Posts tagged website
How come the Homeworking Book page is now Work from Home Book?
Aug 12th
Judy Heminsley's Work from Home book
If you’ve visited the site before, you might have noticed I’ve made some changes recently. Some much-needed changes, as I’ve been neglecting the site over the last few months to concentrate on promoting Work from Home.
I’m now working on increasing visitor numbers by researching keywords and adding audio and video clips. So that’s why some of the pages have changed their names (eg Homeworkers’ Rooms to My Home Office) and the free guide to overcoming isolation has been given a new provisional title of Beating the Homeworker Blues. Should you have generously linked to the site, you’ll need to check in case your links need updating following these changes.
I have to admit to being a bit of a reluctant web builder. It doesn’t come naturally, but when I put my mind to it, I’m always amazed by how addictive it becomes. I find it very satisfying to see the results up there on the screen, and it’s so fulfilling when ideas start to flow. As with many activities, the crucial part is getting started. Once you’ve done that, the momentum builds up on its own.
I hope you like the changes. There are more on the way, and some new content to add. But for now it’s back to the Google Keyword Research Tool – I sound like a real IT expert, don’t I?
Eating my hat
May 5th
I’ve already written about the learning curve I’m on, developing this site, and how we’ve discovered it’s not so simple after all to take photos that look good within the overall design. I also wrote in the introduction to the book how much I dislike those stock homeworking photos you see in the media of models sitting on white sofas tapping on laptops.
So I didn’t expect to find myself, not only not getting rid of the stock photos on the Home page and 6 Secrets page, as I thought I would when I took over the site, but actually buying more for the new pages I’m planning! Like the one on this post.
An important part of the brief I gave to the web designer was that the site should be clean and clear, with easy navigation. Do I think he’s achieved that? I certainly do, and the feedback I’m getting shows other people think so too.
What I hadn’t appreciated was how much the stock photos are part of the overall design, until we tried replacing them with photos of me doing homeworker-type things. My intention was to make the site more personal, but in fact it just looked messy and amateurish.
So I have decided to go with the photos Tony chose, and use more of the same people on other pages. They are clean and clear, just like the rest of the site, and continue the colour theme. I also hope they aren’t too ‘model-ish’. Some photographers seem to think that if you plonk an impossibly good-looking model at a table with a laptop and a mug, the photo shouts ‘working from home’. Nope, it shouts ‘irritating model with stupid grin pretending to work from home, how dim do you think I am?’
There will be photos of me on various pages, and of course photos of your workspaces, but that is a different kind of page entirely. I hope my posts and your comments will make the site the friendly, down-to-earth and practical resource for homeworkers that I intended the book to be.
And Another
Mar 18th
I’ve added another page, this time one that’s not immediately obvious. Move your cursor over Work From Home Book and you’ll see Other Home Working Books appear. Reading has always been one of my favourite pastimes and this is a selection of my current favourites, some to help with work and others purely for relaxation. Do any of your own favourites appear, or are there any must-reads I really should know about?
New Page!
Mar 16th
I’m delighted to have added the new page on homeworkers’ rooms, as promised a few days ago – just click on Homeworkers’ Rooms on the green menu bar above. Many thanks to the people who have started the page by sending me their photos and descriptions.
I hope you find them interesting and will send in your own so that the collection comes to reflect the amazing breadth and brilliance of homeworkers! I’m sure I can’t be the only one who is fascinated to know how and where other people work. I aim to add one every few days so come back soon to find out who has a sea view when they’re working…
Homeworking Rooms
Mar 10th
A friend has come up with the brilliant idea of having a page showing the spaces we work in at home, whether that’s an office, workshop, shed, studio, garage, attic, kitchen table or whatever.
If you’d like to feature on the page, please email me a photo of your workspace or something in it such as your desk, the view, a collection of treasured objects etc, along with a few words on what you like (or dislike) about it, your first name, occupation and your URL. I hope we will all get some inspiration about what works in a homeworking workspace, as well as promote ourselves as the site becomes better known.
I’m waiting for some photos at the moment – everyone I ask wants to tidy up first! I’ll put the page up when I’ve collected a few, and I’m looking forward to seeing where you work.
Wading Through Treacle
Feb 23rd
Much as I love the benefits of working from home, I can’t deny there are days when you feel like you’re wading through treacle. Today was such a day. We spent lots of time taking photos intended for the website, but when we got them onto the computer and into the right size, they just didn’t look good on the screen. (OK, photographers, stylists and designers, that’s exactly why you’ve invested all that time in your training, and now I appreciate how much effort goes into the end result!)
On a day like today I have to keep reminding myself that it wasn’t all a waste of time, it is a process of learning, and if we hadn’t gone through it, we wouldn’t know what we know tonight. But it still feels like a frustrating lack of progress. And maybe it’s no coincidence that today I haven’t left the house…
