WordPress Blog Design Services

Have your WordPress Blog Designed by a designer with 8 years experience as a color specialist in the imaging industry who happens to kick ass at search engine marketing. I create WordPress Blog Designs with search engine optimization in mind. Having a pretty blog is not always enough. Want your blog found in search engines? Want to be attractive to PR Firms and Clients? You need a great design, that’s super fast, user friendly and google approved.

Are You Ready To be The Blogger with a blog design that does more for you than just look pretty?

For your blog to grow, for you to be considered a pro, for your blog to actually convert to those goals that you have – looking good isn’t enough.

You don’t need a pretty blog design sugar.

You need a marketable pretty blog design.

A design that works for you as you work on your blog.

And you, my fellow mom blogger, need a tech-guru-designer

with search engine marketing skills to help you compete.

You need me.

Check out these two fabulous packages that I offer

and then head over to the portfolio page or to read my testimonials.

Basic WordPress Design Package

A Premade Theme Configured
From Elegant Themes or a Theme you purchase

w/ Custom Header Design
built from stock art, installed

Matching Social Media Icons
Installed and Configured

Social Profile Graphics
Blog Badge and FB Timeline, Twitter Graphics

Custom Background
Installed and Configured If Allowed by the Theme Framework

Installation and Configuration of Settings Required For Search Engine Optimization

Sitemap
Caching
Database Optimization
Ping Optimization
Robots File Creation and Upload to Your Server

Configuration of Webmaster Tools and GA
verification, coding installation onto your website and sitemap submission to Google for page indexing

Optional Bonus
One Year of Free Hosting For One Website.

WP + SEO Training
Lifetime access to the WordPress + SEO Training Site here on TheStrategicMama.com. Video training from Basics to Intermediate WordPress and Traffic Boosting Training, Keyword research and Google Search Results Competition Analysis Training.

From $400

Pro WordPress Design Package

Custom Designed Theme Built on Thesis Platform or Coded From Scratch (based on your specific needs)

Any font choice from google web fonts (in this option your heading fonts can match your logo fonts),
custom color scheme based on choices from colourlovers.com,
up to two sidebars (though I only recommend one for SEO purposes),
custom size post width and sidebar width,
top and bottom widget area and footer widget area,
custom background choice based on color scheme or stock art or a combo of both,
installation,
styling and configuration of call to action boxes within post area,
configuration of social media sharing plugin,
configuration of a static homepage and styling of the blog page.

w/ Custom Header
built from stock art, installed

Matching Social Media Icons
Installed and Configured

Social Profile Graphics
Blog Badge, FB Timeline, Twitter Graphics

Installation and Configuration of Settings Required For Search Engine Optimization

Sitemap
Caching
Database Optimization
Ping Optimization
Robots File Creation and Upload to Your Server

Configuration of Webmaster Tools and GA
verification, coding installation onto your website and sitemap submission to Google for page indexing

Optional Bonus
One Year of Free Hosting For One Website. Does not include cost of a dedicated ip ($2/month)

WP + SEO Training
lifetime access to the WordPress + SEO Training Site here on TheStrategicMama.com. Video training from Basics to Intermediate WordPress and Traffic Boosting Training, Keyword research and Google Search Results Competition Analysis Training..

Starting at $700

Package details and pricing subject to change without notice.

Basic Design Package includes one year of support (design changes not included) via email

Custom Pro Package includes lifetime support (design changes not included) for the life of that design on that specific blog.

Click Here to get Started Today!!

Clients are also offered the opportunity to use Paypal’s Bill Me Later at checkout. This option spreads your payments across 6 months without financing fees. Please see the Bill Me Later Terms and Conditions. Payment is due in Full at time of booking.

Planning on Moving? starting at $175

For complete info on this service, check out the Blog Move Page.

Portfolio

Check Out More Of My Portfolio Here

A few WordPress Design Testimonials

Vanita is the genius who designed my blog. She found out exactly what made me tick, listened to the voice of my posts and created a design that matched me perfectly. And if you think all the little whimsical icons came from my fertile imagination…whilst I’d really like to take the credit, I cannot tell a lie…Vanita came up with the all those concepts. And I think they’re pretty cool.

For anyone who has experienced less than stellar followup, you need Vanita. It seemed she was always available and I kid you not when I tell you, she even got up from her sick bed to support me. She genuinely wants to help and goes above and beyond to make sure you’re happy.

What more could anyone ask for? A genius designer and a wonderful support.

To say I’m happy would be an understatement. The only other thing I have to say is thank you. Thanks Vanita for your brilliance. – Elle Sommers of Reflecting A Life

I own multiple domains, run multiple websites and blogs, and even create/manage websites for others. I can write HTML and CSS from scratch. I’m quite well versed in the whole “make a site” and “make it pop” thing. What I am not the slightest bit proficient in, is making that website for a business, with all the SEO and accoutrements that come with it. Neither of my personal business sites were doing much of anything and I didn’t know how to make them work for me. The economy being what it is, though, I *needed* them to work for me. I tried a crash course in SEO and about twenty minutes into the first webinar my eyeballs were bleeding and I was hopelessly confused. This was not working out well at all.

So, what to do?Vanita Cyril.

Not once, but twice.

Vanita Cyril.

Vanita has thoroughly redone both of my business sites, she’s getting their names out there (using whatever SEO voodoo it is that she does) and along the way she’s done so much more, even going so far as to bring out the very best in me and my services. She genuinely *cares* if your site succeeds, and she lets you know it.

She’s done so much more than SEO and a couple of redesigns. I cannot begin to properly sing her praises. She is both honest and constructive, authentic and genuinely interested. In the process, she helps you to get to the bottom of what you really want to do with your site — YOUR vision, not hers — though she also gives you suggestions and things to mull over, things that you may have never even considered.

And then she brings your vision to life.

Twice.

Mystic Tarot has existed online for five years now. It’s never really done much, I have a small client base that’s built up over the years and that’s that. Or it was.

And then there’s Sew Gaelic. My baby, my pride and joy, my reason to get up and smile when I contemplate the “work” ahead of me that day … Sew Gaelic would not even EXIST if not for Vanita Cyril. She encouraged me to take my talent and my passion and *do* what I really wanted to do.

Hire her. You won’t be sorry. -Kathleen Helms via Facebook Mystic Tarot and Sew Gaelic

“When I first decided I wanted a new look for my site I thought I should just upgrade from a basic wordpress theme to something personal but I had no clue what I actually wanted. I know I wanted to work with someone who understood what being a busy Mom is and where I’m coming from on a daily basis, I needed a site that worked for me; it had to be easy to manage, post, navigate, and depict the real me! Vanita worked her heart out, she made me dig down deep and find the reason I really wanted to blog and the reason why I want to help others, she reminded me to be authentic and honest – the two qualities I value the most – with the decisions I was making because the site was going to be my “baby” and I was the one who had to live with it not her. The experience working with Vanita was amazing she took what little ideas I gave her and turned it into a masterpiece that I not only like but LOVE, it is way more than I ever expected. I feel that she can work miracles and I am truly honored to work with her.” RealMomma.com

More On WordPress

Twenty-seven months ago, when my blog barely had 2 dozen posts, I decided to leave Blogger (BlogSpot). I barely had readers, I had no type of alexa ranking or page ranking to speak of and at the time I wasn’t interested in the blog making me money.

I was blogging for pleasure. Blogging to socialize with other moms.

Sharing whatever popped into my head about life and family. Grabbed a couple of freebies here and there in return for reviews.

In the grand scheme of things, what I blogged may not have seemed important, BUT it was important, to me. They were MY words, about MY life but frankly they didn’t belong to me. Oh nooo. When you’re using a free blogging platform, whether you buy your domain or not, everything you do on that blog and for that blog, belongs to the platform.

Even worse, while I was on the Blogger (Blogspot) platform, my site went down and there wasn’t a bloody thing I could do about it. And I’d wait in fear that it wouldn’t return and I’d lose everything.

I won’t lie to you, at first the idea was scary. Why the hell was I going to put money into something I did for fun? I wasn’t running a business from my blog, why would I need a pro website? I had a couple of years of experience in WP for business sites, but hadn’t considered it for my personal blog. Why did I want to make that commitment? Then I looked at Blogger blogs vs. WordPress blogs.

To be honest, I picked specific mom blogs that I visited and took a closer look at who they were and what was in their sidebars. SEOQuake for Google Chrome is a great add-on to help you learn more about other blogs.

The majority of the “big” mom bloggers I followed at the time, had better alexa rankings, some had page rankings and all had the damnedest coolest designed WordPress blogs.
The really cool mom bloggers on blogspot, that had lots of comments on each post, had not-so-great rankings, but had page rankings and their blogs were good looking but were missing the bells and whistles I saw on the WordPress blogs.
The Blogger moms had affiliate links, yes, but no “big” sponsors as the WordPress mom bloggers with the same page ranking and similar comment count did.

Now keep in mind, this is based on the bloggers I looked at, not all bloggers, so don’t go jumping down my bloody throat.

Now, like I said, I wasn’t interested in making money with the blog at the time, but I was interested in one day working from home. So I looked at my blog from a business stand point and realized, I’d been really slacking off. There is so much I know about Design, Search engine Marketing and Self-promotion, but none of it was evident on my blog. I realized that if I could take my blog and transform it into something cool AND marketable, I could use it to make an income.

Since moving to WordPress, this blog and I have grown. The blog now generates a steady income.

Since moving to WordPress, I’ve been able to achieve a much better alexa ranking (which helps my posts be found on search engines), my posts are actually indexed on Google, I have a pagerank and I now mostly turn down advertisers, not because I don’t want the money, but because I’ve either been too busy to even blog or the service/product didn’t fit with my blog.

If you’re looking to do something “more” with your blog, in my opinion, WordPress is the way to go. And don’t fear self-hosting. Once your blog is configured, you hardly ever have to sign into your hosting account. Your daily routine is done within the WordPress Dashboard. The only time you need to visit your hosting is if you need to make big changes.

The first time my blog went down, I headed over to the BlogFrog community to see what other bloggers were using. Though the majority suggest WordPress.org self-hosting, I headed over to WordPress.com free hosting.

One look at the dashboard and I went running back to Blogger. Seriously. I finally did move to the Self-Hosted version and honestly, there is a learning curve, but it’s really not so steep. And now that Blogger has updated their interface, I’d like to share a few basic WordPress backend areas with my Blogger bloggers in the event that you’re as intimidated as I was.

The Dashboards

Here’s a shot of my Blogger Dashboard vs. my WordPress Dashboard. (click on the thumbnail for a larger view)

As you can see, the WordPress menu has the same basics as the Blogger menu. WP has a bit more because it has more functionality than blogger due to being able to install plugins. The WP basic dashboard itself offers Stat information, Right Now (same as Blogger’s Updates box) and Recent Comment at a glance. Since I have the WP Stats Dashboard and Google Analytics installed, I’m also able to see those stats at a glance.

Choosing what information you’d like to display on the dashboard is simple via the Screen Options tab on the top right. CLicking it will give you the following menu where you can check and uncheck info boxes to display on your dashboard. Not every plugin comes with a dashboard widget, but many do, so this list can get long, but I think it’s great that I can easily hide what I don’t need. Plus, you can move the widgets (info boxes) around by dragging the title bar.

The Posts Area

The Posts List Area is Wp and Blogger are also very similar. The only difference being that in WordPress, access to filtering your drafts and published is in the main screen in a horizontal menu and you’re also able to filter by categories, tags, etc.. In my WP screenshot you’ll also see that I have the option to choose whether a post is featured or not, that’s due to a plugin I’ve installed and doesn’t come with the basic install. You’ll find a WP Screen Options tab available here too.

And as for the New Post Area, the sidebar options are a bit “more” with WordPress, there’s also a Screen Options tab, but the layout is pretty much the same.

My options area on the right has more than the basic installation because I’ve added plugins. You can also reorganize the boxes as you do with the Dashboard. The more post specific plugins you add for functionality, the more boxes you’ll find listed on this page, but again, you can easily hide the boxes and reorganize them. Only the area where you write the post stays where it is.

As you can see, there’s really nothing to fear. And the time invested in the not-so-deep learning curve, is well worth it.

Need more info?

What others say about WordPress Blog Design

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