Website Redesign of Lakerholics.Net

1. Project Overview This project is a redesign of [login to view URL], an L.A. Lakers’ fan website and blog I created in 2012 using the WordPress P2 theme. The current goal of the site is to create and promote online conversations regarding short posts created by registered users and longer original articles created by me on Medium as LakerTom and linked via Twitter from @LakerTom. P2 is a two-column WordPress home page theme that includes a ‘Wide Main Column’ that holds an easy-to-use ‘Front-End Editor’ that lets users instantly submit posts with Tweets, images, videos, and links without leaving or refreshing the home page and a ‘Blog Timeline’ that displays these posts in chronological order with subsequent replies or comments, plus a ‘Narrow Sidebar Column’ with links to Search, Recent Posts, Comments, Users, etc. Because the P2 Blog Timeline works best with short conversationally oriented posts, original content in the form of longer articles are not created on the site. Instead, I create all original articles on Medium and post Tweets on the site Blog Timeline linking the article in Medium to enable users to reply and comment on the articles. The system works but is not ideal. The site needs to be redesigned to include and showcase original articles on the site. This can be accomplished by creating a new home page to promote original articles created by me and other writers for the site while retaining the old home page with its P2 Front-End Editor and Blog Timeline as a secondary home page titled Blog. The new Blog page would be updated and improved with a more powerful Front-End Editor courtesy of the O2 plugin and a cleaner and better flowing Blog Timeline courtesy of the Mercury P2 child theme. The site has not been updated graphically or functionally since 2014 and has a lot of bugs, especially in the CSS style sheet which has become impossible to revise. The site also does not show up on any of the major Internet search engines so all traffic and growth has come via word of mouth. Because of this, it will be faster and easier to create a brand-new site to replace the old site. The old site is currently hosted by [login to view URL] where I also have a second unused site that would be available to be used to build and test the new site. I’m seeking a website consultant who’s also an accomplished graphic designer and has the creative talent and vision to transform the detailed header, footer, and mockups I’ve created for each of the pages into a high quality attractive, tasteful, professional website that works regardless if the device used to view and interact is a computer, tablet, or smartphone. The consultant also needs to be an expert on WordPress plugins and themes, including the P2 theme, the O2 plugin, and the Mercury P2 child theme. The consultant should also be able to provide advice on how best to integrate advertising in the site without undermining the site appearance and performance and how best to improve the site’s search engine ranking. Ideally, the consultant would also function as the web master for site going forward.