The Ultimate Blog Podcast - 51. Setting up website themes with Lauren Dierschke of Restored 316

Episode Date: December 6, 2022

On today’s episode we are chatting with Lauren Dierschke of Restored 316 about website themes. We chat with Lauren about what website themes are including the difference between a parent theme and a child theme, the theme that we all recommend for bloggers and why, the things you should look for when choosing a theme, the investment that you make with building your website, and some encouragement for someone who is worried about taking that first step to start their blog business.Thanks for listening! Connect with us on Instagram: @sparkmediaconceptsCheck out The Blog Depot. This is a community and course that we have set up for you if you need questions answered before you start your blog. Join the waitlist for The Ultimate Blog Bootcamp, our online course and coaching that helps you build the blog that you have always dreamed of.SHOW NOTES: www.sparkmediaconcepts.com/episode51

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast with Amy Reinecke and Jennifer Draper. We're on a mission to empower women who want to start or grow their own blog. This podcast is for women who want to learn blogging basics and who crave inspiration and encouragement. Whether you're just getting started or have been a blogger for years, we're excited to welcome you into this space where we are passionate about creating community over competition. We are bloggers who want to encourage you to believe in your potential, step outside the norm, and step into a life where you create your own schedule, your own success, and your own story. Join us for weekly episodes as we navigate blogging

and work from home life, all while raising a family and having some serious fun along the way. all while raising a family and having some serious fun along the way. Hey, everybody. Welcome today. Amy and I are super excited about our guest today. We've been anxious to have her on the podcast for a while. And today she is here and going to be talking to you about something that's very important when you are setting up your blog or your website. And that is your website theme. So welcome, Lauren Diersky, to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, we're excited to dive in today.

But first, do you just want to tell our listeners just a little bit about yourself, your business, and how you kind of got started with developing website themes. Sure. So first and foremost, I'm recently married. So a newlywed. And then between my husband and I, we have six children and three grandchildren. So our lives are very busy and full and awesome. So our lives are very busy and full and awesome. So what I do in my business world is create WordPress themes. That's sort of the sum it up way of saying it. And then how I got started. So I've been in business now for 15 years.

But when I first started, I had a six-month-old daughter. And I was just in a situation where I really desperately needed to provide an income for my family. It was a desperate place. We needed to pay rent. We needed to get groceries, that sort of thing. And so I started throwing myself into learning graphic design. I just stumbled upon it with digital scrapbooking kits back in the day when that was a fun little thing that people did back then. So I would do digital scrapbooking kits back in the day when that was a fun little thing that people did back then. So I would do like digital scrapbooking kits for my daughter and like her memories and all that kind of stuff. And then I stumbled on a blog that was designed with digital scrapbooking

kits. And I was like, Oh, I wonder if I can do that. And so I started on YouTube and Googling everything, every question I possibly had, I just started doing it myself. And at that time, that was, this was the days before Facebook existed. And so I was in like a mommy forum and I remember posting like, Hey, I'm just trying to learn graphic design. If any of you have a blog, I would love to do it for free just to like get some experience, you know? And so I did a couple of blog designs for free. And then all I asked in return is that they did a little blog post about me. Because back then, you did blog posts about that sort of thing. I would have them do a little blog post about me.

And then people started learning about me from there. And I would charge $25 for a blog. And then I just slowly built up a clientele from there and getting experience with every design that I did. And so I did custom design for a couple of years. And then I slowly shifted into creating the themes that I do today to be able to not be tied to my computer every second of every day. So when did that shift happen from the turning it from that kind of doing it at home by yourself to now what is Restored 316? Yeah. So really it was when I was pregnant with my son who came along five years after my daughter. When I was pregnant, I found myself in a place where I was always at my computer and the clients

are emailing and the clients are texting me and calling me and can you do this? And can you do that? And I found myself in a position where I'm like, I don't want to do this anymore. I want to spend this time with my son when he gets here. And so I knew I needed to start creating a product of some kind that I can create in my own time and list it for sale. And then it'll sell over and over without me being tied to my computer and without the 100 things to do that clients would be sending me. So I just wanted to shift into that residual income business model. And so I gradually did that. It was more like doing custom work and then I'd create a theme like in whatever spare time I could find. And then it took me about two years probably to make the full shift of not really doing custom work anymore.

I just love stories like that. And I think so many of our, you know, our students and our listeners will so relate to it because you really just kind of stumbled upon it. you really just kind of stumbled upon it and then you dove into it and you taught yourself what you needed to know. And all these years of experience have led you to where you're at right now. So I think if, if nothing else, I think anybody listening right now, it's okay to be where you're at today and take it one step at a time because you will get where you are supposed to go. So I just, yeah, your story just kind of gives me chills. I love that, that, that piece of it. And so you were doing a lot of custom work, then you were creating custom websites for people based on what they wanted,

but you shifted to creating website themes, which are more of a template. So can we talk about like, what is a website theme? What does that mean? And how do you use one? Yeah. So a theme is basically just a template that is all pre-designed for you. And then you can pop in your own logo, your own colors, your own fonts, your own images, all that stuff to personalize it and make it your own. But it gives you a base to start with so that you're not starting with a blank white screen and you end up in that like, oh my gosh, what the heck do I do from here? So it gives you a beautiful base to start with. And then you can enter in all of your own content

easily with instructions so that you can get up and going quickly and without costing fortune at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. And so there's different kinds of themes, right? So there's parent themes, there's child themes, what you provide or what you create as a child theme. So what, what is the difference between those two things and how can somebody understand what they're going to need? Yeah. So this is always a challenge to understand in our blogging world. But the best way to describe it is that a parent theme is like your car, right? Your car has the wheels on it and all of that. But the child theme is what is providing all of the core functionality of adjusting your fonts and adjusting your colors and all of that sort of thing. But the child theme is what I create. And that is the template that you're working with that is making everything beautiful. So there are different parent themes as well.

And you recommend the same one that we recommend to our students, which is cadence. And so I'd like to spend just a little bit of time kind of talking about cadence and what the benefit is for a person who is wanting to start a self-hosted website because they want to gain organic traffic and growth. Why would choosing Cadence as your parent theme and then a template for Cadence be beneficial for a blogger? For sure. So I think the simplest way to answer that is because Cadence is extremely user-friendly, especially for the beginner blogger or someone who is starting a website for the very first time. So in my history, we used to create child themes for Genesis. So Genesis is another parent theme, just the way Cadence is. Now for anyone who used to be on Genesis, you know,

the difference between the two, but Genesis was more, you know, you've got to know a little bit of code or CSS code to make this and that change, right? Or you'd follow instructions and you'd have to go into the code and make whatever changes we instruct you to do. And that feels very intimidating to someone just starting a website for the first time. So Cadence takes all of that out of the equation. And you can do everything directly in your WordPress dashboard in the customizer. And you can see those changes live on the screen before you ever even hit the publish button so that you can see exactly what changes you're making on your site and how it's affecting everything on your site. So I think that's the simplest way to answer that question. Yeah. And we both, Jennifer and I

have both switched to Cadence since the change. And it was kind of this, oh my gosh, we know Genesis. We've told our students all to use Genesis, but then there was this shift. And we kind of sat on it for a while, quite honestly, just to make sure, which just historically we usually do. We don't jump on the bandwagon as soon as it arrives. And so we kind of thought about it. And then we slowly saw like, okay, Lauren's not creating Genesis themes anymore. And so we love Lauren's themes. So we just have to roll. And we saw that other people were using them too. So I think it's important to find people that you trust in this industry. And we've been utilizing your themes for many, many years now and recommending them. And so we trusted that decision.

And so I think in Jennifer and I switching over, having that firsthand knowledge and now helping students with a cadence theme, it is a night and day difference in regards to the options that you have and then the way to adjust, just like you said. So I want you guys to hear that from somebody who's a user of it as well. I have no skin in the game in regards to cadence, but it has been much easier. And I wouldn't consider myself a super technical person, to be honest. And I find it much more approachable than a Genesis theme. So this might be getting a little ahead, but I do want to address this since we are talking about Genesis and cadence right now.

Let's say one of our listeners is using a Genesis theme currently. Can they switch over to a Cadence theme? Absolutely. Yes. And if they purchased a theme from us, the Genesis version of a theme, we do provide a discount if they're purchasing the exact same theme on Cadence, if they want to make that switch and keep the same one. So they would just get in touch with us if they would like to do that. But my recommendation for those that are fearful of the change, because I know that it's scary when you're dealing with all the technical stuff, you're like, I don't know if I'm really going to be able to accomplish this on my own. What I would say is get with your hosting provider and see if you can set up a staging space and then just install Cadence,

just the parent theme by itself. And that'll give you a space to just play around with it because a lot of the features that you see in just the parent theme are the same thing that you're going to get with a child theme. You're just going to have more of the base to work with. So that'll kind of get your hands dirty and you can figure out if it'll work for you. And you can also see firsthand how easy it is to use. Because Cadence is free. Yes. So there is a free version of Cadence. There is also a paid version of Cadence. But 9 times out of 10, users, especially just starting out, only need the free version of Cadence unless you need additional fancy features. If you're a more established blogger, that might come into play. But for brand new people, they'll be fine with the free version of Cadence.

And would you encourage anyone on an older theme to update to a newer theme to switch to Cadence? How often should you update your theme? Or can you update your theme periodically just to get new functionality? Or what criteria would you use to make that choice? Gosh, that's a loaded question. I think that you can change whenever you want. I would just say, don't change every single month, right? You always want to focus on the core things that are making your business successful. And 9 times out of 10, you don't need a new theme. That's not what ultimately is making you successful. You've got to focus on your content and email marketing

on all those things. But I would say... Technology is constantly changing. So there is a space of time that I would say getting a new theme is ideal just because there's new things available to you that you probably want to take advantage of that would help you grow your business. So as far as putting a timeline on that, that's such a hard question to answer. I mean, everything changes so fast. So it's hard to say like, do that every six months or do it every three years? You know, I think it just comes down to, is your website right now serving you best? And could this theme serve me better? And if the answer to that is yes, then it's time to change. Do you want to start a blog, but you aren't sure what to do first? Are you still wondering what you're going to write about and who your ideal reader is? Have you researched blog platforms only to be left with even more questions and have

a no idea what platform to build your blog on? Guess what? We created the blog Depot just for you. The blog Depot is a nine module course that was designed for someone who thinks that they want to start a blog, but wants to build a solid foundation and ask themselves the important questions before jumping in. In the blog Depot, we will help you understand what you need to build a successful blog and important questions to ask yourself. And we do it all with our self-paced online course and membership community. You get access to the course and community forum

immediately upon signup. And as a special bonus, we do a live coaching call with Depot members every month. So you can talk to us about your specific questions and needs. We want you to feel confident when you decide to finally start blogging someday and the blog Depot will help you do it. It's only $47 a month, but if you sign up today and use code U B P 50, you'll receive 50% off your first month. The link to join us is in the show notes, and we can't wait to help you build your solid foundation in the blog Depot. Yeah. And I think that leads into another question, which would be like, if you're wanting to either start a brand new website and choose a theme, or you're thinking about upgrading,

so you can have some new functionality, what are things that you should look for in terms of choosing the child theme that you want to add to your site to make sure that it looks and feels and functions like you want it to? Sure. So I always tell people when you're looking at themes to envision your content in there. And I realized that's so much easier said than done because so many people look at a theme and they're like, oh my gosh, this is beautiful. All these images, all these colors, all these things, right? But you really do have to look at it with your content in there, your images, your branding colors, your logo at the top, all of that. So really, if you look at it, look at it more of the structure of it than anything else, right? And then envision your images in there, especially.

I would also say like when you're changing themes to ask yourself, what are the most important aspects of your website and choose a theme that fits that criteria. So for some people, you might have a service-based business. And the most important thing on the homepage of your website is promoting whatever service that is that you're offering. You're going to want to look at a theme in that light of how can I promote my services on this homepage, right? Others are going to be bloggers, right?

And so you're going to want to focus your homepage's attention on your categories of blog content or your most recent blog posts dependent on where you are in that blogging journey. So when choosing a theme, you've talked about, I guess, making the user experience and how you want your website to function should be what you're looking at in terms of choosing a theme. But how do you know a theme is a good one? So for example, what is different about the themes that you offer

than maybe some of the other ones out there? Or what advantages would people have if they purchased one of the restored themes based on all the experience that you've had over the years creating themes? Yeah, for sure. Well, I guess I'd say a couple things. So number one, our customer service is unparalleled. I've always strived to kind of over deliver in our customer service just because I am in the shoes of the person starting a website for the first time.

You know, back when I started this business, I had no idea what any of it was. And so I understand the technical challenges that come with starting a website. So customer service is number one. Number two, obviously, I've been in business for 15 years and my attention to detail... Well, maybe this is a negative quality of me. I'm a perfectionist. So I mean, the attention to detail is definitely there in every little detail of designing themes. And then obviously, if we want a theme and there's bugs or whatever, like we fix it immediately.

And then I would say also, I really try to pay attention to user experience. You know, when someone comes to your website, I want to provide them an experience that's going to get them to the content that you're wanting them to get to, right? So there's that too. And then I do make sure that everything is optimized for maximum speed, SEO, all that

good stuff. A lot of that is already driven by cadence, the parent theme. Because out of the box, the cadence theme is going to pass with flying colors, with Google Page Insights and all that good stuff. So I always make sure that they're as fast as they can be. We can agree the customer service is great. So we only recommend Restored 316 themes to our students. And that has been feedback that we've gotten from them as well.

If anybody has an issue, they can submit a ticket. If Jennifer and I have had issues with our themes, we have submitted a ticket. With that said, there's very rarely that you have a bunch of issues because of your attention to detail. So we were customers first prior to recommending your themes. That's something that we really pride ourselves on. Anything that we're going to recommend to somebody to use is something that we've used ourselves. So it was, I don't know, it was a year or so before we started recommending them after using them. So just, and that was in 2017. So just highly recommend your themes. And we really do. There's a lot of themes that you can choose from out there, but

knowing that your customer service and all the attention to detail that you do put in, I think is important to make note of because you do have a lot of choices out there. And we time and time again, recommend you like you're the only one. And I think a question that we get most often is, well, how can I make it my own since it is a pre-made theme versus a custom design? So we can kind of dive into that a little bit, if you'd like, maybe how somebody could make that their own, but also why it's not necessary to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on a theme, on a custom website, I should say. Yeah, for sure. So our biggest goal at Restore 316 is that you do not have to have a ton of money in order to start a business. I think that's always been my focus and my goal, because that's how I began.

I literally used the last $10 in my bank account to buy my domain name. So I don't want people to feel like they have to spend thousands of dollars in order to have a beautiful online presence. I can see if you're a very established business and you're making a lot of money, how you would want some custom functionality and features. And maybe that's the time to spend the thousands of dollars on a custom design. But it is not always necessary, especially for those just starting out. Just to give an example, I mean, our cheapest theme is about $150. So you've got the cost of the theme, the cost of your domain and the cost of your hosting. And that's about the cheapest that you can start a website. And I think that's so reasonable for getting started. And then two is to speak to the side of making it your own, going back to cadence and how easy it is to use. You really can go in there and change all of the

fonts. You can change all of the colors. And I really encourage everyone to go do that just so your site doesn't look like everyone else's. I think that's always a big question mark of, well, if I buy this theme, what's going to look like so-and-so's because that's where I found it. It doesn't have to look that way. Before this interview, I was on both of your websites and I know one of you used Create, but y'all customized it to truly make it your own and it's got your own colors and your own fonts and all of that. And so, yeah, it's super easy own colors and your own fonts and all of that. And so, um, so yeah, it's super easy to go in and do that for sure. And that's something I really like about it too. Mine's on create. I just, I just redid it. And that's that specific theme has a ton of

functionality. That's a theme I would recommend to anybody who already has an established blog. So that's something else that I like about your themes is there's kind of something for everybody. So when you're just starting out and you don't have a ton of content, there are going to be themes for you. And then if you are a well-established blogger who just needs to update and freshen up your theme and maybe transfer over to cadence, you also have themes that have a ton of functionality and resources on there. The create theme was so robust. I mean, I was so, so much. So if you have a ton of content

and you need a lot of different places for it, the create theme is great for that. For sure. Yeah, that's definitely one of our most popular, which really surprised me to be honest with you. But to speak to that, what you just said too, all of our themes have multiple homepage options. And when I'm designing those homepage designs, I really try to think through,

okay, here's the blogger that has a ton of content and they have no clue how to organize it. And then you've got the blogger who's just beginning and they only have 50 blog posts. They don't have a lot of organization that they need to do. And so a lot of our themes are multifaceted in that way. You don't have to use the one that you land upon when you hit view demo. If you click through and see those other homepage options, those are there for you also. Yeah. And I think that's one of the things I love about it. And one of the things that we try to remind our students to look at when they're choosing a theme is to look at all of those different options and to really, really think about what kind of when they're choosing a theme is to look at all of those different options and to

really, really think about what kind of content they're going to have and how that will end up looking on the site. Because they can start out a little more simplistic. And even within the same theme, without even having to buy a new theme, they can add, change their homepage or add more sections or things like that. And I think one of the things that's really cool is even when we've had students in the same round purchase the same theme, it's like they don't look exactly the same. And I don't think that most people going to those websites are going to be like, oh, wow, they used the same website theme as somebody else. They're really just looking at that functionality, which is so important. Yes, absolutely. And then another thing too, is you can take sections from other

pages and like really build out your own thing, or you can take sections out that you know that you're not going to use. So it's super flexible, even not just your fonts and colors that we've talked about, but just the actual creation of your pages are very flexible. I think that flexibility is important because I think you have a couple different kinds of people who come into blogging. And one is the one who just wants to write and does not have the visual aspect. And so you kind of simplify that for them. And then you do have a visual person who wants a beautiful website that also is optimized and has functionality. And you really do serve

both people like that with your themes, which I appreciate because some people truly just want to go in there, change a few things up and put their content in and call it good. I'm an extremely visual person. So I like to go in and really make every piece of it my own. But I'm really, really glad that you have the base that I can start. And so I can have the template to use and go forward instead of me trying to figure that all out on my own. Because let's be honest, I would have never gotten started. And I think that that's something important to say here is I know we have listeners who the tech side of blogging is holding them back. And I think all three of us

on this call would tell you, don't let that hold you back. We're telling you the theme that you could pick. We'd obviously love to have you in the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp and we can hold your hand through that process and help you with content creation and all of that. So I think it's just important to know that there is space for you. You don't have to be somebody who knows a bunch of coding. You don't have to know all the IT stuff. We used to do custom design of your themes for people. And then we decided that we really needed to empower women to know how to do this themselves. So they could make those changes and do it themselves instead of having it done for them. And then they have this website that they don't know how to use. We wanted to empower them and kind of walk alongside. So that's why we shifted

to the bootcamp model and the course and all that. So there's lots of different ways that people come into blogging. So can you speak a little bit to how does having a website or blog, you know, they're kind of interchangeable. How does that help somebody and their audience? How does it help them connect? Why do you think that's important? Because I'm sure we have people listening who have not started a blog and that piece is scary because they want to know the why, like, why should I blog? Why do I need that? Yeah. So it's like, in order for someone to write you a letter and to connect with you, you have to give them your address, right? It's the same thing with

a website. If you want people to get to know you and learn who you are and connect with you and see what you have to offer, whether that's your writing or your services, you've got to have a space on the internet to send them to. And your website is yours. It's 100% yours. Facebook is not, or Etsy or any of these other platforms, third-party platforms are not yours. You're at the mercy of their algorithms instead of you having your own space on the internet that you can do with whatever you please with. You can write whatever you want. You can design it however you want. And you're not paying commissions to Etsy, something like that. So yeah, I think it's hugely important to have your own space on the internet.

And speaking of Etsy, just to touch on this real quick. So with Etsy, when someone goes to Etsy and they search for a custom necklace, all their results are going to be shown all the stores inside of Etsy that are offering the same thing that you are. And so you're constantly competing with everyone else on their platform. Having your own website, you're not competing with anyone. You own all of it and people are coming to you for exactly whatever it is that you're offering, right? And then also with Etsy, you're not having to pay the percentage that you owe them.

I think it's like 6.5% on top of merchant fees that you have to pay Etsy for every sale. If you're selling something through your own website, then you're only paying your merchant fees and not that additional cost to have your stuff housed at Etsy. So if someone wants to sell their own product on their website, on one of your themes, how would they go about adding that functionality to a theme? Yeah. So good question. So we actually have several blog posts on this topic because there's a lot of different options that you can choose from. So it really does depend on what it is

you're offering. So if you're just selling digital goods, something like easy digital downloads, the plugin would be a great fit for that. In other cases, like if you're shipping products or actual tangible products, WooCommerce is good for that as well. WooCommerce is great for digital products. I'm not saying it's not, but if you're only going to have like five products and something like Shopify buy buttons might fit you better than a full fledged e-commerce system like WooCommerce is. So it really does depend on where you fit into that equation and whatever it is that you're selling. So we do have a blog post on our site. I don't know if you guys do too, to kind of help navigate into what plugin might be the best fit for their needs.

Yeah. And we can link to that in the show notes too, for anybody who's kind of thinking about that. You bring up something that I think that we haven't really talked about. We've talked about these themes being good for bloggers, but there's so much more you can do with your website. So you're not serving just somebody who wants to have a blog. You're serving somebody who wants to have an online business, and this is going to be an aspect of that business. So what other kinds of things do you see people using your themes to create? What types of businesses, what types of services do they offer? Yeah, for sure. So for every theme that I start designing, I always have a specific

business in mind. So obviously we work with a lot of bloggers. So a lot of our themes are geared towards bloggers. But there's also the service providers, the coaches, things like that. And so we've got several themes that are geared towards just that. On your website, you guys are using Scribe. And it's geared towards the author or podcaster. And so it's got things built into that theme that are great for displaying your podcast and your episodes and show notes and all of that. And it's also great for the author to promote their latest book or books. And so I really come at it from an angle of thinking about how...

Let's take Scribe, for example. How would an author launch a book for the first time? Say they have no audience at all. So they're going to need a page to launch their book, the one book that they're starting with. Or maybe it's an author that has 10 books. How would they display that on the theme as well? So really try to think about all angles of where someone is if they're an author, for example, or even podcaster. But like I said, there's themes for every niche out there, whether you're a photographer, service provider, all of that. I really have themes for all of it.

I think that just goes to show that being a blogger does not only mean you are out there creating one blog post at a time. There are a lot of ways that you can be a multifaceted business and offer services, offer products that you can have for people. I think the blogging has just blown up in regards to what kinds of things we can do. And I consider that a huge blessing that it is so much more than just sitting behind your computer and putting out some blog posts, because that might not be everybody's favorite thing to do. So think of other ways that you can show up and serve and your themes can help them do that. Yeah, absolutely. I think the end goal for me with everything obviously is that

you're making money. You're starting a business. You're in the process of trying to earn money in some form or fashion. So whether that's ad revenue, email marketing, and you're selling products or promoting affiliate links, all of that stuff, I really feel like that should be the end goal for most bloggers. But I do recognize, and you said earlier, there are the bloggers who they just have a story to tell and they just want to write and that's it. And that's fine too. But our themes do fit every, every facet of, of that person. Email marketing is an essential piece of blogging. Growing your email list is just as important as SEO and keyword research in our opinion. And in order to grow your list, you need a reliable

platform that will allow you to connect with your community and turn them into email subscribers. That's where ConvertKit comes in. ConvertKit is the go-to marketing hub for creators like you that helps you grow and monetize your audience with ease. ConvertKit allows you to grow your audience and reach, put your funnels on autopilot and earn an income with your email list, all with an easy to use platform that is approachable, even for beginners. Click the link in our show notes to learn more about the different plans that ConvertKit has and how it can help you propel your business to the next level. Yeah. And I, I like the, the vibe that you give off because it's obviously and clearly important to you to really get to the heart of serving that person who is ready to have something for themselves, that small business, and you're making it so

attainable for them. And that's something that's so important to us too, is I think that people really get held back by so many things. They have this dream. We've talked to so many people who said they've sat on this for such a long time. They dream of reaching people, sharing their story, being able to help in some way. And so having a website, having a blog, these are all just components of that. And so it's clear your heart is in that space of just serving those people, which I think is really cool. So because of that, what would you say to somebody who's sitting there, like a little bit afraid to, to take that first step? I mean, you've been there, we've been there. Do you have any encouragement that you'd want to offer to that person? Gosh, I feel like the simplest answer is

to just start, you know, like you just have to put one foot in front of the other. And I mean, you can Google anything, you know, like if you find yourself stuck in some space, you're like, you just go search Google and I'm sure there's an answer for it. And I know you guys do in your bootcamp. And then also on our end, we really do strive to have tutorials to help every single step of the way, because like we've all said, we've all been in your shoes, you know? So you just have to start. You just have to start somewhere. We totally agree.

I think that a lot of times we let our mind hold us back from doing the thing that we've been called to do. And you can argue with yourself and say, I don't think it's the right time. But if you continue to like, think about it, you're always going to wonder what if, and I hope after this episode and listening to this, you know that there is a next step. If the website design piece is what's holding you back, the three of us together can help make that happen. Lauren has created beautiful themes and we have the bootcamp to help you as well. Or there are resources on Lauren's website

as well to help you with the themes. And we just really hope that you know that there are women out there who want to see you step into what you were called to do. And we're here to cheer you on. Like they just said, we've been where you are and we don't want you to stay there. We don't want you to stay in that space that you feel like you don't know what your next step is

or you don't have the confidence to move forward. I don't know about you guys, but when I started, I wasn't totally sure where this was going to go. I had no idea if it was going to be successful or not. And successful is a relative term. And that means something different to everybody. But I think that you have to ask yourself, is staying where I am today going to make me one step closer to where

I want to be? Or am I not living my truth? Am I not stepping forward in where I feel called? And I just hope we've encouraged you to, even if it's a baby step, even if it's literally just clicking on the link in the show notes to look at the themes and take a few moments and imagine yourself as one of those themes set up with your content, sharing the things that make you passionate, the things that you think you have to offer to the world. Just take a moment to imagine where you could be. And if you decide to act on that, then the three of us would love to help. So Lauren, with that said, would you like to tell our listeners where they can connect with you?

Sure. So our website is restored316, the numbers, 316.com. That'll get you to all of our themes and all of our different products that we offer. I'm not super active on social media, but you can always find us on Instagram and Facebook under Restored316. And then we also have a Facebook community and it's called Restored 316 Community on Facebook. And anyone, whether you're a customer or not, is free to join, especially if you want to connect with other bloggers and see how others are using our themes. That's a great place to do that. Thanks so much for coming today. And we were so excited to have you because we've been such a fan of the work that you're doing for so long.

And so thank you for coming and sharing your goodness with our audience. You bet. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks. Thanks so much for tuning in today. If you'd like to continue the conversation about blogging with us, please find us on Instagram at Spark Media Concepts. You can also sign up for our weekly newsletter where we share blogging tips and inspiration. You can sign up by finding the link in the show notes

for those of you who are ready for the next step and want to start your own blog, join the waitlist for the ultimate blog bootcamp. The link to join the waitlist is also in the show notes, go out and make today a great day.