Saturday, February 26, 2011

Catching Up!

Long time no post! Not much has happened in the WebWeaver world recently but I have a couple of possibilities looming on the horizon. One is to work for an HOA as their web manager, to update their site on a regular basis through a CMS. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one! I'm also working hard on the new salon & spa site. I've been getting stylist bios bit by bit and am almost ready to publish! (I have a home page up but only with "Under Construction" on it.)

I took a Dreamweaver CS5 course at the end of last year but am no closer to using it on a regular basis. It's like Photoshop - very complex. I was able to get my hands on CS5 versions of Adobe so have that learning curve, as well. Not enough time in the day to learn all I need to!

I'm now on Twitter for my pet sitting business and have quoted a large horse farm for care.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Late 2010 Update

Wow, almost 3 months have gone by without a post...I don't think anyone officially follows me yet, so I'm not motivated to post more often.

I obtained a new client, a salon and spa located in Tumwater, WA, and will be ramping up their site after the holidays. They've been busy getting their business opened and staffed plus just hosted an open house. I'm waiting for more hard copy from them - stylists' biographies, product info, etc. Their landlord, a gourmet kitchen supply business, is also interested in having their web site updated/revamped.

I also submitted a proposal this fall to the HOA I've been managing for over 5 years - voluntarily. The costs of software/hardware upgrades, training, etc. plus increase in the actual site size to 15 pages has made this more of a costly venture for me. My proposal will cover my expenses - I'm not making a profit. I really enjoy doing this site, though, so still wanted to be involved.

I've decided the time is just about over to offer any new customers coming on board a great "deal". I'll be starting a "real" job at the end of January plus my pet sitting business is going pretty well. I have the latest amd greatest tools to work with: Adobe CS5, a new iMac and the latest Windows Office for Mac 2011. Getting up to speed on this software is going to take a lot of time, money and skill. We'll have to see...

I'm looking forward to upgrading a room in our house to a new home office. It was originally an office until the grandkids came along. We have moved the kids to another room and will redo an upstairs bedroom for their parents and/or guests, so I'll get my office back!

Looking forward to good things for 2011!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

September Musings...

I need to sit my butt down and reach out in a new direction. Not sure which way to go! I signed up for a trial at lynda.com for further training and will likely continue with their monthly plan and see what interests me. I'd like to become more proficient with Wordpress.org - the self-hosted version of their software - and I've purchased an additional domain name and web space to give it a go. (I have had a potential client show some interest.) The plus to using Wordpress as a CMS, once I get someone set up, they can manage their own site.

The HOA site continues to be popular and more and more people are accessing it. I added a couple new pages including one with links to document archives.

I plan to update the HVAC site this month with some new products, energy tips and photos I took at the brick and mortar location earlier this summer.

Made a few minor formatting changes to the pet sitting site.

I'm getting a new computer! My older Mac was starting to deteriorate so I sent it in for recycling and Apple returned a gift card towards new product at their store. I wasted no time ordering a new system (refurbished at 25% off) and threw in their new Magic Trackpad, as well. It should arrive this week so once it's set up I'll be going great guns again!

Someone give me a project! Please!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Mid-Summer Update

After a vacation last month and some busy times over the July 4th holiday, I'm ready to jump back in and get to work!

I have made a minor site update to the HOA presence: I had been having problems with the color scheme looking good over all the browsers but I finally came up with a combination that is sufficient...for now. I added new navigation buttons plus the usual info and photo updates. I plan to add a new page to highlight the Parks & Recreation Committee, formed last winter. They have been making some great progress in improving the community and I want to make sure they are presented in a good light.

During my vacation last month I visited my HVAC client in Michigan. They are pleased with the web site and have a new line of product that I will be adding to their listing soon. They are located in Michigan and the economy has been hard on them there. However, business has picked back up this summer. I was able to take a few photographs and there were several customers in their shop during my visit.

I had hoped to do some major marketing of CreatureCare during a local pet event but the day before we had to put our old dog, 17, to sleep. I was in no shape to meet & greet! I am disappointed but continue to pass out business cards and make contacts when I can. I plan to run an ad in a local, free pet-related guide that is published every other month. I have until August to come up with something. I also plan to visit some pet-related businesses again to leave cards and my new brochures.

I also continue to hand out business cards to prospective clients of WebWeaver. I'm competing with folks who know enough about computers to try their hand at some of the "build-your-own" sites like Intuit. One business I had been courting for several months decided to go this way and it shows. Because this business is also a personal interest of mine I'm very motivated that they succeed. The site they created has no provision for online shopping and I think they are doing themselves and their customers a disservice by not offering this.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Update 5/20/2010

I'm still toying with the WebWeaver site. I'm having difficulty getting color matching consistency across my web authoring program and all the browsers. (I'll be adding testing in Chrome and Opera soon.) What looks like purple in one turns out beige in another. And this even when using web-safe colors and RGB codes! I'm still trying to find a way to spruce up the text under the page heading. I played with some Javascript and Flash but don't know enough about either to make it look better than very amateurish or downright tacky. I'm not a fan of either one, actually, since they don't play nice across browsers and slow down page loads.

I bought some new software called "FontTwister" that makes almost endless deisgns and possibilities for fonts. Getting used to it and playing with it. Added a simple design to the HOA site.

I may be going back to work in the nursing field soon but part time. I found something that appears to pay well, offers flexibility and high tech. I'm hoping one endeavor doesn't interfere with the other but it might give my life some financial stability until my pet sitting and/or web design gets busier.

So far, so good with the hardware site. An updated business map appeared in Google this week after verification. Hope to visit the client next month to acquire more info for the site such as employee profiles, photos and updated product information.

I got some good marketing tips from my daughter, the sales & marketing "guru". Plan to get out there on craigslist very soon. Also plan to canvass businesses such as physician offices, HOAs, churches, etc. online. If they don't have a web site or what they have needs improvement I'll offer my services.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Some Significant Progress....

Last week I finally completed my WebWeaver site! http://www.webdesignww.com It's out there. However, I still have tweaking to do. The colors look awful on my Mac but good on my PC, especially a "weave" graphic I found to use as a content divider on each page. I matched colors in my logo to the graphic's colors in Photoshop but they are a far cry from anything resembling each other. My plan is to make the "weave" graphic a totally different color altogether. I also think the site lacks "pizazz". It's supposed to represent my abilities so this site really has to "pop"! I'm not a fan of web multimedia, Flash, etc. but I will continue to evolve the site as I continue to learn!

Last weekend also marked the completion of the HVAC site: http://www.hmdhvac.com The clients are pleased so far but will spend more time perusing all the product .pdfs, etc. and get back to me with any changes or additions. My goal was to make this site look "industrial" and have it very easy to navigate for end-users that are not technically savvy. I also made a point of trying to keep the .pdf files small so download times were quick. Spent some time submitting the site manually to Google and Yahoo. Also got a good analysis of the site from W3C.org.

A member of our HOA scanned a map of the community and thinks it would be good on the web site. I agree, but the map is of poor graphic quality so I am trying to get my hands on a better version, yet not too large a file. I'll be working on making either the scanned map or a better version available on the HOA website.

I'm ready for a (or some) new projects! Plan to advertise on craigslist this week.

Friday, April 30, 2010

WebWeaver End-of-Month Update

I finished the HOA web site last week and it went live. Everything worked and the site seemed to be well-received. I had to make a few changes in dates and documents that I didn't have the latest info/version but, other than that, it's good. Of course, I'm always tweaking here and there. I'm still not convinced I like the current background.

The HVAC site has come along tremendously. I am working now on the product listing to link to all the spec .pdfs. I reduced the DIY Guide from over40 megs to around 6 without degrading the quality too much. The site under construction is on the web server and I notified the client but he's not getting my emails so I'm investigating as to why. I hope to have the product listings finished this coming week so the site might be ready a week from now. I really hope so. I think my client is ready for it to be done.

Pet sitting site is status quo. I plan to contact a couple of local fellow pet service advertisers on craigslist to see about trading links. I could use more pet sitting business since some clients have moved out of the area and a couple other pets I used to watch have expired.

FreeUssery site is going well. No problems. However, I'm still looking for a unique hit counter that's appropriate in looks for the page and uses the least amount of obnoxious advertising. Might have to spend a little money to find it.