My web design business started in a rather odd place. It all began in a swamp in Mississippi. 

Unusual place for a tech business to start? Indeed.

While completing my Masters at Ole Miss (in something that was completely unrelated to web design and online business) I went on a class trip. 

We visited a local non-profit camp that educated the youth of Mississippi on environmental education. Having spent plenty of time in class speaking about the challenges organizations face, it was our goal to learn about their organization, and their real-world challenges of running a non-profit.

Getting your website deigned is both an exciting move forward for your business, and a big undertaking. 

Every web designer you meet will have a different process, turnaround timeline, prices, payment terms, design style, etc. The list goes on and on. Understandably, it can be a long process to find a designer who is the perfect fit.

When I chat with potential clients, there’s a common list of questions that come up. 

With every aspect of my design studio, I try to make the process as simple, and headache-free for clients as possible. 

Want the back stage pass to my business organization and scheduling? Well here it is gal!

I've shared bits and pieces of my processes and what my week/day looks like before, but never gave the full run down and reasoning behind it all.

My current schedule and structure was one that took a while to nail down. In fact, I think it's safe to say that in my first two weeks full time, my business was a bit of a hot mess.

Not anymore! 

Ever been working on your website and thought to yourself ... 'hmm, wonder what the best way to arrange all of this content is?' 'What pages should be in my navigation, and which shouldn't?' 'Where should I place my opt-in gift so it's most effective?'

Website content strategy helps us with all of these questions. 

It helps give you a strategy for where everything on your website should go, and how to get visitors to navigate through your site in the way you want them to!

(*Ahem* That means getting those fine folks onto the pages which make you the dolla dolla bills!)

This year for the first time ConvertKit conducted a survey of bloggers, compiled the results and released a State of the Blogging Industry report. The report compiled the information of over 850 bloggers who fall into the professional bloggers category and the not-yet-professional bloggers category.

With the intention of learning from the very best in an industry, when reading the report I kept my sights on where the professional bloggers habits differed from the not-yet-pro bloggers. There were 5 major takeaways I found which I could directly apply to my blog, and apply them I have! (To ever-increasing success with my blog and business I might add!)

Ah yes, the Squarespace vs. WordPress debate. Which is right for you?

In this post we're going to get into specifics of whats different between the two platforms so you decide exactly which fits you best. If you want the spark notes version, which you ultimately choose mostly boils down to 2 things:

Your tolerance level for technology problems, and how much of a stickler you are for control & customization.

Oh and budget, budget comes into play a little too.

So, in this post I'm going to walk you through where Squarespace and WordPress are different, so you can get a clear picture of what using each will be like. I know, you're currently (naively) assuming; "they both build websites, how different can they be?"

Email. 

Basically the running-your-own-business equivalent of a mosquito in your bedroom in the middle of summer. It's always present, but never welcome.

In fact, it's an ongoing nightmare at times.

If you find your email is sucking the life and time out of your day, then this post was written just for you.

Implement a few of these suggestions and I can guarantee you'll cut your time spent in your inbox, dramatically.

So, let's reclaim your freedom from your inbox already, shall we?

You’re looking into the possibility of working with a designer to bring your fab new site to life, congratulations! That’s a big step into the legit business world, I’m so happy for you!

The vast majority of my clients describe figuring out getting a new website as ‘overwhelming’. I know you have enough things on your Thanksgiving-sized plate already, so we’re going to break this down really easily.

I’m going to lay out a clear set of to do’s and questions to answer in order for you to get the site that’s right for your business.

Imma give you some tips, straight from the mouth of a web designer, on how to tackle this mountain, properly. There’s just 4 steps, that’s not too rough, right?

Running your own business can be a roller coaster of emotions, and my recent highs and lows trying to define my ideal client avatar (a.k.a. ICA), (sometimes called an ideal client profile) is a prime example.

I joined Marie Forleo's B-School where we went deep with ICA's. (Full B-School review to come, keep an eye on the blog for that). I had already created an ICA previously so I felt 100% ready to roll with 'Victoria' (my old ICA) and fly through that part of the course.

Oh-hell-no was I wrong!

After a Mastermind call with fellow B-Schoolers I realized they knew significantly more about their ICA's than I did mine. They had dove more deeply into their ICA's feelings and thoughts on the world, which of course, affects buying preferences and decisions a whole lot more than their hair color does. (Unless you're selling hair dye of course, which unfortunately, I'm not). 

Getting going with designing your own website? Don't really have a lot of experience or education on the matter? All good girl, I'm going to give you a quick & easy list of do's and don'ts when it comes to creating that fab website.

Within the web design community there's a generally known set of best practices to ensure your website is as appealing and effective as possible. I'll give you the quick run down here, so you can feel confident you're making decisions based on whats most effective, and not just personal preference.

Hate your Squarespace templates blog layout? No worries! We’re able to completely change the blog layout and design, no code involved. This takes a few minutes to set up in the beginning, and then in the future involved 5 seconds per post to keep it working.

We’ll be using the Squarespace summary block along with blog post tags to completely restyle the blog layout to your preferences.

Here’s two examples of a couple layouts you can master.

Have something on your website you want to bring attention to and draw a visitors eye towards? Maybe something you really would like your visitor to click on? Add some movement to that item!

"But isn't making stuff move on a website hard ... and involve coding?"

Well it could, but I have a super-simple method using just the regular Squarespace blocks to fake movement on your website.

Here's an example using portfolio pieces.

What is Squarespace?

Squarespace is, in the most basic terms, a website building platform. Squarespace has built a reputation on being an all-in-one system, that’s easy to use. Squarespace is well known for it’s designer quality templates, and modern features (all websites are mobile responsive, right from the get go).

Who is Squarespace good for? What about WordPress? Which is better?

There is no overall better, there is however, better depending on your specific needs and organization type.

The team at Macht Architects was transitioning into a family business, and with a new generation joining up, it was time for a revamp of the brand and the website. The Macht Architects team designs sustainable, energy efficient, healthy homes. As I quickly learned from browsing through their imagery, the homes they design are not only built in an environmentally conscious manner, but they're also truly breathtaking.

I have two tricks to share with you today which are quick & super-easy to implement that will increase your websites Google rank!

You heard that right; quick, easy & improves Google rank! Not bad, eh?

I'll take some extra Google juice for something I can do in under a minute! You too? Okay great. Here's my two tricks.

Squarespace tags and categories may be used in many creative ways to display your website content in a variety of layouts and designs.

'How do I properly use tags and categories?' is a frequent question I hear, so I thought a complete guide was needed. You'll find in the video below I go deep into all the many ways to use them, to solve some common Squarespace struggles.

If you're looking for a specific answer, here's the video jump-to points.

Here and there when desining your Squarespace website you might run into something you'd really like to create, but aren't quite sure of how to make it happen. Thankfully, some ingenious bloggers have come up with some fabulous workarounds to many of the common issues Squarespace users face.

This list compiles the very best of them.

Facebook groups, blog comment sections and Quora are all stocked full of questions about Squarespace.

Squarespace websites are the talk of the town these days, and for good reason! It's easy to create a truly stunning design, they're easy to launch, and the websites produced are indeed very powerful.

It's a big decision to choose or switch your website system, so I wanted to be the one to lay out all the most frequent questions and the answers to them in order to set things straight. 

I have no intention of getting into the WordPress vs. Squarespace battleground as that horse had been beaten to death a million times over. But I DO want to let you know what Squarespace is capable of, in one convenient location.

You walk into a restaurant. Every seat is empty, two staff at the grimy counter are deep in conversation, scrolling through their phones, ignoring you completely. The furnishings are a mish-mash of disorderly rickety tables and spindly chairs, complimented by fraying posters on the walls hung slightly askew.

Would you eat there?

Nope! You’d be afraid your chicken might actually be mystery meat.

Glam on Wheels is a mobile salon. (First thought: Didn’t know that existed unless you were a celebrity!) When speaking with the founder of her business, I immediately thought ‘why don’t they have this where I live?’ 

Fully on board with her business idea, we discussed all the necessities of the website and the style she wanted communicated throughout. We went for a mix of high-end and modern fonts, alongside full width banner images and galleries to make a stunner of a website.

After a lengthly call prior to the start of the project to get on the same page, this was a very quick & easy design process. After sending back the website for review, there was hardly an edit to make!