Web development

Before starting his media business, Chris developed the following web sites for other companies.

NewFarm.org: In addition to management, editing and updating of this highly valued web site, with its excellent stories and editorial resources, Hill oversaw development of 14 distinct online tools and services for farmers. For more on the development of this resource, see our case study of New Farm.

The tools and services we developed for New Farm included:

• The nationally recognized Organic Price Index, comparing organic and conventional prices on dozens of products in different regions of the country–dynamically displayed content; easy-to-use administrative back end; attractive and intuitive interface for end-user;
• A popular free Classifieds service;
• Active discussion forums, including a sizzling forum for new farmers;
• The Farm Locator, a collection of self-entered web pages for over 1,200 farmers searchable by zip code, product, market type, and more;
• Farm Select, a dynamic modeling tool allowing farmers to compare the economics of conventional versus organic production by entering their own data or relying on default data from national databases;
• The country's only qualitative directory of organic certifiers, searchable by a wide range of criteria.
• A dynamic, twice monthly email newsletter that attracted over 400 new subscribers a month and developed a loyal subscriber base of over 15,000 in just three years.

National Immigrant Farming Initiative (immigrantfarming.org): Hill partnered with Heifer International to development navigational structure, design, content categories and content for a web site serving professionals with resource directories, program profiles, success stories and resource materials.

Online Health: Hill proposed, planned, developed and managed the first content management system-driven web site at Rodale, Inc. He developed the navigation, table structure, content delivery rules, taxonomy and keyword cross-referencing scheme for this very large, complex web site serving business clients with over 15,000 articles on health and fitness for their employees. Content was updated frequently and delivered dynamically to different clients based on rules, schedules and established preconditions. Hill also developed a dynamic online health risk assessment tool that delivered content to individuals based on the results of the assessment.

• Hill co-founded the Philadelphia City Paper, a successful news weekly that is still in operation after 23 years.
• He edited and managed a monthly arts tabloid in his role as Public Information Director for the University of Pennsylvania's radio station, WXPN.
• At Rodale, Inc., he conceived prototyped and tested 10 new consumer and business publications, developing and launching eight of those tested. He managed 12 health and fitness newsletters with a combined circulation of 1.3 million subscribers. He established a health promotion business enterprise that included three employee health promotion newsletters, a newsletter for HR professionals, two books for professionals, and a variety of custom publications for clients. He also wrote and oversaw development of direct mail packages for consumer and business newsletters.

Hill wrote grant proposals that generated $4.5 million in federal funds for online tool development, education, outreach and research for organic farmers.