Mary has come with a very tight deadline due to the fact her existing website developer had abandoned her website redesign project leaving its broken carcass visible to any visitors.

She also had a precise vision of what she wanted and admitted immediately she would not accept anything less than perfection.

I have recognised the pressing nature of the project and noted that Mary’s design, while visually excellent, could benefit from some fine-tuning by a tech-oriented person. This fine-tuning would include SEO optimisation for both the website structure and its copy.

I have immediately requested login details for the website admin panel and installed an “Under Construction” cover to protect Mary’s reputation.

I have then sat down with Mary to map out the website structure and plan our work.
Mary and I have then created the website together, during the series of working consultations. She was happy with the amount of creative control that gave her, and I was happy with the website statistics and performance as it improved Mary’s PPC (pay-per-click) results.

We have created a great contact form and linked it throughout the website as Mary wanted more control over her appointments than a calendar app would give her. In addition, Mary let herself be convinced to share her brand of genius with the world and improve her website SEO rankings in the process.

Jeremy wanted a unique website that would impress his prospective clients and immediately get his message across – that expert assistance can make for a great effect. He imagined a minimal interface with a custom-made video on each screen – and nothing else.

The project would also have to be coordinated with an outside video production company hired to make the required assets.

Can I be honest? When I’ve first heard this idea, I was terrified. I knew that making such a website would require a lot of delicate work as full screen videos are notoriously difficult to work with. But I had to stay faithful to Jeremy’s vision, so I put my tail in gear and asked for the contact details of the production team.

I made sure to be present during the initial vision meeting with the video production team to talk about the requirements. This paid off later when we run into a snafu with the interview file as it was subtitled with an error!

I have also hired a trusted colleague with more experience with video embeds and made good use of his time to optimise the automated playback for all screens. We have also set up a full-screen playback experience for the interview on the About page.

Here are two facts about Sue – she is a well-known presenter at events for language professionals. She has also amassed a lot of accolades. This means that we had a great deal of material for the website and all this material had to be sifted and then presented in an effective way on the site to keep the attention of its viewers.

I immediately thought that we will have to make a lot of lists: of professional memberships, recent publications, services, courses… Sue needed a flagship website to showcase her many talents. She also wanted to share control over what happens – and with good reason, as she is an industry heavyweight, her words are scrutinized and must be perfect. Sue seemed to really enjoy participating in the creative process of making a website.

I asked Sue for the relevant bits of her professional records and made an appointment with her to go over the website. We then made the website together, page by page, in a series of weekly meetings.

After the website was completed, Sue wanted to link all of her social media profiles, I have also helped her optimise her LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts to attract more visitors and showcase her expertise.

Luciana lives and breathes Rome but she self-admittedly knows nothing about websites and marketing. It was challenging for her to describe her vision and it was quite clear she would welcome more advice on how to translate her unique style into a website.

Luciana was very clear in that she wanted me to be as proactive as possible and I knew I was going to relish the challenge.

I have prepared the first design mock-up and, after receiving Luciana’s feedback, got to work setting up the website. We have then gone over each page together several times to make sure everything .

Once the website was live, we sat down to prepare a strategy for her marketing. Luciana was already active on social media, so I’ve made sure to optimise all her profiles and we’ve made a battleplan together on how she was going to market her services.