John Hoyle - Web Design and Consulting

My final entry for today is about another new website that I am currently working on for Bend Cascadia Nursery, a Bend, Oregon wholesale nursery company. I stumbled across this client after looking at some computer “gigs” on Craigslist.org.

Once in a great while I’ll get the itch to go check the Craigslist ads just to see if I can find someone in trouble that could use my help. My intent this time was to see if a deserving small business might need someone to build a professional level website for them at a relatively low cost - or to help them figure out how to build one themselves.

After looking through Portland, Salem, and Corvallis classifieds, I finally found one posted from the Eugene. The ad basically stated that they needed a new website in a hurry and that their old webmaster had simply “bailed out” on them. I sent them an email and offered to help. As it turns out, I should be able to provide them with a very nice website for very little money. Hopefully I’ll get another happy long term customer.

Bend Cascadia Nursery

This website is just now being set up. I will probably be the end of July before I actually turn it over to the client, but in the meantime I’ve setup a single-page “business card” website for them. I wanted to get something online so that Google and Yahoo could find them over the next couple of weeks. They also desperately needed a webpage to point their print ads to. I think the page I put together for them does both of those things and, I think, does it pretty well.

Bend Cascadia Nursery is located in beautiful Bend, Oregon. Located on the eastern side of the Cascade Mountain Range, Bend is known for its excellent climate and beautiful surroundings. My client actually lives some distance from Bend in the shadows of the “3 Sisters” mountain peaks.

To capture the feel and beauty of the area, I chose a header image with a northerly view of the 3 Sisters peaks in springtime. The green color scheme used on the site was the same as an earlier choice determined by the client and the now disappeared webmaster.

Even though the site is simple and only one page, I’ve set up a mini-gallery near the page footer that shows some of the heavy equipment that the client leases and sells. There are oversized thumbnails that go to full page photos of each piece. The site has a rather unusual feature - namely a “page slide” - allowing critical contact information - to remain locked on the screen at all times as the reader scrolls down the page. A simple, but very effective and useful effect.

As I mentioned, this page is only temporary (definitely beats “Page Under Construction”) just to give the client something to work with while I build the actual site. The new site will be based on a static version of WordPress. It will have a News or Update page where the client will post his latest sales and available heavy equipment.

I’ll add a post on this blog when this new website is tested and up and running.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I’ve been keeping busy building and supporting some new websites.  I’ve not done much in the way of active marketing for new business, but I have managed to keep a steady flow of small business owners inquiring about my services. 

I think most are surprised at how inexpensively I can put together a new website for them.  Most competing and so-called  ”small business” web design companies want to quote “big business” pricing - but then provide cheezy websites that look like a high school student put them together.  It’s too easy for them to simply create a site from one of thousands of existing page templates. Or they may use one of the many free or low-cost online web page makers intended for amateurs and then pass their efforts off as being “professionally designed.” 

In other cases, some small business web designers will simply create one or two standard formats or designs and then sell them over and over again - just changing the background colors and maybe the header font to make them look a little different.  That’s why you’ll see so many sites (especially for mortgage and real estate companies) that all look so much alike.  They all look alike, and in many cases like one case (South Shore Financial), the web company sold the exact same website - text, graphics, headers - to several hundred clients.  Fortunately that web design firm was forced out of business over a year ago.

I choose to take a different approach, and try to create a unique site for each of my clients whenever possible.  I may borrow from and modify some existing designs that appeal to me, but my client gets a site that is unique to their company only.

Poulton Imaging

Joe Poulton is a Vancouver, Washington photographer who found me through some Craigslist.org advertising I was using.  Joe already had a site, but was not completely happy with it.  The site completely failed to show off his artistic talents and used a lot of bells and whistles that fell out of favor around 1998.  Quite frankly, it was a confused mess.

Joe decided to give me shot at putting together a professional looking website that would allow him to do his own updates and to upload his own photos into manageable galleries.  I threw up a temporary web page after he registered a better version of his domain name through my  ALowCostWebSite.com company site.  I then built a completely new WordPress based site for him. Within a few days he was online and managing his own site.

Besides being a talented photographer and hiking enthusiast, Joe is a quick learner.  Other than the usual updates and some very limited support from me, Joe has taken complete control of his website.  He makes regular postings and has several galleries going.  His photo subjects include mountain and forest scenery, cityscapes, local rock bands, and, of course, his friends.

I’ll be doing some minor design changes over the next few months and maybe try out a little different look and layout.  His site is really expanding and could probably use a little larger format.

Joe was surprised and pleased that I could provide him with a new, quality website, along with hosting and support for a very low price.  We’re both happy about that…

As those of you who actually follow the progress of this blog may have noticed, I have not been actively posting for the past few weeks. I’ve even received a few calls and some emails about my “disappearance,” but fear not, things ARE happening around here and so far they are all good - very good. I just want to take a few moments to share with you some of the new websites that I’ve been designing and that have taken up so much of my time in recent weeks.

StephanieStamos.com

My talented sister-in-law, Stephanie, is fast becoming a photographic genius. Her site has been online for over a year, but was initially designed to be a gallery of her very impressive paintings.

We were also going to include some of her scrapbooking projects and greeting card designs, but for some reason (mostly having to do with my not having enough available time) we never really got the website completed. Now Stephanie has decided to shift her website’s focus to her photographic art. We’ve modified the existing site somewhat (color, layout, etc.) so that she can temporarily upload some of her own work.

I plan on a complete overhaul within the next few weeks that will give her complete control of the site and minimize my own involvement as much as possible . I’ve just received discs containing her latest work, ready to upload. Her site will have a more advanced gallery, a blog, and contact pages. Go over and check out her site now and then check back in August to see the finished project. I think you will be very impressed with the new site and with the quality and subject matter of Stephanie’s inspired photography.

This is just to let everyone know that I have updated both my main business website, www.Hoyle-Consulting.com ,  and my larger secondary site, www.SmallWebMaster.com.  These two sites are designed to promote my Salem, Oregon based web design and services business.

Remember that I also own and manage www.ALowCostWebSite.com, a full services domain registration service.  On that site, I provide very low cost dot-com domain names with prices starting as low as $3.99 for a “.com” and standard pricing of $7.99 and $9.99 for all other domain names.

ALowCostWebSite.com also provides hosting, server space, Email and E-Fax and other web based services.

I will be soon adding a company newsletter that discusses web design and Internet services in detail.  I will also be offering free EBooks that cover a multitude of subjects.

My next big project is to finish up my latest website project which covers Pacific Northwest lifestyles.  I am also establishing business relationships with several local artists to not only promote their own work, but also to provide illustrations and other art work for my future websites.

I expect to have a very busy year with a lot of growth.  My websites for Stephanie Stamos and Dick Kelly will see additions and changes over the next few months.  I will continue to provide website and marketing work for Marco at Compass Lending Corporation and some other Southern California real estate based companies.

It goes without saying that if you know of anyone looking to put together a new website or needs some help with an existing site, feel free to have them call or email me.

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