Azaleas Virtual Assistants
- Web Design ~ Editing ~ e-Book Compiling & Creative Services with Flare!

Services
Cients' sites
Reason for Course offering
APPLICATION FORM

Basic-Computer Skills Course (Weekly in April)

My Unique Web Services

NOTE: These services are suspended until I have my Virtual Assistant Courses operating and can delegate some work to interns. I have no hours to spare for new clients.

Your Choice:
1. Design a main template for your web pages.

2. Design a template and a handful of prepared skeleton pages, with instructions for maintaining your site yourself with minimal html skills.

3. Set up a Blog-based site for you, using WordPress (which is free). No need to learn any html coding skills to run this yourself. My fee would only be for setting it up.

4. A SiteBuildIt! site set up assistance. No html skills necessary. Larger cost, but much more powerful!

You want to take advantage of all the new features of the internet for your writing, or business career, but...

are you a bit at a loss for lack of knowledge or training?

I've been there! I still am learning all the time!

You CAN teach yourself these skills - if you have more time than money.

I've taught myself how to design a variety of web pages and sites, and although I've got many irons in the fire, I want to provide a service that is affordable to you, and provides a little income for me.

My goal is to turn it over to you, the owner to maintain by following simple steps - that can - if you pay attention, lead you to designing more pages on your own.

(My friends often say I don't make money because I give all my talents away; well, I'm starting to charge a little... ~wink~

Why? Because I have a soft heart for people, particularly authors, who are new at this web site building stuff. I'd like to give you that boost that will widen your opportunities and reputation.

Here's my very simple plan, nothing extravagant, but we all read and hear that to be known and accepted in today's online and freelance writing world you need a professional-looking web site, so to save you time -

(and me - I already have a full schedule) -

I've created a few sample templates to show what I would or could do if you wanted me to make one for you. Naturally, you are not stuck choosing one of those templates. We can adapt, but the simpler your design, the faster your site can be up and running.

A lot of the free sites that have built-in web editors create quite grotesque looking sites, throw up banners and popups in the vistor's face, and are sometimes quite unreliable.

Maybe you have one of those, so you know.

I've discovered, it is far better to work from basic HTML code and build a site that looks and behaves as it should, and has a more professional appearance. This is really not that hard, but the time involved to teach yourself, is something not everybody has. Right? :)

I started seven plus years ago on the net, so naive and stone-broke (... well, I won't go on that tangent; but it's hard to get lower than zero income). Still, I resolved to teach myself no matter how long it took. It was a few months before I had my first efforts up on the web.

But I've learned just heaps and heaps of more since then! Both in the technical aspect, and in what is considered in good taste, and what is blatantly newbie.

If you are willing to pay me (a very reasonable rate!) you can skip the seven year learning curve, and have a site up in a few weeks (depending on my waiting list, and how fussy you and I get). I'll show you how to maintain, edit, and add pages to it, as you will.

The BEST Option!

Actually... there is one deluxe suite you can get now that doesn't require you to know any HTML coding, and in the long run it is cheaper because it includes everything - but ever-ry-thi-ing for your success. (That includes domain, hosting, graphical interface for designing site, keyword selections, and submitting to the powerful search engines at the exactly right intervals). All you have to supply are the ideas and the motivation when you use SiteBuildIt!

We could negotiate a fee, and I could use your SBI to build your site on your behalf.

Hand-HTML-Coded Sites the Old Way

Let's get back to my hand-made HTML-coded option;

Most authors sites are only a handful of pages, maybe 5 or 6.

(My own author-book domain web site,
http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com now has around 500 pages on it! But I often add a batch of pages every few days or after an hour's efforts).

My secret lies in designing templates for each site or "area" so that when I want to create a new web page for say, an article, I just pull up a template in my web design editor insert the article at a certain point in the long page of HTML gobbedly-gook add two br enclosed in angle brackets < > after each paragraph, put < b > before words I want to make bold, and < /b > after them. I insert the title in a certain marked spot, and I change the meta tags at the top to match the contents of this new page. Then I name it with the file name I want it to have on the web, and save it.

I open the index page, (and/or the includes files), also always saved on my computer, and add a link to the new page. For that matter, on all other pages too, so that visitors will be able to discover this new one. The "includes" file, if linked to from all the other pages, allows us to instantly add a new link to ALL the other pages. Clever stuff!

Lastly, I upload all these new and updated pages to my site, which takes a trice. The heavy pictures or graphics can take a few more trices, or minutes. Voila. Done.

If I were to prepare some basic simple design for your web site, and;
1. I marked the spots where you as the writer-owner, will insert your content or text-body when you want to make a new page,...

2. also where to put in your title, and how to change your meta tags (this is so the search engines will find you and send you visitors!)

3. and showed you how to upload your pages each time yourself...

- well, then, you'd be all set!

Do you think you could learn to follow those simple steps?

If that spooks you, or if you don't even know how to copy and paste text from one page or program into another, then this is probably too complicated for you. You need to consider my other options, # 3, or # 4,
OR find a webmaster who will do "Everything" for you, including all the maintenance. (I'm already doing that for some; not sure I dare take on any more).

That's not meant to be rude, but just to save us both some aggrevation. You don't want me to mis-lead you, do you?

In that case, you really ought to investigate the SiteBuildIt! option. It's tailored for you. Or, the free content management systems. (Although, as I said, that has a fairly steep learning Curve!)

Now, I only have a few hours free each week to offer these services,, and I know it will take me at least one or two of those sessions, to design your basic template. More if you are not happy with it right away, and I need to change it. But if you are content with a simple one of the calibre and quality you see when you visit the links in this box, I'll do that first template for $50.

You might like that basic template fixed up into a few more pages such as; About Author, Contact, Links & Webrings, Books (the ones you've written and want to sell), etc. Those will need a bit different html coding in spots, but can be fixed so that you can add or change basic content on them by looking for the highlighted clues as to where and how to add or change things. Those additional pages could be whipped up in another evening or two, so they'll be $20 each.

Sample Website Looks:

Bouquet Enterprises style
Woven Background
Simplicity Itself
Chocolate Senses
Watermark
Watermark II

Clients' sites:
April Boyer
Mountain-Man-Log-Creations.com
HeavenlyDaze
Generosity-Alive (under construction)
Just Good Cooking
Children of the Heart
Manna Publications
Manna Publications (UK)
Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan
PMC - Ministries (Tanzania)
Revival Time Ministry (Uganda)
Western Tract Mission
Expanding Youth Mnistries

Special Offer!
Experience teaches me that these projects often take a bit longer than anticipated because we have to email back and forth to be sure you are happy. If I need to do something over a few times, the hours ADD UP. IF, however, you and I get along famously, and your template is done in short order with you quite happy about it, I'll surprise you with a deep discount! (A little motivation for both of us).

calculate your costs for web
page templates and design I bet you're beginning to wonder how this will add up and get expensive after all.

Let's stop and do a bit of math. If your main index and template page is $50, and you ask for say another 5 other pages, using the same template, that would cost you $150 altogether. With a $25 deposit up front before I start work, just in case you desert me.

(Yes, it is necessary to have some forethought. ~smile~)

If you are truly pinched for funds, I can recommend some free websites, that do not whack you with ads and popups all over. But if you can possibly manage the cost of a domain registration I suggest you go to http://GoDaddy.com" and get one there for $8/year or even under $5!.

There are now web hosting plans that only cost $5 or 6/month. In fact, I've got some now that are only $10 for a whole year!

You will do the maintenance yourself, right?

What does that mean? It means you check your visitor STATS, make sure your links are all working, and that from time to time you add more pages of content - that precious commodity - INFORMATION.

Assuming you choose 5 pages as above, that's $150 + $8 + $10 = $163 total for your start up year. You would pay the domain registration ($8) and hosting ($10) again each year after that.

(Or, if you get my discount, maybe half that for your first year, using the above example).

To tell you the truth, if you want more than 5 pages... you'll get a better bargain with SiteBuildIt! Have you seen my page comparing your web site options? Feel free to do some comparing. I would! (But then, I'm the super-frugal shopper. ~Smile~ my shoestring is probably shorter than yours!)

With the above plan I'm offering, you can be selling your books or services right away. I recommend you join PayPal, and e-Gold, and then I could insert the coding for the buttons. When people want to pay you, they would just click the payment method of their choice, and any of these free web payment plans will send you an automatic email, telling you of each sale as it happens!

Naturally, then you would correspond with your customer and give them the instructions for completing the purchase.

Are you ready to place an order for your web site templates? Or having it built and set up?

Let's jump to a new page for this topic.