Content Management System (CMS) based Website Design Portfolio
Content Managed websites are based on a complex software package that allows you to update your website yourself through a password login with little or no experience of web design. Some skill and understanding is required but most people will find it relatively easy to update their website after a little practice.
The more recent of the CMS based websites I have designed have used the open source Content Management Software - Drupal or Wordpress. Drupal tends to be more versatile in what can be done with it but consequently rather more complicated. If you would like a demonstration of what it is like to use the Drupal CMS to update a website I would be happy to give you access to my demonstration site (www.epecentre.co.uk). Wordpress is essentially Blogging software that can be used to create a full website, I think it suits simpler websites best and is a little more straight-forward to learn how to use to update your own site. Limited versions of Wordpress are often available as part of a standard hosting package.
A good option is to add a Wordpress blog to your site as a means of providing news articles, events etc alongside your main site.
Older websites used our own CMS software and these I have not included here as they are largely obsolete now.
Alternatively we have provided web site maintenance training for people who want to maintain their own websites without being tied into a CMS system.
>>>See full portfolio of websites instead
Website Design For Paul Jomain Hertfordshire
www.pauljomain.biz. Paul Jomain creates puppets for Film, Television and Theatre. You may not know him but you will recognise many of his creations.
Paul wanted a site he could update himself, that would showcase his work with lots of photos and videos. He had an outline design already and this we adapted for his new website. The site is Wordpress CMS based as it provides an easy to use content update system and in particular it makes adding photos very easy although we have not used the Blog functions.
"Looking great and had lots of compliments."
Paul Jomain
Paul Jomain, Herts
Website Design For JT Marketing PR Hunsdon, Hertfordshire
www.jtmarketingpr.co.uk. JT Marketing PR Services is a strategic marketing consultancy and PR agency that will help increase your profits and maximise press coverage.
I have known Joseph Tirelli (JT) for some years now and this is the second version of his company's website I have done. It reflects the transition from "Marketing" to "Marketing and PR" Agency.
Joseph has been getting very good search engine results from his website ("marketing consultant herts" etc) and with this rebrand we wanted to build on that so the site now incorporates a Wordpress Blog for News and Press Features Gallery which has been designed to seamlessly integrate with the main site and the latest Blog posting automatically appears on the main site home page.
"Michael is very approachable and will provide straight forward and
honest advice"
Joseph Tirelli of JT Marketing PR
JT Marketing PR, Hunsdon, Hertfordshire
Website and Wordpress Blog For Curium Solutions London and Birmingham
www.curiumsolutions.com. Curium are Award-winning Change Management and Real Time Change Measurement specialists. who work closely with clients to deliver major, sustainable improvements across their business.
Joel Farrar, Head of Business Development at Curium was frustrated with the website they had recently commission as there were a number of issues with the design and it was completely invisible from the search engines so he asked me to sort it out. Amongst the issues I found that there was a block in the code designed to send the search engines away without indexing the site and that the content was poorly focussed on the company's business. So we went back to first principles to re-draft the content, redefined the site structure and reviewed the design. Some basic elements of the design were retained but otherwise the site was rebuilt from scratch. In addition a Wordpress Blog was integrated with the site to allow Curium to publish News Iitems as they wish. The Blog theme has been designed to closely resemble the main site and the latest News Item is automatically posted on the main site home page.
"As well as the design element for building web sites, Michael concentrates very much on the practical functionality of a web site to ensure high levels of web traffic, i.e. making sure it functionally works, can scale/be updated and can be found easily. Michael completely rebuilt the Curium site to overcome the issues that ... left us with; although our original site looked good, it could not be found by search engines at all, the underlying code was screwed and many more serious issues! Michael sorted the lot. "
Joel Farrar
Curium Solutions, Birmingham and London
Wordpress Website For Adoration Art Hanwell, London
www.adorationart.co.uk. Joanne Davies specialises in channelled Art works for clients and for their homes or businesses. The scale of her Artwork ranges from a greetings card to small canvas and up to a full wall mural. Alongside her artwork Joanne works as a Holistic Energy Practitioner.
Joanne had tried to use a website building tool that came with her hosting but found it difficult to use and impossible to load up images of her Artwork. She was looking for a nicer looking site that was easy for her to use to update her site herself. Wordpress provides one of the easiest to use content management systems around so I built her site using this leading Blog software.
"Michael has done the most fantastic website for me - I am thrilled."
Joanne Davies
Adoration Art, Hanwell, London
Content Managed Website Design For Hamilton & Co, Letchworth, Hertfordshire
www.retroandvintagefurniture.co.uk "Hamilton & Co are a Letchworth based company specialising in Retro and Vintage Furniture and Objects from the 1950s,1960s and 1970s. The partners have over thirty years experience trading in Antiques, Decorative Objects and in Furniture Restoration."
Hugh Hamilton had some experience of managing websites and search optimisation from previous ventures - he was looking for a CMS (Content Management) based website that he could update easily himself but did not want the traditional e-commerce CMS type site. The Drupal open source CMS site I designed incorporates the "light box" photo expansion/animation facility to show off products with small on page photos expanding on demand.
Hamilton & Co - Retro and Vintage Furniture, Letchworth, Hertfordshire
Content Managed Website Design For Display-Cor, Little Wymondley, Hertfordshire
www.displaycor.co.uk "Specialists in the Design and Manufacture of Cardboard Point of Sale Displays including cardboard Floorstands, Dumpbins, Counter Tops, Pallet Shippers, Standees and Retail Display Packaging used at the Point of Sale."
Noel Gardiner said "I am looking for a local company that can hopefully 'tweak' our current website design in order to get it higher up in the search engines." It transpired that Noel liked the current design, but felt their site was not optimised and wanted to convert to a CMS based website so they could do updates themselves.
The Drupal open source CMS site I designed looks very much like Display Cors previous site but with much better images and largely rewritten copy which has be optimised. The website also incorporates a nice password protected gallery area including many examples of their finished products for showing potential clients.
Display-Cor, Little Wymondley, Hertfordshire
Content Managed Website Design For 3 Counties Heating, Harpenden, Hertfordshire
www.3countiesheating.co.uk 3 Counties Heating are a family run business of plumbers and central heating engineers operating in the Herts, Beds and Bucks area. Barbara Dicker wanted a brand new website that was based on a Content Management System that will perform well in the search engines. She had a clear vision of a particular design she was after - always a challenge with a CMS based website but the DRUPAL CMS was up for it! The end result was a pleasing design so it was well worth the effort. Drupal is also one of the best CMS systems for search engine optimisation so we are looking forward to some good search engine rankings over the coming months.
"The general feedback I am getting for our site has been very good and we have had a few good leads from it and a number of other enquires too. Everyone I've spoken to is impressed with the site and has said how professional it looks. Some even asked if it was expensive. What we wanted was to stand out from the crowd and be able to compete with the bigger companies like British Gas and Northern Gas Heating. I think we have certainly achieved this with the design. The SEO of course we will have to wait and see. Thank you for all the hard work you put into this site."
Barbara Dicker, 3 Counties Plumbers and Heating Engineers
3 Counties Heating, Harpenden, Hertfordshire
CMS based Website Design For Modus Operandi Hertfordshire
www.modusoperandimarketing.co.uk Modus Operandi are a marketing, sales and customer service development company with specialist experience in the hospitality, leisure and service industries.
Ursuline wanted another new website she could manage herself so I provided a Drupall Content Management based web site.
"I wanted a sensible website design and build that would give me maximum flexibility to strategically grow my businesses over time. I also wanted to incorporate SEO into the design and build without paying expensive SEO fees to a so called specialist. Epsilis provided the solution and have built two sites for me that are performing well. Working with Michael has been a pleasure and behind his unassuming nature is a wealth of talent and experience that he is happy to share to improve your web presence and your business. Michael also provides an incredible ongoing support and advisory service and is always available to answer your questions and queries first hand. If you are considering creating a new website or revamping your old site then be sure to seek out the services of Michael Spencer and his company Epsilis"
Ursuline Edwards-Sutton (Director),
Modus Operandi,
Modus Operandi, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
CMS Website Design For R-Squared Risk Management Bloomsbury, London
www.rsquaredriskmanagement.com "help managers improve their investment performance by ensuring that their portfolio selection skills are harnessed efficiently by aligning risk with expected return and eliminating unwanted risk. R-Squared Ltd began designing and building Customised Hybrid Risk Models in 2005, continuing and refining the work Jason MacQueen started in 1983. In response to the success of portfolios constructed using these models, R-Squared expanded from 2009 into Quant Partnership and Risk Consulting. R-Squared is based in London, serving investment management firms in Europe and North America."
Richard Young from Hitchin wanted a Content Management (CMS) based website designed for R-Squared Risk Management. He had a logo and wanted a clean design just using their logo. The site I designed uses the Drupal open source CMS system.
R-Squared Risk Management, Bloomsbury, London
CMS based Website Design For Furnishing Report London
www.furnishingreport.com A new website to support companies in the home furnishings industry by providing insight and information, including breaking news, market data, opinion and analysis.
Richard asked me to design a website he could update daily himself having had previous experience of using Content Management Systems and experience of preparing images for use on the web.
He had a clear idea of what he wanted his new website to look like. This can be a problem with CMS based sites as presentation options can be limited however most of Richards presentation requirements were possible using the Drupal Open Source Content Management System (CMS).
“Michael Spencer’s knowledge, skill and approachability have proved to be second to none. Content management system driven websites can be incredibly complex, but Michael has followed the brief to the letter and provided a range of solutions that will allow us to monetise our website. We would highly recommend him as a web designer/developer and have every intention of using his services when we launch further sites in the future.”
Richard de Melim, publisher, Furnishing Report
Furnishing Report, Media 3V Ltd, London
CMS based Website Designed For Shine Hertfordshire
www.shinepersonaldevelopment.co.uk offer a range of Personal and Professional Development programmes that can help you enhance your life and the lives of those around you.
Ursuline wanted a new website she could manage herself. I demonstrated a typical Content Management based web site to her so that she could see what was involved and we went from there. This website uses the open source system, DRUPAL CMS. Visitors can sign up for courses, a regular club, a newsletter, download tip sheets, purchase gifts and subscriptions.
Shine Personal Development , Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
Content Managed Website Design For Le Swing Jive Dance Club, Manchester
www.leswingjive.co.uk Paul Forber of Le Swing Jive had a website but was having difficulty getting help when he needed it from the web site designer so he asked me if I could sort out his site and provide a means for him to update it when he need to. This is the result - it is a straight forward Drupal Content Managed site that uses a standard design template.
"I've just looked at the site , I see you have done your home work, its fantastic, thank you very much ...
Michael once again thank you for your help, you have been a star, after all the problems I have had over the years, you have been the one thats turned up and helped me out, I will pass the word around the jive venues, if any one needs a web site to see or ring you."
Paul Forber
Leswingjive, Manchester
