Pink and Pearls was more than just making a website- it was about creating a new personal brand. I had to do some serious research on who I wanted to be professionally and what I wanted to say. After that it was time to decide on the most effective methods of sharing my ideas, which for me was to talk about them online. I've spent the last year planning my site and have been building it over the past six months. Here are a few tips I've come up with if you're thinking about creating your own website.
1. Listen, Listen, Listen- I learned years ago from my mom to listen first- it’s the best piece of advice for a lot of situations. Listen to what your online friends are saying. Listen to the people who you dislike online and decide what doesn’t work about their posts.
2. Look- Look around and find out what looks good and what doesn’t. What kind of site do you want? Do you want something structured, flowing, open, or portfolio feeling? There are lots of platforms- find the one that fits you. I have found that WordPress is best for me.
3. Plan talk topics- Know what you want to talk about. I realized that if I wanted to post daily I needed to have more conversation topics than just my business. I'm lucky that my work integrates easily into what I love to do in my free time. I also decided that I didn't really care what the 'rules' were- if I wanted to talk about my kid, work, and creative stuff all in one place, I could. This phrase scrolls through my head: ‘Have no fear, it's only YOUR website, do what you want!’
4. Find a WordPress Genius- A Google search led me to my very own local WordPress guru. I met Dan from Birthday Pony Designs over coffee. In that hour we settled on price and discussed the various features I wanted. After that every other conversation was conducted via email. It worked extremely smoothly and I'm so happy with the result. You have to use your spidey sense, though- if it doesn't feel good then walk away, and never pay for anything up front.
5. Find a Designer- I asked my friend Sandra Albers at Polka Dot Studio to help me with my logo and background imaging. You can find designers anywhere on the internet from sites like http://www.elance.com/ or http://www.freelancer.com/. I stick with Google search. Here are the search terms I use: freelance graphic designer, (city), (state). Or, you can always throw up a Facebook or Twitter post asking for referrals.
6. Posts and Photos- I planned to have at least every category of my website filled so you wouldn't get the dreaded ‘404 Page Not Found’ message. I also have ten additional posts ready to publish so I have a jumpstart on my writing. A wide range of topics makes it pretty easy to write about something different each day. I attempt to use my own photos whenever I can, and when I can't I turn to http://www.thinkstock.com/.
7. Test and Try- Get out and test and try every link. Make sure everything works! This step seems like a no-brainer but sometimes we assume things work when they actually don't. Ensure the content appears the same in every browser that people might use to view your site, including mobile devices.
8. A Friendly Review- Ask someone to test-drive the site and provide feedback. They may come up with something that will be really useful. They may come up with something that makes no sense. Take what you want and leave the rest, but remember that sometimes we spend so much time looking at our own creations that our vision gets a little blurred.
9. Pump It- Drop hints that you will be launching something new soon. Enlist your support system to help, ask your family to back the site and then invite friends and colleagues to take a look and tweet. You'll be surprised at the encouragement you get.
10. Launch It- I agonized over which day to launch my site. Monday? No, maybe Tuesday would be better... just pick a date and launch it. If your site is like mine, it's supporting an existing business. I'm not expecting a mad dash to my site on launch date. Pick a date and go with it.
What are your experiences with building your website? Do you do everything yourself or did you enlist a pro to help construct your dreams? What were your hurdles to launch?
Just last week my client found a link that didn't send you where we intended it too. I thought I had checked everything. AAGGHH. I'm looking forward to checking out how I can also work with Dan & Sandra. I am always looking for great, dependable, creative resources. And I hadn't hear of http://thinkstock.com. I will be checking that out also.
Dan and Sandra both were wonderful to work with. I continue to use them both for various projects that I'm working on. I have a new editor, Brady, who has also been great to work with. What I love about these people is that we've been able to create a great working procedure with very few eyeball to eyeball meetings. My jury is still out on thinkstock.com. I switched from istock because I didn't need all the video and other media. Thinkstock is still a little expensive for me. I suppose I will continue to pay for it simply because I like knowing I'm not breaking the law. That's always helpful.