Background
From 1989 to 1994, I was in graduate school for computer science at the University of California in Irvine. It was there, in 1991, I saw my first website. I didn't think then there would be much application outside of academia, proving that I'm not much of a prognosticator.
In 1994, our family moved to Luxembourg where my husband had a new job. I started Pickering Publishing there providing editorial and layout services for English language non-profit newsletters. As interest in personal computing and the world wide web expanded from the United States to Europe, I expanded into computer training and website development. Since our family's return to the U.S. in 2001, website design and consulting for non-profits and entrepreneurships have become my primary focus.
From Fall 2004 to Spring 2008, I was also the Webmaster for the Essex National Heritage Commission. I did all the site design, development and maintenance of EssexHeritage.org. I'm proud to say that the improved coordination between the Commission's promotional efforts and the website resulted in a 100% increase in website visitors and 30% are return visitors.
Since I left the Commission to go out on my own as Pickering Web Design, I have designed and developed websites for non-profits, towns and small entrepreneurships throughout Boston's North Shore. I work both as a sole proprietorship and teamed with marketing professionals, writers and graphic designers.
Approach
I am a strong believer in providing the same professional design and development for small nonprofits as those of large commercial websites. I design, from the very beginning, with website content and maintainence in mind. All of my sites are hand-coded and tested in a variety of browsers and operating systems. I train my clients on how to maintain their sites using whatever software or Content Management System is appropriate to their skillset and budget. I regularly check the websites I develop to be sure all is going well and do minor maintenance.