About Jem

My name is Jem and I’m a freelance WordPress developer based in Broseley, Shropshire.

I specialise in WordPress web development but can work with a range of open and closed source software. I work quickly and efficiently to turn web designs into beautiful, functional mobile and tablet friendly responsive websites that work across a variety of platforms and web browsers and all, crucially, on a budget that suits us both.

When I’m not working I’m a blog post writing, heavy weight lifting, geek t-shirt collecting, taekwon-do doing, feminist cat lady mama geek. Or something like that.

The nitty gritty…

As a busy mum, I run my life through the Internet. I buy my groceries, gifts and clothes on the Internet; I organise activities; I sell unwanted stuff; I blog; I research and read about everything I consume. And I’m not alone: 85% of Internet users buy online. That’s a lot of people who could be using your website. My personal browsing habits put me in an excellent position to build your website: I know what it’s like to be a user and a customer.

Web development is one of my biggest passions. I started creating websites as a hobby back in the late 90s — I was the spotty teen hogging the fastest PC in the after-school computing club — and now I work as a freelance web developer to pay the bills too. I have over 15 years commercial development experience creating website solutions, running a web team and directing projects as a senior developer as well as years of in-house and remote website development work experience for multiple local agencies. I have been running my own business for over 10 years (and what a journey it’s been!)

Although I can mostly be found knee-deep in WordPress (the world’s most popular Content Management System) these days, I like to get my hands dirty with all things PHP. I have released several GPL licensed PHP scripts, coding tutorials and free website templates. I also like exploring Search Engine Optimisation and affiliate marketing on the side.

• My open source PHP guestbook, ‘BellaBook’, is used on over 2 million websites worldwide.
• My free PHP form script is #1 in Google for ‘php mail form’ out of approximately 63,000,000 results*
• My work for The Women’s Room, launched by Caroline Criado-Perez to help address the imbalance of women in the media, was featured in the Guardian
• My work in the web security sector has been mentioned in industry standard publications such as The Register (2019, 2012) and WP Tavern (2019)

* at time of writing, July 2012

If you’d like an experienced freelance web developer to work on your next project, please get in touch.