A couple of years ago I went to lunch with some blog friends I had met up with at the She Speaks conference. In the midst of all of the conversations going on I heard one person yell out, “Amy, I’m supposed to help you. I don’t know how, but I just need to tell you that.”
That person was Lisa Boyd.
She has helped me tremendously since then. My blog, A Woman Inspired, numerous other things that have yet to be launched. She helped with it all. There is a reason why she is known as the “tech dudette.” That girl can do anything technical. She rocks. 
What I didn’t know would happen is how I would help her. You see, she has had this dream, this purpose in her heart for a long time now. She shared it with me just a few weeks ago. As soon as she told me about it I knew I needed to help her and so we started putting her vision together. God had been putting things into place in my life so that I would be ready to serve her and her heart’s purpose just like she helped with mine. That vision was launched at She Speaks this year. It is called DIY Ministry.
Lisa can make anything into a website. You send her a graphic of what you want a site to look like and she can code it out for you. She does things that boggle my mind. She knows how important it is for someone to be on WordPress to build a platform as opposed to Blogger or another blog platform. You don’t have to be scared of WordPress. You can learn how to master it. Lisa’s hearts desire is to help bloggers, authors, speakers, ministries, churches, small businesses and organizations learn how to utilize the internet to fulfill their God given purposes; just like we helped each other. She wants you all to be able to share your story and have it reach all over the globe.
btw... Lisa will hate reading that I went on and on about her but I just want everyone to know that she has mad skills, a big heart, and a desire to serve.
Basic help is free but the best we have to offer is our Pearl membership. Why pearl? Because pearls are formed when sand or some other irritant enters the mussel or oyster. Once this happens the protective process begins. Nacre is secreted in layers around the irritant. The result is a pearl. We know that the internet can be an irritant but if you allow us to teach you, the information you receive will become your shield and allow you too to become a pearl. Besides, there is plenty of pearls of wisdom to be gained from our combined experiences.
At DIY Ministry we will have four levels of teaching going on.
- Articles and Tutorials - Free weekly posts on the topics that are most relevant to ministries developing their online presence. We will also have a couple of free eBooks for you to download. Be sure to sign up to have these posts delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe Here or on the website.
- Website Training, Personalized Help, Discounts and Web Presence Assessment – For only $24.95 per year we offer full WordPress training via pre-recorded videos so you can learn, at your own pace, how to build and maintain your own website or blog; we offer personalized help via our membership forums (ask any question and get an answer) and offer a custom web presence assessment. The “members only” section is already stocked full and ready for you to dig in and learn. With the pearl membership you will also receive discounts on any eBooks or workshops that you would like to take advantage of. For full details of this package visit the following page: Become a Pearl
- Live Workshops Online – You will learn from some of the top gurus in the online mission field. Over the course of the year we will have workshops that provide live instruction on Web/Graphic Design, eBook Creation and Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, and many more. Each workshop will have a question and answer session to ensure that you are confident in the knowledge of what you have learned. The price of each workshop will depend on the consultant but our promise to you is to find the best teacher for the best price. Our goal is to keep them under $15. Pearl members will get a discount off that price. For full details about the workshops we offer and their individual prices visit the following page: Live Workshops
- Content Specific eBooks – We are very thorough with the information we post on the free portion of this site but we provide content specific eBooks as a way to elaborate on that information and provide you with a one file resource that can be printed, viewed via Adobe Reader, Kindle, or Nook. The cost for eBooks will never exceed $7.95. Pearl members will get a discount off of that price. For full details about the eBooks we offer and their individual prices visit the following page: Content Specific eBooks
A lot of money has been invested in this so that we can provide you with the best possible learning environment but rather than charge ridiculous prices to cover it we decided to keep the fee reasonable and just ask that you help us to spread the word. We need 150 members to cover the expenses. After you sign up would you help us by blogging about it or posting it on Twitter (#DIYministry), Facebook or other forms of social media? Would you share it with your friends and church members by word of mouth or email? Would you post a button or link to us on your blog? If we reach 150 members by September 1st then that will cover all of our expenses for the year and will allow us to offer additional benefits to members such as free WordPress themes and Facebook fan pages.
Here are some of the topics we will cover. If you have any to add let me know in the comments! We want to provide you with everything you need to build a platform online and reach your personal and ministry goals.
WordPress
- WordPress 101
- Using Plug Ins
- Moving from Blogger to WordPress
- Basic HTML and CSS
Blogging
- Getting started
- Finding Your Purpose
- Design and Layout
- Planning and Scheduling
- Writing
- Networking
- Building Traffic
- SEO
- Monetization
Designing Graphics
- Headers / Banners
- Buttons
- Coordinating Graphics
- Backgrounds
- Graphic Software
Social Media
- Linked In
Media Platforms
- Online conferences
- Podcasts
- Online Workshops
- Videos
- Radio (online)
- Television (online)
Publishing
- Managing Group Websites/Blogs
- Operating eZines
- Newsletters
- Ebooks
- Flickr
We already have several people who have signed up. Join us for some fun and learning! The site will “officially” launch on Monday, August 1st but if you sign up before Sunday, July 31st then you can get $5 off. Just use the following code: imwdacajun
Help us spread the word… and yes, men are welcome too!
This sounds wonderful, Amy, and I’m going to do it. HOWEVER, I’ve had a WordPress.org blog, and didn’t have a reliable person to do my I.T. stuff and got hacked into! I was told that I didn’t update enough … something I wasn’t used to doing.
When Bluehost did whatever it did to my account, they held my stuff for a year. But I never found anyone to help with it—no one that I trusted, so I assume my work was destroyed, got lost or what have you.
My point is that I don’t have it and I’ve never had to worry about that with Blogger or WordPress.com. For me, right now, it’s more feasible to have what I have.
Wow! That sounds great! Very exciting stuff.
Sounds AWESOME! Let me know if I can help in any area!
SO. VERY. COOL!!! This is great, Amy! What a great endeavor – and so affordable I could NOT pass it up! I can’t wait to see how it develops & grows! Awesome stuff!!!
just FYI, if I click the “subscribe now” button under #1, it says the feed isn’t available. I’m on to the Pearl membership, but I wanted you to know.
I am SO all over this! I can hardly write this comment, I’m so excited to sign up!