Now you can have 1000 business cards printed for $20 (full color; double-sided). These cards are printed on 14 pt. gloss coated stock with UV coating (a much better quality card than what you get from VistaPrint).

This price is for the printing only, so if I designed your business card or you already have a print-ready file, this is your final price. If you don’t have a print-ready file and/or need the card laid out, just add $20 to the cost, for a total of $40*.

*Includes only one revision round. Offer expires January 15, 2012.

To enter, please complete the following form by December 24, 2011. Winners will be notified on December 26, 2011 and will have three months to use their FREE print project design/layout. Select “Contest Entry” from subject drop-down and specify your non-profit business name in the message box.

*Excludes the actually printing of the project. Winner must show proof on non-profit status.

Do you remember being taught how to communicate without making someone defensive and/or given tools to communicate effectively? If so, when in life were you taught and where? Did it include listening skills? Do you find that you have to constantly work at it? How has your communication improved over the years?

For myself, I grew up in a family where you had to shout and/or interrupt in order to be heard. That behavior is rude and was really tough to change. Now that I’m older, I often fear that I will forget what I wanted to say if I don’t interrupt. Let’s face it, some people are very long-winded and don’t think to give you a chance to speak. If it’s really important, I try to discreetly write down what I want to say. If it’s not that important and/or I don’t have anything to write with, I usually end up resentful that I didn’t get to speak before I forgot what I wanted to say or the conversation changes to a different topic and it’s no longer relevant. What do you do in situations like this? Since I often don’t get to speak when I want/need to, it has made me strive to be a better listener. I will pause and ask the other person a question to engage them in the conversation.

Bottom line – communicating effectively takes lots of practice, patience, and is an ongoing process!

Project: Redesign DIFM’s website and reorganize the site structure for better navigation and viewing.

DIFM’s old website had too much information on the home page, making it hard for viewers to focus attention to any one item. It was also hard to determine what was considered “member” information and what wasn’t. I broke up the information on the home page, utilizing call=outs for what they deemed the most important information. The banner on the home page will also be a slideshow.

Old site design:

New site design:

Africa Easy wanted their website redesigned so that visitors could better find tours and information. They also wanted to add social media and a review systems. Using the GeoPlaces Theme, I tweaked the code to customize it for Africa Easy’s needs.

During the process of setting up the site, Network Solutions (the host) took down the site twice and wouldn’t produce any documentation as to why. This is the second time I’ve had trouble with Network Solutions and both instances warranted a move to another hosting company. Because of all the hoops Network Solutions made us jump through, the transfer process took almost a week. I have vowed to never work with another client using Network Solutions unless they transfer their domain and hosting before I take them on as a client.  It wastes too much time for me and the client otherwise.

This is a screen shot of the old Africa Easy website:

This is a screen shot of the newly designed website (http://www.africaeasy.com):