About Lori's Web Design
Lori Eldridge
I live in the beautiful Palouse hills of Colfax, WA but serve clients across the US. I've been a professional web designer since 2000 but volunteered on websites a few years before that while learning to write HTML by hand. I worked as a computer tutor in computer labs for 4 years while attending community college in Spokane and EWU in Cheney, Washington, pursuing an English/Creative Writing Degree (1996) and learned software on both Mac and PC.
While attending college I worked as an assistant editor for EWU's Willow Springs Magazine, where I critiqued poetry and stories for the magazine which resulted in the ability to analyze website content for clarity.
While attending college I took several Internet courses and worked for several temporary companies after college. The rest of my web design education was self-taught and through experience. See the Bio on my home page, or the Google Reviews from clients of Lori's Web Design for more information.
I learned to write HTML by hand before WYSIWYGs or CMS programs (drag and drop) were widely available, which is a plus because my websites are very clean, devoid of code bloat and load fast on any browser. My Website Redesign service includes the removal of technical or SEO errors as well as code bloat which results in very clean HTML.
Hand coded HTML used on all websites.
No templates or WYSIWYGs used here.
Personalized Web Service
I own my own web design business and have no employees so you get personal service from Lori's Web Design. I studied business in college and I'm also a former business owner so understand the needs of budgeting the design and ranking of a website for small businesses.
I provide very flexible services, i.e. one client is a Radio Pastor so he requested a weekly report showing how many visitors to his website come from foreign lands, which pages they visited, with a world map, etc.
I'm also very frugal, even make my own sticky notes. I don't have to upgrade a lot of web design software, because I write code by hand, and I worked my way though college with no college loans to pay off and thus my fees are very reasonable.
I currently have about 30 clients, several of which are in Spokane, the Colfax area, and others across the USA. I watch over client websites and let them know when there is something wrong that will affect their ranking.
I also keep watch over domain renewals and remind the clients when their domains are up for renewal so they don't lose their domain. I teach clients how to attain high keyword ranking, how to find good backlinks, watch out for SEO scams, link submission scams and ranking schemes.
Graphics Designer
I've been involved in several creative pursuits (poet, artist, photographer, musician, gardener, quilter, etc.) so enjoy working on the design and functionality of personal or small business websites.
I wouldn't call myself a professional graphic artist but did take graphics courses in college and was an artist in oils and amateur photographer before I got so busy with web design. Artistic skills are very helpful when designing the layout and balancing elements of a web page. I used to use Fireforks CS5 for all website grapics but now use Affinity Photo to edit photos and Affinity Designer to design graphics.
Responsive Web Design
For the last several years I have been redesigning all client sites with responsive design. See the Mobile Design Portfolio for samples. When a site is set up with responsive design that means it is viewable on both desktop, tablet and on mobile devices, instead of one page for desktop and another for mobile. This is the method that Google prefers.
A Responsive Web Design Sample
SEO Services
I don't charge extra for SEO services (Search Engine Optimization) when redesigning a website because everything I do is related to SEO. I tweak the keywords as I redesign a website, if needed, or de-optimize them if they were over-optimized.
When a client sends me text to put on a site, if I see it could be enhanced by changing a few words, then I do so (switching pronouns for nouns, adding a main keyword here and there, etc.). I enjoy digging into code so much that I often start cleaning up the code on sites before I even receive the deposit.
I have a list of about 80 items that need to be performed before and after a site is launched to make sure there aren't any technical problems affecting keyword ranking.
In-Depth SEO Analysis Reports
Most SEO analysis tools on the internet tell you your titles and descriptions are too long or too short, but can't tell you the best words to use because your website is never seen by a real person. My SEO Analysis reports are in-depth and written by someone who can examine the code on your web pages to find technical flaws that are harming your keyword ranking.
Site Builders are Bad News
I don't encourage use of CMS (Content Management Systems), sometimes called site builders, where the owner of the site can edit it themselves. These programs usually produce a massive amount of code bloat and deprecated code so the HTML will not validate.
Bad code that won't validate, and a slow download speed, are Google's new keyword ranking factors. People who don't know how to write HTML or understand SEO can effectively destroy their website with these drop and drag site builder programs. Most of the sites I have redesigned were originally built with these programs because the websites weren't going anywhere in the search engine ranking.
I Prefer to Design Websites for Small Businesses
I'm not a software programmer because I want to keep my focus on my area of expertise, which is building search engine friendly websites. I can refer these other jobs out, however, if needed.
I have worked on several commercial sites (Miva, E-commerce, Shopify, ShopSitePro, PayPal, etc.) however I prefer to stick with smaller sites as things are changing too fast with Google to the point you need to be an expert on each service you provide. What was OK last year can get you penalized this year.
I follow several SEO experts and participate in webmaster forums every week to keep up with the latest developments in Google, web design and search engines.
Web Designer Maintenance Fees
When clients have quick edits for their website I usually get those loaded within 24 hours except for weekends or holidays. I charge $30 per hour for all my services with a minimum charge of 10 minutes.
Lori Eldridge
Copyright © 2000, updated 11-04-20
All Rights Reserved