About Classy Wedding Ideas

I find writing these "about me" pages are one of the hardest content pages to write on a web site.

Funny, isn't it? I guess it's like that for a lot of people... probably because you're talking about yourself and you wonder why anyone is even interested!

It's so much easier to write about other things. Anyway...

Since August of 2000, I've built and marketed several different types of web sites. My very first site (that's still online and doing well) was focused on providing ideas on different types of wedding themes.

From there, I began developing other sites, learning a bit more each time on how to do it "right" and market them better. Some worked well, some didn't, and some I just lost interest in. In the end, I closed them all down except my wedding site and a Halloween site that I still enjoy working on.

They were a lot of work, especially at first. I had to figure out: how to use keywords properly, how to write my pages, how to market my business, etc. etc. etc. And there's a lot of misinformation out there to wade through. Believe me, it wasn't easy.

I also had to become proficient in HTML, CSS and other webpage coding. Luckily, this is something I enjoy.

Anyway, I persevered, and in the end, I've done "okay" money-wise with what I've accomplished. I make enough working 10 or so hours per week that a lot of people have to work 40+ hours to achieve.

A Change in Scenery

In 2006, my husband and I sold our old home and bought a new one. Of course, a bigger house equals bigger mortgage payments and bigger utility bills.

He quit his old job soon after we moved in and went to work at an oil and gas company - for the same salary. But, as it was doing so well, we figured the benefits and the raises in pay over the next few years would be to our advantage.

Things worked out well the first two years at his new job, and that enabled me to just "piddle" around with my sites... even neglecting them a lot... yet I still was making money.

Expanding My Horizons

Then, in September of 2007, I decided to take a chance and use Site Build It! to build a new site (InspirationalWordsofWisdom.com) using their specific tools and following the instructions found in their Action Guide.

Now remember, I had been marketing online for years! And I had some bad habits and perceptions on what I thought were the "right ways to build web sites."

So, I forced myself to pretend I was brand new to this whole website, Internet marketing thing and did my best to "forget" everything that I had "learned" over the years, so that I could just focus on what the SBI! Action Guide told me to do.

I will say, it was definitely a learning experience... and I'm really glad I did it that way.

Everything they provide you with is designed to walk you through the entire process of building a real online business. And they do a very good job at that!

Needless to say, I was extremely impressed at how fast my new site attracted visitors and began to make money. I was also very surprised at how much easier it all was and certainly beat the way I had been doing it on my own all these years!

As a result of my new SBI! site becoming fairly successful (in my own eyes) within that first year, I began to think of how I could take my original wedding themes site and create a new one using SBI!

The dilemma I had was that it was making good money each month and I didn't want to disrupt that in any way. And, SBI! makes it clear that if you have a website that is already well established, leave it be and start something new instead.

So, I began thinking of what I could do. What did I want to focus on in regards to weddings? Or... did I want to do something entirely different perhaps?

I spent a year coming up with ideas, doing some research on them, then disregarding most of them. One thing I definitely had learned was that you should pick something that you're passionate about or at the very least, highly interested in and you're willing to learn more about the topic. If you don't, boredom or frustration will soon set it.

Reality Hits With The Sliding Economy

Well, in January of 2009, the oil and gas industry went into a major downslide along with the rest of the economy. My husband was hit with cutback after cutback to the perks and benefits he had been receiving.

All the employees were being forced to take 10 unpaid vacation days between February and September... then in June of 2009, the company announced a 10% wage cutback starting in August and extending to the end of January 2010, at the very least.

We were heading for definite financial troubles!

It was a huge "whack upside the head" for us. We were depending too much on my husband's salary to survive and that was quickly being taken away - and we had no control over it! We figured out that by the end of the year, he would have made the same amount that he was earning back in 2002!

Time to Get Serious About My Online Business

It was time for me to get serious and start building an online "business empire" as I like to think of it.

After several months of researching, along with considering (and discarding) various concepts on wedding niches, I settled on Classy Wedding Ideas - a site focused on providing photos and suggestions on all aspects of decorating for a marriage event - from the ceremony to the reception decor.

And just in time too... my husband was let go in September of 2009! Luckily enough, the severance package would keep us for a little while until he found another job, but still, it was a blow we weren't expecting.

That made me all the more determined to build a stable income-generating web business with a variety of sites so that this kind of thing wouldn't affect us ever again.

Since I knew that with the tools and guidance provided by Site Build It!, and the excellent help I can also get from the forums here, I am confident that all of my future sites will definitely be successful.

I have to say, it's an exciting and empowering feeling to be in control of your own income... and not be at the whim of some employer who couldn't care less about your situation!

If you'd like to learn more about how you can build a successful online business too (and no, you don't need to be a web expert in any way - they show you exactly what to do), then I invite you to explore the possibilities further by watching these videos.

I do hope you enjoy your visit here and will come away with many ideas of your own on how to decorate your own theme wedding celebration.

Classy Wedding Ideas will continue to grow as I have lots of ideas for this site, so be sure to check back often. An easy way to keep track of new additions and updates is by subscribing to our RSS feeds. (See the RSS box on the left navigation column.)

If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments on what you've seen on these pages or perhaps have some suggestions what you'd like to see included, please drop me a line using my contact form.

All the best,

Rose Smith