The Blog Spa

Beautiful WordPress Themes for Creatives & Lifestyle Bloggers

Project Showcase : City Style Bar

After working on this for over 4 months, I’m so pleased to announce the website launch for my hair salon client in Utah, USA. City Style Bar is the modern lady’s answer to looking fabulous with signature blowouts, updos and makeup services by top-notch stylists. My client wanted a sophisticated high-end brand website to promote their services as well as the ability for customers to do online scheduling and to purchase gift cards.

SERVICES PROVIDED: Logo & Brand Design / Website Design & Development

Working Drafts For Design

Logo Design

Once design and content are finalized, it’s time to build the website.

Final Website Launch – Time to celebrate! Pass me that glass of wine, will ya?

Check out the live website here.

Are you a new beauty salon owner who needs a premium brand and website, or looking to elevate your existing one? I’m a rare designer and developer hybrid with years of branding experience and I’ll help guide you through this process smoothly and easily. Pls do not hesitate to contact me for a free website consultation and let’s discuss how I can help you!

Behind-The-Scenes: D’Arcy Benincosa’s Blog

Are you curious about working with a web designer? People see the surface and think it’s only about pretty colors and photos but the truth is that it’s a much more elaborate process. Today, I’ll like to demystify the process of working with one so you know what to expect before hiring anyone with your hard-earned money. To do so, I’ll be using my recent blog design project as a case study.

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PROJECT BACKGROUND
My client D’Arcy Benincosa is a wildly successful destination wedding photographer who is also branching out into other areas such as coaching and motivational writing. After helping her to launch a series of international workshops called The Path Workshops, she wanted me to work on revamping her personal blog this time.

STEP 1: DISCOVERY – GOALS & VISION
The first step of every project is always to understand the client’s needs.
Sometimes this is something that the client is able to articulate clearly, sometimes this may not be the case and this is where a designer’s experience and even intuition comes in. Regardless, it is our job as a designer to ask the right questions and listen carefully so we can propose the best solutions. As a starting point, I had D’Arcy fill up a Project Questionnaire for me :

1. What is the main goal/purpose of your new website? ( eg. is this just for personal blogging or business? )
This is the place where I want to talk more about life and business than just the pretty photos on my wedding website. I really want to write more and become a blogger who can give great life and business and travel advice. It’s the space where I really want to attract my biggest readers and have as a home base for my webinar clients to go to and to market my online products and courses.

2. What kind of audience are you hoping to attract? ( eg. demographics, location, attitudes, values )
Think Marie Forleo and B School.

3. What don’t you like about your existing website right now? Is there anything particular you would like to achieve or improve on?
I think it looks outdated with the slider bar at the top and I need to limit the categories. I like the simple white, but I also think it looks generic and I would love to have some type of branding done where I can really have it stand out as me, yet still be simple, elegant and functional.

4. For your navigation, do you want to keep the same categories?
I will simplify these a lot, it’s my goal this week to narrow down exactly what I will be offering.

5. Is there any particular visual style/mood and feel you would like? Pls feel free to send me links of websites that you like.
One of my favorites is: www.goop.com.
Also www.vogue.com and www.kinfolk.com

To make sure we were on the same page, we then set up a Skype chat where we went through her answers together and I had more questions to clarify with her. Doing so left me with a clearer idea of her long-term goals and how it was crucial for her to build a stronger personal brand through her blog – where people do not just associate her as a wedding photographer but also as an up-and-coming business coach and motivational thought leader.

Keep Reading

Project Showcase : Paper Birch Designs

Paper Birch Designs is a boutique studio by Lacy Geary that specializes in handcrafted wedding invitation suites inspired by a deep love of nature, architecture and tradition. Lacy wanted a ‪website‬ for her new business that feels natural and organic, something that isn’t too busy feeling and is easy to navigate. The result was a simple and elegant custom ‪Wordpress‬ website designed and built to match her unique vision and budget.

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Like our readymade themes, this custom website also comes with a responsive design which adapts to all screen sizes no matter whether you are using a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or mobile phone. As the browser window is being resized, notice the change in the navigation menus and the content layout from three columns to one. This not only provides a positive user experience for each device but also improves the mobile SEO, allowing the business to appear in Google search results.

New Service : Fully-Custom WordPress Websites

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Other than premade templates, I’m pleased to announce that The Blog Spa is now accepting fully-custom website design & development projects. I love working with serious and driven creative business owners, bloggers or makers who enjoy clean, simple and stylish design, and who inspire to take their business to a higher level.

Recently I’ve worked with wedding photographer extraordinaire D’Arcy Benincosa and helped to launch The Path Workshops which is an inspiring series of creative and business workshops around the world for lifestyle photographers. Another elegant website to be launched soon this month is a wedding paper goods shop called Paper Birch Designs by the talented wedding stylist Lacy Geary. Do check out these beautiful and easy-to-use websites. If you need one, please do not hesitate to reach out to me for a free consultation to see if we are a good fit for each other.

Lessons I’ve Learnt From My First Year of Business

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Hi everyone, I’m taking a little moment this Good Friday evening to celebrate a business milestone – The Blog Spa is one year old. Around this time last year, I remembered working on this website late at night and actually cried tears of joy when I saw on my laptop screen that all my months of groundwork preparation were finally coming together like a big jigsaw puzzle. That night as I was coding, I just KNEW without a doubt that it was only a matter of time before my WordPress theme shop would transform from a mere thought into reality. Since then, despite not doing much marketing, I’ve sold WordPress themes to customers in USA, Europe and Asia. There’s still lots more work to do ahead but it’s important to take a pause, be thankful and reflect.

I thought I would share with you some of my lessons learnt and experiences during my first year of business at The Blog Spa :
1. Building an online business from ground up, no matter how big or small, is one of the most profound and humbling personal growth experience you can have. Be committed to making it work.
2. Know what makes you happy, define your own meaning of success and do not compare yourself to others.
3. You may not have all the answers now and it’s ok. Start somewhere and keep taking consistent action. Clarity will come from engagement.
4. When selling products, high volume sales matter. It’s a smart idea to build an audience first through blogging and social media marketing before your product launch, or have plenty of budget for advertising.
5. If you don’t have a big pool of audience who’s ready to buy your products – a mistake which I’ve realized a little too late (and I’m sure I’m not the only one!) – get help with sales and marketing as soon as possible. Customer traction does take time so make sure you have alternative sources of income or think of other services you can offer.
6. Distribute your products at as many places as possible. However, it’s good not to rely on third-party marketplaces too much as you need to give them a cut off your profits and you are also vulnerable to their rules which may change often. You also face the issue of being too close to your competitors. Ultimately, it’s important to invest in having your own website as your main base and to build your own unique brand.
7. The very first time someone you don’t know buys your product and leaves you a positive review is one of the most unforgettable and wonderful feelings a business owner can ever have. I heaved a big sigh of relief and literally couldn’t stop smiling the whole day. Of all possible places, my first Blog Spa customer happens to come from Cambridge, MA – a neighborhood close to my heart as I’ve lived and worked there for 4 years in my previous job, what a delightful serendipity!
8. Experimenting with different prices can be insightful – I’ve learnt that lowering my prices doesn’t guarantee sales and that some customers will pay prices even when you may think it’s too high.
9. It’s crucial to know what kind of customers you wish to serve. The clearer you are about it, the easier to market and sell to them, and the more ease you can create for your own business. It’s really a win-win situation for everyone.
10. You know you are on the right path when your business starts to attract ideal clients or customers. Understand their goals and dreams and how you can help them. Always serve them to the best of your ability.
11. The Law of Attraction is powerful!
12. Business-building is a marathon, not a sprint. Remind yourself to be patient and take time out to celebrate every win – big or small.
13. Stay flexible and agile. Expect your business to change and evolve as you gain more knowledge and experience. You are the captain of your ship.
14. Believe in yourself. You can do this!

In the end, it’s more about enjoying the journey than reaching the destination. I wake up on most mornings feeling super motivated, and I know all the hard work I’ve put in is going to be worth it. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and as always, thanks for your support! If you have any suggestions for me to improve my WordPress themes or need a free website design consultation, pls let me know.