For those of you looking for a blog makeover, look no further! Lauren from Restored 316 Designs is here to tell us about her blog and boutique design business!
1. Congrats on being a MomDot Feature Blogger! Why don’t you start by introducing yourself to our readers!
My name is Lauren and I am a wife to a wonderful hubby and mother to a 15 month old little girl! I’m a WAHM and enjoy so much being able to stay at home with my family while also providing income.
2. What got you interested in website design? When/how did you launch your store?
Well I have always had a creative spirit but I didn’t really get into digital design until after the birth of my daughter. I just started off doing digital scrap-booking to remember little moments in my daughters life and quickly grew into more of a passion of mine. Being an entrepreneur at heart I knew that I needed to find my market and go for it. One of the key things I wanted was to help other mothers like myself, who are just starting their business, be successful and have a wonderful web presence (which I think is a huge deal!) So I just dove in and launched my site in March of this year.
3. Can you give the MomDot readers a “sneak peek” into what’s coming up next for your blog? Any new events, giveaways, promotions, etc.?
I am always posting different freebies on my blog. As a designer I am always creating different things that will help me in the future so I want to pass those things along to other designers and people just simply doing digital scrapbooking. Also at the end of every month I post a desktop calendar that you can download and just insert your images. Most of the time they are scrapbooking style but this month I have something else up my sleeve so stay tuned!
4. I absolutely LOVE the design you created from Mommy Goggles! How do you come up with your design ideas?
You know when I start a design, I always have a general idea of what the customer is wanting, but nothing past that. I normally sit and just start doing things and it just starts coming together. With Tanya from Mommy Goggles, she wanted to use that image of the girl with all the shopping bags and I just went from there. I may be totally different than other designers but I love to be unique and try new things. I’m always up for a challenge!
5. Do you create designs for both boutiques and blogs?
Yes! I have a wide selection of premade boutique style templates for someone just starting their business as well as offer custom blog designs. I also do custom website design for someone not interested in a template style boutique. I do currently have a premade blog design that can be found on my blog.
6. What is your favorite aspect of your business? What do you feel sets you apart from your competitors?
Well I have 2 favorites! First would be the actual designing. It’s an outlet for me to just be creative and focus. I typically do a lot of my designing while my daughter is taking a nap so the peace and quiet when I’m designing is wonderful! I also love when my customers are so happy with their new look. I’ve been on the receiving end also so I know how exciting the process is, so I love to make my customers happy and feel their excitement through the process!
I feel like what sets me apart from my competitors is my style. Every designer has their own unique style that sets us all apart. Another thing that sets me apart is I pride myself in communication. I work one on one with my customers to make sure they receive everything they are wanting.
7. What is one mistake that a blogger can make when designing their blog?
I would say these 2 things that I see quite often:
1. Having a design that doesn’t match the personality of the blog.
2. Trying to edit the HTML of their blog and don’t know 100% what they are doing. I see this alot. My suggestion is to have a test blog to test anything out before actually saving it on your existing blog. The last thing you want is to loose everything or mess up your template and not be able to edit things.
Thanks so much, Lauren, for sharing your talent with us! Lauren has also generously offered the MomDot Readers a 10% discount!! Click here to redeem the coupon! Offer expires 9/15/2008.
Interviewed by Contributing Writer, Bridgette, Check out my blog that 316 Designs did!
Leave a comment and tell us what your blog design would look like if you had it redone……..
I totally agree about having a test blog. I really funked mine up the first time and started testing on a blank blog after that experience.
Your designs are beautiful, you are really talented!
i love the tips on not what to do if you’re doing your own blogging design. i’m trying to learn coding, but i’m not too good at it! lol very cool designs, too!
I love your designs! I would love to be able to do that & I have much respect for those who can!
Lauren, you had some comments on our forum too, everyone loves your stuff.
~trisha
Just wanted to come over and say thanks ladies for all the compliments!
I’d be happy to help anyone in need of a new design!
When I get rich, I’m going to have a blog makeover every month but then I went to your site and realized that it’s not that expensive! I love it….I am going to talk to my hubby about ideas for a makeover!!
Those a such cute templates!
I love her work. I really like what she did for Bridgette. It’s very tempting to have her redo mine! I like that she gets a general idea of what we like and then goes from there. I had someone design my blog header and basically said, “OK, tell me exactly what pictures you want me to use, and the font, and the colors, and everything.” Geez, if I knew exactly what I wanted I could have done it myself!
Lauren is FABULOUS, y’all! After I did this interview, I decided to have her redesign my blog and I absolutely LOVE it! She is so easy to work with and has great ideas! I highly reccommend her!
I loved checking out Lauren’s portfolio. She has done some amazing work! Loved reading her interview too!
To answer the last question, if I had my redone it would have much more personality! It feels so bland right now.