Prospective clients seem to have many of the same questions, so I decided to put them all in one place for all of you that are looking for a designer.
Q: Where are you located?
A: I am in beautiful Portland Oregon.
Q: What is your background?
A: I was a high school computer science teacher that taught programming and web design. I got burned out and decided to start my own business. I started out writing content for marketers (articles, ebooks, mini-courses) and eventually moved into the design and technical side of creating websites. I have since hired a full-time designer (graphic design was always my weak spot) and we are having a great time helping Realtors, marketers and small businesses get their sites going.
Q: Do you only do WordPress themes?
A: No. We have done many HTML websites as well. But WordPress is a natural fit for many people because it is easy for a non-technical person to change and edit the content.
Q: What is the turnaround time for a theme??
A: That depends. We tend to take a little longer than most designers because we ask for feedback at several stages of the project, so we know we are on the right track. If you are good at getting back to us, we could get a basic theme done in about 7-10 working days from project start. More complex projects will take longer, of course.
Q: What base theme do you use?
A: We use our own in-house theme that we have developed over time. It is very stable and error free. It is essentially the best parts of many of the themes we have worked with, and a little bit of our own custom code.
Q: I just need some graphics/logo done. Can you do that?
A: Absolutely. I have a great designer that can handle all of you graphic design needs. Just email me for a quote.
Q: My site is acting funny. Can you help with that?
A: Yes. Much of what I do is helping people fix or upgrade their existing site. Here is a free tip: if you are using WordPress, disable all of your plugins and see if that fixes your problem. Many of the problems I see are from poorly written plugins, or two plugins that don’t play well together.
Q: Will I be able to keep all of my current plugins and widgets?
A: The beauty of WordPress is how easy it is to change themes. There might be a little manual adjustment necessary, but nothing major.
Q: Can you do more complex projects?
A: I have a lot of programming experience, so I can do much more than just design. I have created custom programming solutions for my clients, things like custom slideshows, widgets, database programs, and even additional functionality for the WP admin area for some less technical savvy clients.
If you don’t see your question here, feel free to email me at jesse@bridge-city-marketing.com
