It is always interesting and exciting doing something that you have never done before. When Elvira of Crescendo Retail contacted Rev Software about designing and building their website and e-store it was a great opportunity to really demonstrate our creativity and programming prowess.

When designing and building this web store it was the nature of the products being sold that presented the most challenges. See, selling oils, vinegars, and spices by weight and volume in different containers, or in no containers at all, over the internet is not something most shopping carts and out-of-the-box solutions can handle. This niche market requires something unique, something custom, a solution that can help customers to find the products they want and purchase them in an easy, intuitive, and attractive manor. We are confident that this is that solution.

For us building the web store for Crescendo meant re-imagining the shopping experience. We researched, and white boarded, and thought hard to come up with ways to reproduce the natural and effective shopping experience you get from walking into a Crescendo store and here is what we came up with:

1. Visual: walking into a Crescendo location you are immediately treated to a feast for the eyes, oaken barrels, spices you can see and smell, and a soft and inviting Mediterranean colour scheme. For the web store we matched this by using super high resolution and high contrast images of the base ingredients to really make the different varieties of oils and vinegars “pop”, we had macro photos taken of all the herbs and spices so you could see them as if you were there, and finally we took the mediterranean colour scheme and expanded it with warm and appealing background images.
2. Selection Process: when you are buying an oil or vinegar in a Crescendo shop you first select your liquid, then you are able to select from a wide variety of containers. Your container selection determines the amount of liquid you purchase as well as adding a decorative quality to the purchase. For the web store we built an intuitive system that guides you through this very same process of first selecting a liquid and then selecting the desired container, all the while keeping you apprised of the final price and amount of product being ordered.
3. Information: when you are in a Crescendo shop you will never be overwhelmed by information, but you also will never leave without knowing all of the important information about your product, how to care for it, and how to use it. This same philosphy was applied to the website through the subtle use of info buttons for the products description, origin, acidity and other important information, the FAQ page for answers to common questions, and the Recipes section for all sorts of amazing ways to use Crescendo products to make amazing meals.

So by identifying these, and other, essential features of shopping Crescendo and ensuring they were preserved in the web store we at Rev Software hope that customers find their experience online as pleasant as their experience in store. Well maybe not quite since we can’t offer samples online .

This website and the accompanying web store is our largest and most important web development to date. It is our opportunity to showcase what we are capable of. We encourage all of our readers, and anyone who enjoys amazing food products and fantastic service to head over to Crescendo Canada’s Web Store.

I only hope people enjoy shopping Crescendo online as much as we enjoyed building it. I would also like to extend a very big thank you to Elvira and Daniel of Crescendo Retail for providing our small company the opportunity to create this website.

With final approval coming in and development of our first app already underway Rev Software is now Revelstoke’s only Apple approved iPhone/iPad development company. This designation provides Rev Software with the unique ability to help the businesses of Revelstoke take advantage of these revolutionary devices.

Why should your business care?

1. With more than 43 million units sold the iPhone is one of the best selling mobile platform in history, giving applications developed on iPhone the largest market of potential customers;
2. Revelstoke is a tourist destination and more and more people are making their choices based on their mobile phone. Already many consumers use apps like Yelp to help you choose a restaurant based on customer reviews, Google maps to locate businesses by type and category close to their location, apps like Order Pizza that allow you to order (yes I said order) pizza straight from your phone… etc.
3. The iPhone/iPad platform can open an entirely new market for your business as well as providing an excellent avenue to engage your existing customers.

It’s simple, people want access to information wherever they are and making your company accessible via the iPhone platform is just another great way to reach out to your customers.

So call, click, or Skype us and find out how we can turn your great ideas into the next big iPhone/iPad app.

It didn’t take long after speaking with Frank and Lisa Fik, the owners of the Alpenrose B&B, about their desires for a new website that I decided that this project was not going to be just another brochure site. No this site needed to be flexible, fast, and most of all it needed to be easy and intuitive for Frank and Lisa to update, edit, and manage all of the sites content. What this site really needed was a tailor made solution.

Enter Django, a Python based web framework that emphasizes re-usability and “pluggability” of components, rapid development, and the principle of DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself). For a little background, the Python programming  language has been around since the late 1980′s, and Django has been around since 2005. When combined you get the strict, efficient, platform independent of Python with a fully functional web framework.

Using Django Rev Software was able to meld Frank and Lisa’s vision of an easy to use fully self maintained website with the sleek modern design created in regular html by Rev Software’s newest designer. The website features a blog, availability calendar, multiple web forms, Flickr and Google Maps integration, multiple layers of available customizations, and more.

Now enough about the website, lets talk about the Alpenrose. This Bed and Breakfast is truly breath taking, from the brilliant Christmas light display on it’s snow covered exterior to the beautiful warmth and tasty home baking inside. The location is just moments away from the ski hill, the breakfast menu is fantastic, and the hosts are warm and welcoming. If you are travelling from out of town you need look no further than the Alpenrose B&B.

http://www.alpenroserevelstoke.com

After all of my ranting about the missing features on Amazon’s Kindle E-Reader it seems that most of the features I had been seeking have finally been implemented on Amazons new large screen Kindle, called the Kindle DX.

Kindle DX provides users with free 3G wireless network support, native PDF support, a larger, 9.7 inches,  textbook friendly screen with 16 shades of gray, smart auto-rotating screen, and a price tag of $489.

This new offering by Amazon ups the ante in the EReader marketplace and finally provides me with the features I require to make the purchase make sense. I will be ordering mine soon and if all goes as planned I will never buy another dead tree reference book again.

Let me know if you think that Amazon’s latest offering is enough for you to give up paper books?

SeoMoz, the website synonymous with search engine optimization, is offering a $1 pro account to the first 5000 people to sign up using the promo code SUCCESS09. SeoMoz is one of the most trusted names in SEO advice, and the $1 pro account will provide you with tons of information and countless tools to help you improve your sites search rankings.

I obtained this information and the promo code via email, since I currently hold a non pro membership at Seomoz, and I have confirmed with their staff that this is a NO obligation offer and that you can cancel after the one month with no string attached. The website provides mountains of information, and the pro account gives you access to countless SEO tools as well as the ability to speak one on one with seo gurus.

If you think your site could be doing better in the search results, or you wonder why you might not be coming up as well as you would like for certain terms, I suggest you head over to www.seomoz.org/trypro and use the promo code SUCCESS09 to get your $1 membership.

With an ever increasing number of online shoppers browsing the web for products, that they may or may not have ever seen, touched, or inspected, the online review is becoming an increasingly important tool. Unbiased non commercial reviews, whether from experts or everyday consumers, enable shoppers to make informed decisions about their purchases.

This holiday season while you are busy shopping consider stopping by one of these 3 sites to help you decide if your purchase is worth the investment:

1. – if they sell it chances are customers have reviewed it. Many of the products I have found on Amazon contain anywhere from 10 to 1,000 reviews many of which are indispensable.
2.  – Buzzillions is a sort of review aggregator, that is to say it collects reviews from a multitude of other sites and organizes them into nice search-able categories. I have found their catalogue to be quite comprehensive and the site is very responsive and easy to navigate.
3.  – When in doubt consult the oracle. If you can’t find a review somewhere in the catacombs of the hive mind then congratulations because you may be the first person to ever purchase that product so do us all a favour and write a review after you buy it.

That is my quick list so please if you know of some other great sites for online reviews let me know.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 the guns of the world fell silent. It is every persons duty to remember those who sacrificed themselves for our way of life. I remember this video by Bryan Adams playing during the Remembrance Day ceremonies of my youth, and it always touched me. So please take a moment and watch the video, and remember those people, people who had as much to live for as your or I, who gave up all their tomorrows for our today.

Living in a small town, and being a business owner myself I can really appreciate the efforts many people take to purchase local. I myself am willing to pay more, say up to 40% more in some cases, not just to support a local business but also for the convenience. But what do you call it when a local merchant is charging say, a 600% markup on a product which they are the only providor of?

Last week at my day job employer, there was concern that a recent computer failure had been caused by a power surge. This in turn brought about a discussion of upgrading many of the non protective “power bars” with proper surge protectors. After counting up the number of protectors needed we headed off to the local computer/electronics store to purchase some new surge protectors. Upon arrival I was shocked and horrified to see the exact same surge protector I had bought for my home (~$9.99 at Costco) priced at $69.99!!! How can they justify this? This was no mere small town markup, or “local premium”; this was price gouging comsumers who had no other choices. Having a total loss for words, we quietly purchased the one we absolutely needed, and have decided we will be heading out of town to purchase more.

Buying local vs shopping out of town

I am all for keeping local business local, but I believe that it is the businesses responsibility to maintain a relationship of trust with their clients. I need to trust that the business I am buying from is being honest and selling their products at a fair markup, fair being where they make a profit and I get value for my money. If a retailer gets too greedy this trust is broken and I feel no guilt in taking my hard earned money out of town, where I will no doubt pay less and get more.

I understand that it costs money to bring in merchandise and that many stores are not large enough to get significant supplier discounts, but a 600% markup? Please.

I decided after much deliberation that rather than buying a whole new laptop ($2,700) I would simply update my aging Apple Powerbook G4 1.67Ghz with a pair of new 250GB Western Digital hard drives (one for backup), a Logitech MX Revolution cordless mouse, Apple wireless keyboard, and 2GB of memory. This all came out to $400, much easier on the wallet.

On the topic of old becoming new again I have discovered an office that is planning to recycle a bunch of old Pentium 4 machines at this weekends recycling, uh, event, I guess you would call it. Given that these machines are not too terribly outdated, most being 2Ghz+ with at least 512mb ram and 40gig hard drives, I thought maybe Rev Software could take them. Since then I have been trying to decide what I could do with these old computers, a few thoughts were buying some larger hard drives and maybe turing one into a webserver, and another into a media server for home. Another idea I came up with was to try my hand at some linux clustering, or pixel farming, or even setup a little LAN gaming room.

Any Suggestions?

Sunday October 26 starting at 1pm you can bring old computers, electronics, batteries, and practically anything else you would like to recycle to the Revelstoke Curling Arena. This is a great opportunity to free up some space at your home or office so get rid of those old VCRs, TVs and computer equipment and feel a little less guilty since they will not end up in the landfill.