A touch of webdesign

Sometimes, to do our job well, we need a little knowledge in other areas.  Being versatile and able to work on different fronts enables us to achieve a better outcome for ourselves and for our small businesses.

It is impossible to think of a small business without a presence on the Internet. We live in the technology era, where everything happens online. Some businesses stick to social media, but for most, a website provides them with the exposure they need. But having a website can be very expensive, and some of us cannot afford those costs.

This is certainly the case at Updated Words. We need a website where we can provide detailed information about us and the services we provide. But, as a small business we are, our budget is very limited and therefore we need to be creative.

Since we started in 2008, we’ve always been responsible for the creation and content of our website. It has had many versions over the years, and all those versions were the product of many hours of study of web-development, in order to make each version better and more professional.

Over the last year, I’ve done a few courses to enable me to work with the very popular WordPress platform. I wasn’t very keen at first, since I have some knowledge of HTML and CSS languages and I would like to create a website from scratch, as I have done in previous versions. However, after a few days experimenting with WordPress, I must admit I’m completely converted.

The great thing about WordPress is that you don’t need to be a programmer, or have any knowledge of programming languages to be able to create a very good website. The platform provides you with several useful plugins that will help you create your website the way you want it. Yes, there are templates. That was the feature that put me off in the beginning, but you can work with your templates and make them the way you wanted.

In these two courses, both from Udemy, I have learnt a lot about WordPress and how to make my website look better, safer and more professional. I see this as an important part of my professional development since being able to update and modify my website is a very important part of my business.

This way, I was able to have my website regularly backed up, I could have it in two languages, I could create the menus I wanted, have my forms to collect the type of information I needed and even install an SSL Certificate that will make it safer for me and for my clients. Even though I’m not a web developer nor I intend to be, I believe this is a very important skillset to have. I certainly recommend to everyone who has a small business and would like to have a simple, professional good-looking website to show their products or services to possible clients.

Cátia