Apparently Angela also has a talent for building websites, as the site she built with vSites shows. We at vFlyer are simply blown away by her site; it has great branding, is well organized, balances text and images well, and makes good use of lots of different module types. It also just looks fantastic.

I caught up with Angela this week and she kindly answered my questions about her business, her website, her experience with vSites, and her advice for other business owners thinking about building a website.

Can you tell me a little about your business?

I joke that I have self-confidence in a bottle. In today’s world, appearances matter. It’s not fair, but it’s fact. As a makeup artist, I have a pretty deep bag of tricks that I use to make women look and feel their best.

I’m based in suburban Chicago and for now, I’m a one-woman show. I work with brides, but I also do commercial work for photo shoots.

How did you get into makeup?

I have always loved makeup. No matter how fat you get, lipstick always fits! I did my first makeover at 16. Back then it never occurred to me that I could make a living putting makeup on people. So I went to college and then worked in a series of soul-crushing corporate jobs. When the recession struck and being downsized seemed unavoidable, I decided to pursue my passion full-time.

How did you learn about vSites?

It was by accident. I was looking for a service that had web templates but offered a LOT of customization options. I didn’t want to hand code the whole thing, but I didn’t want to be trapped either. As I looked at people’s websites, I noticed that realtors had clean websites with lots of pictures, so Googling around, I tripped over vSites. Once I tried it and saw the vMarketing complement, I signed right up.

How did you decide how to design and structure your website?

I have a marketing background, so I knew basically that I wanted the website to be graphic but still feminine. I also wanted it to reflect my personality. I tried to design it with my different market segments in mind.

Why is it important for your business that you have a quality website?

Brides and personal clients are now doing all of their legwork online. A professional website gives people the confidence that you will handle their needs competently.

What’s your favorite vSites feature?

MODULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why no one else has thought of this I’ll never understand. You just figure out what you want and where you want it and click. Easy.

Do you have any advice for someone thinking about building a website for his or her business?

Do it yourself. It’s not about saving money, it’s about retaining control. As a business owner, you need to understand everything about how your business runs. A service like vSites makes it easy to produce professional-quality sites.

My other advice… don’t reinvent the wheel. Look at the websites of successful companies in industries with similar clients. For example, I looked at interior design and real estate because they are high-ticket, emotional services in female-dominated industries.

*Note: I was unfamiliar with “makeup heads” and intrigued by the Marie Osmond thing, so I did a series of Google image searches to try to find a picture of a Marie Osmond makeup head (which I now know was part of a celebrity makeup head line that Mattel launched in the late 70s and that also included Farrah Fawcett and the Bionic Woman). Apparently — and disappointingly — no such picture exists.

We’ll be returning next Friday with another custom theme of the week, so if you have a fantastic custom theme that you want the world to see, let us know by emailing support@vflyer.com and you may get your theme on our blog!

The photos in Mark and Corrina’s flyers are also textbook examples of how to present a property for sale. The photos are all high-resolution and the rooms are all well-lit and beautifully staged. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of having quality photos in your flyers. Think about it: this is the first glimpse your potential buyers are getting of the property, and the photos are the first thing they’re going to use to evaluate it. If they see grainy photos of poorly-lit, messy rooms, it’s far less likely you’ll be hearing from them than if you have crisp, inviting photos in your flyer as Mark and Corrina do.

Excellent work, Mark and Corrina.

That does it for this edition of our Custom Theme of the Week series. As always, if you have a great custom theme that you want spotlighted, or if you’ve seen someone else’s great-looking theme, let us know by emailing support@vflyer.com.

• Eaton Village Apartments in Chico, CA
• Brookwood Club Apartments in Jacksonville, FL
• Canyon Ridge Apartments in Rockwall, TX
• Richmond Green Apartments in Houston, TX
• Sierra Glen Apartments in Citrus Heights, CA
• Sutter Creek Apartments in Arlington, TX
• The Californian Foutain Apartments In South Coast Metro, CA
• Autumn Chase Apartments in Bothell, WA

Thanks to everyone who made such great holiday custom themes this season. And thanks to all the vFlyer users who made custom themes this past year. 2009 saw the creation of hundreds of custom branded themes, only some of which we showcased in our blog. We’re excited to see even more branded themes in 2010! If you’re interested in having a custom branded theme created for you, contact us at support@vflyer.com.

And finally, Happy Holidays from the vFlyer Team!

I should note that this is the third Chicago-area company that we’ve highlighted in our Custom Theme of the Week series (the other two being Caliendo Automotive and Vranas Properties). Chicago must be a very design-oriented city! We’ll have to see if other cities (New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston…) can compete with Chicago in its output of great custom themes.

As always, we’ll be back next Friday with another custom theme of the week, so if you’ve created or seen a custom theme and think it should be spotlighted, let us know by emailing support@vflyer.com.

Great custom theme, Richie!

Once again, for a useful introduction to creating and using custom themes, take a look at this series of short video tutorials on our website.

We’ll be back next Friday with another Custom Theme of the Week, so if you’ve created or seen a custom theme and think it should be spotlighted, let us know by emailing support@vflyer.com.

vFlyer’s Theme Editor enables any user to create his or her own custom theme and any business subscriber to upload a branded header image to a theme. It’s a great way of making your Flyers stand out from the rest, and the branding capabilities for business subscribers provide a vehicle for putting your brand front and center on your Flyers. For a useful introduction to creating and using custom themes, take a look at this series of short video tutorials on our website.

We expect to post a new theme every Friday, so keep an eye out for more fantastic custom themes. And if you’ve created a custom theme and think it should be spotlighted, let us know by emailing support@vflyer.com!

Also, the winner of our vFlyer Basic Annual Subscription Giveaway was vFlyer member Tom Plant of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Wildomar, CA. Congratulations Tom!

Thanks to all of you for stopping by and saying hello!

Also, our very own Oliver Muoto was a panelist on a panel discussion titled, “The Hottest Productivity Tools.” Way to represent, Oliver!

The Inman show is a great chance to learn about, discuss, and debate the most important trends in real estate technology and marketing. We’re delighted to have had the opportunity to participate in the conference again and look forward to future Inman Real Estate Connects.

Elite Properties does a great job of marketing its client listings and the company itself. John and his company are actively involved in many forms of online and social media marketing including blogging and ActiveRain.

John Lockwood is truly a “power-user” and one of a growing group of users that take vFlyer to the max! John has the following advice:

A special thank you from vFlyer to John Lockwood and Elite Properties.

	Name: John Lockwood Company: Elite Properties See vFlyer | See Blog About Company: Elite Properties is a company that has been a leader in using of Internet marketing in the Sacramento area for several years. When we saw vFlyer, we knew that this would be an outstanding addition to our service offerings. How I use vFlyer: For the past several months, I have used vFlyer for all my company’s listings and provide it for my agent’s listings as well. I create thumbnail ads which link to the on-line flier on all my websites. I also use the flyer widget on my blog. I like the fact that vFlyer ads can be pasted into my main blog as well as my ActiveRain Blog, and I especially like that with about ten minutes of effort. I have a flyer that can also be used not only on my blogs, but on Craigslist, Sacramento News and Review (a Backpage sites that vFlyer supports), and that automatically gets syndicated to several other sites as well. What I Like Best: I like vFlyer so much that I recently used it in my online “listing presentation” video, which shows how vFlyer is an integral part of an overall online marketing strategy (Example) One of the interesting statistics from that movie is that during a particular period for one listing of mine, I had 91 hits in the MLS, 230 hits on Realtor.com, and over 1,000 hits on my vFlyer page for that listing. The statistics reports you can get make a great addition to any listing presentation. Usage: vFlyer Star Badge

If you think you or someone else you know should be recognized as a vFlyer Star, let us know by sending an email to blog@vflyer.com