BIO:

Born June 25th, 1978 in Fort Wayne, IN to Roy and Sharolyn Heffron. Graduated from Olivet Nazarene University in 2000 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Worked as a Manufacturing Engineer for 5 years with Dometic Corporation before moving to South Carolina to work as the Director of Media for Christ Central Ministries. Founded Poieo Design in 2008 and continue to work as the owner/operator. Also serve as a councilman for the Town of Wagener.

INTERVIEW:

Can you tell me how you got started with Drupal?

About 4 years ago, we began to search for solutions to our ever-growing website needs. Working for a non-profit at the time, we needed to find a high quality, low cost solution. After searching for and trying out many different options, we decided to give Drupal a chance and have never looked back.

I visited your website and see some great looking sites. Can you tell me about a particular project or website that you're proud of?

We've built lots of great websites over the years. And, every time we launch a new one I think it is the best. But if I had to pick one, I'm particularly fond of Experience Crew's website: http://www.experiencecrew.com/ I love the out-of-the-box design and the fact that they are taking advantage of so many outlets: e-news, blogs, video, photos, polls, etc...

Can you give an example of how your work has impacted a particular church or ministry?

The customers who have maintained the most successful websites have done one of two things: (1) Made maintaining their website a top priority of one staff member or volunteer, or (2) found a third party business they pay monthly to keep their website current. I read a statistic from a trusted authority that said 94% of people shop online before they buy. This not only applies to business, but it also applies to ministries and churches. Our society is learning about local churches and ministries online before they ever step foot in the door. If your site is not informative, you're loosing members and donors. My most effective clients are utilizing video, audio, blogging, announcements, polls, forums, and more to engage their site's visitors and keep them coming back. A big mistake smaller organizations make is believing they have to have high quality content or none at all. This simply is not true. Some of the most popular videos on YouTube, videos that get millions of hits, are the lowest quality videos on there. Providing visitors with new content is critical to your success. Start small and simple, and watch your site grow.

Despite your engineering background, you have a real creative side that's obvious in your sites. Do you prefer the creative aspect or the engineering aspect of your job? 

The reason I fell in love with website design is because it is a perfect union of logic and creativity. The backend programming and configuration allows me the opportunity to use critical thinking, logic, and decision making to really bring out the best features of Drupal. However, every good website needs a creative design that draws users in. This side of the business really allows me to express my creativity. I wouldn't say I prefer one aspect over the other in general. However, there are definitely days I would rather be designing than programming, or the other way around. Because I enjoy both sides of website design, I'm able to provide myself with quite a bit of variation in my day to day work, which helps prevent burnout.

Can you talk a little about Poieo and your mission? How do you keep the balance between your business's need to make a profit and your desire to help the ministries that you support?

The mission at Poieo Design is to provide churches, non-profits and small businesses with a high-quality web presence and un-matched service and support at an affordable price. As a business, I certainly have to make a profit. However if profit margin becomes the determining factor in everything I do, then I'm nothing more than a repository for greed. I'm constantly working with my clients to find ways to meet their website needs for the prices they can afford. If I'm working with a non-profit or church with a small budget, then we're going to find inexpensive ways to meet their needs yet retain a high level of quality. If I'm working with an organization with a larger budget, then I'm going to provide an even higher level of quality to match their needs.

What tips would you give to a person just getting started with Drupal?

Never stop learning and try everything. Drupal is an almost limitless resource and there are 100 ways to do everything. The measure of a well-built Drupal site is found by putting the right pieces in the right places and providing a great experience for both the site's visitors, and it's administrators. If you're just getting started with Drupal, explore the vast repository of modules. I've literally paged through the entire Drupal module listing on Drupal.org multiple times reading the descriptions of the available modules. If you're not familiar with everything the Drupal community has to offer, then chances are you could be doing something better with your site. Also, become a part of the Drupal community in a way that's comfortable for you. Personally, I'm a member of the Drupal Association, I try to spend at least a couple hours a week in the Drupal.org support forums, and I maintain relationships with other Drupal developers all over the country. The power of Drupal is in it's community.