Chris's passion for all things interactive combined with his analytic capabilities and thoughtful approach are an asset on projects ranging from complex website development through to corporate blogging and tweeting.

Mary-Lynn Bellamy-Willms
CEO, Suburbia Advertising

bWest Interactive Blog

Wordcamp Victoria 2012

I attended, and spoke at, my third Wordcamp Victoria this weekend. I missed the morning sessions due to kid's hockey games, but got there just in time for a nice Ambrosia lunch.

Photo: Rebecca Bollwitt (Credit: YYJ Pics)

Posted on Jan 15 2012 0 Comments Permalink

Social Search - Google Search, Plus Your World

Google made a major announcement yesterday that totally changes the search landscape in terms of what how natural (organic) search results are displayed and more importantly what gets displayed.

Google has transformed its search engine so that it understands not only content, but also people and relationships. They call this "Social Search", and today they introduced three new features:

Posted on Jan 11 2012 0 Comments Permalink

MMXII is “The Year of the Dragon” according to the Chinese calendar – a powerful year. The last 'Year of the Dragon' was Y2K. It’s also a leap year and includes three Friday the 13th’s in January, April and July.

I have a few social media predictions for 2012 but first lets take a look back at what happened in 2011.

Posted on Dec 31 2011 0 Comments Permalink

Early Adopter Advantages for SMB Google Plus Users

Many small businesses already feel that Google+ is an important social platform because Google, one of the most influential sites when it comes to web search site referrals, developed it.

Here are some of the advantages to being a Google+ early adopter.

Posted on Dec 29 2011 0 Comments Permalink

Out with the Rabbit, In with the Dragon

The year of the Rabbit lived up to its billing as a creative, compassionate creature demonstrating strength and intensity (according to the Chinese Zodiac calendar).

It was a pretty awesome year in all respects. I continue to feel blessed to be part of the Victoria social media community, one of most connected and progressive cities in Canada.

Here are a few of the highlights…

Posted on Dec 26 2011 2 Comments Permalink

Google Plus for Business

Google Plus (G+) is not only another great way to connect with people on a more robust engaging platform, now with the launch of their "Brand Pages" it's also an effective way to market your business, with some significant differences.

Posted on Nov 25 2011 1 Comments Permalink

WordCamp Victoria 2012

WordCamp Victoria 2012

I have had the pleasure of speaking at the last two WordCamps in Victoria and was thrilled to be asked to submit a proposal for the next one on January 14th, 2012.

Posted on Nov 24 2011 1 Comments Permalink

Christmas Gifts for Geeks

Guest Post by Kim Perkins

Is there a geek on your Christmas list this holiday season?

Sometimes it can be hard to find gifts for the tech people on your list - or to find something that they don’t already have!

Here are some gift ideas to check out for the geek on your list.

Posted on Nov 14 2011 0 Comments Permalink

8 Reasons Your Social Media Campaign Failed

There are plenty of successful social media campaigns out there, but alas there are just as many (more actually) that are not successful.

I used to cringe when I saw them but it is becoming too common. Odd to see that even the big guys (CPGs, and the like) are still making rookie mistakes.

There are lots reasons social media campaigns fail, here are eight:

Posted on Nov 10 2011 0 Comments Permalink

Google Plus Plays Its Trump Card

It's a competitive industry, and we all know that Facebook, Google and Twitter don't really play fair, right? Well, Google is now playing its trump card!

With the launch of Google+ "Brand Pages" and a new feature called "Direct Connect", Google is firmly integrating + into its web-dominating search platform.

Posted on Nov 8 2011 3 Comments Permalink

Facebook Gives 3rd Party Publishing Apps Equal Treatment

You may not have known that Facebook has an algorithm designed to rank and determine if, and where, your Facebook posts will appear. Much like Google uses an algorithm designed to determine how websites are ranked and displayed in natural search results.

Posted on Nov 7 2011 0 Comments Permalink

Another Pebble in My Shoe

Pebbles in My Shoe It's been a while since I wrote a "Pebble in My Shoe" post, so this one is long overdue and my feet are getting sore. In fact the last one was a year ago.

Here are the pebbles from Aug 2010:

"Personal branding"
#FollowFriday
Facebook - this could be a rock actually...

Posted on Oct 14 2011 1 Comments Permalink

Five Most Dramatic New Updates to Facebook

Picture 170.png Don't blink, like summer in Victoria, you might miss something new at Facebook. Yes they seem to be making updates at a feverish pace recently. Here are a few that you can take advantage of right now:

Posted on Sep 16 2011 1 Comments Permalink

QR Codes on Realtor For Sale Signs

Realtor Sign This is an update to a video blog post I did yesterday about the "Good and Not So Good Uses of QR Codes".

This one I stumbled on walking the dog today. They're everywhere.

Posted on Sep 8 2011 1 Comments Permalink

Setting sail? There's an App for That

Post by Kim Perkins

This summer, we spent two weeks cruising the Gulf Islands in a 26-foot sailboat. While this may sound like a prime opportunity to “get away from it all”, the truth is technology played an important role in keeping us safe and on track throughout the trip.

Posted on Aug 15 2011 3 Comments Permalink