Have you ever launched a new web site? I have. Six or seven times now. It’s really hard. It plays with your sense of timing. You think it will never be done or ready, right up until the minute it goes live.
And then, suddenly, it’s there in the world, and it doesn’t seem like a big deal at all. Oh, that little site? Yeah, it was nothing.
This is all to say: my new web site is live! (Technically, it's been live for a while, but I had to switch hosts because of technical issues, so it didn't quite "feel" live until all of that got ironed out.)
I’m biased, but I love it! I had a lot of help with it—which is to say other people did all of it. My colleague, Jason Huck, designed and developed the site. (Jason used to own the agency Core Five, but now he is a manager at Michelman.) He used ProcessWire, which is a wonderful content management system. It is so much better than WordPress—no stupid plugins, and I don’t have to worry that it will crash with every update.
My colleague, Steve Werling (he works at another agency), tweaked my brand look, sassing it up a bit. Steve is also the brilliant videographer behind my Create Extraordinary Content video on the home page. Oh, and he designed my new eBook, called Extraordinary Brand Storytelling for Extraordinary Content Marketers. I had Anita, who owns Precision Editing Services, edit the book for me (the older I get, the more I appreciate good editors). I'm proud of this little book, and believe it can be a good resource for anyone charged with brand storytelling, so check it out (you'll see it on the home page; you have to sign up for my list to get it, but if you are already on this list, just put your email in again, and I promise you won't get duplicate emails).
Having a new site—especially one that is mobile-friendly—makes me feel more grown up. That is saying something, since I am fast approaching 43. It’s less about age than about confidence. Most of us who are creative solo-practitioners have to keep reinventing what we do to keep up with changing needs and landscapes.
I’m always Judi, but this new site makes me feel good about how I present what I do to the world.
So, thank you, to the village that helped me get this sucker live.