From Digital Chaos
to a Purpose-Driven Platform
How I helped Finca Vida Verde align their web presence
with the heart of their retreat center
Client: Matthew Human
Project: Finca Vida Verde
Website: fincavidaverde.com
Costa Rica · 2025
The Challenge
When Human first reached out, he was facing a chain of digital issues: his emails were getting blocked due to DNS misconfigurations, his website had gone offline, and the infrastructure behind everything—from domains to hosting—was scattered across several overpriced, disconnected services.
One version of the site lived on WordPress.com, while the most recent version was pointed elsewhere.
“Brother, my web world is a mess. Outdated… confusing…”
That’s when I realized this wasn’t just about fixing DNS settings. He needed to regain clarity over his digital assets, optimize his operational costs (much of which was unnecessary or inflated), and most importantly, bring focus to how he was showing up online.
The Turning Point
We scheduled a strategy session to zoom out from the tech and focus on the purpose behind it all. What emerged was the real story: Finca Vida Verde was meant to be a space for retreats rooted in ecological values, nestled in the Costa Rican mountains, with everything needed to host transformative experiences — but this wasn’t being communicated effectively online.
About page
There was passion, vision, and an incredible location… but no clear digital expression of it. The website was trying to reflect too many things—from Human’s life as a musician to past community efforts—without a unifying narrative.
That conversation gave us the clarity we needed. I suggested we stop treating the site as an idea in progress and start building it for real—anchored in purpose. He had the place, the energy, and the story. Now it was time to make it visible.
The Solution
A Purpose-Aligned, Minimalist Web Platform
We rebuilt the website from scratch, anchored in a single core idea: Finca Vida Verde is an ecological retreat and event center — and the site should reflect that, simply and beautifully.
The homepage opens with an immersive background video capturing the lush natural environment, paired with a focused value statement:
“Ecological Retreat and Event Center
Located deep in the mango‑growing mountains of Costa Rica”
Two clear CTAs:
- Find an Experience → leads to a listing of events
- Create One → directs to the contact page
A Fully Streamlined Event Management System
To support this new offering, I built a custom event management system where Human can easily create new events from the backend via a simple form—just fill out the fields, upload images, and hit publish.
No need to arrange layout, adjust fonts, work with page builders, or touch any visual settings—just straightforward entry.
Each event gets its own dedicated page and automatically appears in the “Experiences” section. A daily cron job moves past events into the “Past Events” area and removes purchase options.
The site updates itself—zero effort required.
Storytelling & Structure
I pulled key copy from the original website, cut through the noise, and rewrote everything with intention—making sure each section had a clear purpose and a next step.
Together, we uncovered and refined what made Finca Vida Verde different: its ecological commitment, community-driven spirit, and its readiness to host something meaningful.
That clarity now runs through every part of the site—from how services are presented to the simple, intuitive contact form with defined visitor intentions.
Design with Intention
The design follows a minimalist, spacious visual language with a clean whitish background that emphasizes calm and openness. The greens found in the location’s photography are supported—but never overwhelmed—by a subtle contrast palette used for buttons and calls to action.
These accents were carefully chosen not to scream for attention, but to gently invite it—like a calm voice in a quiet room.
Typography was selected for its balance: rounded and friendly, yet grounded and trustworthy. Every interaction was designed to feel serene, natural, and friction-free—across desktop, tablet, and mobile.
Technical Foundation
- Migrated all websites and domains to a modern, reliable hosting provider I manage for clients.
- Consolidated services to reduce overhead and avoid redundant billing.
- Set up HTTPS and SSL for full site security.
- SEO optimized: clean URLs, meta tags, alt texts, heading structure.
- Indexed via Google Search Console
- Integrated with Matomo Analytics (for privacy-respecting, cookie-free user tracking).
- Social sharing optimized with tailored titles, images, and descriptions.
- Performance-tuned: fast load times despite background video, both frontend and backend.
Results
- A fully restored and purpose-aligned digital platform.
- Event management that’s fully automated, easy to use, and scalable.
- Nine events added in the first month—six scheduled within the next two months, capitalizing on the remainder of the high season.
- Constant stream of qualified leads via the contact form and WhatsApp, with comments like: “I love what you guys have created!”.
- Contact form completely free of spam thanks to filtering and a refined intent-based field selection:
- “I want to host a Retreat or Event with you”
- “I want to participate in a Retreat or Event”
- “Something Else”
- Hundreds of dollars saved annually through infrastructure consolidation.
- Strong SEO performance:
- #1 on Google for “Finca Vida Verde”.
- Top rankings for “ecological retreat center Costa Rica” and related searches.
- Featured prominently in Google Maps and rich search listings.
High-Impact Organic Search Performance
Since launch, the site has consistently ranked on the first page for core search terms like “ecological retreat center Costa Rica”, reached the top position for queries like “eco event center Costa Rica”, and appears first for “Finca Vida Verde” — with key subpages occupying nearly the entire first screen of search results.
Real Conversions, Not Just Clicks
The contact form and WhatsApp link began generating inquiries almost immediately — from people genuinely interested in hosting or attending retreats. A simple three-option dropdown filters intent and clarifies the visitor’s goals upfront. Human now receives meaningful messages instead of spam.
9 Events Published in the First Month
Six of those were scheduled within the following two months — helping capitalize on the tail end of Costa Rica’s high season. The site’s streamlined backend made it easy to publish quickly, without friction.
Zero Spam, Zero Headaches
The new contact system completely eliminated spam, thanks to smart filtering and intentional UX design. No more bots, just humans.
Operational Cost Optimization
By consolidating multiple hosting services and streamlining domain management, Human now saves hundreds of dollars per year — with better performance and support.
What Human says
“I originally hired Sam to help with some technological issues I had with my old website’s backend, and after a very generous consultation I decided to move forward with a whole new website from the ground up. Sam asked all the right questions to help me clarify my business’s actual online needs, which eventually led to a WAY more functional and project‑aligned website than we have ever had. Everything was clear with him from the get‑go and he spent all the time necessary to come out with the best product. The few micro‑adjustments I requested were handled quickly and without issue. The only problem is now I cannot blame my website when I don’t make the time to update it! I highly recommend working with Sam for all things WordPress.”
Matthew Human
Finca Vida Verde
Final Thoughts
This wasn’t just a redesign—it was a transformation.
We turned a fragmented digital setup into a streamlined platform grounded in clarity and purpose.
Every section, every image, every line of copy serves a purpose: to express the vision of Finca Vida Verde, support its operations, and invite meaningful connections.
If you’re ready to bring focus to your online presence and build a platform that reflects what you truly offer—
Let’s build it together
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Let’s rock
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