Who and What is Carlson Web Design?
I’m John Carlson (nice to meet you) and I design websites — hence the name. Pretty clever, huh? When I first established my business I was faced with the task of deciding what to name it, and being a plain-talking, up-front kind of guy, it occurred to me to call it Carlson Web Design & Consulting. After all, I thought, that pretty much says it all: I’m Carlson, and I design websites. So what else do my clients and prospective clients need to know? Well perhaps just a bit more. For example, what about the and Consulting part?
Web consulting & strategy
In addition to actually designing and building websites, I help businesses plan their Internet presence within the larger context of their overall corporate strategy and objectives. Whether your company’s goal is to provide information, define and establish your brand, sell products online, or improve communication with your customers, I can help you meet and exceed your requirements. In fact, much of what I do goes far beyond the graphic design and coding of my clients’ websites, including:
- Information architecture, layout and flow of the website
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- Social media strategy and integration
- Facebook and Twitter account set up and customization
- Corporate blog design and integration
Oh, and besides all that, I make great-looking websites that convert visitors into customers!
What else do I do? Graphic design, coding and SEO, among others!
I usually work for small- to mid-sized businesses that either need a re-design of their existing website or have no prior Web presence at all. I have a wide range of skills, including front-end website coding (XHTML, CSS, JQuery), PHP programming, graphic design, search engine optimization, and custom blog design. Because of its performance and ease-of-use, I’m a big WordPress fan and use it as my default blogging and content publishing platform.
Update your website easily — we give you the keys!
Because I feel it’s wrong to deliver a static website that my customers can’t easily update themselves, I always integrate WordPress into every site that I build. WordPress is a free, open-source content publishing system (also called a content management system or CMS), as well as the world’s most popular blogging platform.
Your site will have a secure, password protected log-in page that accesses an administration panel. Through the administration panel you can create new pages and articles (posts), add photos, and upload media files such as video and audio. In other words, you’ll have the keys to run your own site without needing to rely on anyone else to update its content.
WordPress is also flexible, powerful and highly extensible, giving you the ability to grow as your website needs increase over time. There are many free add-on or “plug-in” applications available too, such as calendar systems, photo galleries, mailing list programs, and a great deal more.
As both a CMS and blog system, WordPress is used by numerous large corporations, including such Fortune 500 companies as The Wall Street Journal, Intel, Xerox, Sony and many others.
How big a company is Carlson Web Design & Consulting?
Like Chuck Norris, I’m a Force of One 
and typically handle all phases of the planning, design and development of my clients’ sites. I do, however, occasionally partner with other professionals if circumstances dictate.
I generally take on additional assistance only if I’m involved in a larger project with a strict deadline, require some specialized skill that I don’t possess, or my work schedule is heavy enough that I need to outsource some (generally small) aspect of a project.
When such circumstances do arise, I consider myself very fortunate to have a few trusted and highly skilled associates on whom I can rely to deliver superb work, on time and on budget. These outstanding professionals include graphic designers, copy writers, programmers and software developers.
Even when utilizing outside resources, I can honestly and completely assure my customers that the high quality of work that I demand of myself and of my company always remains consistent.
NJ Web Design Company — but we have clients everywhere!
I’m located in Bergen County, in the northeastern part of the great state of New Jersey, and less than 20 miles from New York City. The majority of my clients are in north Jersey, but I’ve created websites for people as far away as Florida, Texas, and California.
While I understand that people often prefer to work with a local company, I’ve found that as long as there is regular communication by telephone and email, geography is never an issue when taking on and successfully completing a web project. So feel free to contact me, wherever you reside or your company is headquartered.
Should we work together?
I have a confession to make: I’m not much of a salesman. Nor do I want to be, because to me the word “sales” implies that I’m trying to talk people into something that they might not truly need or want. This being the case, I’m not particularly good at convincing folks that their company’s web presence is important. If you and I are talking, I’m going to assume (or at least hope) that you already understand this.
But if you believe your company’s online presence is a trivial concern, if you think there’s no difference between going to a pro like myself or hiring the kid down the block, or that the free do-it-yourself GoDaddy template is good enough, then it’s best that I thank you for your time and move on. Because every site that I put my name on is going to be my best, and I’d rather not try to convince you of the importance of a good, well-constructed, professionally-designed corporate website. I’ve found that if I have to try to sell a client on this concept, then our subsequent relationship is far from ideal.
However, I believe that you do care about your company’s Web presence or you wouldn’t be reading this. You’re obviously taking the time to research and decide with whom you’d like to work, and that shows you understand the necessity of having an outstanding website. If that’s the case, then you and I are right for each other.
Got more question? Great!
I love questions because that’s where a good dialogue starts and the lines of communication open — so bring ‘em on! I’m always happy to chat, especially about websites. Does that make me the most boring guy in the world? Maybe. But, what can I say? I love what I do!
If you’d like to get in touch you can contact me by phone or email, or perhaps you’d like to first read my FAQ page to see if you’re question(s) are answered there.
Looking forward to meeting you!