Closing up this Class

              Throughout the course of this class, I have learned a lot about running an online business. I am not completely sure that it is a good route for me. Each week the information provided was new and a bit overwhelming. I am excited to have a website to share information about my sewing classes and what I do. So, this was a great asset to learn. It was also a great asset to learn that online business isn’t my cup of tea. 

               Working with Google Ads was probably what put me over the edge. Trying to get the whole process rolling and understand the ins and outs of it was a lot for me. Learning all the things that Google Analytics can do was very interesting. I didn’t realize that you can track such detailed information. It can tell you which search engine consumers are using to find you, whether they are male or female and which age group they belong to. It also can tell you if they are on their computer or their mobile device.

               As I work with my website, making sure that it is up to date and has good content, this information will be helpful in knowing if my target audience is coming or if it is a different audience altogether.

Social Media

          This week’s focus was on social media. We all have had experience with social media. Sometimes it is good and other times it isn’t. For example, the only experience my husband has with social media is what I show him when I am on it, and he strongly dislikes it. He dislikes it so much that he didn’t even get a Facebook account so that he can see our daughter’s posts as a missionary. I know many people that have similar feelings about social media. Their experience has been that it consumes too much of their time or it is too depressing. So, they choose not to use it. These people make it hard to reach them.

I love it when the parents of the kids I teach are on social media. It makes communication so much easier. I also feel like it makes it easy for them to spread the word. I have had such a great experience with my parents and word of mouth advertising. My social media makes it easy for these parents to show their friends that I am reputable and that we have fun in my classes. I am grateful for the experiences I have had with social media. I also have learned ways to increase my audience and improve the reach I have.

You can find me on Instagram @jennylousews and Facebook at Sewing with Jenny Lou.

A Breakthrough

 

This week I had a breakthrough! I had been struggling to get impressions and clicks from my Google Ad. I thought that I had set up my ad completely wrong. I felt super silly when I realized that my problem was that I had the dates set wrong. I was super grateful that it was such a simple fix!

Now that I have figured that part out, it is time to increase my clicks and make some conversions. To do that I have a few adjustments to make to my website. I plan to adjust the header on my site so that the header is not the only thing seen when you go to my page.

I also will be adjusting the way you can sign up for a class. I need to have an easy-to-use calendar. It is hard to see when classes are offered. These little tweaks to the site will make it more user friendly which in turn creates more conversions.

Creating and Running a Website

           This adventure of creating and running a website has really morphed over the course of just a few weeks. I began with a website that I built using a website builder. Thank you, website builders! I am still very confused about HTML coding. Now that this site has been live for a week or so, I am getting wonderful feedback from friends on how to adjust and improve what I am trying to accomplish. The site is built but still has a long way to go before it is effectively functional how I want it. The learning curve has been challenging. I know what I want the website to do, but I don’t know how to make it do that.

The requirements for my site and this class have been challenging for me as well. At first, I wanted to get the word out about my sewing classes and get enrollment. Then I realized that my schedule is already packed and I need to keep my enrollment down for the time being. So, I shifted my focus to my missionary pillowcases and my friend’s missionary quilts. They are already set up on Etsy and Big Cartel, so I figured getting traffic to them through my website would work for the assignment.

Not having clear focus on what my goals are, have made this very difficult. How the website is built changes with the goals. I will probably not make any money during the course of this class, but I have learned SO much!

Quality Score and Relevance

           Quality score is a tool that is provided to give you an idea of how your advertisements might perform. The thing that is important to remember when looking over the quality score of your advertisements is that it isn’t based on actual performance. I appreciate that there is guidance on this so that I know where improvements can be made.

Part of the quality score is relevance. Relevance can make or break your ad. Your keywords and phases need to be relevant to the product that you are promoting. Consumers will be using the internet to search for what they are interested in. My product happens to be what they are looking for, so my keywords and phrases need to be what they are entering into their search engine. My best way to do this is to think like the consumer. Pretend I am the one needing and searching for my product.

It was great to hear the perspectives of my classmates on this topic and learn from them.

Refocusing

 

This week was focused on fine tuning my Google ad. Last week I was feeling very confused about the headlines, descriptions, and extensions. I am still not sure how to designate the headlines.

               I think some of my confusion and struggles came from a lack of focus. Building a website to gain awareness about my classes is super exciting, but I have some fears. I am worried about keeping up with the interest that it could present. I haven’t even run an ad and I don’t seem to have time to keep up with the interest. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited about building my business. But I still have four semesters of school left and a family to keep up with.

               I have settled a little bit and tried to focus my efforts, which results in focus toward my website and my ads. Ready or not, here we go! I ready for the adventure!

Ad Campaigns

           This week’s topics were based around running an ad campaign through Google Ads. I began to develop my ad campaign and it was very daunting. I didn’t know what many of the things they wanted meant. I will just say, I am very grateful that we didn’t have to run the campaign yet. It will allow me to tweak a few things to make it more effective. As it stands, I look like I don’t know what I am doing (and I really don’t).

The discussion around key words was very interesting. It is important to get your keywords correct. They are what bring people to your site and bring awareness of your brand. As I build my business, I am seeing how these keywords are like word-of-mouth advertising. I have appreciated learning how to use Google’s Keyword planner. It comes up with things that I would never have thought to use as well as information regarding how often people search for specific keywords. This information is invaluable as I am fine tuning my Google Ads Campaign.

And Back to Overwhelmed

    Legal structures, licenses, taxes and websites. It is all swirling in my head and I haven't had time to sort it all out. I do feel like I am a step ahead as I have already procured a business license for my local city. In my research, to establish credibility for banking purposes, I need to file for a "doing business as" name. I was unable to secure a "business" checking account because I don't have a DBA. So, my checking account for my business is a personal account and I must make sure that I keep my personal finances and my business finances separate. Filing for a DBA is now on the to-do list.

    Building my website has been fun and challenging. I have never done something like this before so when I come across something that I am unsure of I get stuck and frustrated. For instance, I was feeling good about how the site was coming together…then I tested the preview. When I book a class, I haven’t been able to figure out how to modify the page it takes you to. The colors are all wrong and you can’t read the text. I am sure I will figure it out, but in the meantime I need to do some more research.

Overwhelmed Turns to Excitement

     This week was very beneficial for me. I was able to visualize how to I am going to build a website for my teaching business. Seeing some examples of websites that meet the requirements for the class was the best help for me. Jumping in and exploring some of the templates that are available made it that much clearer. Where I was feeling so overwhelmed by the whole process (the hosting and site builder is still confusing to me), I am beginning to feel excitement.

    I started teaching a new set of beginning students this morning. It was so much fun! That, combined with the new confidence I am feeling, is a wonderful push for this website to be successful and provide communication to my students and their parents (most of my sewing students are kids).

    I still have a lot to learn and work on to make this a successful venture, but I am excited to see where this journey takes me.

Web Hosting and Site Building

    This week we discussed web hosting and site builders. We were speaking a whole language and it was very overwhelming. Some hosts are also site builders. Some bundle the cost all together and others don’t. Some work with Google Analytics and offer advertising credits. Others don’t.

    I am grateful that I have classmates asking questions and doing their own research. Their insights as well as my own research are helping me sort it all out. Now, I need to decide which one (or more) fit my needs the best. There lies the next problem. What are my needs? What business have I decided to build a website for and promote?

    I teach kids how to sew (sometimes adults too, but kids are what I am good at) and have been using Facebook as my website. This has been working but not super effectively. I would like to build a website around my teaching business. This would feature details about the classes I am offering as well as allow a student to sign up for the class and pay for it. I would like to reach an audience that I can’t reach through social media.

Money and the Internet

         This week our study and discussions were about different types of online businesses and how to choose suppliers, etc. It has been interesting and eye-opening. I knew that there was money to be made on the internet and that lots of people are successful at it. Wrapping my head around that and seeing it in a way that I could be successful doing it has always been daunting. It makes more sense now and something that I might actually be able to do.

        As I do more study and narrowing things down, it appears that an affiliate program would be a great place for me to begin. But that requires an audience, traffic to my website. In the back of my head, I keep hearing, why would someone what to visit your site? What do you have to offer that someone else hasn’t already put out there? I guess that is where marketing comes in, creating content that is interesting and that people will take time out of their busy lives to engage with.

        I have a lot to learn! I have a hunch that this class is going to be a grand adventure!

New Year, New Class

I find it interesting that a second class in my college experience uses blog posting as part of the assignments. I guess that comes with the online college experience. This new class is called Web Business Creation. I am really excited about it and also really intimidated by it. Thank goodness the class takes you step by step, week by week.

For a long time, I have wanted to connect my sewing life with an income, discovering how I could make a living using my passion. I have had thoughts and ideas but haven’t been successful at settling on what will be the best option. I am excited that this class will help me to simplify and narrow down the world wide web.

This week the discussion was based around business models, demand and competition. We were introduced to resources such as Google Ads. This was very beneficial to me. I have been exploring it and learning how it works and how I can use it to work for me. 

This is going to be a great ride and I am holding on tight!