Yesterday afternoon, I started an upgrade on my www.PowersWebDesigns.com website.  I did it partly because the site was so old that I coudn't do what I wanted to do on the site, and partly because I knew I had several sites that needed to be upgrated, and when I'd tried to upgrade them a couple months ago, the process failed miserably.

And, well, this adventure wasn't any better.  An upgrade that has taken me 1/2 hour in the past, took me 8 hours to get back to ground-zero.  **shaking head**  I really don't know why... but that's the way it was.

So lesson to everybody out there wanting somebody else to do their website for them:

It doesn't always go as fast as it should, and the unforseen can, and often will, happen.

So suck it up and pay your web developer for their time, instead of bitching and complaining.  Believe me, they weren't having a good time, either.

Anyway... finally, about mid-day today, I got the website back to where I started, but on the new version of the code. 

Then, since I had new code, I didn't want to put the old template back up, because I was tired of it, and it didn't look as professional as I wanted... sooooo... I went on the search for a new template.  Silly me.  *sigh*

After trying several templates and not liking them, I found one, eventually.  And... because I'm me, I couldn't handle the fact that it was a fixed-width rather than fluid-width.  (The fixed-width was so wide that it meant I couldn't easily read the site on my fancy-dancy tablet computer)  That was an adventure-and-a-half to fix.  Maybe I'll post the picture of the stack of color-coded highlighted pages of code that it took to finally figure out what they were doing with the template.  But... anyway... I got the new template up. (Read more)

To pay the bills, I'm a web designer, and one of the biggest problems I run into is people who think that websites magically get filled with content.

Most prospective clients think that all they have to do is hire somebody to build their website (somebody who knows nothing about them or their business) and somehow, magically, POOF! that stranger will fill their entire site with pages and pages of content that tells everything about them, in just exactly the way they want it told... all without any input from the prospective client, and all without paying any money for it.  **sigh**  It's one of the most frustrating parts of the business.  I tell my clients: "I know nothing about you, nor do I know anything about your business.  How in the world do you except me to write the content for your website?"

So, faced with my own issues of needing to put together a whole section of content for my Literary Midwifery business that I intend to fire-up in the near future, I'll tell you the process I'm going through.

1) Search the web (google, yahoo, and/or other search engines of your choice) for existing businesses similar to yours.  Find 6-10 that are as similar as you can get.

2) For all of these sites, print off copies of their websites.  Print off "Services", "Fees", "About Us", and all their other major pages... don't worry about blogs and stuff like that.

3) Read through the stack of printed web pages, and with a bright-colored pen, highlight the sentences/ paragraphs/ sections that ring true to your business and your imagined website.  Don't think too much, if something catches you eye, highlight it. (Read more)