Welcome to my new blog… well, not so much new, but re-invented!
This is still unofficial - let’s just call it a soft launch. I’m very happy with it overall, but I realized this morning that there are some display issues with Safari on the PC, and apparently also on just about everything on a Mac.
Key phrase = soft launch… aka please pardon the dust!
Thanks Jon for pointing out the Mac issue as well! I’ve got a temporary fix, but it interferes with the footer. That’s secondary, though, so that will have to wait until tomorrow…
I’m pretty sure that I’ll end up spending a good amount of time troubleshooting that over the weekend. Hopefully it is a quicker fix than expected, though. It’s so strange… I’m used to IE being the one to cause me trouble. 
Aside from the footer issue, there are a few minor design tweaks (font and spacing issues) that I’ll be updating over the weekend, as well. I’ve ported over many of the posts from the original blog, but still have a few more that I want to add to the mix, too. Overall, though, this is mostly finished.
And then there was one…
So, long story short, what I did was essentially merge all of my sites into one.
It was a bit much to keep up with three entirely separate web sites - the business web site vs personal web site vs personal blog. By the way… you can check out the new iDesign Studios web site here, and can read the announcement here.
Now, this blog is still technically separate from the main company web site that officially launched this morning. While the main site and blog share the same domain name, and the blog links back to the web site… the web site does not yet link to the blog.
More questions on identity…
I’ve actually been flip-flopping on whether I should link the main site to the blog or not. Certainly not while I’m having the browser compatibility issues, lol, but even afterwards, I haven’t made a final decision yet.
My thoughts on this are in reference to how a semi-personal/semi-business blog will look in the eyes to some clients or potential clients who find me through the main site, rather than through the blog.
While some people DO want to get to know the person behind a company - such as through a blog and other social networking means - not everyone might feel the same way. Not that I give out too many personal details on here, but from time to time, I’ll share a cute story about my daughter, for example. Some people might want nothing to do with that, and might look down upon me for it because all they wanted was someone who is 100% business all of the time.
The fact that this is actually a side business might turn off potential clients, as well. Not that this being a side business makes me any less professional or less dedicated. I am a web designer and developer in my full time job as well - which goes to show how much I love what I do. It just means that I have different hours than most (though I think my hours are very similar to those of many bloggers that I follow, or readers to this blog, etc.)
Most likely, I’m over thinking things and am overly concerned for nothing… I’m just having a tough time with fully integrating my business-self with my personal-self.
LOL, even on this blog, I’ve got a category for iDesign Studios News which is written in my business tone of voice - as opposed to a post like this one which is clearly me rambling off the top of my head… That’s why I decided to use the “posted by” tag on these posts, so you can see which of my personalities is writing, lol.
Gee, that didn’t make me sound just a bit bizarre did it?
Of course, it’s not like someone couldn’t Google my name and find this blog (not yet of course, as it’s brand spankin’ new… but once I do some SEO…). This is fine, of course - it is publicly available after all - I just notice that I get a completely different type of visitor to the business site vs the blog. It all depends on what someone is searching for when they find me.
Where this blog is headed…
So anyway, that being said, welcome again to the soft launch of my new blog! I will still be doing the link posts where I highlight great web sites, blogs and other resources that I come across when surfing the web. I won’t be posting on a schedule, which will be nice! I’ll just post as I find anything interesting that I think would be helpful to my readers.
I do also plan to write more original / quality posts this time around, as well. Initially, I will say at least 1-2 really good posts a month, though I would like it to be more frequent, at least once a week. We’ll see how that goes. You might just end up with a lot of rambly posts like this one for a while.
Overall, though, this blog will focus on topics relating to:
With a few posts with news and updates about my company, and some cute family stories thrown in for fun, every once in a while:
Can I have some feedback with that, please?
So, I have to say thank you for checking out my new web site and blog!
Please do let me know what you think of it all - both in terms of the design and layout, as well as content, etc. All feedback is greatly appreciated.
Yes, both positive and/or negative comments welcome!
I’m also curious on your thoughts as to whether or not the main web site should link back to this blog or not? What do you do for your own web site(s)?
And don’t forget to Subscribe!
With this being an introductory post to the new blog - and me currently being my only subscriber, LOL - I have to ask… if you followed me on the old blog, or just like what you see here so far, please Subscribe!
FREE subscriptions to this blog come in two lovely varieties:
And as an added bonus, you can also:
LOL, you can’t blame a girl for trying, right?
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