Archive for December, 2009

First, just because I offer site designs that can run into the 4 and 5 digits does not mean that I don’t want to help clients who can’t afford a large makeover – I love design, and if I can make someone’s site better with small fixes, I will.

Second, these tips are not for those who need a fully branded marketing strategy. These are for people who blog for fun, or as a secondary job. If you need a site that is branded, and used for business, you need something custom and completely yours.

With that said, here is the easiest way to make your blog look like a million bucks without spending a ton:

1. Download a theme from Wordpress.org. Pick one that is clean, simple and that you like as is.
2. Hire someone to create 5 pieces for you: A header, a rss button, a social media connect button (twitter/facebook/etc), a button people can grab from your site to promote theirs and one other button (depends on your site needs).
3. Have the designer add the custom buttons that have been created for you, change out the header and add some widgets on the sidebar.

Most designers (including myself) will do work like this for under $500, and the difference that it makes will astound you…

What other ways can you think to make some simple changes to your site?

Yesterday, my new site design went live. *cue excited dancing music and me jumping up and down like a crazy woman!!*

If you follow me on twitter, you probably saw my tweets about trying to redesign my site. I was frustrated because I was having trouble pulling myself out of my own head to work on my site. When I design a clients site, I don’t have preconceived thoughts, I can be free to develop something that fits what they need. For myself, I kept coming back to a design too close to my own, or too safe. Finally, I asked my twitter followers for help and help they did! They treated me like a client, asking what I wanted my site to do, etc.. it allowed me to separate myself from, well, myself (hint #1: Asking for help doesn’t mean you are incompetent, it means you are realistic). Finally, after tons of help from followers, lots of hours in photoshop, hunting for a great coder to help me, and a few late nights, my new site is here!

First, I want to send a HUGE thank you to Brett Terpstra, the amazing coder who turned my design into a working wordpress template. While I could have spent hours and hours coding it myself, driving myself crazy when little things weren’t working, I decided it wasn’t worth the headache, so I hired Brett (hint #2: Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should). He not only turned it around very quickly, but he kept me in the loop the entire time he was working on it, and let me see it as it developed. He was so easy to work with and I am so glad that I chose to work with him. He also did such a great job that he is my new go-to coder for big projects (and should be for you too!) .

Second, I want to talk about the usability of your site. When I first started this design, I thought I wanted one thing, but everyone I showed it to said it was hard to follow. So I scrapped the idea, and started with efficiency – an easy to navigate layout and then worried about design. Your website needs to be, above all else, easy to use for the visitor. Yes, it should look good and represent your brand, but if people can’t use it, they won’t care what it looks like (hint #3: Functionality is the key to any successful site, design is just the icing on the cake). If you are considering doing a redesign of your own site, I recommend starting with an outline of what you want people to do first, before you get into colors and layout.

Third, let’s talk about who you are. For example, I don’t do flash designs, I don’t think they are beneficial for most people. So, my site doesn’t have flash on it. I also don’t write dry, technical copy. So my site is written and designed colorfully (hint #4: Your site should represent who you really are, not what people think you should be). I love my clients because they know who I am the minute they visit my site, and aren’t surprised by me as a person because my brand is all connected.

Finally, a lot of you are reading this via rss, so if you haven’t: Visit my site NOW to see the new design…you’ll want to click through a few pages to see all the differences. The portfolio page is one of my favorites! (hint #5: A lot of people will only ever read your rss feeds, so give them lots of reason to visit the actual site, like leaving a comment, so they can see your design!) Also, if you have added my button to your sidebar, I have updated it to match the new site: So please replace the current code with this code:
<a href="http://www.wrightcreativity.com/blog" target="_blank"><img src="http://wrightcreativity.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/wrightcreativitysitebutton.jpg" border="0" alt="Wright Creativity" /></a>

What hints of your own can you add for web design?

Today, @MiaChambers posted a link to twitter about ghost tweeting, asking for our thought on whether it was right or wrong. Most responders were quick to say that they thought ghost tweeting was wrong in all areas – but I disagree.

I believe that ghost tweeting for an individual would be wrong, but a ghost tweeter for a brand is completely acceptable (and is commonplace).

For example, if @scottmonty had a ghost tweeter and didn’t tell us, that would be misleading. However if @Ford hired their marketing company to manage twitter for them, that would be perfectly acceptable as we don’t expect it’s the ghost of Henry Ford behind that account.

What say you?

Today is the last two-words of 2009…and as much as I have enjoyed the series, it will be the last two-word tuesday [insert scary music] EVER!

It is being replaced with a very fun and exciting new weekly short, that will be showing up starting [insert exciting music] THIS FRIDAY!

So, for the final two-words I want you to tell me:
Your Favorite

On Thursday, I asked you to suggest new blogs for me to read in 2010. Of course, adding new always makes me think of cleaning old. Which led me to thinking about cleaning out old posts from my rss reader (which I hadn’t done in months!) Before I started my business, when I had actual time at the end of the a month, I would go through all my feeds and clean house. I didn’t delete any until then, since going back through them a second time will sometimes trigger blog posts (like a guitar center branding strategy?) and I would hate to have deleted the content and tried to find it again.

Now that the end of the month is a little crazy, I have slacked on cleaning out feeds…so I decided to play catch up and clean them out, starting my year fresh. While I was doing that, I stumbled across 4 posts I had bookmarked to share, and never did…

Steve Woodruff talks about “Plodding” (I promise, it is nowhere as weird as it sounds)

Jon Buscall tells us why girls rule (blogging that is!)

Brad Marley talks Tiger PR (c’mon, I had to include at least one thing Tiger!)

Ari doesn’t think lots of followers is a reason to follow Copyblogger (I don’t either)

And that is exactly why I need to stay on top of cleaning! Had I been checking the feeds, clearing out old posts, and looking for gems,  I would have shared these sooner (like when they came out!). But, you’ll just have to settle with seeing them now…

When you read a post from your rss feeds, what do you do with it? Save it? Delete it? Save some, delete others? How often? What reason do you have for keeping them?

I hope you get time with your family, lots of love, and everything that you hoped for this holiday.

…Now get off the computer/blackberry/iphone and go celebrate with your family!!

All I want for Christmas is…some new blogs to read!

Want to help?

First, suggest 1 blog that you love to read that is not a mainstream/big name bloggers blog (ie: don’t suggest Chris Brogan, Copyblogger, Guy Kawasaki, etc).

Secondly, add the name of your own blog as well, so I can check it out too (if I haven’t).

Finally, check out some of the blogs that everyone suggests (this is a gift for them, not me).

Let’s hope Santa Get’s my list…

Improving your social media and blog management strategies means time, effort and a lot of work. But, in order to make it a little easier, I have picked 12 posts (one from each month this year) that discuss different areas of improvement.

January – How to be better in social media (it takes more than just participation.)
February – 7 ways to stay strong in your writing (writing takes strength, do you have it?)
March – Contemplating a site redesign (if you like your blog, you’ll write more!)
April – Creating a backlog of content (you’ll always have something to write about.)
May – Simple mistakes to avoid in social media (these can really save you!)
June – How to get yourself out of a comment rut (we all have them, no matter the content.)
July – 5 emails you need to write today (these can change the way you relate with your contacts!)
August – What makes words so important (A different type of post – more questioning, less tips)
September – The blog management puzzle (handle these 5 pieces, and you’ll notice a huge change.)
October – Social media friends vs real life friends (they can be the same thing…)
November – Creativity through the years (it was a month long series…)
December – What do you monitor daily (make sure you stay on top of it!)

Which post helped you? Which other topics would you like more about in 2010?

Holiday Traditions?

I hate computer shopping.

Saturday, I spent 6 hours looking at computers (in stores and online). My hubby and I compared models, read reviews and pretty much drove ourselves crazy.

You would think knowing what you want in a computer would make it easy to buy, right? Wrong.

I built out the computer I wanted in so many price ranges, from $800 (lowest end, but still would work) all the way up to $4000 (Alienware**…drool!, but way out of my price range!).

The problem was the mid range…there were about 8 different computers I could build out that were between $1200-$1600 that would all work flawlessly, but I don’t know which would work the best in the long run. I have always had Sony Vaio laptops – which I love – but Sony doesn’t do tower desktops, only all-in-ones, which my husband doesn’t like because you can’t change out video cards in the future! So, I don’t really know any other manufacturers (there were some companies I had never heard of..Lenovo?) Secondly, all these computers were ones that were “recommended” by tech people in stores…and I don’t usually trust people I don’t know with that much of my money!

So that is where all my amazing readers and followers come in – I know I have many of you who are great at computer/electronics shopping (not my forte!) and would love to lend your thoughts and opinions on what is best for the pricing. Plus, I trust you not to steer me wrong. Below is the list of needs we have for a computer, and before you say it, no mac suggestions please, I love windows, and I love PC’s. So please, PC suggestions only!

Here are my needs:

1. I need it to run the entire Adobe Creative Suite plus tweetdeck, email, firefox, music, etc at the same time with no lag.
2. It also needs to work for serious gaming – Sims 3, Civilization, Call of Duty, etc
3. I don’t edit movies now, but am planning on adding video blogging, so it needs to be able to handle video well.
4. It needs to have over 750GB of storage for my client files, documents, etc (prefer a terabyte if I can).
5. Needs to have a video card that can be upgraded in the future (but should be an awesome one out the gate too).
6. I need a monitor over 20″ that is clean, organized and takes up minimal desk space.
7. Do not need a mouse, keyboard, etc…have all that.
8. I don’t care the manufacturer, as long as the video card, processor and memory are going to seriously kick butt.
9. Needs to be under $1400 for the tower + monitor.
10. Finally, I would love to buy one that has a zero interest for 12 months (or more) so that I can pay it off over time…

Your turn…what desktop computer should I buy and why??

**If any of you happen to know someone who wants to test an Alienware system on an amazing female blogger, I wouldn’t be opposed…