In 2015 I had a lot of fun becoming a new Entrepreneur in London, Ontario. I met so many people that is was getting difficult to retain all the wonderful advice and knowledge they shared with me. In an attempt to remember some of their wisdom and also to show my thanks; I came up with this idea to record the conversations in a podcast.
Stats from the launch.
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Started in 2006 the London Horse Sport horse show directory was a website I built for myself. I wanted to know where to find all the horse shows around me and when they were being held every year. It has evolved and changed so much over the past decade and is finally generating a profit through advertising. The business model is simple. Drive traffic to the site from horse shows and competitors and then sell ads that would benefit those viewers directly. I despise forced advertising. I am very tempted to remove the Google ads soon if I can replace the revenue it generates but sometimes I find those ads useful. For example when Cavalia Odysseo came to town. It doesn’t make much but the extra $12,000 a year is better than nothing. I would consider selling it to someone in the community who loves interacting with local equestrians. The hardest part is attending the horse shows so that I can get content and ads. I tried a few things to help drive traffic but they didn’t justify the time cost.
Another niche marketplace. For a WordPress website, this one has a lot of muscle. Sales are offered for listing businesses and events to create a community with a very specific audience. The blog allows for content including videos, podcasts, pictures, slideshows and anything else you can think of. Registration is simple and allows users to track which events and businesses they prefer as well as provide feedback as reviews and comments. Check it out for yourself at http://dogontario.com
The Concept
Dan wanted to interview other business owners in the Wedding service industry to help couples save time researching and weeding through to enormous abundance of information available. This was also a great way for Dan to create connections and relationships as well as establish himself as an expert in the industry. You can listen for yourself by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes for your iPhone or Stitcher Radio for all other devices.
Services included:
Rick Chandler has just started his business and came to us for a need to create an online presence quickly. We were able to build everything in house and saved him some start up costs by using a template website that fit his budget. The video added enormous value here because it is able to show his light hearted personality which customers see as a very likeable and trustworthy guy to hire.
Other features include:
I wanted to add a print button to a client’s WordPress based website for a payment receipt page. There are many instances you may want to add a print button – even though all popular browsers have a simple Print command built right in for any web page.
I started by trying out the various WordPress plugins but they either did not print properly or they included advertising to the end-user once they print – which would be unacceptable in my case.
So I just created one myself and thought to share this with you, to make your life easier as well.
It is simple enough to add a link with some javascript:
<a href="javascript:window.print()">Print This Page</a>You will need to add that to your text editor when it is in “Text” mode rather than “Visual” mode.
It doesn’t seem that you lose javascript anymore in the WordPress text editor when toggling back and forth between “Text” mode and “Visual” mode, but if you have an older version of WordPress or for other reasons do not want Javascript in your WordPress text editor, then you can add the following to your theme’s functions.php file, (or create one if one does not exist):
// [print_button]
function print_button_shortcode( $atts ){
return '<a class="print-link" href="javascript:window.print()">Print This Receipt</a>';
}
add_shortcode( 'print_button', 'print_button_shortcode' );
And then just add the following shortcode to the page or post that you want the button, where ever on the page you want it:
[print_button]I included a class in that code, “print-button” that you can add to your stylesheet and style as you like. For example if you wanted that to be a blue button to fades to orange when hovered over you could do this:
.print-link {
padding:8px 20px;
line-height:1em;
background-color: #005288;
color: #FFF;
font-size: 14px;
font-family:"Lucida Grande", 'LucidaSansRegular', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif !important;
border-radius: 3px;
-moz-border-radius: 3px;
-webkit-border-radius: 3px;
text-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #111;
box-shadow: 1px 1px 1.2px #555555;
-moz-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1.2px #555555;
-webkit-box-shadow: 1px 1px 1.2px #555555;
transition: all 0.5s ease 0s;
-moz-transition: all 0.5s ease 0s;
-webkit-transition: all 0.5s ease 0s;
-ms-transition: all 0.5s ease 0s;
-0-transition: all 0.5s ease 0s;
}
.print-link:hover {
background-color: #C60;
color: #FFF;
text-decoration:none;
}You could also just change the class assigned to the code to one that is already in use on your website for a button or other style you like.
Finally, if you want to customize the styling of your printed pages so that they do not print out elements of the page like backgrounds and headers and navigation, etc. that you do not want, you will need to create a print style sheet. For that I will send you to the following page on the WordPress website for more information http://codex.wordpress.org/Styling_for_Print.
Source: How to Add a Print Button to a WordPress Page or Post • DESIGNSbyTIERNEY
All of our websites to date are exclusively built on the WordPress open source CMS. We believe this provides the most flexibility for expanding your web presence as your business grows. Also, because we don’t like to re invent the wheel. By utilizing existing solutions, open-source software, and popular web standards, we can help you save both time and money. But the best part is the community involvement. Never before in our lives have we seen as great a number of talented people helping one another create amazing products and services! We are not the only ones that think this way. He are a few more thoughts from another blog.
– By Garrett Vogenbeck www.holisticwebmedia.com
In the past several years, the premium website theme industry has exploded. Professional grade website themes designed by world-class designers are now available extremely cheap. Using these themes decreases costs in incredible ways, while minimizing maintenance problems and providing a superior product overall.
Business may still consider custom-from-scratch theme design, but should be aware that money saved on design can be put into marketing, social media, and content creation – business issues that are often overlooked during a website’s startup. New themes (i.e. designs) can often be applied to a website if it is based on a common content management system (CMS) like WordPress and using a standard content structure. Using a premium theme reduces initial costs, project timelines, risk, and switching costs.
First off, let me explain the difference between a premium theme or free theme from custom theme design. A premium theme is a professionally made designer website theme that can easily be applied to a new website. There are several websites that sell premium WordPress themes, such as ThemeForest, Templatic, and WooThemes. A free theme is a theme available that can be applied to a website, but usually are of less quality and have less support. On the other hand, custom theme design involves the process of wireframing (i.e. hand-drawn/computer created layouts), graphic design, and programming to create a theme from scratch to fit requirement specifications exactly.
If you are a small business looking for a website, your best option may very well be to use the best stuff out there and keep it simple! Not all businesses will settle for a premium theme, but each is different, and that’s OK.
Prior to contacting a web designer, there are some tasks you can do that will help save you time and money. If you bring this information you will be in a great position for a productive collaboration. Here’s what you should do:
There are several types of media that go into building a web site and not all of which may be done by one web designer. For example:
So what does your web designer do then? There is plenty left for us to do with your website.
If you are mostly concerned with how your website looks vs how it feels and functions? You may want to consider hiring a graphic designer first and then a web designer second.
Did I miss anything? 😉
How to sign up for web hosting with 1and1.com
How to do a one-click install of WordPress in your control panel
Disclaimer: This article wants to be useful and informational, but keep in mind it is not legal advice and all the legal documents cited are only to be used as a starting point. The author, the publisher, Docracy and the original authors of the documents cited disclaim any liability connected to the use of these material without a licensed attorney.
To new entrepreneurs and small business owners. Carter Creations is your easy answer to starting your path to online marketing. We take the confusion out of the abundance of information out there and filter in only the voices that affect your business. We will learn your business’ audience, style and personality and reflect it in the creation of an efficient web site that is simple to use on any device. We understand your struggles and can share our mistakes and successes to make your approach the most efficient as possible. We will then show you how to continue your web site updates on your own or work side by side as your business grows. A web site is a great start to share your story in a noisy online world.
