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It's been a while since I had managed to get out and visit two of my regular clients, sure I had been emailing them reasonably often but its just not the same as visiting the stores and chatting to them face-to-face. I am so glad I got out to both stores this week.
I didn't spend a lot of time on-site, just enough to wander around to see what's new and take note of anything that would make a good story for their websites and Facebook pages. It was also a good way to remind them that I'm still here in the background doing my thing, if they need me. My visit today was particularly good timing; one of the merchandisers was there and it meant I got the inside scoop on a promotion they are running, which I can now pass on to my client's customers without delay. Win/win! I have also got a 'To Do' list as long as my arm to get on with for both clients, which is satisfying. I enjoy having a plan and getting on with things. Until next time... Fx Wowsers, that was a tough one.
Have you ever had a job that just doesn't seem to end; whether it be due to a 'to do' list that just keeps increasing, or because nothing seems to go right? I've just had one of those for both reasons. I've been pretty open about my feelings for WordPress, and before anyone gets offended that I have disparaged their favourite web platform, I can admit that it's my hang-up and not actually the fault of WordPress itself. I've just worked across a number of CMS options and this one doesn't make sense to me. Anyhoo, my most recent client came to me in tears late last year. She had been taken advantage of by several website designers/developers and had paid thousands for a site that she was desperately unhappy with, so much so that she didn't even want to tell potential clients that she had a site for them to view. This client had been let down and abandoned by everyone she had previously turned to, but she wanted to take another shot with me. No pressure! I set myself two goals; improve and refresh her website so the client could be proud of what she was offering, and I couldn't be another person to let her down professionally. There were countless emails and phone calls going back and fourth and there were times that I was tempted to say, "this is just a bit too much for me" but I didn't. Granted, the job took a bit longer than it should have - school holidays can be hard, yo! - but as long as I communicated with the client, she understood and continued to be patient. Long story short (too late!), the client called me yesterday with happiness in her voice. She had showed the new site to her teenage son and he had given her the seal of approval, he even said he would be willing to help her with photos and videos whereas before he wouldn't even look at what she had before. The client was overjoyed with how the site looked and showcased her services! She was excited about her business again and what 2017 might bring for her. And if that's not a happy ending, I don't know what is. Until next time.. Fx January 2017 is nearly done and dusted and I haven't had the chance to wish you a Happy New Year.
Since last year, I've been trying to focus on being mum to The Miss and Little Mister but I have had one client I needed to try and get sorted. It's not been easy this one. There have been several strikes against me; the site is using a platform I don't enjoy working with, the initial site set-up was pretty messy so I needed to spend a bit more time than anticipated trying to get it right, and it's school holidays so I often have little faces at my side wondering why I am not devoted to them. Normally I appreciate the freedom and flexibility working for myself and from home gives me. I feel luckier than most and don't want to be a "Moaning Myrtle" but when I couldn't shake the feeling that this job was a curse, I did start to wonder if continuing this way was the smartest thing to do. You guys know as well as I do that when you're working on your own, you have to fight all the fires all by yourself. You need to be the IT person. You have to be accounts payable and receivable. You need to do all the marketing and PR. And you never actually leave your place of work; your laptop/office is always there just whispering all the things you haven't done yet. I guess all I'm really saying, is that if you're soldiering on taking your small business from strength-to-strength, you're awesome and I salute you. It's harder than some people realise. Until next time... Fx Oh what a beautiful morning. Oh what a beautiful day! I'm pretty darn happy right now folks, my latest labour of love is alive and open for business. Please take some time out of your busy schedules to check out the newIntuitive Birth. Whilst working on the eCommerce build, I asked SJ what (if anything) there was about her old site that she liked and what she would desperately like to change if given the chance. The response was immediate; her site needed to reflect more cultures and lifestyles than what was currently being shown. The site needed to be more of an obvious online shop, but needed to remain an easy place for parents-to-be to visit and find the information/support they might need. As you all know, this one has been cooking in the background for a while now. SJ was pretty amazing and understanding about how sometimes sick kids and school holidays come up and interrupt the work schedule, but I think it helped her knowing that the build was still very important to me and wasn't being ignored. I had a great time sourcing a selection of imagery that speaks to a range of people from a variety of backgrounds - although I was surprised at the number of times the same pregnant model popped up! It also made me quite happy correcting a few typos and inconsistencies that the previous Intuitive Birth site contained, but that's just of my little idiosyncracies. So, here I am only a few days away from Christmas and then the New Year and I have to say I'm proud as punch of the work I've done in 2016. I've learnt a few things along the way, and I'd like to think I've made some clients pretty happy. Merry Christmas, folks! Stay safe and happy. Until next time... Fx  I'm very pleased to report that the eCommerce website build is going well. After kind of a false start (I thought SquareSpace would be a good CMS for the client, but it turned out it was not), things are progressing well.
I've sent the first demo to the client and she's come back happy with how things are shaping up, and given some feedback to help keep me motivated. I'll keep plugging away entering the products she'll sell online and creating the relevant pages to help educate any future visitors to her site. I'm enjoying the build, and think its looking pretty flash (even if I do say so myself). In other news, I met with a lovely new client today who wants to update her current site to look its best AND maximise sales. This relationship is going to be more collaborative than some of my others, because they want to learn how to do this type of thing for themselves. Makes sense to me. I am going to check out the current site's capabilities and functionality. I'm concerned that the CMS is going to be quite limited and may not do everything we want it to. That being said, I'm going to do everything I can to "make it work". What makes things even trickier is that its school holidays now, so I have less time than usual, but all will be well, I'll get there in the end. Until next time... Fx I'm in currently in the planning stage of an eCommerce website build. I am both excited and just a tiny bit overwhelmed (but not in a bad way). This build is for one of my lovely repeat clients and her needs are very specific. I want to make sure that what we create is what she actually needs, not what I think she should have.
I've done some pretty decent research into eCommerce CMS options available, and I've spent a bit of time on her current site to see what I think works and what we can improve. There's a lot of information she's got on offer right now, which is great but I do wonder if we can simplify her message a bit. This week's task is to start the actual build. I believe that the time I've spent upfront will help in the long-run, but any more reading will just add to the overwhelming feeling. Sometimes its best to just get stuck in and get a handle on things. Or at least it is for me. So, once again, watch this space... Until next time Fx It's been a bit of a slog this one, thanks to a hideous CMS experience that proved to be a complete waste of time (note to anyone interested, avoid IM Creator), but we got there in the end.
A few moments ago I was delighted to be able to 'go live' with the Self Defense Northland site. As mentioned in a previous post, the brief was to avoid any fear tactics and make it more about empowering women. When I presented the site to David, he laughed a little at the images I chose but agreed they did what they are supposed to. It was a nice project to work on, and I hope the organisation goes from strength-to-strength (no pun intended). Until next time... Fx Simple [adjective]; easy to understand, deal with, use etc.
I've been working on a website build for a client and upon sending them the first mock-up, I received the feedback that it was really simple but they liked it. The simple look and feel of the website doesn't truly represent the amount of work that's gone into creating it. I created a simple yet high impact site for the client because that's what works best, in my opinion at least. Flashy websites annoy me; who wants to wait 30 seconds or more for a whizz-bang intro to play, or a new image to open up every time I accidentally hover my mouse over a different part of the screen? Not me. There are a few simple rules I try to adhere to when working on websites;
I won't go into too much detail on those here (if you're curious, just ask), but hopefully you get what I'm saying. I do wonder though; would anyone turn away from a service provider if they thought their website were simple as opposed to flashy? Hopefully not. Until next time... Fx Following on from my previous post, I have received the thumbs up from my client for the design & print of their business cards. They wanted to get them printed by the end of the month, and I believe that with the speedy concept stage and their very quick sign-off, that deadline will be met. Here's the sneak peek... Until next time Fx  Seriously Frances, enough with the excuses! It's time to pull finger and do something with your site, so people don't think you've given up.
So here I am, proving to anyone who cares that I am still here, willing and able to get things done. I've got some jobs lined up for one of the newest members of the All Sorted family -Self Defense Northland - and the brief I've been given is that their business is about empowering women, not scaring them. It will be a nice brief to work on. I've also been asked about SEO and Google rankings for a new business. These guys were approached by a company promising the sky if they were willing to pay several thousand dollars! I was annoyed and disappointed on their behalf. I mean, anyone could get on the first page of Google if they had thousands to spend! But that's not the point, small businesses (especially new ones) don't tend to have that kind of money to spend. They need to be savvy with their marketing budget not spend it all in the first couple of months. I hope they will give me the chance to show them how a smaller budget can do wonderful things for their business. Okay, enough of my ranting, I have things to do. Until next time... Fx |
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