Website Joys And Wobbles

Cooking With My Website

How I Started Penny’s Recipes

It is eight months since I embarked on the development of Penny’s Recipes and I am very pleased with how far I have come with it. It has hundreds of newsletter subscribers, many returning visitors and an increasing number of lovely comments. I am doing several regular guest posts on other websites and being donated recipe books and recommended to tried and tested dishes. And I am thoroughly enjoying the process!

Getting Help To Develop The Website

It really is about time I mentioned that I could not have developed this website without the excellent and friendly tuition from Liz and Russell at Devon Web Designers. I don’t believe there are many (if any!) people out there who could have taught me so well. I have had some experience of website developers in the past when having a site designed for me – and have found it difficult to get a good, comprehensive and transparent service. Devon Web Designers really are different. They actually want you to understand what you are doing and don’t treat computing as if it were an incomprehensible black art. They get you to think about what you want so you can make good decisions right from the start, so the development of your website always takes you in the right direction.

I met Liz and Russell when I started working for them, writing website content for some of their clients and I was already beginning to learn a few tricks and tips through that work. But I wanted to learn to develop my own website and I soon realised that these were the perfect people to teach me.

And thus Penny’s Recipes was born! Liz ensured that everything was installed and configured correctly before I started and then set me on the right road to develop my own website – and taught me each step of the way. Starting off with the first posts, the way to optimise each article, handle images and links through to the best way to structure the site with catagories and tags. With all this understanding I could begin to build my website as quickly as I could write up the recipes.

Starting To Run (Before I Can Walk)

They have held my hand – in a virtual way of course – right through the process. These days I get a little bit adventurous and try new things out on my own. But I only do because I know I can shout for help if I need it. And just recently I really did need it! In fact I was pressing the panic button. I had installed a plugin and things weren’t working quite as they should (to put it mildly!). In fact things were going very wrong! My website had ceased to work properly. Links kept leading to the wrong page! I thought I had done something very stupid and messed up all my hard work. So how grateful was I to have a reassuring voice that told me they would have it all working again very soon! That after all it’s only software – and software can be fixed – always. In fact it took much less than the time they had suggested it could take, to put things right.

Well phew!! It’s good to know people, who know what they are doing! And so calm and patient too! If you need to have a website designed for you – or wish to have some help to develop a website yourself, I wouldn’t look any further. I really wouldn’t.

Going Forward

Liz and Russell have taught me how to create a well ordered website with good SEO (search engine optimisation) so people can find the website when they are looking for recipes. I am still at the beginning of the journey, I know that. Eight months is not a very long time in the life of a website, but it has been enjoyable and I am confident that I will continue to get more visitors and develop my website in new directions – thanks to Liz and Russell

I still have loads to learn – I know there is still so much more to know. In fact I know I probably have no idea of just how much more there is to know. But I’ll be OK because I know some of the best people in the business. And not only are they knowledgable, but they are really, really nice.