Utah Beekeeping

I went to an event with the Social Media Club of Cache Valley, and I sat next to people who were clearly not students anymore because… I’m not a student anymore.  Of course, all the usual questions followed, such as “so now that you’ve graduated…?”  My reply “Well, now that I’ve graduated I’m not doing public relations, I’m doing web design.”

I didn’t say it exactly like that, but that got the conversation at the table going.  People were wondering how I do it, what I use… could I help one of their friends?  Yes, I could help one of their friends if it helps me make a few extra bucks.  So I came in contact with Kurt Etherington, a beekeeper in Utah who wants to expand his business to a larger audience, and let people know who he’s never met about his beekeeeping business.  Turns out, I was the right guy to help him.

With my understanding of Google, analytics, what searches people are doing for relevant industries, and so on, I am able to quickly determine what needs to be done for a website, how it needs to be constructed to get business, and how it needs to grow.  So we’ve made him a site, you can see it by following this link to Utah Beekeeping.  The plan is that this website will dominate the Utah market for buying bees, and beekeeping equipment.  Also, it will be a useful site for beekeeping tips.  In the end, we’ve made a website that I’m very proud of, and it was inexpensive and done very rapidly.  Now Kurt has a new platform to get the word out about Utah beekeeping, faster than ever before!

Screenshot of Utah Beekeeping

A few of the things that I’m proud of with this website is the implementation and ease of use with so many different products.  Things such as Google voice, Twitter, and Facebook have seamlessly been integrated into the website.  When anything is done here, it will also be updated to both Twitter and Facebook – just a few additional avenues to generate website traffic and business.  He has a simple ordering method, and a free Google Voice hotline which will allow him to track and identify phone calls from customers generated specifically from this website.  He has a way of clearly showing beekeeping tips and advice.  This really is a website that will meet his needs, and will be by far the best investment that he could make to grow his business.  I know I’m tooting my own horn here, but this is great stuff that I was able to do for somebody – I’m feeling proud.

This website is my first that I’ve done independently.  Kurt’s reaction was awesome.  He was impressed on how much I was able to learn about beekeeping so quickly, and often commented “You’re a beekeeper at heart” (maybe he’s right?), and his satisfaction seemed through the roof.  This has given me the confidence to freelance my web making abilities on a regular basis.  So if you have any website needs, then call me up!  I was able to do this for under $500.  It took under two weeks, while I spent time on the evenings after my normal job.

In the end, I also made a good friend, and somebody I can depend on if I ever need bees – he’ll be my go-to man.