Your Friendly Neighborhood Web Designer
UX & SEO Driven • Mobile Friendly • Small Business Websites • Quick Turnaround
Features
UX Focus
Delivering a clean, cohesive user experience. Seamless navigation through a curated journey of value propositions, content that adds value, and CTAs.
SEO Focus
Optimizing each webpage so your small business website has a fighting chance for that oh so coveted #1 spot on a Google search.
One-Pagers
Matching the project scope with the needs of your business. Many startup and small business websites don't need to be more than a solid, single page.
Mobile Friendly
Providing a seamless mobile experience. Depending on the small business, your mobile site can make or break the true success of your web presence.
Quick Turnaround
Leveraging my schedule as a freelancer to problem solve and produce results ASAP. I minimize or pass off retainer work in order to focus on one-off projects.
Generalist Edge
Giving your business a jumpstart until you can afford a team of specialists. A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.
Army of One
Leveraging the efficiency of a one-man team. Agencies have to juggle schedules/communication between teams of specialists and 10s to 100s of projects—I don't.
A Rising Tide
A rising tide lifts all boats.
I want to see small businesses succeed. Short on cash? There may still be a win-win solution—reach out to start a conversation!
Portfolio
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Browse Sites
A Rising Tide
How many of my listed features can you spot in the design of this small business website? Look closely and you'll see I practice what I preach!
U-Auto
U-Auto Website
No Dice
No Dice Website
Your Website
Start The Process!—
Mobile Demo
Fictitious Small Business Website (Taco Truck)
Clear CTAs
Button
High Value Info
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A beautiful one-pager that gives everything a visitor needs to know. Instagram is a must have for mobile foodtrucks, but adding a website is sure to elevate your web presence in a way that Instagram and Facebook simply can't.
Clean Design
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The more convenient you make signing up or filling out a form, the more likely someone will. Have a form that you need someone to fill out? Put that bad boy at the bottom of your home page, and stick to five fields or less.
Review Funnel
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If your interface is frustrating to navigate, you'll lose almost everyone who isn't the most loyal of customers. Web developers still focus most of their time and energy on desktop sites, but for some industries your mobile site is what makes or breaks the digital experience for internet wanderers. Run a restaurant, pub, or some sort of emergency services? Chances are a lot of people are going to find you on their phone, and they'll only visit your desktop site later if they liked what they found.
Case Studies
High Value Content
Scope
Case studies are great but may not be applicable across all industries—for some small business websites, a more in depth client review may be better!
Why Case Studies?
Case studies are an excellent opportunity to quadruple dip by (1) providing extremely value content to the reader, (2) giving the design a natural balance between pictures and text, (3) giving plenty of SEO opportunities to optimize for location and service specific key words, and (4) organically showcasing and grounding reviews in the context of the project they refer to.
"A review would go here." – Person, Title, Location
Great For SEO
Speak To Your Target Audience
Strictly speaking, I didn't need a Case Studies section in addition to a portfolio section, but I wanted to convey that I'm a fun, engaging marketer who also provides good-looking, solid web design for small business websites.
SEO Solutions
Effective case studies demonstrate the problem/scope of the project and how the small business effectively solved the issue. Additionally, by including the location of the reviewer, you help optimize your small business website in the eyes of search engines and local internet browsers alike.
"A review would go here." – Person, Title, Location
Great For Design
Just Fancy Enough
It's good not to get too fancy, but by giving new sections entrance effects, you can help the reader's eyes focus on what you want them to see when you want them to see it, which can be a great tool as you walk them through the curated journey presented by your small business website.
Rule of 3
Three is usually the golden number for case studies. Any less and it may seem as though you don't have enough good projects to choose from. Any more and the reader may get bored and/or it might clog up the design.
"Review." – Person, Title, Location
Contact
Contact Us
About
Cali
— Web Designer & Generalist —
Background
After working over 30 jobs since I was a teenager, I found myself working full-time for a friend and mentor at a Louisville-based digital marketing small business.
Gabe helped empower me to step out into the workplace as a freelancer, and I still retain strong connections and a good working relationship with
Blue Guru.
Founding
During my time at Blue Guru, I was inspired by Gabe's ability to leverage digital marketing as a win-win for both Blue Guru and our small business clients.
When life elements in 2024 led me to search for work outside of a traditional 9 to 5, I started freelancing in hopes to still be A Rising Tide that lifts all boats.
Louisville Life
I live in Louisville with my partner, her many houseplants, and our big stuffed animal lion that always startles everyone because it's the same size as a dog.
In addition to Rising Tide, I am currently also a substitute teacher for JCPS, a specialty camp vendor for the JCC, and the organizer of
No Dice events.
Duda Platform Certified Web Builder
Certifications
My certifications:
- Duda Platform Professional
- Duda Web Design
I take yearly tests from Duda University to stay current.
What is Duda?
In their own words, Duda is the leading web design platform for companies that offer web design services to small businesses.
We serve all types of customers, from freelance web professionals and digital agencies, all the way up to the largest hosting companies and online publishers in the world.
Why I Use Duda
I spent a couple years teaching myself how to build websites from scratch with HTML, CSS, and JS before I found the beauty that is the Duda platform.
Far from being a waste of time, having learned the nitty gritty of web design coding gives me an edge in the upbeat realm of "no code" website building platforms.
Other Platforms
As a generalist, I work well with a variety of platform builders other than Duda, such as Wordpress (Divi, Elementor, Blocks), Webflow, Wix, Squarespace, etc... and the more I learn, the easier it is to pick up the next one.
