Cheers to 20 Years of Websolutions.ca!

Did you know that there are only 20 legal moves on the first turn of a game of chess? Or how about the fact that 20 is the magic number of turns for solving any Rubik’s Cube, regardless of how it’s arranged? 

Hopefully you’re not tired of seeing the number 20 yet, because I saved the best for last: what if I told you that Websolutions.ca is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year?! 

That’s right! This small but mighty company has reached one heck of a milestone, and it has quite the story to go along with it. 

In the spirit of celebrating our big 2-0, we thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane by revisiting the journey of Websolutions.ca and its many milestones, accomplishments and changes over the years (there are a lot!). So grab your beverage of choice, settle into your comfiest sitting apparatus, and relax as we embark on this reminiscing journey two decades in the making.

Our story begins in Bathurst, New Brunswick, inside a small one-window NBCC classroom, in a time before the advent of the smartphone and the colossal rise of social media. Josh Gammon, then a student, dreamed up an idea that would one day blossom into a successful and multi-faceted business. 

Before becoming the powerhouse of digital ingenuity it is today, Websolutions.ca was a much smaller operation - just a few friends coding websites together. The creation of our first Content Management System, wsCMS (precursor to what would eventually become The Kitchen) was the first of many technological innovations we would come to pioneer.

With so much wind behind our sails from the get-go, it wasn’t long before Websolutions.ca became officially incorporated in 2005 - just one year after its creation! From this point on, we were officially the real deal and ready to grow bigger and better. And grow is precisely what we did.

This year marked the beginning of a new era for us. On February 1st, 2007,  Websolutions.ca acquired its very own dedicated office space for its growing number of employees! Say goodbye to the classroom; say hello to a prime Downtown Bathurst location! 

With our new home above Impression Printing in the beautiful core of Downtown Bathurst, our foothold in the region was solidified for the first time, and we were well on track for continued growth and prosperity.

Being acknowledged for a job well done always feels great, and in 2011, Websolutions.ca was recognized in a big way. This year, we received official recognition from the Government of New Brunswick for creating innovative technologies used by our growing number of clients!

The work we do to give our clients a digital edge is something our team has always been proud of, and recognition like this is a fantastic motivator that pushes us to keep striving for greater heights. Hold on tight, though, because we’re just getting started.

2015 was a year of innovation for Websolutions.ca, as this was the year we launched our flagship service: our custom-built CMS, The Kitchen! If you’re familiar with our CMS, then you already know why this is a huge deal, but if not, here’s a quick rundown: 

The Kitchen is a content management system that allows our clients to easily access and modify parts of their website in ways that would normally require some level of programming knowledge. This convenience and accessibility has been an important part of helping us create well over 500 quality, user-friendly websites over the years, and we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. 

The value provided by The Kitchen is an important piece of the Websolutions.ca brand, and has only gotten better since it was first introduced. In 2024, our most up-to-date version of The Kitchen was used for the UGONB website - a project that we’re quite proud of.

It was time for Websolutions.ca to venture into new territory. 2016 marked the year our business expanded beyond just website development and dived into the world of social media and advertising. 

This meant we were no longer simply a web development firm; we now provided a host of digital solutions to address the adapting needs of modern businesses. Since then, we’ve worked on countless social and advertising projects for dozens of clients across Atlantic Canada. 

For some additional context, over the years our total media spend for clients on Google alone has surpassed  $1,000,000! Add on another $1,000,000+ on Facebook/Meta AND over $200,000 on print, T.V. and radio ads, and you can start to get a clearer picture of the scope we’re talking about here.

Upgrade time! At the tail end of 2019, Websolutions.ca would move into a brand new office space in Downtown Bathurst that was more accommodating to our ever-growing number of staff. 

This picturesque location, nestled comfortably along the Nepisiguit River, continues to serve as our main base of operations to this day. And the view is pretty spectacular, too.

Speaking of new offices, 2022 saw another huge leap for us - the opening of a second location in the beautiful city of Fredericton, New Brunswick! This presence in the Capitol Region was our gateway into a whole new world of potential clients and opportunities to strut our stuff as leaders in the industry. 

It also made room for even more employees. In fact, in just the last 3 years our staff had doubled to a whopping 13 talented programmers, artists, designers and writers. Websolutions.ca was in a better spot than it ever had been before, and we were poised to keep up our awesome track record in a brand new and exciting market.

With two whole decades under our belt, it’s no wonder we had so many great stories to explore. Websolutions.ca has certainly come a long way since its early days, and there’s no shortage of accomplishments for us to be proud of or milestones to celebrate!

It can be both humbling and inspiring to revisit the past, and as we turn the page from this chapter onto the next, we would be hard pressed not to feel excited at the possibilities that lie before us. With a powerful, passionate and diligent team at the helm, I think it’s safe to say that the next 20 years are going to be something to behold.

The story of Websolutions.ca wouldn’t be complete without talking about what drives us - helping out the communities we live in and serve. We’ve always been proud of our small-town roots, and have done our best to give back to our communities as much as possible over the years. 

For as long as this company has existed, Josh has continuously given back and shown appreciation for his community through several different initiatives and donations. 

These include: donations to the Royal Canadian Legion, local and regional food banks, mental health initiatives and Curl for Cancer; cash sponsorships for Four Directions, multiple minor league hockey and basketball players, theater art students for trips, and the Volleyball Club; and pro bono work for various organizations, including the Bathurst Curling Club, the Chaleur Chamber of Commerce, Bathurst Hospitality Days, Spirit of Giving, Imagine Chaleur, the Downtown Bathurst Revitalization Committee, and more.