Moorten Botanical Garden

A historic Palm Springs garden needed a new look online.

This was the first website I built, pro bono, for my friend and Master Gardener mentor Clark Moorten, shortly before I left Palm Springs. I had volunteered at the garden, so I knew the place well. The old site was brown, set in yellow Comic Sans, and had almost no photos.

Previous website

New website

What I noticed afterwards

When I volunteered, Mr. Moorten was often working the counter alone. After the new site went up, I came back and found he had hired some help. Someone new was running the desk and taking payments, and there seemed to be a lot more people in the garden.

When I came back, someone new was running the desk, taking payments, and there seemed to be more people.

That is an impression, not a measurement. I didn't know anything about Google Analytics or Search Console back then, so there was no traffic data to compare, and I'm not going to invent any. What I can say is what I saw: a garden that had been a one-person counter now had extra hands and a busier day.

He also took my advice over time. I told him to raise the venue rental price, and he later did.

A good business with a bad website is a missed opportunity. Seeing that up close is what made me decide web building was for me. It's why I went on to work with plant nurseries and botanical gardens, like Aloes in Wonderland and Sea Crest Nursery, and why I now measure my work in Google Analytics and Search Console.

New color scheme and text hierarchy