SweetBooks WordPress Website

You may think that because I’m a web developer and programmer that I have tons of money to spend on the design of my own websites. Yes, go ahead, think that. However, like many of you, this is not the case. I programmed SweetBooks to “Manage Your Business on Your Website” and now I’d like to start selling it to the public. But I don’t have a lot of extra cash floating around my house to pay for a customized design as much as I’d like to do that. I learned a long time ago that I’m a skilled programmer, not a designer (A man’s got to know his limitations!).

SweetBooks Support Forum

So I decided to find a premium WordPress template and then adapt it to my own needs. For SweetBooks I’m using the Genesis framework with their child theme: Delicious. I have modified it, changed some colors, added some buttons, etc., but their basic framework and design is there which not only saved me lots of money, but also lots of time. WordPress is great. I also needed a store. There’s an ecommerce plugin for that. And I wanted a forum. The same people who programmed WordPress have also programmed BBpress. This site goes beyond the scope of my $499.00 WordPress website, but using WordPress, the ecommerce plugin and BBpress allows me (and you if you want), to roll out a sophisticated web site in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable amount of money.

She also wants to have control over what people see if they search her name on the internet. Here’s a nice little test: search your name and/or company in Google or any major search engine. Do you like what comes up? If so, you’re good. If not, a website that you have control over is a great answer.

This site will be launching in the next week or so…..

The Old Morris & Giacinti Website

Morris & Giacinti LLP had a one page website that needed to be updated. Attorneys Suzanne and Nicole wanted something that they could update themselves, something they could blog with and something good for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). They didn’t have a lot of money to spend. WordPress was a perfect fit.

The Artisteer templates didn’t fit what they wanted, but they could not afford custom design and customized implementation of that design into WordPress.

The New Morris & Giacinti WordPress Website

One of the things that I love about WordPress is its versatility. While reading one of my trade magazines I came across a WordPress theme that I thought would work for Morris & Giacinti. There are literally thousands and thousands of WordPress themes out there. Some are free, some you have to pay for. This theme cost about a hundred dollars.

Once the theme was installed I tweaked it to Suzanne’s and Nicole’s specifications: added a new header with image logo searchable by search engines, new image heading on home page, dual sidebars (one for regular pages one for their blog) along with CSS changes throughout (this affects letter-spacing, font-colors, etc).

The result is a clean, professional looking website. WordPress comes through again.

BNI Synergy Network New WordPress Website

BNI needed a new website and needed it quickly and at minimal expense. As with all the sites listed here, Artisteer made website building process quick and efficient.

The new site can handle as many pages as they want, can be updated themselves, is good for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and if they get tired of this look they find free themes or pay for themes if they wish.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money for a great website. Contact me (Glen) at Sweet Thursday Web Development if you have any questions (619.303.3796).

Great Hands 4 U Old Website

David Neff is a massage therapist. He’s had his site, GreatHands4U.com for quite awhile. It was built with tables and the design of the site was outdated. However, like a lot of people in this economy David didn’t have a lot to spend. Once again Artisteer, WordPress and Sweet Thursday Web Development make the perfect solution.

Great Hands 4 U New Website

David’s old design was revamped quickly and efficiently with Artisteer, but more important than that, the underlying code is suitable for search engines and if David wants to add his own pages or blog consistently, WordPress will automatically add the appropriate tags for search engines or if David wants he can add his own customized meta tags.

The site incorporates WordPress plugins for: SEO, Twitter, Google Sitemap, Spam and Forms. Another great site for a very reasonable price.

There are times when you need to pay a fair amount of money for a web site. Maybe you own a large company, maybe you need highly customized design or programming or maybe you’re looking for an ecommerce website.

But there are times when you shouldn’t. Let’s face it, sometimes you just can’t spend the money. Maybe you’re a struggling small business, maybe it’s just a hobby web site or maybe it’s just not feasible for your budget.

That being the case, it’s still important to make sure that your site is easy to read, that it has good content and that search engines can find it. Enter WordPress, Artisteer and Sweet Thursday Web Development’s One-Day Websites.

WordPress is opensource. It’s free. Most hosting companies have “Fantastico” or something similar in their control panel that allows for one-click install. There are also lots of free WordPress Themes out there and many that you can pay for.

Artisteer is a collaborative program that generates web site designs in the form of suggestions and then allows the user to change any aspect of the design he or she wants. Once completed the design can be exported as a WordPress Theme.

This reduces design time and programming time considerably and gives you a customized, good-looking, search friendly site at a fraction of the cost of higher end sites without sacrificing quality.

Along the way you and I will collaborate on your design, I’ll teach you how to use WordPress ( which boasts a very intuitive administrative area ), set WordPress up with some important plugins, set up your emails, and make any programming and CSS tweaks necessary that Artisteer missed.

We’ll do all this in one day and you’ll have high quality, great-looking website.  Sweet!