Canada's Cool Tools and Top Sites Awards
CanadaOne's Top Site Awards are Back, Only Better!
Started in 2000, CanadaOne's Top Site Awards were created to acknowledges excellent Canadian business websites. Only awarded to the very best on the web, very few of those that applied received a CanadaOne Top Site award.
Now the awards are back, only better. You see we have added a new Cool Tools award category, to help us share some of the best Canadian technology innovations online.
The new awards open on May 2, 2011 with one winner to be announced each month. To qualify, you must be a Canadian business.
Judging Criteria: CanadaOne® Cool Tools Award
We are looking to showcase Canada's best online innovations, whether they are social media platforms, online software programs, mobile apps or some other online tool. We expect to see a lot of great submissions to this category, so for the first month only we will be giving out three awards in this category.
The judging criteria will be:
- originality of the application;
- ease of use (the user interface design quality);
- affordabilty (aka: cost!);
- social media connectivity, if applicable; and
- relevance to small businesses in Canada.
To qualify for this award the tool must have been developed by a Canadian business.
Submissions for this category will open on May 2, 2011
Judging Criteria: CanadaOne® Top Site Award
What makes the TopSite Award unique is that it is open only to Canadian businesses, and the award is based on the business aspects of the winners' websites.
Our selection criteria considers the Design, Content, and Clarity of Purpose of each website.
Design & Branding:
When we look at design we look at it from a web-perspective. How does it look, and how easy is it to use. The site's load time, how user-friendly and easy the website is to navigate, and the overall look of the website are factored into each site's final score.
Content:
When we look at the content of a website our reviewers ask themselves how it relates to the business at hand. The fact that the content related directly to the business purpose of the website enabled the company to score high points for Content.
Clarity of Purpose:
When we look at a website's Clarity of Purpose we are looking for an indication of business goals that were set for the website. For example, with a sales-focused website our reviewers ask themselves how clearly the site communicates the products and the processes necessary to complete the sale. There is an enormous amount that one can do with a business website, and if your goals are internal and may not be clearly indicated on the publicly accessible part of your website, feel free to mention those goals if you apply for a TopSite Award.
Innovative Use of Technology:
Has your business gone beyond the standard marketing brochureware to do use your website in a unique or innovative way? CanadaOne's Top Site Award will recognize sites that are a showcase of business innovation online.
