Hi there — my name is Ivana, and recently I made the decision to move my website from Hostinger’s website builder to WordPress.
When I first began building websites, I had just completed a coding bootcamp where I learned both front-end and back-end development. I was excited to understand how websites worked behind the scenes and how different pieces of technology connected together. But as I started building projects, I realized that what really interested me most was the design side of development.
I became fascinated with how different developers and designers captured the personality of a brand through their websites. Two businesses could offer similar services, but their websites could tell completely different stories depending on the design choices, colors, layout, and user experience.
That’s when I started focusing more on front-end development, branding, and UX/UI design.
At the same time, I quickly learned something important: a website shouldn’t just look good — it needs to work well too. Because I had learned so much about the functionality side of development, I couldn’t bring myself to create sites that were only “pretty.” I wanted the websites I built to be practical tools for businesses.
Even small business websites should be functional. They should help a business be found online, communicate clearly with customers, and support how the business actually operates day to day.
As a small business owner myself, I understood how intertwined technology has become with running a business. Your website connects to your marketing, your sales, your customer communication, and even things like scheduling, shipping, and payments. Technology isn’t optional anymore..
Originally, I built my own website simply as a portfolio. At that time, Hostinger’s web builder worked perfectly because it allowed me to create something quickly and start showing the work I had done. It was simple, and for a portfolio it did exactly what I needed.
But as time passed, my business started to evolve.
I began learning more about SEO and how websites are discovered through Google and local search results. I started applying those strategies to the sites I built and focusing on creating websites that could actually be found online, not just exist on the internet.
As my skills grew, my portfolio grew with it.
And as my portfolio grew, so did my business.
The Ivana Collective slowly expanded beyond just building websites. I found myself helping clients with branding, logo design, product photography, SEO strategy, and even things like creating cost-effective shipping formulas for their online stores.
One of the things I enjoy most is teaching small business owners how to use their websites effectively. Many of the people I work with are incredibly talented at what they do, but they’re not necessarily comfortable with technology. Instead of sending them to five different platforms for different tools, I like showing them how WordPress can act as a central hub for their business.
With the right setup, a WordPress website can manage things like online sales, booking, content updates, customer communication, and marketing — all in one place.
It can simplify the technology side of running a business.
Eventually, I realized something important: my own website needed to reflect the work I was doing for others.
The Ivana Collective was no longer just a portfolio. It had become a growing business offering website design, branding, SEO, and digital tools to help small businesses succeed online.
I needed a platform that could grow with that vision.
That’s where WordPress came in.
Moving to WordPress gives me more flexibility to showcase my work, experiment with new design ideas, and build features that better demonstrate what The Ivana Collective can do. It allows me to fully display client projects, test new user interface ideas, and share what I’m learning along the way.
It also allows me to offer more possibilities to the businesses I work with.
This blog will be a place where I share client features, design experiments, and lessons I’ve learned while building websites for small businesses. My hope is that it becomes both a resource and a behind-the-scenes look at how websites evolve alongside the businesses they support.
I’m excited to keep building, learning, and sharing what I discover along the way.