Lily's Laundry: Tickled Pink Designz.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

I started LLB by first sewing and making cute little appliqued tees for Lily in 2006. People loved them and I thought I could make a little business out of it while doing something creative and still staying at home. I wanted to sell them on a website and at that point did not know about www.Etsy.com. So after trail and error and lots of research online I found Tabatha at Tickled Pink Designz. We have been working together now for 3 years and she is great.

Let me introduce her to you!

LLB: Tabatha how did you get interested in graphic design?
TH: Unlike most designers I didn't play with crayons as a kid, I didn't draw, and I never had any interest in doing this until after I graduated. I married right out of high school and we decided should do something that would allow me to stay at home with the kids.
I started off selling adult toys, I searched for a very long time to find a web designer who was affordable for me and still produced a descent looking website. I was unsuccessful.
So I started playing around with my own website, I ordered dreamweaver and
fireworks and just a ton of online tutorials. I was so happy that I had designed my very own website and I loved the entire process of it. From there I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I was mostly self taught and I decided a little school wouldn't hurt me. I started online classes and received my Bachelors in Graphic Design a few years later and didn't turn back.

LLB:Where do you come up with your creative ideas?
TH:I think this is the hardest part of my job, coming up with good ideas. I visit other websites and sometimes just go out for a walk or drive. You would not believe some of the ideas I have gotten just driving around town. In my car it is always quiet and all I have time to
do is think. In my home it's very hard to do that because of my 2 little boys running around all day.

LLB:Do you work on a PC or a Mac?
TH:A Mac. I did have a PC when I first started but over the years I constructed my own little motto, "Once you go Mac you never go back."

LLB:What is your favorite thing about what you do?
TH:I absolutely love helping other women owned small businesses succeed. The entire reason I started Tickled Pink was to provide affordable and good looking websites to women who were trying to support their families. I am so thrilled that after 5 years I am still living by that same moral.

LLB:What do you think is the best way to promote a website?
TH:This is a tough one because there are so many ways to do this. I would have to say the absolute best is SEO (search engine optimization). If you have quality content on your website the search engines will
find you and therefore you will have more customers :)

LLB:What advice would you give website owners or bloggers to grow their followings?
TH:Social network like crazy! Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc etc. There are so many social networks out there today and by having a business page and getting your fans you can have website and blog followers too. On the social networking site post coupons or contents just for your fans/followers. You also need to post quality content. I know this keeps coming up but it is extremely important! Make sure what you are posting on your blog or website is informative and interesting tothe reader. Don't write it for the search engines, write it for your customers.

LLB:What do you do in Stuttgart, AR on a Friday night?
TH:Hahaha. Ok, before I answer this you have to understand a little more about my town. We have all of 10,000 people (no i didn't forget a zero). We don't have a Target, Walgreens or whatever else the big cities have. We have one, yes one, WalMart. There are only a handful of places to go on a Friday night and half of that, the kids/ teenagers take over so it's either the Movies or to The Refuge (a bar) and during duck season you can't even get into the bar. So, you ask me what do I do on Friday nights? I mainly stay home and spend time with my family. Sometimes I get a wild hair and we drive the hour over to Mississippi to go the Casinos, now that is fun!