Content Writing, Web Design + Development (Wordpress), Training
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becomepowerful.com Owner Jess Bottesch needed some help updating her site, which had been built with WP Bakery in Wordpress. let's just say it was not user friendly, and she was paying big bucks for even small changes, as they couldn't figure out how to do things in-house. Together, we changed that, and now they can keep their site updated themselves.
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Jess had a lot of starter content that I revised. She also needed some brand-new content.
We created a tone that invites engagement to a business that is clearly professional, welcoming, and busy. The overall effect is one that shows Empower t be inviting without seeming needy.
This business is a woman-owned kick-ass place that's been around 20 years. Jess and her team are total pros. Now their content makes that crystal clear, and anyone looking for an effective gym need look no further.
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Empower's existing site was in decent shape, but it was out of date, needed a bit more design oomph, and needed to be built in a way that would allow Jess and her team to keep it updated themselves.
So, I rebuilt the site, ground up, using Elementor Pro in Wordpress with plenty of style customizations to ensure design and branding cohesion throughout.
Her old site was red, white, and blue. Her new site is as well, but we added a couple of surprising colors--yellow and purple--for what I call vinegar. Good cooks know that almost all dishes need a little acid to brighten things up. The same goes for a website. Adding some consistent pops of color to the Empower site makes it feel more energetic and modern, while also offering visual signposts to help visitors navigate the site.
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Once the site was built in Elementor, in-house maintenance and updating became much more workable. Elementor can be tricky and it's not exactly intuitive, but with minimal training, I helped the Empower staff become more than capable of keeping things up-to-date, including adding and creating new pages for the site.
Occasionally something comes up, and I solve a problem for them, but, mostly, they can take care of things themselves, which saves them quite a bit of money and time.
Branding, Content Writing, Web Design + Development (Squarespace), Coaching
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straightupappliance.com Mr. Edwards is an appliance repair guru, who, at 40, is ready to start his own business. He had settled on the name Appliance Kings, but couldn’t figure out the website stuff—how to make it look decent, what to say, and matters of S.E.O.
When I met him, we got to work fast, and in no time at all we had a new name, a logo, and a website with fantastic content.
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I spoke with Mr. Edwards at length, and, as we talked, he used the phrases “straight up,” and “I’ll be straight with you,” a few times. This phrase signifies honesty, and we all want that characteristic in any repair person who comes into our homes.
Plus, when you Google “Appliance Kings,” his first name choice, a million hits come up, all over the country. Definitely not a unique or memorable business name. In fact, he had to add numbers to the end to even get a gmail address.
I came up with Straight Up Appliance, and he loves it.
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A good logo is easy to use, while inspiring trust in a memorable way. Here, I wanted a bold color, but I also wanted the logo to have echoes of tradition—something that would look right on a repair man’s shirt or hat. The logo itself tilts up, and it’s reminiscent of the traditional shape of uniform patches, but with a modern, bold font and fresh angles.
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Pretty much all appliance repair sites are the same. They say what they repair, ad nauseam, but they don’t communicate any empathy for the owners of broken appliances who are, in general, somewhat panicked about their washing machine or range or dishwasher going down.
Here, I wrote content that communicates his skill and value and that shows him to be the honest, determined, and kind person that he is. Like, he’s a guy with a family who panics when an appliance breaks. He gets it, and he wants to help.
Note that there isn’t a ton of content, and hierarchy of information guides readers through it. The ultimate goal is for folks to click to engage, based on the trust the landing page inspires in them.
The Built-in SEO is all about Durham appliance repair, and after our blog coaching session, he’ll be able to build momentum.
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All Mr. Edwards needed to start was a landing page. A place where potential customers could verify his legitimacy and understand his professionalism.
Leading with the logo, I developed a fairly traditional color scheme (inspired, in part by his love of UNC) that offers a muted backdrop to his bold logo.
Further, I created a logo mark, S’UP, an abbreviation of his logo, which is a clever way to reinforce his brand. This quick phrase—an abbreviation of “What’s up?”—communicates that he’s ready to listen so he can get to fixing for you.
Lastly, we wanted the site to communicate that this is a black-owned business, without just stating it. The images and the “S’UP” logo mark help achieve this, so it’s easy for folks who want to support black-owned businesses to easily identify it as such.
Branding, Content Writing, Web Design + Development
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uplinetherapy.com. This client was starting his private practice after 20+ years as a therapist for government agencies. He wanted to create a branded business that would appeal to his ideal clients (professional, middle aged men for both individual and couples counseling with their partners), and he wanted to do it in a way that would lend itself to selling the business in the future.
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For branding, I interviewed the client about his goals and his interests, knowing I could use what I learned as a springboard for his biz branding. He’s a devoted Ultimate frisbee player, so I did some research, and stumbled upon the term upline, for a kind of throw in Ultimate. Though I offered some other names, this was the one, and I was glad he chose it, as it echoes the oft-used word “hotline,” but with a more positive connotation. From there, I created a logo with a frisbee-like background (not that clients would recognize this necessarily) and I also created the related branding kit with type faces and colors to inform my web design.
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Most therapy websites are filled with cliches and stock images that we’ve all seen before, and the text is often generic at best. My job was to create content aimed to appeal to his ideal client base in a novel way, with an appropriate tone and reading level. In the end, the content, in concert with the design, needed to communicate to potential clients that this therapist already knows where they’re coming from, and that he’s a qualified, trust-worthy and empathetic provider. Chat GPT can’t do this. (Not yet, at least!)
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Once I finished the branding and content, building the website was relatively easy. With a focus on easy-to-access information and just the right amount of content, the site is a now a fitting online home for this client’s new business. I also got him set up on Google Workspace, registered as a Google Business, and took care of the SEO on his site. And, he’s set to start blogging whenever he’s ready, to amp up his SEO.
Branding, Content, Web Design + Development
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stevensilverleaf.com Steven Silverleaf is an excessively talented artist who makes truly fine paintings and collages, filled with painterly strokes and powerful colors. His website, though. Oh, my gawd. It was terrible, with everything from tottering content to fuzzy images, dull color choices and fonts that made it difficult to read. Herein, is proof that we all can’t be excellent at everything. Steven was relieved to have found someone who could help him create a site that his artwork deserves. In turn, it will be easier for him to elevate his own client relationships with a professional site that reflects the value of his work and makes online galleries (that produce sales) easy to manage.
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I’ve worked with artists for over a decade, and I love it. That said, herding cats is an apt cliche :) Steven is brilliant and, as Walt Whitman said, contains multitudes. Dare I dip into redundancy by saying that he, in fact, contains many , many multitudes? This means that dialing down the content and branding required quite a bit of direction, keeping him focused on the viewer’s experience and understanding. Throughout our collaboration, he has been open to direction, and, he now has consistent branding that he can use on his site and in emails to clients when he announces events, including a logo composed of the bold signature he uses on his artwork, and a brand kit with modern and muted colors that allow his artwork to be in the forefront.
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The structure of Steven’s site is simple and easy to use, so he’ll be able to manage changes with little or no help. The design is modern, pleasing and inviting, with restrained touches of color that echo the vibrancy of his work. And, the typefaces are a balance of a weightless, modern sans-serif for the content and a more formal and classic serifed font for the headings, because Steven’s work is indeed both modern and timeless. I also encouraged Steven to move over to Artwork Archives, a site that helps artists manage inventory, process sales, and create online galleries, which can be embedded on personal websites. So, we’ve done just that, and he can display collections from his archive with ease and flexibility on his site.
Logo + Brandkit + Website
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The Exchange Pool has been a summer fixture int he Chapel ill/Carrboro community for well over 50 years. Their logo also looked to be about that old, so I signed on to help after our famiy joined in 2006.
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It was fun to make a more modern logo for the pool, which is a volunteer-run cooperative that saves oodles of Chapel Hill/Carrboro residents from wilting in the summer heat here in NC. The swim team is called The Cyclones, and their old logo was pretty sad. This new one is crisp and modern, and because it is simple, it’s easily used for all sorts of assets. I made swim meet banners and marketing yard signs, and the logo looks great on the team’s swim caps and swimsuits. I also made flyer templates and specific signs for around the facility. Now this great place has a great logo and branding kit that their volunteers can use to decrease their workload and to increase a sense of cohesion.
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Oy! The old website was, well, let’s not dwell on it . . . I created a new energetic, inviting, and useful site for the pool, which I turned over to them in 2006. It’s not exactly tip-top anymore, as multiple volunteers have made revisions and design choices since the handoff, but it certainly still gets the job done and serves both current members and prospective members well. Happy to know that this tool is still working well for these folks. Go Cyclones!
Logo + Brandkit
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Sweet Little Something is known in Chapel Hill for its perfect baked goods, from bread to deserts, tarts to quiches. From France, owner Annie Pambaguian offers up dependably, ridiculously good delights, and she hired me to create her logo.
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Annie’s baked goods are elegant and straightforward, modern and traditional. She wanted a logo to match. Starting with the alliteration in her business name, I worked with the letter S, and by flipping one around, I created a modern vibe, but with the echoes of a heart or maybe two swans meeting. Subtle and bold, and with a warm color palette that calls to mind a chocolate tart and a cherry.
And, now Annie uses that as labels for her products, on her business card, and on her website. The logo, labels and related product packaging have elevated her products at the farmers mark
Content Writing
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Boro Realty is an impeccable boutique real estate company here in Carrboro, NC. This small business is professional, creative, welcoming and, truly, dedicated to helping clients purchase homes and sell property with integrity. Everything Boro does is polished and transparent, and their expertise is trusted by loyal clients and highly regarded by other real estate professionals. I love helping good, honest small businesses, like Boro Realty.
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With over 20 years combined real estate experience, Blair and Clayton founded Boro over 6 years ago. Then, in 2022, when Boro was established and esteemed, they were ready for a rebranding. They hired a design firm to create a new logo and brand kit, and then they asked me to rewrite all of the content for their website and brochures, which I did happily. The challenge, here, was to communicate the genuine integrity and dedication of this small business in ways that sets it apart from other real estate companies. Most writing in this sector is quite similar, with clichés and repetition, and everyone claiming to be the best. I aimed to deliver their message with the write amount of bespoke content—fresh text not to be found on other realty sites. This encompassed specific focuses and strengths at Boro, writing professional, yet approachable staff bios, and helpful client guides and FAQs. What a great project.
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Now, I’m Boro’s go-to writer. Now, I ghost-written blogs for them, most recently on the 2024 NAR Ruling and how it might affect realty professionals and buyers and sellers. And, of course, I write blogs with SEO in mind, making sure that what I write is appealing both to humans and the Google SEO algorithms alike.
Writing, Editing, E-Contract, Site Revisions, and Video
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sophiepiesse.com. Sophie Piesse is a well-regarded and very busy architect here in Carrboro who works closely with her designer Luisa Pedrosa. Their skill sets are world-class when it comes to architecture, and Sophie has wisened up to the idea of hiring other experts instead of trying to do everything herself when needs arise. I’m lucky enough to be her go-to writer and tech fixer. Some of the work I do for her is fairly independent—some straight forward writing for which she requests few edits. Some of the work, though, is highly collaborative and gives me the joy of working with this team of highly creative and esteemed professionals.
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Initially, I helped Sophie clean up her site—no big stuff, just getting her Houzz icons lined up, reformatting her FAQ page for readability, and rewriting some of the content to be more accurate, cohesive, and inspiring. Additionally, I helped her create an e-contract to simplify her administrative processes. I love offering relatively simple solutions like this that free up clients’ time to do more important things.
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Update: 2024's video received a People's Choice Award!
Since 2023, Sophie and her team have submitted three applications to NC’s Matsumoto Prize for Modernist Residential Architecture. This prize is a big deal, and part of each application is a 2-minute video that showcases the home. To begin, Sophie and her team sent me still photographs of each house along with site and floor plans, and then we met in person to talk about her clients, their needs, the process, and the resulting home. Soon, I sent a first draft of the video (iMovie), which included all of the assets in a logical order, along with narration that highlights the architecture and process distinct to each home. Together, we decided on some revisions to the first draft. Then Sophie recorded the narration, and I inserted it into the video, along with title and end slides. This was a highly collaborative, fun project. And, the videos are great.
You can see all three videos here.
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Sophie has also asked me to help with other writing projects including a magazine article and a speech she was asked to deliver. Here, the process was pretty easy, as Sophie did turn the text over to me and didn’t request many edits in the end. The speech required little feedback, in part, because I always also send a recorded version of the text, as writing a speech is a bit like writing a play, and the recording helps with intonation. I also add speed and pause cues to help people deliver the text effectively and within time limits. I love that the work I do for Sophie and her team is so varied and interesting, and I always look forward to hearing from them.
Content Direction, Web Design + Development
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cedrictolliver.com. Cedric Tolliver is a two-time Fulbright Scholar who asked me to create a site that would position him to begin bridging the gap between his academic and public audiences. In the end, the site serves as a frame for his work, a one-stop place where people—both colleagues and public readers—can learn about him, his framework and ideas, and his writing.
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Cedric is an academic through and through, who came to me with no idea how to organize or conceptualize his site. I set up up a shared google doc, with sections that represented the site structure for him to fill in, and then I offered feedback and revisions for the content he entered. This highly collaborative process is efficient, and supportive, and it helps clients be more open to new ideas. In Cedric’s case, he hadn’t thought at all about offering a recommended reading list—a gift to site visitors that would provide insight and context into his work. He also hadn’t considered why it’s important to not just say what you do, but why you do it, why you know it matters.
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Cedric provided a fantastic portrait to anchor the site, and I used the colors to inform my design choices and for creating the custom browser favicon. The blue of his suit in the photo was just right—confident and subtle so as not to distract. The site itself is quite elegant, and it’s timelessness will allow it to serve Cedric for many years to come with very little effort on his part.
More case studies coming soon.
In the meantime, you can visit my blog to see some of my recent projects.
