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• How to create a more tailored experience for your subscribers.
• How to better engage with subscribers.
• How to find out who is actually reading and interacting with the messages you send out.
• How to sync your WordPress blog with AWeber.

{Well, if we’re going to have an annual goal of helping 1,000 women get online each year, may as well try and do it all at once, eh?!}

In Numbers

• We had just shy of 900 women actively registered to take part.
• The Facebook support group had almost 200 members, actively engaging on a daily basis.
• We had over 300 people watch the global webinar.
• Over 60 people – participants and volunteers – attended the live events generously hosted by both WP Engine (in Austin, Texas) and AWeber (in the Philly area). Check out the links for reports from their events.
• I believe at least 10 women held their own informal, private meet-ups to participate with their friends and female colleagues.
• We distributed almost 600 discount codes for a free WooTheme manually (individual email responses!).
• We’re in the process of manually distributing 250 discount codes for 3 free months with AWeber.

Behind the Numbers

The story that the numbers don’t tell however is much more important. It’s a story of community, support and empowerment. Here’s what some of the participants have said…

“Ok there are the early birds and the late ones, so I will say better late than never. I just registered my domain name and my website with WP. I am so happy, I have been planning to do that for 7 years.“

“Thank you for your generosity, Lea! What a great event!”

“Special thanks Shayda and the WP Engine team for hosting us this afternoon. The space was inspiring and energized. So glad I made the trip. ”

“Don’t know if I ever would have even gotten started without this event. Thanks!! ”

“Tons of thanks and admiration for the massive and massively successful effort to help women get on the web in an effective and efficient way. Thanks to all the volunteers and organizers at the Philadelphia event at AWeber.”

“Thank you for this incredible event! My site is not up yet (had to go to work as well + theme-related issues) but I am sure I’ll put it up soon!”

“Although my site is not quite there due to a few theme functionality issues, I would like to say a great big thank you to Lea for organising this event. It just proves how much you can achieve in such little time with the right support and pointers. So thank you – an inspired event that certainly leaves me feeling empowered and ready for a glass of wine – to celebrate of course!! ”

While I’ve organised and run much of this alone, I couldn’t have done it without the support of a few people. So I’d like to say a personal thank you to the following:

• My husband, Jonathan and 3 year old, Mali – both of whom have made themselves scarce when needed over the past 4+ months, to give me the time to do what’s been needed to achieve this!
• My small team – of Ali Marsland (who also participated to get her site up and running) alongside my VAs – who, although relatively new, have helped take the slack on other projects so I could pull this together.
• Shayda Torabi of WP Engine – one of the most enthusiastic and passionate supporters of the event and a pleasure to work with.
• Liz Cies of AWeber – another dedicated, enthusiastic supporter who has been a joy to work with.
• All our sponsors:
  • MOO.com for the free mini Moo cards for participants.
  • WooThemes for the very well-received free WooTheme for each participant.
  • MeetingBurner for the generous discount and a premium account with which to run our webinar.
  • Shama Kabani for the Kindle copies of her book, The Zen of Social Media.
• The volunteers who participated at the live events - especially the WP Engine team and the following volunteers at the AWeber event:
  • Bonnie Boden – Bonnie has been a champion supporter in the Facebook group and deserves a special mention. Thanks, Bonnie!
  • Lisa Snyder – who I believe helped co-ordinate the Philly event. Thanks, Lisa!
  • Ileane Smith
  • Erica Sterling & Nikeeya James
  • Howard Carson
  • Mike Wanner

What’s Next?

Despite all the madness this year, we will be doing it again next year – but perhaps with a slight twist! Join our newsletter if you’d like updates about it – and to receive our monthly newsletter.

We will shortly be publishing the Wall of Websites – a showcase of the websites built so far as part of this event (with many more to come) – and we’ll be rallying support for the Kiva Lending Team we’ve set up for the school to pay this forward.

Do join us there if you’d like to help us pay this forward to those less fortunate around the world but who are still making things happen for themselves…

In both instances, you likely do not have the correct copyright privileges or usage rights to use either the image or the soundtrack…

In a worst case scenario, your website could immediately be taken down by your web host and you could be sued for copyright infringement; in a best case scenario, the infringed party contacts you and politely requests you to remove the offending item.

Neither is a pleasant experience so to save yourself the hassle, stick to the following guidelines…

#1 Always double check the copyright and usage rights

If something is subject to full copyright, then you must contact the copyright owner before you can use the item anywhere and for anything.

Some items are creative commons-licensed but again there are various levels of this, so double check the usage rights and ensure you adhere to them. For more information on creative commons, read this.

#2 For commercial projects, triple check the usage rights

If you plan to sell or resell something and want to use an image, soundtrack or video clip in this commercial project, be sure to triple check the usage rights of the item.

Even if you’ve purchased the rights to use something from a stock library, very often there are additional limitations and fees to be paid if the item is to be used on something that you’re planning to sell on to your customers and clients.

#3 Use credible and legitimate sources

There are a number of good places to source royalty-free and free images, some of the most popular include StockXchng, Every Stock Photo and Compfight for searching creative commons-licensed images on Flickr.

To find affordable stock items, I like the Envato market places such as Photodune (for photos), Audiojungle (for audio clips) and Videohive (for video clips).