John Raymond

I’ve been so busy lately but I wanted to pass along an update. I had a pretty productive weekend and am working on building a number of web sites for myself. They are all experiments in SEO. Here’s a list of them:

• http://www.couponland.org – formerly carlscoupondiscounts.com
• http://www.athensohiohotels.net
• http://www.progressivesflo.com
• http://www.wordpresshosting1.com
• Bowling Green Ohio Hotels

They are all in production so please don’t judge them too harshly. I’m showing them not only to you but also to google (so google will start indexing them). I’ll have more for you soon. Feel free to contact me with questions.

I was accepted into the Graduate program at Ohio University in 2007. I decided to pursue an M.A. in Interactive Multimedia. The cost of college was going to be expensive. So I created a Web site where people could sponsor the homepage for a fee and I would put the proceeds toward my masters. While I was not able to raise funds beyond the costs of the web site, this was a great exercise in learning about internet marketing. I was able to get traffic to the web site initially, however, I could not sustain it. Ultimately, this drove me to learn more about search engine optimization.

The Center for Student Legal Services at Ohio University chose me to redesign their Web site in the Winter of 2007. I worked with them to come up with a design that would reflect the marketing strategy and goals of the firm. Having updated content on their Web site was critical to the firm’s strategy. Understanding that I implemented a content management system that enabled the staff to easily log in and update the site on a regular basis. I also helped them set up google analytics and showed them how people were getting to their website.

The redesign has helped the Center spread the word to students to sign up for their services. In the future, they look to expand the website.

I worked with Search Engine Optimization professional Jennifer Gaglione to redesign her business web site – GMC Internet Marketing. My role on the project consisted of consulting and design. I made sure to build out the web site in a search engine friendly format. I also integrated a content management system so that Jennifer could update the web site at any time. The site also contains a blog with an RSS feed that will help her drive traffic to the web site.

I’ve been working on a new side project. It’s a little entrepreneurial venture called http://www.carlscoupondiscounts.com. It’s not complete yet but it will be yet another experiment in search engine optimization. I will be an affiliate helping people find coupon codes and discounts. I also plan to put an extra spin on things by playing the company spokesperson “Carl.” I plan to do a series of video segments pushing products and placing them on all video websites. This will help with link building and driving traffic to the website. I’m also on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/coupondiscounts. The hardest part about it will be to find time to work on it!

In the fall of 2004, I joined the Cleveland OU Alumni Association. At the time, the group was targeting young alumni in the age range of 22-35. At the time, their biggest problem was getting people to come to events.

I volunteered to create a internet marketing campaign for them. I redesigned their website to include a dynamic event calendar, a local email sign-up list, and included more information about membership. I then began to send out e-vites and html emails to the people who signed up for our events. Shortly after launching the website and sending out e-blasts event attendance went from 11-12 people overall to 50-60 people. Our email list grew by 200 in the first year and we were able to raise over 1500 dollars to put toward a scholarship fund for OU students. Prior to that the group had never raised any money. The image included in this post is an old page I designed for the site around 2005. Many of the additions to the website that I made are still in place today.

Because I now reside in Columbus, Ohio, I no longer participate in the Cleveland OU Alumni Association. You can visit their current website here: http://www.clevelandbobcats.com

I designed my flash portfolio website in fall of 2006. It was mostly to demonstrate my abilities in graphic design and in flash.

As I got more into search engine optimization, I added a blog to the front page and made my flash portfolio a link within my website. Click on the image to see my old flash portfolio website