DTS is one of New Zealand’s leading business broadband providers and I was really honored to be asked to design & develop a new web site for them.

The site was developed with the WordPress framework so that it’s easy to maintain and is built around the concept of progressive enhancement. This basically means that it looks it’s best in new, CSS3 capable browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Safari etc) and still degrades to work nicely in Internet Explorer but without some of the visual niceties.

Check out the new DTS website here.

The Discover Boating website is an initiative from the Marine Industry Association of New Zealand with the aim being to educate and encourage people on all matters boating.

I worked closely with the the team at MIA to replicate the content from their existing site and set up a similar structure in the WordPress platform.

Once the structure was developed I then began work on the look and feel. It was important that the new site look and work pretty much the same as the existing site so as not to present any undue suprises to the users.  I did manage to squeeze in a few subtle enhancements and for those using browsers that support some of the newer CSS3 options (Firefox, Chrome, Safari) then the interface is enhanced with rounded edges, shadowing and more.

Overall the transition from the old platform to the new WordPress based environment went very well indeed.

Check out the discoverboating.co.nz web site here.

Like so many businesses, Creative Space had a web site that simply didn’t reflect the nature and quality of their work. Until now that is.

Creative Space are a Tauranga based architectural studio who had outgrown their previous web site. They needed a new look to aid in a marketing campaign and it needed to be very clean and very sharp .. just like their work.

I worked closely with Andre & Troy from Creative Space and produced a number of design variations based upon common themes of space, subtlety and crispness.

The site is designed to showcase their great work so we are using large images with large thumbnails throughout the site and, combined with professional photography, the end result is very visual and it becomes very easy to grasp the nature of their work.

There are subtleties too, such as the fade effects on the thumbnails and project loads (achieved with a combination of CSS & jQuery) as well as the custom typeface (handled via Cufon for maintainability) and a brief logo reveal on the homepage. These all combine to add a feeling of quality to the web site.

I’m very pleased with the end result and look forward to working with Creative Space in the future.

To visit the Creative Space website please click here.

About two years ago I designed and built a nice looking web site for a local motel and holiday park, Accommodation Te Puna. It was Pauline’s (owner) first foray into the internet and the site served her well over that time. But times change and with some more exposure to the internet, Pauline wanted to start putting a bit more time into her website and use it to generate more leads.

Pauline contacted me a couple of weeks ago to make some changes. She’d just been talking to a chap all about search engine optimisation and marketing as well as social media and networks and she wanted to make some changes to her website so she could be a bit more proactive in these areas.

Her original website was a traditional static website. It wasn’t built on a CMS so it meant that in order for her to make some updates she would have to use a product like Adobe Contribute or learn how to code HTML. I don’t have a problem with Contribute and have recommended where it suits but I felt that she would gain greater benefit from using a dedicated CMS platform like wordpress coupled with a custom skinned version of the brilliant Thesis theme to aid with SEO. The learning curve is considerably smaller too.

What are the advantages of developing her website in WordPress?

Redeveloping her website with WordPress essentially allows Pauline to become active in areas that appeal to her and her business by posting small articles.

Tauranga is a bustling place with events happening all year round and Pauline can now become more active in the promotion of some of these events through her site and other social networks with the spin off of being able to offer a wide range of accommodation to participants. As well as events, there are a myriad of local attractions and things to do that she can help people find out about.

Maybe more importantly, by posting articles and participating in social networks, Pauline can introduce herself and build up her ‘Personal Brand‘. Potential customers can get an idea of who she is and can put a face to the business owner. People like to deal with other people so presenting as person, rather than just a business, makes good sense.

What does it cost to build a website like this?

Pauline runs a small business and, thanks to the recession, the budget was very tight on this job. This meant that I was reusing a lot of elements from her original website (photos, background etc) and that helped keep development and design costs down. Using the Thesis framework saved some time also and, critically, would give Pauline easier control over some of the SEO components. In terms of actual dollars, this site was created for less than $1500 NZD.

How do you know if a website is working?

Simple. You measure it. Pauline’s accommodationtepuna.co.nz website uses google analytics to measure visitor details. She gets a weekly report which shows her visitor numbers, what they are looking at, where they come from and much much more.

She can test different page titles, page content, descriptions and post etc by simply measuring the response over time and comparing with previous date ranges. By doing this she finds out what works and what doesn’t. Simple.

Does your website work?

If your website isn’t generating the response that you would like then please contact me. I’m more than happy offer a free hour long consultation to get the ideas flowing.