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WordPress Website Design: All-Natural Skincare Website for Julie Leischner

August 13, 2010 By admin

I am so behind on posts here! I have been a busy busy gal, so please pardon the mess of posts I’m about to publish.

Earlier this year, Julie Leischner, a L’Bri independent representative, asked me to help her create a fresh, clean website for her to share skincare tips and also promote her business. Since she’s all about the aloe, we went with fresh colors like blue and green.

Are you looking for a website redesign? Looking to launch a website or blog? Let’s talk! I’m offering $50 off any WordPress design service (complete site, not just modifications) until August 30. Send me an e-mail at amy@amykant-dot-com.

Filed Under: Web design, wordpress Tagged With: blog, design, julie leischner, l'bri, natural, skincare, website, wordpress

Inconsistency is hurting your social media presence

June 22, 2010 By admin

You listened to the social media gurus and marketing experts. You have a company blog, a Twitter account, a Facebook Community Page and a YouTube channel. Woohoo! Securing these accounts is just the beginning. If you’re not properly utilizing these channels, you could be doing more harm than good.

The key for success across all platforms is consistency. How can inconsistency hurt your brand?

When consistency is inconsistent – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are separate entities for a reason. Are you employing the same tactics on each of these sites? Lisa Barone of Small Business Trends hits the nail on the head, “Every social networking site is different and you need to create a different strategy for each site you decide to engage in — one that is customized to that site’s specific rules and code of conduct. Trying to run a one-size-fits-all approach will limit your ability to be successful anywhere.” This “consistency” can appear inconsistent because community members on different sites expect different interactions. You wouldn’t respond to a client’s voicemail message by sending a “snail mail” message, so don’t let your Twitter feed look like a carbon copy of your Facebook feed.
Blogging without purpose – Are your blog posts few and far between? Do you post four blogs in one day and then a week later, post three blogs on three different days? The most successful blogs are those that have new content on a consistent basis. Set attainable goals for your blog team. Blog posts don’t need to be 100% original content. Don’t be afraid to repurpose or aggregate content. When you have extra time, write a handful of posts so you always have some in your queue if you don’t have time to write fresh content on your scheduled posting days.
Presence without strategy – If your social media accounts are disjointed, your followers will be confused. What’s your message? What’s your goal? What’s your purpose? When you launch an ad campaign, are you flying blind or are you targeting a specific audience? Social media strategy should emulate your traditional marketing strategies. The only difference is your audience. Determine your goals and have a clear strategy.
Branding across platforms – Your branding should be consistent – don’t lose your corporate identity to fit in with the social media crowd. Your traditional marketing has a consistent image. While your Twitter theme should match your corporate image, it should also look like it belongs on Twitter. Don’t try to make it something it’s not. When your social media sites have a similar look and feel to your regular web site, you project a consistent brand that prospects and clients remember.

Image: DesignReviewer.com

Filed Under: Social Media, Techie Tagged With: blog, blogging, branding, consistency, facebook, inconsistency, platforms, purpose, Social Media, strategy, twitter, youtube

Where I’ve been…

February 2, 2010 By admin

This blog has been quiet for the past month, but I’ve been busy (which is always a good thing when you run your own business).

I’ve been busy working on WordPress sites for clients (stay tuned for reveals) and on a super secret crafty venture. I’m so excited about this new venture I could burst at the seams!

Things are also going great at Pink Ink Studios, where I design graphic resources for professional photographers. We have really ramped up the site this year, with awesome giveaways (um, Intuos 4 Wacom anyone!!!) and a stellar design team.

Here are some of my newest products (click to view):

Outside of all this, I’ve also made a commitment to be a healthier Amy Kant. As such, I’ve launched a new blog, Losing it without losing me. I haven’t felt this good about myself in years. I will be making that blog more personal, and this one will become more professional. I am very open and honest over at Losing It, so if you learn more about me than you’d like to know, well, then don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: blog, design, losing it, pink ink, weight loss, wordpress

Custom WordPress Design: James Wigderson

November 10, 2009 By admin

I finished this project awhile back, but finally remembered to blog about it! Life has been pretty crazy lately, and I’ve let my blog suffer. James Wigderson contacted me this summer about converting his Blogger blog to a self-hosted WordPress blog. He has been blogging for years and finally made the switch to a superior platform! Click on the image below to check it out!

Filed Under: Featured, Web design, wordpress Tagged With: blog, chrome, design, revolution, studiopress, wordpress

Kant Touch Us

June 24, 2009 By admin

My sister and I ended up moving earlier than planned… We have been talking about starting a blog when we moved in together, and finally decided on a name.

Head on over to Kant Touch Us... I will probably be posting my personal/life stuff over there now and will try to keep this blog more professional. HA. Me — professional? ROTFL

PS the photo of me was taking by the FABULOUS Holly McCaig!

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: apartment, blog, sister

Top WordPress plugins

June 5, 2009 By admin

I am a huge fan of WordPress – have been for years. And over the years, I’ve learned some tips and tricks to make life a little easier. The first of these is finding the right plugins. Plugins can make your life so much easier.

So, here’s my Top Five Must-Have WordPress Plugins:

Akismet – This baby blocks just about every spam comment on my site. It’s a standard WordPress plugin, which should be included with the installation of your WordPress blog on your server. If it isn’t, make sure this is one of the first plugins you activate. Don’t believe it’s worth it? Check out my stats:

WordPress Automatic Upgrade – Even for a WordPress addict expert superfan such as myself, upgrading to the newest version of WordPress can be tricky. This plugin takes all the guesswork out of upgrading. I always include this plugin when I set up a client’s new blog. It’s a life saver.
All in one SEO Pack – SEO has quickly become a hot topic on the interwebs. (and, rightly so.) SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is a fancy way of saying “ranking higher in google and other search engines.” This plugin requires a little work after it’s installed. You can’t just install it and expect it to do all the work for you. Once installed, you should see this box near the bottom of the page whenever you are creating a new post.
Here’s where you’re going to summarize your blog post with keywords in both the title and the description. Here’s an example of what I did for this post:
Twitter Tools – These days, everyone is all-a-Twitter, and rightly so. The social networking site is addicting. There are plenty of place where you can find out more about Twitter if you’re not already on it – just Google “what is twitter” and you should get a bazillion results. It’s a great, free tool you should be using for your blog/business. This plugin will automatically tweet for you each time a new blog is posted. Basically, it saves you the step of writing up a tweet and shortening the url yourself.
Sociable – This is one of my new favorite plugins. It will help your posts become viral. If your readers want to share your post, they don’t have to grab the url and post it into a tweet, on their Facebook page, fark, digg or stumble upon. All they have to do is click on one of the little icons (you should see it at the bottom of this post) and voila! Your post has viral potential.

There are thousands of plugins out there and I’m hoping to start blogging more about the techie side of me! If you have any good plugins you’d like me to check out, post a comment.

Filed Under: wordpress Tagged With: akismet, all in one seo, blog, plugins, seo, sociable, twitter, wordpress

Sherbet Business Collection

January 5, 2009 By admin

Here’s a blog post I wrote for Pink Ink Studios:

I am probably a little biased (you know, just a little bit), but I am absolutely LOVING my new Sherbet Business Collection. It’s fun, bright and funky and totally customizable.

Currently, there are only a few products in the store for this collection, but there are many more items to come. If you are looking for a specific product for this line, just let me know – I might be able to add it to the store!

First, there’s the Sherbet Price List. It’s a single, layered .psd file and is fully customizable except for the background pattern. Fonts, font colors, boxes and header background color can all be changed.

The Sherbet Collection also includes a 5×7 promo postcard and a blog header. Like the price list, these products are completely customizable, except for the patterned backgrounds.