I am an award winning professional freelance web designer and have been designing and building websites since 2006. I create mobile responsive designs to look beautiful on all devices. My clients need to be delighted with the end results and so do their visitors. The site should encourage visitors to engage fully and take the desired action.
I’m a WordPress specialist and I really enjoy creating high end websites with bags of functionality. My clients love WordPress because it is so easy for them to edit and manage their content.
Career
Previously I had a career in Sales and Marketing with Vodafone Corporate. I worked in the City of London, where I led a team to manage relationships with clients including Shell, Deloitte and KPMG. As a result of years in the corporate environment I have plenty of commercial and business experience; plus my marketing background means well versed in how to target different markets and demographics, that is so valuable in my projects today.
My history in client relationship management plays a huge part in my business. It is awful to hear that someone has an unfinished website because their web designer has stopped responding to emails and calls. My clients have always been able to rely on me to deliver top quality service and I take pride in this every day.
New Beginnings
I realised I was very interested in web design and the code behind websites when I worked on a joint intranet website project between Vodafone and Deloitte. The website would enable Deloitte employees to order equipment, raise tickets for issues and get answers to questions online.
My husband and I took some time out out 2005 and moved over to France to renovate a property. I ended up building a website to promote a holiday villa and it went from there with friends asking me to do websites for them. Before I knew it I was studying HTML and have never looked back.
I completed my Design Principles degree module through Plymouth University and Cornwall College, plus I studied HTML & PHP programming through various courses and resources. Technologies I work with include HTML5, PHP, MySql and jQuery coding for websites. End of geek speak!
I started out with WordPress in 2009 and you can read more about that here How I Became a Freelance WordPress Designer »
General info..
When we came back from France we lived in Cornwall for 8 years, which is where I did most of my training. There is nothing that I love more than walking my dog in the beautiful countryside around, plus we are still pretty close to the coastal path which is great. We live on the border of Dorset and Somerset in a little stone cottage with a gorgeous garden. I have discovered I am quite a keen gardener and I still really enjoy my photography. Dinner with friends is a great way to spend an evening but obviously must include a cold glass of prosecco. Day to day you can’t beat builder’s tea and the odd bag of jelly babies to keep you going!
I teach people too!
I provide workshops on social media, blogging, websites and WordPress. I’ve had some great feedback.
“Everything has suddenly become clear and I can’t wait to start sorting out my site. I really appreciate you giving up your time to help us all when you are so busy.”
Susie Hammond
“The WordPress workshop with Tracey Rickard that I did in January has been life-changing – she was wonderful and I now feel confident (and excited) about publishing my blogs.
Sally Bell
“Thank you for a great workshop. I have attended about five and yours was the most useful to me. Thank you very much.”
Selma Klophaus
“Tracey ran two workshops for us recently at our Women in Business Conference and did a super job! The feedback from the women who attended was great and everyone came away with some a much clearer understanding about what makes a great website. Tracey presented with professionalism and confidence and if you are looking for someone to run a workshop, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Tracey to others.”
Karen Heap, Socially Shared
