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The Girl’s Guide to Web Design with Amanda Aitken
Amanda Aitken is an incurable entrepreneur (and 16-year web design veteran) with an addiction to challenging the status quo. Her latest project is The Girl’s Guide to Web Design (http://girlsguidetowebdesign.com), an online course that teaches women to DIY a jaw-dropping, totally customized WordPress site or blog – coding and all. Amanda is probably the only web designer in the world who enjoys telling people NOT to hire her – because she believes passionately that anyone with an eye for design can learn to code and take charge of her own web presence.
Students who enrol in The Girl’s Guide to Web Design get access to a private website packed with videos and exercises that teach them everything they need to know about creating a stunning site or blog on the Thesis platform for WordPress. The course consists of 8 juicy chapters that walk you through setting up your domain and hosting, dreaming up your look and feel, graphic design for non-graphic designers (no Photoshop required!), HTML, CSS, and a whole lot of crucial WordPress, marketing, and SEO knowledge, too.
And because not everyone learns in the same way, there are two “learning tracks” available. The “First Class Edition” of the course is an 8-week adventure that lets students learn virtually alongside a bunch of other cool, creative women – with a new chapter released every week and plenty of personalized support. Students get their individual questions answered directly by Amanda in Weekly “Q&A screencasts”, while trading ideas and posting their triumphs in the private Facebook group. The “Jetsetter Edition” of the course lets independent learners who can do without the extra help and the community element soak up all the goodness of The Girl’s Guide to Web Design on their own terms. Students get access to all 8 chapters of the course right away, and enjoy $100 off the price of the First Class Edition.
When she’s not busy leading her “I am woman, hear me code” movement, Amanda can be found heading up her other company, Better Than Chocolate Web Design (home of sinfully gorgeous, one-day custom websites for women entrepreneurs). Amanda is also a regular contributor to the beauty section in LOULOU magazine.
Interview Notes:
1. What do students learn in The Girl’s Guide to Web Design (and how do they learn it)?
2. What made you decide to start teaching other people the skills that are your bread and butter? Were you worried about “cannabalizing” your web design business?
3. A large part of your target market with this course is women entrepreneurs. What would you say to someone who says that entrepreneurs should be outsourcing their web design, not learning to do it themselves?
4. What do you think it is that more entrepreneurs don’t try to learn to code and learn to design?
5. What makes The Girl’s Guide to Web Design different from other “learn to make your own website” courses out there?
Links: girlsguidetowebdesign.com
