About Us
White Hat Web Design is the creation of Keith Stephenson and Simon Jarvis. The company was started in 2005.
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| Keith Stephenson | Simon Jarvis BSc |
Keith Stephenson - With over 25 years of Sales and Marketing Experience, I was introduced to the internet in December 1995 the year it was launched in the UK I had just started my General Insurance Brokerage and the idea of having a website Intrigued me as I had seen a one page website by a forward thinking health insurance executive who felt it was the medium of the future, how true that was. I immediately contacted the programmer responsible and forged a relationship which has lasted to this day.
My first website was created in February 1996 without the experience, text books or tutorials we learnt as we went along and created my first ecommerce travel insurance website in 1998. My web portfolio grew to a total of 24 product specific insurance websites by 2005 that were all well ranked in the top 10 of all leading search engines. Generating inquiries and issuing policies they were my shop front for my growing business which employed a total of 9 staff supported by a team of 3 web developers when I finally sold my interest to devote more time to my passion for travel to Asia and my silks business and I also decided to put all my valuable, practical web experience to good use and was the founder of White Hat Web Design.
My credentials are my commercial experience of building a business from scratch, developing websites on a tight budget and having learnt the hard way. I understand the constraints and pressures small businesses experience and know how it feels when web developers ask you to invest your money in a web presence. I have listened to customers adopted their concerns and understand their frustrations with using websites. I am totally customer focussed to ensuring the web experience is a simple, easy and enjoyable process.
Once created a website must be marketed effectively if it is going to be an asset to any business and I have experienced the great highs and lows when you see you life disappear when your websites are dropped overnight after a Google update. I also appreciate your frustrations of dealing with so called experts that make ambitious claims that over promise then under deliver. I now enjoy the freedom to develop other peoples business and would very much like to help you seek your success you deserve.
Simon Jarvis - I first became interested in writing programmes when I was only 12 and developed a passion for getting things to work in my own way with my own code and I really enjoy seeing the results of solving a problem and seeing my scripts, programming to create a web based function.
My father is involved in the Insurance Software Industry and encouraged me to develop and hone my skills. I first met Keith whilst on my Industrial placement from University in 2004 and worked along side him as one of his developers and soon realised that the commercial realism was a stark contrast to the shelter and cosy environment of working within the University. It’s a tough world out there and from the start I was thrown in the deep end with the creation of databases and creating new commercial websites which tested my abilities and pushed me to perform. I appreciated the work I was given had to be commercially viable and not just another project.
My expertise lies in programming, mainly dealing with PHP, XHTML, CSS & JavaScript. I graduated with a 1st class honours degree in computer science after specialising in web applications technology. I was made a partner of White Hat following my graduation and I now relish every opportunity to put my skills to the test. I have learnt so much during the past 2 years in particular the need to design a website to be Search Engine friendly as well as customer friendly as this is vital if you intend to be serious about making your website perform and create income for your business as well as building an ongoing customer relationship.
Our Mission
When we decided to form White Hat Web Design we wanted to provide a transparent service, which clearly defined its objectives and our abilities for our clients.
For instance we will only take on a maximum of 2 clients in any given industry sector so as to prevent any conflict of interest.
We do not take on every project and will review the task in hand and if we feel we can not improve or develop the client's needs we will respectfully decline to accept the work.
If we do accept you as a client then we will do our very best to deliver quality results that you are very happy with in both design and SEO marketing and endeavour to keep you as a client for a long time.
We talk in plain English and don't dazzle you with technical jargon that you don't need to know.
The internet is barely 10 years old and there are very few experts that really know what they are doing. Like any new industry it is still growing rapidly and we are all learning something new every day. The world of the internet does not stand still and what was popular and successful 6 months ago can be old hat now and out of favour with the search engines. The secret would be to forecast what will be popular in the next 6 months well. We at White Hat try to read the signs and keep up to date with the latest developments in design, coding and SEO techniques so as to steer our clients in the right direction just like a SAT NAV in your car.
We at White Hat Web Designs hope to guide you through the technical jargon and internet speak and talk to you in your language and above all listen to you and we endeavour to deliver more than you expect for what you pay to exceed your expectations.
We trust we can be of service to you as we are good at our business like you are good at yours.
