Why I believe everyone is capable of building their own website
Because I was a complete technophobe too. Only my passion for conservation drove me to understand how to be successful online
An Unlikely Starting Point
Campfire tales to code
From living a charmed existence amid abundant wildlife on the most crocodile and hippo infested river in Africa, I was swept into a high tech world in California, where I discovered just how many people we could reach and educate if we harnessed the power of the internet.
The Full Story
How it all came about
2002
An opportunity to make a difference from California
Helped to establish a conservation organisation delivering anti-poaching and education programs in Zambia.
Built my first website.
Creating marketing-focussed websites for small businesses
Empowering coaches and course creators to build their own sites
Launched signature program, Rock That Website to teach coaches and therapists to create their own client-attracting website with confidence and ease.
When I was younger, I loved to explore and for much of my twenties I was smitten by the travel bug. I whetted my appetite with Europe and Central America before deciding to take the huge leap into the unknown, leaving my comfortable marketing role in London with the BBC and spending the next few years travelling around the globe.
I was in awe of the people I met, the excitement of not knowing what each day would bring, the freedom to roam wherever the next whim would take me and the vast scope of independence.
Several years into my travels, after various jobs all over the world, I stumbled upon Zambia, a large landlocked country in the middle of sub-saharan Africa which many people confess to knowing little about, and my heart danced for joy.
Being a charity, we didn’t have the budget to pay for updates to our website, so I decided to learn to do it myself.
I will never forget the overwhelm, the confusion and the long nights I spent looking for solutions.
But the feeling of liberation and empowerment when I had broken through the learning process was something that I had to share.
So on my return to the UK, I made it my mission to help small business and entrepreneurs who were facing the same problems I had, and I set up my own agency a year later.
I’m passionate about helping small business owners because taking control of their online marketing is such an empowering skill, and one which will ensure that they achieve the visibility that they crave.
I woke up each morning to the sound of baboons clattering across my roof, and falling asleep each night to the sound of hippos munching their way around my wooden hut. It was a glorious existence.
When the rains came and we had to ship out of the valley, I left that idyllic life to work as Marketing Director of an African charity which was running programs in the area where I had been based. Combining education and anti-poaching programs, we aimed to make a real difference to people’s lives on the ground, and preserve the precious and abundant wildlife in the area.
This was in 2002 and marks a turning point in my life as I started to truly understand the power of the internet.
I feel privileged to have worked through an incredible couple of decades of change in this industry and to have been able to have provided guidance for so many of my amazing clients through the ever-changing landscape of online marketing, from websites and landing pages to email marketing and lead generation.
Now I live in Suffolk with my husband, our two young boys, and our beloved German Shepherd, and deliver my signature program, Rock That Website, which teaches small business owners how to create their own client-attracting website with ease and confidence.
I hope we have a chance to connect soon.
Vicky Etherington
The Website Mentor
Vicky Etherington has been running her own online marketing agency since 2003, and in 2014 transitioned to working with coaches and therapists to teach them how to create their own client-attracting websites.
The programs are about so much more than website creation – they’re about rising above the noise, thriving at entrepreneurship, mastering technology with confidence and staying on track.
With a bigger vision of working with entrepreneurial women in rural areas of Africa to help communities break the cycle of poverty, Vicky is passionate about helping entrepreneurs closer to home as well, and loves to see coaches and therapists conquer their fears, drive their business forward with confidence and realise their dreams.
