: - MEDIA COVERAGE - :
The Emmitsburg Dispatch Newspaper Interview - 2001...
Computer
Mommy
By Raymond Buchheister
www.emmitsburgdispatch.com
Publisher
 Wendy
Shepherd is a young woman in her thirties, married, mother of
three children. She considers her full-time occupation to be
homemaker and home schooler. Wendy is also a "Computer
Mommy." From her home in Emmitsburg she has her own little
business, successfully running several web sites. One of her
latest sites, actually called Computer Mommy at www.computermommy.com,
went online this past December 2000 because Wendy said, "I
want to share information with other moms about how they can
use the Internet. I created the site as a resource: it includes
information on how to make a web page, how moms can make money
at home, articles and interviews, and a place for moms to sell
products."
In
1995 Wendy and her husband Michael moved to Emmitsburg, where
Michael’s parents live. In addition to choosing to live
close to family, they decided that Wendy would be a stay-at-home
mom. In a large percentage of families both parents work in
order to provide the needs and wants of the family, but the
Shepherds demonstrate how a family can have a full-time mother
and still make a little extra money on the side too. Like most
average Americans, Wendy and Michael look forward to owning
their own home and they are currently saving for this dream.
Wendy
became interested in the computer when she and her husband were
introduced to it by her father-in-law. They viewed the computer
as useful in that they could use it to do their budget, play
games, play music, and learn something new. It wasn’t a
necessity but they considered it more an entertainment saying,
"It seemed more interesting than watching television."
When they purchased their first computer they had two little
ones. Like most mothers with children Wendy’s day is pretty
full so this became her entertainment during the children’s
naptime or at night when they were in bed. She found the computer
fascinating and started playing with the previously installed
programs. Eventually the Shepherds decided to get on the Internet
and Wendy said, "I felt overwhelmed at first as there was
suddenly a flood of information right at my fingertips! I began
to read about different people and their families, I found other
moms to talk to, and it seemed I learned everything under the
sun."
After
a while Wendy noticed that regular people, not just big businesses,
were making web sites. At that time her Internet provider was
America Online (AOL) and she realized that there was a way to
make a web page on AOL for free. Both Wendy and Michael took
on the venture of making a web page together, filling each other
in on what they learned. When they saw something on someone
else’s web site that they liked they wanted to see how
it was done so they could adopt similar ideas for their own
site. They realized the code wasn’t hard to learn, Wendy
said: "Easier than another country’s foreign language."
She said one trick is to use the view command at the top of
the Internet browser to do a view source to see the code and
commented it’s a good foundational tool for learning.
Wendy
launched into the Internet in February 1999 with her first major
site "TipzTime". TipzTime (derived from Tips Time)
at www.tipztime.com was created because the household and garden
tips she was posting on her personal web page became very popular.
She created the site to be a useful resource comprised of just
these good tips and reading material. Eventually she added craft
ideas and chore charts as well. Wendy, continuing to learn,
realized she could incorporate money-making features in her
site through an affiliate marketer such as "LinkShare,"
in which she could be paid by merchants when someone would "click
through" her site to theirs. If
someone would buy something she would be paid a percentage of
sale, or "pay per lead" if someone signs up for something,
like a catalog. Web sites have to go through an approval process
in order for reputable companies to advertise there. Because
of the quality of her sites she is an approved advertiser for
L.L. Bean. Wendy also feels the company L.L. Bean is one of
quality and worth promoting so it fosters a working environment.
TipzTime has become a success story for Wendy, getting on average
about 25,000 visitors weekly. If you compare her web site’s
visitors to the foot traffic of the local grocery store the
Jubilee, which is visited most in Emmitsburg, her site gets
double or triple the visitors.
TipzTime
has become an image link on the front page of the community
site Emmitsburg.net. According to Mike Hillman, the creator
of the site which celebrates its one-year anniversary this April:
"Emmitsburg.net and TipzTime operate in a collaborative
manner. Unlike other sites that can be linked to from Emmitsburg.net,
TipzTime is the only for-profit web site that has its image
on the site, and it’s the only for-profit site that, when
clicked on, opens in the same window." As in all collaborative
efforts, both sides benefit. Wendy provides content material
for Emmitsburg. net by way of this link to her site, and TipzTime
utilizes articles from Emmitsburg.net, providing exposure for
the authors to her site visitors. Because of these articles
it provides exposure to Emmitsburg and draws people over to
Emmitsburg.net from her site providing "traffic."
Hillman said, "On average, Wendy sends Emmitsburg.net 200
of its 1000 visitors daily."
Of
their collaboration, Wendy recalls, "I wanted to support
the people who write articles in Emmitsburg and bring traffic
to the Emmitsburg site. I live in Emmitsburg, and I love this
quaint town. I wanted to contribute some recognition to the
people of the community."
Wendy,
wanting to share her success by launching her site Computer
Mommy said, "Anyone can do what I’m doing. You don’t
have to go to school for it." Wendy has two years of community
college, none of which consisted of any computer training. In
an encouraging tone Wendy said, "There are a mass amount
of free reliable resources online that you can learn from. Also,
there are many moms and dads that work out of their homes on
their computers. We all network to promote and learn from each
other." Wendy
also provides services for those who don’t want to develop
a web site themselves but just want to run one. She creates
web sites doing everything from writing the hypertext markup
language (html code) to making buttons, banners, logos, and
illustrations. She also does marketing and advertising as well
as running newsletters. Wendy says she prefers, however, to
do her favorite thing—creating graphics. According to Hillman,
"All the graphics on Emmitsburg.net are the handiwork of
Wendy." Wendy’s
accomplishments haven’t been without trial. Like most individuals
who spend any amount of time on a computer Wendy has experienced
setbacks with computer down time. Recently she was in the process
of creating a web site called "Computer Children"
when she experienced a computer crash and lost her entire design.
Losing ambition to continue she diverted her attention to a
site she just launched February 2001 called "Chart Jungle."
Chart Jungle at www.chartjungle.com is a site she created for
home schoolers, teachers, and parents and contains charts. It
will eventually incorporate articles, web sites, and information
of related material. She intends to reconstruct her site Computer
Children which will feature information about children’s
software and related children’s sites on the Internet.
The site will look similar to Computer Mommy and she hopes to
have it available this summer.
Wendy
continues her routine now with three boys: Erick age 7, Timothy
age 5, and Mark 21 months. She has chosen to home school because
she wants to spend as much time as possible with her children
while they are growing up. She wants to provide them with some
Biblical teaching and use a school curriculum that she feels
works for each child. She says she wants to know exactly what
each child is learning and with one-on-one teaching the children
progress past grade level. Each child learns at his own pace
and she wants to have the flexibility to change to something
that may work better for him.. The
other advantage of the computer to the home schooler is access
to the vast amount of resources on the Internet including free
lesson plans. At this time, Wendy home schools two of her three
boys, working on her computer during quiet/nap time and after
they go to bed. Since she has access to the computer all the
time she can check her electronic mail (e-mail) throughout the
day for anything that may be important to her web sites. The
money she’s made has paid for her computer and helped to
purchase her school curriculum and extra school supplies for
home schooling. She says, "The plus side is that I can
make my own hours at what I do. The Internet runs twenty-four
hours a day and if the boys are sick I can tend to them and
not worry about having to work. There have been times that I
haven’t updated the web site for two weeks because of family
circumstances. Family is the most important thing, so family
comes first." |
|
|
