Why The Funny Name – PairoWoodies?

We get asked that a lot!  “Is it something to do with ‘wood ducks’?” one client asked us years ago. He was an outdoor sportsmen that enjoyed hunting and fishing. No, it’s not about wood ducks. Some people get some other strange ideas in their head…  that we all laugh and chuckle about. And that’s ok by us – it’s a unique name, and gives us an opportunity to introduce ourselves.   Sometimes the business is called “PairOfWoodies” – which makes it even more interesting in our discussions.  WE don’t call our business ‘PairOfWoodies’ – it’s just what others seem to hear at times.

So what’s it all about? Well, PairoWoodies Web Consulting is a partnership between Wendy Woudstra and Ian Scott.  Back when the Internet was just starting to become a thing of curiosity, Wendy and Ian became acquainted and both had different strengths.  Wendy was interested in expanding her own empire on the Internet with her interest in publishing while Ian was interested in learning more about the technology.  Ian had already learned about the efficacy of Internet Marketing through news groups for his custom fishing rod building business, while Wendy had design and technical skills and was working on offering those skills to other businesses.  Ian made Wendy a deal: Teach me what you know, and I’ll get you some clients.

Turned out that this was such a great partnership arrangement back in 1997, that it was obvious that a business partnership should be entered into!

It also turned out that Wendy, because of her last name, “Woudstra,” had often had the nick name ‘Woody’ in her school days.  And guess what? After a soccer game in the Ontario Provincial High School Championships, Ian was given the nick name “Woody” by his soccer team mates.  It’s a long story, but it’s because of Ian’s work as a left full back in one particular championship game against an opposing team’s right winger who was called “Woody.”

When the two were discussing a business partnership, and were in the “what’s the name of it going to be” mode, they both laughed at the suggestion of “Pair Of Woodies.”  But why not? Well, it was  bit…  well.. hard to say when answering the phone.  The shortened form, ‘Pairo’Woodies” seemed easier to say, and a business was born.

Since 1997, the two Woodies have been providing internet web development services including web design and consulting, e-commerce solutions, search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing solutions for other businesses.  Not only have we done this locally, but we have an international client base which includes clients in Canada, the USA, and the United Kingdom.  Our own website gets left behind as we spend most of our time on our clients – not ourselves.

The Principals

Wendy Woudstra

Wendy grew up in Edmonton, Alberta and received a degree from the University of Alberta. Like many of us who went to universities, the degree bestowed on Wendy has nothing to do with Internet Marketing, Design, or Programming.  All that stuff was self learned, and a very good job she did.. with clients in developing websites as close as Edmonton, AB and as far away as China!  Helping those clients realize that the “Internet” was not some passing fad and helping them to sell their products and get more recognition was a huge thing of satisfaction to Wendy.  Today, PairoWoodies still continues to service many of Wendy’s original clients  in the business that eventually became “PairoWoodies.”

Wendy also has an interest in the publishing industry. For several years, she was the “Guide” for the publishing site at about.com.  Considered an expert on this niche, she was able to help many people as well as businesses succeed.  Eventually branching out on her own, she is the webmaster of the hugely popular website, Publishing Central where many who want to seek publishers, and where publishers seek new authors, frequent regularly. Because of Wendy’s experience, we’ve helped high calibre and popular children’s book authors like Elizabeth Winthrop (USA) and Michael Coleman (UK) launch their very first websites years ago.

Ian Scott

Ian Scott, AKA Ian Hugh Scott (why not use your full name.. it’s who you are and differentiates you name wise from all the other Ian Scott’s out there), has a long and varied history as well. Born in Northern Ireland, he came to Canada with his parents, where after a few years, he promptly got sick.. sick enough to spend the greater part of 4 years in Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto. This gave Ian much time to read Hardy Boy novels…. and come up with big dreams.  One of the biggest dreams was that he would help other people.

For about 20 years, Ian worked in the Law Enforcement area… and in some tough areas. I know.. Toronto isn’t as considered as “tough” as say, Belfast.. but getting shot at or defending against knife attacks no matter where you are requires a sense of something or other to keep you sane. Eventually, Ian left this occupation for a number of reasons including philosophical – why does a government increase the risk of crime by regulating those activities that are consensual?

And the shift work was killing Ian, when he wanted to see his sons that lived 6 hours away… so learning new skills was vital.  One of the most interesting things to Ian was search engine optimization. Back in 1997, it was one thing to get high search engine page rankings for various terms (any one remember WebCrawler, Lycos and Infoseek?). Today, search engine technology is much different, but we’ve stayed on top of the changes.

Through constant research and learning, we’ve managed to keep our clients very high in the search engine ranking pages.. not matter what the going thing was.. remember Alta Vista? Today, it’s Google and Bing.. and as they have matured in their own algorithms. our clients maintain excellent rankings and continue to do business with us.

When not helping clients with content creation, search engine optimization and local marketing, he might be found on a river and later updating his fly fishing website. Or, experimenting with some new ingredients for his home winemaking activities.  Ian also lives with an adorable Boston Terrier puppy named Beans and after much research, has become an advocate for a raw meat diet for dogs.

But what Ian really enjoys is helping business owners improve their search engine rankings, improve their reputation when it’s been wrongly maligned, and help them create better websites for an improved Internet presence!

We keep up to date on the latest trends, and want to help you position yourself before the trend matures.

Could you use our help? Give us a call at (519) 940-3504 or email info@pairowoodies.com. Get the team of the two Woodies and the rest of  their team on your side!