Make It Yourself Monday: There's A Beauty On D-I-Y Things

Way back when I'm still studying and daydreaming all at once, I've been creating a lot of D-I-Y stuffs for my personal use. Cards, outfits, accessories,  school project paraphernalia., etc - I would always make a dummy/prototype of what I want too see and feel before I get into the real thing - a majestic production topped with a handful of creativity. Big thanks to Sintang Paaralan (Polytechnic University of the Philippines) for the knowledge. It sort of became a habit and surprisingly, I'm doing it until now and what more, I'm starting to believe that in operating and marketing a business of your own, you should be able to deliver YOUR marketing message YOUR way - the way you want it and the way you want your target market to get it. 

Cost efficient is how I'm gonna describe all things D-I-Y. You can take control of everything. You have the ability to put limitations on your business or exceed limits and expand your reach, whatever your choice.

Let's put my small business as an example. I'm doing creative party invitations as a part-time job, officially last year.

Are you gonna do it the traditional way OR make use of a more practical way to manage your time wisely?

I'm proud to say that I'm blessed with creative hands and an eye for screaming colors. Given limited resources and minimal budget, I can  turn something bare into a big thing of beauty. 

Until softwares for images came in. Free downloads let you manage your images creatively, the way you want it - presets for Lightroom, actions for Photoshop, collage for Picassa etc. And what more is that, there are some softwares that is very easy to use, all you need to learn is how to click and correctly follow instructions! D-I-Y has indeed innovated! I would've used my colored pencils, scissors, and strings and started doing crafts but to make use of my  time wisely, I opted to D-I-Y my party invitations through the softwares I use online. Outcome? 50 to hundred pieces of rush party invitations in 1day. Capital? Printing only. Budget friendly? Yes it is. Profitable? Pasok sa banga.

So what's my point? Consider your business without a website.

For start-up or small businesses, budget will always be an issue.  Entrepreneurs will consider focusing on the demand of their product and gather profits first and realize later on that they really haven't made a home on the web, if not for their social media connections. And what if those social media websites disappear just like Friendster? Oh no.

Unless there is a cost effective way of getting your business on the web, to be seen by over a billion users online, the way you want it and the way you want your message to be delivered - a D-I-Y website builder. 

Here's something that I really want to share for the past few weeks now, and surprisingly, it works.

iRepublic is a product of Tridel Technologies, makers of iManila and is 16 years in the industry

Believe it or not,  it is not as difficult as it sounds. iRepublic D-I-Y website builder makes it super easy to create your website in no time. There’s no programming required and no separate web hosting company to deal with. Just start making your website right away by selecting a professionally designed template and adding text and images. You can even upload your own images or use some of the thousands that website builder services have available. Create multiple pages (photo albums, newsletters, catalogs, etc) and you’re done. You can also setup an online store and start selling products easily.

All the packages from iRepublic offer a drag-and-drop system that lets you place texts, logos, videos, and other content where you want them on the page. It really has a user friendly interface. Depending on the website builder plan you choose, the system also comes with tools that let you optimize for the search engines, submit to social media sites, and integrate a lot of other features into the page. D-I-Y Website builders are indeed a great solution for complete beginners and start-up businesses. 

Here's a sample of a D-I-Y website that Kuya and I made: click here. You can also try the website builder demo here and tell me what you think. ;p

Visit iRepublic's Facebook Fanpage, they might be able to help you with your small business.

xOxO


2 comments

  1. Google sites is not too bad neither but it seems like Google is ignoring it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been using Google Sites too. It's very effective for forms though. :)

    ReplyDelete