When Do I Need a Logo or a Website for my Online Business?

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Working with women for the last ten years designing businesses and coaching them in developing their websites, I’ve watched some take off and thrive and some struggle to get traction. I’m here to tell you that it’s definitely not a logo that is preventing you from working with clients. A logo or a website won’t make you legit. And it won’t bring you customers or clients. Only YOU can do that.  I’ve worked with enough new coaches, designers, consultants, and creative entrepreneurs to tell you that what your business looks like today is not what it’s going to look like…

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Ten Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make on Your Website

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I’ve been helping women for over ten years build a website for their business that attracts AND converts. I’ve watched countless others make costly mistakes. Your website needs to be appealing to your audience, be a genuine reflection of you, AND help you generate revenue. If your website is not making you money, it might be time to have a look at why that is. Today, I’m sharing ten of the top mistakes I see women making on their websites. I’m even sharing the simple solutions that can help fix the issues. Here are ten things that MIGHT be costing…

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How to Develop a Mission Statement for Your Business

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I’ve spent a lot of time over the past several weeks scouring the web for a solid resource I could send to my clients (and use myself!) that would help articulate their mission. What I learned is that I couldn’t find one resource that gave me a step-by-step, easy formula that I could begin to play with and refine for what I felt like my mission was becoming. So I returned to the teacher in me (my education degree STILL comes in handy, see Mom!) and I developed a worksheet that I used to flush our my own mission. I…

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How to Use Your 404 Page to Engage Your Audience

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It happens, ladies. We redesign our websites. We direct traffic from one URL to another. Inevitably, a visitor will stumble onto a 404 error page. Now it’s not as bad as it sounds. A 404 page is a page that exists on your website to let people know the link they’ve followed is no longer there. You might access a 404 page when the web page you’re trying to get to doesn’t exist anymore. Some of the reasons it may have disappeared include: Whatever the reason, when your website visitor hits your 404 page (it WILL happen), you need to…

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Where do I start when developing a logo for my new business?

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This question comes up at least once a week with my clients. I know you’ve been wondering about it to. Where do I start when developing a logo for my creative business? Let’s get something out of the way right out of the gate. In today’s landscape, a logo is quite simply a recognizable graphic design element that illustrates your business name. It may, or may not, have an icon associated with it (these days, the big brands rarely do). Here’s the bottom line: a logo is a tool to help communicate and represent the brand behind it. When you’re…

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When & Why Do I need Branded Visuals to Accompany my Blog Posts?

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I’ve had this question several times over the past few weeks. At what point do I commit to having a branded graphic to go alongside my blog posts? I have a hunch you’ve been curious about this too. In today’s post, I’m going into the reasons behind why you’d want to consider this and the exact tools I use to make this happen in each of my blog posts. Our goal as we write content that go into our blog posts is to help our audience and offer up our expertise. For example, in this blog post my goal is to…

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How to Deal with Website Envy (the struggle is real)

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We’ve all been there. You’re scrolling through your social media feeds and you see someone in your world has redesigned and relaunched their website and it is beyond gorgeous. You probably spend what seems like hours admiring all the little nuanced design flourishes and click-worthy calls to action. You lovingly gaze with wonder at their ability to connect with their audience. Then you look at your own website. You start to see all the areas where you’re falling short in serving your own audience. the images you used don’t reflect your vibe anymore you have evolved and what was once…

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Do you want to learn how to Activate Your Brand Essence?

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TAKE THE QUIZ!   TAKE THE QUIZ

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How to Create Your Own Brand Aesthetic using Pinterest

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If you’ve downloaded my latest free offer, you know that creating a brand personality statement is a crucial part of breathing life into your online brand. This might include a website re-design as well as collateral elements for featured images on your blog, your Instagram aesthetic, and even the words you choose to use on your website. (Don’t have my guide to developing your brand personality, yet? Get it HERE.) In this post, I’m going to take you step-by-step through my personal process of helping clients curate your own mood board using Pinterest so you can be ready for a…

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Are you making these three mistakes in using fonts on your graphics?

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I’ve watched entrepreneurs make some doozie mistakes lately on Instagram and in their blog post graphics. I’m a huge advocate that you can and should create your own graphic images particularly with the ease of tools like Canva. Here’s the scoop though: creating a graphic for IG or your blog post isn’t just slapping text on an image. I believe it needs to involve a cohesive aesthetic created carefully for your brand. I’m talking about a well thought out strategic decision, not some knock off or thrown together mish-mash. In today’s post, I’m sharing 3 common mistakes I see people making…

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HOW TO AVOID SOUNDING LIKE EVERYONE ELSE + REACH THE CLIENTS YOU LOVE

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Have you every noticed that when you genuinely share a personal story that people connect to you on a deeper level? One look on social media and you’ll see it in real time. I’d be willing to bet you’ve seen it in person too. You’ve talked to someone who’s shared something so real, you’ve become engrossed in the experience if the story. Audiences crave that same connection. It’s how we build trust. When you show up for real whether it be online or in person, I’d be willing to bet you want to feel that connection too. It feels good.…

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How to create custom graphics for your blog posts

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All around the interwebs lately I’ve had clients and colleagues ask me how they go about creating a custom graphic for their blog posts. Are you curious why adding an image to your blog post or on social media is a savvy online move? I’ve outlined my top five reasons here: Bigger engagement – it’s true. Your followers or users are much more inclined to engage with you when there is an image attached to your post. I’ve personally seen at least a 5x increase in engagement when I share a an image compared to sharing a text only post.…

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December Treats for You – Screen Savers for your computer and mobile devices

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It’s December and for me this is a time of quiet reflection. When I pause to think about the amazing people who’ve come into my life in the past year. This year I’m grateful for the incredible women who chose me to design their online home. It’s a time of year for me to be grateful for all the goodness I’ve seen, felt, heard, and witnessed. It’s the time of year where I find myself spending extra time on Pinterest, curating inspiration for next year. In early November, I was lucky enough to reconnect with one of my best friends from…

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A Digital DNA Design for the Beautiful Monica Faux-Kota

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Today I’d like to introduce you to Monica Faux-Kota. Monica is a soul-sister. She’s equal parts intuitive, compassionate, genuine, and nurturing. Her web design journey took a little longer than most of my clients. She came to me looking for a dream site for her massage therapy practice. The certifications, courses, and creds Monica has under her belt combined with her passion for supporting women on their journey makes her speciality in empowering women to be the best they can be a perfect fit for her loving personality. One of the things I’ve come to love about working with Monica is that she never stops…

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A Digital DNA Design for the Insightful Lorena Knapp

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Today I’d like to introduce you to Lorena Knapp. Lorena is an Accountability Coach specializing in helping people identify their next steps and creating a plan of action to move forward. What would you be doing if you weren’t waiting for someday? An Accountability Coach (like Lorena!) will help you identify what’s holding you back and create a plan of action to help you move forward.  The thing I love about Lorena is that she walks the walk and talks the talk. She’s a dream chaser and helps her clients chase their own big dreams. Her upcoming group program, Big Life Accountability Support Team…

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Customizing and Personalizing your Opt-In Process using MailChimp

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Imagine this: Melanie (who happens to be your most perfect client, though neither of you know that yet!) is clicking around online. She’s searching for just what you have to offer. She spends time with your website and gets more and more drawn in as she scans through your site. She reads your last couple of blog posts and feels an instant connection with you. She’s not quite ready to buy what you’re offering yet but she’s very interested to see how your services might be exactly what she’s been searching for. She spies your newsletter sign up, is intrigued…

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A Digital DNA Design for the brilliant Michelle MacLean

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Today I’d like to introduce you to Michelle MacLean. Michelle works primarily with women who are struggling with the effects of sugar. She helps them reclaim their inner sweetness and let go of sugar for good. Her new signature service, The Sugar Shift, is an eight-week transformational program in exploring how you think and feel about your body, about food, and about sugar. By signing up to Michelle’s newsletter, you’ll receive her free primer workbook, or Module 0 of the Sugar Shift, with 4 powerful exercises to figure out if you are ready for a Sugar Shift. I adore how this site came…

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A Digital DNA Design for the Beautiful Amy Kessel

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Today I have the privilege of introducing you to Amy Kessel. She works with women who are moving into a more intentional and authentic way of living and leading. By signing up to her newsletter list, you receive her complimentary Personal Power Assessment which will help you uncover where you can tap into your own personal power. Her intuitive and intellectual ability to hone in and help you negotiate your challenges will leave you craving her compassionate touch. I adore her and her work. Let’s dive in and meet her: What’s the best way to bottom line what you do? I’m a co-conspirator, an…

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Creative Ideas for your 404 Page

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One of the pages you rarely think about is your error page. By intentionally creating a page that your web visitors will land on if they arrive on your site in error, I believe you’ll strengthen your personal brand. You’re illustrating to your clients that you’ve considered every part of the user experience when you customize your 404 error page. Google defines a 404 error as: Google discovers content by following links from one page to another. Generally, a Not Found status error (usually a 404 HTTP status code) is returned when Googlebot attempts to visit a page that doesn’t exist—either…

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Fonts I love for June

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I’m introducing a new monthly series today on font families. Choosing type (or fonts) for your website is an important piece of creating a cohesive personal brand.  When thinking about the fonts you need for your website, you also need to consider web safe fonts. Google has a wide range of web fonts that, when used creatively, can punch up your website to show off your personality. I encourage all my clients to consider readability, size, color, letter spacing, and font weight when looking at fonts. All of these factors can be tweaked to make a big enough difference for you to use…

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How I went from 183 followers to over 1400 on Pinterest (in four days!)

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I still can’t believe it. I made a couple of small shifts in the way I was using Pinterest for my business late last week. The results are blowing my mind. On one of my boards, I went from this on May 16:           To THIS last night (and if I’d known this was going to happen, I would have taken screen shots at different points over the weekend! As it is, I found these in my email archives):           I just took this screen shot on my iPad:     I…

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The Reason I Adore Working With Wordpress

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Wordpress is my canvass. It’s the content management system that almost all of the micro business owners I know use to run their website. I’ve been activating the web essence of women entrepreneurs for over three years now. One of my very best friends, Jac McNeil, wanted to add new design elements to her site. She enlisted the talent of artist for entrepreneurs Lisa McLoughlin to create personalized images for her new design. Customizing a premium theme like the one I use (Thesis) gives me the flexibility to be able to make subtle or huge changes to your overall site…

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Identifying the MOST Important Reason for Building a Website

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The top three questions I ask each new client interested in web design all involve strategy. Specifically their web goal. What is your purpose in building a website? Who are you trying to reach? What do you want to accomplish with your website? I can tell you one thing for sure. I believe the answer should never be, “To have a place online where people can find me.” Trust me on this one :) It needs to be SO much more than that. I believe your web goal should connect directly with what your most desirable clients want and need from…

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A Case Study: Using Photographs to Elevate Your Personal Brand

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I’ve been asked several times in the last two weeks about photographs.  Specifically how you can strengthen your personal brand by adding images to your web presence. This past August, it was time.  Two years had passed since my last headshots were taken. I really needed (and wanted) to update my website and social media profiles with images that really reflected me and the work that I do. So I went on a mission. I started looking through pinterest to find images that spoke to me.  Maybe it was a pose I liked. Maybe it was the lighting of another.…

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A Digital DNA Design for Beth Williamson Ruse

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Each client I work with, I fall in love with. Such is the nature of my work. Beth was no exception. This gorgeous woman came looking for, “A web designer who was able to take the vision I had in my head and compile the bits and pieces of that vision (from the calming colors of the beach to the coziness of a warm blanket) to translate it into a website that was a reflection of me, my work and my vibe.” I am beyond thrilled with our collaborative result! When Beth came to me, she was looking for her site to feel…

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Five Things You Need Before Hiring a Web Designer

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I adore the excitement that comes with each new client looking to work with me to build a website and a personal brand. I’ve discovered through working with my ideal clients that there are five things that can actually stop the process from going forward. And you know how frustrating that can be…for both of us. For you, the client, because you’re finally ready for the investment that comes with a professional design. For me, because I’m in love with your work and can’t wait to breathe life into it and bring it alive visually. If you’re looking to get your…

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Are you showing us your true value?

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Compliments. Kind words. Testimonials. Kudos. About two months ago I was helping my parents plan their 50th wedding anniversary. The guest list grew to 50 pretty fast and we quickly realized even though we wanted to host it at my parent’s home, that we’d definitely need help with food. Enter Facebook. I needed a caterer in my home town. On my personal profile, I posted my query: Within ten minutes, I had six friends answer my call in the comments. I also had nine private messages. Interestingly enough, twelve (yes, 12!) of them all gave me the same name.  Guess…

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A video for you on personal branding

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I’ve had some time to really think about what I want women to know when they start to build their personal brand online. Today, I found lot of pins that really spoke to me about what I believe to be true about building a web presence.  If you want to see my inspiration, head on over to my pinterest board. I got creative and created this just for you. Enjoy!      

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Digital DNA for Lori Fougere

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I can’t say enough wonderful things about this very special lady. She’s warm and funny as hell.  She’s deep, wise, and so thoughtful.  I was absolutely delighted when she was ready to create her own personal brand for her coaching practice. She came with her own ideas, particularly the image for her about page featuring her daughter, Paige.  The photographer, Chrissy Jardine, did an awesome job capturing their personalities. Lori will help you find who you are again and help you move forward. View the live site here.

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Digital DNA for Sarah Juliusson

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A brand new online home for Sarah Juliusson of Birth Your Business. Sarah is a girl who knows what she likes and was a full on collaborator right from the beginning.  Her calm nature and beautiful energy helped birth her own new site.  Sarah has a very well defined niche: she is a business coach for birth practitioners. That, along with the fact she’s very competent with tech-talk, made for skype filled sessions full of education & fun!   Visit the full site here.

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