Clients

I've been building websites since 1997. While I still build websites, I offer the most value before you begin, by determining what goals your website should achieve, what resources you will need to build and maintain it, and how you will measure success. I can also help develop online strategies beyond building a website, such as social media, search marketing, email campaigns, traffic analytics, and more.

Swank Enrichment Center

Problem: Dr. Linda Swank, an Austin-based speech  pathologist, was getting contradictory advice from multiple sources about SEO, online marketing, and web content strategy. She had a great-looking redesign in the works but needed help developing content that satisfied the needs of her clients and prospects, as well as search engines.

Solution: A couple of conversations and a brief review of her website's organization was all that was needed to steer Dr. Swank in the right direction.

Results: Dr. Swank's testimonial says it all:

Noah,

I wanted to thank you for guiding me through the mazes of online advertising, website building, inbound and outbound marketing, etc. As you know I am a simple private practice speech-language therapist trying to promote my own business. I am from a generation before the high-tech world. I mean I typed my Masters Thesis on a typewriter!!!

I want to tell you how easy you made it to walk into the 21st century advertising world. If you need someone to verify how good you are at translating the high tech world to a low tech person, I am your person!

Your ideas were practical and easy to implement. You gave me information about how to use the internet tools for the benefit of my business. I want to let you know that your input has increased my contacts by 5 fold (5 times as many as before I worked with you). Thank you again for being patient and discerning as to my business needs. I highly recommend you as "doctor" to cure those web-based challenges!

Best wishes to you and your business.

Linda K Swank, PhD, CCC-SLP
Swank Enrichment Center
6207 Bee Caves Rd. Suite 360
Austin, Texas 78746


Acido Folico

Problem: The National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) needed to develop a website to raise awareness among Hispanic women of the importance of taking folic acid. They needed a simple, low-cost website that they could maintain themselves, with the ability to generate an email subscription list and to allow people to sign up to receive free stuff.

Solution: I built a Typepad-powered site with a customized theme, set up FeedBurner to allow people to subscribe to news, and a simple email form (using JustHumans verification) to collect information from people wishing to receive free stuff. I also trained HMHB's non-technical staff on how to update the site.


Calvert Investments

Problem: Calvert's website no longer adequately represented their business's brand or operations. Over many years the site had accreted content and was confusing to navigate. They needed something totally new.  

Solution: As Sr. E-Commerce Manager at Calvert, I assisted in establishing business objectives for a new website and evaluating and selecting a redesign vendor (Navigation Arts). I was the project manager for the new site, working daily with Navigation Arts and Calvert's internal stakeholders to reach consensus on everything from architecture to final design. Once templates were handed off, I built the majority of pages on the site in Calvert's content-management system (CMS).

Results: Calvert's new website swept the 2009 Mutual Fund Education Alliance STAR Awards, winning in each of the five categories for which it was submitted. Navigation Arts also garnered awards for the site from the Web Marketing Association. Calvert's website has also generated a huge number of leads from financial advisors, thanks in large part to its unique, low-barrier registration process, which I helped develop.


DC BABY    

Problem: We needed to promote a book we were self-publishing for parents in the Washington, DC area. We had a budget of zero.

Solution: Launched Movable Type-powered blog in July 2005. Over the next few months my wife, Sarah, made near-daily blog posts and built a sizable readership.

Results: The book was published in November 2005 and was sold out by March 2006. A second edition published in 2008 continues to sell equally well.


External Partners Group

Problem: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention needed a website for the nonprofit working group. With a modest budget, the site needed to offer newsletter subscriptions, randomly rotating factoids, and frequently updated news. It also needed to be maintainable by non-technical staff.

Solution: A Joomla-powered website using the free CMS's available modules for the factoids, newsletter signup, new postings and all other functionality. 


Grupthink

Problem: Grupthink introduced a professional version of its feedback community platform and needed help refining and promoting it.

Solution: As an ongoing strategic consultant, I collaborate with the principals in weekly brainstorming sessions to identify target markets and promotional opportunities. I also execute on web analytics, search marketing, sales consultation, and more.

Hard Money Bankers, LLC

Problem: Hard Money Bankers, a real estate lending company, needed a new look to their website—fast—because they were about to get a lot of media attention. Their current site employed the Drupal content-management system's default templates; in other words, it had no design. They did have a fabulous mockup from a graphic designer—but the files were in Photoshop, not HTML/CSS or anything else easily converted to a web design.

Solution: Learned Drupal and implemented the new design in 48 hours.



Modwest

Problem: Modwest, a 10-year-old web hosting company, needed to establish strategic direction for its next phase of growth.

Solution: As an ongoing strategic consultant, I collaborate with the principals in weekly brainstorming sessions to develop customer acquisition and retention campaigns. I also develop media plans, and assist with messaging for website, blog, email, social media and more.     
 

SIRAN

Problem: The Sustainable Investment Research Analyst Network (SIRAN) wanted to make major architectural changes to their website, which was not designed to accommodate this easily. They also needed to update their interactive tools and add a members-only bulletin board.

Solution: Designed a new site in Adobe Dreamweaver, using libraries and templates to make the architecture much more flexible (and also more search-engine-friendly). Updated tools using PHP/MySql. Created a members-only section using Vbulletin.