Douglas
Most of my professional career, from age 18 to 55, was in the aerospace industry, where I worked in technical documentation. That experience taught me to organize lots of information and communicate it clearly and straightforwardly.
I got my start in web design in the 1990s using Adobe PageMill, standard text editors, which gave me a core interest in how much the web has evolved. Since then, I’ve built dozens of WordPress websites and currently maintain 18 of them; all of them are Divi-5 except my sister’s blog. All of them are using more or less a design system. My desire is to get all my sites on the same design system, the same set of plugins, and keep looking to streamline them on the maintenance side.
Along the way, I earned two Bachelor of Science degrees—one in Software Engineering and the other in Cybersecurity. I also have experience in graphic design and web hosting.
Recently, I started Site4Success, LLC. (site4success.com) near Prescott, AZ, where I am trying to earn clients' trust and continue to work with WordPress/Divi/Design System while learning a lot more about local SEO, AI tools, and how they can help small businesses get found online.
Welcome to the community, Dougie!
Your background is incredibly interesting, from aerospace technical documentation to software engineering, cybersecurity, and now running your own business. That's a unique combination of skills to bring into web design and website management.
I also really like your focus on standardizing your sites with a common design system and plugin stack. Maintaining 18 websites becomes much more manageable when everything follows the same principles.
It's also exciting to see that you're exploring local SEO and AI tools for small businesses. Since many of us are still figuring out how AI fits into our workflows, I'm curious: which AI tools or use cases are you most excited to experiment with for local businesses?
Looking forward to learning from your experience and insights in the community!
Naba Thank you. I am using SEO AI tools in Claude. I will look for the package name soon and report back. It is intense. I use Screaming Frog (free) to check structure. I use GMB Everywhere (free) in my browser. Leadsnap for mapping (about to purchase it). I have so many tools to purchase, but I need to stagger the purchases.
I was resistant to AI at first - loss of client income because they now believe AI can do it all for them - but I had something on the back burner for a decade and now with the help of Claude I'm moving faster than ever! Stay tuned - hopefully can include links and introduce my self this week.
Marni Derr That's great to hear! I think many of us felt the same way about AI at first.
Marni Derr I think of AI as my assistant. Like having an employee.
Dougie,
Since you are in Prescott, please see my post about WordCamp US in Phoenix in August. I have provided a special discount code for our community.
Robert Nitrio I signed up and will go on the 18th only, unless I am so impressed that I will commute for both days. I will be in LA returning Monday so I will miss the first part.