Canada’s Worst Charity Website 2013 is in the books and we couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out.
12 great charities
Over 40,000 total votes
2 great winners and…
What’s that? Yes, I said two.
First and foremost hats off to the Wild Bird Care Centre (WBCC) in Ottawa. They reached out to their supporters and community at an unprecedented level, garnering over 16,000 votes to claim the top prize of a $20,000 website makeover from rtraction.
How?
Engagement.
Webvideos. Memes. Radio. Television. Facebook. Twitter. The Wild Bird Care Centre displayed an uncanny knack for getting their message out in a way that was completely them and fully in tune with CWCW 2013′s spirit of supporter and community engagement and friendly competition.
But we couldn’t award just one prize.
The runner-up in CWCW 2013, the AIDS Committee of Guelph (ACG) , showed too much passion, heart and commitment to let them go away empty-handed. Like the WBCC, they did a great job getting their message out to supporters, their community and like-minded organizations through Twitter and Facebook and other media. They also did an amazing job of face-to-face engagement, with volunteers heading into the community to spread the word about AIDS Guelph and their need for a new website. Because of all that, the ACG is walking away with a $15,000 website makeover—coming in 2014—so if you’re a supporter of this great charity stay tuned for more details!
There’s an old saying that talks about there only being one winner. We here at rtraction beg to differ. As far as we’re concerned 12 great charities worked tirelessly for three weeks to raise awareness in their communities and get out the vote. The fact they all succeeded beyond our wildest expectations says to us that the thousands of people who use these great organizations’ services are winners, too.
Congratulations to everyone and stay tuned for details on Canada’s Worst Charity Website 2014!
rtraction is Southwestern Ontario’s leading development team. We grow our business by building the best team, exceeding our customers’ expectations and following up with world class customer care.
We make great websites—with awesome people, for awesome people.
We are proud members of TechAlliance and the London Chamber of Commerce. We are proud of the work we’ve done for small- to medium-sized local and regional businesses, and the expertise we’ve contributed to causes and charities that are important to our community.
We are strong believers in the open source movement and are always looking for ways to strengthen and give back to the community.
We’ve experienced phenomenal growth over the last 12 years and are looking to add another talented, energetic and hard-working member to our already amazing team.
The Position
rtraction is currently looking for a talented and ambitious Drupal Developer who is interested in a full-time, permanent career with exciting opportunities.
Our ideal candidate will be a graduate from a college or university computer science program and have 2-3 years of professional experience with Drupal development, JavaScript, HTML, CSS and responsive/adaptive layout. Experience with WordPress, CodeIgniter, CakePHP and Laravel would be a considered assets. Experience with LAMP/MAMP/WAMP stacks, Photoshop and GIT would be considered desirable.
What you will do
You will develop, support and enhance websites and web-based applications in a Windows or Mac environment, performing rigorous testing through each stage of development. You will also assist with training, and enhancing user manuals and technical documentation.
What you will bring
• A well-rounded knowledge of computers and programming technologies;
• Strong communication, organizational and time management skills;
• Proven problem-solving and analytical abilities;
• The ability to learn quickly and continuously;
• The ability to work both independently and with others;
• Technical documentation skills;
• Experience in web design and programming.
We’re looking for a rational thinker with a genuine interest in web and software development. We’re a small, but powerful team of developers looking for a keen and highly ambitious person who wants to work in a highly collaborative environment. This role will suit an intelligent, detail-oriented and self-motivated person who is dedicated, willing to learn and able to see things through to completion.
How to Apply
Please email a resume and cover letter outlining salary expectations to careers@rtraction.com. Please include your Stack Overflow profile. We thank all applicants for applying but only those being considered for an interview will be contacted.
rtraction is Southwestern Ontario’s leading development team. We grow our business by building the best team, exceeding our customers’ expectations and following up with world class customer care.
We make great websites—with great people, for great people.
We are proud members of TechAlliance and the London Chamber of Commerce. We are proud of the work we’ve done for small- to medium-sized local and regional businesses, and the expertise we’ve contributed to causes and charities that are important to our community.
We’ve experienced phenomenal growth over the last 11 years and are looking to add another talented, energetic and hard-working member to our team.
The Position
rtraction is currently looking for a talented and ambitious Intermediate Web Developer who is interested in a full-time, permanent career with exciting opportunities.
You must be a graduate from a college or university computer science program and have 3 years of professional experience with PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, HTML, CSS and XHTML. Experience with WordPress, Drupal and CodeIgniter would be a major asset. You must be familiar with current Windows operating systems. Experience with LAMP/MAMP/WAMP stacks and GIT would be considered desirable.
What you will do
You will develop, support and enhance websites and web-based applications in a Windows environment, performing rigorous testing through each stage of development. You will also assist with training, and enhancing user manuals and technical documentation.
What you will bring
• A well-rounded knowledge of computers and programming technologies;
• Strong communication, organizational and time management skills;
• Proven problem-solving and analytical abilities;
• The ability to learn quickly and continuously;
• The ability to work both independently and with others;
• Technical documentation skills;
• Experience in web design and programming.
We’re looking for a rational thinker with a genuine interest in web and software development. We’re a small, but powerful team of developers looking for a keen and highly ambitious person who wants to work in a highly collaborative environment. This role will suit an intelligent, detail-oriented and self-motivated person who is dedicated, willing to learn and able to see things through to completion.
How to Apply
Please email a resume and cover letter outlining salary expectations to careers@rtraction.com. Please include your Stack Overflow profile. We thank all applicants for applying but only those being considered for an interview will be contacted.
Why did they arrive on your electronic doorstep in the first place?
If you’re serious about building a strong, lasting presence on the web for your organization, then being able to answer those questions and many more is absolutely essential. That’s where web analytics come in. Whether you use Google Analytics or another statistics-gathering system, you owe it to your organization to have as much information at your disposal as possible.
Why, I hear you asking (because you know I have an answer)?
Simple. Like any business, the more information you know about your customers and their habits, the easier it is to tailor your message and website to meet those needs.
But there’s another reason to implement and value analytics on your website, and from your organization’s perspective it’s equally as compelling.
So far in these blog posts, I’ve talked about a lot of things you can put in to your website to make it better for your visitors. Well, having the right tools to compile and analyze and make sense of your visitors’ habits and preferences is THE major way that a website can pay you — and your organization — back in a big way.
Like any good relationship, a strong website is the ultimate two-way conversation, with each side contributing to your site’s success. Without analytics, you can throw all the great content and fancy design in the world at a website, but it will never pay you back with information that can strengthen your organization and the way you go about your business. So don’t think of analytics as an arcane tool only tech savvy web developers use. Instead, think of them as a strong equal partner in defining your online approach, and ultimately the success or failure of your efforts to speak clearly and directly with the Internet masses.
If you know of a registered charity’s website that needs to improve its analytics, Click Here to Lend a Hand!
Not long ago, just having a website marked an organization as being at the cutting edge. Today? Tell someone you have a website and you’re lucky to get a blank, indifferent stare. Never mind that more people than ever use their smart phones as their primary mobile computing device.
Really? Yes, really — in fact, a study out of the United States shows unequivocally how much the world has changed. According to figures, 55 per cent of cellphone owners now use their phones to go online, and 31 per cent say they mostly go online using their phones. In addition, 57 per cent of survey participants said they wouldn’t recommend a site if they had trouble accessing it on their phones, and 34 per cent would visit a competing site if they did have a bad experience.
What does that mean for your website?
In simple terms, if you haven’t put much thought into how your site works or looks on today’s new generation of superphones (it’s not good enough to just be smart these days), then you’re missing the boat and losing visitors who could eventually turn into volunteers and donors. Long story short — if your site isn’t mobile-ready, you’re missing out!
If you know of a registered charity’s website that needs help becoming mobile-ready, Click Here to Lend a Hand!
