Fast and Affordable Web Design for Small Companies in Cape Town

If you are in need of a fast and affordable web design job in Cape Town (or anywhere else for that matter!) you’re at the right place.

My name is Dries Cronje, and I specialize in WordPress web design for small companies and individuals. I do all web design work myself (no assistants or back office staff) and I enjoy building lasting relationships with my clients. To do that, I need to keep them very happy

Below, I’ll take you on a little tour of some of the work that I’ve done, stating the technologies employed, and the nature of the site.

WordPress — Blogs

WordPress was originally written to be a blogging platform, but in recent years it has emerged as one of the best choices for a Content Management System (CMS). On this site you’ll see various uses for WordPress exhibited. However, the most common and popular use remains… blogging! Here’s a couple of blogs built using WordPress and some very Search Engine Friendly templates…

It is fitting that VelocityCulture.com is the first webpage shown here. It is one of my favorite blogs, and I am very good friends with the site owner, Ron Martoia. Ron is a speaker and teacher from the United States, and that makes his web design work a pleasure! This guy pumps out the content that visitors and search engines alike crave. His blog is successful in terms of traffic, and therefore an excellent example of what can be done with WordPress. Ron maintains his own blog. In addition, we started the ttTribe together. ttTribe is a monthly-membership tribe focused on online learning, built with some complicated but interesting technologies… More on that later.

WordPress — Social Network and Blog

If you combine WordPress with BuddyPress and use a professional looking theme — manipulated to display well — it is possible to build your own social network. And that at a fraction of the cost of a similar Ning social network. One of my favorite websites, and one of those web design jobs that’s kept my family off the streets of Cape Town in a significant way, I present you echurch.

The echurch.co.za website is a site that I designed (and redesigned and redesigned) and also still maintain. It used to be a Joomla! website and I did a couple of redesigns there. However, it now runs on WordPress and it has been redesigned once since the switch over. At present, it is a WordPress-based, magazine-type blog with social networking capabilities. It is a large and popular site with content being added to the tune of four articles per week.

Stephan Joubert, main writer for echurch and founder of the echurch Foundation, is a personal friend and mentor. He’s someone who has impacted my life for the better like few others. His work is thoroughly worth reading — go check it out…

WordPress — Static Websites

Here you have some examples of WordPress being used as quick, handy and cheap alternative to traditional HTML coding for static websites. As mentioned above, WordPress has evolved to the extend that it is now a world-class CMS, and one of the most popular methods of establishing a web presence. Just in Cape Town alone it surely is the most popular choice for creating websites. Here’s a couple of examples of static websites that I built with WordPress (these sites don’t make use of WordPress’ blogging technology)…

Joomla!

Joomla! is no longer my CMS of choice. It used to be, but web design with Joomla! is a bit like going on safari with a Land Rover (heh!). However, if you’re keen, I’m able (for the web design bit — there’s no way I’m going on safari with a Land Rover!). Joomla! is, however, very powerful and Joomla! sites can be made very attractive in terms of look and feel. Below is one example…

One of my own blogs, BookDisciple.com was built using Joomla! The blog is no longer in use, but still draws fair amounts of traffic.

Site Build It!

I’ve left the best for last… So much so, that I’ve been a Site Build It! affiliate since 2003. If there’s anything that will get Cape Town on the map, it is more SBI! websites…

Site Build It! is the web building technology that I started out with originally. Just like my knowledge and skills, Site Build It! has evolved and improved a considerable amount in the past couple of years. It is still not the most flexible software to build a website with, but it has always been — and I’m sure will always be — the ultimate way of building a website that draws lots of traffic. One of my old websites (in dire need of a re-design, otherwise I would have shown you here…) is still drawing almost 20,000 unique visitors every single month! And that for a site that’s been completely static (i.e. no content added at all) since late 2006… That’s why I recommend Site Build It! more than anything if you are serious about writing, hard work and traffic!

NeoMysticism.com is my latest personal work of art on the internet. I mentioned above that if you want to use Site Build It! for a website, you need to love writing. And I do… Site Build It! used to be a very simple template driven website building tool, easy for anyone to use but not too concerned about looks. That’s changed. These days, with advanced HTML and CSS capabilities, Site Build It! can be used to build very decent looking websites.

If you opt for Site Build It! I can help you with the web design, but you will be responsible for most of the hard work behind the site. Things like learning SEO, keyword research, page optimization, link building, article submissions, and writing, writing, writing lie you in wait. But man, the results are awesome…

Conclusion

If you have read this far… boy, I’m impressed. Please contact me by making use of the form on the Contact Dries Cronje page if you are interested in my web design services. If you first want to know what it’s going to cost you, visit the Web Design Pricing page (coming soon).

If you need nothing further, I hope you enjoyed what you saw here. And hey, if you haven’t done so yet — visit Cape Town some day. It’s the most beautiful city in the world… no kidding