Web Design
Aligned with your brand. Don’t have one yet? I’ll help you create it.
Websites that make schools say yesto your student trips.
Hi, I’m Kirk, founder of EdTrek Digital. I design and build turnkey, lightning-fast websites, integrated directly with your booking systems, taking the stress out of your tech so you can focus on creating world-class travel experiences for students.
- Lightning-fast pagesQuick on any device or connection
- Connected to your booking systemCustom integrations
- Design that signals trustSafety, accreditation & reviews
Every trip needs three people to say “yes”
Educators decide where their students go. Parents need to feel confident sending them. Students need to be excited to go. Your website should speak to all three.
The deciding yes
Educators
Choose whether their school goes, and need to justify the trip to administrators.
What they look for
- Itineraries tied to learning goals
- Clear safety and supervision policies
- An easy way to request a proposal
The trusting yes
Parents
Need to feel confident their child will be safe, supported, and that the trip is worth the cost.
What they look for
- Transparent pricing and payment options
- Safety, insurance, and emergency info
- Straight answers to common questions
The excited yes
Students
Want to know what they’ll see, do, and remember — and to start looking forward to it.
What they look for
- Destination photos and stories
- Highlights from past trips
- What to expect and what to pack
Every audience is different — I’ll help you decide what matters most for yours.
The catch…
A website that converts is more work than it looks.
I’ve built sites for all kinds of organizations, and every one turned out bigger than it looked at the start. Before launch day, someone has to answer all of this:
- How do I design an engaging site?
- Who will build it?
- Which platform should I use?
- Can it take online bookings?
- Does it work on phones?
- Is it accessible?
- Who picks the fonts and colors?
- How do I show up in Google results?
- How do I keep my old content?
- Will my old links break?
- Where will the site be hosted?
- Who renews the domain?
- Is the SSL certificate set up?
- How do I say everything I want to say?
- Why does the site feel slow?
- Are the images optimized?
- How do I connect my CRM?
- Is analytics tracking anything?
- Can my team edit pages?
- Who do I call when something breaks?
- Are backups running?
- Who installs the updates?
- Is the site secure?
- Are form submissions reaching anyone?
- Will it hold up in enrollment season?
I’ll partner with you, from first idea to launch.
I handle every piece of it, from the first mockup to a live, lightning-fast site, so you can get back to creating immersive learning experiences for students.
Services
Your path to a website that makes schools, parents, and students say “yes”
Step 01
Discovery
I take the time to learn your business and build a foundation on what makes you unique in educational travel.
Research & site audit
Step 02
Design
With the foundation in place, I bring out the best in your organization through an immersive, inspiring site.
Click-through prototype
Step 03
Development
It all comes to life. I build your blazing-fast, SEO-optimized site — with regular updates as we go.
Regular progress previews
Step 04
Launch
After rigorous testing and QA, your site goes live as one of your most valuable tools for educators, parents, and students.
30 days of FREE support
Ready to start?
About
Hi! I’m Kirk Pettinga,
Founder of EdTrek Digital. I’ve been a designer and web engineer for nearly two decades and had the privilege to work with globally recognized brands in the travel and education industries.
My connection to education and travel goes beyond the screen. Based in Hong Kong, I’ve lived abroad for over 12 years. I’m an avid traveler, hold a teaching certification, and am married to a career educator. I have firsthand understanding of what educators and administrators value most. This helps me build platforms that speak directly to the audience you need to reach.
If you have any questions about me, my process, or how I can take your business to the next level, I’d love to talk more!
- 17 yrsDesign & Engineering
- 12+ yrsLiving Abroad
- 35Countries Visited
Brands & people I’ve had the privilege to work with
Over four years of working together, Kirk has consistently taken the time to understand our clients’ businesses, ask the right questions, and design creative solutions that fit not just today’s needs but where the business is headed.
Chief Technology Officer
Working with Kirk means having someone who genuinely cares about getting to the right solution, not just delivering something that looks great.
Director, Strategic Initiatives, Office of the CEO
Questions you might have
A full web design and development process can take as little as 4 weeks. The average is about 6 weeks but every client is different. In my experience, those who are responsive and prepared with content end up launching on schedule. Other factors that can increase the timeline include building custom integrations with CRMs or booking software or building e-commerce functionality to allow users to book on-site. These are challenges I LOVE to take on but they do increase the timeline of the project.
I help guide overall site architecture, UX, and the language used on your site, but I’m primarily focused on design and development. I give you a website and the integrations you need to implement your own successful marketing strategy.
Unfortunately, no. I believe design and development are intrinsically linked, and I want to create the absolute best products for my clients. That process starts with design.
Possibly, but I don’t think it’s in your best interest. The sites I design often include user interaction that requires expert engineers. Building a website can be pretty straightforward but building one that is highly performant, usable across devices, and rock solid for your users can be quite challenging. Let me handle the process for you, end-to-end, and I think you’ll be grateful you did!
You’re free to do that and I wish you the best of luck! But these are generic tools for building generic websites to accommodate any company in any industry. EdTrek focuses specifically on educational travel companies so you’ll get a bespoke website that’s tailored to your niche.
The first answer is focus and attention. I only work with about 3 clients per quarter so I can give each of them the time and attention they deserve.
Second, I’m passionate about travel, having lived abroad with my family for the last 12 years. I’m married to an educator who vets and hires educational travel companies like yours and many of my friends are teachers and administrators, so I’m steeped in the world of education, your target market. I understand what they’re looking for when hiring student travel companies and how you can communicate your offering to inspire trust and credibility.
Once I receive your deposit, I guarantee you:
- A Discovery process to learn about your business
- An audit of your current site
- A new homepage design you’ll love.
If you’re not happy with any part of that process, I’ll refund your deposit. No hard feelings!
There are two main parts of my process that require client involvement. First, the Discovery phase and, later, the content entry phase.
Discovery starts with a questionnaire you fill out on your own followed by a call to discuss your responses. On this call I want to learn as much as I can about you and gain a clear picture of what your unique qualities are. This is also your opportunity to provide anything and everything I might need to build you an amazing site. Images, Video, Testimonials, inspiration, other sites you might like, etc. The more I have to work with, the better the outcome.
Content Entry is the process of entering text, image, and video content into your new site. I want to empower my clients to actually use the sites I build for them so you’ll get a full content entry training session once it’s close to completion. I’m also happy to help with content entry if it seems like an overwhelming task.