About Me
and why I love making websites
Background
How I got started
1997-1999
Sole designer on WA Government web sites : the Conservation Commission, the Forest Products Commission and The Education Department Legal. I started this business as a student and when graduating with my Diploma, I took Iinet’s Best Web Design award.
2000-2010
To get me out of the house, I lectured part-time in : writing, journalism, web design, film and sound production, graphics and web marketing. I’ve taught undergraduate and post-grad students at ECU and Curtin University and sometimes guest lectures at UWA.
2012 onward …
I finished teaching and now concentrate on an unclean love affair with code, programming, best practice design and legitimate SEO marketing. I now build user-friendly web sites full time for clients scattered throughout most states in Australia.
Your site is YOURS
and other thoughts
I hold no claim to the domain, server or even the design of your web site. These are 100% YOURS. Most other companies don’t feel the same way.
99% of companies build your site on their in-house server and then charge you an arm and a leg for updates. I don’t do that. I can use the server you already have and if you don’t have one, I will build your site on a 100% independent server. That way, you are free to use any web designer to work on your site.
Most clients come to me after unfair dealings with larger web firms where you can pay around $15,000 for a really basic website. Other internet companies build websites cheaply and make their money with ridiculous update fees. My entire portfolio is made up of disgruntled clients who have left big web design companies. I recently built an entire web site for less than the per annum cost one client was paying for spam filtering alone (email spam filtering should be entirely free in case you didn’t know, so do check if you are being charged for it). I built another website for a client for less than she was paying for her hosting fee! And I’ve recently started on a site which will cost the same as one SEO company was charging the client per month! It’s really quite easy to pay too much. Just click the top 5 web companies who come up in a search for “web design” – the ones who can afford $25 per click! I believe in the opposite approach to web development. Start small, monitor your statistics and then add to your site as it becomes more successful.
All my clients can add news items and update site pages and documents themselves. Most clients get me to do minor graphical updates. Having said that, my clients are free to use the services of any professional web developer who designs web sites to current international standards. Modern standards means that the web sites I create will work in 95% of all browsers (including on the iPad). My code is easily read by professional web developers.
One client told me that her web company couldn’t develop her website for Firefox 2.0 or IE7+ browsers. If I don’t code for at least the last 3 browsers (on any platform) I’d be out of business. Make sure your site works on the latest 3 versions of all modern browsers (that equates to about 95% of all browsers) eg. IE7+,FF2+,Chrome, Safari and iOS mobile devices.
Geoffrey was my business mascot.
Sometime during the last millenium, I had a professional cartoonist (Jeremy Reston) design “Geoffrey”. The brief was that Geoffrey is all work and no play. He spends all his days coding and writing. While he is over-worked, he loves it. He also rides a bicycle and enjoys writing.
The original Company motto was “Geoffrey Multimedia – the multimedia company with a man’s name.”
Little did I know then, like Professor Frankenstein, I was breathing life into an entity that would keep me alive for most of my life.
To effectively service fewer clients.
In an industry beleaguered by poor communication, I prefer one-on-one service, clarity and total business transparency. I hack code at home, mostly developing sites myself, but sometimes working alongside other web programmers for more complex database programming. My main aim is to provide a solid service in a timely manner.
Larger companies take on hundreds of clients just in an effort to make ends meet. I can only imagine that’s the reason why so many offer such poor service. I have fewer clients that I can service on a regular basis because I care about professional web design. Allow 8 weeks for a website to be up and fully functional.
Clear Communication
By choosing one person to work on your site, communication is clear. All fees are communicated in writing (usually by email) before work begins. You may have someone else take over the running of your site after I’ve built it, but the site will be yours, sitting on your own server. I have no problem with handing over administrative passwords should you wish to continue in-house. Unlike other companies, your site is yours and I will lay no claim to it. Even in cases where I do hand sites to in-house Webmasters, I’m usually always called in to do minor code or graphical updates because my prices are competitive. There are no wages or marketing people here and I mostly ride a bicycle, so you don’t even pay for my petrol.
Content Management Systems
Sites are usually maintained by yourself using a CMS. WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are the most common systems. They enable you to update your site yourself via a password protected back end. Sometimes people leave the updating to us – sending us news articles and attached photos via email. I can work with a CMS of your choice (eg. Joomla or Drupal) or even design a CMS to suit your specific need. Sites without a Content Management System also be updated.
We do not ask clients to sign or commit to website update contracts, although version software can be kept up to date and checked regularly for a nominal monthly fee.
Big Tip: Keep your web site relevant
Frequent updating is the single most important thing you can do to maintain your site and help it get found in a Google search. News items, newsletters, videos, events or a Business BLOG need to be kept relevant. A lot of people don’t update their web site. Because I send all my clients weekly Web Audience statistics (in PDF form), it’s clear that maintaining your site regularly reflects on search rank position. Search aside, an out of date site more often than not means an out of date business.
Having a successful website is similar to running a second business. You need to update, maintain and invest time in your website. Spending just one hour per week should be enough to see a steady rise in search engine result position because most people don’t update.
My pseudonym is objectman on twitter. Why don’t you follow me and find out more about my interests?
My Curriculum Vitae (84Kb PDF)
From the Blog
- Reasons to Choose a Web Freelancer
Saturday, February 18th, 2012 - How Much is a Website?
Saturday, February 11th, 2012 - Can You Make My Logo Bigger?
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012