This has definitely been a whirlwind! I didn't think it was possible to learn so much in such a short amount of time (and celebrate two big holidays). This course has shown me that it is very easy to get a website up and running. Will that website look good? Probably not initially, but you can work on that over time.
I've learned that there is really no excuse for a business to not have a website. Web building is affordable (for the most part) and fairly easy to do. I found WordPress to be PRETTY easy to use, but I spent a lot of time researching different plugins and tools. When I was in college, I had to maintain a WordPress blog. Had I not done that, it would have been a lot harder for me to use.
After this course, I plan on taking what I learned/achieved and applying it to my Dad's actual bakery website. I know how to do a lot of basic things to clean it up. I may ask a graphic designer to help me with some of the creative, though.
I also plan on taking another class - maybe more hands on. I learn best through repetition and tutorials. It is hard to learn when you aren't in a classroom setting. This course made me realize how hard it can be to learn and focus on work at the same time. It was an amazing introductory to hopefully more classes to come!
My webpage still needs a lot of work. I couldn't figure out why my social links won't click through and how to get the slideshow off every page. I tried different plugins, but couldn't get it to work. On my gallery slide, I tried to create tables for the images to sit in, but WordPress only lets you edit the HTML so much. This is one of the times I didn't like WordPress because I couldn't change the format. I knew exactly how I wanted it to look, but felt stuck.
For my page, I included an About Us, Contact Us, Gallery, Cupcakes, Cakes, and Order Form. If this site was going to launch, I would have purchased the premium version of some of the plugins so their logos wouldn't be showing. The Order Form doesn't work entirely since I did not input all my merchant/account info, but it is a start!
Getting the site registered with various search engines has helped a lot. I noticed if I type in certain keywords - it pops up on Google! I was so excited to see this.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Monday, January 4, 2016
Shopping Methods
Like I mentioned in my previous post, there are so many WordPress plug-ins. Adding features to a webpage has never been easier. I started my research by Googling different payment methods. I found an article that talked about WordPress specific payment methods, so I started to read it.
LINK: https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/wordpress-paypal-plugins
As I browsed through these, I read each description and wanted to find something that made sense for this project. Some of the plug-ins were designed for music, downloads, etc. I wanted something simple and straightforward.
I finally settled with the Simple eCommerce plug-in. It was extremely easy to set up and within minutes it was up and running. While WordPress really limits me with how I can edit the HTML, it is a QUICK way to get a website up and running. I purchased a few books this weekend about WordPress and how to create a "child theme" so I can edit the HTML. I am excited to learn more about this and take my website one step further.
LINK: https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/wordpress-paypal-plugins
As I browsed through these, I read each description and wanted to find something that made sense for this project. Some of the plug-ins were designed for music, downloads, etc. I wanted something simple and straightforward.
I finally settled with the Simple eCommerce plug-in. It was extremely easy to set up and within minutes it was up and running. While WordPress really limits me with how I can edit the HTML, it is a QUICK way to get a website up and running. I purchased a few books this weekend about WordPress and how to create a "child theme" so I can edit the HTML. I am excited to learn more about this and take my website one step further.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Interacting With Consumers
For this assignment, we focused on adding interaction to our webpages. I was not sure what type of interaction I would need. Discussion boards and forums didn't seem to make sense. I felt these type of interactions made sense on Facebook. I decided to go with a page counter and an email database.
It would be great to have an email database, so we can send consumers special promotions and coupons. This would not only benefit the consumer, but could drive more store traffic. I was impressed with how easy WordPress made this to set up. The benefit of WordPress are all the plug-ins. They take one second to install and then you have a new asset to your page.
I also installed a page counter. This would be good information for the bakery, so they can see how many people are visiting their page. For a small business, this information could be valuable. We want to know how many people are coming to our page. It would be even better if we could hone in one where these people are coming from and who they are. There are additional plug-ins that allow you to capture more information. I plan on looking into this more.
It would be great to have an email database, so we can send consumers special promotions and coupons. This would not only benefit the consumer, but could drive more store traffic. I was impressed with how easy WordPress made this to set up. The benefit of WordPress are all the plug-ins. They take one second to install and then you have a new asset to your page.
I also installed a page counter. This would be good information for the bakery, so they can see how many people are visiting their page. For a small business, this information could be valuable. We want to know how many people are coming to our page. It would be even better if we could hone in one where these people are coming from and who they are. There are additional plug-ins that allow you to capture more information. I plan on looking into this more.
Friday, January 1, 2016
Getting My Site Noticed
Creating a meta tag and description made a lot of sense to me when I read the Wiki. I understood the purpose and how it could help my site. At first, I struggled a little bit with how to set mine up. WordPress allows me to edit the code, but only so much. I was excited to discover that WordPress had builtin plug-ins that allow you to set up SEO.
I used a general description of the bakery including the city/location and the main business product (wedding and specialty cakes). This was pretty easy to set up. I need to do more research on meta tags though to ensure they are working as efficiently as possible.
I registered my site on Google, AddMe.com, and Submit Express (which added it to various search engines). In addition to these tools, I would add the website to the business Facebook + Twitter pages. There is a lot of traffic to business social media pages, so this would encourage those visitors to go to the page to seek more information.
Registering the site with Search Engines was a lot easier than I expected. I figured it would take days and tons of approvals to get the site registered.
I used a general description of the bakery including the city/location and the main business product (wedding and specialty cakes). This was pretty easy to set up. I need to do more research on meta tags though to ensure they are working as efficiently as possible.
I registered my site on Google, AddMe.com, and Submit Express (which added it to various search engines). In addition to these tools, I would add the website to the business Facebook + Twitter pages. There is a lot of traffic to business social media pages, so this would encourage those visitors to go to the page to seek more information.
Registering the site with Search Engines was a lot easier than I expected. I figured it would take days and tons of approvals to get the site registered.
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