I’ve been paying a lot of attention this month to my clients’ online visibility, and what strategies produce the most significant results. The answer is sometimes not what I want to hear. I can spend several hours working with a client on their blog articles, rewriting page content, or fine tuning all the technical characteristics of a website, and the improvements are subtle as seen in Google Analytics data.
When looking at Google search (92% of all searches made online), one improvement to online visibility that has been surprising me is my clients who are starting and consistently updating their Google Business Profile (GBP). For those of you who don’t have a GBP, I strongly recommend starting one (purely online businesses are ineligible for a GBP). And, for those who already have a GBP, I strongly recommend keeping it updated monthly.
Photo (above): My client Jonathan Clarren has a sculpture on the Kress Building in Tacoma.
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Across the water from Point Definace in Tacoma, WA is Vashon Island. A beautiful, bridgeless island reachable only by ferry. I moved there with my family in 2022 when living in Seattle became unsustainable and unenjoyable for my wife and I. I’ve been able to continue remotely with my clients in Seattle and nationally, but I’m looking for nearby clients to meet in person once again.
The closest city to my home office is Tacoma, WA. It has become my favorite place to do weekly errands and get a more relaxed city experience. It reminds me of the Seattle I moved to in 1995 in that life moves slower, the people are dominantly middle class, there is more space, and the old West Coast buildings and homes still dominate the landscape. Everywhere you go you will find problems, and Tacoma has its problems, but I simply feel a sense of relief during my weekly visits.
Although my clients come from an array of professional fields, I work with therapists to build their business identities and websites the most. One of those clients is Elana Sabajon. She is an experienced therapist and has a full schedule, but I’m sure she leaves the door open for new clients.
Elana is a therapist that is unique to me from other therapists. Her empathy runs deep—caring for disadvantaged groups and individuals who have unique lifestyles and are underappreciated by mainstream society. She also applies unique techniques to her therapy such as the Hakomi Method. She offers therapy for individuals, couples and relationships, and families and parents.
Plugins are a large part of WordPress websites. You have the core WordPress CMS, and then there are thousands of plugins available to solve any problem. Typically plugins are free, but there are three plugins at this time that I pay for: Rank Math SEO, WP Rocket, and Gravity Forms. These plugins have a license that allows me use them for all of my clients. When you hire me to work on your website you also have access to these three tools for your site. Not every client is going to need Gravity Forms. It is useful for my clients who need complex forms or are making transactions. But, for any client who values great search engine optimization, Rank Math SEO and WP Rocket are extremely useful.
This is my annual look back, to thank the 28 web design and business identity clients I worked with in 2024. I’m grateful to you all, but have a top ten list that describes the main services I provided and showcases what kinds of clients I work with. I also hope to give these clients a little boost of visibility.
1. Seattle Basements
My newest client is Seattle Basements, subsidiary of Cherry Design and Build, owned by Sam Adams. I appreciate Sam trusting me to design and build Seattle Basement’s business identity and online presence. From the logo to the website, photo editing to search engine optimization. It was my intention to build a business identity that presented his portfolio of previous basement projects in a way that any home owner would trust that the next basement remodel or build-out could be theirs.
2. Dr. Keith B. Wong, Orthodontist
Keith B. Wong, DDS, MS, is an orthodontic specialist who treats adults and children with Invisalign aligners, invisible Brava lingual appliance, and digital precision braces. Dr. Wong has been my client since 2011. This year, the main focus was web maintenance, updating content, and modifying the page structure to improve the site’s search engine optimization. We finished up the year with a holiday card that Keith illustrated himself!
3. Anita Nowacka, Photographer
Anita Nowacka is a very talented and hard working photographer in Seattle. She specializes in family photography and portraits in outdoor environments. In 2015, Anita asked me to redesign her website. This year, I’ve been maintaining her site, helping write her blog articles, and managing her site’s search engine optimization and Google My Business profile. The photography field is very competitive, so I’m continually working on new ways to keep Anita “in front of her customers” in the Seattle area.
4. The Seattle Series
The Seattle Series is a classical chamber music series featuring world-class Seattle-based artists and their special guests from around the nation and globe. Bi-annually the organization has typically 3 concerts that are intimate, affordable, and of the highest quality. This client merges my love for classical music with my skill at coding in WordPress. One of my biggest professional challenges is being responsible for building a ticketing system that can be bought on the website and provides the music patron with tickets to go to the show.
5. Camp MoxyJo’s
Camp MoxyJo’s is a private campground in Federal Way, WA providing stays in several retro style campers and rooms. I built a WordPress website for Camp MoxyJo’s from 2023 to 2024 with a reservations section. Building a site that takes payments is an extra challenge. The way I accomplished the task was to look at Camp MoxyJo’s like it was a small motel and treat every camper like a room in that motel. Although they use HipCamp and AirBnB, our intention was to add a third hub for reservations and payment to add to their income.
6. Christopher Wright, Architecture
Christopher Wright is a Seattle architect with a modern Pacific Northwest style that focuses on the craft and process of designing homes. His work reminds me of my father’s architecture from the 1960’s and 1970s, that has evolved into spaces we wish to live in today. I appreciate the opportunity to design and maintain his website and help promote his online presence. This year we built an In the Works section and made a more user friendly site navigation.
7. Northwest Dharma Association
The Northwest Dharma Association is a non-profit that provides a one location online presence for Buddhism in the Pacific Northwest. Their website promotes Events, provides News that is edited by a skilled writer, and dedicated Buddhist practitioner, and lists most Buddhist Groups and organizations in the Pacific Northwest ranging from Alaska to Oregon, Theravada to Zen. The Northwest Dharma is one of my longest clients going back to 2008 when I opened the business.
8. Lane Engineering Consulting, P.C.
Lane Engineering in is an engineering consulting firm in New York and New Jersey. I designed and built their new online presence with a logo, several digital illustrations, WordPress website, and print collateral. This year I simply worked on their business cards for their growing team.
9. Johnny B Painting, LLC
Johnny B does high quality remodeling, interior painting, exterior painting, and wood finishing for homes in the Seattle metro area. Starting several years ago as their web designer, I have branched out my services to architectural photography and photo editing for the many home interior photo portfolios on his website. I also occasionally design his newsletters with a custom illustration. I appreciate that the owner, John Bridenstine gives me the opportunity to exercise my creativity in the fields I am highly skilled, like illustration, while also expand into new fields like architectural photography and photo editing.
10. AFM 689 Musicians’ Association
AFM 689 is the Musicians’ Union for Eugene. Thanks to the AFM Local 76-493 in Seattle who I’ve worked for since opening my web design business, the Eugene local asked I build a similar payment system for member’s dues. Any time money transactions are involved, my work becomes purely technical having to strictly plan out every detail of the process including a lot of conditional logic questions until you reach the correct amount of payment. Finally, setting up a stable and secure system that processes the payments. Once again, my love of music merges with my professional work.
The Benefits of Annually Reviewing My Web Design Business
This top 10 list should give you some ideas that you might desire for your online presence. It is a great way for me to thank my clients, but also see the patterns behind who I work with and the services I provide. The people I work with tend to have a profession or aspect of their process that I relate to. And, while I call myself a web designer, you can see from the variety of skills I have, for most of my clients, I create an online presence and business identity.
