David Gildeh

Yesterday I went to a free training workshop on “Market Research & Marketing”by KIS Training. I have to say it was excellent, lasted the whole day, which is amazing considering it was completely free! They hold the workshop once a month, along with two other free sessions on writing a business plan and how to get finance for your start-up. If you’re interested in attending, I believe the next sessions are the last week in August, and you can phone them up (number on thier website) to book.

During the workshop, a lot of the group were interested in Online Marketing, e.g. how to setup a website, get it marketed online, search engine optimisation etc. and because I was the IT guy there, somehow (and I can’t accuse them of being the first for this) I became the “website” guy who could tell everyone how to setup a website for their new businesses. Usually I don’t like this, as my expertise, Portal & Content Management, is a little more advanced than just setting up small websites, however I do have a lot of knowledge in the website arena too after doing my own sites, some friends and a few for the NGOs I worked with last year (all in Drupal of course!). It got me thinking, it seems a lot of people out there aren’t IT geeks like me (suprise suprise!), and have a real problem in planning a website and marketing it. I’ve always been aware that most people still need help when it comes to websites (usually by the fact as soon as I mention I’m an IT consultant they ask me if I can do a website for them!) but it didn’t hit me how much of a problem it was (and how much I knew myself!) until yesterday! I ended up almost teaching the session myself by the end as the instructor asked me to step in with my knowledge…

So I’ve decided as of yesterday, to rent out my brain as a freelance part time to give me some extra income while I work on my own business the rest of the time. Due to my limited time, I will only work with serious businesses where my knowledge will help significantly. My expertise falls into a wide range of areas but can be summarised by the following (for a detailed list of skills/experience please visit the About Me section):

• Online Marketing, advice and strategy on how to market your business online using advertising networks, blogs and social networks.
• Search Engine Optimisation, as most traffic to sites is still driven by search engines, I can provide advice and training on how to ensure your site gets listed and found on all major search engines.
• Website assessments, best practice advice on how to improve your site and make it more user friendly to drive up your conversion rates!
• Website design – I have access to extremely competitive low cost Thai developers who I’ve worked with before on numerous occasions so can vouch for their talent, quality and reliability!
• Content Management for small businesses (Alfresco/MOSS 2007/Drupal) to provide collaborative spaces/document management.
• IT consulting for small businesses, if you are looking for advice on how to setup any IT in your business, i.e. what software/hardware you need and how you can save money, I can help here as well.

A very informal introduction to myself and my services, but I’m available as of today if you need my skills. After working the best part of 4 years for the worlds largest IT consultancy, you can be sure to access high quality expertise from someone who is passionate about the web!

Please contact me on my Contact form if you are interested in talking more!