Next Steps – Your Digital Home

In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is essential for any business. Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to update your existing website, it can seem daunting. As your web designer, I want to assure you that I’m here to guide you through every step of the process. Let’s break it down into three key areas: creating a website, optimizing for SEO, and developing content. Create a Website The first step is to choose the right website builder. There are many platforms available, and what you use depends on if you already have a website and your business needs. Some essential pages that every website should have are: By working with a web designer you trust, they will help guide you through…

Where Do I Start – Your Digital Presence

Having a digital presence or updating or creating a website can feel like an overwhelming thing and it’s easy for busy small business owners to procrastinate, So many questions! Where do I start? What should I do? The first thing to keep in mind is that if you consistently take even small steps, you will make progress. The fancy term for this is aggregate marginal gains which means, making small, consistent improvements to achieve significant results. Sometimes it’s not as easy as it sounds, but in the next several weeks, I’m going to ask questions and give suggestions that could help you move forward. Define Your Brand What is your business brand? It is more than just a logo or a catchy tagline. It also…

Creativity in Problem-Solving

One of my goals for my blog is to share experiences from my everyday life and how they inspire my work in web design and my business. My business, Pack W Digital Design, is named after my real-life pack, who have been a source of support and inspiration as I honed my skills in Instructional Design and web design. One member of my pack is our senior dog, who is starting to struggle with mobility. He sleeps on his dog bed near me so I can keep an eye on him. Multiple times during the night, he has rolled off his bed and gotten stuck, wedged between his bed and the wall. I’ve woken up to find him wiggling on his back, trying to get…

Small Steps

When I was working as an Instructional Designer, I was the project manager for migrating our department from one Learning Management System (LMS) to another. We had hundreds of courses to move, and part of my job was to “sell” the new system to our instructors. To make things easier for everyone, I adopted a “Small Step” approach. I divided the six-month migration into three distinct blocks, allowing instructors to choose a block for their course migration. During each block, my team of Instructional Designers worked closely with those instructors to transfer their content, tidy it up, and teach them how to navigate the new system. Surprisingly, the migration went much smoother than I ever expected. Even the skeptics in our organization, who had doubts…

The Impact of Thoughtful Planning

One of my goals for this blog is to talk about how my Instructional Design (ID) experience impacts how I work with my Pack W Digital Design clients to help them with their digital presence. This week, I’m also thinking about the importance of planning and how it can impact what you do to move forward. In my work as an ID, I collaborated with a wide variety of instructors to create online courses and to help them solve tech challenges. Many of them were new to online teaching, hadn’t had help when they were developing their past courses and often weren’t confident about their tech skills. One important thing I stressed was doing some initial planning. A big part of the plan was measurable…

Welcome!

Hi and welcome to my blog! I’m so glad you’ve found your way here. This blog is the beginning of something I’ve wanted to do for a while – creating a space to share insights, ideas, and strategies to help small businesses with their online presence. My name is Debra (Dee) Warren and I’m the owner of Pack W Digital Design. I specialize in designing and developing websites that are not only beautiful but also functional, personal, and strategic. My goal is to work with you to either create or update your website so that it feels authentic to who you are, resonates with your audience, and helps you achieve your goals. So, what can you expect from my blog? I’ll share how my approach…