The Heart's Design

Oh, I love a good glow-up. Showing progress from where we were to where we are now. I'm super proud of my fellow businesswoman Keren Wheeler of York Happy Gut Clinic .. she built her first website with Weebly, which was okay; it served its purpose and gave her a place to share her business.

There is no shame in doing what we can with what we know, and Weebly helped her start the business. Kudos for starting and continuing to grow her business.

Here's the glow-up, she chose a new business name, new branding, and new website using WordPress to have full control over all its contents, design and ability to add functionality like her booking system to enable her customers to choose the date and time for their appointments. We streamlined her customer experience from her website to their appointment with Keren, and everyone is much happier.

Her website now works for every device her customers use, from desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. They can book and pay a deposit for their appointment and get reminders, and it all starts from finding her services from a search engine that loves to index her website.

Win win for everyone.

It's Sunday, its another fun day, and YES I have yet another cheesy joke for you. It's so bad it's barely a joke!

Why did the website go to space?

To find the perfect domain.

🤔😅

Even I barely get the joke, and I'm a website designer .. but that aside. Domains can make or break people finding your website and your business.

When naming your business, it's a good idea to see if you can find your business name as a domain and as a matched, note that I've said matched, social media name. There's no point having a domain name be www.choose.me if your social media names are not also ChooseMe

It's far easier to remember a matched domain and social media name than www.choose.me and for Facebook, .me for Instagram and then for interest etc.

Use this search https://www.google.com/search?q=name+checker&oq=name+checker to name-check your domain and social media spaces for your business name.

Good luck, with name-hunting.

It's the weekend, time to unwind but if you don't mind me sharing a thought to think on its this:

Your website is your best employee. It works 24/7, never complains and is always selling your brand. The service of what you do, who you are, where you're based and more. Often your website is the first place people who hear of your business will go to find out more about you .. do you take yourself and your business professionally enough to be online with a website full of information that helps your customer know, like and trust you to follow your calls to action to get in touch?!

If not, you're not taking advantage of google search (and others) to be found for what you do. Your website can work so hard for you .. and never stop working, even while you're asleep.

Something to think about.

What would you have an employee share that would bring in work for you?

Creative space .. while I would love to have a big studio to work from, I have the tiny home office I love. In terms of where I get my best ideas, it's out in nature walking. It's time to let my thoughts free and often that freedom to go where they wish. That lack of constraint means I often get my most creative ideas or combinations of thoughts that spark a new direction and concept.

Nature is my healing, my creativity spot. So cliche but true. Where is your creative space?

Doing anything on your own is a journey of experiencing highs and lows. It's a massive rollercoaster, sometimes smooth but always a changing journey. The trick is learning to ride the highs and survive the lows.

When its the good times, take a photo of the biggest check you've received. Take a photo of your smile celebrating your win. Capture and store that happy customer testimonial. Put all of these into a reminder folder for your business.

Surviving the lows, try to remember to find that reminder folder. The folder that reminds you of the good times, that will happen again. The reminder of why you're in business doing what you do.

It's okay to call 'plot twist' and pivot your life when it needs too, but always remember the highs and not wallow when its the lows. Keep going forward.

From Idea to Service

Being in business is something that can grow and change with us. We do NOT have to deliver the exact same service all the time. We can grow and adapt existing services, as well as add new service ideas. So here is my process for doing something new in my business.

IDEA
I'm a woman of many, MANY ideas, and most do not make it past this point. For an idea to work and flourish, it has to:
be something I'm happy to do
be something people need help with
be something people are happy to pay for
figure out how to market & deliver a minimum viable service
TEST
To figure out if the idea will work, I have to test it. Quite often, I do this for friends and clients BUT if you do this for clients, you MUST manage your clients' expectations. Explain this is a test to determine if it's a service you want to offer in the future and that results will either be undeliverable or not an excellent quality, which is why it is a free service.

Or.

If I can do the work without my clients needing to do anything, I will do the work as an extra service, and if it works out, I will deliver it as a gift. It means I am not setting up my clients' expectations for something that may not work.

Under promise and over-deliver, always as much as you can.

BETA
You've tried your idea, and you like the work. Now to figure out how much people may pay, you need to gather proof that clients are happy with it. Offer this service with a significant discount to 5 previous trusted customers or if you're confident new clients.

You have built up the social proof for your new service.

LAUNCH SERVICE
You like the work, your customers have appreciated it, you have proof of that happiness, you know a price to charge for it, and you're happy to go ahead. Now it's about sharing it and tying it into your existing services or making it stand out as a newly unique service. Launch baby, launch it to everyone.

Could you say, 'I designed a life I love'? I wish everyone to be able to say this, and one of the key ways I've found is to run your own business. It gives you the ultimate flexibility to design how you want to work and live.

If the job prospects are slim, the world is saying 'no' to often, and starting a side hustle business may be the answer for you. Being self-employed allows you to create space for 'yes'.

Chasing your dreams BIG or Small is NOT easy, but it can be fulfilling.

Planning, when it's done well, helps us achieve our goals faster. It's always good to think first and then do, but not too much thinking, as it's easy to lock ourselves into analysis paralysis!

So for planning websites, I tend to lead with three questions:
1. What does your client want to know?
2. What do you want your client to know?
3. What do you want your clients to do?

Some further steps happen after these three questions, but you need to know the answer to these to avoid losing your website's purpose to complexity.

The purpose of a website is to inform, connect and inspire action. We provide content our customers recognise themselves in that answers their questions and enables them to trust us to deliver results. That is the start of a relationship when they visit your website and click on the 'contact me' buttons scattered through it. Make it clear how to get in touch, book an appointment, or start a phone call to work with you.

You also have information about you, your business, and your ways of working that you want your customers to know. Do you work only certain hours of the week? Are there several locations where you work from? You will want customers to see examples of your work and testimonials from happy customers.

Once there is clarity, your website will NOT be too wordy, too complex or unclear about where you are and how to work with you. Make it easy for your visitors, and guide them into working with you by asking and answering these three questions. Then map that out on your website.

It's sunday funday, so let's have another cheesy crappy joke because honestly. I'm a website designer Jim not a comic! 😉

It's the weekend so a little website inspiration quote today.

A website should be designed for the user, NOT for the designer.

Absolutely 100%, when my clients work with me, it's not actually the ones who pay for my service but their audience, their website users are my actual client. I may serve you as the business owner, but we together build a website for your customers to use, love and hire you with.

Your customers want to know What you do, Where you are, Who you are, Why you're doing this business and your story, When can you help them and How you're going to help them? I call it the 6W's, the last W being a bit of a cheat as the W is at the end of how. These questions are the foundations of every business that serves its customers. Who, What, Where, When, Why & How. That's what your website needs to talk about with your customers .. so a website is for the user, not the designer, but it sure does help the business owner create and build relationships with their audience and get found.

Friday .. it's time to recharge our batteries. I'm a fan of wild swimming and cold water dips. As much as I hate being cold, I really love being cold for a short moment in time!

It seems such a conundrum to hate and yet love the cold feeling. It is such a pick me up on those low days; it also builds up resilience and doing tough things. That temporary feeling of cold soaking through my skin and the endorphins kicking in is such a mood booster. It's not often we are aware of and feel every inch of our body, but when you've dunked in freezing cold water .. wow. So that's what I do to recharge, along with reading, walks with my camera photographing nature or people and absorbing the quiet joys in the busy rush of life.

What's your favourite way to recharge?

One of my most favourite keyboard shortcuts is Ctrl + Z to undo. There is a lot of trial and error in design work, and I couldn't be without this shortcut.

My hand drawing skills are still rough and ready when using pen and paper but with digital drawing tools and the ability to undo and try again. Then I'm good, I can make as many variations and ideas as my brain can come up with. All due the wonderful thing called Trial and Error!

March Meet The Maker - Day 8 Finishing Touches

I love being a renaissance woman .. meaning I love doing many different things and using mixed skill sets. So the fishing touches are always different for every aspect of my work. Let's look at what those are:

Websites: The last thing I do on websites is SEO, and one of the major points we can improve SEO is with image Alt Tags. Most people ignore them because they either aren't aware of how to use them or that it can take a lot of time to fill them in. BUT .. adding these to explain the image contents in relation to the blog post or pages purpose is a golden way to include keywords and phrases.

Branding: Which would you rather: one logo that fits limited spaces or a logo suite that means you can share your branding in every space you wish to show up in?! I make logo suites as branding aims to be recognisable and consistent everywhere. Whether that is an avatar square icon, a website menu, social media posts, printed exhibition, it's good to be professional everywhere.

Photography: my clients receive their photos in two sizes:
1. the full-resolution photo is suitable for printing. ie 3000 pixels or more on the longest side.
2. a small-resolution photo for use on websites and anywhere online. Upto 1500 pixels on the longest side.

These small files are limited in pixels to reduce the file size; I use JPEGmini, so images load faster anywhere they are uploaded.

What do you do for the finishing touches on your business services / products?

Oops, missed a day so I'm gonna double up the posts today.

Every day is definitely a school day! I try to learn at least 1 thing every day, and often more than that. One of my favourite learning sources lately are Instagram reels and tiktoks from the other graphic design businesses.

Software changes so fast and there are so many nifty little tricks to achieve a goal. I really like playing with and altering typography and in Illustrator the Pencil tool can be used to reshape letters in any way shape or form you like. So I've added drips, a pineapple head, wobbles and eyes to my 'school' day graphic. So much fun to be had in design.

What have you learned today?

My favourite way to start the day is NO ALARM CLOCKS! Being self-employed is the ultimate way to live life on your terms and it is essential to stay healthy as much as possible.

I've learned not to sacrifice my needs and myself to achieve my goals and most often I do not get burned out, I've learned to pace myself. If I need that extra hour of sleep on occasion, then I'll sleep that hour. But once the deep bone tiredness of the rat race eases, your body will naturally want to wake, and it's learning those cue's that make life easier and healthier in the long run.

So I encourage you, to do what works for you. My day about 80% of the time does not start with an alarm. What do you do to start your day, or not do, that helps you ease into your day?

It's Sunday Funday, and I have a crappy cheesy joke for you.

Why did the website take a break?

To clear its cache.

Badah boom tish!

What?! I'm a website designer, not a comedian! 😉

It's the weekend, go spend it however you like.

When it's the days you choose for working, whether a weekend or weekday, remember that your website needs on-site SEO like a car needs petrol/gas!

Remember to fuel your website with relevant key phrase rich alt tags on your images .. it'll make the search engines love you.

Here's a snippet of how my mind works in website design. I love finding small ways to add depth to your website, sometimes, it might seem too subtle, but for those who catch that detail .. it matters.

An example is on the menu of my website. I have a master service called Business Design; it's where I combine every skill I have to help you in your business stand out, get found and be great online.

Can you spot what I did?

Here's a hint:

Business Design = Website + Branding + Graphics + Photography + Teaching

I repeat this in my website's content as well, but it's great to repeat it within the menu too. Secondly, my service colours are the same everywhere, and as an out and proud le***an, my business rainbow colours are NOT just for pride month but for every single day.

Hiya, it's been a while since I introduced myself, I'm Cathie; website designer, photographer, crafter, traveller and apparently many -ers in my life ending with wild swimmer!

Life is too short to be one-dimensional, I do not work to live, I live and work, sometimes more one than the other but it's a life I've designed and I love it. I use my skills for good to improve my clients' lives by helping them forge a website and business online that enables folks to live the life they want in the long run.

I'm a woman of many skills, ideas and the ability to use tech to work just a bit smarter to achieve my goals. What kind of service business do you want to grow to live the life you choose?

It's March, and I'm a maker .. a maker of online businesses and their websites. It all began as simple as 'Oh I like that .. can you make me one' .. when a friend liked my website and wanted me to help her with hers.

I've always liked designing graphics, doing photography and sharing my creative designs twiddlings, and I thought to make my own website. Sharing that website caught the interest of a couple of people who wanted me to do what I did naturally for me but for them, and they were happy to pay me to take the headache of designing and building websites off their hands.

That was it .. my self-employed business started. No big fanfare, just a quiet, sure I'll help you, and they paid money for the service. Starting a business doesn't have to be hard. Help someone to achieve their goal faster and better than they can do on their own; you get paid to deliver that as a service. Rinse, repeat and get better at that service. Keep it up, and you will make your own living.

I love using my skills to help my clients stand out for all the right reasons with their website, branding and photography. It's the perfect trifecta to being professional online in a way we feel proud of.

As a website designer, I too need to do a refresh as I add new services and do brand freshes to keep up with professional developements I work on improving. So it was my turn to be my own client for a little bit! Here's to being more fully myself, in all my rainbow goodness and skills. The calm purple was great, but with my blue hair and embracing all of what i do .. I needed to share the full colour spectrum of what I do and who I am.

A friendly website designer who loves branding and photography to help you design a life you love with a business that supports you.

New Client Launch - sharing a before and after preview.

I've really enjoyed working with my client Keren Wheeler at the York Happy Gut Clinic and going on the journey with her to refresh her business with a new name, new brand, new website and support her with choosing her business systems to enable her to work smarter and not harder.

I've just got off a client project wrap-up call with Keren and both of us are buzzing! Especially with the changes she can immediately see in her business in this last month since her launch and me that I've got a happy client who is thriving and growing.

If you're feeling stuck in your business, be brave, own it and figure out what is the ideal way you'd like to work in your business. I'd love to help you on your journey by making a website that builds relationships with your customers before you even meet them. Helping them to know, like and trust you and to take action to work with you in a way that also works for you.

Get in touch via my website and let's chat about how websites and tech can support you in achieving your business goals and work in a way that supports you in the life you want to live.

Get in touch with Keren (York, UK) if you're experiencing an unhappy gut that could do with some colonic hydrotherapy tender loving care; she will help you feel great.

http://yorkhappygutclinic.com/

THIS. Absolutely this!

Your shiny new website is live. Congratulations!

Before you do anything else, before you even share your new site on socials, open your calendar.

Schedule in a regular spot monthly at least to go back and update your content, your social links, to upload new content and give the site a quick once-over.

It won't stay shiny and new if you don't keep it polished and interesting.

If I fits, I sits!

Happy .. this lil munchkin usually sleeps in a basket on my desk but today visited my partner in our van in her home office.

Here's to our furry family sharing their love, or disdain of our overlords!

March Meet The Maker ⚡️Looking Forward

Whew I made it .. 31 days of instagram content, alongside actually doing my business for my clients! It's been a lot and I'll more than likely be a bit quieter for a while on insta but not completely dissapear.

So .. what does looking foward look like for me?

I'm all about collaboration, in working with you as my client you become part of my world in my thoughts. I'm thinking of what will help you work smarter using tech, what do you know and how can I compliment that to get your further to your goals.

I want to help you be proud of your website so that you actually use it, to build relationships with your client BEFORE they even get to know you.

Your website and branding talks for you in those 3 invaluable seconds that your customer becomes aware of you and what you do. Make a great impact and solidify the trust, by letting your customers know you in your business enough to like you and what you do.

So looking forward, in the process of continuing to design a life that I love, I'd like you to join me and do the same for yourself.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
💛

March Meet The Maker ⚡️Day in the life

I truly love my job, being self employed and designing a life that works for me, for my clients in a way that I can sustain.

I'm rarely doing the same thing day in day out .. the middle of it almost always is designing a wordpress website, but what goes around that is changing. So I'm doing research about symbolism, finding inspiration from my clients, creating & designing elements unique for my clients, I'm testing to make sure the tech of what I deliver actually works. I'm also delivering websites, brands, graphics and photos and then teaching my clients how to use it all to their best advantage.

I am a website designer but I am so much more than that. I'm an advocate for designing a way of life in business that works for you .. so this is just a glimpse of what I get up to be me in my business serving you.

March Meet The Maker ⚡️New Vs Old

is my first repeat website design client and even though her first design is good, it soon didn't fit her new point of business being a wedding photographer.

We as business owners are never static in who we are, we level up, grow in confidence, change our prices, remove services, add services. Do what we need to do to enjoy our business as well as our lives, so that we design a life we love.

I'm so happy to see Nicola's growth in confidence to show who she is now from 2018 to the redesign in 2020 which she still rocks to this day. It was all about colour and some quirky elements, to put her on the map as a wedding photographer to take note of.

With a wonderfully happy, relaxed and fun vibe, she is ideal to have photograph your wedding. In 2018 she wanted to be professional, solid and trustworthy and now she is all that and more. Nicola's website and branding reflects that.

March Meet The Maker ⚡️Low Stock

As I'm a maker of things as a service, I don't really get low on 'stock' as my stock is all digital and my brain of ideas that I can restock with inspiration.

What I do get 'low' on is time. I've happily got a full deck of clients and my next free time to take on new clients will be around July 2022.

So if you'd like a chat about zhuzhing up the design of your business .. you know where I am. See my profile link.

March Meet The Maker ⚡️Before / After

is one of my most favouritest of clients I've worked with. We couldn't have been more in sync with her business redesign online .. it was a joy to work a collaborate with her.

Gayle was my second full business design client starting with a whole new business name. We started with her branding logo suite with colours, logos, typography and more to ensure we captured the essence of what she does. Connecting to ourselves and connection to others via the joy of words.

To call Gayle just a copyrighter is so limiting. She has a way with words that sell, deliver value, inspire action, and builds relationships and connect with her clients and her clients clients.

Her business design project delivered her a logo branding suite she loves, a website she can use and update easily, it interacts with her other tech stack delivering her courses, her graphics are seamlessly integrated, her photos show Gayle in her business and being herself. All wrapped up with education so that she knows how to work smarter and share her business in a way she loves.

This is my favourite service, because this is how I raise my clients into a higher level of business, with confidence in being online with their business.

Gayle has the words, I have the design skills and now she thrives with the best of both.

March Meet The Maker ⚡️Joke / Pun

Life is definitely more than Black and White!

I love me some black and white monochrome but there's also a whole world of colour too.

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜