Web Design in Ottawa
Custom, Accessible Websites for Ottawa Organizations
Web Design in Ottawa
We can design and build a custom website for your Ottawa business, association or not-for-profit. There is no Ottawa office: our team works with you over video from Toronto, and builds every site to the accessibility standards Ontario organizations are held to.
Ottawa web design for many audiences
Ottawa’s economy is unlike any other city’s in Canada. Alongside the federal government sit hundreds of associations, not-for-profits and consultancies that work with it, a large technology sector centred on Kanata, and a growing community of professional services firms.
Many of these organizations want the same things from a website: clear information for several different audiences, content their staff can keep up to date, and accessibility that stands up to scrutiny.
Accessible by design
Most organizations in Ontario with 50 or more employees must meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA on their public website under the AODA, and many Ottawa organizations work with federal clients who expect the same. We design and build to WCAG 2.1 AA as standard: colour contrast, keyboard navigation, screen reader testing, clear headings and accessible forms.
What we can build for Ottawa organizations
- Association and not-for-profit websites with member areas, events and resource libraries.
- Technology company websites that explain complex products in plain language.
- Consultancy and professional services sites built to win proposals and inquiries.
- Bilingual-ready builds structured so a French version can be added cleanly.
Being found in Ottawa, in English and French
Ottawa organizations often need to reach two language communities, on both sides of the river. A French version only helps in search when each page has its own address, title and description, and Google is told which pages are translations of each other. We set that up on every bilingual build.
Accessibility work helps here too. Descriptive headings, alt text and meaningful link text make a page easier for search engines to understand as well as for people using screen readers. For growth after launch, our SEO service works on content and local visibility for the searches your audiences make.
Working together from outside Ottawa
Our Canadian office is in Toronto, and we would run workshops and reviews with you over video. Our Toronto team can travel when meeting in person makes sense. That works for organizations anywhere in the city, from Centretown and the ByWard Market to Kanata, Nepean and Orléans, and across the river in Gatineau.
See also our pages on web design in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.
Why us
What Ottawa organizations get from Blue Flamingo
Workshop to launch with one team
Our in-house designers and developers take your project from the first workshop to launch, so what is agreed in a meeting reaches the build intact.
Designed for several audiences
Members, funders, the public and government readers each need a clear route through the site. We plan the structure around them before any visual design starts.
Accessibility you can stand behind
We build to WCAG 2.1 AA and test with keyboards and screen readers before launch, which matters when funders or federal clients ask how accessible your site is.
Remote by default
Workshops and reviews run over video, which suits teams that are busy or spread out. When an in-person session would help, our Toronto team can come to you.
Supported after launch
The team that built your site can host it, update it and keep improving it. Our care plans explain how.
How we work
Our web design process
Five stages, the same on every project. You see and approve the plan, the layout and the design before anything is built, so nothing comes as a surprise.
01
Workshop
We start with a workshop, in person or over video, with the people who have a stake in the site. We look at what your current site does well and badly, who you need to reach, what they search for, what your competitors do, and the content the new site needs. You leave with a clear brief and a page plan.
02
Wireframes and prototype
Next we wireframe the key pages: plain layouts that settle what goes where before anyone thinks about colours. Once you’ve approved them, we design a clickable prototype in Figma, so you can try the site on a laptop or phone before a line of code is written.
03
Build
Our developers build the site in-house, most often on WordPress, or on Django and Python where the site is closer to an application. Every page is built to load quickly, work with a keyboard and screen reader, and give Google a clean structure to read.
04
Testing
We test as we go and again before launch: across browsers and devices, for speed and accessibility, and against the forms and integrations your business relies on. Your team then checks the site too, so the people who will use it every day sign it off.
05
Launch and beyond
We launch with redirects from your old addresses, analytics in place and a final round of checks. After that, the same team can host, maintain and improve the site on one of our care plans, so you always know who to call.
Care plans
Hosting and upkeep for Ottawa organizations
Once your site is live it needs secure hosting, regular updates and someone to ask when something has to change. Our care plans cover hosting, maintenance and support, from the team that built it.
Hosting and protection
Your site runs on Kinsta’s managed WordPress hosting on Google Cloud.
- Cloudflare security, including a WAF and DDoS protection
- SSL and a global CDN for quick loading
- Staging and development environments alongside the live site
Maintenance schedule
Daily, weekly and monthly tasks keep the site current and secure.
- Daily monitoring of uptime and security
- Automatic backups you can restore from at several points
- Weekly critical updates and malware scanning
- Monthly routine updates, database clean-ups and error checks
Support and insight
Changes and fixes go to developers through a ticketing system, with clear ownership.
- In-house developers handle fixes and improvements
- Every request tracked and prioritized
- Dashboard reporting on traffic, rankings and technical health
AI services
AI services for Ottawa organizations
Associations and consultancies answer the same questions, write the same follow-ups and take the same calls week after week. These four AI services can handle part of that work, built by our team with developers checking each release.
AI-Assisted Development
Custom tools and systems delivered sooner and for less, using AI in development with experienced engineers overseeing the result.
- Early working versions of apps, tools and workflows
- CRM and operational systems built for your organization
- AI-assisted code, validated by our developers
- Secure deployment with support and ongoing refinement
AI Chatbots
A chatbot that answers from your own publications and pages, written in your voice and connected to the tools your staff use.
- Trained on your website, reports and guides
- Visitor support and lead qualification
- Retrieval from your knowledge base and documents
- Integration with your CRM and workflows
AI videos
Explainer and campaign videos produced faster and more affordably, with AI used in the visuals and a full production process around it.
- Scripting, storyboarding and the narrative
- AI-enhanced visuals from photos you already have
- Animation and social-ready versions
- Voiceover, music and final audio balancing
AI Voice for Call Handling
A natural-sounding voice assistant that answers incoming calls, qualifies inquiries and schedules appointments.
- Inbound calls handled through conversation
- Appointments booked and scheduled
- Routing based on what each caller needs
- Follow-ups and reminders without staff time
Showcase
Case studies
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View project
Case study
Beutel Goodman
Read the case study: Beutel GoodmanBridging modern and traditional in a new website for one of Canada’s largest investment managers
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View project
Case study
Life & Death Matters
Read the case study: Life & Death MattersCustom software for a leading palliative care education provider
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View project
Case study
GLP
Read the case study: GLPConstructing a next-generation digital presence for a global logistics leader
From the outset, our experience with Blue Flamingo has been very positive.
Maureen Watts
General Manager
FAQs
Web design in Ottawa: your questions
Is there a Blue Flamingo office in Ottawa?
No. Our Canadian office is in Toronto. Ottawa projects run over video, and our Toronto team can travel to you for a workshop when that helps.
Can you build a bilingual website?
Yes. We build WordPress sites with proper multilingual support, so English and French versions each have their own addresses, menus and search settings. Translation itself can be done by your team or a translation partner.
How much does a website cost for an Ottawa organization?
The price follows the scope: how many pages, which features, whether the site is bilingual and what it connects to. We quote after a discovery conversation, and the quote is fixed and itemized in Canadian dollars. If a board or a grant has set your budget, tell us on the first call and we can talk through what fits within it.
How long will the project take?
Plan on three to six months between the first workshop and launch day. Bilingual sites, member areas and integrations can extend that, and simpler sites can be quicker. We agree the timeline at the outset.
Can you help us meet the AODA?
Yes. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act requires most Ontario organizations with 50 or more staff to have a public website that meets WCAG 2.0 Level AA. Our standard is the newer WCAG 2.1 AA, checked with keyboard and screen reader testing, and we can write an accessibility statement for you to publish at launch.
Do you design from scratch, and on what platform?
Each design is made for your organization with no theme bought in, which keeps the code light and the pages fast. Most sites are built on WordPress by our in-house team. Online stores use WooCommerce or Shopify, and we build custom web applications when a project needs one.
Can a new site help us appear higher on Google?
A new site gives you a sound technical starting point: fast pages, sensible structure and headings, metadata, structured data, and redirects that carry over what your old pages had earned. On bilingual sites we also set up the language signals Google uses. Beyond that, our SEO and pay per click services help you compete for more searches.
Will you maintain the site after launch?
Yes. Our hosting and care plans include secure hosting, backups, monitoring, routine updates and developer support through a ticketing system, from the people who built the site.
Start a project
Schedule a consultation
What happens next?
Once you submit the form, one of our experts will contact you to set up a meeting to clarify your requirements and build a quote. We can sign an NDA if you need us to.
