Hummingbird WebWorks
Website Design and Coaching by Deborah Redfern
Does Your Website Need a New Look?
Web-wise business has changed dramatically since I got onboard in 2002. We thought then that a website was something checked off the list (website up – check).
Fast forward…a website now is a publishing platform, a personal broadcasting station - or has the potential to be.
If you had a print advertisement done for your business, would you use the same ad year after year? Probably not, but I see websites that have been the same for years. The owners really want to get the value for their money - I understand because I felt that way too. Read on for my story.
Deborah Redfern
My first website was custom designed by a professional web designer company and was both beautiful and functional. But I soon found out that things changed rapidly in my coaching business and I needed my site updated frequently.
As an ongoing proposition it added up: $200 and even $500 bills every few months. Perhaps I had an unrealistic impression, but after spending a considerable amount of money I wasn’t expecting additional monthly charges (on top of web hosting). The option was to make the site as static as possible or save up all my changes to once or twice a year.
Well, it was still expensive and the cost was my website not growing with my Practice.
I thought: there has to be a better way.
My solution was to learn FrontPage and do my own updates.
Then blogs came along which changed the playing field. I tried out a few platforms and quickly adopted WordPress. I also worked with business coaches and a copywriter, but because those people weren’t working together it really didn’t gel until I realized that I needed a web designer, a copywriter, a business coach and a search engine guru all in one. That’s what I became for myself and I did a good job.
I’d hire me again! But…
Being an ‘all-in-one’ is a job in itself, and it is never ending! It is also secondary to running a business – unless you have a team. The first priority has to be providing your service. The tools the internet provides to do your work and reach more people are inspiring, but also potentially overwhelming. I really get why people haven’t changed their site in a long time.
What I Can Do for You
easy as sending an email.
My Vision is to do all the ‘hard stuff’ for you so that communicating with your clients, on a daily basis if you desire, is as easy as sending an email.
Let me ask you, where are you with your business now? Is it the same as when you had your website designed? Does your website and online presence reflect who you are today?
A WordPress website puts you in charge of what changes happen, and when. Even if at first it is a bit intimidating, my goal is to coach you so that your website will quickly become an indispensable tool for communicating with your audience and customers.
Hummingbird Webwork Offers design, content coaching, SEO Campaign, tutoring in WordPress, tweaking and hand holding with a one year long mentoring relationship and an installment payment plan option.
Click on the tabs for more information on each component of your brand new web site.
Your Design:
An attractive WordPress site that reflects your personality and business, which is compatible with multiple browsers and mobile devices (smart phones, tablets, etc.); unique header with your business name and tag line, logical menu and navigation system, organization of content (categories and tags); contact form and newsletter or special offer sign up forms, copyright and disclaimer; site map, links to your social media accounts; and tutoring so that you can confidently do your own updates and blog.
Price: $799
Page Content Coaching / SEO:
Page content works hand–in-hand with search engine optimization techniques to create taxonomy (cataloguing system) to organize your material. We begin with coaching: Who are you, where do you fit in your area of expertise? Who are your colleagues? What do you want to do? The responses can be used in your content, the meta page descriptions for your overall site and individual pages, the keywords, tags and categories you’ll use. Then we plan, test a SEO campaign and tweak it. Even if you have already done this work for an existing website, it is a good exercise to review it every few years. You will get 5 pages optimized with each additional page $50 per page.
Price: $399
Maintenance, Support and ‘Best Practices’:
Want to blog but are brand new? Video tutoring and check lists walk you through step by step. I am available to trouble shoot and double check your work before you publish and until you are comfortable with doing it on your own. You’ll learn best practices from the start so that if there is ever a problem you’ll be safe. Maintenance includes automatic site back up, and installations of the latest versions of WordPress and Plugins. Support time included is up to 4 hours per month for one year.
Price: $99
What if I Don't Need a New Design right now?
You may be really happy with the way your website looks but it needs to move forward with search engines. Yes, I can do just the SEO piece for you.
Fees start at $250. Please contact me with your website details and we'll work it out.
The Bottom Line
- Your website Design, Content Coaching, SEO work and Support.
- Prompt Communication.
- Payment Plan consisting of deposit and balance.
- You are responsible for arranging web hosting and domain name registration if needed and fees associated with them.
- Additional charges apply for any custom work.
- Any additional work will be discussed and mutually agreed upon.
Why I Use WordPress
Recognized, Reliable, Realistic
I guess unless you've had to work on webpages using something like FrontPage, a person could take the features of WordPress for granted. For example, when you add pages to a WordPress site, the menu system (navigation) is created on every page automatically. All you have to do is create the page and publish it and WordPress does all the rest. When I worked with FrontPage, all that navigation had to be done manually. It could become a big mess.
WordPress is stable and so many people use it that getting help is pretty easy. More than once I've typed a question into an internet browser and found exactly what I was looking for, often in the form of videos like the one I've included here. And of course there is a wealth of material in WordPress' site and forums.
Can you do it all yourself? Absolutely.
I use WordPress to design my websites and blogs. As you can see it isn't difficult when someone shows you how!
Realistically, even if you have never done any website work before, you can design and publish your own WordPress site.
But do you want to?
That's a different story. Unless working on websites excites and challenges you, spending your time on the services you offer and working with your clients makes more sense. It takes time to really know the ins and outs of any web publishing system - no matter how easy it is to use.
But at the same time, there are some aspects of your website that are cost effect and worth investing your time in, like knowing how to do simple page and information updates. If you send out a newsletter, how do you attract new subscribers? Using a blog (either in addition to, or instead of a newsletter) puts your services out there for more people to find. A website can really be a publishing platform and WordPress is capable of so much more than just blogging. It can be used to create subscriber sites, ebook publishing, podcasting - I am continually impressed with the innovative things I see people doing with their WordPress sites.
And by the way, I share tips on WordPress: new themes and plugins I've tried out, great blog designs I've seen on other people's sites, or news I've heard. If you'd like to receive these tips, just fill out the subscribe 2 form below.
More About Me
My Portfolio
More About Me
Except for a half a dozen years when I worked as an artist, I've been a holistic health provider most of my adult life, as an educator in family planning, yoga, aromatherapy, feng shui and now Nia Technique movement.
I got my first website around 2002, shortly after I became certified as a feng shui practitioner but didn't start messing around with them myself until about 2006.
I have gotten Google first page, number one rankings on search terms for several of my clients (including me).
I'd love to be able to give you a list but that wouldn't be smart. I'd have to reveal who those clients are and what search terms worked for them. On the other hand, if you hire me to work on your website you know that your information will be kept private.
You can look at my personal websites to get an idea of different styles. They are all created using WordPress.
http://www.deborahredfern.com
http://www.fengshuistudies.com
http://www.whereenergyflows.com
http://www.estel.ca
If you are ready for your new website and feel drawn to work with me, let's talk!