If you've been following along with my blogs and websites over the last fourteen years you know that the "dollies" and I have had quite a few websites and quite a few blogs. Fourteen years ago for a small business owner to have a website online that you had control over you basically had to either create your own using HTML or some comparable software that could publish to the web and then FTP (file transfer protocol) it to what-ever service provider was hosting your website and domain name.
I wanted to be able to update my website whenever I wanted and change it whatever way I wished. As a result my first two websites were created in Publisher and FTP'd to my hosting accounts at GoDaddy where my two domain names resided. I used Paypal HTML coding back then and had to copy and paste their payment HTML coding for every item I wanted to sell. While I had complete control over my website design the coding was tedious at best.
When instant download e-patterns came along I used PayloadZ and Paypal to handle the "Buy Now" capabilities. This, too, utilized HTML coding which, again, was tedious at best.
So, before long I outgrew the capabilities of these two websites and needed websites with more sophisticated shopping carts and with the ability to handle instant download e-products. So, I decided to open two new websites utilizing a CubeCart shopping cart at In A Pickle Web Design, which is owned by Annie Kelly.
With the two new websites with Annie I now had 4 websites and a GoDaddy Website Tonight "About Me" page. Two of the websites I was still maintaining with Publisher and transferring via FTP to GoDaddy, two I was maintaining using the In A Pickle Web Design CubeCart interface, and one I was maintaining through GoDaddy.
Five websites, however, wasn't all I had. I had jumped on the blogging craze back in 2003 utilizing an AOL blog, then a Yahoo 360 blog, and then several Blogger.com blogs. For me blogging was the perfect solution for disseminating information about your small business and letting your customers get to know you. Back then, however, there was a lot of skepticism about blogging with some small business owners even claiming they would never buy anything off a blog. Not me. I took a giant step forward and stopped issuing newsletters. I jumped on the blogging band wagon and have never looked back.
My online interests continued to expand over the years as well as my doll & craft interests. Over time my blogs multiplied as each had a different audience and, therefore, a different subject to discuss. So, at one point in time I had 5 websites, 18 blogs, an Etsy shop, a Zibbet shop, 3 Zazzle shops, and several other secondary e-pattern and handmade goods online selling venues. I also had a topsite, several plugboards, and a lot of social media pages and/or groups to maintain.
Four years ago I decided to do a little downsizing. All of this had all become too much to handle so I decided to start downsizing gradually. The first to go were the plugboards, followed by half of my blogs, followed by several social media communities and groups, followed by some of the selling venues.
Four years ago I decided to consolidate all of my websites into one selling website that could handle not only all my e-products, all my print patterns, and all my handmade goods but be expandable so it is able to be displayed correctly on all the desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices out there.
Back then I did a lot of research and decided to create my new Linda Walsh Originals Shop at GoDaddy utilizing their Quick Shopping Cart. What I liked about the GoDaddy website is that it would handle all of my different businesses under one roof as well as all my handmade products and all my e-products.
My consolidated website handling both digital products and handmade products has worked well for the past four years, but was still a lot of work with everything else I was doing, including online classes that I love to take. So, I decided to downsize even more and closed my Linda Walsh Originals Shop which was selling my e-patterns and all my handmade doll and craft decorations.
I also decided to upgrade my Linda Walsh Originals Information website which is a GoDaddy Website Tonight website to be an "About me" portfolio with multiple pages of sorts for everything and anything concerning Linda Walsh Originals.
I'm still in the process of critiquing my business interests as well as my creative interests so don't be surprised if there are a few more changes to come. Sometimes too much is too much and down sizing is good for the soul. Plus, it allows for plenty of time for creative processes. So, stay tuned to wherever my muse takes me.
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