Reason 8: Branding, Creativity, and Freedom to Fly

I get asked a lot about how I can possibly make a living teaching website and blog skills when there are so many free website templates and site-builders out there already. My answer is simple: people come to me when they’re tired of bumping into the limitations that both website templates and site-builders have. They’re ready to make their sites work for them, instead of the other way around.

I remember when I learned to ride a two-wheeled bicycle. My Dad bought a bike with smaller wheels, and put training wheels on it. (This was before we knew we should wear helmets, but thankfully all I ever got were skinned knees.) I rode up and down the sidewalk, back and forth, back and forth. After a while I thought I was ready to have the training wheels taken off. Dad ran alongside me and steadied me while I got that wobbly front wheel under control. After a few sideways landings (thank goodness for lawns!) I took off and pedaled as fast as I could until Dad called me back. It was incredible! I felt like I was flying.

Pretty soon I was doing circles and figure-eights in the street, going fast, going slow, even racing with the other kids in the neighborhood. It’s a good thing I liked riding my bike because I rode it to piano lessons, to my first job at the grocery store, and even to driver’s education classes during the summer after my sophomore year in high school. I rode it to go shopping as a teenager, and many years later, I rode it for recreation and fitness. (McAlister and I even rode bikes on our first few dates.)

The point is, once I got the hang of riding with training wheels, I insisted on having them taken off so I could ride my bike without them. I wanted to feel grown up and free. As silly as the comparison may seem, being able to maneuver your own websites and blogs gives you that same sense of freedom and control. And the people who come to me are usually the ones who want a sense of empowerment, freedom, and control. They understand the importance of standing out, of being unique among the millions of websites already online.

There’s another really, really important aspect to consider about your sites, and that is your brand. Usually by the time entrepreneurs, virtual assistants, and small business owners come to work with me, they’ve got a logo and color scheme that they want applied to their sites. That’s the difference between having a site that looks like the other 662 sites using your website template, and having a site that is truly unique and reflects your brand choices. Plus with a site you’ve built or had built, you have the flexibility to do creative things with it, such as audio, video, and other interactive features.

A site with a good design gives you so many opportunities to attract visitors by continually expanding and enhancing it with good content. In my website/blog training program, we’ll talk about both design and content to produce sites that really work for your business.

Tomorrow: Reason 7 – Behind-the-Scenes Knowledge to Really Enhance Your Site

Toolie®

Reason 9: Seizing Opportunities as They Come Along

If you’ve spent any time reading my emails or participating in my webinars, you know that I emphasize how fast the Internet moves, and how important it is for you to be ready to seize opportunities as they come along. Being able to manage an existing website is great; being able to create one or more pages or even a whole site when you need it is even better.

A couple of years ago (before I really knew what direction my business should take), a colleague of mine from the National Speakers Association invited me to deliver a teleseminar as part of another association’s series. I immediately agreed to participate, and we worked out a series of interview questions. I had one problem though; I didn’t have a website for this particular area of expertise. None of my existing sites were really suitable. I was going to need a website, and fast!

Once I had the teleseminar content worked out, I devised a small website to accompany that content. I didn’t have a product to sell, so a salesletter wasn’t going to work. What I planned to do was provide a special page of resources connected to that content for the teleseminar attendees. I needed a multi-page website that listed my services and pointed to the websites I DID have. The resulting site became www.Tooliedotter.com.

Is it an impressive site? No, definitely not my finest work — in fact, I debated about showing it to you at all. Did the site provide the intended information? YES, it did, including the hidden resources page. The site also included links to 2 online demos I already had, an opt-in box for my webinars, a working contact form for future inquiries, and my Live Chat button in case someone wanted questions answered real-time. The site provided evidence that I had consulting expertise, and provided a destination for consulting inquiries.

How long did I spend on this website? Less than eight (8) hours: in fact, I put it up overnight. It has my colors, my fonts, and a simple design I can expand and update in the future. Did I get visitors to my website as a result of the teleseminar? You bet. Did I get business from it? Indirectly, yes, through my webinars and coaching. Am I going to leave the site like it is now? NO! I’ll be revamping it when the time is right. The important thing is that I was able to produce the site when I needed it.

Most of you won’t need to create an entire site to seize an opportunity for exposure and future business. But wouldn’t be great if you could put up a dedicated web page specifically for an opportunity for acquire new clients? With a little HTML and CSS knowledge, you can do exactly that, any time of the day or night. My new training product/coaching program/membership site will show you how.

Tomorrow: Reason 8 – Branding and Creativity Applied Online

Toolie®

This IS the year you can learn to manage your websites and blogs yourselves. To give you a little food for thought, I’ve devised my “Top Ten Reasons to Manage Your Own Websites and Blogs.” I’ll reveal them one day at a time, leading up to the launch of the product I’ve created that can help you learn to do exactly that! I’ll keep these emails focused and to the point, but you’re not going to want to miss any of them!

I decided to set these reasons up in an order going from “somewhat esoteric” to “down to brass tacks,” so if this first one doesn’t impress you, stick around. I’ve got many more concrete reasons (and some true stories) why THIS is the year to finally learn how to manage your own websites and blogs.

Reason 10: It’s One Less Thing to Be Afraid Of…

In 1991, I was laid off from a job in a new career with only 18 months’ experience. I was devastated emotionally, psychologically, and financially. My marriage had ended just 2 years before and I was getting back on my feet from that when I lost my job. McAlister and I had been together only a few months when this happened, and after seeing me sob and moan day after day, he finally turned to me, exasperated, and said, “You’re just out of a job, you’re not out of talent.” He was right, of course. I was letting my fear paralyze my future.

When I came out the other side of that experience (still not understanding why I was meant to endure it), I finally came to the conclusion that having been through it, I was in a position to no longer be afraid of difficult economic times in the future. I wasn’t wishing difficulties on myself or anyone else, but I didn’t have to be afraid of them because I now knew what to do.

There are a lot of frightened people in a similar situation right now, especially entrepreneurs. We often live “promotion to promotion” anyway (instead of paycheck to paycheck), and if we had staff, we might have had to let them go. Now we have to do some of that work ourselves, and much of it involves wrangling our websites and blogs to best effect.

Our websites and blogs are our lifelines to future income. Without a solid understanding and skills to operate them, we’re forever stymied and frustrated because we let our fear of web technology govern our actions. The good news is that having an effective website doesn’t mean you have to learn everything there is to know about HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). There is a reasonable subset of information that will get you about 80% of the way, and the rest you can learn only IF and WHEN you need it.

It’s your chance for a sense of empowerment, of having one less thing to be afraid of…! And I’ll be here to show you want you need to learn to make it work.

Tomorrow: Reason 9 – Seizing Opportunities When They Come Along

Toolie®

I’ve just returned from a trip to New Orleans where I spoke to a group of professional speakers, and from Chicago, where I both visited family and did some business research. In the next few weeks I’ll be busy completing my much-anticipated “Fix My Website, Please!” Course, so I will be talking to you about that soon.

One of my clients emailed me this YouTube video, and I thought it so much supported the ideals behind this blog that I had to share it with you. Entrepreneurs are really the unsung heroes of the nation’s economy. We are in the best possible position to move things along and to help the recovery happen faster.

But it’s not easy! I have my own moments of doubt, but when I get to my desk and find emails from people I can help, that changes everything. So here’s to my clients, past, present, and future. Hang in there!

Now go forth and do tech!

Toolie®

I have taught my website class for over a year now, and I get more questions about graphics and images than just about anything else. I am planning on doing a webinar or two about website and blog graphics, but rather than telling YOU what I think you want to know, please tell ME EXACTLY what you want to know! I’ve set up a website where you can ask up to 3 questions about images, graphics, and logos for both websites and blogs:

http://www.AskToolie.com

Here are some things you might want to know, but I need you to confirm that!

• Where can I find good blog templates?
• How do I know I have a good blog template?
• Can I change the header graphic on my blog?
• Should I have photos on my website? Should they be MY photos or someone else’s?
• Where can I get good photos without paying a lot of money?
• Are there restrictions on how I use stock photos?
• Do I have to buy Photoshop? Is there anything else I can use?

…and many more possible questions!

Go to http://www.AskToolie.com and type in your 3 questions. I’ll add you to the webinar announcement list so that you know when the web graphics webinar or webinars are happening.

Thanks for your help!

Toolie®

Having a website that draws in customers means more sales for you. Knowing how to change keywords whenever you want means that you don’t have to wait for your web designer to respond. In the meantime, the search engines are taking new customers to someone else’s website! Instead you could act now to update your site, attract the search traffic, and improve your website’s ability to make you money.

In a little over 24 hours, savvy entrepreneurs are going to begin learning how to take control of two of the most important elements of their business: their websites and blogs. No longer held hostage by their web maintenance person, they’re going to know how to add pages, update the appearance, and add content whenever they want or need to.

http://www.pcpowertips.com/webclass

When a new product is ready, your website or blog can have a new page for it in minutes. When you want to add a new bonus for visitors who opt-in to your mailing list, YOU can make the change and make your new prospects happy.

Knowing how to manage a website isn’t just a smart thing to learn, it’s also a lot of fun! With a few simple steps you can add graphics and photos that give your site a polished look without a lot of work or expense. You could add audio and video to make your site personable and friendly. The possiblities are limited only by your knowledge, and right now you have a chance to increase that knowledge.

http://www.pcpowertips.com/webclass

The PC Power Tips: Create Your Own Website Course is your chance to make your websites and blogs work FOR you and make you money. In less than 30 days you’ll have the confidence and the skills you want to manage your existing websites and blogs, and create or customize new ones.

We use a simple techniques to create sites, and low-cost or free tools to create the pages. You don’t have to spend $600 on Dreamweaver to participate in the class! There are plenty of great, inexpensive programs that will do the job and get your site going in hours or days, instead of weeks or months. Many of the programs I recommend have 30-day free trial periods, so your site could be done before you even have to pay for the software. How cool is that??!!

Good economic times come and go, but the one common denominator in your business is YOU. Are YOU going to invest in yourself so that your business grows! YES! This is the right time to do exactly that. To make it a no-brainer decision, I have kept the course price as low as possible. You can read all about that on this page:

http://www.pcpowertips.com/webclass

Last night President Obama encouraged us to invest in our own education: “And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training.” I’m here to offer you 30 days of “education” that will improve your business too.

Check it out at http://www.pcpowertips.com/webclass.
Toolie®

In just a few hours (6 pm Pacific/9 pm Eastern), we’ll have the second of two Free Preview Webinars for the PC Power Tips: Create Your Own Website Course that starts this Thursday, February 26th.

In tonight’s webinar entitled “Fix My Website, Please!” we’ll look at the website woes and blog glitches of those attending the class. It’s your best chance to get expert advice for your sites and resolve the things that are bothering you about them.

Just visit http://snipurl.com/fmwppreview to sign up, then be sure to ALSO register with GoToWebinar by clicking the registration link in the email you receive from me. GoToWebinar will send you an individual login link so you can join us tonight at 6 pm Pacific/9 pm Eastern time.

See you tonight!

Toolie®

Monday night’s preview webinar called “Plan My Website Strategy Session” was full of great questions and interaction. The online-viewing webinar recording is now ready — I’ll have the downloadable version sometime Thursday.

View the Online Recording

Ever seen a website or blog feature that you liked but didn’t know how to get it onto your site? Next Monday, we’re going to get into details of how you can do exactly that. If you signed up for the webinar on Feb 16th, you already have the GoToWebinar registration link for Monday Feb 23rd’s webinar. If not, sign up here to get the GoToWebinar link:

http://www.snipurl.com/fmwppreview

See you on Monday!

Toolie

Next Monday Night, February 16th at 6 pm Pacific/9 pm Eastern, we’ll
have a “Plan My Website Strategy Session” for 90 minutes. This is a
free webinar where I’ll first talk about how to plan an effective
website, and then we’ll for an on-the-spot brainstorming session for
attendees who request one. If you’re thinking about making changes to
your website, or you want to start an articles directory, or you want
to add a blog to your business, this is the session to attend.

The following Monday Night, February 23rd at 6 pm Pacific/9 pm
Eastern, we’ll have a “Fix My Website, Please!” session where you can
bring your website questions and get them answered. If you have a
broken page or a fuzzy photo, or you need to update your website’s
menu, or you want to change the color scheme on a blog or website,
we’ll dig into the pages and figure out how to make them work.

It’s easy to sign up for one or both webinars: just visit
http://www.fixmywebsiteplease.com/webclassfreepreview.html, and you’ll
immediately receive the GoToWebinar invitation links. Just click on
the links to register for one or both webinars.

Be sure to read all about my PC Power Tips: Create Your Own Website
Course at http://www.pcpowertips.com/webclass. Learning how to create
and manage a website that you truly understand does NOT have to be
expensive! Have the website you want the way YOU want it.

I’ll see you next Monday night!

Toolie®

I can’t believe how quickly the last month has gone; I’ve been coaching my clients on creating new websites and updating existing sites. As business owners are looking for ways to trim their costs, they’re realizing that it’s time to dig in and really learn how to manage their websites.

Once you get a handle on how websites work behind the scenes, a lot of things become possible: being able to update your site whenever you want; being creative with the look and feel; adding audio and video to make your site more engaging and personal. It’s really a lot of fun. Best of all, you’re not stuck waiting on someone else to deliver when you most need the website to represent you well.

My class is about website strategy as well as the nitty-gritty of websites. We learn how to create sites that are easy to maintain, look good, and are friendly to the search engines too so you can make money from them. You can read all about the class at http://www.pcpowertips.com/webclass. I’ve put a no-brainer price of $249 on it, but don’t let the price fool you — it’s PACKED with information and empowerment.

I’ll have more to say about the course in the next few days.

Toolie®