Video Tutorial: How to Update Wordpress to Secure Your Website

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I had eleven sites hacked last week. Yes, 11. I have three security plugins installed. I thought I had strong usernames and passwords. Turns out, I didn’t. After I got the hack repaired and back up and running (if you don’t already know about the amazing guys at Websavers…you really should check them out for your hosting needs!), I began the tedious process of changing ALL my passwords and at the same time creating much more secure user names. I created a video tutorial for you showing you step-by-step how you can do this for your own site. Please take…

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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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A Digital DNA Design for Insightful Gail Gaspar

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Today I have the privilege of introducing you to Gail Gaspar. Gail is a co-active coach who helps her clients create the lifestyle they crave in the “next-stage” of their lives. Through her own eye-opening transformation, she designed a process of Leading True that enables her clients to navigate business building and career changes with a fulfilling lifestyle outcome in mind. Gail fully believes it is possible to reinvent yourself with a renewed sense of purpose at any stage of life. Don’t you just love that? Let’s meet Gail and get inspired: What’s the best way to bottom line what…

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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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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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Unveiling My New Online Home!

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I’m so excited to show you around my new online home. It’s been a while coming. If you’d prefer to listen to this post, you can do that here. The last year has been amazing. I’ve had the privilege of working with women with whom I’ve developed wonderful friendships. I’ve also had the opportunity to dust off my teaching hat and support the students of Amanda Aiken’s Girls Guide to Web Design. Working with two other incredible women (Stephanie and Katy) made it so awesome — thanks girls!  I’ve learned a ton and a great time doing it. For the past couple of…

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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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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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Website, Wordpress, and What it all REALLY Means (Wordpress 101 for Female Entrepreneurs)

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I’ve found myself explaining the basics of how I help women develop their own personal brand [Digital DNA] a fair bit lately – the technical side of things. You see, websites don’t just appear for free online. Well…they can, but the ladies I work with want to be seen as a leader in their field and they know having a clean, professional, and credible online home is the way to go. Today, I’d like to use opening a coffee shop as the metaphor to explain how building a website with me works.   The first step in building a website…

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5 Principles To Help You Decide What Needs To Go Into Your Website Sidebar (& 3 things you should never include)

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The website sidebar. That narrow column usually found on the right hand side of a website. I like to look at it as the place where you can provide added value and offer visuals to help your website visitors make good decisions. If you can provide a good and consistent experience for them, you can ultimately encourage them to take an action [because, ladies, it’s all about conversion. We want more business, yes?]. We want them to comment, share our content, subscribe to our list, contact us, or purchase our offerings. We can use the sidebar of our websites to accomplish just…

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What I know for sure about designing a website

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“All great changes are preceded by chaos.” ~Deepak Chopra   When I started my business three years ago, my work looked very different than it does today. I’ve been through several website tweaks since I launched my first one. Interestingly enough, I’ve now got clients who are on second (and third) web presence redesigns. Through my own experiences of building my own website to the experiences of my clients, I’ve discovered eight things I know for sure about designing [or re-designing] your online home.  1.  You will evolve, as will your content. Take a minute and let that sink in.…

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Five crucial things to consider when designing (or re-designing) your website

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[If you’d like to listen to this post, please click HERE…you know if you’re driving or on the treadmill!] Activating your web essence is my approach to creating a home for you online that conveys exactly how awesome you really are. It’s Digital DNA. I adore watching new clients show up in our initial conversations exploring what they want their website to look and function like. As a trained coach, I love asking powerful questions that uncover what it is that they’re truly after. I’ve discovered there are five things common to each new design I create that can set each…

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SEO, Digital DNA Style

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I’ve been asked a lot about SEO this week. [If you’d like to listen to an audio version of this post, please click here] Ladies if you’re not familiar with the term, it’s an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. In a bottom line kind of way, SEO is the technique used by website owners to make their website more search engine friendly. I’m going to tell you what I’m sure you have heard before: there is no guaranteed way to get your website to show up first in searches. Disappointing and it’s true. It seems to me that every single…

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Digital DNA Design for Valli Ware

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    Valli Ware: Artist + Healer. If you’re local in Halifax, you have to check this woman out. Her gentle touch and caring, compassionate manner immediately put you at ease. Her natural + organic lines of make up and skin care are beautiful. She’s freshly back from being in trained in NYC as an organic airbrush tanner too! Valli is all that.  And then some.   love what we created for her Digital DNA. The perfect blend of her. Visit the live site here.

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Digital DNA Site for Chelsea Lee Flowers

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    Chelsea is a private floral designer working with brides in the Halifax Regional Municipality. She came looking to show off her amazing work in a simple design that packs a punch with her amazing photos. She’s as delightful in person as she is online. Visit the live site here.

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A Digital DNA Design for Kate Bonnycastle

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    Kate is a local copywriter in Bedford, NS. She really wanted to show off the variety of work she does and have her website work as an online portfolio to attract clients. It’s clean, professional, and oh so Kate.   Visit the live site here.

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A Digital DNA Makeover for Jac McNeil

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 I was thrilled to be able to redesign Jac’s online home. She wanted to illustrate her warmth and approach to her business so her clients could feel her vibe. I loved how she used Pinterest to develop what she wanted her brand flavor to ooze. It was very helpful in creating her vision for her site. Have a business and looking for a coach to get you honed in on how to make it profitable? You’ve got to check her out :) Visit the live site here.

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Why I use Wordpress exclusively to build websites

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Source:  WPTemplate

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