Yes, I am in the process of revamping my main website (grahamstrong.com) and plan to move this blog there in the coming days. It is part of my quest to streamline and simplify my services.
I have many hats to wear in my business: several writing specialties, website designer, basic layout and design, etc. I thought that branching out in my websites would be useful as well, creating one for each specialty.
In theory this is a great practice. But rather than underline a specialty, this approach seemed to cause confusion. One design client of mine wanted to know where he could find a good writer, and was skeptical that I would be able to do the job myself…
So now I’ve come full circle, advertising myself as a writer first, and offering many “value-added” services where required. Besides, my original website was sorely in need of a change. It has served me well for years, but now I’ve created a more minimalistic design. A sneak peek is available here if you are interested.
Lastly, Happy Thanksgiving to all you Canadian readers! We had our turkey and pie last night — I still haven’t eaten since! Woke up to this great graphic from Google to celebrate the day:
Mmm, pumpkin pie. Best. Dessert. Ever.
~Graham
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Kelly@SHE-POWER (2 comments.) says:
Love the new design, Graham. I didn’t even know you did websites. I’ve been wanting a redesign over at SHE-POWER for awhile, but I’ve been unsure what exactly and I have loads of expenses this time of year so it will have to wait for now. I’ve made a few changes myself this past weekend, but when I want to finish the job I might just have to give you a shout.
And I know what you mean about the client being sceptical about cross skills because of initial perceptions. I only do copy writing part time from home while mothering now and I don’t particularly look for work, so I tend to work with regulars. They know my work and mostly it’s copy writing and copy editing, but recently one of my clients told me that he’d consulted with some hotshot marketer (my old job) and regaled me with all this guy’s wisdom. I was stunned he paid the exorbitant fees for this guy when most of what he told my client, I had been mentioning for the past two years! But because it came out of a guy in a suit with a fancy office, it was suddenly something to admire and listen to. I was annoyed with myself that I hadn’t pushed to draw up an official marketing plan for his business and got the dollars for myself, and I was annoyed with him because he was too stupid to see that after all the help I’ve given him in structuring his business that he wouldn’t ask me to do the job for him.
As I learned many years ago in marketing, perception is everything. So I think it’s a good diea what you’re doing. It’s important to highlight your diversity and promote ALL your skills with confidence.
Kelly
Kelly@SHE-POWER’s last blog post..SHE-POWER Fiction: A Taste of Eve
Graham Strong says:
Hi Kelly,
Thanks! I like the new design, though it certainly takes a lot from this (strongwhitepapers.com) design. The few extra bells and whistles make the difference, I think!
It’s interesting the way you put that, about the “suit” being listened to more than you. If it’s any consolation, I think that the suit was likely paid a high consulting fee, so it’s the *money* that is being listened to, not the suit. Give someone free advice, and they won’t take it as seriously as much as a $3,000 business review… I know that if I was spending that much money, I’d be very interested in the result.
I tend to do the same thing as you though — I’ll throw out ideas to my clients that perhaps I should put into a bigger (and paid for!) marketing plan. I guess I just look at it as one of my “value-added” services.
Funny you mention perception — I’m developing a blog series on that very topic. I was going to launch the first one yesterday, but wanted to let everyone know about the move instead. Look for it tomorrow though!
Thanks for dropping me a note!
~Graham
Kelly (31 comments.) says:
Graham,
Love the blues and the simplicity. Very nice redesign.
Looking forward to your take on perception, too–that’s one of my favorite topics!
Regards,
that other Kelly 
Kelly’s last blog post..Why We Muddle Through—and What to Do About It
Graham Strong says:
@That Other Kelly — wow, that’s weird — I was commenting on your blog when the notification for your post came through! Guess when you blog long enough, that’s gonna happen…
Anyway, thanks for the compliments! I really liked how this is turning out. I’ve just been working on the content this morning, after taking a break from redoing the WP template so that the blog is seamless with the rest of the site. (Actually, it won’t be, but it will be close enough to mollify the perfectionist in me…)
Now all I have to do is transfer the data, repoint some pointers, and I should be ready to go (he said naively…)
It is a very long take on perception, which is why I’ve broken it up. And actually, I’ve linked to you in the first installment because you talk about perception so well.
I’ll be reviewing it one more time today before I finally post!
~Graham
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