Most people (outside of the design industry) don’t know there is a difference between these 3 terms and that’s 100% understandable. If that’s you, it’s unlikely you’ve ever had to ponder the meaning behind any of those things. You likely use them in terms of what brands you like, such as Starbucks or Old Navy.

In terms of services rendered however, Branding, Logo and Design have very different meanings for those of us doing the creative work and I’ll explain it in regular ‘ol words so you don’t get hung up on industry jargon or terminology that confuses you further.

It’s a hard thing to decide on, right? Especially if you’re not in this design/website world & don’t know the terminology or what any of it actually means.

Maybe Squarespace is a platform that you’ve never even heard of.

Maybe you have heard of it but know it’s a website thing and just blew it off because you don’t know anything about websites & assumed those ads aren’t meant for people like you.

Maybe you’ve talked to designers before about about building a website & they’re using terminology you don’t know or understand. Do you find yourself nodding along, but thinking something like ‘I don’t know what any of this really means; how does this apply to me?’

Or ‘What is hosting & a domain?’

Or ‘What do you mean I’ll be able to edit my own website when you’re done with the design stuff? That sounds scary & overwhelming!’

In the beginning of a website project I always list the wonderful reasons why I use Squarespace for my own website & for my clients as well, especially to the folks who aren’t up to date & don’t know what a “Square Space” is. 😉

The key here is, I try to explain all of this in layman’s terms of how it applies to YOU and what the value is for YOU or YOUR BUSINESS.

I admit it. I've never been a podcast listener, until 2018.

To the point that podcasts weren't even on my radar; like they didn't exist at all. When I'd hear something like, "subscribe to my podcast," I'd roll my eyes and think 'pshhh, like I need something else to keep up with.'

Turns out I was wrong. I started listening to one, and I loved it so much that I went looking for more to add to my library, and I loved those too, so I went looking for even more. Now I subscribe to 50+ different podcasts, and I listen to all of them fairly regularly, some more often than others.

There's nothing to "keep up with" as it turns out, these podcasts are a little like books; you can pick them up and stop whenever you want. They're always available whenever you have free time to listen and many of them are not chronological.

Today I'm listing my favorite business podcasts that every female entrepreneur (or small business owner) should be listening to + 8 new ones I’ve found since my original posting!

I totally get it. Most people don’t want to blog, don’t know how to “write” posts or don’t have a friggin’ clue what to write about.

Well, I’m afraid if you want to have any kind of online presence, you need to get over it. #sorrynotsorry

Keep reading, because I’m about to tell you everything I know about why blogging helps with your website SEO, from my own personal experience.

(HINT: blogging is a “thing” for a reason, and more than just so everyone has a place on the internet to voice their innermost thoughts. 😉)

Are you frustrated with uploading large images to your website (but didn’t know there was another way)?
‘I’m pulling out my hair over here!’ 🤬

Don’t know what to name your image files?
‘Is IMG_0321-edit1.jpg is wrong?’ 😨

Think it doesn’t matter what you name your files, or how large they are?
‘Yes, no one can see the file name anyway!’ 😏
(You’re wrong about that, BTdubbs.)

Optimizing images for Squarespace SEO purposes (and the web in general) isn’t actually hard or time consuming, so this’ll be quick, with lots of screenshots!

Have you’ve been wondering whether Squarespace is SEO friendly? I'm sharing best practices for how & where to use keywords for your Squarespace website's SEO. 

Search Engine Optimization is an incredibly expansive topic, so I'm breaking this up into more bite-sized pieces! 

Stay tuned, because I'm also covering these topics in later posts & additional content:

• A tutorial for optimizing images for websites

  • (smaller file sizes = faster load times)

• Which types of pages have big SEO opportunities

• Why Blogging is great for SEO

• Social Media & SEO (focusing on Pinterest)

• Helpful Tools & Resources

Truth? I'm not an SEO expert and don't claim to be one. That being said, when I first started my website back in 2015 (first of all I had no idea what SEO was or that I needed it in order to have a successful website), I couldn't afford to hire an SEO expert, so I learned everything I could about how to do it myself.

My efforts are paying off; Google has ranked me on the top of page 1 for several of my keywords. Now I'm sharing what I've learned with you!

You know the little chat icons you see in the bottom right hand corner of web apps like MailerLite, Dubsado, and so many others?

Have you ever wished that you could have something like that too, but can't afford the expense or just don't want to pay for it?

I've got you covered then, because I'm going to show you how to install the Facebook Messenger plugin on your Squarespace website!

Don't worry, it's actually really simple and can be done in just a few short minutes.

Entrepreneurs wear so many different hats, it can be utterly exhausting; even if the work itself is still rewarding. Okay, that was the bad news.

The good news is that today I'm sharing 5 habits that will help you work more efficiently and be more productive with your time. 

Life pulls us in all directions, doesn't it? It can be so unpredictable, especially for business owners & entrepreneurs. Anything we can do to make our business more predictable, for the people who invest their time in us, makes the experience more positive, right?

But I know blogging can be a time suck; I totally get it. Especially when you're first starting out.

To solve that problem, you can batch like-tasks (blogging & posting to social media, for example) & schedule ahead, so that throughout the days/weeks ahead, you don't have to think about it on the day-to-day. Who's got time to post live, anyway???

You've got enough on your plate already; don't add even more unnecessary stress to your day!

You probably have a vague idea of what type of design services you need, and maybe you even know who you want to work with. But maybe you have no idea how much (if any) work you’ll need to put in or how much it’d cost to hire the help.

That goes for pretty much anything in the service industry, right? But there’s Angie’s List & HomeAdvisor for those kinds of professionals. So where do you go to find out more about design services? (Please don’t say Fiverr or Upwork. 😄)

That being the case, whether you have/haven’t worked with a graphic designer before, I’d be willing to bet you’re not sure what to expect, especially in a remote work or freelance situation.

It can be scary to hand over your trust & money to a stranger you’ve never met in person & don’t know. Right? I totally get that!

Because I know that there are a lot of you out there who have no idea what to expect, I’m gonna share my process since basically it’s industry standard.

This legal stuff is pretty boring, so I'm going to make this as simple as I can so you don't fall asleep on me! 

I've gotten a lot of questions about who needs to be compliant, and while I don't have all the answers (I'm certainly not an attorney, so I'm not giving you legal advice here), I do have some helpful info, suggestions, and resources to share with you that will help you figure it out.

I've been a graphic designer since 2006. That's more than 10 years! This field is full of people who are both self-taught, and college educated; some who have the natural instincts and some who only know how to use the tech.

Because of the variety of designers out there, I see a lot of mistakes being made, either from a lack of innate skill or inexperience/knowledge.

But I'm definitely not here to bash anyone; just the opposite, actually. I'm here to help! 

So here are some branding no-no's I see a lot, and some suggestions on what to do instead, to make your brand even better.

If you suspect your current branding falls into this category & want to know how to fix it, I've also included a MINI BRANDING AUDIT DISCOUNT CODE for you! Just purchase through my shop & apply the code at checkout, then I'll take a look and provide some personalized feedback to help get you out of the design-gutter.

My own Free Resource Library has evolved a lot since I initially set it up. It was password protected for most of that time and I never really felt right about that. 

I don't know about you, but I like to see the resources before I decide to sign up & grab one; ya know? (Confession! I'm on SO MANY lists! 😂)

So I decided to open it up to everyone. That meant no more password!

But how do those freebies still work as opt-ins, if the page isn't password protected anymore?

It’s a valid question, to be sure.

I'll walk ya through how to set up your own Free Resource Library on Squarespace that will still work as opt-ins, but without the pesky password protected page.

A few years ago, Anna came to me & asked for help designing a logo for the band. I took on the project, feeling both happy & excited to help her.

The thing is, Souljam is a very talented jam band, and designing their logo meant designing a little outside of my comfort zone.

For those of you who don't know exactly what that means, think (or lookup) Grateful Dead, Phish, Widespread Panic, Allman Brothers and have a listen. The band members in this genre are typically free-spirited hippies, lovers of music, & super talented. They produce songs that are long & wandering to take advantage of every available second to show off their mad skills & just feel free while they play.

While I do love the Billy Breathes Phish album and I've been to see Widespread Panic live once with my husband, generally that style of music is not my jam. I can appreciate the talent it takes to play it, but I don't personally love that style of music. I find myself listening to a Widespread Panic song that's 10+ minutes long, wondering when the hell it will end, because I can't tell what the structure of the song is (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, etc.). 

So this project became a prime example of stepping into my client's shoes to get the design right. I knew enough about the style of music & what appeals to their listeners, to step in & give them a design that matched their musical souls.

The first organization tool I ever heard about was Asana, and while I like what Asana can do, the way it worked just didn't mesh with how my brain functions. And as we all know, if we don't like how something works then we're probably not going to use it.

I wanted a more visual way to organize things. Then I was introduced to Trello, but I wasn't really sure what to do with it, or how I could use it. I set it aside to come back to later, and for months I completely forgot it existed.

Then finally, I ran across a mention of it in Think Creative Collective's Facebook group, or maybe it was their blurb about their online course for Trello during their podcast. No, I'm not an affiliate, but that super cheap course was worth. every. penny (& probably more).

Once I dug in, I found all sorts of fun ways to use Trello both for business & for home, so today I'm sharing 7 ways you can use Trello too!

If you've been following along for the last several months, then you probably already know I use Dubsado for my business. In fact, I'm kind of obsessed with it!

Dubsado has an online scheduler now, but I still haven’t gotten around to setting it up and since it's not ready yet, I’m still using Acuity because it integrates well with Squarespace and it also has a lot of features, like the ability to take a payment when a client makes certain types of appointments.

Acuity has a free plan, but it allows limited customization among other limitations. At first that was fine, but eventually I wanted the features that the paid plans offer.

One of my goals for 2018 is to consistently plan & write several blog posts in advance and schedule them to post at regular times, so I stay ahead of the game and have more focused & consistent content for you.

So far I have to say, I've failed miserably! I've written 2 posts this year, including this one, and neither were written until the day I posted them. *sigh*

That's okay though.Shit happens and I'm rolling with it.

It's been a really tough & interesting few weeks for me and my husband. There's been some good and bad, and because I'm a more private person I had no intention (zero) of sharing any of it with you, until this morning when I sat down to write today's blog.

So I'm gonna get personal, and tell you what's going on. More importantly though, I'll also tell you what and how I'm finding the positive things in each situation. 

I love to read, and because I don't have much time for my favorite hobby, I also love to listen to audiobooks. Gotta get my fix in somehow!

I don't love listening to self-help/nonfiction though, or at least I used to find the idea abhorrent. The idea of listening to someone talk on and on about how to "up your game," or become "more focused," ...blah, blah, blah... could have easily been a form of punishment for me.

That is, until I read a couple of business books (of my own free will, I might add!) this past fall. (I got sucked in, okay?!) They opened my eyes to a whole new genre which I can actually tolerate, as it turns out, and some of which I really (REALLY) enjoyed reading/listening to.

So, as with most things I get excited about, I dove in head first and created a list of books I want to read in this genre. And since I went to all that effort, I figured I should share the wealth of knowledge with you too!

A few years ago my old laptop was running a little slower than I wanted, so I backed up everything onto an external hard drive, uninstalled & removed all my software, and wiped my computer. Started over, fresh.

It was a lot of work, but that made things so much better. I reinstalled the operating system, put most of my files and software back onto my computer, and I was ready to move on.

I opened my internet browser and realized I had never backed up my bookmarks!! Who would remember to do that? I hope you would, but for whatever reason, I didn't even think about it, even though I tediously went through the entire contents of my laptop to make sure I had everything else, including old emails.

I had a few years worth of bookmarks saved, before I wiped my computer. I frantically logged into my Firefox account, and then Chrome... but they weren't there. I hadn't turned on the native backup so they'd be stored in my account. CRAP.

Months later, after building up important bookmarks again (and this time they are backed up) that major loss of info from before led me to also put my bookmarks in a new location. One that I can access anywhere, any time, from any device.

That's why I chose to use Trello to save my browser bookmarks.

PLUS: grab a copy of my Bookmarks Trello Board, and add it to your own Trello account! Includes all the lists, cards, links, and more!