Selected Sites Listed by Industry and Purpose

Below are selected sites that represent a variety of design approaches to serve different business, personal, and organization needs. The samples shown represent how the sites appears at the time of launch. Some may have been subsequently changed by the site owner if the site is self-managed.

These sites were selected because of their uniqueness of design and how the designs have persevered to remain functional, contemporary, and attractive.

I appreciate the organizations and companies that have entrusted me with their websites and public presentation of their brand. Many of these sites I still manage many years after the original site launch.

Business Association and Event Website

  • Title: Iowa City 3D Technologies
  • Web Address: IowaCity3D.com [View]
  • Purpose: Provide information about resources in the Iowa City area for 3D printing services. The site launch coincided with a public event featuring local 3D technologies. The event was organized and promoted by Greg Johnson, the site designer.
  • Launch: February 2015
  • Theme: Custom design using the Divi system from Elegant Themes
  • Management: Greg Johnson, Feb 2015 to Present.
  • Cost: About $100 total for design (donated labor), launch, management, maintenance, and for the first six years of hosting. Ongoing cost is about $18 per year for domain registration and managed high-speed hosting.
  • Search Ranking: No special methods were used to promote the site’s ranking with search engines. Despite no SEO budget, no advertising, and no time spent on SEO, it organically became listed on page 1 out of 4 million results for a Google search on Iowa City 3D printing. It continues to hold that position years later.
  • Notes: When given the responsibility of hosting an event at the University of Iowa focused on local resources for 3D printing, I wanted to create an online reference with information about the event, local resources, and 3D printing in general.

Non-Profit Organization, Agriculture and Public Health

  • Title: Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health (GPCAH)
  • Web Address: GPCAH.org or GPCAH.Public-Health.uiowa.edu [View]
  • Purpose: Raise awareness agriculture and farming safety.
  • Launch: December 2014
  • Theme: Custom design using the Divi system from Elegant Themes
  • Management: Initial management by Greg Johnson. Training was provided to allow for self-management by client.
  • Notes: This project was a complete redesign of an existing HTML site. So, it was necessary to bring older content into the new design manually. The home page was setup as a portal for visitors to have a quick overview of news, events, and the overall site navigation. Today the site continues very much the same as it was initially setup.

Non-Profit Organization, Higher Education

  • Title: University of Iowa Center for Human Rights (UICHR)
  • Web Address: UIHCR.org or UICHR.UIOWA.edu [View]
  • Purpose: Raise awareness about human rights issues.
  • Launch: May 2014
  • Theme: Custom design based on Elegant Themes
  • Management: Self-Managed by Client
  • Notes: It was nice to be selected to help redesign the existing site for this organization at the University of Iowa. In the years since this site was designed, the University of Iowa moved toward campus-wide branding and design standards, so the new look of the site continues to change as campus standards evolve. The site is currently managed by campus web support staff. The design below is what went live in the spring of 2014.

Non-Profit Organization, National Business Women

  • Title: Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future (WNSF)
  • Web Address: WNSF.net [View]
  • Purpose: Promote sustainability efforts among women business leaders.
  • Launch: December 2012
  • Theme: Twenty Ten by WordPress
  • Management: Greg Johnson, Dec 2012 to 2014. The site is currently dormant and in archive status.
  • Notes: This site was built prior to an annual meeting of the organization, so it was necessary to create the site in a short timeframe. Also, with a goal of having the site self-managed by the client, it was important for the site to be easily managed.

Property Owners’ Association

  • Title: River Heights Iowa City
  • Web Address: RiverHeightsIowaCity.com [View]
  • Purpose: Provide information and resources to existing members and prospective home buyers.
  • Launch: October 2014 (First Redesign), March 2018 (Second Redesign), May 2020 (Third Redesign)
  • Theme: Divi by Elegant Themes
  • Management: October 2014 to Present
  • Notes: Initial management of the original website began in 2014. This involved some site design modifications to the static HTML design, and updates. In March 2018, the site was migrated from a purely static HTML site to WordPress site using the responsive Twenty Fourteen theme developed by the WordPress team. In May 2020, the site was updated to a more modern WordPress design using the Divi theme developed by Elegant Themes. This site has a busier page than most sites because there is a lot of information users need easy visual access to. Additional content is beyond a password protected member only page. The colorful image header with flowers is a motion video on the live site.

Regenerative Agriculture Organization

  • Title: Planetary CARE
  • Web Address: PlanetaryCARE.org [View]
  • Purpose: Promote awareness and raise support for regenerative agriculture.
  • Launch: January 2019
  • Theme: Custom design using the Divi system from Elegant Themes
  • Management: Client Managed
  • Notes: This was an interesting project to be involved with. I usually build entire sites on my own, writing content, providing graphic design, and sometimes photography. With this site, it was my job to provide the overall technical implementation expertise with dedicated graphic designers and content writers handling those tasks.

Vacation Property Rental

  • Title: Rustic Lakeshore Cabin
  • Web Address: RusticLakeshoreCabin.com [View]
  • Purpose: Promote a lakeshore vacation rental property in Iowa.
  • Launch: April 2021
  • Theme: Divi by Elegant Themes
  • Photography: Greg Johnson
  • Writing: Greg Johnson
  • Management: Greg Johnson, April 2021 to Present
  • Notes: This was an enjoyable site to create. It’s for a property we’ve visited before and I really like the area. The goal was to have an attractive and simple site with the essential information to inspire people to reserve time at the lakeshore cabin. The site owner was very good to work with and had excellent feedback along the way that improved the final outcome.

Wellness Services Provider

  • Title: Dr. Darlene Ehlers
  • Web Address: DrDarleneEhlers.com [View]
  • Purpose: Inspire site visitors to pursue greater health through a personalized wellness plan.
  • Launch: June 2013
  • Theme: Mystique
  • Management: Greg Johnson, June 2013 to Present
  • Notes: In the initial 8 years after this site launched, and continuing through to today, this site has required no ongoing maintenance, major updates, or upkeep. There were no outages or slow load times. No need to remove malware. No updates needed to plugins, PHP, or WordPress. This is because the site has been hosted with WordPress.com using the most basic hosting package. This required developing the site within the constraints of the basic hosting package and the chosen theme. This demonstrates the advantage of having a simply refined yet effective site using WordPress.com hosting. Also, the original planning and design, as well as theme selection at the time proved to provide longevity.

Yoga Training Center in India

  • Title: Satya Bodh Ashram
  • Web Address: SatyaBodhAshram.com [View]
  • Purpose: Provide online educational materials, counseling, and in-person yoga workshops in India and elsewhere.
  • Launch: November 2009
  • Theme: Twenty Ten by WordPress
  • Management: Greg Johnson, November 2009 to Present.
  • Notes: This site uses the Twenty Ten WordPress which still looks great over 10 years later. While the theme is based on a very common layout, it is perfectly suited for the site to provide easy navigation and access to all the site content. This site was developed as a multi-lingual site with all site pages available in English and French. The site design is fast and easy for site visitors, and also ver quick for editing and management.