Bilingual web developer and SEO
Hola, I'm Gibran, and Zevi Media is just me
I build websites, help businesses get found in search and AI, and handle the technical side that small-business owners would rather not think about, in English and Spanish. When you email or call Zevi Media, you get me, which is the whole point of how I set it up.
My background
Zevi Media is a one-person studio, and that one person is me, Gibran Garcia, from the first call to the last fix.
I was born in San Blas, a small town on the coast of Nayarit, Mexico, where my father has owned and run a bakery since 1973, so I grew up watching what it actually takes to keep a small business open, and I suspect a lot of how I think about clients started at that counter. I went to school in San Diego, high school at The Bishop's School in La Jolla, then a freshman year at Claremont McKenna, where I played basketball, and finished a degree in Business Administration, with an emphasis in finance and marketing, at the University of San Diego.
Somewhere in there my sports plans changed and I took a semester abroad in Madrid instead, which started with a 10-day course traveling around Europe visiting places like Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Heineken, the United Nations, and the Anne Frank Foundation, plus a few others I honestly can't recall anymore. Back in Mexico I also worked as a project manager for the national parks system, which had nothing to do with websites and a lot to do with getting things done with not much to work with.
the family bakery
in San Blas
Optional. Real photo only, or remove the slot.
Why "Zevi"
Zevi means "one" in Wixárika, the indigenous language of Nayarit, where I'm from.
Zevi Media is a one-person studio, so the name is meant literally: you deal with one accountable person, and that person is the one doing the work. I founded Zevi Media LLC in 2011, and it's been just me the whole time.
From side gig to full time
I got into this work mostly by accident: in 2007 I took a job at a legal marketing firm in the US, got my first real look at SEO and web development, and something about it clicked.
I built my first websites in 2008, one for the surf and yoga camp I was part of and one for Bahia Aventuras, a tour operator in Costa Rica that became my first client in 2009 and, multiple redesigns later, is still a client today. For about a decade it was a side gig I did as time permitted, and then in 2024 I started focusing on it full time, which in hindsight should have happened sooner. My college degree, being bilingual, a lot of travel, and growing up around a family business turned out to be a good fit for this kind of work, and I've been working online since 2007.
- 2007First job in SEO and web development, at a legal marketing firm
- 2008First websites
- 2009First client, Bahia Aventuras, still a client
- 2010 to 2019Partner in a surf and yoga camp in Costa Rica
- 2011Founded Zevi Media LLC
- 2024Zevi Media full time
What a surf camp taught me
Running a surf camp taught me that a business can make money and still do right by its community, and that the online side and the physical side of a business are never as separate as people think.
Between 2010 and 2019 I was a partner in a surf and yoga camp in Costa Rica, and we set out to run it as a socially responsible business that was also profitable, which sounds like a contradiction until you do it. It earned B Corp certification, but the part I'm proudest of is that it grew into a sustainable business that looked after the environment, considered the local community in its decisions, and inspired a lot of visitors to go home and do something similar in their own towns. I still think about that when I take on a client: I want to help business owners who want to inspire their customers to be better consumers and better citizens, and I want to make the internet a better place by helping legitimate businesses get found, with work that has some quality and intention behind it instead of adding to the noise.
I want to make the internet a better place by doing purposeful work that helps legitimate businesses get found.
the surf and yoga camp
Costa Rica
Optional. Real photo only, or remove the slot.
What I'm good at, and what I'm not
I'm good at the technical and strategic side of the work, and I'm not a designer, which I'd rather tell you now than have you find out later.
I'm an analytical person. I like figuring out why something isn't working and fixing it, and my SEO background means I understand why a website needs to be built a certain way for search engines and, now, for AI tools to read it. I'm also very patient with people, especially clients, which is good and bad.
My weaknesses, or areas of opportunity, are aesthetics and design, and on a bad day I can overlook a detail. I also like technology enough to get distracted by shiny new software, which is mostly a hazard for me and occasionally a perk for my clients. I do think design matters, I just don't think it's the most important part of a website. Next to how a site is built and what it says, the look just needs to be clean and fit the brand so visitors feel at home. The design just can't put them off.
You get me
When you email or call, you get me.
Most of my clients know me beyond the work, and with a few of them we've shared a meal or a beer along the way. They bring me all kinds of business and tech problems, not only website ones, and I've been told I'm a pretty good sounding board, sometimes a therapist of sorts. I'd like to keep it that way.
Who has influenced how I work
A handful of people whose ideas I lean on every week:
- Kevin Geary, the creator of Automatic.css and Etch, for how I build websites and think about the business side of web work
- Donald Miller's StoryBrand method, for how I write and help clients explain what they do
- John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, for small-business marketing
- Jonathan Stark, for how I price and sell
- Jim Galiano, for running a business as one person
What do clients say?
Here's what two of them wrote, in their own words.
Zevi Media is represented by an honest, responsible, kind person that is dedicated to their work. This makes them excellent at their job and achieving the desired results. His name is Gibran and I am very satisfied with his work.
"Trustworthy and quality. Zevi Media has collaborated with us from the beginning of our project, starting with our logo and website. Their timely response and reliability give us confidence to continue working with them."
Get in touch
Want to talk?
Book a free 30-minute call, in English or Spanish, whichever you'd rather.
Tell me about your business and what's getting in the way, and I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right person to help. If I'm not, I'll try to point you to someone who is.
Book a free 30-minute call