Where deep creatives claim their websites

Web design and branding have a natural overlap, though they can also be treated as separate services. Just like embodiment, branding is a process. Micro choices can build over the arc of months or years. The beauty of the delivery of the website base is that you’ll always be free to experiment with it as you express yourself, your tones, your mood, your visuals and values. Suddenly you can change all your button colors at once or even change your entire website theme on a moment’s notice.

Some of my clients are dialed in and determined with set branding from the beginning, or their logo is established, but for others it’s a wide berth. If you have an existing brand identity, I’ll work within it. If you’re starting fresh, we can discuss options. Feel free to collaborate with a brand designer first, or consult my best practices and guidance on developing a visual direction together as part of the project process.

I’ll be upfront. I am a big believer in website copy. And I’m a website copywriter myself. I came to web design as a copywriter first, a designer second. A writer through and through, and an artist at my core. With my background in journalism, I know how to transmit stories, meanings, and impact through words as well as websites.

This is all to say that while copywriting is technically not included in the web design price for full service conversion copywriting tailored specifically to your brand and business vision and goals—I’ll have your back. I provide you with a questionnaire (all questions are optional) to elicit your truths, values and meanings and basically draw the taglines and headlines out of you.

One of my past massage therapy clients wrote in a review, “She makes the effort to understand you a bit as a person, in order to help the experience, and she’s more than happy to tailor the experience towards an individual’s needs.” We spend sufficient time together as we work through the project where I really get to know you, your story, and deeper meanings. A website client said, “Both John and I have been so satisfied with your copy upgrades to my words. Perfect every time!”

The truth is that as an art form and a practice, website copywriting takes diligence spanning outside the scope of one build. But as a journalist, I am trained (without AI) to intuit how to convert your discovery and outline content quickly into website copy for publishing your site. The copy is the secret sauce to my client success stories.

Come with your own copy, or come with none at all. Take as much ownership of the writing as you wish! This is your website. We will refine what we have together. If you still desire substantial writing help for your content or a full copywriting service, I can point you toward practitioners, or we can discuss adding a copywriting component to the project. Otherwise, my added value and offering as an intentional website copywriter and secret storyteller—who designs—is included.

I connect clients with care plans through Maple Creative, a small web design agency I trust and partner with for commitment to transparency, honesty, connection, care, and deeply held environmental and social justice values. These plans cover maintenance, security, ongoing technical support, a relationship with and access to developers, tutorials, workshops, and community. While the care plan is not required, I recommend this step to ensure that I can personally oversee your continued success down the road. More details can be found in the menu, in a blog post dedicated to why I choose Maple as my collaborator.

No, I design on WordPress. This is my agency experience and how I can best assure you ongoing support, full customization, ability to scale, interoperability, and a powerful open-source content management system that you truly own.

I know people are steered away from WordPress because of plugins, complexity, or past nightmares with security hacks or adverse experiences. If that is your case, I am truly sorry you’ve had to deal with that and understand you may want to run in the other direction. But this is why I partner with Maple Creative. They handle the complex troubleshooting, security, and technical infrastructure so you don’t have to. You get the power of WordPress—and a vetted, curated tech stack—without carrying it alone.

Personally I love it. WordPress has changed enormously in the last decade and is a lot easier and more fun to use than in the past.

Particularly if…

• you want a website with a lot of dynamic content
• you’ll be publishing many posts
• you’ll be growing a flexible, segmented library of work that showcases your varied interests and skills
• your intentional content growth strategy is built on depth and trust, possibly writing, and connection…
• you want to curate different categories of work to build your archives over time

…then WordPress is the way to go. Cien por ciento. And if everything I named seems overwhelming or out of reach, poquito a poco. Hence the iterative approach and ability to grow slowly over time in small, manageable bits. You don’t have to have that all now, but you’ll have that available.

I believe you should be fully equipped to manage your own website and can also provide you tutorials or troubleshooting steps on demand as needed. You’ll never be fully on your own and will have both me and Maple to reach out to for support.

Part of the delivery of the website is ensuring that you can log in and make edits any time on your own and that you are empowered to make as many changes as you want, when you want. If there are skills that we haven’t walked through together, you’ll have access to a tutorial library through the Maple care plan and resources to build on your own with vast information. Through Maple’s value of generosity, the sharing of knowledge is provided and encouraged.

For existing clients and past collaborators, I’m available for hourly support, editing, building and consulting on a per-project basis. This is for when you want more substantive work for inserting content or building out new integrations or revamping your website. If we have a history, you know how to find me.

My best-fit clients currently are deep, empathetic and creative solopreneurs or small businesses who seek websites that merge the personal with the professional. Their websites in turn reflect an approachable and trustworthy brand / business / human who prioritizes meaningful relationships, authentic expression, and genuine connection.

These entrepreneurs classically have been practitioners in the healing arts and holistic domain. They tend to be embodied, politicized, “deep,” and enjoy working with (primarily)her · their hands.

As healers, as educators, and as artists, they may be working directly with clients online or in person 1:1 or through cohorts. Or selling physical art.

This is not to preclude anyone from inquiring outside of this broad-strokes description. I am open to working with you. If you want to build a website that you can grow with long-term, submit an inquiry and tell me what you’re all about. Let’s get acquainted first and go from there. I can point you toward other designers and creatives in my network if we’re not the best fit to work together.

If you work on behalf of an environmental justice organization, a non-profit, or an enterprise, I wholeheartedly recommend Maple Creative del tirón (the andaluz expression I understand as, “yes, and immediately, without hesitation”)!

Having transitioned from life on the ground as a massage therapist to the world of remote work, I’ve come full circle to value above all my real relationships. My dream clients are either those whom I’ve met in real life, or those who through referrals or happenstance form relationships that are “real” enough to where I really get to know the person and pave that possibility for meeting face-to-face in the future.