Web development

I'm a freelance web developer based in Scarborough (Yorkshire) and using me you can have something cheap and cheerful, a seriously functional website, or you can have changes made to your site on an ad-hoc basis. It turns out I quite like small businesses (but don't let that put you off contacting me if you have an enormous budget :-) ).

I can also write your content, and take photographs if you wish.

You might be surprised to hear that I'm actually not that bothered about technology. AJAX, Flash, whatever .. I won't be persuading you to adopt any of that unless it's completely appropriate to your business.

It's not that I can't do it, I can .. I have a first class degree in Internet Computing. But what I care about are the people involved .. you and me and the people who will visit your website. All the Internet does is connect people. What's the substance of that momentary relationship and how do we make it mean enough for your visitors to stick around and maybe buy something? What do your website visitors want and what can you provide for them? What's underneath that 'what'? If you run a B&B of course you provide a bed and some breakfast, but from the point of view of a London rattle-train & body odour commuter, you offer a heavenly cocktail of worry-free leisurely breakfasts and an open beach.

You may not be familar with the term 'usability'. A website is usable if .. wait for it .. people can use it. Sounds simple, but it's incredibly powerful. People enter what they want into a search engine, they see your site, they land on a page of your site and follow a path to getting their credit card out or calling you or signing up. The ease with which that happens, the trust they gain in you, whether they leave and go elsewhere, that's all usability. It's what makes a great website, and Google knows and ranks you on (some aspects of) it.

Success depends on you being findable, on conversion (how many of your visitors do you 'convert' into sales, or signups or callers), and on the lifetime value of that customer you just found. My websites aim to maximise all those aspects, and I'll guide you all the way to making the best use of your assets.

Of course at the same time I'll give you what you want .. a low-cost brochure site, a site based on a content management system (so you can amend the content as you wish (I tend to use Drupal or Joomla but Wordpress is there too)) or a custom developed site (I develop sites from scratch using LAMP, 3-tier architecture, object oriented goodness).

Many people publishing a new website think that it will make money on its own, and it might do. But the Internet is so everyday now that it's unlikely to give you a serious income without some serious Internet marketing to get your head above the crowd. The good news is I do that too. So where most web developers do the very basics of SEO (search engine optimisation .. trying to get you onto the front page of Google) and then stop, I can handhold you all the way through search engine marketing, pay per click, how to use social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogging, YouTube et al) and (I worked in PR for twenty years) I can even help you get into the press.

Why not get in touch and let's see if we can work something out.