Web site

[thesynergizer]

Please be honest and let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions to make anything better.

Waiting with you

Also, if someone is willing to fill out the contact me form located here at Suzanne DeSelms, birth doula just so I can make sure it works. Its OK to make up answers, though I'd prefer if you let me know who you are so I

Comments

[jesskathand]

I would change the heading "For more info" to "Contact Me" but otherwise it's great! Very cute and to the point.

[thesynergizer]

is that too much "me" if I had "about me" and "contact me"

[jesskathand]

It could just say Contact.

My 2 cents

[frogger414]

I really like how your site is simple, organized and heartfelt. The picture at the top is really serene and calming.

One thing I thought of was to amend the testimonials to show what kind of birth they were (with mama's permission) so like mine would say "hospital VBAC" - I make that suggestion because potential families would see how you are experienced because sometimes I think people think that a doula doesn't do hospital birth or medicated. I hope that makes sense. Or if it makes sense to just add a sentence to my testimonial to say that I was having my second baby, a VBAC in the hospital, that would do the trick without it looking so impersonal.

As your doula, I will not be waiting on you, I will be waiting with you, until your baby decides that the time is right to be born.I really love how you wrote that. I think you'll really connect with families that are sensitive to time constraints and your patience really is genuine

Re: My 2 cents

[thesynergizer]

the back-up and post-partum doula stuff would not be included, though i can certainly tell people in person or via email or phone if they would like more information on those things (are you looking for a pp doula?)

thank you so much for your compliment on my writing! being on-call for your birth is what inspired the Waiting with you business name.

i love your idea of adding the birth facts with the testimonials :-) i will get right on that.

also, so far it seems to be split on the photo that's there. some people like it and others want a mother/baby/birth specific one.

i think i am going to leave it for now until i have a client that is ok with having her photo used for my website. i just don't like the idea of using a generic stockphoto of someone i've never met.

Re: My 2 cents

[frogger414]

No prob, those were just some thoughts I had when looking at the site and I totally understand why you aren't putting the info on there

Re: My 2 cents

[thesynergizer]

i would love to take a look at the photos you have. if anything, it would be awesome to put one of you guys with the testimonial so there is a face to match the story. (if that's ok with you)

you mentioned wanting to help, would you be willing to post a link to www.waitingwithyou.com on your lj, possibly not friends-locked? and/or on your fb? its partly for referals, but also partly for increasing pagerank with google, so when someone googles Everett doula or whatever, my page has a chance of coming up.

if you want, you could send the photos first, i could put them up with your testimonial, and then you could link directly to your story/photo page.

but if you don't want to, its totally fine. no pressure. let me know what you think. thanks :-)

[poiyt]

Im late I know..I would add a picture of yourself to the about you page, and try to add more info somewhere. The site looks like its missing something..but I dont know what. It has all the relevant information I just feel likt it needs some filler to bulk it up. Maybe get some of your friends to write a testimonial of your character or something for your about me page. Write more on what a doula does, and what you are willing to do..are you willing to rub shoulders and feet during or after birth..etc..etc.

[thesynergizer]

i don't like most of your suggestions (which explains why i didn't do those things) but completely agree about what you are saying, that it seems like its missing something.

i was honestly surprised at how many people said they really liked it.

i feel like its still kind of amateur-y. but i do have a lot of ideas now, starting with a photo of me. that seems to be a universal suggestion.

[poiyt]

Dont get my wrong - I do really like it. Sorry if it seemed I didnt. I tend to be a harsh critic of most things. I absolutely adore the name and the header image.

[thesynergizer]

thank you. i am most proud of the name, i came up with it all on my own and as far as i can tell, its very original.

the header photo seems to be causing quite a debate! half the people love it and the other half want to see it replaced with something more mother/baby/birth specific ...

i appreciate your honesty. no hard feelings, i promise :-)

[psychohist]

I saw your question on pregnant but I'm not a member there so I figured I'd answer here. We got recommendations for doulas from friends. I'd recommend contacting everyone you helped for free and letting them know you are doing it for a living now, so that if they have any friends that become pregnant they can tell their friends about you.

[thesynergizer]

thank you for going so out of your way to respond!

yes, all my previous clients know that i would LOVE it if they could recommend me to their friends. but the problem is, not every pregnant woman is even interested in a doula. so its a really small pool, as far as there were four free clients (well, five but the fifth isn't due until april) and how many of them have pregnant friends and how many of those pregnant friends are local to me and how many of them are even interested in a doula anyway? i mean, there was a mom at my son's preschool who decided she would rather have no doula than have me there, and that was when i wasn't charging!

i am back and forth on what to do for marketing, but i did order cards yesterday and am going to try making the resource list the way the other doula recommended and handing out cards to midwives and various other baby professionals and we'll just see how that goes.

i don't supose you know anyone in the seattle area who is due before mid-february or may 1 and on who would like a very affordable

[psychohist]

I'm afraid the only family I know in Seattle is done with having kids.

I remember one of the posts suggested you put cards in various places of business, but I don't remember if they included IVF clinics. IVF clinics might be good locations as infertile couples are likely to make extra effort to make sure everything goes well when they do get pregnant, and may be more likely to have the money to afford a doula. Sometimes the REs (reproductive endocrinologists) have offices separate from the clinics, and those might be good places too if it's allowed.