions you brought to the web design project and your prompt response to all the design and layout changes we had requested. It has been a real pleasure working with you on this project, and I look forward to further collaboration between us in the future!”
Yuebin Ning
Co-owner
Norcada Inc.
http://www.norcada.com
“Darren Shaw (Whitespark) was referred to us by our previous web designer to design & produce a secure site needed to provide our board of directors with confidential information.
In the initial meeting with Darren and discussing what we needed, he was very helpful with additional ideas and suggestions to make our site easy to use and at the same time professional and secure. When Darren combined our ideas with his own suggestions to us and presented the final site, our board was extremely happy with both the design and concept and we required no changes. Also, the Content Management System allows us to update the site regularly and is so user friendly, we do not have to contact Darren (Whitespark) to update our site and we are able to do it at our own convenience.
We have been extremely satisfied with Whitespark and the service that we received that have switched our web host and domain to Whitespark as well. We experienced slow response and occasional downtime with our previous web host, but everything on Whitespark hosting has been great!”
Brenda Nelson
Marketing Coordinator
River City Credit Union
http://www.river-citycu.com
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