Stefan Mischook
November 13, 2017
There are lots of advantages to starting your own home business; you can be your own boss, you can set your own hours and you can decide on the direction of the company.
These benefits are part of the reason why so many people are leaving their full time jobs to become self-employed; every year over half a million Canadians become self-employed, with many of them choosing to run websites and home businesses. But how do you actually build a successful home business? From buying a domain name and setting up a website to learning marketing skills, there are a few essential things that you should do if you want to start a home business that will succeed.
Use surveys to learn more about your business
If you want to start a home business it is likely that you already have an idea; maybe you’ve already built a website for potential customers to check out – but either way it can be useful to use online paid surveys to find out more about what your target audience think about your services or website. This is because it will give you an insight into the mind of your customers, making it easier for you to alter and improve your website so that clients find them more appealing.
It is worth noting that there are a few illegitimate survey websites online, so you should make sure to use an online paid survey comparison site for reliable results.
Set up a quality website
One of the main reasons small businesses fail is due to poor marketing – and it is very difficult to have an effective marketing campaign if you don’t have a website. Millions of people use the internet as their main tool to find businesses and companies, so if you don’t have a website you could be missing out on thousands of customers.
However, a standard website probably won’t be enough; there are over 1 billion websites online, so you will need a high quality website if you want yours to stand out among the others.
How to make your website stand out
If you want to make sure that your website stands out it needs to be easy for users to use. This means it should be optimized for all devices, including mobile, and it should have clear and simple navigation links, as well as quick loading times. Today, most websites are ultra fast and slick, so a slow, clunky website will be very off-putting to users. It is also important to have a solid web design that is visually appealing and uncluttered.
Set up social media pages and a social media strategy
Social media is another vital marketing tool for businesses, and it can be a great way to build up extra revenue, so if you haven’t already you should set up business pages on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. After all, checking social media is in the top three online activities for Canadians!
However, that isn’t all; you also need a strong social media strategy to help you reach new audiences and engage with customers. Try to aim to post on each website at least a few times a week, and it can be useful to vary your content if you have different target audiences using different platforms. Anyone can build a home business if they put the time and effort in. It is also important to embrace the internet as a marketing tool, as this is the one of the best ways for you to reach new customers without spending too much money.
By: Lucy Wyndham
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November 13, 2017
I got this question recently:
Love the YouTube channel, I just wondered what your thoughts on Webflow are? Will it spell the end of web development as we know it (coding) or will developers have to adopt a more visual approach to building a website with such as platforms like Webflow? I realise that the system is built for designers, however without the need for a developer on a platform such as this, the code is seminally marked up, they keep increasing the features capability and complexity, I ask the question where do we fit in if platforms like this become very popular?
My answer:
I don’t see it as a threat – it is a tool.
A big part of modern web design and development goes WAY beyond code:
- Site aesthetic design – pre code design if you will
- UX – making the site EASY to use
- Information design / architecture, if you will. WHAT to place on the site
- Setting up the domain, hosting … the basic mechanics of it
- Tweaking – I’ve always found that no matter how good the tool, you will need to know code to tweak it
- Then there is consulting on social media strategy, content marketing strategy
- Finally, the websites function: do they need an e-commerce setup, wordpress, etc …
So Webflow, if it works as perfectly, can help automate the process and perhaps shift your time allocation (meaning you’ll write less code,) but you will still have plenty of work to do as a web designer/developer.
This is nothing new. In the early 2000’s, we did lots of stuff as web designer / developers that we no longer have to do because of better tools … and it’s a good thing!
Regardless of the tools that come out, it’s still good to know the code behind the pages and to learn how to put things together, because it will make you life easier as a web professional and even as a small business owner.
Stef
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September 28, 2017
Python is one of the most popular programming languages used today because of its’ simple syntax, and because it is a general purpose programming language. You see Python used in many areas:
- Web app development
- Ai and ML (machine learning)
- Server operations
- Data sciences
- Robotics
New programmers have many choices in terms of Python programming careers. But Python alone is not enough for most of these career options, they all require supporting skills. For example, if you wanted to get into web development with Python, besides having to learn a Python web framework like Django or Flask, you will need to learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
… The good thing is that learning the web languages (HTML, CSS, JavaScript,) will be pretty easy for properly trained Python programmers.
Each of the above mentioned Python specializations (Ai, web development, data sciences etc …) all require different skills, and so each has their own career path to follow.
I cover these career paths and provide a step-by-step guide in my Python course that takes total beginners, and makes them into Python programmers. My students love the course.
Thanks!
Stefan Mischook
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September 27, 2017
PHP is probably the best web app development language out there today for a bunch of reason technical, and market oriented. But it’s not the only language out there and it doesn’t have a monopoly of good programming.
Comparing Programming Languages
An important lessons that my 20+ years of programming experience has taught me, is that one of the best ways to learn one programming language, is to learn another! By learning different programming languages, you will start to gain deeper insights about your first programming language.
You can read the rest on killerphp.
Stef
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September 25, 2017
Hi!
I produce videos almost daily for my vlog, and for my education videos. To spice things up, I would run around my city to try and take interesting video to splice in. I can get good video footage, but the time it takes is not worth it given how affordable Videoblocks.com is: only $149 for the entire year!
… And let’s face it, there are only so many interesting places close by to take video. Videoblocks has a huge selection for a simple (no hassles) yearly fee, and no worries about copyrights! Some the highlights:
- Get studio-quality stock for a fraction of the cost with VideoBlocks.
- Download all the stock video your heart desires from their Member Library, including HD footage, After Effects templates, motion backgrounds, and more.
- Plus, get exclusive discounts on millions of additional Marketplace clips, where you save 40% and the original artists take home 100% of the sale price.
- All content is royalty-free so you can use it for commercial and personal projects.
- New clips are added regularly so there’s always something fresh to download.
- We’re giving away 7 days of free VideoBlocks so you can try it out and get access to these huge discounts on their massive video library
Try a 7 day free trial at videoblocks.com/killersites (and if you like, sub up at 84% off!) … start downloading and get started today!
Check out my review video:
In interest of full transparency, this is a sponsored ad. But, I would not promote it if I didn’t think it was really good!
Stef
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September 5, 2017
This is a typical email we get from teachers:
“Hi, I have to teach a web design class but I don’t know much about code. Can you help?”
We sure can! Many teachers have come to us not knowing much about code, and so StudioWeb has been developed over the last 7 years, to be easy to use … even for teachers who don’t know code.
The most popular of our courses are the foundations languages used to build all websites and web apps:
Between the hundreds of video lessons, 1000 quiz questions (+ code challenges), and the 57 projects … you will have more than enough material to keep your students busy and engaged.
“… Students really enjoy the courses in part, because they quickly see that they are writing real code. The fact that the lessons are funny, helps a lot too!”
Phone and email support are free, and you get to speak to the course creator directly!! Feel free to contact us, and we will help you get your web design class up and running quickly.
Stefan
StudioWeb
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August 22, 2017
In the old days, we had to go to Photoshop (or some other image editor) to create rounded PNG or GIF files, to create images that were round. Now you can do this with simple CSS3 applied to your image:
style="border-radius: 50%;"
This is what my picture looks like without the CSS:
This is just one small example, where CSS3 makes much of what we used to do with Photoshop in web design, obsolete. If you want to learn CSS3, my CSS course in my IWD package will teach you fast!
Stef
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August 14, 2017
Happy to announce that StudioWeb is entering its’ 7th year!! Check out the new short facebook promo:
If you want to learn how you can inspire your students, check out StudioWeb.com
Stef
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August 10, 2017
Getting your web design class up and running is easy with StudioWeb.
The steps are:
- We set up your StudioWeb classroom(s), where each student gets their own user ID.
- Teachers give students their IDs, and they log in and start with the HTML course.
- As your students watch the videos and answer quiz questions, the StudioWeb software tracks their progress auto generating grades for you by course, chapter and even the lesson!
- You have the option to assign them projects that we provide. The projects start on ch3 of the HTML course.
- We have a total of 57 projects between the HTML,CSS and JavaScript courses. Each project bound to a chapter in a course.
- We provide an easy to use grading rubric for the projects. Even teachers who don’t know code, can accurately assess student work with help of the grading rubric. Using the projects is optional, since the StudioWeb auto grading is very accurate.
It is practically impossible for students to get stuck on a lesson, given how the StudioWeb app and courses are designed. But, if ever a question should come up (and you don’t have an answer,) the course creator (Stefan) will be able to answer questions the same day.
… I make it a point to be in contact with teachers. I am able to do this since we get so few questions!
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Stefan Mischook
StudioWeb
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August 5, 2017
If you are going to learn web design, you will need to learn about hosting and domain names. Get your domain name (website address) before someone else does! Get hosting today for as little as $2.26/month. Less than the cost of a good cup of coffee!
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