Richard Harries Consultancy

:: Google-targeted SEO

Google-specific optimisation: I concentrate on attaining high rankings on Google, not simply because Google is the most widely used search engine, but because it is also the best.

Optimising Your Website

:: Usability Matters

Many websites fall short when it comes to their ease-of-use: ok, they may be visually impressive, but those eye-catching graphics often disguise poor site navigation or tired corporate text ; or maybe the site's visitors get taken somewhere they don't want to go. And anything that confuses a visitor makes them less able to trust what they are experiencing.

Assessing Your Website's Usability

There is no point in having the wrong people visiting your site - or the right people visiting your site but not finding exactly what they want.

! Disclaimer re Mathew Whant, Sunset Point Bocas and Volcan Pacifica (Volcan) !

Mathew Whant (right of picture) is a British real estate developer based in Volcan, Chiriqui (Panama), and I (Richard Harries, left of picture) made the decision to work with him (on a loose contract basis and "gentleman's agreement") in Panama, over 14 months, from March 2008 to May 2009 - designing and maintaining the two main real estate websites of his company (The Dreamscape Group), sunsetpointbocas.com and volcanpacifica.com. Although everything in the original remit for the two main sites was carried out, and achieved, to date I have received no payment or settlement for this work. And despite repeated requests for an amicable settlement over many months, Mathew Whant utterly failed to meet his obligation.

I want to make it clear that, as with all my designs, I try to build the best websites I can - but that this is in no way an endorsement of either Mathew Whant, his company, The Dreamscape Group, or the two real estate developments, Sunset Point Bocas (Bocas del Toro) and Volcan Pacifica (Volcan).

On a personal note I feel that the way Mathew Whant has behaved is repellent: I went to live in Panama on the basis of our agreement, and we were (literally) next-door neighbours for ten months; and yet he failed to settle with me - 645.5 hours work, and not a dime in return. He could have made some settlement, some arrangement; he chose not to.

My address at that time was "Motmot", Las Plumas, Paso Ancho (near Volcan, Chiriqui, Panama); Mathew Whant lived next door, with his partner, Clelia Gwynne-Evans, at "Quetzal". To my knowledge, Mat Whant is still there.

Please Note: If anyone has a relevant interest and would like to personally discuss my relationship with Mathew Whant, or my views on his company, The Dreamscape Group, or the two real estate developments in Panama, Sunset Point Bocas and Volcan Pacifica (Volcan), I will be happy to oblige them. Please email me in the first instance: .

UPDATE: February 2010

I am informed by the new CEO at Sunset Point Bocas, John McKeon, that Mathew Whant has been "terminated forthwith" as CEO at Sunset Point, and is no longer anything to do with the company. John wrote: "Mat left the company in absolute shambles" and, "I know the work you put into it (the Sunset Point website) and the terrible treatment you received from Mat (Mathew Whant)."

UPDATE: March 2010

From the board of directors of Sunset Point, Inc.: "Mathew Whant was terminated for cause from Sunset Point due to numerous illegal actions and a long history of mismanagement and immoral and unethical business practices. ... His malicious attempts to discredit respectable and undeserving investors who placed their trust in these companies is a disgrace to the investors of all three companies who have been manipulated and misled for years ... The accounting shows that Mathew Whant funded Sunset Point using untouchable client moneys, money from Alto Volcan and Volcan Pacifica, ... There is not a single shred of evidence in all the accounting of a single deposit of Mathew Whant’s personal funds from outside the company deposited into Sunset Point ... Mathew Whant would like all the shareholders to believe he was not involved with diverting funds to Sunset Point from Alto Volcan however there is undisputable evidence that not only did he transfer funds from Alto Volcan to Sunset Point himself, that he accepted loan origination commissions every time a transaction was made between the two companies ... It is the opinion of the board of director’s ... that Mathew Whant has proven he is out to serve his own interests, even if it means bringing down an entire company ... It is the general consensus his efforts need to be met with swift action that is accompanied by severe consequences. The company has been left with no choice but to press formal criminal charges for embezzlement, fraud, theft, etc ... An extremely capable attorney who specializes in Panamanian and international criminal law with extensive experience in these matters has been engaged. A draft of a formal criminal complaint is being drafted and will be submitted to the courts in Panama in the very near future."