The nature of The Web Wrangler has changed a lot over the past year. The focus has moved from social networking and SEO virtual assistance to more of a focus on web design and development, graphic design and web site support. As such, the time seemed right to re-brand our company; thus Bauhaus Online Creative was born. Click here for the full run-down on what Bauhaus Online Creative has to offer!

The Web Wrangler - Learn to wrangle YOUR web: SEO, Social Networing, Web Design and Blogging Tips

Today is the day! My online course, Blogging for Business, is now open for registration. This video is a sneak peek at Module 1. To watch the rest of the video, and all of the subsequent video modules, you’ll need to sign up for the course.

Blogging for Business will teach you how to blog, plain and simple. It will cover how to develop, maintain and promote a blog designed every step of the way to achieve the results that YOUR business needs – GENERATING LEADS and MAKING SALES.

Is Blogging for Business for you?

This course will teach you step-by-step how to get started blogging, how to manage your blog, and how to set it up to generate leads and sales for your business.

It will also show you how to select a blog design, layout and sidebar content that eliminates distraction and supports your main goal – to get people to hire you or buy your stuff! This course will also show you how to develop an editorial calendar that suits your schedule and organize your blog in a way that will constantly generate new post ideas and ensure you never run out of content.

Most of the courses and blogging advice out there is aimed at blogging AS a business. You already have a business–you simply need your blog to enhance that business. Blogging for Businesses is developed for the unique needs of businesses — whether freelancers, small businesses or companies — that want to use their blog as both a marketing tool and as a way to connect with clients and customers.

This course is for you if…

• You’re a freelancer or business owner or manager who isn’t sure how to start, maintain or promote a blog.
• Your existing blog isn’t providing the results for your business that you’d hoped it would.
• You’d like to know how to make your blog more effective at generating leads and sales.
• Your business, and NOT your blog, is your main source of income.
• You’re just starting out in blogging and you need some guidance.

This course is probably NOT for you if…

• You’re looking for ways to monetize your blog and turn it into a primary source of income
• You are or want to be a full-time, professional blogger
• Your blog IS your business

This is NOT a Pro-Blogging course!

This is a course for people who already have, or who are starting, a business and want to know how a blog can enhance their business’s online presence, bring traffic to their web site, create customer loyalty and trust, and generate client leads and sales — and what to do to make that happen.

What You’ll Get:

• A six-module online course (including an entire module on SEO!) that you’ll be able to go through in your own time, at your own pace.
• Workbooks and an editorial calendar to help you plan and maintain your blog!
• A blog layout wireframe that you can give to your web designer, or that you can use as a guide to help you select the right theme or template!
• Bonus instructional videos on how to use some of the tools mentioned throughout the course!
• Lifetime access to the course and to any future versions, additions or bonuses!

Registration for the course will only be open for one week, and this is the ONLY time that it will be available for this special introductory price of only $39.95.

So don’t miss your chance to sign up for Blogging for Business before registration closes on April 25th. The next time it launches, it will be improved, but you’ll have to pay more to get it. Significantly more.

Click here to get the course today!

The Web Wrangler - Learn to wrangle YOUR web: SEO, Social Networing, Web Design and Blogging Tips

I’ve been hard at work over the last few weeks putting together my new course, Blogging for Business, for business owners, managers and freelancers who want to learn to blog, plain and simple. Watch this video to learn more about it, or click on through to the website.

Although the course won’t be open for registration until April 11th 18th, this week I kicked off a pre-launch event to start spreading the word. Head over there to sign up now and make sure you don’t miss out on your pre-launch bonuses! Bonus #1 is a white paper listing the Top 5 Blog Mistakes That You’re Probably Making. This paper alone will help you determine whether you’re steering your blog wrong and help you course-correct.

And as an added bonus, the FIRST FIVE subscribers who submit their blog URL to me will receive a FREE professional critique of their blog. This is a slightly paired-down version of my Blog Clinic consulting service that normally goes for $150 — and all you have to do to get it is be one of the first five to subscribe!

I don’t mind saying that I put a lot of thought and hard work into this course, to ensure that it’s more than worth every penny I’m charging for it. And I’m not charging much more than pennies for it for this introductory launch, as you can see in the video. This course is the culmination of years of blogging and consulting experience, distilled down to a format that’s easy to digest and can be gone through in your own time, at your own pace.

If you think I’ve provided value here at this blog in the past, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. So head on over to see if Blogging for Business is right for you.

And if you please take a minute to help me get the word out about this course by clicking one of the Tweet or Like buttons provided in this post, I will be much obliged.

Cheers, and until next time,

The Web Wrangler - Learn to wrangle YOUR web: SEO, Social Networing, Web Design and Blogging Tips

Have some minor styling tweaks in mind for your web site, but don’t know how to change the CSS? Got any formatting errors that you just can’t figure out? Or maybe you have an embeddable form or a widget that doesn’t look quite like you’d like it to?

Send me the task and I’ll get it done for just $25.

Here are a couple of quick examples: Alicia Jay of TranscriptionE-Services.com just had me style her embeddable Mailchimp sign-up form. And a while back, Jen of Jennerosity hired me to style a custom Twitter widget for her blog.

If you have a small task along those lines that you’d like to send my way, just send an e-mail to jean at thetaskwrangler.com with “$25 Special” in the subject line and a brief description of the task. I’ll let you know if your task is eligible for the offer, and we’ll go from there. Easy!

So start those small tasks rolling in. And please feel free to Tweet this post or tell your friends!

The Web Wrangler - Learn to wrangle YOUR web: SEO, Social Networing, Web Design and Blogging Tips

Thanks for bearing with me as I continue to take a break from info-type posts to focus on rolling out new products and deal with all the stressful stuff that’s going on.

On the personal front, things still aren’t going so great. Bobo, my inlaws’ cat that we inherited after they both passed away, followed them into the great beyond last week. We weren’t able to raise the money we needed to take him to the vet, but even if we did, I doubt it would have helped. He was so depressed over losing both of his people and the home he’d known for most of his life, that I think he just gave up the will to live. My husband and I are pretty broken up about it, needless to say. We’re taking comfort from the fact that he had a pretty long and, up until the last couple of months, happy life, and also in the hope that he got to be reunited with his humans.

On the business front, things are still slow right now, because times are tough all around. People want to utilize my services to improve their online presence, but they just don’t have the funds right now. Of course I can relate, but it’s frustrating, both for me and for them.

This week I’m rolling out some new targeted consulting packages that will hopefully help on both sides. These packages are affordable, packed with value, and designed to get results. Right now they include a one-on-one Blog Clinic that includes a critique of your blog and a personalized plan to overhaul your blog to achieve the results you’re hoping for; and a Social Networking Plan package that includes coaching, training, and a personalized plan to help you get the most out of your networks. Click here to read more about them and get started.

I’m also continuing to add products to my Web Wrangler Studio shop on Etsy, and all during the month of March they continue to be offered at HALF PRICE. Which means you’ve still got two and a half weeks to get a PREMIUM WordPress theme customized for only $125 — regularly a $250 (or more) value.

I’ll have more product & service news coming later in the week, as well as a special offer for my readers. So now is a good time to subscribe to the blog to make sure you don’t miss out!

And hopefully, pretty soon I’ll have some good news to share for a change.

Until next time,

The Web Wrangler - Learn to wrangle YOUR web: SEO, Social Networing, Web Design and Blogging Tips

The first set of graphics for my new web graphics subscription club is live and ready for members to download!

This week’s graphic is a Twitter-ready background and matching avatar. The inspirational message would be appropriate for the profile of a coach, teacher, or anyone whose goal is to inspire their followers.

I’ll be adding more downloadable graphics before the month is out, and continuing to add them in the coming months. To get them all, just click here to subscribe; or you can purchase them one at a time through my Web Wrangler Studio shop on Etsy.

The Web Wrangler - Learn to wrangle YOUR web: SEO, Social Networing, Web Design and Blogging Tips

Need quality web graphics in a hurry? Check out my new Web Wrangler Studio shop on Etsy for a selection of pre-made banners, backgrounds, and even pre-made web sites and blog templates!

The selection is a little sparse right now, but I’ll be working over the coming weeks to fill it up with pre-made graphics as well as made-to-order custom packages, such as this Custom Typographical Logo package for just $25.

And right now, during my Grand Opening Introductory Sale, EVERYTHING is going for at least 50% off my normal rate. This sale will run through the rest of March, so don’t put off getting your order in!

The Web Wrangler - Learn to wrangle YOUR web: SEO, Social Networing, Web Design and Blogging Tips

Previously, in Part 1 of my “How Not To Be a Client From Hell” series, I explained how the web is different from print, and how designing a web site is very different from designing, say, a poster or a magazine layout.

This week I’m going to expound on that further and explain why it’s a bad idea to hire a web designer do design your business cards and letterhead and why it’s an especially bad idea to hire a print designer to design your web site layout.

Now before I get deluged with hate mail from designers who are quite competent at both, let me point out that, yes, there ARE some designers who understand the differences and requirements of both media and have no problem doing both seamlessly. But such a designer is rare. And when looking for a designer of any type, it’s a good rule of thumb that the more specialized the designer, the better/more knowledgeable/more highly skilled they are at the thing that they specialize in.

Take me, for example. I’m a web designer. I design web page layouts and graphics that look great on the web. But if you print those graphics out, they won’t look so great, because they’re optimized for fast downloading, not for looking good on glossy paper.

It would be a bad idea to hire me to do a print project, because I would be confused by terms like “Pantone” and “page bleed”, and I would send you a final product that looked fabulous on screen, but would have your printer calling you to ask if you mean for your brochure to look blurry.

Whereas a print designer would know exactly what those terms mean and would be able to provide you with a brochure that prints beautifully and makes your printer want to hug you for making his job so easy.

On the other hand, if you hire a print designer to do your web site, no matter how much you love their work, when it comes time to translate their design into code that actually functions properly in modern web browsers, chances are really excellent that you will run into problems.

Speaking as someone who has had to code web designs done by print designers, I can tell you from my own experience that print designers tend to lack an understanding of the variable nature of the web and how to design a layout that is flexible and adapts to different browsers, screen sizes & resolutions, etc.

Whereas a web designer understands those things and can easily design a layout that will look good in all of the major browsers, at any screen size, and degrade gracefully in older browsers.

In short, I think a lot of client/designer misunderstandings and “client from hell” situations can be avoided simply by being careful to match the right designer to the right job. Don’t assume that just because you love a designer’s work in one area, that they’ll be able to provide you with the same amount of satisfaction in a different area.

And don’t assume that a prospective designer will volunteer the information that they’re not knowledgeable in a particular area. We designers, especially when we have bills piling up, sometimes tend to overestimate our ability to figure things out on the fly, and so sometimes we say yes to projects we really have no business accepting. I know I’ve been guilty of this on at least one occasion.

As the client, it’s up to you to ask the right questions, inspect our portfolios, and make sure we’re truly capable of doing the work you’re hiring us to do. Because believe me: when the work is truly a good match for the designer’s abilities, everybody involved is generally much happier with the project.

Until next time,

The Web Wrangler - Learn to wrangle YOUR web: SEO, Social Networing, Web Design and Blogging Tips

If you’re still wondering where Part 2 of the “How Not To Be a Client From Hell” series is, it will be up by Wednesday, after which this blog will return to its semi-normal posting schedule.

But right now, I have a problem, and I’m going to give it to you straight. Life hasn’t been especially kind to my family lately–in fact, it seems to be deriving a lot of glee from kicking us repeatedly in the teeth. Or at least, that’s how it feels.

Over the last two months, both of my parents-in-law have passed away. At first, it seemed like a blessing that my business had slowed down, because it gave me time to deal with their estate and arrangements, and to be there for my husband, and to deal with my own grief.

But business has stayed slow, and as usually happens when your income slows to a trickle, the financial burdens have been coming fast and furious: my husband needs to have an infected wisdom tooth removed (and we don’t have insurance); our car needs a new catalytic converter, and my husband’s old truck is about to need a new timing belt (not to mention they’re both long overdue for an oil change and tire rotation); as of yesterday, we have a busted or backed up pipe dumping sewage right onto our back patio; and we inherited my inlaws’ old cat, whose health is fading fast, and we can’t afford to take him to the vet. Oh, and we’re about to the end of our savings, so just paying our normal bills is about to become a major challenge.

What I really need is to sign about 4 large-scale web development project contracts, and fast. But in lieu of that, I’m scrambling to get some quality products out the door as soon as possible.

The first of those products is my new Web Wrangler Studio Graphics Club.

How it works is thus: At least once a month (I plan to aim for more often, but right now I can only guarantee once a month), I’ll release a new web graphic file (or set of files) for my subscribers. These will be along the lines of web site and profile backgrounds, banners, buttons, etc. As the club grows and I’m able to devote more time to it, the plan is to eventually include Blogger and WordPress themes as well.

For personal use of these graphics on your own blogs, web sites, social networking profiles, computer desktops, etc., membership is $5.00/month. For professional use and access to layered .psd and vector files, membership is $25.00/month. Right now I only offer monthly plans, but if this club takes off I’ll eventually offer discounted annual and bi-annual options.

How you can help: Tell people about this club, even if it’s not right for you. Just click here to check out the details, and click the Tweet button at the top right of the page to help spread the word. Or use the Retweet or Like buttons right here on this page to share this blog post.

And if you’d like to become a subscriber, that’s just pure awesome. You can trust that I’ll work extra hard to provide good value and make it worth the price. And, of course, you can cancel or change your membership option at any time, no strings attached.

Thank you for your help in this.

Until next time,

The Web Wrangler - Learn to wrangle YOUR web: SEO, Social Networing, Web Design and Blogging Tips

I know I promised Part 2 of How Not To Be a Client From Hell would get posted today, but it’s going to need to wait another week. I had another death in the family last week, and after taking the last half of the week off to deal with that, I’m now way behind in my work. So I’ve decided to cut myself some slack and take a break from blogging this week. I might have an announcement or two to share later in the week, but educational content will resume here next week. Thanks for understanding.

Until next time,

The Web Wrangler - Learn to wrangle YOUR web: SEO, Social Networing, Web Design and Blogging Tips