Web design and website maintenance: How can I help you?
You’re more or less happy with your existing website?
But you simply don’t have the time, interest or knowhow to add your news items, keep your content up to date or make any other changes? Whether these are one-offs or occur regularly?
You don’t currently have your own website?
You’ve never really been interested in websites up to now, but finally want your own website? Either small and perfectly formed, but comparatively simple and low-maintenance, to function as an online business card? Or a more comprehensive website that you can actively drive forwards? And, of course, visually appealing?
You’ve realised it’s time to have a new website designed and created?
You’re unsatisfied with your existing business website? Maybe it looks old-fashioned and can’t easily be used on phones, meaning it’s long since behind the times?
So prospective customers can get a better idea of you, you products or services, and easily get in touch with you?
You’d like your existing website to be easier to find, so it can generate more enquiries and therefore more bookings, orders or sales?
But you have absolutely no idea how to bring this about?
Your guide along the path from idea to finished website
Your website seems like a museum piece? Perhaps it looks amateurish and is barely usable on a phone? If at all? Or the most important information is hard to find?
Or perhaps you’ve always acquired customers by word of mouth? But now you’d like your very first website, so you can reach total strangers and win them as customers?
Fancy a visually appealing, well structured and easy to navigate website that meets today’s requirements and best practices?
No idea about anything to do with websites? Doesn’t matter. We’ll establish your needs, and provided I’m able to help you, I provide you with a website that meets them.
“I guide you along the path from idea to finished website.”
You fancy the benefits of having your own website?
You’ve recognised it’s time for a website of your own, so you can:
- Boost your name recognition and people’s awareness of you
- Reach more people
- And as a result, generate more enquires and sales?
Good move!
Lots of creative people and small businesses don’t even ask themselves this question any more. For many today, social media is ‘the internet’. For this reason, they are are only active there. They no longer have their own website.
So if you’re thinking about a website of your own, you’re already a step ahead!
And if you still haven’t made up your mind whether you need your own website or not, remember this:
Your own website belongs to YOU, not some enormous corporation, nominally based in Luxembourg or Ireland, where by lucky coincidence business taxes are very low.
You have complete control over your website – how it looks, what functions it has, and without risk of having your account deleted should a photo on it contain a subtle suggestion of a bare buttock.
Your path to a finished website
So you’ve established it’s time for a website. But where to start? If you’re new to all this, you’ll have seen there are more acronyms and incomprehensible words than in the list of ingredients in a typical supermarket ready meal.
But as your guide through the website jungle, I guide you along the path from idea to finished website.
Who designs your new website?
I’m Paul Jackson, a European of British origin who lives in Germany. I designed and created my first website for a customer way back in 1999, with around 70 more following in the years since.
After a longstanding and initially lucrative professional diversion as a German–English translator, the AI revolution meant it was time to leave that behind me.
As a result, in 2019 I rekindled my passion for websites, thoroughly immersing myself in current theory, technologies and all the related stuff. As a result of this continuous professional development, the extent of my knowledge is growing like Japanese knotweed on a railway embankment.
With ChatGPT even now snapping hungrily at my heels, I’m hereby returning to the roots, with my head stuffed full of expertise and ideas.
And it seems to be working, as I helped one customer increase her four-figure monthly page views by more than 232% in 30 months.
You receive a smooth-functioning small to medium-sized website that meets the following criteria, among others:
- Visually appealing
- Well thought out and well-structured
- Responsive (works on all screen sizes)
- Easy to navigate
- Loads as fast as possible
- Meets today’s standards
- No cookies or third-party services as standard – don’t repel your website visitors with annoying consent banners
- and more
Your benefits at a glance
- (Almost) a one-stop shop: benefit from sound expertise in the relevant areas – no need to grapple with topics that don’t interest you or which are simply overwhelming
- Around 70 websites successfully created over the course of the years
- You benefit from a lovingly and carefully created website that meets the needs of you and your business
- Search engine-friendly: Don’t make it unnecessarily difficult for Google and the others to read and understand your website and actually show it for relevant search queries
- User-friendly: Don’t repel your audience with long loading times, complicated navigation and chaotic content
“… Attractive and thoughtful design ideas”
“Paul’s attractive and thoughtful design ideas have created a colourful, modern and visitor-friendly website that I’m really proud of.”
Berlie Doherty
Award-winning author
“… Expertise and professionalism”
“Paul’s expertise and professionalism made him very easy to work with. My original website was old and in need of updating, but Paul created a new, modern, accessible site that gave a clear and coherent focus to me as a writer, keeping me informed and making helpful suggestions when he needed material from me. It made me revisit my backlist and gave me ideas for working with this. It’s been an enjoyable process, and I am delighted with the outcome.”
Danuta Reah
Award-winning author
“… A pleasure to work with Paul”
“It has been a pleasure to work with Paul in setting up my website. His patient advice and instruction have helped me to write about my work in a new way, based on Paul’s analysis of what my readers are actually searching for, and hopefully to attract new readers too.”
Berlie Doherty
Award-winning author
What’s included in your web design project?
No two websites are the same. But the processes that make up your project usually are.
If you engage me to plan, design and create your website, some things are always required:
- Jointly establishing your requirements
- Analysis of the current situation (if you are replacing an existing website)
- Keyword research, so we can create the right content for your target audience
- Conception and planning of the website structure
- Conception and planning of the website design (screens)
- Installing and configuring the content management system and any relevant extensions – In most cases, the flexible and powerful CMS Contao
- Implementing the website design
- Help with GDPR compliance (based on many years’ experience as a website owner – I’m not a lawyer!)
- Inserting your initial content – text, pictures and perhaps video, audio or downloads etc (scope upon agreement)
- On-page SEO (search engine optimisation) – make it easier for prospective customers to find you in search engines
- Tips on off-page SEO – ditto
- Creating the OpenGraph pictures and texts that appear when people share your website or pages on social media and in chat apps
- Testing, inspecting and optimising your website
- Putting your website online
- Help and support over the course of your web design project
- Looking after and maintaining your website in future – no need to worry about picture sizes, CSS and similar things. CSS? Eh? Precisely.
Also possible as part of your web design project
If required, I am also pleased to help in the following areas, and possibly also in others too (you’re welcome to ask).
- Setting your website up to be multilingual
- Translating your German or Dutch website into English (depending on your website’s subject matter – former English translator [GB])
- And probably other things I can’t think of at the moment. Simply ask.
Your website design options
Which types of website can you get from me?
You’ve got three options:
A one-pager website
If you’re active in a narrow field that doesn’t require lots and lots of explanation and where the number of search engine enquiries is modest, a one-pager could be just what you need.
The name says it all, as this is a one-page website*. All the info about your product, service or topic can be found on one single page.
And although there’s a navigation area at the top, as you’d expect, the menu options just link to the relevant places on this page.
Your visitors don’t have to constantly click links to find the info they’re looking for (unless they want to use the navigation to do that). They can just scroll down the page.
When done well, search engines are also happy about this concentration of related information all in one place. (Provided that your website topic is compact enough and otherwise suitable for this type of website.)
Sounds good, but you’re wondering what happens if your website or area of activity has to expand in future?
Don’t worry. If required in future, subpages can be added to convert your one-pager into a ‘normal’ website.
* Plus the legally required privacy policy page that nobody ever reads and the error 404 page that hopefully nobody will ever see.
Suitable for:
- Small tradespeople or offline service providers (such as gardeners or mobile chiropodists etc)
- Other small businesses active in a narrow field that doesn’t need much explanation
- Authors or musicians who haven’t totally slipped into obscurity, but who are no longer as productive as they once were
- Who are all aware that the investment in a professional website can stimulate sales and in time pay for itself
Variant: Placeholder website
When even a one-pager is too comprehensive:
A placeholder website also comprises just one page, but is even smaller.
A typical use case:
Many authors and musicians today earn very little from their books or music. Even creative people with a certain amount of success under their belt don’t have the money spare for even a one-pager. What should they do when the address of their previous, old-fashioned website was printed on their books and records/CDs, which are still in circulation?
A small placeholder website may be the solution. This just contains your social media links and maybe a few cover pictures and buy buttons.
If someone sees your website address on a book or record they bought second hand, the URL at least still works and you may even gain another sale.
Suitable for:
- Authors and musicians who (nowadays) don’t earn much from their craft, but who don’t want to be totally without their own website
- Small businesses that are predominantly active on social media. Their placeholder website only contains minimal info and links to their social media profiles. It’s much easier for flyers and newspaper adverts to show one simple website URL than a load of complex social media links
- Announcements, such as “Our new website is coming soon!” The placeholder website stays online until the ‘proper’ website is finished
The main thing is that these placeholder websites are really small. Their content won’t be regularly updated, adjusted or expanded. Otherwise, the benefits no longer apply, and a typical one-pager is more suitable.
The standard solution
Your products or services are more comprehensive and need more explanation? You therefore need a ‘normal’ website with subpages.
For small businesses requiring a purely informational website, a static website can sometimes be suitable.
This is created solely with HTML and CSS, without a content management system or database.
Your main benefit? Your website loads lightning fast, delighting visitors and search engines alike. And with hardly any potential entry holes for hackers, these will be really annoyed.
You need certain functions that aren’t possible with a static website, or only possible with difficulty? Or your website will expand in scope? No problem: If a static website isn’t appropriate for your use case, I can create a „conventional“ website for you, which uses a content management system and database.
Suitable for:
- All self-employed people and small businesses who are aware that investing in a professional website can make it easier to find, which can stimulate sales and in time pay for itself
Website maintenance
A website isn’t like a washing machine, which you buy and then use for years, without having to worry too much about it working. A website is like a car. It needs regular care and maintenance, otherwise it can suddenly stop working (properly).
I therefore recommend regular, ongoing care and maintenance of your new website.
Your benefit: You not only save time, but also hassle, if nasty surprises occur. You’re free to concentrate on your daily business and don’t need to learn a load of stuff that doesn’t interest you.
(This is the reason I have an accountant, rather than dealing with the German tax bureaucracy directly.)
You’d prefer to look after your website yourself?
That’s theoretically possible.
But:
Skinflints Prospective customers occasionally get in touch who want a website they can constantly tinker with. The effort and expense of showing them how to do so is out of all proportion to the leanness of their budgets.
Even with medium-sized companies, this kind of training only really makes sense when multiple people will be regularly publishing and editing content. (And up to now, I’ve only worked with the solo self-employed and really small businesses.)
Since 1999, it’s worked out well that I nearly always maintain and look after my customers’ websites myself. Everyone benefits.
(And even as a very independent person, I prefer long working relationships to the business equivalent of one-night stands. I’ve got customers who have been with me for more than 20 years.)
What happens after you click the red button?
When you send me a message, a notification flies through the air and various cables to me in my office or on the balcony.
I then contact you about the rest.
Small jobs, such as making modest changes to an existing website or creating a simple website, can usually be dealt with by email and the project management tool I use.
Especially with more comprehensive web design projects, a Zoom meeting may be needed. On the one hand, so I can better understand your needs. On the other, so we can see if we’re a good fit.
If everything goes well, I send you my quotation.
If you decide to go ahead, you transfer the agreed advance part-payment*. And shortly after it arrives, I get going with your website project!
* Advance part-payment? Yes, for most projects, an advance part-payment is due. Experience has shown this speeds up the process. My customers are often very busy people. Without an advance payment, projects tend to drag on indeterminably. An advance payment motivates my customers and therefore helps me to help them, such as you.
How long do I need to plan, design and create your website?
It depends. (I know this answer is of next to no use to you.)
I’m not usually just sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I’m usually busy with other things.
And it depends how quickly you respond to my questions and requests.
Broadly speaking: To create a one-pager, assume an implementation timeframe of two weeks or more.
For ‘normal’ or more comprehensive website projects, I need more time. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
The bigger the project, the longer it takes.
Therefore, the sooner you ask, the sooner I can finish your dream website and the sooner you can benefit from it.
Secure the benefits of a modern, well-structured website today!
- A lovingly and carefully created website that meets the needs of you and your business
- Modern and visually appealing
- User-friendly – don’t repel your audience
- Search engine-friendly – don’t confuse Google and the others if you want your website to be easily found
- (Almost) a one-stop shop
Tell me a bit about your project and I’ll get in touch soon, so we can discuss the rest.
Take the first step towards your successful new website today!
Web design portfolio
Well, this is embarrassing. Nothing much happening here …
A supposed self-described web designer who shows next to no samples of websites he’s designed on his very own website.
As the AI revolution has propelled me back to the roots, I don’t currently have much to show here.
But there are a few below, and of course, I also designed and created this website you’re reading now.
Now, who’s next?
