Posts in Business
Ultimate CMS Showdown - which platform is right for you?
Ultimate CMS Showdown - which platform is right for you?

After a summer hiatus, I'm back at it again and taking full advantage of Vancouver's booming tech scene. I've been popping around the city attending tech industry meet-ups, networking events, and panel discussions on a regular basis once more and it feels great. I love that our city is buzzing and that new opportunities present themselves at every turn. Our local tech industry is growing by leaps and bounds and I'm thrilled to be a part of it!

But does that mean that you're doomed if you DON'T live in a tech hub? Are you automatically at a disadvantage if you want to make it in our field outside of these areas? Are your chances of becoming a quality web designer/developer lower from the start?

NOPE, nope nope!

Thanks to the internet, information is instantly accessible to anyone, anywhere in a way that has never been seen before. This means that even if you don't live in a major area where tech events are happening every night of the week, you can still get the Coles Notes of these events with a little research!

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Business, Tech TipsCharlotte O'Haraevent summary, tech events, women in tech, wordpress, drupal, sitefinity, content management system, cms Comment
How to track your website growth with my spreadsheet template
How to track your website growth with my spreadsheet template

You know the saying "What gets measured gets managed?"

It has been the guiding mantra for my 2017 business and website goals since I wanted to seriously up my game this year.

I have so many big plans and ideas for 2017 and I knew that having a "bigger" website with a larger reach would help me achieve the kind of results I'm looking for. I knew that if I wanted to grow my website and guarantee that all my plans actually happened, I would need to get serious and stay on top of my site's data & statistics.

When it comes to growing a website, there are SO many factors that come into play. Obviously you have to look at the raw numbers of how many visits and page views your site is getting, but what about social media, product/service revenue, affiliate programs, media mentions and email list? I couldn't forget about those too!

Watch my video demo and see the spreadsheets I use to track my website's growth!

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BusinessCharlotte O'Harawebsite growth trackerComment
Why you should start an email list today
Why you should start an email list today

When I first started my web design/development business, I thought that I would do client work all day long and that would be it. I figured my time would be spent building new websites, tweaking existing pages, reworking content and layouts, and creating cohesive visual brands for my clients.
 
And, for a while at least, I was totally on the mark.
 
But it didn’t take long before I started reading blog posts from other web designer/developers and online business owners (in a variety of different niches), and I noticed that they all seemed really focused on building their email list.
 
To be honest though, I wasn’t sold on this. Who was I to have a newsletter? Weren’t sleazy marketers the only ones who had email lists? Was there any value for regular freelancers, online service providers, or business owners in having an email list? Would I annoy people by sending them a weekly email and turn them off my business forever? These were just a few of the hesitations I had before I started my email list. 
 
Fast forward a few months, however, and I figured that if enough people were telling me that a certain action had a positive impact on their business, they probably aren’t all wrong. So I figured "what the heck", I’d give it a shot and start my own email list.
 
The verdict? It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for my business.
 

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BusinessCharlotte O'Haraemail marketing, email list Comment
Should social media growth be the focus of every business?
Should social media growth be the focus of every business?

Exciting news, my friends: I was on my first podcast!!!

One of my online buddies Jessica co-hosts the podcast All Up In Your Lady Business and recently featured me in an on-air coaching call.

I asked if social media growth should be a goal for my business and whether a large following was necessary to run a successful business. We covered a lot in this episode and I know you'll get lots of actionable advice in our conversation!

I was open and honest about how I've been able to grow my business up to this point without a large social media following, what strategies I've relied on instead, and how I'm going to shift things around moving forward.

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BusinessCharlotte O'Harasocial media, podcast, my business, online businessComment