Quality Solutions for your Business

Thought & strategy leadership backed by expert technical skills

When organizations like Disney and SAICA are inviting me to talk to them about business technology & the Internet...

you should be too!

"Someone who can identify and solve problems quickly"
David Mercer - SEO Entrepreneur

Building professional relationships

Contact David

If you are looking for someone to help grow your company through expertise and innovation, I am your go-to guy. I specialize in creating long term, sustainable growth for my clients for everything from development to SEO.

My blog is one of the few individual-author blogs in the world top 20 for "small business" on Technorati. I have been featured on Wikipedia as a noteworthy technical writer and my works have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Polish, & Greek, amongst other languages.

I am also frequently invited to give talks and interviews on the various technologies and platforms I work with. A recent trip to Canada saw me giving a talk on Drupal to the leadership of Club Penguin, a Disney website.

Recent and current projects

  • 3D Tracking: Developing a custom OO PHP heuristic solution to the TSP (Travelling Salesman Problem) using ACO (Ant Colony Optimization) - "I knew my degree in Applied Math and Math would come in handy"
  • Ethniks systems: Developing Drupal websites and corporate intranet applications with Scala integration for South Africa's premier digital signage company
  • ZAPlayGround: Major Drupal Views and PHP customizations for South Africa's newest sports community
  • RankTracer: Developed algorithms for RankTracer's Amazon sales rank sales estimation engine

Consulting options

Based in Cape Town, South Africa, I provide development, business, marketing, analysis and strategy consulting globally. I can be contracted in a number of ways:

  • Basic retainer - For infrequent ongoing work, I can be contracted on to a basic retainer basis, which ensures that I am on-call and will work on your projects at my nearest availability
  • Premium retainer - For regular ongoing work, clients use me on a premium retainer basis, which ensures that precedence is given to your projects and that I dedicate more time to meeting your needs
  • Per project - If you're only going to need my input every so often, you are welcome to contact me and set up a per project agreement at a specified hourly rate (depending on the complexity and amount of work)

2012 - 2013 Consulting Rates

My standard consulting rates run between $125 and $300 per hour, and are negotiable depending on:

  • Level of complexity
  • Level of responsibility
  • Other incentives or benefits
  • Ongoing, regular work

I love working on interesting startup projects and have contributed to many, in various capacities. For the right projects, I am happy to consider a reduced hourly rate in consideration of an equity share.

IT Specialisms

  • IT strategy - I can save you a lot of time, effort and money if you come to me with project plans and ideas beforehand. The combination of deep technical knowledge and strategic, creative thinking mean I excel in this arena.
  • PHP - I am a knowledgeable and experienced PHP programmer and have a wide range of experience in different programming and development methodologies. Whether your code is a spaghetti mess, modular or OO, and you prefer iterative development over an agile scrum... I have seen it all. I co-authored both Beginning PHP5 and Professional PHP5 for Wrox and Wiley.
  • Social & Marketing - I regularly write articles and content that stirs debate and goes viral. I am a thought leader on social media and the future of marketing and driving business through social influence.
  • CSS, XML, RSS & HTML - I have over ten years of experience working with HTML and CSS as well as XML and RSS and other related technologies
  • MySQL - I have been involved with design and implementation of a number relational databases for a variety of different projects. I have a good understanding of relational databases and SQL in general.
  • Drupal and associated technologies - I have many years of experience working with Drupal and have designed and built many websites using Drupal - his preferred platform for web development. I authored a number of Drupal books and have great knowledge of the Drupal project as a whole.
  • CMS - While Drupal is definitely my forté, I am also experienced in virtually all of the major CMS platforms, such as Wordpress, Joomla, and even Scala,
  • SEO - I am an expert in Search Engine Optimization and have a deep understanding of the requirements and methodologies involved in optimizing sites for search engines.
  • Internet marketing - I am competent in all aspects of inbound marketing techniques including Analytics, Social media integration as well as PPC and so on. In particular I focus on helping clients generate powerful, engaging, and relevant content to produce long term, sustainable improvements in marketing and SEO.
  • Training and course development - I am one of the most experienced technical writers in the world today. I have contributed to books that have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have been translated into virtually every major language in the world.
  • osCommerce - I strongly advise against using osCommerce for new projects, but if you're already stuck I can definitely help
  • Other - I also have an encyclopedic knowledge of many different types of technologies, having worked on everything from shell scripting to .NET. So, even if your project is something obscure like setting up a Beowulf super computing cluster then it is quite possible I have some experience in it. Doesn't hurt to ask...