One of the things that most inspires me is helping people to understand subjects that they previously thought beyond them. I love watching (or hearing about) someone go from feeling helpless in the face of a subject they initially consider difficult to feeling competent and empowered when they successfully learn something or complete a challenging task.

So many people have blocks when it comes to technology. For various reasons, people shy away from ‘tech stuff’, thinking they don’t have the knowledge or skills required. It can be a crippling place to be when you’re running your own business and a large part of what you need to do involves running your website and being online.

I hate the idea of people feeling powerless or not in control of their own website.

That’s part of the reason why I gravitated towards setting up websites for people using WordPress. It’s easy to use and gives people control over their own sites. I’m simply not the kind of web designer/developer who likes to keep her clients technologically disempowered so that every single little thing they want to do with their website has to come through me.

It’s also largely the reason why I’m in the process of releasing a range of ‘do-it-yourself’ guides related to various aspects of setting up and using WordPress to run a small business website. The first guide has just been launched, and it deals with the very beginning stages of setting up a WordPress-based website. Over the next few months, I’ll be releasing guides related to the other stages of the process, such as the design of the site, plugins, using WordPress as a Content Management System, integrating WordPress with social media, RSS feeds, Search Engine Optimisation, WordPress security, site optimisation, and site statistics.

(If you have any subjects related to using WordPress for a small business site that you’d like to see covered in addition to those mentioned above, please let me know!)

These DIY tutorials are written specially for people with minimal knowledge of technology (though people with more knowledge will benefit as well). Usually, when subject experts write tutorials they leave out huge chunks of assumed knowledge – I’m often quite surprised at how full of holes so-called ‘WordPress for beginners’ tutorials are! As a result, people trying to follow these tutorials often end up getting themselves into a bigger mess than they were before they started.

I’ve always been able to explain things to people really simply and in language that they’ll understand, bringing order to the chaos of confusion . I used to assume that everyone could do this, but based on feedback I’ve received over the years have come to realise that it’s a natural skill that I have, which can be put to good use to help people. I like to think of myself as a translator, from geek to good ol’ plain English!

It’s my sincere hope that these DIY WordPress guides provide value to you. As always, they’re one of the ways in which I aim to help small businesses achieve their big dreams .

Visit the DIY Resources page