Web Design Portfolio
Grace United Methodist Church.
I created this Web site for Grace United Methodist Church in Hastings, Nebraska. The site provides information about worship services, youth programs, and volunteer opportunities.
In addition, I created a password-protected upload page where the church secretary can upload her PDF copy of the church's newsletter each week. The result is that the newsletter appears inline and is available for download on the site's Newsletter page.
I set up the church's site to display its Google Calendar. This makes it easy for church staff to keep its online calendar up-to-date. Visitors can also click an event on the church's calendar to add it to their own personal Google Calendars.
Ken Rolofson Photography.
Ken Rolofson Photography is a photography studio in northeast Indiana that specializes in portraits of high school seniors, families, and children. The Ken Rolofson Photography Web site provides a basic Web presence, information about preparing for a photography session, and Ken Rolofson’s portfolio.
Downtown Divas.
(Site now defunct. Demo hosted at www.SitesThatTakeFlight.com.)
Downtown Divas was a unique and fun restaurant in Hastings, NE, that featured a “Dress-Up Area” where women could try on fun hats, funky sunglasses, costume jewelry, and feather boas before their meal. “Head Divas” Jeanne Loch and Kathy Hogan hired Sites That Take Flight to redesign their old Web site. My goals in redesigning the Web site were to better reflect the personality of the restaurant, dispel the myth that only older women ate Downtown Divas (many of the customers were actually in their teens, twenties, and thirties), improve the site's search engine rankings, and help the restaurant attract out-of-town customers.
Throughout the site, I used snapshot-style photos of the restaurant and its customers. I also added a Divas Of the Month featured photo so that customers could show off the photos they took at Divas. This also helped the Web site promote the business through word of mouth, as customers featured on this page forwarded the link to friends and family.
Furthermore, whereas the old Downtown Divas site rarely appeared in search results for relevant keywords, today, the restaurant's new Web site consistently ranked at or near the top of Google's search results for many searches related to Hastings, Nebraska.
Superior Victorian Inn.
This hotel in south-central Nebraska really needed a Web site to communicate its unique features and charm to potential guests. There are many hidden gems at the Victorian Inn. In addition to the elegant, themed rooms, the hotel also has a fitness room, a dog kennel, and even a game-cleaning room for hunters.
I included many photographs throughout the site to showcase the inn's unique atmosphere. Also, in order to best promote the Victorian Inn's amenities, I created separate pages for the elegant themed rooms and for the rooms and amenities for hunters and fishers. I optimized each page so that people using a search engine to plan a romantic getaway would be more likely to find the Romantic Rooms page, whereas those searching for lodging during a hunting trip would find the Hunters & Fishers page.
Divine Electric Bikes.
(Site now defunct. Demo hosted at www.SitesThatTakeFlight.com.)
Divine Electric Bikes was a small business in Southwest Missouri that not only sold electric bikes but that also provided tremendous customer service that included assistance with bike selection and setup. The company’s niche was that its owner, Ruth Divine, is experienced with dogs and provided free advice in training a dog to run alongside an electric bike. Ms. Divine wrote the copy for her site, so my role was to focus on the design and ensure that the site would be professional, attractive, and easy to navigate.
B.E.S.T. Bio-Environmental Services & Technologies.
(Site now defunct. Demo hosted at www.SitesThatTakeFlight.com.)
I designed this site for B.E.S.T. Bio-Environmental Services & Technologies, a small business in Lincoln, NE, that specialized in mold remediation, radon mitigation, industrial hygiene services, and IAQ (indoor air quality). B.E.S.T. wanted a Web site that was attractive and fun yet professional. The result was www.BestBioInc.com.
Twin Squeaks Gerbils.
Twin Squeaks Gerbils is a not-for profit site devoted to educating pet owners young and old about gerbils. Sites that Take Flight has designed all of the Twin Squeaks Web site, including its monthly gerbil tips, kids' coloring pages, and care guide. The goal was to design a Web site that was not only educational but also fun and interactive. In addition, by creating a custom Blogger template that matched the layout of the rest of the Twin Squeaks Web site, I ensured that it would be fast and not require any HTML knowledge to write responses to kids' questions on the Ask Herman & Hallie page.
