Personal Letter from Alex Branning
I have been in the web design business for over ten years now, and I can’t even count the number of clients I have that have been wronged by a past web designer or developer. My heart breaks when I hear stories of deposits lost to thieves, disappearing web design firms, developers who refuse to fix bugs without extra money, the list of stories is long. I am determined to be different from the rest. I treat my clients with respect; I promptly respond to requests for project updates and am quick to do what it takes to make the client happy. To prove that I’m different from the rest, I registered with the Better Business Bureau so that any and all complaints can be registered in a public forum.
THE BEGINNING…
My career in the web design business started in 2000, I started programming web sites as a hobby and was quickly hired by a firm in my home town working on a large medical group web site. I moved up the ranks quickly, which was a blessing and a curse – that was my introduction to unscrupulous activity within the industry. I was disgusted with my bosses’ treatment of their clients, and left the company shortly after being named the manager of the department. The Branning Group was going really well; but I started running out of challenges. I ended up moving from southern California to Chicago to chase a girl I fell in love with at a wedding (who is now my wife, yay!) and got a job with a large e-commerce music equipment reseller. I learned so much in that position, and then when I moved back to California I got hired by Demand Media.
Demand Media hired me to rebuild the core engine of Grab.com (a gaming-based social network) to run faster, use less resources and implement SEO improvements on the site. When I started, the site was running off of nine servers and was constantly running out of resources. When I was done, the site was running off of three servers and was able to handle higher loads of traffic than before.
THE NEXT STEP…
The next stop in my career was with Buzznet (now Buzz Media); they had me work on their core engine and build a publishing platform that would allow their content writers to post once and have their work published across multiple web sites. I also worked on their mobile web site and performing general site maintenance across their web site portfolio.
After my stint at Buzz Media I was itching to be an independent web developer again. I knew that I wanted to build an independent social networking platform that entrepreneurs could use to create their own niche communities. My first social networking client was bluecanvas.com, a social network dedicated to artists and other creative individuals. My portfolio of custom social networks grew quickly to include likezebra.com, jobblehead.com, irocit.com, thisismarilyn.com, and iambiz.com.
THE PAST & THE FUTURE…
The last twelve months have been absolutely incredible! The Branning Group has worked on web sites for Chrysler, Billabong (over a dozen sites and counting!), Gretchen Christine (from the Real Housewives of Orange County), Audrina Patridge and some really exciting start-up companies.
If you are looking for a web developer who is honest, delivers quality work and takes pride in what he does then please consider me and my team – I would love to work with you.
SINCERELY,
