I’ve been working on a new site design and build for Shannon Communications, a branding and communications consultancy here in San Antonio. This site is an expression of the brand she’s built, but it’s also an expression of everything I love to, for whom, and learning and applying what I’ve learned. I’ve had an ongoing contract with another San Antonio business that has been really fun and really challenging. I learned and continue to learn a lot thanks to that project. Now, I’m getting to apply all of that to new projects, like this one for Shannon Hernandez.

Yes, her business is named after her. However, she doesn’t want it to be all about her. She loves collaborating with others and wants to make sure she’s emphasizing that. The bad news is that she got some really great photos shot by Paul Alanis that I couldn’t resist featuring. It IS her business after all. I decided that showcasing those photos was important but needed to figure out a way to showcase her collaborators on more than just an About page mention.

I asked her if she was considering having others contribute to her blog. It turns out she had already as a couple of her favorite collaborators to write something. Ah ha! I almost always place a few of the latest blog posts on the homepage. Why not include the author’s photo next to their byline on the post!

In comes Beaver Builder, a the website page-builder plugin I was using, to the rescue. I couldn’t figure out on my own how to get the photo to display dynamically exactly how I wanted. I popped into the Facebook group for Beaver Builder users, posed the dilemma, shared my settings, what I had already tried, and included a link to the site. After several great suggestions, I got everything to display properly.

The Facebook group post continued to get comments, including a comment with a link to a Beaver Builder video showcasing sites built with the plugin. I always love seeing what people do with the very same tools I use. The video didn’t disappoint. The first site featured was the Louder Agency. It was such a great looking site that I was hooked. About four minutes into it, I saw a familiar site.

Look for ShannonComms.com at 4 minutes and 10 seconds.

Of course, it’s not done yet. I have some screenshots below the video to show the changes.

For those who watched and are curious to see the updates as of Feb. 26, 2022, see below.