Introduction to web page design
and hosting in Southwest Quebec

As one of my web design clients, you automatically become part of the website network I am gradually building for Southwest Quebec. Access points to the region are being developed using the domain names that I have acquired such as www.chateauguayvalley.com, www.southwestquebec.com, www.applesfranklin.com, www.appleshemmingford.com, www.coveyhill.com and www.franklincentre.com, as well as dozens of others in both languages. These “portals” will offer free links to all of my website clients, thus increasing the traffic to your site.

In addition to your website, I include my clients in other projects such as continued promotion of agri-tourism in the Chateauguay Valley as I have done for many years through travel articles in The Gazette (Montreal) and text/photo features in The Gleaner (Huntingdon), Le Soleil (Chateauguay), Vision (Chateauguay) and CV Magazine. You can view travel articles I produced for The Gazette which often cover tours through Franklin: www.philnorton.net/christmas2005/travelarticles.html.

My work appears regularly on the websites and brochures of the MRC Haut St-Laurent as well as Tourisme Suroit and I continue to build and maintain several websites for apple growers, artists and small businesses around Franklin and Southwest Quebec, including my existing www.pommesfranklin.com that promotes apple growers in the area. I also hold several domain names such as www.pommesquebec.com and www.pommeshemmingford.com still to be developed.

Each year I produce a calendar of the Haut St. Laurent region so I am always taking new photos to build my photo archive. The 2008 calendar is now available.

I am dedicated to promoting the Haut St-Laurent region while respecting its unique rural and small town character. I believe tourism and economic development play a role in maintaining our rural character as we face increasing urban pressure and higher costs of living on the land. Our region must unite to create an agro-tourism product and a regional image that is competitive with other regions that offer similar attractions. Good photography and simple web design with easy navigation are the keys.

Portfolio

Please see samples of the websites that I built: www.philnorton.net.

For Franklin, (www.franklincentre.com) I put up a basic site in response to the proposal to close our elementary school. Vergers Ocenas was one of the first U-pick orchards to go online locally: www.vergersocenas.com. Blair’s Orchard (www.blairorchard.com) is an example of an apple business website using colorful photography and titles to create a desirable tourism image. It has already been revised for the 2007 season. I also produced their promotional brochure. The newest are www.vergerdupirate.com and www.vergerbiologique.com and under construction are the official websites for the Municipality of Franklin and the Southwest Quebec Apple Growers Association. The Havelock Fair website has music (www.havelockfair.com). The Fair Board purchased 3 “official” pages while I offer a free link to a parallel site filled with photos that I maintain independently.

Photography

For illustrations for your website, I offer my digital photo archive with thousands of images of the Chateauguay Valley, Covey Hill and the communities along the border, particularly Franklin apple and maple syrup country where I lived for 4 years and on Covey Hill Road in Havelock where I lived for 12 years. All of these images are available free of charge for use on websites that I build and host to supplement those you supply.

Phil Norton, La Phototheque

www.philnorton.com

613-476-1167

450-827-2349