Hey! Sweet Thing\u2019s Yola site is chock-full of goodness, from the clean, simple design and gorgeous photography<\/a> to the easy navigation. Heather Jenkinson and Danielle Hornung<\/a>, the founders of this Toronto-based business, did a great job of establishing themselves as experts with baking tips<\/a> and a clever, informative blog<\/a> that\u2019s a treat to read. These Yola Silver<\/a> members also have a custom domain name that sets them apart.<\/p>\n They tell us that their success had a very sweet spike once their Yola site was up and running. \u201cIn 2011 we’ve seen a 30% increase in business which I would attribute to our online presence,\u201d explains Danielle.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we expanded our business in 2010, we knew that word of mouth alone wouldn\u2019t be enough to grow our client base,\u201d says Danielle. \u00a0\u201cNow we have clients contacting us for orders. Having a great website instills confidence in our company and having visuals to support our work is great!\u201d<\/p>\n She says that there are three things about Yola\u2019s site builder that are absolutely vital to Hey! Sweet Thing\u2019s success:<\/p>\n Great job, Heather and Danielle!<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Second Place Winner: Aussie Cushion<\/strong><\/p>\n With her beautifully designed site, Aussie Cushion owner Denise Carrasco shows how effective it can be to customize a Yola template. From the witty logo and banner design to her use of clean white backgrounds, Denise created the perfect online showcase for her collection of exclusive cushion cover prints.<\/a><\/p>\n Denise founded her business in 2008. \u201cI wanted to share my designs with everyone, and thought \u201cWhat better way than through the internet?\u201d explains Denise. Denise bought a custom domain name<\/a> with Yola. \u00a0\u201cI was born in Australia and love my country, so wanted to support it \u2013 my business name says it all,\u201d notes Denise.<\/p>\n \u201cYola gave me the opportunity to reflect exactly what Aussie Cushions is all about, because I could give my site the right style and design,\u201d Denise tells us. \u201cI think all small businesses should be online \u2013 your Yola site is an advertisement for your business that\u2019s accessible to anyone around the world, at any time of the day or night.\u201d She\u2019s happy to say that she\u2019s received new customer inquiries out of the blue through her site, too.<\/p>\n Denise loves the new Photo Gallery widget<\/a>, and when you look at her site, you\u2019ll see why. She gives big props to the Yola Customer Support team<\/a>, too. \u201cThey always offer up great opinions and solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n Props right back at you, Denise!<\/p>\n Third Place Winner: Stories Out of Words<\/strong><\/p>\n Stories Out of Words<\/a> blends stunning design with strong copy for a beautiful site that\u2019s a great experience on every page.<\/p>\n Site owner, writer, editor, and designer Kellie tells us she started Stories Out of Words at the end of 2010.\u00a0 Kellie had just helped a friend finish building a Yola site, and she decided to create her own to try to regain her confidence as a writer after a recent rough patch in her life. She made this gorgeous site by customizing a free Yola Style<\/a>. \u00a0\u201cI revamped the free template by swapping widgets around, changing banners and links, and experimented with all sorts of things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I love about Yola is that I can access my site and work on it any time, any place,\u201d says Kellie. \u201cIt\u2019s always a work in progress, and will change all the time. I also use a lot of the fantastic Yola features, like the contact form<\/a> that feeds to my email.\u201d<\/p>\n Kellie credits the work she\u2019s been doing through her Yola site as helping her recover from a debilitating bout with mental illness. \u201cBeing online has let me still achieve and work and do what I love. My site has been a major factor in helping me rebuild who I am as a person, to realize that life is too short to not pursue happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n Thanks for those inspiring words, Kellie, and thanks for choosing Yola.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We’re proud to announce the top three winners of our Yola Web Stars contest. Congratulations to all!\u00a0 Make sure to visit these wonderful sites. And stay tuned, because there are more winner profiles coming up. First Place Winner: Hey! Sweet Thing Hey! Sweet Thing\u2019s Yola site is chock-full of goodness, from the clean, simple design… Read More »Meet the Yola Web Stars Winners!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false},"categories":[111],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2685"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4532,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685\/revisions\/4532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yola.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"heysweetthing.ca\"](\"https:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5184\/5755108121_cb0ccc2319.jpg\")
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