Simple Web Design Portfolio

Selected Keep It Simple Small Business Websites I’ve Designed for Clients:

This site, to the left,  is for a well-known local Pennsylvania potter and ceramics teacher Bob Deane. I really enjoyed working on this site to capture the look, the feel and the words that really reflected his work and passion for what he does: www.BobDeane.com. The other day Bob said, “I look at other artist’s websites and there are very few I really like, but I keep looking at mine and I am very pleased. I still love it.”

This site to the right, with the dramatic images, is for a business consultant who wanted a clean, professional yet dynamic site to promote her business www.AdtigoGroup.com. Please click the image of the link to take a closer look. Each site I do is customized to the needs of my clients and to meet the needs of their customers.

Another recent site is PharmaFacts.com,  a boutique consulting firm that works with smaller Biotech companies to help them bring new drugs through the pre-clinical trials phase of development and closer to market. The purple site colors are based on their logo. The middle image looks funny in this image, as it uses a process called “parallax,” where the text stays still, but the image moves beneath it as you scroll. Kinda cool, but it makes taking screenshots difficult!

The image with the green grass color-scheme is the site I created for www.DelawareValleyTurf.com – for a lawn care maintenance company. I revamped his older HTML site and moved it over to WordPress a few years ago – he then came back to me for a newer, fresher look in 2016 – the new site is to the right: 

Here is Matt (the owner’s) testimonial: “I was referred to Cathy Larkin by my friend and former neighbor Paul Mosenson. Since I knew very little about web design, I told them I was looking for something that I could, later on, tweak myself with updated content. My previous website was never updated and therefore never showed up on search engine results. I told Cathy that I needed it quick since I was in the lawn care equivalent of the ‘Christmas Rush’ (March through April).  She said she would do her best and then 3 days later emailed me with a semi- finished site that we collectively edited. Bottom line was that she was knowledgeable (knew everything from site optimization to layout), thorough (patiently put up with all the changes that I requested) and prompt (Site was up in a little under 10 days). She did a great job and I invite you to take a look at it, www.delvalturf.com. Since we updated it, our online referrals have increased 1200%. Additionally, several people have offered how much they like our website… without me even asking.”  Matt McGuire, Owner, Delaware Valley Turf Supply and Service, Inc., 1005 Sussex Blvd, Unit 7, Broomall, PA 19008, (610) 328-4170.

Matt (above) also hired me to create a third website – one for his related Landscaping and Lawn Care business – GreenSheepLandscaping.com. He wanted a simpler site to let people know about his landscaping and lawn mowing services in the Main Line area of suburban Philadelphia, PA.

 

 

 

 

I also recently created two sites for two different therapists in the Philadelphia region: CarrieTherapy.com for Carrie Sensenich (the green and gold site with the pathway going over the hill), and FeelingEase.com, (the green and cream site with the beach walkway image) for Elanah D. Naftali. It was a fun challenge making each site unique.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When a friend, Amy Rubinstein, and I were talking about what we each do and she realized that I create websites (as well as my PR and social media work), and when I heard that she was gearing up her cold calling and appointment setting business – we decided that she needed a website and AmyOpensDoors.com was born (color scheme black, red and white). She wanted a simple site with a bit of flair.

Here is Amy’s testimonial: I’ve known Cathy for a long time and have been impressed with her tech savvy and social media skills. When she told me she was also designing websites for small businesses I jumped on the opportunity to have her design my site. I had definite ideas as to how I wanted the site to look and what I wanted to say. Cathy listened and was able to turn my vision into a reality. She was very patient with all my concerns and made sure that the site copy would help me connect with my customers and give me optimal exposure to search engines. She went over and above my expectations.  I highly recommend Cathy for small business owners who need a website they can be proud of.

When California artist Robin Sierra decided to hire me a second time to help her move and recreate her main artist’s website from WordPress.com to a more professionally designed site (using WordPress.Org professional software) at RobinSierra.com I jumped at the chance. Robin’s artwork is amazing and it was fun to create a site to show off her beautiful abstract “soulscapes.”

Artist Robin Sierra, who is also a Pet Loss and Grief Counselor in California, needed help with her site PetLossAndGrief.com. (Purple) I was called in to help after her former web designer made a mess of her original site, who had locked Robin out of being able to access it. I was referred by a friend of hers after she had regained control. You may have noticed above that she hired me a second time to create her main artist’s website and to move it from WordPress.com to the professional version of WordPress. It is a bit purple for my tastes, but she loves the way it looks.

Here is Robin’s testimonial: “Great gratitude for Cathy Larkin, webmaster extraordinaire who is highly tech savvy, is a delight to work with and has great communication skills, a rare and highly valued combination.  My previous webmaster had made a mess of my website, Cathy stepped in and saved the day! She worked together with me to create the new site and now I have a website that I love and is just what I envisioned.” Robin Sierra, Artist and Grief Counselor.

One more artist’s site, this time for a dancer:  http://www.brigittaherrmanndance.com/ for a long time dancer and choreographer who wanted to represent her body of work on the internet. We added a bit or artistic flair, check out the black and white image of her feet and hand from an old dance image from the 1960s when she was just starting out.

 

 

 

 

 

www.CCHVAC.com <– This site, in greens and blues, was done for a contractor in Montgomery County PA. We created the site to give him a simple, professional look on the web, and to allow customers to check him out online. We created this simple site, which he plans to expand and add more photos. This is the second site I have designed for him; this site replaced the other one when he shifted the focus of his business.

www.JobSecretAgent.com -> The site in red and black) was created for a lawyer and author of “How to Negotiate a Killer Job Offer.” I also helped her get her book for sale as an ebook & paperback book on Amazon.com. The site colors were influenced by the dramatic colors of her book cover. She has since folded the book info into a page on her own legal website since the book has been out for a few years and she did not want to maintain two sites.

 

This website task, www.OliviaGroup.com (also blue and green), was to take the existing site from a Hubspot.com (an expensive, proprietary website service), and move it over to a new location using the WordPress.org software while preserving the look and feel of the existing site, but updating the functionality.

 

 

 

 

Another site I worked on is 5 Rhythms Philly a local dance website (the brown and white site). The dance graphic behind the text set off the site in a cool way. She has since changed the name of her dance business and is creating her own website on a dance platform.

Feel free to contact me for a free half-hour consultation to discuss a new or updated website in your future. 484-802-7576 or click here to use my contact form.