I am a techie with broad skills who designed our original website using Dreamweaver. However, my work load has multiplied as our business grew. I had no time to devote to doing our own redesign and development. We needed to add a User Log-in page to our existing website as well as optimize for better SEO.
I did my homework first and researched how to pick a web developer. I also looked at several companies. Some web design houses had a workflow that consisted of merging your ideas into their framework. I did not want to have a webpage designed by a company that could only be updated or changed by the design house and the page code was not ours. So I decided to ask a trusted and well respected business person, Bridget Beck for a recommendation.
I wanted a design house that would work with us on specific task so we could be involved in the design process and maintain our own website if required. As a high tech small business, we felt strongly about being involved with the web maintenance. Bridget recommended Frances Naty Go of Goldlilys Media as a highly skilled web designer and developer that could work with us interactively in a cost-effective manner.
I reviewed her portfolio and several published designs. Right away, I could tell that she was highly sophisticated in her designs, but in a very subtle way where you were not overwhelmed with the “technology” aspects behind the webpage. The elegance of a well design user interface and intuitive style of navigation was apparent. Indeed she was a designer we wanted to help us.
We found Frances to be highly skilled and versed in web design and development. Frances brought in one of her graphic designers, Vina Rathakoune, to listen to our website upgrade requirements. Our camera business was unique and unfamiliar to Frances and Vina. However, they quickly understood what we needed in the first meeting. They reviewed our website and gave us a walkthrough of what could be done on the existing website and a recommendation for a new webpage built on Drupal, one of the major web softwares today.
After reviewing and weighing the options, we chose a new design because of the increased flexibility for modification & maintenance, and better organization of contents where everything is searchable. Frances and Vina were terrific in keeping us informed every step of the design process, keeping the project on task, listening to our needs and adjusting as needed for the design elements.
Once we approved the design, we were able to test it offline where some adjustments were made that were not considered. Frances and Vina were very fast in accommodating these changes. After the final approval, the webpage was launched.
Frances was a real superstar in getting the webpage loaded and optimized for performance on our servers. After the launch, Frances has been extremely valuable in helping us add additional capabilities. She is very responsive, reliable and a great communicator.
Oh, I forgot to add she is a pleasure to work with. My standards as a broadly skilled techie is very high and I do not recommend people unless they measure up to these expectations. I highly recommend Frances Naty Go and her company, Goldlilys Media, as a web designer and developer who will work closely with you to make the process simple and get you a leading-edge website you can be proud of.