Site Profile Interview with Shari Horne of Sharilyn Horne Business Concepts
by Paul Flyer
The first Site Profile is about a site I found not too long ago. I often pay attention to the bottom of webpages to look for “who created this” kind of info. I came across one of the sites she designed (which was a very solid look and feel) and decided to visit her site. My first thought: Well done. This woman has some pizzazz and personality. Shari Horn is an independent web developer and designer which makes her an ideal candidate for my first Site Profile.
I have placed her own words in blockquotes.
Shari created her first website a decade ago in 1996:
I had a boss who asked me to put some problem sets up on the web - I worked for a math textbook publisher at the time - and I had no idea how to create a web page. He gave me a copy of Claris Home Page to use, but I quickly cast that aside in favor of hand coding. (Those pages are still up at http://mathforum.org/key/nucalc!)
I taught myself everything I could, and I soon created my own personal site. By the fall of 1997 I took a job coding HTML on a site for Apple Computer’s sales channel. I was there for about three years, moving into a role as the Content Production Manager for the same site (managing the HTML coding process by others). I’ve been working for myself since 2000.
I found the process of developing web pages appealed to me on a number of levels…I liked the immediate results I saw, I enjoyed the problem solving aspect of figuring out code problems, and I could be creative in ways I never knew were possible.
Her site, Sharilyn Horne Business Concepts, is the web presence for her business. It is currently in its second incarnation.
I had known for some time that the original site I had developed in 2001 was no longer cutting it. While it was aesthetically pleasing and technically functional, it was not a reflection of me or my approach to my business. I struggled for almost two years before I finally launched my new web presence in August of 2005.
From the to the look and feel to the platform to the content, I approached the process very methodically. If I was going to put myself out there, then it had to be perfect.
The site, obviously, promotes her business.
[the website primarily serves] as a source of information about what I can offer to potential clients.
My blog, Solopreneurial Tendencies, is integrated into the site. In it I
ponder the highs and lows of running my business, how it impacts my life, along with the occasional non-sequitur.
The website itself is her motivation.
My site is the best part of my design portfolio! Having a site that garners so much praise is a huge motivator!
Putting together a website comes with its own set of frustrations. Shari is no exception:
Deciding exactly how I wanted to put it together…I spent over a year just trying to find the right font for the header!
I also decided to put the entire site on the Movable Type platform. I knew a blog would be a big part of the site, and I had seen several sites using MT as a low-end CMS.
Of course, I decided that when I really didn’t know a thing about MT. So the learning curve was a little steep there…
Now that the website is up and running, there are some frustrations with maintaining the site:
For me it’s having the time to update things. I’d like to make some major changes to some of the static content, but I just don’t have the bandwidth.
I also don’t update my portfolio as often as I should. I launch several projects throughout any given month, and it’s always a struggle to try to keep the portfolio up-to-date.
I will be asking each interviewee a series of five questions about their greatest challenges: greatest technical, creative, business, traffic and topic challenges. Here are Shari’s responses to each.
Greatest technical challenge:
Learning Movable Type enough to use it as the platform for my entire site and then rigging it to work the way I wanted it to.
Greatest creative challenge:
I worry that the site is the crowning achievement of my creative life, and I might not be able to come up with anything really cool again…
Greatest business challenge:
Keeping up with all the work I have!
Greatest traffic challenge:
Just getting known once I had launched. Applying all of the information I had gathered.
Greatest topic challenge (her topic being her web development business which is very infused with her own personality):
My topic is me in terms of my business, and my business itself. I don’t always keep things up-to-date as I should.
And maybe her greatest challenge:
I was working with myself, so that was a nightmare at times. I’m very, very picky. Did I mention picky?
We all go through periods of time where the work on our website is going well. Other times where we feel like tearing it down. So I asked Shari about her work ethic:
[I work on the website]…at least 5 days a week, whether it is a blog post or doing some back end maintenance.
I work for myself, and I have a great deal of client work at any given time. Finding time to work on the site can be challenging. I’m working on getting better organized, developing a series of processes for my business, and building in scheduled time to work on the site. It’s important to keep it updated, since that’s the first place most potential clients see me.
Ultimately, is she a disciplined person?
Not as much as I should be. That’s an area for improvement that I’m tackling head-on.
Her goals are simple:
To build and grow my business!
And what about meeting her goals?
I’m definitely meeting them right now. My business is doing quite well. I’m struggling with the growth aspect of things, on how best to expand and bring in support when my business is so much a reflection of me.
Better planning and processes, I think [would help meet those goals].
The questions then turned to writing and the connection between and creating a quality website. I asked whether she considered herself a good writer:
Yes. I have a number of years of writing and editorial experience, and I’ve offered content development services in the past. (Yes, it’s still on my site…grrrrrr)
I think the ability to express oneself in writing is very important, especially when you have a site that is content-rich. If you’re going to put yourself out there and expect people to read what you’ve written, you have a responsibility to be thought-provoking or witty or at the very least readable.
On improving her own writing:
I read a lot. I was a total library nerd as a kid. I always take notes when I come across something I’d like to address, whether through my static content or my blog.
I keep a dictionary, The Chicago Manual of Style, and Strunk & White’s Elements of Style within easy reach of where I sit. I don’t even need to stand up to get any of those books down, so I have no excuse NOT to look something up.
Once a website is up and running, we are want that T word. Traffic. Her thoughts:
I have the great fortune of getting wonderful referrals from some fairly high-profile folks in my niche (life coaches and other solo professionals), so I have a steady flow of traffic.
Of course I’d like more! I need to practice what I preach to my clients and be on top of visiting and commenting to other blogs.
Finally, three final bits of advice to beginners:
The job is never finished…there is always something that needs to be updated, added to. Make sure you have the ability (or can retain someone who does) to keep your site up-to-date.
If you’re not a good writer, get someone who is to look over your initial content. Just running spellcheck doesn’t cut it…there are people who judge how you express your ideas, and the mechanics of the content, and one of them could hold the key to bigger and better things.
Make sure your content is a reflection of who you are. The original site for my business gave no hint at anything about me or my personality. The goal for this site was to be as authentic as possible. I knew that would turn some folks off, because I have a “big” personality. I decided being true to myself was more important, and that I probably wouldn’t want to work with someone turned off by my site anyway!
I want to thank Shari for giving her time to write her responses to my questions. I will post tomorrow with a few reflections and summary of some of her sound advice.
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[...] As I read over Shari’s responses in the interview, three things stood out to me. [...]
September 6th, 2006 at 12:14 pm