Beer Bottles: Earn from your Hobby

January 11, 2018 by Ray

The very first website I built was for my beer bottle collection, before 2000. I just upgraded it with new features and to make it mobile friendly. It is a good example of how you could earn money from a personal interest or hobby or activity that you enjoy and invest time (and maybe money) in. Visit http://www.worldofbeerbottles.com and see how hyou could take advantage of similar page content and plugins for a website to help others appreciate what you do and maybe even offset some of your expenses!

Beer Bottle Website Features

List of Bottles
Use to display your collection, list of business products, list of family trips, etc.
— It’s easy to add to my online spreadsheet, which can be sorted by Name of Beer, Nation, State, and even bottles that each of my friends donated.
Affiliate Ads
Earn by displaying ads/links that are similar to the theme of your website. Sell related products and services.
— Click my links to purchase beer & brewery related T-shirts, posters, home brewing kits and even socks from Amazon.com, eBay and of course Google PPC (pay-per-click ads)

History, Trivia, Famous Quotes
Provide additional content to to put your hobby/activity more appealing, interesting, fun and enjoyable to others. When visitors spend more time on your site, you have a greater chance of a “conversion” (contact or a purchase).
— I’ve interspersed ads within the content, so as people read it, they also see advertisements for related items. Maybe they’ll take my hobby more seriously when reading about brewing history or reading beer quotes by historical figures.
Beer Videos
Create your own videos, or embed popular ones from YouTube since they catch people’s attention. You will increase the chances of extra web traffic when they share with friends.
— There are many funny videos embedded on my website. And to add to the interest-grabbing, sex sells! …But so do cute little kids and adorable puppies and kittens. 😉
Discussion Forum, Bulletin Board
Make yourself an authority and create an interactive experience to build repeat traffic. Create and moderate a public or private bulletin board or discussion area, divided into categories.
— My new and improved Beer Forum is starting fresh, so not many posts yet. I’m using the same 4 broad categories for posts. Feel free to comment there.
Breweriana Links
Provide helpful resources to visitors to gain even more credibility and provide greater value.
— World of Beer Bottles links include breweries, beer games, other bottle and can collectors and of course, more beer merchandise.

If you’re in the Wilmington, DE area, stop over to visit my Beer Room for a personal tour. We can talk about attracting visitors to your business or hobby website. Contact me anytime.

Landing Pages Improve Conversions

December 5, 2017 by Ray

Convert your AdWords PPC & Facebook Ads at a better rate!
Small businesses put lots of effort and money into marketing, so it’s important to leverage those costs to help ensure success. The home page of your website usually tries to introduce prospects to most or all of your different services or product lines. This can distract your prospect’s focus, so build a targeted page with call to action so that they will find what they seek.

Unique Marketing Campaigns
To better target your customers, it’s often best to advertise particular services or products to different segments of your audience. A PPC ad or Facebook ad or email campaign might focus on one item at a time, so you could be wasting money if the website page shown to prospects is too general. Landing Pages are website pages that focus on one thing at a time — the exact item that your prospect wants to know about if they’ve actually clicked your ad.

Landing Pages by Webmaster Ray
A landing page often does not include your regular website navigation menu, so prospects are not distracted. It can be very brief, displaying features and pointing to a “call to action” such as opting in to your email list, receiving a free download, or filling our a form for a “free estimate”.
This page shows several examples.

Landing page for sales conversion — Landing Page for Sherm’s Catering (click for actual)

As my own landing page highlights, here are some components you can include:

List of benefits / features you can offer
Opt-in form for newsletter
Button to download informational PDF
Contact Form (name, phone, email, etc)
Featured photos
YouTube video
Links to website pages or social media

Keep It Simple
Less can be more. Make it easy for prospects to quickly get the info to sell themselves on taking that next step of sending you their information (or money!).

I can create your first Landing Page for $199 or less. Additional ones (for your other products or services) will be significantly less than that, since I’ve already got the WordPress plugin installed on your site and can use the layout we created. Email me or call 302-633-1482 with questions or to get started!

More Samples

Use landing pages to close the deal or make your investment of time and money pay off! Increase conversion rates of:

Facebook Ads or Posts
PPC (Google AdWords) Campaigns
Display Ads and Re-Targetting Ads for desktop or mobile
Email Marketing
Special Promotions
New Product / Service Announcements
LinkedIn and other Social Media Profiles
Mini-Website without the added Hosting cost

Contact Webmaster Ray for FREE CONSULTATION!

Top 10 Internet Marketing Ideas for 2018

November 27, 2017 by Ray

attract attention to get more customers — Attract attention to get more customers

Convert your prospects into customers!
Here are my top 10 marketing ideas to start the new year with economical website improvements that bring results. When your prospects “google” the goods or services you provide, list of results does not allow your business to stand out from the rest.
Using my clients as examples:

Brandywine Auto Repair could be just another automotive shop.
Be Well Life Coaching could be just another life coach.
Gianni’s Pizza could be just another pizza shop.
Wilderman Physical Therapy could be just another physical therapist.
Annex Marketplace could be just another furniture store.

Stand out from your competitors
You know that you’re better than your competition. But you need to show your prospects why to choose you. Here are top 10 gifts that you can give your business this holiday season to get more attention, more clicks, more calls, and most importantly, MORE SALES!

internet marketing

Landing Page(s)– Improve your conversion rate from Facebook Ads, PPC, LinkedIn posts and just about any advertising you do. Make your marketing costs pay off. See this Landing Page I created for Sherm’s Catering (I didn’t do his website, just the landing page). The idea is to target the exact service/product that you’re promoting, rather than come to your general landing page.
$150-200
Marketing Video – Excite your prospects with 30-45 second pitch where you can quickly outline all or most of your services. Images, voiceover, captions, background music all included. Post to your website, facebook, LinkedIn, emails, YouTube.
$400
Google Reviews – Prospects love the affirmation of happy customers! Get twice the benefit by having customers write brief reviews on your Google Maps listing – which helps you stand out with gold stars. Get twice the benefit, since you can easily copy and paste onto the Testimonials page on your website. For example, write a brief review of me here – and give me 5 stars if I deserve them! Included is a similar link on your own Reviews page.
$75
Mobile Website Upgrade – If your site is still not mobile-friendly. Optimized for best visitor experience on all devices, plus I will train you to update most content yourself on ALL pages of site.
$600+
Start a Blog – Share your insights with prospects and give them reason to contact you by providing the information they seek. Write short or long posts in minutes, adding photos to enforce your message. Then double or triple your value by sharing in social media, emails to your list, or send to people who’d have interest in that specific topic. Solve problems, display case studies, provide your opinion, highlight a new product, etc. To install Blog with 2-5 categories:
$50
Additional Domains – Create a descriptive domain name to lead to a particular page of your website or to your home page. There is no cost to “forward” a domain name, so use it for specialty items.
$10 for .com
Accept Credit Cards – Start online payment processing on your website. Take a deposit to ensure sales from impulse buyers. Include dropdown menu of payment amount choices. You create a PayPal account and I’ll install the button. Or if your volume is $3000+/mo, I’ll get you best deal on a full Merchant Account like I’ve got.
$50
Email Marketing – Create and grow your mailing list with the original email marketing program, ConstantContact.com. Easily add to your mailing list, send newsletters, and most importantly create an opt-in form that you or I can add to your site so you can gather emails! Cost depends on size of list.
Free 60 day trial
TV Commercial, Online Ads– Yes, really. Call me with your ideas and I’ll get you in touch with a friend who will give you best deal for quick results! Cost is kept down by targeting only those who are most likely to show interest.
$150 – $1500
WordPress Care Plan – WordPress software updates, regular backups of your site, highest rated security & website optimization plugins to maintain site performance.
$120/year

mobile marketing Share this post with other business owners
Share with a friend who’d appreciate more customers or higher profits. They’ll always receive unbeatable prices from Webmaster Ray. Or call me to discuss your own marketing needs!

302-633-1482
Ray@AttractWeb.com

Attract Interest. Attract Business.

SSL Certificates Required by Google Chrome

September 25, 2017 by Ray

wordpress website security This is a very important post for any business, organization or individual with a website. Starting now (October 2017), most sites will display a “Not Secure” warning in Google Chrome browser (and eventually others) if they have not upgraded from “http” to “https”. In particular, the warning will appear if information is collected in any of the following ways:

Search fields
Contact forms, opt-in forms that capture information for mailing lists, forms to enter a giveway
Online payments, donations, shopping carts
Comment boxes: Name, website, email address, and comment
Any other ways a visitor may type something on your website and that information is transmitted to your server or any other server that collects the information.

Benefits of Upgrading to HTTPS
As Orpical Group (a Philadelphia marketing agency) notes on their website:

Trust – HTTPS notifies users that all data provided from the website they are visiting is trustworthy and has not been altered. Users are starting to get messages from browsers when they visit a web page that is Not-Secure. Sites with HTTPS display a “Secure” message, helping build trust.

Confidentiality – HTTPS confirms that all the activity complete on the website will be encrypted. This also means that the website and activity cannot be visible to someone who is trying to sniff through network traffic.

Protection – HTTPS protects sensitive information. Website users want to be confident that their sensitive information, such as credit card or personal information, stay secure and do not fall into the wrong hands.

Search – Security is a top priority for Google. They invest a lot in making sure that their services use industry-leading security, like strong HTTPS encryption by default. Now, more than ever, they are putting emphasis on HTTPS in the search ranking algorithms.

More reasons to upgrade:

Google ranks secure sites higher (penalizes non-secure sites)
https sites load faster
Eventually, Chrome will show a Not Secure warning for all pages served over HTTP, regardless of whether or not the page contains sensitive input fields.

Webmaster Ray Can Help

Webmaster Ray More background information is below, but bottom line is that Attraction LLC offers low prices:
From $50 for one-time installation/configuration plus $50/year for the annual renewal of the SSL Certificate. Prices will vary slightly depending on your hosting account. For example, this compares favorably to GoDaddy’s $70/yr renewal rate.

A temporary option for some would be to remove any contact forms on your site and replace with a simple email link. Contact me asap to discuss best options for your site!

FORBES ARTICLE 8/22/17:
Chrome Will Soon Warn You About Unsecure Websites. Should You Be Concerned?
“Google is trying to do something about this by pressuring companies to provide more security for the people who visit their websites…

…Google is pushing back against webpages with URLs that begin with “http” – no “s” – because they don’t encrypt communication between the user and the website. Communication may not be secure and the user’s interactions with the website can be hacked…

…Beginning in October, Google’s Chrome browser will display the message “Not Secure” in the address bar when users interact with an unencrypted webpage.”

“Chrome dominates the global browser market to such a great degree that more than half of the world’s internet users will see the warnings when they interact with unencrypted websites.”

Search Engine Journal article:
Google Is Requiring HTTPS for Secure Data in Chrome
Does your site collect sensitive visitor information such as passwords, credit card information, or personal data? If so, be warned: by the end of January 2017, Google Chrome will begin marking sites without HTTPS as non-secure. … If you have not done so already, protect your visitors and your site with an SSL certificate and migrate to HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure).

All you need to know is that HTTPS is a secure connection, whereas HTTP is unsecure. With a standard HTTP connection, it is possible for unauthorized parties to observe the conversation between your computing device and the site…

Chrome Warning Added:
– In past http shows “i” and when clicked says “This site is not secure”.
– https shows “Secure” in green, along with green padlock.
– Starting 10/17, http will show “Not secure”.

Process to Install SSL:

Purchase SSL Certificate from a Certificate Authority
Generate CSR, CRT, and KEY files and install in host control panel
Backup site content
Change all internal links (http to https)
Check code libraries / test
Update all external links that you can (from directories & other sites)
Create a 301 redirect

Webmaster Ray Can Help

More background information is below, but bottom line is that Attraction LLC offers low prices:
From $50 for one-time installation/configuration and from $45/year for the annual renewal of the SSL Certificate. Prices will vary slightly depending on your hosting account. For example, this compares favorably to GoDaddy’s $70/yr renewal rate. Contact me asap to discuss best options for your site!

Book Travel Online for Hotel & Flight Deals

June 14, 2017 by Ray

Wilmington Delaware online travel booking

Hotels, Flights, Cruise Vacations and other online travel booking items have always been popular internet searches, either for personal or business purposes. I re-designed a website I originally built over 10 years ago to sell travel services through my affiliate relationships with Travelocity, Hotels.com, Trivago, Priceline, and other vendors.

My new website is mobile-responsive and a great example of how anyone can monetize a personal blog or website, or add an income stream to an existing commercial site by placing text ads or banner ads to items that are related to the main theme of your site. Visit www.TravelUSAandWorld.com/ to see how I optimized it with my own keywords so that I had a chance of ranking in Google search results. Make hotel or flight reservations while you’re there, and you’ll be helping to support several gratis websites I’ve built for local Wilmington, Delaware area non-profits!

Contact me anytime if you’d like to brainstorm how to incorporate affiliate advertising or other income streams into your own business model. Of course, it’s more appropriate to add these types of links to personal sites, hobby sites, or home business sites where you’re not as concerned with distracting your visitors from the main goal of buying your products or services. For example, the first website I ever built was my www.WorldofBeerBottles.com. That’s where I first gained experience with adding affiliate advertising banners for beer posters, “Beer of the Month Clubs” and beer themed books & posters. Pitching related products or services is a benefit to your visitors and could even motivate them to buy from you if the see that you’re affiliated with a well-known brand!

Travel Agents in Wilmington, DE
In many cases, it’s best to book travel through an agency. I’d be happy to refer you to one of my Delaware area friends, so just email or call me at 302-633-1482. If you just need hotel reservations, last minute flight deals or a rental car, you’ll get the same great deals by clicking the links at Travel USA & World, which I specifically built as a shopping mall of major travel providers such as Travelocity, Priceline, Flight Network, Cruise Direct, Ticket Liquidator, and other travel links.

Travel Tips
To improve SEO and to make it visitor-friendly, I include valuable information such as travel tips and other useful information for travelers. Wilmington Delaware travel! There are articles submitted to me by other websites who were happy to provide me with business & pleasure travel ideas in exchange for links to their own websites. I feature the very first video I created over 12 years ago, along with tips for travel safety, trip planning and packing, how to get the best airline seats, airport parking secrets, vacation destination suggestions, and more!

Remember, you can’t just borrow some text and images and put up a junky site. Treat it as a business and put effort into quality content and search engine optimization including title tags, meta description, image alt tags, submitting to search engines and all of the other little jobs I include when building a website for a customer in Wilmington, Delaware or anywhere else in the USA. Adding travel posters helps me cross-market!

If you have a special interest or hobby to write about, let me help you share it with the world and you may be able to work in some affiliate links to websites to earn some revenue!

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