Working with clients starts with a free consultation call, where we discuss your content and design needs of your new, or redesigned, website.
I will follow up with a detailed proposal and the customized design package that I believe fits your needs.
The proposal includes the price, the proposed timeline and details on the next steps.
If you decide to work with me, we will sign a contract and NDA, and after receiving the first payment, I will get to work. Questions? Browse common FAQs at right.
I am looking forward to working with you and finding the right content strategy and design for your site!
Please schedule your free consultation call below.
My clients are domestic and international small to mid-sized mission- and message-driven organizations, non-profits or personal brands that have a story to tell and want to (re)design a content-rich website.
I also help clients who want to launch or run social web campaigns as well as arts organizations, institutions, museums and galleries that need visually appealing websites.
All my clients are looking for a developer who understands their unique content needs and knows how to streamline and boost it online. They realize that the technology and the site design must follow—and adapt to—the right content flow; otherwise, their content will be drowned out.
My clients have small teams and need help with their content strategy, with editorial services, site development, content upkeep and site maintenance.
I make sure that their unique message is presented honestly, clearly and enticing online, by using well-designed visual tools and a well-thought content strategy that drives engagement, builds trust and authority, increases visibility to the mission and message and converts site visitors into new members, loyal donors or returning clients.
I can help my clients with:
‣ moving their offline message online
‣ providing site audits
‣ performing content audits
‣ writing style guides
‣ streamlining, editing and curating their content (content strategy) to get their message out
‣ redesigning or building a WordPress website with a content-first approach
‣ assisting with content updates and upkeep on an ongoing basis
‣ helping with monthly site maintenance and off-site admin support
I am a multilingual content strategist, writer, editor and visual communicator who can translate the best of traditional journalistic values online—sound research, fair sourcing, copyright attribution and diligent editing. What sets me apart?
‣ Unlike many web developers, I come from a content-creating background. I’ll help you clarify and strategize your call-to-action or the story you want to tell to better connect with your audience—and then develop a website that converts your site visitors into donors, members, or clients. I believe every web design project should be driven by a content-first approach.
‣ I offer practical, affordable solutions and deliver quality results. As an experienced communications professional who has worked in a variety of offline and online media, I develop strategies based on sound editorial principles and sustainable audience development. My clients have come to know me for my strong work ethic, integrity and stability, and I will have your back long after our work together is done.
‣ Trilingual and an expert in working on remote, culturally diverse and far-flung teams. Together, we’ll streamline your content and amplify your message to reach a diversified audience across cultures.
The consultation call is your discovery phase, a workshop to define and clarify your vision and get a better idea of how to approach your website project and translate your ideas into actions. In doing this, we can clarify the scope of the project and the costs. This is especially helpful if you’re not sure how to start or how to best present the value you offer to your site visitors and how to lead them to a clear call-to-action.
A big part of the discovery phase is brainstorming how to leverage your unique content to achieve results.
But before we can do that, I’ll ask you to fill out the Content + Design Website Evaluation Form securely online to help us pinpoint your goals, evaluate your needs and, if applicable, go over your organization’s/company’s Website Design Request for Proposal (RFP). Every project should start with initial answers to what you want your site to achieve, what content you have or will need and who your target users are.
On the call, we will go over your answers, discuss your color and design preferences, initial navigation strategies, visuals you have or would need and websites and designs that you like. Before that call, I will sign a Non Disclosure Agreement that states that the call is confidential.
Yes! Designing a website without copy is like creating a book cover before the book is written. The content always dictates the design. The content is key for the functionality of the design. Only if we have all the copy available can we decide what to highlight, figure out its flow and what to omit. Does this information need to go into a sidebar to stick out? Can this content be left out when accessing the site on a mobile/desktop device? Should this content be presented as an infographic/video/bulleted list or as a separate element? Is it so important that it merits its own page and navigation? So many design choices rely on the copy to work.
As a content designer, I design content-first. Only when all the copy is at hand can we evaluate it and decide what needs to be where. Only then can the design phase even start.
It usually takes about 3 months to launch a website. It all depends on the amount of content a client has, how fast we can pull together all that content, how much of the content needs to be created from scratch and how much effort is needed for re-branding.
Remember, I will build your website to adapt to your content, and the design phase can only begin once all that content is in, i.e. your images and logo, your About and Mission story, your call-to-action and freebie if you offer one, a few blog posts to populate your blog, the services you offer, testimonials, etc.
All my clients have access to their own password-protected Client Portal (view a sample), where we upload, share and store all documents and content needed for the project, including the signed contract, the proposal and project outline, the timeline, workflow, logins and useful checklists. You can securely upload all your content there, no matter the size, and can review and approve images, logos, videos and content that I have created for you.
The Client Portal moves with you after launch to your own WordPress Dashboard for future access.
We can also work with a shared Dropbox folder, Google Drive, Google Docs, Asana Project Management or Content Snare. We’ll find a system that works for you!
I will purchase all plugins needed after discussing them with you and add the fees to the final invoice. If an annual subscription is needed (i.e. domain, host, backup service), I will purchase those in your name for a year and give you all the info needed so that you can renew on your own going forward.
I don’t accept cashier or personal checks—but you can pay your invoices by credit card. Another secure way is to send payments electronically to my PayPal account. Signing up for a PayPal account is free and fast, and you will get alerted when the money has been received.
Another secure option that my clients have used is sending payments via Venmo or via Zelle (many banks include Zelle in their own online banking services’ app). We’ll figure out what works best for you.
We part ways—and I would be happy if you allow me to add your testimonial and your project to my website!
I will share with you all logins, passwords, a list of plugins used and a maintenance schedule for backups, as well as a style guide with color-, font- and image-size specifications and other style conventions used in the design and the content throughout your site.
You will receive up to 6 months of free security, plugin and theme updates as well as up to 6 full monthly backups, depending on the design package you choose. After that, you can purchase my monthly or annual Peace-of-Mind Maintenance Retainer, and I will continue taking care of updates, security monitoring and backups for you.
Or we can continue working together on an hourly-basis with my Content Packages to help you with creating, editing, or uploading your content or with refreshing your social media feed(s).
Absolutely! There are a few options: we can have a screen-sharing session to walk you through your site at the back-end and show you how to update it. Or I can create a brief video for you to show you all the steps needed.
All my content + design services include the assurance that you will always have someone to help you when you get stuck. That is my promise to my clients: I will have your back.
Prices depend on many factors: the size of your site and its structure, the amount of content you have and how much tweaking and strategizing your content needs, whether you want a few design tweaks, a complete redesign, or a move from your old platform to WordPress as is.
To get a better idea of the cost of what you need, please schedule a free consultation call and fill out the Content + Design Website Evaluation Form online to assess the scope of your project, what content, features and interactivity you’ll need, who will handle content development and updates and whether or not you’d like to add site care after the design is done. Within a week of our call, you’ll receive a proposal that outlines the scope, process and cost of your project. Payments are done in three installments: after we sign the contract, midway and just before the site goes live.
A good website follows a strict content strategy and has a clear focus on its User Experience (UX), Consumer Experience (CX) and User Interface (UI) to convert. Longform and storytelling are back (or never left) and the best design to capture that is simple and clean and highly customizable; not a cookie-cutter content-restricting approach that many site builders/platforms offer.
I also believe that an organization or a business that wants to stand out should never use cheap designers who don’t have their back after the design is done. I had to redo many a website after the initial youngster who built it disappeared.
Most importantly, however, is that a good designer will make sure that the website is truly mobile-friendly. That means designing mobile-first; not only responsive according to screen size. The content placement has to shift too according to the devices used. Try that in Wix, Weebly, Squarespace…
Content-first design is an approach that stresses the importance of your content to define the design, the layout and the navigation of your website. It ensures that your users’ needs are met with clearly-defined quality content; only then you design and style a website that adapts. It is a concept that stresses the close collaboration of writers, designers and developers.
Content-first design is a fairly new concept to ensure that your content is streamlined, highlighted and gets all the space in the design it needs. It stresses the importance of writing in the design and development process.
If you’re interested to learn more, read my E-Book “Content-First Design” that you can find under the Learn > Tools & Resources tab.
A website is the best way for any organization (especially nonprofits), as well as commercial and personal brands to communicate. The most effective communication tool in your arsenal is your website; social media comes in second. The goal is to lead your potential clients to your website—not to your social media profile, over which you have much less control. Your content should stay with you and not on another platform.
But even more important is that you own the data on your website. It is secure and you’re in charge of how and where you present yourself. You shape your narrative.
If you need to move your static HTML-, Squarespace-, Wix-, or Weebly-built website to WordPress, we will go through the same workflow as outlined above but will spend less time on gathering your content and on the navigation/sitemap flow. We will buy your domain name, choose a host and move your content to the new site. We will also make sure that all existing SEO traffic stats to your old pages are left intact and moved over to your new site, by properly redirecting all old page URLs to your new site.
I’d be happy to answer all your remaining questions by email or online message (please visit the contact page)—or you can schedule a free 30-minute consultation call with me below.