RSSWhy I Redesigned This Site Myself
By
admin |
June 29th, 2008 |
Category:
Blogging |
Why I Redesigned This Site Myself for Free
Often times when blogs are redesigned, the owner sends out a message announcing the redesign. The email tells which company redesigned their site, linking to the designers’ websites so you can check out their designs and prices. I am not going to link you to my designer’s site, because it was ME!
Please understand that my most recent coding experience was in 1997 (yes, 11 years ago in the days of HTML 4), when style sheets (CSS) had just barely come out and few people were using them! Needless to say, my knowledge was pretty outdated. Never having used Wordpress before, I was COMPLETELY afraid of messing up everything, and seriously contemplated paying someone to migrate my blog (prices range from $30-$300) and redesign the site for me (ranging $150-$1500, depending on how customized the design is).
BUT…
Then I overcame my fear! I used the incredible FREE resources in the blogworld to learn how to migrate my site from Blogger to Wordpress and set it up on my custom domain, HomemakerBarbi.com. I had a lot of help from Court’s Internet Marketing School (Court’s a genius).
I designed the entire site myself (for FREE) with only the help of my husband a few times when I really got stuck on something. He didn’t know CSS or XHTML either, and we Googled for our answers and problem-solved together!
There is nothing wrong with paying a company to migrate or redesign your site for you, so please don’t misunderstand me. The point for me was that I was letting fear get in the way of doing something I knew I could learn if I just tried.
Creating this new site was not easy, and it took a lot of hard work and learning. However, it was NOT as hard as I had made it in my mind. My fear was my biggest obstacle to overcome, not my lack of knowledge. Now, when I look at this site, I feel proud of what I created! And I learned a valuable lesson:
Don’t let fear hold you back from doing what you really want.
This delayed website redesign was my fear of the unknown. In that way, it was no different from being afraid to switch careers, or transition to the new role of parent, or quit your job to start your own business. Whatever your fear is that is holding you back from accomplishing your dreams, push it aside. You run your life, don’t let it run you!
Barbi,
You did a great job. I have hired someone, I am so excited. I saw the first draft last night. What I found is there are some designers out there just starting out that their work is amazing. I am all for supporting stay at home moms struggling to make it. I found one I thought was extremely talented and needed the business.
You should be so proud! I bought my own domain too, I feel more free now as well!
Great job!! I checked it out last night for the first time.
This morning I got you all changed around on my “blog list”. Thanks for encouraging the rest of us to do what “scares us”.
Great new look. I just changed sites myself- you were on the list to get an email!
@Kathy: Great job on taking the big step. You’ll be so happy with the finished product!
@Angie: Thanks for the link updating and you’re welcome for the encouragement. We only go around once in this life, and we have to make the most of it! Keep up the good work on your blog!
@Kelly: Your relaunch is going great!
Homemaker Barbi