August is almost halfway over, but there is always time for an update.

With the launch of my new site (still in progress long-term), I’m starting monthly updates to track and record my progress.

studio august 2023 plans seo and website layout updates
A snapshot of my workday inside the office

Made at Dawn August 2023 Plans

As I wrapped up a couple of projects at the beginning of August, I only had a few new projects to work on. So I decided to spend this month working on my brand.

Set up Strong Website SEO Foundations

This month, I dedicated my time to working on my brand and cleaning up things internally. One of the biggest things I’ll be working on is creating landing pages for each service I offer and detailing the problem, results, and what’s included in the service.

Beyond giving clarity to potential clients, it sets up my website for long-term success with Google and SEO. I’ve neglected my site for a long time, but spending time on your brand as much as you do for clients is essential.

So for the first time in a while, I went into Google Search Console to check if my site was correctly indexed, what keywords were ranking, my website performance scores, and domain authority scores.

Blogging Regularly

In line with my plan to set up strong foundations, I also plan to blog regularly to make a habit of producing content. Since I don’t enjoy social media, blogging would be the minimum I could do to build authority.

This is also why I plan on blogging through Naver in Korean. I started enjoying reading Naver blogs frequently since they tend to have a more monoculture than the states, and it motivated me to write my own more.

As I plan to travel to Korea more often, it would be nice to build a network there and meet more people.

Travel Plans

Los Angeles

At the end of August, I’m heading to LA for a work trip to meet a fellow founder, Liz, from Eeze Natural Health. The primary goal of this trip would be to migrate all of their domains to Namecheap and set up good foundations for their SEO.

LA Disneyland

We’ll also head to Disneyland (my first time!) with our friend Sheena, an integrated CFO and founder of SMK & Company, to hang out. This is not the main reason I’m going to LA 🙂

Website Development Plans

Website Structure for GTmetrix

Made at Dawn’s website performance is excellent (at 99%), but the structure is 89% which means there’s room for improvement. I have quite a few custom HTML/CSS structures that use @import in the code, so I can probably simplify the structure and reduce the custom layouts.

I also want to simplify the overall layouts of my site because it doesn’t read easily as I hoped when I first designed my site. My website always becomes overly complex because I have so many ideas for it, but it’s time to let that go!

gtxmetrix grade structure
Screenshot of my GTXmetrix grade
Made at Dawn Portfolio

This might take a while (probably a few months) to complete as it’s not the highest priority now. I’m primarily working with existing clients who know my work and sometimes get referrals, and they don’t request to see my portfolio specifically.

But because I know that a portfolio is an essential aspect as a website designer and developer, I want to take time to craft a good portfolio that I could showcase for years to come.

Next month, I’ll probably include a review of August and then plans for September so that I keep track of my progress more thoroughly than just listing out plans for that month.

I also plan to be more detailed in September. My mind is already clouded with the thought of going to Europe in Q4, but writing this post reminded me that I’m still months away and can achieve so much during that time.

Thank you for reading and let’s catch up in September!