Michael Richard Murphy » Website Design

Bay Road Grocery & Deli design refresh

Michael Richard Murphy — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:46:52 +0000

I was really excited when I got a call from Mike at Bay Road Grocery & Deli. The convenience store, located at the corner of Volk and Bay roads in Webster, was an institution in my childhood neighborhood and I have fond memories of riding my bike with friends there for candy, soda and cap guns.

Bay Road Grocery had an existing website but Mike wanted to update the look and feel as well as remedy the site’s poor search engine rankings. As it turns out, most of the content (images and text) was embedded in a rotating-type javascript gallery. Not exactly search engine friendly. Or easily update-able.

As part of the refresh, I created a WordPress-based site for Mike with a custom theme. Using WordPress gave him the ability to get in and easily update the content on his site that changes frequently; like his menu, the kinds of lottery tickets he sells, and any lottery winners from his store. That also moves the valuable content that describes his store and the services he provides from obscurity in javascript code to plain search engine readable text.

The custom theme was created using proper, semantic HTML markup with the headings and structure that make search engine optimization more effective. Design-wise, the whitewashed plank header and weathered logo enhance and reinforce the nautical theme echoed throughout the store itself.

HUSVAR Photography

Michael Richard Murphy — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:51:56 +0000

Looking for more design control than his current Blogspot account offered, Buffalo-based photographer, Sean Husvar approached me about implementing a WordPress blog for him based on a great, clean design by Nubby. The look and feel of the site represents a new identity that will carry over to Husvar’s MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and other social media account profiles. “Go Live” for the new site kicks off a social media marketing campaign.

The site is a WordPress blog with a WPESP Portfolio theme, heavily customized to match Nubby’s design as well as be semantically correct and search engine friendly. Other work for the project included setup and configuration of several analytics, search engine optimization, and social media plug-ins.

Boy Scouts of America Pack 48 blog

Michael Richard Murphy — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:30:22 +0000

As a local Boy Scouts of America pack leader, Jon, wanted a website where he could easily disseminate information on upcoming pack and den activities as well as post pictures from those events.

I set Jon up with a WordPress blog that allows him to create and edit all the content. Author accounts for each den leader allow them to be responsible for all the content pertaining to their groups, offloading that task from Jon. Gallery photo management software allows Jon and the other den leaders to upload photos and create/edit albums. Parents and others, with the proper permissions, can browse the albums and even send photos to services like Snapfish, Shutterfly, etc.

Best of all, WordPress and Gallery are free open-source applications. Which helped Jon get a website with loads of well-supported features and still stay within his budget.

Embrasse-Moi Lingerie blog

Michael Richard Murphy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:25:12 +0000

Embrasse-Moi, a luxurious lingerie boutique in Pittsford, had a Blogger blog with loads of great content in the form of articles and fashion reviews, tips, and news. Unfortunately, since all that content was hosted on the Blogspot.com domain, none of their hard work was benefitting their own website, http://www.embrasse-moi-lingerie.com, with increased search engine ranking.

I set up a new WordPress blog on their existing domain and imported all their content so they wouldn’t lose or have to manually enter any posts or comments. They also really liked the design, layout and features of their Blogger blog so I created a WordPress theme that retained that look and feel as well as all the sidebar features.

Embrasse-Moi’s blog design and features stayed the same, their publishing process stayed the same, and now they get all the search engine benefits of having all that great content on their own domain!

12 Hours In A City

Michael Richard Murphy — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:33:18 +0000

My good friend Clark has been getting a lot of press recently about his new project 12 Hours In A City and I’m pleased to announce I’ll be helping him out.

These guys are using JetBlue’s All You Can Jet Pass to get a taste of America and get the experience of a lifetime. They’ll be visiting about 27 cities in 30 days, relying heavily on contacts made through social media sites for tips on interesting things to do in each city, rides around town, and places to crash for the night.

So far they’re off to a good start, they made it on the homepage of CNN’s Travel section the day they left and got invited to a see a Red Sox game from the Dunkin Donuts box at Fenway Park in Boston (their first stop)!

With their rigorous travel schedule and the fact that they’ll be spending most of their downtime in the air, I’ll be administering the site, making updates here and there, and implementing some additional social networking functionality.

Good luck and safe travels!

American Cancer Society’s Celebrate Hope Gala

Michael Richard Murphy — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:00:49 +0000

Sheri needed an informational website for the American Cancer Society’s local Celebrate Hope Gala honoring the Wegman family. The clean, elegant design maintains the branding established by their print invitations. In addition to the details about the event, including the amazing menu, the site also gives donors access to Candle of Hope order forms.

Michael exceeded my delivery expectations for the project. I have known Michael both professionally and personally for a number of years and I have always been impressed with his willingness to go above and beyond to delight his customers. Thank you Michael!-Sheri McKenna

Yaeger, Treviso & Associates, Inc.

Michael Richard Murphy — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 19:17:51 +0000

This redesign of the YTA website has a simple, straightforward design but also boasts back-end features such as the ability for clients to upload financial information such as QuickBooks files. A Resources section also includes several helpful financial tools like closing costs, cash flow, and loan calculators.

We approached Michael to create our company’s web site. He made the process simple and worry free. His design techniques were exactly as we requested and his pricing was not only affordable but also exactly as he quoted.-Chuck Treviso

Shop Derma Spa

Michael Richard Murphy — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:25:51 +0000

Dr. Robert Loss was excited to unveil a newly redesigned site for his dermatology practice. Unfortunately the e-commerce platform he preferred wasn’t supported by his current hosting company.

The decision was made to create a separate e-commerce site on a new domain and link back and forth between the two. I designed and implemented the e-commerce portion to have the same look and feel as his existing site so the transition would be transparent to visitors.

This project included design work, heavy customization of a PHP-based e-commerce platform, and backend database and information architecture.

Radiant Skin Clinic & Shoppe

Michael Richard Murphy — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 17:45:06 +0000

Carey needed to move her existing site to a new host and e-commerce platform. It was important to her that this move have minimal impact on her existing customers and hard-earned search engine rankings. I handled the implementation of the new platform and site design, data and security certificate migration, as well as redirection of URLs so bookmarked and indexed pages would continue to be valid.

Michael brought an idea I had to fruition. With his hard work and dedication to the job – my website has become the corner-post of my business. He has been a good sounding board, source for sound coding practices, and has vast knowledge on e-commerce platforms. I turn to him for all my IT needs.-Carey Whitmore