WOW … it’s been a challenging and busy few weeks … nothing out of the ordinary really but the flu bug really bit, and that was the thing that made the difference! I was powering along beautifully, getting a LOT of work done, then the universe decided I needed to stop …. which just led to the doctor, antibiotics, lots of nanna naps and some very odd work hours!
Despite that, it has been satisfying too. I’ve had many projects on the go and somehow all deadlines seemed to converge despite my best efforts! A few of the sites that will be out in the next few weeks (and yes, there are more) are for some very different businesses. I haven’t added links here, but I will do a before and after, and will be blogging about each of them as they happen!
- David’s Health & Lifestyle Studios, a refresh and total redesign of a very old site;
- Bushfood Sensations (an initiative of the NSW Department of Industry), a fabulous resource promoting indigenous bushfoods for producers, educators and restaurants. including a member directory, delicious recipes. This one also needed a custom member directory and the ability for businesses to sign up and ultimately for those memberships to be managed automatically;
- Essential Oil Producers Association of Australia (at Southern Cross University), a total rework of an existing site including membership management;
- Hidden Valley Lismore, a new land release here in Lismore;
- Simes Brothers Coaches, a local business who do some fantastic escorted tours to locations around Australia, coach charter services, and educational/school excursions. Itineraries, and online bookings/payments has been more complicated than it appears on the surface!
A real highlight of the week was being featured in a showcase article on the Elegant Themes blog … I’ve been using their themes for a long time now, and Divi is, I think, my all time favourite! I use it for probably 95% of the sites I work on because it’s so good to customise, it’s supported, and it is relatively easy for clients to learn how to use. I’m a happy camper. This is the second time I’ve been featured on their blog. The first article “Reinvention And Finding Your Dream Job” was way back in 2013. The latest post “14 Freelancers and Web Design Studios Powered by Divi” (I’m #7 on the list) generated 2,000+ hits on this site in 24 hours. Woo hoo!!
After many moons of providing one-on-one training with my clients and I’ll soon be offering “master classes” for small groups, on specific topics, which will give real value to local business/website owners and will help boost confidence levels with many who are unsure of managing their own websites.
I know there are thousands of videos, webinars, tutorials, etc etc etc and I use them all the time – but how do you know what’s good and what’s not? So I’ve also decided to go rogue and do these classes face-to-face … gasp! Sometimes you need to be in the same room, so you can ask questions about your own site. No two websites are completely alike and every one of them has their own quirks even if they are all built with WordPress, and even the same theme.
I’ll be advertising classes soon – once I’ve got a venue sorted – and that has certainly been an adventure all by itself! I will of course, continue to offer one-on-one training for new clients, and ultimately, I have no doubt I’ll offer webinars as I expand The Website School. In a side note, the blog post at Elegant Themes also generated 100+ signups for my free website planner (available at The Website School) in the 24 hours after the post was published. I was a bit gobsmacked but certainly proves how widely read the Elegant Themes blog is (and what a bunch of sticky beaks my fellow website creatives are!).
I’m excited about offering these classes – I do love working with clients and especially love it when it all comes together and I can share what I know.
Have a fabulous week!
PS: here’s a couple of images from the Lantern Parade which was on at the Winter Solstice (25 June). It’s a fantastic community event here in Lismore with a few thousand people attending and/or participating. This year, more than 50 community groups, schools, business groups, pipe bands, drummers, vikings, and a host of others participated in the parade, culminating in a fiery fireworks finale.
I carried a lantern for the Lismore Chamber of Commerce & Industry which was fabulous even if it was freezing – it hit zero that night which may have something to do with the flu bug that bit!!
Lismore Lantern Parade (2012). That’s me 2nd from the right.
Lismore Lantern Parade (2012)
Images from the Lismore Lantern Parade website.
(I know, I know … these images are a couple of years old – this year’s pics aren’t up on the Lantern Parade website as yet and the photos I took are still on my phone. Oh dear!)
