Before clients come on board I am often asked for my background and what stands apart. The answers always seem to surprise. So I will share my web developer story here, including what makes me different.
1. The Beginning
As you can see above, it all started when I was a young woman and graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor’s Degree in English – Creative Writing. I loved to write and still do. I bounced around from various jobs until I landed a grant writing job at Rice University, where the middle picture was taken.
2. The Freelance Journey
After working at the university, I decided to work for myself as a freelance writer. The work went well, but too many clients wanted me to upload it to their website. I hated saying “no.” So I learned some basic HTML back when bold was “b” and the “i” was for italics. I also learned to do a few basic page and site edits. And of course, I soon learned how to include SEO keywords efficiently but naturally into the text. But soon that wasn’t enough.
Did you know? As of 2026, here are over 1.1 billion websites across the world with over 146 million websites in the United States alone? Source: Demand Sage
3. My Web Developer Beginnings
Websites were everywhere and most if not all my clients needed one. I already had a basic knowledge, so I began to learn basic Content Management Systems to create all sorts of websites. The ones that still stick today are:
- Wix and Weebly
- Shopify
- SquareSpace
- Of course, WordPress
Especially when mobile-first web design came along, everyone used WordPress. This was especially true in cases of clients who couldn’t afford the $10,000 minimum needed for a site built on one of the more advanced systems like Magento, Python, or other – that are great for many things but come with a price.
4. Graphic Design Needed
In my 18 years of freelancing, I’ve never had a client who had 100% of their website images selected, scaled, and optimized for web. In fact, many of them needed advanced graphic services to design or improve their logos, create hero images, sliders, and many other graphics. I dabbled in Adobe Photoshop at the time and quickly became proficient in order to help.
5. Video Editing Needed as Well
Then websites began hosting more and more videos. Everyone signed up for a YouTube channel. Now many businesses take advantage of “reels” or short videos shot on mobile/ for mobile. Everyone needed video editing. Funnily enough, I already considerable experience as far back as the early 2000’s when editing the video for my sister’s wedding, which is impressive given the awful video tools I had at the time.
6. Self-Publishing Expert? Why Not?
As some of you may know, I have a novel called Ordinance 93. I was able to use the above experience to publish the book myself using the KDP option offered by Amazon. I can attest that it is difficult to do – especially the first time. You must prep your manuscript one way as an ebook and completely another way for the print version. The same goes for the cover, spine, and back cover. I now use that experience to help many other authors get their books published.
7. How it All Combines
Now I am the woman on the right of the above photo, and the main demand for my services as of today is web development and design. However, each and every one of my clients ends up needing at least one other service as listed above. In fact, I generally have to combine many of these skills in different ways with each project. As a bonus, I end up learning something new as well and am looking forward to the next challenge.
More on My Web Developer Story and What Makes Me Different
Do you need a web developer who offers any or all of the above services listed? Feel free to contact me for a free consultation and more information on how I can help.
