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If you believe e-mails and other sites claiming to have "get rich quick (cookie cutter) sites" and all the "hype" about making a mint on your favorite hobby in a matter of days, I'm here to tell you, "Don't count on it!" BUT, here's the good news. In your spare time you can develop a website centered around ANYthing you're passionate about, make a little money on the side and do it without depleting your savings.

Think designing a pretty site is all there is to it? Think again. A nice design is only the beginning. Before the design is where the real decision making starts. You'll need to decide what content you want and where it will come from. There are important legal issues to contend with as well as deciding on graphics, hosting, marketing, administration, advertising.... in short, the REST of the story.

Empowermom is here to help you get started.


What's in a name? EVERYTHING!

Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 June 2010 11:19 Written by Carol Wiepert

Prior to the majority of planning and implementing a new site, most people have an idea of what they will name it.  Based upon that name, you will find many companies out there who will place a "value" on a particular dot.com name.  I've seen the question: Who determines what your site is worth" many times over recently. 

I can give a few "possible" answers to this question. This in depth article gives food for thought for both dot.com Buyers AND Sellers.

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A SITE IS BORN - Will yours be healthy?

Written by Empowermom

blocksSeveral critical decisions must be made prior to the design of your site.  These decisions are crucial in helping you target your audience.  Once made, the design phase becomes relatively easy.

Will it be a personal or professional site?

Dependent upon your answer to the above, will it be informational, product oriented, a community site or a simple blog?

Who is your target audience?

Once you've made these decisions, the rest is not necessarily a piece of cake, but it's easier to get to the icing!

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Designing for Newbies

Last Updated on Monday, 18 January 2010 08:02 Written by Empowermom

 When you've laid out your site and have all your pages planned, there are a few considerations you may need to ponder before the final draft is complete.  My personal priority is ease of use, clear/concise structure, and a general flow (or theme) from page to page on your site. Nesting too many layers of pages with alternating, unrelated themes can be daunting and confusing to newbies on the internet.  A good web designer knows how to cater to both newbies and the advanced user.

There's millions of users out there and you can target a broad range, but don't assume they're all computer/web savvy.  If anything, err on the side of caution and assume the largest portion of net surfers have a limited knowledge of hardware, software and the mechanics of the internet.  If your site navigation isn't simple, they get confused and won't be coming back.

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Installing Joomla the EASY way!

Written by Empowermom

When I first discovered Joomla I hadn't worked with a database in years and I had never worked with a "content management" site. When I discovered this was just what I needed to run the site AND it was easy to maintain (as in, no STAFF required), I had to check it out.

I've been hand coding and manually referencing my site with HTML for years. And of course, I've tried learning all the new languages as they keep becoming popular. That kept me on my toes. Most especially, CSS, PHP and Java. Keeping up with the links and cross-referencing all the articles on Empowermom began taking a toll. I had no time for the fun stuff, which is WRITING. This was NOT what I'd imagined when I first started Empowermom as a hobby. The passion was waning along with my patience the past year. I'd decided I might have to hire some staff or enlist volunteers to keep Empowermom afloat until I found out, quite by accident, about Joomla! After a bit of research, I was hooked!

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Organizing Your Content

Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 May 2010 20:04 Written by Empowermom

Giant Filing Cabinet

I'm a total Joomlaholic and that's the system I deal with when talking about developing a site.  After over 10 years of hand coding page by INDIVIDUAL page of my former sites, Joomla was a Godsend and the Joomla team of defvelopers are my heroes!  There are other places to learn other CMS.  This one is my personal favorite and that's what I write about.

That being stated, I'm going to try to explain to new web designers how Joomla is structured and why it's so much easier than any other system I've used (and there are MANY).  The easiset way to grasp how Joomla is structured is to view it as a giant filing cabinet.  OBviously, you've got a lot to share or you wouldn't be here.  Every "article" (or blog post) you've written and want to share, along with any interesting media you've collected to illustrate them are ready to be published, but you need a way to organize and share it all. 

Enter Joomla!  The cyberworld's answer to paperless filing.  Using Joomla is as easy as using a filing cabinet.  In the real world, you may have a limited amount of space to file your papers.  In the cyberworld, you can have as many drawers and files as you want to organize your content.  Due to this LACK of size limitations, it's really important to stay organized.  Joomla makes that easy.

Now then, if you haven't grabbed your free copy of Joomla! yet and installed it, see my article "Installing Joomla the Easy Way" and get to it.  Then come back here for a bit of easy reading on how to comprehend what you're doing BEFORE you get all bumfuzzled...

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