I’ve been building effective web sites for small businesses, organizations and communities since 1995. My first project was the Coloma Valley website, which promotes tourism, business and community in the Coloma-Lotus area of El Dorado County, in northern California’s Gold Country. Soon after, I created a site for real estate broker/agent Candy Wall. I’m pleased and proud to say over fifteen years later, both the Coloma-Lotus Chamber of Commerce and Candy Wall are still good clients.
In January, 2005, I moved back to Oregon, my home state. I continue to take care of my northern California customers, and have enjoyed developing relationships with clients in Corvallis and other Willamette Valley communities. My focus continues to be small businesses and community organizations.
Early in my career I learned that it’s not enough to build a website. You also need to get people to visit the site. And once they’ve arrived, you need to provide an experience that motivates them to stay, return, and purchase your goods or services. An effective website includes a pleasing graphic “look and feel,” along with fresh, useful and relevant content. I specialize in optimizing websites for search engines and for usability.
Site maintenance is often overlooked when designing a web site. Frequently-updated content is key to bringing people back to your site. Back in 2002, long before open source content management systems (CMSs) were available, I developed a for my clients, called the McWebby Website Manager. Many of my clients still use McWebby to update their calendars of events, real estate listings, links to local resources, news updates — any information that changes frequently.
These days there are many alternatives to “rolling your own” software. I develop new sites using WordPress or other CMS. But I’m still always looking for ways to make it easier for people to update their own sites, using WordPress plugins and custom code where necessary.
Of course, you may decide that your time is better spent on other aspects of your business — in which case I’m happy to update your site for you, either on an “as-needed” basis or with a monthly or annual contract.
My goal is to do whatever is necessary to make your website work for you and your business, organization, or community. Contact me today and let me know how I can be of service.
