Hi, my name is Stuart Cole and I am a website consultant based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
I'm married with a daughter and a couple of dogs who think they are in charge, who am I kidding, of course they are!
I'm a keen runner and can often be seen running around Mont Cleeve. If you are a runner let's connect on Strava!
I help small businesses make important website decisions, from choosing your hosting or web design partners to providing experience and knowledge on how websites should be structured to perform better in search engines and for the visitor.
I first started building websites in 2001 when only 32% of UK households had an internet connection, let alone a website or email address - it seems mad now doesn't it?
My first website wasn't just a basic informational site like this one, no that would be way too easy, I decided to build an e-commerce site at a time before banks even allowed online credit card purchases!
What was I thinking?
Since then I have lost count of how many of my own websites I have created as well as the 100s I have created for clients.
Over the years the internet has got more complicated and advanced and introduced us to content management systems (CMS) to help businesses manage the content on their websites. This was led by the very popular WordPress CMS which I have specialised in.
In 2010 I identified the importance of marketing your website in search engines and threw myself into search engine optimisation (SEO) to understand as much as I could about the subject.
I soon got hooked and became a full time SEO for over 10 years and navigated some of the biggest Google algorithms updates for my clients with success.
There is nothing like experience and knowledge to help steer you through choppy seas!
I will validate the truth from all external parties involved, ensuring that you know the truth that is involved in creating your project.
My Skillset
Below is a list of some of the skills I use to help my clients each day:
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
As mentioned above I am an experienced SEO with over a decade of knowledge and experience, whatever search engines throw at us in the future the chances are I have seen it before.
I provide SEO audits on established websites and advice on how your new website should be structured to ensure it will perform well in search engines.
- Coding
I understand how programming languages work and the time needed to create products like websites, web apps and mobile apps.
Even if I am unfamiliar with a programming language, I have the knowledge of how much time and experience a web design team requires to produce your end product.
That said, throughout the years I have tried many programming languages myself but now only regularly use the following languages:
- CSS stylesheet - cosmetics
- HTML - the structure of the page
- PHP - used in my WordPress plugins
- CMS - Content Management System
By a considerable margin, most websites now use a CMS to manage and organise the website's content. Unless you have a very specific use case not to use one I highly recommend that you do.
The most popular CMS is WordPress - which is free too! - and powers around 48% of all websites.
I specialise in WordPress and have created many websites, themes and plugins over the years. I maintain many plugins for my business Jumping Giraffe.
Needless to say, I am extremely comfortable using WordPress.
Additionally, I also have considerable knowledge of Adobe Commerce (formally Magento), Drupal, Squarespace, WIX, Joomla, Volusion and Shopify.
- Graphic Design
I have been using Photoshop packages since 2005 and GIMP since 2012, these are two of the most used image manipulation products on the market.
As I have extensive knowledge of these products and understand the time and skill level that is needed to produce graphic design campaigns for my clients.
This helps my clients realistically budget for this part of their business.
Not all graphic designers are the same, I know the questions to ask to help you decide which designer to partner up with for your project.
- Writing Skills
Very early on in my website career, I realised how important the written word is on websites, being able to explain your product or service well can make a difference to the visitor becoming a customer or not.
My style of writing is very relaxed and assume my reader doesn't know everything about the subject. I prefer to explain the subject in a basic style to ensure the reader understands what I'm explaining rather than creating more questions than answers. Part and parcel of helping websites perform well in search engines is creating the correct type of content to target the valuable keywords, and the readers intent in mind. I have been doing this for over a decade.
- Project Management
As someone who has run their own agency, being able to manage multiple projects and tasks at the same time is key to a successful outcome.
As a consultant, I am used to communicating with different teams at different companies to ensure the website is completed on time and exactly to brief.
- Automation
Early on in my career I spent 15 years in software automation streamlining products and procedures to reduce human intervention and therefore speed up procedures.
This knowledge has been carried on through to today and is always at the front of my day-to-day work.
"My writing style is relaxed, like chatting with friends and assume the reader is new to the subject."
If you think I am a good fit to help with your project please get in touch and we can chat about your requirements that a website consultant could help you with.