It has been a huge pleasure for me to complete a new Wordpress site for my good friend, Lisa Hendrickson, of Call That Girl!
For the longest time, Lisa had a simple one page site that I designed for her, and she was very happy. Then, her business grew! She started blogging. She started putting together YouTube videos. She wanted to feature her promotions. Then, she wanted to tie all of her efforts together! Her new site is a wonderful example of all of the integration and customization that is possible using Wordpress.
How do I know Lisa? Well, some time ago, Lisa and I met while working as contract employees for a large helpdesk organization in Minnesota. Then we both struck out on our own and have never looked back!
Now, Call That Girl has grown and moved to a larger office in St. Louis Park, MN. Lisa Hendrickson, the owner of Call That Girl, is not only an excellent computer support specialist for home and business users, but she is a master networker on LinkedIn.com.
To celebrate her new office and her new web site, if you mention HolisticGeek.com, you can receive $15 off your first hour of phone support from Call That Girl!
Visit her web site or call her today!
http://www.callthatgirl.biz/
612-865-4475
I recently finished a web site for a wonderful singer-songwriter from Duluth, MN named Robi Meyerson. This was a wonderful project filled with audio samples of songs, embedding YouTube Videos, and creating a fun and interactive first page with light-up notes to take you to her subsequent pages.
The site is also built in Wordpress, and makes use of Page Templates to create the custom front page which appears to lay “outside” of the site. Special thanks to “The Geek Goddess” in the UK for a beautiful theme, which I customized, as well as expounded upon for the front page.
Robi’s calendar is filling up with many gigs, and she has two new CDs out! If you are up “here in the North Woods” you should definitely attend one of her shows!
Probably one of the most fun and challenging sites I’ve put together, CheSpotting.com is all about everyone’s favorite iconic revolutionary – Che Guevara!
The concept behind CheSpotting.com came from two friends, Jen and Kelly (whom is also known for her collaborative HaikuByTwo site!), and their obsession for finding and “spotting” all things Che Guevara. It’s full of photos, links to books and videos, news and commentary, as well as ways to get your ‘Che Fix’ through even Facebook or Twitter!
CheSpotting.com’s design is based on The Morning After Wordpress theme (with a few CSS and code magic customizations thrown in by me!). This site is a good example of the versatility and power that Wordpress can bring to a site.
So, take a gander, browse the great information, and if you “spot Che” – send them a photo, and maybe they’ll post it!
Celtic Fire and Faerie
Sometimes a web site just needs updates and edits. Or, perhaps you lose your previous webmaster, for whatever reason.
Over the last month I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Áine Armour, and I’ve enjoyed very much – providing updates and edits to her website, CelticFireAndFaerie.com.
As a “holistic” geek, Áine’s site, and especially her work, have been most intriguing and joyous to discover! Over the past month or more, I’ve helped to edit information on Bach Flower Remedies, changed and updated links, added new pages, assisted with iContact email campaigns, modifying paypal buttons, and now am editing recorded audio and placing it on her site for her newest ongoing class called Rose of Light Meditations for Ascension. She also hosts many upcoming workshops, and is a guide for annual Sacred Journeys to Ireland.
For me, it’s been very gratifying to help another healing arts practitioner share their uniqueness and offerings over the web. It’s also been great getting to know her, and to find out how much we have in common. I’m just discovering information about my ancestry – leading me to English and Celtic roots. We even share a love for common music and art, and the need for people to express their true selves in service to the world.
Once, she gave me the honorary title as her “Web Oracle” – and I’m thrilled! I see in her future, very much continued prosperity and sharing over the web! Plus, a new friend in Duluth, MN (me)!
I’m very humbled and privileged to work with this wonderful, healing woman!
Please do visit her website – www.celticfireandfaerie.com.
Recently, I had the privilege to “upgrade” a client of mine’s website from a standard HTML site to Wordpress. This was a great opportunity, because I designed her first site for her as well! I took it as a wonderful learning journey to really see the great power of Wordpress and how various plugins can do “code magic” as I call it.
Mary Chapa of Eliza One, Inc., is a nurse, care-coordinator, energy healing practitioner, and business consultant. She wanted to both upgrade the “look and feel” of her site, as well as start blogging. Once her site was migrated to Wordpress – instead of paying me every time she needed text changes or an additional page added to her site, she’s now learned to do these types of changes and additions on her own through her site’s content management login page.
Please browse her website!
http://www.elizaoneinc.com/
One of the things I love about designing web sites for other people is engaging in the creative process with them. Sheryl M. Snitkin’s site, Urban Admin, seemed to come together so nicely – because she and I were both open to engage that “creativity” together.
I love to email back and forth a lot with clients. It’s a time to bounce ideas back and forth, and it gives me a chance to really understand where someone is coming from when they say words like “professional, but not corporate!”, “faces and diversity”, “And Purple! I love purple!” Sometimes it takes a bit of clarifying – a bit of hand holding – and ultimately, a sense of “interdependence” – because both of us, me and my client, want to get it “just right.” Working with Sheryl was a pleasure, and her site was fun to create as well!
So.. more about Sheryl and Urban Admin. Urban Admin, located in Minneapolis, MN, is in the business of “Virtual Assistance.”
Just what is a Virtual Assistant (VA)?
Imagine all those mundane tasks you have to do to run a business. You need to make handouts for potential clients for a networking event. Maybe there’s a PowerPoint presentation that you need to do for a seminar you’re giving. Oh, and don’t forget that you need to check your voice mail, update client databases, order supplies, fax documents, etc. If you are like me, these tasks get overwhelming, and a person ends up spending half of their time doing these things, when in reality, what should be happening is what needs to be done to bring in revenue.
This is when you need a Virtual Assistant!
So… Take a deep breath – then get those tasks delegated to someone else, and get yourself back to doing what you do best – YOUR BUSINESS!
So, check out her website, and if you need a Virtual Assistant, contact her!
A bit more about the website… Read the rest of this entry »
Recently, two other friends and I have started a venture we call “Hats for Honduras” – http://www.hatsforhonduras.org/ I want to give special props to Tiger Technologies for donating the hosting for our website. They are the best hosting company, hands down, that I’ve ever worked with, and I’m so thrilled that they were touched by this project as well.
Henry in West Palm Beach
Henry became part of our family, and we’ve been invited to visit any time. Hats for Honduras is our fundraising project to fly 3-4 of us to Tegucigalpa, Honduras by 2010 to visit Henry in his native land. We’re looking for donations, of yarn, looms, knitted hats, and money. We’ll send a hand-made knitted hat to anyone who donates. Henry adored the knitted hat made for him by our friend Kristina, and took it with him everywhere – even to West Palm Beach, before boarding a flight from Miami to Honduras.
Our loftiest goals are also to start a friendship exchange program between Duluth, MN and Henry’s community between Tegucigalpa and Juticalpa.
Knitting has been easier on the circular looms for this newbie, but I’m learning a lot, and having fun. I have now made 8 hats!
Read all about our adventures in knitting at the Hats for Honduras Web Site.
I wanted to proudly introduce one of the latest web sites that I’ve had the privilege to help design. Haiku By Two is a daily blog about two friends, Kelly and Alison, who not only have challenged themselves to connect over long distance (one in Minneapolis, the other in New York), but to write a daily Haiku.
The site is built with Wordpress, an open source blogging and content management environment. There were a few tricks that I had to come up with to make the custom banners for each of the sidebar items. But, thanks to some CSS magic and a plugin called Daiko’s Text Widget, I was able to pass php commands through each text widget. I made the title of each text widget a single blank space, changed the text of the sidebar header to a measly 1pixel, and deleted the sidebar header background. After that it was simply inserting Alison’s very beautifully styled banners.
If you like Haiku By Two, give it a read! It’s more than just poetry. It’s art and connection. I’m very proud to have been a part of such a beautiful project!
Greetings!
Very soon a new site will be unveiling!
HolisticGeek.com is the web site for Scott Schumacher – an independent web designer and internet 2.0 consultant. Check back soon for information on:
- Creating a unique web presence
- Internet/EMail/Social Network Marketing
- Blog creation and optimization tools
- Wordpress information and consulting
See you soon!
-Scott Schumacher
Scott Schumacher is an independent web designer, 
