Home Study Consultant is another one of those sites that needed to be mostly static since it’s intended for an “online business card” type of site rather than a blog. I love using WordPress for these because it’s so easy for both the designer (me!) and the client. Using a flexible theme like Headway makes it easy for me to get the look they want and using WordPress makes it easy for them to update it with articles and blog posts or even make simple changes to the content.

Now for the screen shot:

(You can’t tell from the screenshot but the image on the front page is one of four rotating images, done by using the Image Rotator Leaf in Headway.)

Conversion of an HTML site that hadn’t been updated for several years into a WordPress site for a career coach.

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After completing the customization of an entire Revolution theme, the client decided to use a different Revolution theme. When the second theme was nearly completed, the client requested a different color scheme.

When this project was completed, I rewrote my revision policies.

‘Nuff said.

A very simple blog designed to eliminate distractions from the marketing related content

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A very simple blog look is exactly what this client wanted for My Direct Sales. Its a content-driven site so there are no widgets, banners, or vivid color schemes to distract readers from the blog posts.

Another Revolution theme – man, those are popular! This time its the basic Revolution Blog theme.

(This client is actually a personal favorite of mine. When I first started doing blog designs, it was just modifications of Blogger templates. I asked for some volunteers to let me experiment on their blogs and her recipe blog was the first one I ever did. Even though my blog design skills have come a LONG way since then, she still uses the custom template I did for her.)

Custom blog designed to highlight products sold through an existing all-natural beauty products store

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The Sacred Glo blog needed to be added to supplement and complement the Sacred Glo online store. Using the logo elements and colors from the main site, I added the Sacred Glo blog with another customized Revolution theme – Revolution Lifestyle.

With this being a product-related blog, I wanted to highlight the product so that the content wouldn’t become a distraction. When the blog was initially set up, there weren’t any posts written for it so the “featured categories” were basically posts that described the Sacred Glo lotion candle in various scents. Once there was some actual content on the blog, I was able to highlight the posts too but the Featured Content Gallery serves as a reminder that Sacred Glo is a product, not just a blog.

The video on the main page explains these unique candles and rather than using the Google AdSense features that are built in to the Revolution themes, I replaced those with some custom graphics. Since the blog was installed, we’ve added a Press/Media page and a newsletter sign up. And rather than use the typical green color scheme that other eco-friendly product blogs use, we threw in some orange to liven the pages up.

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Ocean Renewable is a trade association centered around renewable environmental resources. Its member-driven and the main focus of the site design was to highlight legislative and policy news in order to keep members informed. These updates fall into various categories so OREC needed to be able to have several of these categories on the main page. Using the Revolution City theme allowed me to make the site both visually pleasing and informative. Using various shades of blue worked great with the site’s topic as well as the OREC logo. It also needed to be easy for the site owners to update and members to navigate. Since the design was completed, the owners have been able to change the Featured Video, add new pages and categories, and incorporate their Ning site into the design on their own. As you can tell from their blog archives, the OREC site was dormant for several months in 2008. When I began working on this project, the site was using WordPress 2.3 even though the current version of WP at that time was 2.6! OREC now has a completely up-to-date and active site.

Over the past few years, many business owners and entrepreneurs have discovered the value and importance of outsourcing various aspects of running their business. I’ve spoken to many successful entrepreneurs in a variety of fields – coaching, Internet marketing, blogging – who have all said the same thing: outsourcing was the best investment they’ve made in their business.

If you’ve experienced firsthand the benefits of outsourcing, you may have found yourself in a position where you don’t just have a virtual assistant, you have a virtual TEAM. You may have a VA to take care of your administrative tasks, a ghostwriter to help create your newsletters and blog posts, a tech person who keeps your website and business software up to date, and a graphic artist to create covers for your info products.

Congratulations! Doesn’t it feel good to have a great team put together to keep things running smoothly AND to know that you are successful enough that you can afford to have such a team? You’ve worked hard to get to this point so reward yourself for it!

But now its time to ask yourself another question: How much time is spent on delegating projects and tasks to your team, coordinating due dates to make sure no one is sitting around waiting on something from someone else, and then following up to make sure its all getting done on time?

Rather than finding yourself bogged down with the management side of your business, hand it over. Find someone you can trust, someone with experience managing others who isn’t afraid to crack the proverbial whip, someone who can keep your business running like a well-oiled machine even if you decide to take a week off to take the family to Disneyland.

Contact Advantage Online Solutions for a consultation. Let us know more about your business and about your virtual team. If you don’t have a reliable team, we can help you put one together. In addition to our own services – everything from setting up new blogs or sales pages to writing powerful press releases – we have access to talented people in various fields.

We’re here to help. We want to put your mind at ease and give you that extra time you need to develop new products or schedule more coaching sessions.

Becoming a mom – it’s the most life-changing event we go through.  Our children become the center of our lives, and we must make adjustments to in our schedules and priorities make sure they’re cared for.  Instead of hiring nannies or using day care services, more and more moms are choosing to start their own online businesses so they can be there for their kids and still contribute to the family income.

This is especially true right now during the tough economic times we’re living in. Even if you’re comfortably existing on one income, you may find yourself on no income soon enough if your husband gets laid off, downsized, rightsized, outsourced or whatever they’re calling it these days. Do you have the recommended 6 months’ living expenses tucked away in savings in preparation for this event?

Statistics show many of us do not. This is all the more reason for mom to look for ways to make money online before the disaster strikes.

Starting an online business has a number of advantages for moms.

* Start-up costs can be kept low.  So even if you are not currently working outside the home, starting an online business is usually within reach with small adjustments to the budget.  Setting up a website means acquiring a domain name and hosting space – and with tools like WordPress available at no cost, you can literally be up and running for around $20. You will also want to invest in some education. Learning the basics of how to market your website online are not difficult, but be careful where you get your information.

The Natural Mom Business Guide is one solid source of info. It includes an ebook with detailed information about researching your target market, the various ways to make money with a website, and how to get the traffic you need to earn income. It even has video and audio tutorials as well as printable “cheat sheets” you can keep by your computer to remind you of the essential steps you need to take in your business to build traffic and make more income.

* Doing business online doesn’t require one to keep regular hours.  You can work early in the morning before the kids get up, during the baby’s nap, or late at night when everyone is in bed.  And with the automation that the Internet has to offer, orders can be processed and virtual products delivered while you are sleeping or taking care of the kids.

* You can get some work done with the kids right by your side.  Older children may even be able to help you with simple tasks.  Did you know that the IRS allows you to deduct wages (up to a certain amount) paid to a child who is age seven or older to work in your home business from your taxes? I have even trained my oldest son to add articles to my websites. He earns a nice wage for doing so, far more than an allowance, and is providing a valuable service to me.

There are all sorts of online businesses that are great for moms.  You could sell your crafts or start a recipe website, or you could start a podcast.  You might offer services such as writing, transcription, web design or virtual assistance to customers around the world.  Or you could create and sell information products.  Even blogging offers impressive money-making potential.  The possibilities are many, and there’s sure to be something out there that’s just right for any mom.

Moms make up a large portion of the people who are making money online.  This allows them to take a hands-on approach to raising their children while still making money to support the household.  They don’t have to count on a sitter to take care of their children’s needs, and they don’t have to make a commute part of their daily routine.  It’s no wonder that the number of moms starting online businesses is growing in leaps and bounds.

If you need some assistance choosing a niche, get some coaching from an experienced online marketer. Take the leap – you’ll be glad you did!

Carrie Lauth is an internet marketing mom who loves to help other moms launch profitable websites. She created the Natural Mom Business Guide for women who want to market to the “natural family” niche. To learn about how she can give you one-on-one coaching, visit her website today.