Dreams To Journeys

I created Dreams To Journeys to be a one-stop location for free digital resources that help you with content creation. I created it to share with people what I seek for myself: to explore my creativity, educate my mind, and reduce my procrastination.

If you’re a student, a new creator, an up-and-coming artist, a low-budget designer, a small business owner, an entrepreneur who’s just starting out, or just a frugal person, it’s likely you don’t yet have the capital to spend on professional design tools.

This index is here to help you find free tools so you can get started on your creative journey as soon as possible.

Dreams To Journeys aims to be a reminder to all creators that the financial barrier to entry for content creation, is as low as it has ever been… free.

Changelog

September – December 2020

When I first started to create Dreams To Journeys, I chose Carrd as my website builder of choice. This seemed to be the best choice for me for financial reasons. Carrd has a very affordable pricing structure for creators who are just starting out.

Unfortunately, what I soon discovered is that Carrd wasn’t able to handle the amount of content I was putting in my design. Just by adding shadows, the whole site would slow down. It got to a point where it would take me a considerably long time to merely scroll down the page.

Additionally, as I began to flesh out my ideas, I realized I would want the site to have blogging features.

That’s when I realized I would need a different website builder; a Content Management System that’s capable of my new needs, and more so if I ever needed to add new features.

January 2021 – August 2022

All throughout these years, I’m learning more and more while primarily focusing my time on other side hustles. I had known about WordPress.com for quite some time but now had to put more time into understanding WordPress.org. I suffered some ups and downs with a neglectful hosting provider and lackluster WordPress themes until I finally found a hosting provider and WordPress theme that I was happy with.

I always thought of myself as a creative person, but for the first time ever, I had to learn about designing with an audience in mind. I had to learn about designing websites that are meant to be experienced by a large number of users.

I would find a look that was visually appealing but then I would discover that the image slows down the site. Or I would add a unique feature like a custom-designed menu, but it wouldn’t be responsive for mobile.

A big problem I had to overcome was redesigning the whole website once again once I realized that while I was providing links for users, I wasn’t providing them with enough value.

If users were going to be using my website to discover free digital resources, it was going to be important that they not only knew where to find them but if they were safe to use.

So I began the long task of giving each resource its own page with several sections of vital data.

Each resource on dreamstojourneys.com would get a screenshot, an about section, a key features section, a video review, a copyright info section, a call to action section, and a related resources section.

This change had a mutually beneficial effect for me, and the user: not only would the site benefit from an increase in pageview duration, but the user would be able to know how valuable a resource will be for them before they visited the site.

August 2022

I redesigned the homepage for two reasons:

1. Make the site more modern and minimalist so it can look more official and trustworthy.

2. Target more visitors by clarifying what kind of users will greatly benefit from using the site.