Who We Are & How We Work
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Linnea Wilhjelm
OWNER & PROJECT MANAGEMENT
As Sweet Thistle’s lead project manager and designer, Linnea is a pro at juggling details and making sure every project runs smoothly. Whatever the challenge, she brings enthusiasm, professionalism, and a genuine dedication to delivering the very best for her clients. Linnea is a chameleon, happily dabbling in a little bit of everything to keep projects moving forward.
When she’s not meeting with you, tinkering with your website, or battling a pesky website gremlin, you can find her playing a board game, paddle boarding, or on an adventure with her dog.
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Rachel Koning
MARKETING & COPYWRITING
Rachel weaves her skills in copywriting and digital marketing to bring our clients' voices to life. With 15 years of experience in online marketing (and a lifetime obsession with proofreading and editing), she helps create messaging and strategies that beam with clarity, intention, and purpose.
Away from the computer, you'll find Rachel posted up at a campsite in the woods, flying, or running on local mountain trails. She and her family also enjoy paddle boarding, restaurant-hopping, and playing tourist in her home town of Ashland, Oregon.
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Fiew Gerk
PROGRAMMING & DEVELOPMENT
Fiew thrives where visual design and front-end web development come together to create smooth and memorable user experiences. Born in northern Thailand and now calling the Pacific Northwest home, she’s always been a hands-on part of her community, bringing people together and building connections that matter.
Away from her keyboard, Fiew is usually in her garden, unrolling her yoga mat for a breath of fresh air, or exploring southern Oregon’s forest trails with her kids.
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Ashley Nunes
GRAPHIC DESIGN & BRAND DEVELOPMENT
Ashley brings 18 years of graphic design experience to the Sweet Thistle team with a genuine passion for branding and the special, customized flourishes and collateral that truly set a brand apart. She believes that in a glance, the overall essence of an organization, business, event or movement can be felt if the design has been developed and created by a team that listens closely and sees the heart behind the brand.
When she isn't knee-deep in the Adobe Creative Suite, she can be found bouncing from one soccer game to another with her three sons and husband, snowboarding, drinking a cold PNW beer, hiking, jumping off of high rocks into deep rivers and lakes, and honestly just trying to keep up with the sweet chaos of life!
Our Process
Every Sweet Thistle project begins with an in-depth conversation to uncover your goals and gather insight into your organization’s needs. From there, we craft a roadmap tailored to your timeline and vision. While the steps below outline our Web Design process, a similar approach applies to all of our services – whether setting up SEO or designing an annual report – ensuring consistency, clarity, and collaboration in all of our working relationships.
Discover.
We will review your current materials (text, imagery, brand materials) and explore your existing assets. Together, we hold brainstorm meetings to surface design direction. You'll receive custom Home page design options to choose from, with up to three rounds of revisions included.
Create.
Once your home page direction is set, we build out additional pages and refine the site’s voice and content. We can write or re-write copy as needed to ensure it connects clearly and authentically with your audience.
Implement.
We bring it all to life—installing WordPress, customizing your theme, optimizing your site for SEO, and testing across devices and browsers to ensure everything runs smoothly. Once launched, we provide training so you feel confident updating and managing your site moving forward.
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Whether you’re starting from scratch or refreshing an existing site, we design with purpose. That means user-friendly layouts, mobile responsiveness, accessibility, and a design that reflects your brand’s personality. We specialize in WordPress but also work with platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and Square.Online. From nonprofits and artists to small businesses and service providers, our sites are built to grow with you.
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We create branded visuals that align with your online presence and extend your story across platforms. From annual reports to brochures, event flyers, signage, or pitch decks, we’ll help you look sharp online and off. We can also help update your branding, if you’re looking for a change.
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We help you to connect meaningfully & consistently with your audience, without adding more work to your plate.
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We offer foundational and ongoing SEO services to help your site rank higher in search results and attract the right traffic. From keyword research and metadata optimization to site speed improvements and content strategy, we’ll help boost your visibility without the guesswork.
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Scroll down a little to read about our monthly WordPress Maintenance packages!
Core Services
WordPress Maintenance
Keep your digital foundation strong.
Our monthly WordPress Maintenance Plans keep your site secure, updated, and running smoothly. We handle plugin updates, weekly backups, security scans, and performance checks so your site stays healthy and up-to-date.
Monthly Maintenance
$50/month
Your WordPress plugins are properly updated every month, the core software is maintained, and themes are kept up-to-date. A backup of your website is saved at the beginning of each month.
Update WordPress Software
Backup Entire Website
Update Plugins
Update Themes
Track Updates
Cancel Anytime
Monthly Maintenance & Analytics
$200/month
All of the monthly maintenance updates plus the greatest all-in-one web traffic statistics report! Any online traffic source can be incorporated: Google Analytics, Facebooks Ads, Instagram Insights, LinkedIn, Twitter, Email Marketing, YouTube, and more — a treasure trove of information that can be used to fine tune achieving your online goals. All delivered right to your inbox on the first of each month.
Update WordPress Software
Backup Entire Website
Update Plugins
Update Themes
Track Updates
ALL online marketing stats in one monthly report, including: Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Email Marketing, Etc.
Cancel Anytime