Advice columnist, fifteen year old Jaqi, recently launched an online advice column for kids and teens called Ask Jaqi to answer questions and help solve problems.

(What? She can be a client! )

The Client
Pierson Bark Park is a privately owned, four acre canine recreation area in Fishers, Indiana. I met Heather Pierson shortly after moving to Indiana.

The Need
Heather had a website but was ready for a redesign. Her content was out-of-date and she had no idea how to update it herself. The link to get directions was broken and she was also unhappy with the restrictive layout of the site, primarily because of the extremely small content area. She wanted to maintain the existing identity of the site and also needed to be careful to maintain her Google rankings.

The Solution
The new Pierson Bark Park site is in WordPress, so Heather can easily make her own content changes without worrying about accidentally breaking the layout or format of the site. I created a WordPress theme using the same colors and some of the same graphic elements from the original site, so the site is still familiar.

There is much more focus on the content in the new site than there was in the previous site. We’ve also made it more useful by adding more content and by using the Google Maps API to include an interactive directions page for new visitors. I put 301 redirect instructions in the .htaccess file to maintain the existing page rank and incorporated some SEO WordPress plugins to optimize the pages and hopefully improve their rank over time.

The Client
Jennifer Kirkwood was having her e-commerce site, La Dolce Diva, redesigned by my friend Padraic Ryan (who is an x-cart genius, btw) and wanted to add a blog. Padraic put us in touch and we got to work.

The Need
Jennifer wanted her new blog to complement her online shop and yet be a bit more personal. In addition to blogging, she wanted a few extra goodies… a Product Spotlight area, Italian word of the day, and a quote of the day. She was also in a hurry; her redesigned shop had just launched, so she wanted to get the new blog online quickly.

The Solution
I started with the graphics and colors from her shop and created three rough drafts for a new WordPress theme. As soon as she viewed them, Jennifer’s creativity took the lead and she merged the ideas into a master plan. Less than a week after we were introduced by Padraic, we had Jennifer’s new blog built and launched! We’re continuing to add some goodies here and there and Jennifer has proven to be a prolific and engaging blogger.

Claude Thorniley is a general contractor in Southeastern Michigan, running a full service residential home remodeling firm. He needed a simple site to use a portfolio and a contact point for potential new clients to reach him. I put together a site for him that is (1) simple so people can quickly find what they came for and (2) clean, with a muted color scheme so the photos of his past projects really stand out. (And hopefully he’ll be adding more photos soon!)