The following is a selection of some of my best work in web development and graphic design.

Team Sedenquist

Santa Cruz County Real Estate Professionals
www.SantaCruzTeam.com

Objective: Develop a fully-featured, user-friendly real estate resource for Internet home buyers and sellers.

Challenge: We started from scratch with this one! This was an extensive job that consisted of the creation of a domain name, modern design elements, unique website content, an online marketing strategy, branding, search engine marketing, web analytics, and more. Explaining the intricacies of web development was a true test of my knowledge (or at the time, lack there of). I learned a good amount about web development, content management systems, and working with a client that didn't particularly understand the digital world. This was probably one of my most rewarding freelance experiences.

Outcome: Success! After months of development the site was launched with a matching online/offline marketing campaign to push clients and new users to the site. Strategic placement of Internet ads, direct mailing postcards, magazine ads, and other marketing materials were used to generate traffic. Search engine optimization was also used (and still being monitored and tweaked today) to gain organic hits from Google, Yahoo, and Live (formerly MSN) search engines. The site consistently ranks in the first two pages of all three search engines for the popular search queries: Santa Cruz Real Estate and Santa Cruz County Real Estate. This was an important long-term goal because the clients didn't want to pay $5-$15 per click using traditional search engine marketing, which doesn't guarantee to generate sales leads.

Objective: Create various marketing materials with a consistent branded look and feel.

Challenge: The challenge of this project was finding the right color pallete and universal design theme that could be used across various materials like direct mailing postcards, property flyers, magazine advertisements, a notepad, a banner, email flyer campaigns, and more. It took numerous revisions to finally achieve what myself and the client (most importantly!) liked most. As you can see, the final design consists of a powerful dark red with a soft sandy, neutral color.

Outcome: Success! Team Sedenquist has noticed an increase in the number of generated sales leads from their marketing materials. They have also received many compliments from their clients about the quality and professionalism of the designs, and even positive response from random people who chimed in with their praise!

Activated Communications

Telecommunications Business in Scotts Valley
www.ActivatedCo.com

Objective: Upgrade existing (outdated) website with modern design and comprehensive database of company products, solutions, and services.

Challenge: The challenge with this project was determining which products to list on their website. The company is an authorized dealer of Toshiba, Cisco, and Plantronics devices which number in the hundreds. Working with the client, we were able to determine which products were most demanded and marketable, without cluttering the online database with useless information that consumes company resources.

Outcome: Success! Activated Communications now offers a comprehensive database of its products, a summary of its most common solutions, and descriptions of its available services.

Objective: Drive search engine traffic to the company website by using a combination of search engine marketing (paid advertisements next to relevant search queries) and search engine optimization (strategic placement of key words, link generation, and other website tweaks to generate "organic," non-paid for search engine hits).

Challenge: Search engine marketing and optimization are time consuming projects that require constant improvement and performance measurement. This is because the competition for ad placement is fierce and search engines are constantly updating their search algorithms to produce better search results.

Outcome: This objective is still in process; but, I'm confident this space will say "Success!" soon enough!

Judy Brose

Santa Cruz County Real Estate Professional of Century 21 LAD Realty
www.JudyBrose.com

Objective: Create customized email campaign flyers to market properties to a database of contacts.

Challenge: Each house possesses its own character and therefore, requires the designer to be able to portray those characteristics in a 2D sort of way. Each email campaign also needs to grasp the reader's attention and hopefully create some sort of action; in most cases, a click to the property details page or to a map of the location.

Outcome: Judy Brose has been able to successfully market her properties using this technique. Email marketing is one small piece of her comprehensive marketing plan, but adds value for her clients because it gets the word out and real estate agents talking.

Samples: Click a thumbnail to view the larger version.

Rising International

Non-profit Fighting World Poverty
www.risinginternational.org

Objective: Create customized email campaigns to promote various events and encourage community engagement.

Challenge: What's the challenge working with any non-profit? Funding. However, despite the impracticality of hiring a big-name advertising agency, we have been able to produce professional, big-name-like designs on a small budget. Working with Rising International has been exciting and rewarding in many ways. I've enjoyed knowing that my quality work has helped them achieve their goals more effectively by creating a professional image of the organization and saving them valuable resources.

Outcome: Success! I've received much praise from the CEO of Rising International, as well as other key individuals and constituents.

Vista Media

Advertising Agency in Santa Cruz County
www.vmagency.com

Objective: Develop a website that showcases the company's services using modern design elements and cutting edge technology.

Challenge: Full disclosure here: I was originally one of three founding partners in the company, but later departed because of differences in business strategy and expectations. Now, that was a challenging experience, no question. OK, seriously though, the challenge was to create a website that acted as a model of what the company was capable of: professional, well thought out design. This was difficult because at the time, we didn't have sufficient resources to carry out all our grand ideas and visions. However, that didn't stop us from making the company appear like a big player online!

Outcome: Success! The final website was easy to navigate, loaded quickly, provided clients with a customized login and backend where they could view mockups, bids, invoices, and so forth; and created the image that the company was equipped for any account. Note: The company has moved in other directions since the original design was launched. The look and feel of the website have been significantly changed.

Additional projects have been completed for real estate professionals, small businesses, and individuals. I have been free lancing since 2006 and loving every moment of it! If you, or someone you know, is interested in web development or graphic design solutions for your business, you may contact me here so we can discuss your goals.