Marketing & Web Development Experience

Experienced Web designer and strategist looking for opportunities in which I can apply my design and marketing skills towards planning and developing Web sites that most effectively serve the goals of both clients and site visitors.

Education

Cleveland Institute of Art

Continuing education classes in Adobe Flash

Colby College, Waterville, Maine

B.A. Philosophy

Disc Jockey, 6-week photography study of London, theater electrician, newspaper columnist, student representative to philosophy department staff committee, swim team, sailing club.

Hathaway Brown School, Shaker Heights, Ohio

Diploma

National Merit Scholarship Finalist

Computer Experience

Web Development

Dreamweaver, Moveable Type, Word Press, JavaScript, Cascading Style sheets, Server-Side Includes, PHP, Web Accessibility Guidelines, Web Standards, HTML/XHTML, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media

Design & Multimedia

Freehand, Flash, Photoshop, Keynote, PowerPoint, Illustrator, InDesign, Pagemaker, Quark Express

Internet/Research

Firefox, Safari, Netscape, Opera, Internet Explorer, Mosaic, Lynx, Westlaw, Lexis, Premise, Folio

Word Processors/Text Editors

MS Word, Word Pad, Word Perfect, DEC-TPU (EVE), Pico, VI,

Spreadsheets/Database

Excel, Lotus, Access, Open Office

E-mail

G-Mail, Mac mail, Outlook, Pine, WP Office, Eudora, Open VMS Mail

Operating Environments

Macintosh, Windows, DEC-VMS, UNIX, DOS

Career Summary

Over 15 years experience in Web development with a background in marketing including: direct marketing, graphic design, writing and photography.

  • Developed goal-driven Web sites focusing on content, usability, SEO and Web standards.
  • Directed creative teams and clients in effective marketing and communications initiatives.
  • Wrote persuasive content for advertising, direct mail, magazines, Web sites and short fiction.
  • Designed, illustrated and provided photography for Web sites, print ads, direct mail, brochures, book covers, street banners, signage, t-shirts, product packaging, postcards and posters.

Employment History

HeidiCool.com, Cleveland, Ohio, March, 2009-Present

Web Designer/Strategist

Developing Web sites and strategies designed to serve marketing and communications goals and user needs.

  • Consult with clients to guide them in understanding their goals and target audience in order to develop content and navigation strategies best suited to their needs.
  • Design and build Web sites using standards based HTML and semantic mark-up.
  • Write, or advise on writing content, designed to enhance search engine optimization.
  • Develop Web marketing plans incorporating social media and traditional marketing strategies.
  • Educate clients and others with an interest in Web page development by writing how-to and observational articles on the Web Development Blog.

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 1999-March, 2009

Senior Web Designer/Webmaster—Marketing & Communications, 2006-March, 2009
Web Designer—Marketing & Communications, 2004-2006
  • Work with clients to develop Web content and navigational strategies that most effectively support their marketing goals, while also providing the information most sought by site visitors.
  • Teach clients to effectively review existing sites, determine communications goals and target audiences, and to adapt and create content to support these goals.
  • Consult with Web maintainers across campus, offering instruction in template usage, technical advice, photography, CSS, HTML and Web marketing strategies including: search engine optimization, social media, advertising and HTML e-mail.
  • Developed, and continue to write articles for, the Web Development Blog in order to better educate clients and others interested in Web development issues such as: content development, marketing, site navigation and related topics. The blog now receives over 6,500 unique visitors per month from around the world.
  • Designed and implemented new sites for the News Center and Case Daily, using the Movable Type blog platform, to develop more robust archives, generate RSS feeds to be used on other sites and build a subscriber base. This system enabled the News Center to grow its readership to over 25,000 unique visitors per month.
  • Implement social media strategies, using Facebook pages to promote events, Twitter to share News Center headlines and interact with followers, and Ning to share documents and ideas.
  • Build, edit and develop prototypes for new and revised Web sites for key university initiatives such as the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, 2008-2009 Year of Darwin and Convocation.
  • Create and develop University Relations and central administrative Web sites including Visit Case, The Office of the President, Marketing and Communications, and the Web Toolkit by researching, writing, photographing and illustrating content that serves the information needs of users while also promoting our features and services.
  • Explore and establish best practices for Web marketing strategies including search engine optimization and social media marketing.
  • Launched, tested, refined and wrote documentation for new Web templates and guidelines in 2 university-wide re-branding efforts in 2004 and 2007.
  • Provide ongoing technical, editorial and marketing support to Web maintainers from each of the university's schools and administrative units.
Assistant Director of Communications—Alumni Relations, Program & Events, 1999-2004
  • Wrote, designed, produced, and provided photography for new Development, Alumni Relations, and Events related Web sites and related print materials.
  • Created & enhanced the University Relations Intranet site for use as a portal and as a resource for sharing information.
  • Photographed events, people and the campus to generate fresh images for use online and in print and established Web-based archive of 15,000+ digital photographs used by departments across campus.
  • Created PowerPoint and Flash presentations for use by presidents and administrators in speeches to college and university presidents and to the Case board of trustees.
  • Supervised and taught assistants in writing, research and Web design projects.
  • Edited and wrote stories for annual 36-page University honor roll of donors.
  • Wrote 2-page column in Case Magazine highlighting donors and their accomplishments.
  • Edited and wrote articles for Fast Forward newsletter distributed to $1000+ donors.

West Group, Banks-Baldwin, Cleveland, Ohio

West Group is the preeminent provider of information for the U.S. legal market.

Direct Response Marketer
  • Devised direct mail plans specifying mailing lists, mailing schedules, projected costs, revenues and creative strategies designed to entice busy attorneys into making quick—yet confident—purchasing decisions.
  • Reduced direct marketing expenses to 40% of new sales revenue by marketing topically related product clusters via cost-effective self-mailers.
  • Surpassed 1997 sales goals by generating $963,900 in new revenue for 90 criminal, health, domestic relations and litigation products—thereby also growing the publication's subscriber lists to increase future revenue.
  • Increased volume of direct mail by 300%, while also increasing direct mail response rates to 2-8.6% by targeting lists to more precise markets.
  • Provided content for Internet marketing of 410 publications serving seven state-specific product lines.
Product Marketer
  • Managed product launches and new editions in conjunction with editorial and accounting departments by recommending prices, print runs and marketing strategies for 30 criminal, domestic relations, health and government law books sold to customers in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.
  • Orchestrated development, production and distribution of new print, CD-ROM and Internet catalogs for Ohio and Kentucky product lines.
  • Created, developed and maintained Intranet site used to disseminate corporate information and resources to over 230 employees working in the seven state region of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
  • Coordinated and attended trade shows and continuing legal education seminars to promote publications to specialty markets and to meet—and learn from—our customers.
Graphic Designer/Marketing Associate
  • Designed and illustrated print ads, direct mail pieces, book covers, and packaging, including covers for a new 42-volume edition of Baldwin's Ohio Revised Code.
  • Wrote advertising copy for print ads, self-mailers, posters and flyers.
  • Became one of three finalists in 1992 National Association of Legal Vendors competition for best headline in a space ad—Bill is braising shrimp.
Assistant Marketer
  • Assisted other marketers by analyzing existing customer buying patterns to quantify targeted markets and the best practices used to reach them. Reviewed year-end marketing costs including advertising space, paper, printing and postage for use in preparation of budgets.
Assistant Editor
  • Proofread and verified laws, rules, annotations and cross-references for state statutes publications including Baldwin's Kentucky Revised Statutes and the Ohio Administrative Code.

Volunteer & Freelance Activities

  • Web site designer, selected projects
  • Trustee, Cleveland Public Art
  • Nature League Steering Committee—Cleveland Museum of Natural History
  • Editor, Dike 14 Nature Preserve Field Guide