WebDesign101 // Southern California & remote
Websites, IT and serious security — built and run by one person you actually talk to.
I'm Matthew Gardner. I design fast, practical websites, host them on my own managed platform, lock down office networks, company accounts and email, and automate the busywork. No account managers. No outsourced handoffs.
1
person from start to finish
The person who scopes your project writes the code, runs the server and answers your emails.
0
middlemen or handoffs
No sales team, no project managers, no subcontractors you'll never meet.
1
hour between automated network checks
For managed IT clients, automated health checks run every hour so problems get flagged early.
5
disciplines under one roof
Web, hosting, office IT, security and automation — so nobody points fingers at another vendor.
CompTIA A+, Network+ & Security+ certified
Security first
Your network, your company and your email — locked down properly.
Most small-business breaches aren't sophisticated. They're a phishing email, a reused password, an open guest network or a fake invoice from a spoofed address. I help close those gaps — and explain every change in plain English.
01 // Network
Network security
Firewalls that are actually configured, traffic you can see and a network split so one compromised device can't reach everything.
- Firewall hardening — Meraki & OPNsense
- Intrusion prevention & malware blocking
- Geo & content filtering
- VLAN segmentation & isolated guest Wi-Fi
- Secure VPN & remote access
02 // Company
Company security
Accounts, devices, backups and people — the everyday places attackers get in, with a plan for when something goes wrong.
- MFA & password manager rollout
- Microsoft 365 hardening & admin cleanup
- Patching & endpoint protection
- Backups with tested restores
- Policies, offboarding & staff training
03 // Email
Email security
Email is where most attacks start. Lock your domain down against spoofing, filter phishing before it reaches inboxes and put simple checks in place so fake invoices get caught before they're paid.
- SPF, DKIM & DMARC — set up and enforced
- Anti-phishing & spam filtering
- Business email compromise prevention
- Forwarding-rule & sign-in monitoring
- Deliverability fixes for legit mail
Free email security check: include your domain when you get in touch and my first reply will check your public SPF, DKIM, DMARC and SSL setup — no charge.
01 // Capabilities
Everything your business needs to run smoothly — online and in the office.
Hire me for one website, or let me look after your hosting, office network, security and day-to-day tech support too.
WordPress Divi Next.js Custom plugins
Websites built to win customers.
Clean WordPress sites, full redesigns, online stores or custom web apps — fast, mobile-first and built with solid SEO foundations. When a plugin can't do it, I write one.
HostPanel SSL Backups Updates
Hosting I built and watch over myself.
Client sites run on HostPanel, the managed hosting platform I built. SSL, backups, updates and security monitoring are part of the deal — and support comes from the person who runs the servers.
Cisco Meraki Microsoft 365 Servers Help desk
Practical IT for small offices.
Meraki networks with hourly health reports, Microsoft 365, SharePoint and Active Directory, help desk and remote support, computer repair, servers and backups, VPNs and 3CX phones — for medical and professional offices.
n8n Custom AI tools Self-hosted AI
Automation that saves hours every week.
Skip the hype. I connect your forms, databases, listings and email so data moves on its own, and build private AI tools when your data needs to stay yours.
A+ Network+ Security+ MFA Microsoft 365
Security from a certified tech, sized for a small office.
Assessments, account and email security, firewall reviews, patching, backups you can actually restore and practical staff training — the fixes that genuinely reduce risk for a small business.
02 // Engineering depth
Why hire a web designer who builds his own software?
Anyone can install a theme and twenty plugins. Because I build my own infrastructure and tools, I diagnose problems fast, keep sites lean and can build the feature your business actually needs — and you still own everything.
In production
HostPanel
The hosting platform behind your site. Because I built it, problems get diagnosed fast and nothing depends on a faceless host. Your site stays standard WordPress or Next.js — portable to any host, any time.
In production
SupportPress
Your requests get a ticket, a history and an answer — instead of getting lost in long email threads.
03 // Recent work
AskForVirginia.com — a custom real estate site that keeps itself up to date.
A real estate agent needed a fast, search-friendly site that went beyond agent templates. I built AskForVirginia.com from the ground up with Next.js, Prisma and MySQL, plus an n8n workflow that pulls in listing and market data automatically.
Next.js Prisma MySQL n8n Technical SEO
Next step
Let's talk about what you're building.
Whether you're in the Inland Empire, Orange County or anywhere else, send me a short note about your project or IT headache. I'll reply personally with clear next steps.