In addition to offering research project support, Maria offers coding and updating of websites in XHTML / CSS. Websites written in XHTML (or HTML) load quickly, are functional across browsers, are efficiently indexed by the search engines, and are also more easily accessible to those with disabilities.

Maria especially enjoys working with micro or small business owners and non-profits to help set up a website, make updates to an existing site, analyze visitor statistics to optimize sites for the search engines (SEO), and improve website ROI and productivity.

She also offers content management and visitor analytics of existing websites for larger organizations and Graphics Designers.

Whether you have a 1-2 hour task or an on-going need, contact Maria to find out more about how she can help you set up, update, or maintain your website.

The following three websites are the best examples of Maria's XHTML/CSS coding and SEO/internet marketing abilities.

• Description: This website is for a non-profit organization in Elgin, Texas.

• Objectives: Down Home Ranch is a working farm and ranch offering residential, vocational, and social opportunities to those with special needs. This website provides information about the many events, programs, enterprises, and volunteer opportunities offered at Down Home Ranch.

• Results: Serving as the Content Manager and working with a Graphics Designer, Maria hand-coded the HTML/CSS to completely update this website. It is functional across the 3 major browsers (IE, Firefox, and Safari). Next steps for this website include expanding the resources available to visitors, while also adding functionality for online donations, e-commerce, building community awareness, and Web 2.0 social networking.
  

• Description: This website is for our family's vacation rental property, a 3-bedroom/2-bath waterfront home on the Columbia River in Southwest Washington.

• Objectives: The Lodge at RiverMile39 is marketed almost exclusively over the web utilizing relevant keywords, traffic analytics, and best-practice search engine marketing techniques. We want prospective guests to have the ability to quickly determine whether the home will meet their lodging needs, while also offering information about the local area via fast loading pages, intuitive navigation, and minimal clicking to view photos.

• Results: This website is extremely effective at generating a highly profitable level of bookings throughout the year and enjoys first-page rankings in Google for a variety of relevant keywords and phrases. The unique method of presenting enlarged images of thumbnail photos via hovering the mouse over an image allows the website visitor to efficiently look at the larger photos without using the back button.

• Description: This website is an on-line visitor guide for Wahkiakum County, where our vacation rental property is located.

• Objectives: This website is a place where local residents, prospective tourists, people thinking of moving here, and other visitors can easily find what they want to know about Wahkiakum County and southwest Washington, while also offering an effective, yet affordable, advertising platform for local businesses. When we first created this website in 2002, there was no other website offering general information about Wahkiakum County.

• Results: This website is extremely effective at generating click-throughs for the local businesses who advertise on this site (95% renewal rate) and has first-page rankings in all the major search engines for a variety of relevant keywords and phrases.
  
  I actively manage this site using Google analytics, while continually adding new information and pages based on what the website visitors are searching for. The number of unique vistors has grown consistently over the years, even though several other similar sites are now available.

I have also coded and currently actively manage several websites for small businesses in our local area. In each of these cases, the business or organization provided the graphic design and I coded and set up the website. These sites were produced before I started creating sites with xhtml transitional code that could be validated with the W3C Markup Validation Service.

Wahkiakum School District: Utilizing a template selected by the School District, I hand-coded this website and now actively manage the content. This site can be validated with the W3C Markup Validation Service.

Cathlamet Realty West: Real Estate Agency in Cathlamet, WA

Lower Columbia Economic Development Council: Local agency serving Wahkiakum County and portions of Pacific County in Southwest Washington

Town of Cathlamet: In this case, the Town of Cathlamet asked me to give their website an updated look, easier navigation, and an expanded number of pages. Once the website was set up, the Town took over the on-going updating and content management.

Mule Country Pets: This micro-business offers to take care of pets and livestock in the comfort of their own home when the owners are out of town.