Background Information
I initially planned to outsource my website development, as it was totally out of my skill set and experience. After lots of consideration, advice, quotes and offers of support, I decided to develop my own website. On reflection, this has been a really brave but wise decision and I am proud of what I have achieved (with lots of support).
This has been a steep learning curve and would not have been possible without some amazing input from Digital Durham. A special shout out to James Miller, my Digital Durham advisor. His support, knowledge, skills and endless patience has been incredible.
I registered my domain name with Go Daddy and have used Word Press for the website. A point to note. I avoided using the word psychology in my domain name. I have become increasingly aware that psychology is a word that is easy to mistype or misspell.
January 2023
Photographs
When planning my website development, I knew I needed some good quality images. In January I booked a photo shoot with the amazing Alice Slee.
She was so lovely, professional and really put me at ease. I am delighted with the photographs and hope that when you see the website, you will all agree that Alice did a great job.
Alice helped me to think about the props to represent my brand. The observant among you will notice my pen, the colour of my bobble hat, blouse and the light house in the background.
HEX code and Brand Colour
I am going to be totally honest. I have learnt a whole new vocabulary since starting my journey as a small business owner. SIC codes, SME, HEX codes, CRM, SEO… Perhaps, one day I will write a blog about all of the vocabulary related to being a small business owner.
I spent far too many hours thinking about my brand colours. My partner and family were getting bored with me discussing which shade of blue I should use.
In the end, Alice Slee helped me pick the HEX code. A HEX code is a code consisting of six numbers and letters used to represent colours on computers and the internet. Mine is#0034cd, it matches the colour in my blue and white blouse. To be fair, it is one of my favourite colours.
Logo
January was a busy month. Along with photos and brand colour, I also decided upon my logo. I had the support from the wonderful Kathy Radue Virtual Assistant. She patiently talked me through how to use Canva. I do recommend you consider paying for Canva pro, it has so many useful features. Kathy, took my ideas for the logo and brought them to life.
February 2023
Life threw me a curve ball this month and I had an unplanned stay in hospital. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a fabulous distraction to spend time thinking about my website content. I worked a lot on my copy and spent time thinking about key words, which will help with my Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). I also spent time pulling together testimonials. These are important in a website as they provide credibility to potential visitors. Collecting feedback from clients will be ongoing and essential as this will allow me to showcase positive comments from previous clients. How many of us go straight to the review section when we are considering buying something? I certainly do.
March 2023
This month it really feels like the website is taking shape. With James’ support I have been working on the footer and home page. I have been creating external navigation links on my About me page, to professional bodies that I am member of. James taught me about the importance of ensuring that the links open in a new tab, thus avoiding visitors leaving the website. Key learning points were that this helps to improve SEO and keep visitors on the website to ensure that they get a good understanding of my brand and products. The goal is that as people are exploring the website, they want to know more about the business and want me to help them find their purpose.
Call to Action and Buttons
During my journey of developing my website I have learnt how important a Call To Action (CTA) is. A CTA encourages visitors to explore different parts of the website and engage with services. When you are exploring my website, look out for my CTA; I hope you will click on the button to book a free connection call. You will see that all of the buttons and links work on the site. I have experienced the dreaded “404 Not Found” error message. Lessons learnt were to check URL was correct and that pages on Word Press were published.
Another task was to set up reCAPTCHA, this helps with website security and helps to distinguish between human users and bots.
April 2023
This month I set up a Google Analytics and Google Console accounts and submitted the website to Google. This helps website owners to track and analyse website traffic and user data.
Another job this month was to add in a testimonials plugin. I added Strong Testimonials to my Word Press. It allows me to easily add and manage customer testimonials on my website.
I have also been recording a video for my home page. I was advised to get it around 60 seconds which I found tough, I guess I like to talk. Once I had finalised my script, I rehearsed, rehearsed some more. They do say practice makes perfect. I recorded my video on Canva, Pascale Fintoni advised me that this would give the video a professional look. My next job was to create a Max Purpose youtube channel. This was pretty straight forward, youtube gives you the option to customise the channel name and handle. My final step was to upload the introduction video to youtube and add the link to the Word Press page. If you have 60 seconds to spare take a look at the video.
By the end of this month, I started to share the website with trusted friends, family and colleagues. This was really helpful as they were able to check all of the links work and point out any errors or typos. Proof reading is really tricky when you have been working on something and it is great to get a fresh pair of eyes.
May 2023
In early May, James supported me to set up a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. A CRM is a software tool that helps businesses to manage customer relationships, interactions and data effectively. I am using HubSpot and am finding it pretty straight forward to use. James also supported me to add a mail list subscription link to the website. One lesson I have learnt is to remind clients to add my e mail address to their address book. This seems to help stop things going into junk mail.
The website went live this month. I realise that it will always be a work in progress, just like me. Do take a look at the website and drop me an e mail if you want to book a connection call.
A final word and thank you. Developing the website has taken a lot of time and effort but I am pleased that I have done it. A special thanks to James Miller for all of his support, guidance and patience. I also want to say a big thanks to my amazing Uncle Professor Peter Falvey for his support.
Thanks for taking the time to read my first blog.