qualifications and professional affiliations
of freelance website designer tom rumish
professional
web site design Education
I have taken and
continue to take on an on-going basis a
substantial number of college level and continuing education courses
relating to web site design,
website creation, digital imaging and programming for the web. Details
relating to my formal education are available upon request.
website
creation References
References are available upon request.
Professional
Affiliations
● Member of the International Webmasters Association since 1998.
● Member of the HTML Writers Guild since 1998.
● Member of the Sandwich Chamber of Commerce (Sandwich, Illinois) since March,
2006.
freelance web site design Experienced
● TRIM & HOME IMPROVEMENTS BY
DAN LEBEL
Designed,
created and published to the Internet a five page web site for Dan Lebel,
a home improvement and remodeling contractor located in Somonuak,
Illinois. This website utilizes graphic elements with a "wood"
look and texture. Incorporated into the website is one slideshow of
photos which was constructed using Macromedia Flash.
Because
search engines constantly change the algorithms used to determine search
engine results, the latest search engine optimization techniques were
applied to the website prior to submitting the website to well over 50
search engines.
● CREEKS HOUSE BED &
BREAKFAST
Added
an Online Reservations booking engine to the existing website which is
owned by this Bed & Breakfast located on the state of Oregon. Modified
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) to make
website-wide changes to the look of the website. We also added one
additional photo to the website along with doing minor text and link edits on
various pages of the website.
● PBS RADIO STATION - WTIP
This
Minnesota PBS
radio station had an existing website but portions of the website were
un-editable by the person who does routine editing of the web pages.
We modified the Dynamic Website Template (.dwt) which controls a portion of
the website so that their in-house website editor could make edits to a
part of the website which had previously been un-editable.
Added a
page to the existing website enabling people to make online credit card
donations to the PBS station using a shopping cart and secure
server. Created
four animated graphics to be used on the website. "Repaired" an
existing online form which is on the website that was not sending the
information being submitted by website viewers to the radio station.
Created a Adobe Acrobat PDF form for people to download, print out and
submit along with donations to the PBS radio station.
●
CREATIVE TOUCH CARPENTRY INCORPORATED
Creative
Touch Carpentry had previously obtained a Domain Name and constructed a
website by themselves using a website creation "Wizard" and templates
provided by the company that had been hosting their original website.
The Wizard and Templates available to them were somewhat
run-of-the-mill, standard templates that are normal in such situations.
As a result, the old website was somewhat bland and in no way tailored
to their company or industry.
Aside from
the lack of having a personality of it's own, the website templates
provided very poor page to page navigation within the website. The
website had not been optimized for Search Engines nor had it ever been
submitted to various Search Engines worldwide. There had been
little in the way of photos to show work that they had performed in the
past or the show the quality of the work that they commit themselves to.
As a
result of a suggestion by Tom Rumish Website Development, a new website
hosting company was chosen which saves Creative Touch Carpentry in
excess of 50% of their previous monthly hosting cost. The Domain
Named Server (DNS) was transferred to the new hosting company and work
began on the new website for Creative Touch Carpentry, Inc.
The new
website was designed to co-ordinate with the colors of their existing
logo, which was of course incorporated into the graphics of the website.
There are two photo slideshows on the website which are used to showcase
some of their past work and to show "before" and "after" photos of some
of their previous work. A multi-sectional Contact Request form was
created to not only provide a means for potential clients to contact
Creative Touch Carpentry, but also to help Creative Touch Carpentry
identify the needs and wants of prospective clients who contact them by
using the form.
All page
content, graphics, tags and coding of the website were optimized for
Search Engines and the website was submitted to over 60 search engines.
● TEI GROUP, INCORPORATED
Being a newly formed Illinois corporation, the TEI Group did not have a
website. I was contacted by and met with the president of the TEI Group for
a free consultation and to give them a written estimate. After discussing
the needs of the corporation to determine what would work best for them, it
was determined that an initial 5 pages would suffice for the first phase of
what will eventually grow into a multi-faceted website that will eventually
encompass additional businesses that the corporation intends to venture
into.
For this initial phase of the website, which deals with their
distributorship of counterfeit detection pens, a corporate logo was designed
for the corporation and the initial 5 pages were placed online using a
webpage layout that was chosen from 3 which were submitted by Tom Rumish
Website Development to the TEI Group. The TEI Group website has two online
forms, with custom "confirmation" pages.
● 108 EAST RESTAURANT
Chef/Owner Dan Krapausky of 108 EAST shortly after buying out an existing
restaurant and changing it's name to 108 EAST, wanted a small website with a
primary purpose of showing the various menus of the restaurant and to have
driving direction online. One of the main reasons for these features was to
help eliminate phone calls from new clients who wanted Menu's faxed to them
and were calling for to get driving directions to his restaurant.
After choosing from a couple of website concepts that were submitted to
Mr. Krapausky by Tom Rumish Website Development,
a series of photos were taken at the restaurant and a Flash Header for all
of the webpages was created using an exterior photo of the restaurant.
A slideshow of interior photos was created using JavaScript and placed
on the website. Menus were
placed on the website to eliminate phone calls for faxed menu's.
Two custom line-drawing maps were created and are used on the Location page
along with a link for website visitors to get driving directions to 108
EAST.
After the website had been up a matter of just a few weeks owner, Dan
Krapausky said that the was already paying off just because his staff didn't
have to spend a bunch of time on the telephone giving directions or faxing
menus. The time saved results in better service to his customers.
● SHERLOCK HOMES INSPECTION
Sherlock Homes Inspection is a real estate inspection service company
located in Illinois. They
had an existing website which was available to them from one of the
professional associations that the company belonged to. The old existing
website was based on a template that was available through that association.
The template and website was very bland looking and did not provided enough
space to properly showcase the services that were available from the
company.
The new website was designed
with a Flash header to give the site more eye appeal and the web pages
were set up to allow
for more content than had been available in the old template based website. The textural content was authored with great emphasis on
Search Engine Optimization, which had not been the case with the old
website. In-depth Search Engine Optimization of the website resulted in the
Sherlock Homes Inspection website being on the first page of Google
search results for 3 different broad search terms. When completed, the website was submitted to over 100 Search
Engines.
● TWIN CITY CHRISTIAN HOMES
Twin City Christian Homes is a
Minnesota non-profit organization that owns and manages
a multitude of senior citizen housing facilities. TCCH had an existing
website which was very bland looking and lacked much in the way of relevant
content. The old website did not highlight all of the amenities that the organization offered
and consisted of approximately 7 pages.
A totally new design was created for the website which now has 17 pages. The
increased number of pages now allows Twin City Christian Homes to fully showcases the various communities which
it owns and manages. Macromedia Flash was used to construct a portion of the
page headers, which appears on all of the pages of the website and 9 photo "slideshows"
created in Flash were incorporated into various pages of the website. JavaScript was used to construct the navigation bars
(menus) which appear on all of the pages.
● FOX VALLEY HEARTH AND FIREPLACE
After being in business for a number of years and finally figuring out that
they were losing customers to one of their competitors who had a website, the
owners of Fox Valley Hearth & Fireplace decided it was time to "take the
plunge" and invest in website to help them gain and retain customers.
Inasmuch as Fox Valley Hearth did not have an actual logo, one of the first
steps was to design a logo for their company. The logo was of course
incorporated in the website which was designed. A number of photos of their
showroom were shot, optimized and included on the various web pages of their
website. In addition, a Flash based "ticker" was incorporated on the
Home page of the website, which gives a brief list of the products and
services that Fox Valley Hearth offers to its' clients.
At his point in time the website has been online a very short time, and
because of this fact it is too early for the owner to fully realize the
significant increase his business will have as a result of finally "taking
the plunge" and establishing a website for his business.
● SANDWICH IL WEATHER
Designed and developed this website for a Personal Weather Station located
in Sandwich, Illinois after personally purchasing and installing the
required equipment to implement a "live" local weather station.
Data is collected from an outside Weather Station in Sandwich and is
transmitted wirelessly to an interior "console". The console is then wired
to a computer and with the use of specialized software, the weather data is
then uploaded to the Sandwich IL Weather website and also to an
international weather reporting website. Updated weather information from
the Weather Station in Sandwich, IL is then automatically uploaded every 30
minutes to the websites mentioned.
● OLD NORTHWOODS LODGE
Due to changes in the ownership of this resort this client needed to have
their old, stale and unappealing website remodeled. Since the website needed
to be revamped it was given a totally new look to give it a northwood's look
and feel.
A custom page background and graphics changed the whole look of their
website. There were minor text edits made to their old textural content to
reflect the new ownership and other changes. In addition, many new photos and 3
Flash constructed custom photo slideshows were added to the website to better showcase the
magnificent main lodge building.
● LOON LAKE LODGE
This
client had an existing website which was very small that was doing
nothing for them and was being hosted at a high monthly cost. After
obtaining a new hosting company for their website, which saves them
approximately $15.00 per month, a totally new website was constructed from
scratch, using custom made graphics to fit the name and theme of their business.
There are many custom configured
JavaScript photo slideshows on this website which are
used to showcase the 8 cabins at this resort and act similar to that of a
virtual tour. These multiple slideshows were much less costly than having an
actual "virtual tour" created. All of the text and elements on this website were optimized for
search engines, which had not been the case with the company's old website.
The end result is that the client products
and services are showcased extensively well and the client has saved
considerable money. Though the new website took a month or so to have
a noticeable affect on their business, the owners of Loon Lake Lodge
have stated that their booking have dramatically increased since the new
website has been online. They attribute the increased business
that they have experienced directly to the new website.
● WOERTHWEIN and MILLER
Created and developed a small, clean, reserved and professional looking
website for Woerthwein & Miller Attorneys at Law. Woerthwein & Miller is a
law firm located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. This website was originally
created by me in 2002 and was recently revamped due the the firm moving it's
office location and to implement text changes requested by Woerthwein &
Miller. The website was given a new layout and graphics during the remodel
to give it a fresh new look.
● HUNGRY JACK LODGE AND CAMPGROUND
In 2006 this website was remodeled to give it a fresh new look and feel. The
last major overhaul of the website had been in 2002 when at that time I was asked to take
over and remodel their then existing website, which had consisted of
approximately 6 pages.
Today there is virtually nothing of the original
website remaining. At this point the Hungry Jack Lodge & Campground website
is a large information disseminating and data gathering site consisting of
approximately 40 web pages. I have been retained as the webmaster for the
Hungry Jack Lodge website since it's initial remodeling and make numerous
updates and revisions on a regular basis.
The Hungry Jack Lodge website includes a Virtual Tour, On-line reservations
and many other features. In June of 2005 Hungry Jack Lodge statistics showed
that 80% of their new clients came from the Internet.
● TUSCARORA LODGE AND CANOE OUTFITTERS
Remodeled
and reconstructed the website for Tuscarora Lodge and Outfitters located
on the Gunflint Trail in Grand Marais, Minnesota.
The revamping of the website entailed a total make over of all headers,
graphics and images.
Many new pages were added to the website, some of which utilized text
content that had been on their old website and some which required new
textural content. A portion of the new text content was developed and
written by Tom Rumish Website Development. The website page headers are very
unique and incorporate a static logo image which partially overlays a 5
image slideshow.
I am
retained as the webmaster and maintain the website for Tuscarora Lodge
and Canoe Outfitters. Since the initial debut of the revamped
Tuscarora Outfitters website some additional new features and pages
added to the website which further enhance the website and its' ability
to showcase the services which they offer.
In
December of 2007, after analyzing figures for 2007 and realizing how
important their website is to their marketing plan in the obtaining new
clients, Tuscarora Lodge & Outfitter committed additional money from
their marketing budget to their website. A new page devoted to
Canoe Routes was added to the website along with a large number of canoe
route maps which were created by Tom Rumish Website Development for the
website.
● DESTINATIONS BY DIXON
Designed and developed the website for Destinations by Dixon, a travel
agency located in Joliet, Illinois. This website
features two custom made page backgrounds and a very unique JavaScript web site
navigation bar.
The theme of this site is nostalgic and has a number of
graphics dating to the 40's and early 50's. This is not your "run of the
mill" website. Virtually every element on this website has a "travel" and
"nostalgic" look and feel to it.
● EDGEBROOK GOLF CLUB
Created the web site for Edgebrook Golf Club, Sandwich, Illinois.
www.sandwichgolf.com This site is comprised of 10 pages upon which there
are three JavaScript image slideshows of varying display types and various custom
animated banner ads. All photographs for the website, with the exception of
one, were shot and optimized for the internet by me. The website was
submitted to 74 search engines worldwide.
● 1998 – 2002
Taught classes in Basic Website Creation. Classes were given to individuals
who aspired to be Chapter webmasters for the various separate Chapters of
A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois, an Illinois non-profit organization.
● 1998 – 2002
Developed and created websites for approximately 13 various Chapters of
A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois. This was done voluntarily to assist those Chapters
of A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois, who at the time, desired a website, but did not
currently have members within their Chapter with the required skills to
develop a Chapter website internally.
● 1997 – 2002
Webmaster, for Open Roads Chapter, A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois, an Illinois
non-profit organization.
"The web site came out
perfect and exceeded my expectations. The look of the site and the ease
of navigation have received many compliments from my clients. Tom’s
knowledge of design is very evident." - Tom Eckhardt, TEI Group,
Inc.
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