Actional web design and digital marketing tips for the solopreneur who manages their own online business.

How to Create a Simple Logo in Canva

You don’t need a degree in graphic design to create a simple logo for your if you have the funds to outsource this great go for it. But there’s nothing like designing your own logo when getting started.  In this video demonstration below, you’ll learn how to create a simple logo using the free version of Canva.

Learn How to Start Planning Your Website

Would you believe me if I told you that tech is the last thing you should start with when wanting to build your website. When you have a plan upfront, you simply need to take that plan and put it “into” the tech.

Why Cheap Web Hosting Can Damage Your Online Business

By nature, we all like to save money right? We look for things that are on sale and maybe we’ll even use coupons. When we can have the same quality product at a discounted price, that’s a good thing. But when you’re choosing a product based on price only, not so much.

Ten Ways to Get Motivated to Do More in Less Time

Do you have a to-do list that seems to keep growing,  yet you’re busy all the time?  Reality check:  we’re all busy, we all have the same 24 hours in a day.  It’s not about saying how busy you are, it’s how you’re getting things done, so you don’t get overwhelmed.  I’m going to share 10 tips that have worked for me and hopefully some if not all will help you too.

Top 15 WordPress Terms You Need to Know

Do you ever wonder what all those terms are regarding WordPress? Even the initial research while looking into it can be overwhelming, especially for a non-techy. In this post, I share the top 15 WordPress Terms that keep popping up as the ones needing the most explanations.

Pros and Cons of Using WordPress

l was talking to a business owner who was re-doing her website and she was asking me about WordPress. After spending some time with her answering her questions, I thought how helpful she was nicely grilling me about WordPress I wanted to share some of this information with you.

Instead of a long blog post, you’ll learn in the video below about the pros and cons of using WordPress, but more importantly, for those cons, what you can do to minimize that con to get the full benefit of using WordPress for your digital presence.

Closed Captions are available with this video.

Top 5 Website Mistakes Business Owners Make and How to Avoid Them

Can you count on one hand how many mistakes you “didn’t” make when building your first website? If you looked up in the dictionary “how not to build a website”, a picture of me would be there. I made so many mistakes my first time around that I sink in my chair when thinking about it. Do you know what good came out of that though? I learned from my mistakes and I’d like to share what seems to be a common thread with new clients and what you can do to avoid those mistakes.

Choosing a Website Platform – The Good, Bad & the Ugly

Where do you start when wanting to build your first website or even re-building your existing website?

Today you’ll get to geek out and learn about website platforms which is the technology used as the base for building your website and I’m talking specifically about content management systems (CMS).

They’re pretty popular for building websites because for the most part, you don’t have to know programming, have a degree in graphic design or start a website from scratch. I mean, why re-invent the wheel, right?

So You Think You can Run a Business Just on Facebook? Think Again

It drives me absolutely crazy when I ask a business owner “what’s your website so I can check it out” and they say “oh I don’t have a website, I use Facebook for everything”…grrrrr

So I thought I’d put together a little rant list of why you absolutely MUST have a website if you have your own business, regardless if you’re a solopreneur, freelancer, or employ a team.

The Post-It-Note Method of Nailing Your Niche

When you read about niche sites, do your eyes glaze over, not quite understanding what that means? don’t worry about it, I didn’t understand the depth of what a niche site was until quite a few years ago.

Just to let you know ahead of time, I’m using a “dog niche” for this example, but the complimentary post-it-note worksheets and techniques I’m showing in the video can be used for any niche.

How to Find Branding Inspiration at the Paint Store

You’ve started your own business and haven’t got a clue about branding. You may be thinking of hiring someone for this step, but I bet the quotes you’ve received are more than you can handle at the moment.

Don’t be That Annoying Sales Person

Does it irk you when a sales person says “I have this same model at home”? I think they’re trying to make a connection with you and add credibility, because heck, if the sales person says they have it, it must be good right? Whether they are being truthful or not, it’s this type of annoying sales tactic that make me want to gouge my eyes out. Now check out the next scenario…has this happened to you?

Is Knowing Who You Want to Sell to More Important than Who You Don’t Want to Sell to?

Did you know that it’s been proven that when you know who you’re selling to, it’s so much easier to create your product/service descriptions, your website, email, social media content, and even what images you’ll choose to display on in your marketing material.

Why Less is Better When Choosing Your Branding Colours

Choosing branding colours comes easy for me because of my background with colour theory.  But it’s pretty presumptuous for me to think it would be easy for you, so we’re going to fix that in this post.

Do You Make Any of These Common Mistakes When Choosing Your Branding Colours?

I don’t know about you, but I can get sucked into creating branding palettes for hours and love every minute of it.  But when I was starting, there were some huge mistakes I was making and I notice it more and more now when reviewing websites and hope that this short list will help you “not” make those same mistakes.

Do You Really Need an Ideal Customer Profile

I’ll confess…I LOVE working through this exercise with someone for the first time. When asking “who are your customers” and the answer is usually “whoever will buys my products/services”. In a previous post “why selling to everyone is a huge mistake”, I explained why having this thought process can be disastrous for your website messaging (your copy/words).

For this real-life exercise, I’m going to take one of my own ideal customers and we’re going to pretend you’re her. We’ll call you Carla (cause I don’t know what your name is).

Why Selling to Everyone is a Huge Confusing Mistake

Have you ever heard the saying, “if your selling to everybody, you’re selling to nobody?”

It didn’t make a lot of sense when I heard it the first time a few years ago. Figured if Billy Bob wanted to buy my widget, sure, I’ll take his cash.

But what I didn’t realize is the person doing the physical buying wasn’t the issue. It’s the person I’m trying to attract as a customer…that’s where I was successfully failing.

5 Ways to Connect Your Website to Your Ideal Customer

On a scale of 1-10, how well do you feel your website or social media content really connects with your ideal customer? honestly?

When someone lands on your home page, are they reading generic copy or is it written for a specific person?

Have you ever landed on a website and thought to yourself “it’s like she’s reading my mind”, or you were so in tune with what you were reading as if it was written just for you?

You can’t write for everyone because your message gets so diluted, that it doesn’t stand out. So how do you work around this?