I got involved with The Laura Crane Trust after I gave them some free consultancy on one of their projects to create a virtual world for teenage cancer patients. From there I took over the development and design of their new web site, taking over from the current design agency that they were using.

After the completion of ‘stage 1’ of The Laura Crane Trusts new website, which I did volunteer for the charity, a proposal was put forward to the charities trustees to hire me over a 6 week period to help get the charity up to date with ‘all things web’. Being a charity, with limited funds and during a recession, they went ahead and hired me for the 6 week placement. During that placement I did a number of things, including:

• Getting the charity on Twitter and getting most of the office staff to post daily on Twitter.
• Creating a YouTube Channel to showcase some of their videos online – one receiving nearly 600 views in less than 36 hours.
• Adding a RSS news feed to their website – providing visitors with up to date news.
• Generating over £4,000 in one week with promotion from MissionFish and Ebay.
• Boosting website visitors by 300%.
• As well as many other things.

After 6 weeks of intensive work with The Laura Crane Trust another proposal was put forward to the charities trustees, asking for further funds to employee me on a regular basis, a few hours a week, for a long period. This was instantly agreed.