Web DesignServices

Strategic Analysis and Planning

Your website serves a need, whether it be marketing, sales, public relations, human resources, membership management, content delivery, and so on. Or all of the above. In order for your website to be effective at serving your needs and reaching your goals, you need to make decisions – decisions about content, decisions about design, and decisions about priorities (i.e. there is only one home page).

Hiring someone:

• who excels at evaluating businesses and organizations;
• who excels at filtering, refining and focusing needs and goals;
• who has a keen aesthetic eye, extensive experience designing interactive websites, and understands the technical factors involved in creating a website; and
• who understands user behavior on websites, conversion optimization, and web design strategies –

hiring someone like that is worth the time and money spent – because otherwise it is often money lost. I specialize in these areas.

I specialize in distilling and communicating the essence and value of businesses and organizations into stunning, effective and user-friendly websites. In the process I often infuse purpose and passion back into the people who run their businesses and organizations by reflecting back what is beautiful about their work and sharing it with the world through their website.

And I specialize at identifying exactly what you are after and planning how to optimally achieve that. Exploring, defining, organizing, strategizing and planning come first, before designing, in order for you to have the most successful outcome.

Includes: Project Assessment, Strategical Analysis and Planning, Market Research, Web & Content Strategy, Information Architecture Planning, Conversion Optimization Planning.

“I came to David with an idea for a website that I was not even sure was a possibility. From the first interaction, David seemed to grasp the concept I had in mind and in a short amount of time responded with page mock ups, scope of work proposal and a very fair estimate.

As the site progressed, he incorporated my new ideas and was able to move with the evolving project. In the end, I have a beautiful and highly functional website that has allowed me to expand my business into new markets.”

– James Keeley,
Spiritual Healer and Teacher

Custom Web Design Services

Good design creates value and builds credibility. It creates value by clarifying, beautifying and strategically presenting your message and your value proposition. It builds credibility because users recognize quality in design and unconsciously associate and attribute that quality to the website’s owner.

I love design and put my heart into my work.  I strive to design beautiful websites that reflect the best of who you are and what your business offers, websites that are intuitive, engaging, and effective at reaching your audience and meeting your goals.  I design for beauty, clarity, simplicity, conversion-optimization, user-friendliness, and functionality.

When I begin the design process,

• I start with you, the client, and your products and services;
• I get to know who you are and what is unique and excellent about you, your organization and what you are offering;
• I review what existing branding you have and collaboratively explore all of your ideas;
• We evaluate what design elements are standard and expected for your industry and for the type of products and services you offer;
• We review and discuss what is successful about other websites in your industry and we explore new ways to reach your audience and your goals.

This builds the foundation for how we will approach your new design. View samples of my work.

Includes: User Interface Design, User Interaction Design, User Experience design and other related web design services.

Service Option: Web Design Review

If you have an un-implemented design or an existing website and you want a professional design review, I can provide insightful constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement where I see them.

Service Option: Web Design Consulting

If you want more than just a review of your website, such as ongoing consulting on a project, contact me to discuss your needs.

Service Option: Original Custom Design

I work intimately with you, creating a design uniquely specific to your needs and the attributes of your business or organization. This yields the optimal result as it is customized specifically for you and your needs.  It is like having a custom tailored suit rather than buying one off the rack.

Service Option: Customized Template Design

There are times when using a template is the better choice. Sometimes the needs and characteristics of a particular business or organization fit well with the types of pre-built templates that exist on the marketplace. Other times clients do not have the budget for an original custom design. In both of these cases, starting with a design template purchased from the marketplace is the most appropriate solution for their needs.

“Without knowing what to ask for, you provided exactly what I wanted. Very user friendly, very intuitive navigation, and much more understandable to clients. The praises keep coming in for the new website, and the pre-order form has saved me so much time it’s astounding. This is a very professional website, and your credit is deserved.”

-Rick Pallaziol,
Weapons of Choice Theatrical Supplies

“David understood me immediately, and had creative ideas and thoughts, and 2 weeks later, i had the most fantastic PERSONAL fitting website i could have imagined, right on my deadline.  David’s creativity, patience, personal care and vision are the foundation of my recommendation to anyone with a wish for a professional website.”

-Thomas Hass,
Hass Productions

Website Content Consulting, Writing and Editing

For a sample of my work with content, review this website.

Website Content Strategy

In line with the purpose and goals of your new website, I can review your marketing copy and media assets (images, video, audio files, etc.) and help you strategically refine, filter, edit, re-shape, re-organize and otherwise prepare it for your website.

Website Copy Writing & Editing

While normally I do not take on writing full copy for my client’s website, one area in which I excel is in learning about your business as an outsider, synthesizing what is unique and valuable and helping you to strategically enhance your communication about who you are and what you do in a way that is clear, comprehensive, and user-friendly.

“You have a knack in my opinion for getting the concepts so clear that people get the point right away.”

– Dr. Robert Ibrahim Jaffe,
Spiritual Healer and Teacher

Front End Development

My programming expertise is front-end development (what the user sees and interacts with) and customizing designs and functional needs into WordPress.  Due to the extensibility of content management systems like WordPress, it is now possible to build complex websites more efficiently and less expensively within a fairly simple administrator-friendly framework. I routinely work with HTML5, CSS3, jQuery and PHP, and I occasionally collaborate with additional programmers when needed.

Programming Excellence

It matters how your website is programmed.  You may not see the code when you visit your website, but think of buying a home or a car – it matters how your house was built or what is under the hood of your car.  It matters because for the time, effort and money spent having your website built, you want it to last, you will want to make changes easily, you want your website to grow with you and your business – otherwise it slowly becomes a burden rather than a means of growth.  I have inherited the job of fixing many websites abandoned by programmers who did not care about giving their clients something that could easily be changed or updated.  Sometimes it was easier and less expensive to start over.

I spend extra time up front programming your website properly to save you time and money after I am done and so your website runs optimally. This means using programming languages, programming techniques and solutions that support the longevity of your website, faster download speeds, search engine optimization, cross browser and cross device compatibility, ease of content updates, ease of CMS updates, ease of programming future design or functionality upgrades, ease of site maintenance and repair.

Below are some of the programming guidelines that I follow with my client’s website:

• Organized, efficient, commented code so any programmer can step in easily and so updates and modifications are easier and less expensive;
• Hand Coded, tableless layout Web standard HTML5 and CSS3;
• Using programming languages that have a future, (sorry Flash);
• Researching and selecting well supported and developed WordPress Plugins and Concrete5 Addons for longevity;
• Cross browser compatible for all browsers with 1% or more of usage market share;
• Optionally Responsively coded for custom mobile browsing experiences;
• Use of CSS and vector icons for design accents when possible for smaller file sizes, faster download speeds and greater scalability across browser environments;
• Documenting core programming modifications to CMS systems for easy reference when maintaining or updating your system;
• Programmed for easier content updates, design modifications, site maintenance, and long term stability.

“When I log in for the first time to client’s websites to help them with their search engine optimization and online visibility needs, sometimes I cringe when I see how the website back-end is set up. Some websites that I work on are incredibly difficult to update content, manage page titles and tags, and add in functionality for newsletters or other marketing add-ons that clients want.

No such issues exist when I work with David’s websites. He builds sites that are elegant, goal-oriented, and easy for both technical and non-technical people to manage. David is great to work with and responsive to the needs of his clients and collaborators. I would recommend him to anyone looking for quality website design.”

– David Abramson,
Business Exposure Specialist

Natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

I have observed and studied for over 7 years the foundational principles of optimizing content and the underlying code of websites to best position them for high ranking success in natural search engine results. I have engaged with and learned from dedicated SEO experts and professionals on behalf of past clients. Natural search engine ranking can have a very tangible effect on increased, qualified, buying prospects for your products and services. At the same time, finding someone who is in true service to you and your needs with regard to SEO, and who will help you identify the right strategy for you and not just use what techniques they learned in a few videos online – finding such a person takes discernment and good judge of character on your part, so be wise. SEO is a marketing strategy, and it should be considered in relation to your situation and weighed in its value with other marketing approaches – so that your dollars are spent wisely.

Core SEO Service

On-going SEO effectiveness is the result of on-going SEO efforts. It is rarely just a one time thing, (exception being for a business with a small marketing budget and a clearly defined niche that has no natural search engine competition). Therefor my recommendation and my approach with my clients is a combination of both teaching and implementation.

TEACHING / SEO STRATEGY I can teach you the core principles of search engine optimization and help you understand, evaluate and choose wisely from the various approaches used to increase natural search engine ranking. What is right for you depends on many factors such as:

• what market you are after and how best to compete in that market;
• if you prefer to engage in on-going SEO yourself or hire someone to do so;
• if you wish to engage in on-going efforts, what your natural preferences are, (ie. social marketing, content writing, profile services);
• how diverse or focused your products and services are;
• if your products and services are location based;
• what your budget is, and so on…

Making the right choices up front can save you much time and effort in the short run and the long haul.

IMPLEMENTING WEBSITE SEO I can implement those principles for you with regard to your website, such as optimizing your content, the underlying code of your website, and by integrating other traffic building tools into your website such as a blog or social sharing tools.

Advanced SEO Service

There is a limit to what I can offer on my own.  In order to reach more aggressive natural search engine optimization goals you need dedicated professionals who constantly monitor this fast paced industry, who have and use the necessary tools and resources of the trade, and who know how to use them efficiently and effectively.  In these cases I can connect you with one of my partners who specialize in this area, and if you like I can be involved to support your success, as you like.

“David, your great job in making my site so ‘Google-able’ is producing a steady flow of inquiries and some nice bookings for the Summer and Fall. I am constantly being told by my clients that they called me because they like the site so much…thanks again for the great job you did!”

– Eric Webster,
Private Chef

Website Updates, Maintenance, Repair and Support

Website Updates

We grow and adapt and so do our businesses.  It is crucial to keep your website continually updated, reflecting:

• the changing characteristics of your business,
• the evolving products and services you offer,
• fresh samples of your work,
• new staff or equipment,
• or improved ways in which you engage with your customers and clients.

As soon as your website starts to fall behind, you use it less, promote it less, rely on it less, and those who do visit your website find outdated information.  If you need someone to update the content or design of your website, let me know.

Website Maintenance

If you own a website built with WordPress, (almost 20% of the existing websites worldwide are),  or Concrete5, you will need to continually update both your version of that system, but also the additional plugins and addons that work with your website.  Both of these tasks can be carried out easily on your own from your admin area, but sometimes there are unexpected problems that arrise when updating.  If you would like to have me do this for you on a regular basis, let me know.

Website Repair and Support

Is your website not doing what you want it to do?  Do you need it fixed, updated or converted into a new system that works better?  Would you like to be trained on how to use your WordPress or Concrete5 website while getting it fixed or updated? Do you need support with Adobe Dreamweaver?  Contact me with the website address of your website and I can take a look.

I  regularly work on a Mac with HTML(5), CSS(3), jQuery, PHP, Sketch, WordPress and a host of other web design and development tools.

“Thank you very much David, for resolving my issues promptly and for a fair price.  Also want to give you props for educating me on my coding in the future and for the extra time you took to explain things to me.  You are a true professional!”

– Monterio Weaver,
iwant2go.org