The directory has added over 4300 attractions across Canada. These newly added listings further enhance the website’s comprehensive coverage of Attractions, Shopping, Sports & Recreation, Entertainment, and Travel Services, offering a one-stop platform for travelers exploring the vast Canadian landscape. [MORE]
Added 47 National Parks, 130 National Historical Sites, and 647 First Nations, to provide the most complete listings (and links) to the national treasures our visitors are most interested in discovering and exploring.
We added several smaller communities along the Trans-Canada Highway #1 through PEI and updated the attractions listings for the communities already in our website’s editorial. We give you more reasons to stay longer and more things to do while visiting PEI.
Continuing coverage of the Kicking Horse Construction Project and the Castle Junction-Radium-Golden detour in the shoulder seasons to accommodate a major construction project between Lake Louise and Golden.
We have added overviews to the other Trans-Canada routes, including Ontario’s #7 Southern Route, #11 northern route, and in the west the #3 Crowsnest Route (with FULL detailed itineraries), and the #16 Yellowhead Route. As well as routes to the North: the Alaska Highway , the Dempster Highway and Inuvik-to-Tuk Highway and the Trans-Labrador Highway Route.
We have added Route Overviews and Itinerary details about the Crowsnest Highway #3 through southern BC and Alberta. We also added the towns along the route to the Towns & Cities info for their respectives provinces (and integrated communities up and down the Okanagan Valley between the TCH #1 and the Crowsnest#3.
We are adding the Castle Junction-Radium-Golden detour to accommodate a major construction project between Lake Louise and Golden.
We also started adding other major routes (Ontario’s 401) and other Trans-Canada routes, including Ontario’s #7 southern route, Ontario’s #11 northern route, and in the west the #3 Crowsnest Highway, and the #16 Yellowhead Highway.
TransCanadaHighway.com has been providing travellers updates on the website and on social media about travel options and alternative routes, given the shutdown of the TCH#1 and Coquihalla #5 (as well as the #7, #3 and #99) due to flood damage and landslides across southwest BC in November.
We redesigned out visual standards for self-promotional posts and links,and expanded news from just Facebook, to Twitter and LinkedIn. Added link-back posts for provinces, cities, and itineraries to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
When the COVID pandemic hit, we added COVID and the related Travel Restrictions info to the TransCanadaHighway.com website. Posted updates in any provincial travel restrictions to website and to our social media channels.
We also provided over-the-phone guidance to help folks return to their homes at the start of travel restrictions, and helped travellers who had necessary travel to navigate the changing restrictions.
After 20 years using Microsoft SQL Server technology, we used the first few months of COVID to transfer the website to WordPress, whicxh helped us to improve functionality, the quality of graphics, and our integration with Google Maps.
‘We merged in key local information and content from our thirty sister FoundLocally.com community directory websites, and shifted the brand focus from the #1 national highway to all about travel in and across Canada.
For 20 years we were focused on the main #1 Highway coast to coast. Looking to a post-COVID travel boom in Canada from Canadian and global visitors, we began to expand to cover other routes (the #16 Yellowhead Highway, the Crowsnest #3 Route, the #11 Northern Ontario Route. And we also better serve travellers to Canada’s Arctic: Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon.
Added itineraries for the Montreal-Toronto-Sudbury detour off main #17 highway, to include the east-west Highway 401 (the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, NOT the Trans-Canada) and the north-south Highway 400
We rebuilt all three websites: MovingInCanada,, TransCanadaHighway, and FoundLocally to use “megamenus” and streamline the look and navigation, and improve cross-platform consistency,at the same time speeding up the web page loading.
We realized we are not “a company with three websites + marketing services”, but we are “a marketing company, with three websites that PROVE (and support) our marketing services!”. To do this we moved the site to WordPress, to improve the functionality and graphics.
We also reviewed our service offerings, and provided more detail about the many great services we have provided clients over our 19 years in business.
In April, we implemented SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to provide secure forms, encrypted communication, as well as better integration between our business directory and Google maps using our LocalMap feature, across our websites
To help celebrate Canada’s 150th Birthday, and the people visiting many parts of the country to share in that, we have added, updated, and upgraded lots of information around our site and in our business listings.
We have published the history of the Trans-Canada Highway, and integrated it with the itineraries and community content of our popular travel-planning site, TransCanadaHighway.com. This helps people plan and enjoy their cross-Canada road trips while celebrating Canada 150.
Updated security on Registered Contacts to improve database security
New WordPress site combines content form Blog, Media Kit and Website Audit domains… using Responsive Design.
We have expanded our masonry layout (Pinterest-style interface) to a broad range of site sections, with visual links to a wide range of content and [random] featured businesses in our directory
re-branding to reflect (a) national scope and (b) our two strongest online brands
After 5 years of dual sites (desktop & mobile) converted all sites, content (over 1,000 pages ), and listings to Responsive Design
Now link directly to hotel’s, motel’s, B&B’s reservations info & pricing for BEST RATES and latest info
Included logos for listings, and photos for website content to create greater interest. The site used a “responsive” Masonry technique to display listing content for all display/device resolutions. We also added a showcase of random “featured” business.
Showed listings on FoundLocally in Google map layout, with different feature layers. What’s around YOU?
Helped to expand local-focused Facebook, Twitter & social media interest
FoundLocally ended a five year relationship with Casale Media (now called Index Exchange) when they converted to “programmatic advertising” technology which adversely affected ad targeting and publisher rates.
Now link directly to hotel’s, motel’s, B&B’s, and campground’s reservations pages, info & pricing for BEST RATES and latest info (no longer through a third party hotel booking website, which forced users to pay a booking fee and hotels to pay a 20% reservation commission)
The Trans-Canada Highway was closed at Canmore when the flash floods affected several rivers and creeks in the Calgary and Kananaskis area. We provided online coverage and over-the phone support for travellers and truckers on the website and on our social media of alternative routes between Alberta and British Columbia.
Integrated Google Translate so users from other countries and cultures can read FoundLocally in their native language.
Automatically crop and resize uploaded images used for Business Listing, and their events news, jobs, coupons. This replaces links to images on advertiser website (when file URLs change over time, broken links occurred).
This also speeds up web pages because all uploaded images are re-sized to 250 pixels square, regardless of original image size or file format.
This new version provides FULL access to the extensive informational content and the business directory on all brands of mobile smartphones without an “App”.
We had considered creating a Trans-Canada Highway “app”, but ruled out the high cost of separate iPhone, Blackberry (at the time, the largest market share), Microsoft, and Android apps. Focusing on a mobile website meant only one mobile version to update, since all mobile devices came with a browser app.
Now easier for visitors to share our content on THEIR feeds and pages, using AddThis plugin
Trans-Canada Highway washed out between Medicine Hat, AB and Swift Current Saskatchewan, which forced a 100 km detour north to Highway 7. We provided online coverage of detour routes, and provided telephone support for a dozen cross-Canada cycle marathons to navigate. the wash-out.
Added mile-by-mile (kilomoetre by kilometre) details including cross-roads, rivers, natural features, attractions, accommodation, towns
Environmental Travel content added to the web site.
Enabled dissemination of key posts (listings, news, events, etc) to other blogs and site
Includes new features, news, SEO tips, and insdutry tip sheets
Added details itineraries to TransCanadaHighway.com with mile-by-mile (kilometre-by kilometre) details including cross-roads, natural features, attractions, accommodation, towns
Launched Toronto, North York, Etobicoke, Scarborough, and York Region community information for TransCanadaHighway.com, even though its not on the Trans-Canada Route.
Community information and business listings added local value to the TransCanadaHighway.com website in these comunities
Used Social media to enhance conversations & interactions with our followers for each of our 3 sites
Itineraries show details around exits, interchanges, and for communities along the highway
Start of expansion west of GTA along the Highway 401 corridor with Kitchener-Waterloo information and business listings
Start of expansion of content into the Greater Toronto Area (“GTA”) with community infomation and business listings for Mississauga-Brampton, and Oakville-Burlington.
Began expansion into Greater Toronto Area (GTA) & Golden Horseshoe Region, with Hamilton , even though not on the main Trans-Canada Route.
Began adding community information for Southern Ontario, with Niagara Falls and Barrie-Muskoka, the most-popular travel destinations for residents of Toronto and southern Ontario. For Niagara Falls (as we did for Sault Ste Marie) we included content on both sides of the Canada-USA border.
Add photos and content about Calgary’s 2005 Flood
Added directories and information for St John’s, Halifax, Charlottetown, and Fredericton. As well as information about numerous communities in the four Maritime provinces. We’re now Coast to Coast!
Linked with BookDirect for online hotel bookings, integrated with directory and hotel search
After completing local research and photography, launched more sites along Trans-Canada Highway for Thunder Bay (and other communities in noerthwestern Ontario) and Ottawa-Gatineau (and communities up and down the Ottawa valley)
st. Added new Virtual Tours for many cities using QuickTime Virtual Tours added for cities across West. Since iPhones, iPads, Blackberry, and Android devices did not support QuickTime, we are working on an HTML5 version (to be released in 2021)
Expanded features and geographic scope with content and photography for Shuswap Lake and Okanagan regions in the interior of British Columbia
Added more communities along the #17 Trans-Canada Highway, including Sudbury, the nearby Manitoulin Island communities, and Sault Ste Marie (both Ontario and Michigan) to strengthen national travel information.
Launched TransCanadaHighway.com, with travel information about provinces and cities along the #1 national highway coast to coast, as well as descriptions of each of the major segments along the way.
TransCanadaHighway.com was launched across Canada,with detailed local content and photography added for six communities from Victoria to Winnipeg.
