Transform Your Wedding Planning with a Wed-Site and Evite to your guests for your BIG DAY!

Transform Your Wedding Planning with a Wed-Site and Evite to your guests for your BIG DAY!

Your very own

Wedding Wed-site

Let’s Plan Your Big Day, Stress Free!

So Much to Think About. So Little Time.
That’s Where I come In!

WEDDING INVITATION E-VITE
The planning gets a lot more organized by doing an automated E-vite, the new type of wedding invitations!

Couples spend many hours and thousands of rands on arranging their wedding.
This includes hiring a wedding planner, venue costs, organizing the party, choosing songs, finding a photographer, making and sending invites and so on.

It costs a lot and takes up an exorbitant amount of time.
However, technology has finally caught up with the wedding industry to make things easier.

Wedding websites or “wedsites” are web pages that become a bride and groom’s best friend in helping the process of planning their wedding day.

I Gotcha Covered!

Hi!

A wedding website is a hub for information and you can include as much detail as you wish.

Your website can be used to tell your special story.

It can also relay important details and updates.

Collate RSVP’s, incorporate a gift registry, wedding song ideas and photographs from the big day.

It's Never Too Early To Start!

You can tell your story and personalize it:

A wedding website is an opportunity for you to tell your story. You can tell the touching story of how you met your significant other. Or how the proposal happened, and how you are getting ready to tie the knot. You can include a beautiful interactive story which shares your love through pictures and slideshows. This will allow you to celebrate your love and create a buzz. You also have the opportunity to completely personalize your website as you can choose from a range of wedding themes to find the one that suits your style as a couple and sets the tone for your wedding.

Important details and updates:

A wedding website is made to make your life easier. You can post all of the important information for your wedding day in one online, easy to find place. No more fielding last minute calls from guests who have misplaced their invitations. All of the key information such as date, venue, dress-code, and reception details as well as additional helpful hints. For example accommodation in the nearby vicinity can be placed in one central easy to find page. You can even add a personal touch by making it interactive with maps to the venue and nearby hotels.

Last minute changes:

A wedding website is made to make your life easier. You can post all of the important information for your wedding day in one online, easy to find place. No more fielding last minute calls from guests who have misplaced their invitations. All of the key information such as date, venue, dress-code, and reception details as well as additional helpful hints. For example accommodation in the nearby vicinity can be placed in one central easy to find page. You can even add a personal touch by making it interactive with maps to the venue and nearby hotels.

Wedding Invitations & RSVP:

With a website, you can manage your wedding invitations, guest information, and RSVPs in a single space.
The world is moving online and so should your wedding. You can send your beautifully designed custom e-invites to your guests and incorporate a page for them to RSVP. Your guest can respond with their plus one information and dietary requirements giving you all the information you need for catering and planning in one place. Now you can simply send this information to the venue, plan your seating chart online, and inform the caterer accurately of special requirements. Further, this feature actually saves you money as printing and mailing costs become a thing of the past and you do your bit to save paper. It also prevents pesky incidents of invites getting “lost” in the mail.

Gift Registry:

No one likes getting useless gifts or three of the same Carrol Boyes serving spoons. The solution to this is not revolutionary as it is common for the happy couple to get a gift registry for their wedding. A wedding website, however makes this even simpler for you and your guests. Your “wedsite” will allow you to have links to the various stores or online stores where you have created a gift registry. This makes it child’s play for your guests to find the correct shade of blue you wanted for your lampshades. or even shop for your gift online saving them time and preventing you from receiving an unwanted gift.

Save You Time and Money:

By getting a website made you won’t be spending money on designing, printing and mailing invites out to your wedding guests. If you opt for a wedding planner, you will need less time with them as you can sort out many things independently. You can also save a lot of time (and stress) on being able to communicate with the entire list of guests via one central platform rather than having to get in contact with each guest independently and still making them feel special.

Eco-Friendly:

By getting a website made you won’t be spending money on designing, printing and mailing invites out to your wedding guests. If you opt for a wedding planner, you will need less time with them as you can sort out many things independently. You can also save a lot of time (and stress) on being able to communicate with the entire list of guests via one central platform rather than having to get in contact with each guest independently and still making them feel special.

So, let’s get to your options;

Wedding Packages

Peace of Mind (One pager)

This option is short and sweet and super user friendly. It consists of only one page scrolling down to different sections.
Client to supply high resolution photos, wedding details and text. Available via Nerette Botha.

starting at

R 1650

Every Step of the Way (Up to four individual pages)

Here we have a bit mor functionality and options available.
This design includes up to four individual pages filled with all the info you may want to add. The estimate price for this is always between R 2999 to R 3500. Price varies on add-ons selected.

starting at

R 2999

We make sure to add on the responsive view to ensure that your website is flexible enough to work across all the latest mobile platforms.

You can also personalize your domain and add an additional R140/month payable to Intellihost if you register with Glixie Media, a proud Wolfpack Partner.

Save The Date / Digital Invite is a MUST HAVE in this setup.  A design will cost you R650 and we can send it out via email to click through to your new “wedsite”.

Keep your site live forever with photo uploads after the wedding, or anniversary blogs. Get your guests to subscribe to your own yearly newsletter with vacation or any updates.

Recent Weddings

I DO!

It’s Going to be Perfect!

Let’s Plan Your Big Day!

Who Owns My Website? Ownership and Terminology

“I want to own my website” Sooner or later, every web design company needs to address this request. Simple as it sounds, it really is complicated. A website is built with many assembled parts and you may be surprised to learn who legally owns each part.

The following website terminology is a guide of what you really own and what you’re really just leasing.

Web Server – You Don’t Typically Own This

The computer running the Web Server Platform that hosts your website.

  • For most, hosting services opens a new window. The data center owns your web server and leases it to you or your web vendor.
  • Obviously, you will own your website server if you purchase one, but this is usually cost prohibitive to maintain.

Web Server Platform – You Don’t Own This

This is the system software running on the server. Common examples include LAMP (Linux Apache MySql PHP), Windows IIS + ASP.NET, and Microsoft SQL Server.

  • You will never own this.

Content Management System (CMS) – You Don’t Own This

A Web Application that is used to manage the administration of content for your website. Examples include WordPressDrupal, and Shopify.

  • You only own your CMS if you author your own source code and wrote it yourself. This is common to all software. Unless you’re a software company, you don’t own any software on any computer.
  • The CMS (and all software) is owned by the respective creators and licensed to you.
  • Custom programming written on top of a Website Platform might be something you can own. This gets complicated with Open-Source platforms due to the GNU General Public License.

Database Software – You Don’t Own This

Common examples include MySql, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access.

  • You will never own the actual database.
  • You own your website data and content stored in the database if you author it.

Source Code (other custom programming) – You Don’t Typically Own This

The programmed code created in the language of the Web Server Platform that contains the logic and connectors to other software running on the server. Source code may also communicate with outside integrated system servers. The source code will generate the HTML/CSS/Javascript for the browser to render to your screen.

  • You will own your website source code if you or your employee authors it.
  • Otherwise, it is owned by the creator and licensed to you.
  • “Work for hire” could be specified in the agreement to ensure you own the website source code upon completion and final payment of the project. This gets complicated with proprietary and Open-Source platforms due to Intellectual Property and the GNU General Public License.
  • Control” of the source code is usually the critical concern with contracting custom development and is usually amenable by using an open-source platform.

HTML/CSS/Javascript – You Should Own This

HTML and CSS are the building blocks of almost all websites. It is a language that browsers understand. The Javascript is programming that may alter the HTML and CSS as one interacts with the website.

  • The website creator should provide an agreement giving HTML/CSS/Javascript ownership to you upon completion and final payment of the project.
  • Otherwise, unless you or your employees authored it, it is owned by the website creator and licensed to you.

Visual Design – You Should Own This

The combination of layout and presentable graphical assets like colors, photography and typography to create the user interface, images and videos, and readable content of the website. The HTML/CSS/Javascript will contain the information to display these assets so the browser can render the website on your screen.

  • The website creator should provide an agreement giving website visual design ownership to you upon completion and final payment of the project.
  • Otherwise, unless you or your employee created the designs, it is owned by the creator and licensed to you.

Text Content – You Own This

The formatted, readable, search engine indexable, copy and pastable website text that is rendered in the browser.

  • You will own your website text content if you or your employee authors the content.
  • Otherwise, the creator of the website is the legal “author” of the website text content.
  • The website creator should provide an agreement giving website content ownership to you upon completion and final payment of the project.

Photography – You Own This… If You Took The Pictures

The entire or part of a digitized photograph used on a website as either part of the logo, user interface, slideshow, gallery, video or other visual design asset.

  • You will own your website photography if you or your employee captures the photographs
  • Otherwise, you are only given a license to others’ photography. Keep a record of that license.

Browser – You Don’t Own This

A browser is the computer software we use to look at websites. Examples are Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Opera. A browser will display the rendered website which includes the HTML/CSS/Javascript and all visual design assets.

  • You will never own this.

Domain Name – You Don’t Own This Either. Surprised?

The Domain Name appears in the address bar of the browser. It is the humanly memorable, identifiable part of the website URL that is indexed by search engines, displayed in most marketing, and remembered as part of the brand.

  • You do not actually own a domain name even though you are a registered domain owner.
  • You have a contract with the domain registrar giving you “ownership” of the domain much like a contract with a telephone company for a phone number.
  • From Wikipedia: “…domain name registration with a registrar does not confer any legal ownership of the domain name, only an exclusive right of use.”

The Legal Reality of Owning a Website

  • You will never legally own the domain name, web server platform, CMS, web platform, database software, or language used to build your website.
  • You will usually never own the web server that hosts your website.
  • You are be granted a license to use the Intellectual Property of the website creator and/or the web platform used to build it.
  • Only if you program the website yourself or have a “work for hire” agreement, you will own the website source code.
  • If you author your own content, design the interface, take your own photographs, and create your own graphics, you will own all of the website “visual design” and content.

Own Your Website “Finished Assembled Work”

The website terminology that matters most is the “finished assembled work.” I define this as the HTML/CSS/Javascript, visual design, and the text content that is rendered by the Browser. The entirety of finished assembled work can be saved and stored by you, and can be rebuilt with any website platform. Look for contractual terms defining “finished assembled work” and stating you own the website “finished assembled work” upon completion and final payment of the project.

Article via: Barrett Lombardo, Co-Founder / Chief Operating Officer of Orbit Media Studios

Barrett Lombardo is the Co-Founder and COO at Orbit Media Studios. Barrett has been developing websites since 1995.

What Criteria are Used by Google to Rank Reviews Most Relevant?

Wondering how Google decides which reviews show up first in search results? Here’s a breakdown of the factors that determine “most relevant.”

Google does not show reviews based on chronological order but by “Most Relevant.” This is called dynamic review, as it is based on specific criteria. So, what criteria are used by Google to decide if a review is more relevant?


Top Factors

Length

Word count significantly impacts how relevant Google considers the review. Generally, the longer the review, the more relevant.

Keywords

When a customer uses the business’s name in the review, it can increase the relevancy of the review.

Specificity

Customers who tell their story or example with the product or service rank higher for relevancy than generic text.

Local

Customers who have done reviews in the local area in the past are more relevant than customers with no review history or customers who reside in a different location than the business.

Time

The more time that goes by, the less relevant the review.


Top Nonfactors

Likes

Unless the review becomes viral, the likes it receives will not impact the relevancy.

Responses from Owners

Even though it is considered good business, owners responding to reviews do not impact the relevancy of reviews.

Negative Reviews

Google does not rank negative reviews higher than positive reviews. They both rank on the criteria listed above.

Nathan Maas – https://lapraim.com/insights/criteria-for-relevant-google-reviews

Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content

Google’s automated ranking systems are designed to present helpful, reliable information that’s primarily created to benefit people, not to gain search engine rankings, in the top Search results. This page is designed to help creators evaluate if they’re producing such content.

Self-assess your content

Evaluating your own content against these questions can help you gauge if the content you’re making is helpful and reliable. Beyond asking yourself these questions, consider having others you trust but who are unaffiliated with your site provide an honest assessment.

Also consider an audit of the drops you may have experienced. What pages were most impacted and for what types of searches? Look closely at these to understand how they’re assessed against some of the questions outlined here.

Content and quality questions

  • Does the content provide original information, reporting, research, or analysis?
  • Does the content provide a substantial, complete, or comprehensive description of the topic?
  • Does the content provide insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond the obvious?
  • If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources, and instead provide substantial additional value and originality?
  • Does the main heading or page title provide a descriptive, helpful summary of the content?
  • Does the main heading or page title avoid exaggerating or being shocking in nature?
  • Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
  • Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazine, encyclopedia, or book?
  • Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
  • Does the content have any spelling or stylistic issues?
  • Is the content produced well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
  • Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?

Expertise questions

  • Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site’s About page?
  • If someone researched the site producing the content, would they come away with an impression that it is well-trusted or widely-recognized as an authority on its topic?
  • Is this content written or reviewed by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?
  • Does the content have any easily-verified factual errors?

Provide a great page experience 

Google’s core ranking systems look to reward content that provides a good page experience. Site owners seeking to be successful with our systems should not focus on only one or two aspects of page experience. Instead, check if you’re providing an overall great page experience across many aspects. For more advice, see our page, Understanding page experience in Google Search results.

Focus on people-first content

People-first content means content that’s created primarily for people, and not to manipulate search engine rankings. How can you evaluate if you’re creating people-first content? Answering yes to the questions below means you’re probably on the right track with a people-first approach:

  • Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?
  • Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?
  • Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
  • After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
  • Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?

Avoid creating search engine-first content

We recommend that you focus on creating people-first content to be successful with Google Search, rather than search engine-first content made primarily to gain search engine rankings. Answering yes to some or all of the questions below is a warning sign that you should reevaluate how you’re creating content:

  • Is the content primarily made to attract visits from search engines?
  • Are you producing lots of content on many different topics in hopes that some of it might perform well in search results?
  • Are you using extensive automation to produce content on many topics?
  • Are you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?
  • Are you writing about things simply because they seem trending and not because you’d write about them otherwise for your existing audience?
  • Does your content leave readers feeling like they need to search again to get better information from other sources?
  • Are you writing to a particular word count because you’ve heard or read that Google has a preferred word count? (No, we don’t.)
  • Did you decide to enter some niche topic area without any real expertise, but instead mainly because you thought you’d get search traffic?
  • Does your content promise to answer a question that actually has no answer, such as suggesting there’s a release date for a product, movie, or TV show when one isn’t confirmed?
  • Are you changing the date of pages to make them seem fresh when the content has not substantially changed?
  • Are you adding a lot of new content or removing a lot of older content primarily because you believe it will help your search rankings overall by somehow making your site seem “fresh?” (No, it won’t)

What about SEO? Isn’t that search engine-first?

There are some things you could do that are specifically meant to help search engines better discover and understand your content. Collectively, this is called “search engine optimization” or SEO, for short. Google’s own SEO guide covers best practices to consider. SEO can be a helpful activity when it is applied to people-first content, rather than search engine-first content.

Get to know E-E-A-T and the quality rater guidelines

Google’s automated systems are designed to use many different factors to rank great content. After identifying relevant content, our systems aim to prioritize those that seem most helpful. To do this, they identify a mix of factors that can help determine which content demonstrates aspects of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, or what we call E-E-A-T.

Of these aspects, trust is most important. The others contribute to trust, but content doesn’t necessarily have to demonstrate all of them. For example, some content might be helpful based on the experience it demonstrates, while other content might be helpful because of the expertise it shares.

While E-E-A-T itself isn’t a specific ranking factor, using a mix of factors that can identify content with good E-E-A-T is useful. For example, our systems give even more weight to content that aligns with strong E-E-A-T for topics that could significantly impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society. We call these “Your Money or Your Life” topics, or YMYL for short.

Search quality raters are people who give us insights on if our algorithms seem to be providing good results, a way to help confirm our changes are working well. In particular, raters are trained to understand if content has strong E-E-A-T. The criteria they use to do this is outlined in our search quality rater guidelines.

Search raters have no control over how pages rank. Rater data is not used directly in our ranking algorithms. Rather, we use them as a restaurant might get feedback cards from diners. The feedback helps us know if our systems seem to be working.

Reading the guidelines may help you self-assess how your content is doing from an E-E-A-T perspective, improvements to consider, and help align it conceptually with the different signals that our automated systems use to rank content.

Ask “Who, How, and Why” about your content

Consider evaluating your content in terms of “Who, How, and Why” as a way to stay on course with what our systems seek to reward.

Who (created the content)

Something that helps people intuitively understand the E-E-A-T of content is when it’s clear who created it. That’s the “Who” to consider. When creating content, here are some who-related questions to ask yourself:

  • Is it self-evident to your visitors who authored your content?
  • Do pages carry a byline, where one might be expected?
  • Do bylines lead to further information about the author or authors involved, giving background about them and the areas they write about?

If you’re clearly indicating who created the content, you’re likely aligned with the concepts of E-E-A-T and on a path to success. We strongly encourage adding accurate authorship information, such as bylines to content where readers might expect it.

How (the content was created)

It’s helpful to readers to know how a piece of content was produced: this is the “How” to consider including in your content.

For example, with product reviews, it can build trust with readers when they understand the number of products that were tested, what the test results were, and how the tests were conducted, all accompanied by evidence of the work involved, such as photographs. It’s advice we share more about in our Write high quality product reviews help page.

Many types of content may have a “How” component to them. That can include automated, AI-generated, and AI-assisted content. Sharing details about the processes involved can help readers and visitors better understand any unique and useful role automation may have served.

If automation is used to substantially generate content, here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Is the use of automation, including AI-generation, self-evident to visitors through disclosures or in other ways?
  • Are you providing background about how automation or AI-generation was used to create content?
  • Are you explaining why automation or AI was seen as useful to produce content?

Overall, AI or automation disclosures are useful for content where someone might think “How was this created?” Consider adding these when it would be reasonably expected. For more, see our blog post and FAQ: How Google Search views AI-generated content.

Why (was the content created)

“Why” is perhaps the most important question to answer about your content. Why is it being created in the first place?

The “why” should be that you’re creating content primarily to help people, content that is useful to visitors if they come to your site directly. If you’re doing this, you’re aligning with E-E-A-T generally and what our core ranking systems seek to reward.

If the “why” is that you’re primarily making content to attract search engine visits, that’s not aligned with what our systems seek to reward. If you use automation, including AI-generation, to produce content for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings, that’s a violation of our spam policies.

Info via: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content

How to add a Blog Post in WordPress – Step by Step Guide

by Mariska Wiese-Schalekamp – Website Developer at Glixie Media t/u House of Pixels (Pty) Ltd

  1. Log into your WordPress Dashboard.
  2. Go to Posts.
  3. Select Add New.
  4. Use the screen provided to create your post as desired.
  5. Click Publish when you are done creating your post. The post will display on the blogging page of your website.

Add content

You’ve arrived on the blank canvas where you’ll add your masterpiece (AKA your content). But before starting this process, we have a few pointers. First, be sure to save your work frequently or write it in a separate Google or Word document and copy it over to the content management systems (CMS). This is a wise idea because,

while WordPress does save your progress automatically, it might not pick up on changes made if you lose your internet connection. Not to mention, drafting your content in a separate document is good idea so you don’t get overwhelmed by simultaneously formatting, editing, and writing. 

Click the “Save draft” button in the upper right-hand corner to save. 

Now, it’s time to add your content. To do so, copy-paste your original text directly into WordPress.

WordPress uses a block editor, which works exactly as you’d imagine — by creating blocks for each section of content you add. For example, paragraphs will be separated into blocks, as will images and headings.

Uploading Images

Once you’ve written your first piece, you’ll need to add images to your WordPress blog post. Adding images can make your content more digestible and visually engaging. To begin uploading a picture, press “enter” on your keyboard to create a new block. Then, click the “+” button in the top left corner to view the different blocks. Select the “Image” block.

Now, upload your image. You can either upload one from your computer, select one from the WordPress media library, or insert an image with a URL from a site like Flickr. Dont forget to add alt text to your image for accessibility and search engine optimization

Once you’ve completed this step, your image should be visible in the block. You can repeat this process as necessary — if your article is long, we suggest adding a few images to break up the text and make it more readable. 

Pro Tip: People recall 65% of the information they see presented visually — so don’t forget to use infographics on your blog! 

Adding Links

Adding internal and external links is an essential way to boost your blog post quality.

The anchor text is also crucial for SEO as it indicates to site crawlers what the page you’re linking to is about.   It’s easy to add hyperlinks to your content in WordPress. You can do so in two ways. The first way is to select the text you want to hyperlink. Then, find the floating menu box and select the link icon highlighted in blue below.

Add a URL in the box that appears. 

Click “Enter” to insert the URL. And ta-da, you’ve done it! 

The more straightforward way to add hyperlinks is by using a keyboard shortcut. Start by selecting the text you want to hyperlink.

Then, press Control+K (PC) to bring up the box and add your URL on your keyboard.

Pro Tip: Its up to you to decide whether youd like your links to open in a new tab. Generally speaking, if a link is external, or youd like the visitor to stay on the page theyre  currently on, turn on the option to open in a new tab.

Format the post

Spoiler alert: It’s just as important that your content is organized as it is well-written. Without formatting in place, your audience is more likely to get overwhelmed by massive blocks of text and leave the page quickly (therefore impacting your bounce rate). Here’s how to format your post. 

Pro Tip: Readers don’t want to spend time figuring out how to navigate your post, so make it easy for them with clear formatting. We’ll dive into how you can do so now. 

Headings

To organize a blog post, use headings. Headings tell the reader (and the search engines) what is essential on the page using a hierarchy. It’s a win-win: Your readers know what to expect, and your site is more findable for search engines. Plus, it allows your readers to better pace their reading experience. And that’s not to mention how it makes your blog post look better aesthetically speaking. 

Here’s how it works: An H1 is the title of a page and lives at the top of the hierarchy and the top of the page. A blog post only has one H1. If you add more, you risk confusing Google — and your reader. In other words, don’t do it. 

H2s are subheadings. You might have one, two, or more of these in your post. H2s are next in line in the hierarchy of a blog post. They always go below an H1, and if you’re trying to rank for a keyword on Google, it’s a good idea to try to include it in at least a few H2s — without keyword stuffing, of course. H3s follow a similar order — they always go below H2s. Think of an H3 as a subcategory. All subsequent headings follow the same pattern. 

Let’s walk through an example. Say you’re writing a blog post about the best dog breeds for families. Your H1 could be: “The 10 Best Dog Breeds for Families.” Your H2s could be: “Why choose a family-friendly dog breed?” and “What are the best dog breeds for families?” Under the second H2, you could elaborate on breeds that are recommended. To do this, add H3s such as “Golden Retriever,” “Labrador Retriever,” “Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.” And under each H3 you may add an H4s such as “Why Choose This Breed” where you can provide additional information. 

This results in a more digestible experience for readers and search engines. 

To change a heading in a WordPress blog post, find the menu box and select the paragraph button highlighted in blue.

Select “Heading.” Depending on the CSS settings your site has set up, you’ll see your text change in size and even color. To edit the type of heading, click the “H2” button in the menu box and select the appropriate heading.

Pro Tip: Use headings strategically; they should reveal to your readers what to expect in the following copy.   

Images

Images also help readers navigate your blog post, so remember to format them properly. Formatting images in WordPress is easy. Here’s how.

Select your image and find the floating menu box. Next, select the format button — the one with three horizontal lines. Next, choose the alignment you’d like for your image. Here, let’s stick with a center alignment for the photos in our blog post.

Pro Tip: Stay consistent with your alignment so readers don’t get confused when reading your blog posts. If you use center alignment for one photo, commit to it throughout the post so readers know what to expect. 

Preview the post.

Youve  added content, images, links, and formatting for an optimal user experience. Now, it’s time to preview your post before it goes live. You’re almost there. See? Learning how to create a blog on WordPress isn’t as difficult as it may seem! 
First, select the “Preview” button in the top right corner. Then choose whether you want to preview a desktop, tablet, or mobile version of the post. We chose “Desktop” here. Finally, select the “Preview in a new tab” option. 

Take a look at your post for any errors. If you see any, simply return to the editor tab and adjust as necessary.

Once everything looks good, congratulations! You are ready to publish your first WordPress blog post. Now its time to preview your post before it goes live. 

Pro Tip: Don’t skip the preview step! It can be tempting to rush through to get your post to go live, but resist the urge. Previewing allows you to check for any issues with the content, formatting, or user experience.

Publish the Post

To publish the post, select “Publish” in the top right corner. You’ll see a few different options for publishing, but if you want this post to be available to anyone on the internet, select “Public.”

Add Tags & Categories

Finally, you’ll have the opportunity to add tags to your post. These help readers navigate your posts by similar topics. This is optional, so you can leave them blank if you don’t yet have a process to organize tags.

Your blog post is now live on the web!

Pro Tip: As your blog grows and you publish more articles, you’ll find it’s increasingly important you add tags so visitors can easily peruse your content. It will also be helpful for you as you navigate through your content and add related links. And once you figure out how you’d like to organize tags, don’t forget to go back and add them to older content.

Online Business Ideas

27 Online Business Ideas for Beginners

NICK SCHÄFERHOFF

Editor in ChiefLast updated: Dec 20, 202163 Comments

Idea

Will 2022 be the year you will finally create a profitable online business?

You’ve thought about it every year. You’ve gone over countless online business ideas in your head and imagined what your life would be like if you could quit your job and generate money on the internet.

You could travel the world with ease, create a comfortable lifestyle for yourself and your family, and achieve financial freedom. You could finally escape the constraints of the 9-5 lifestyle and own your time completely.

But then, what happens? Usually, you spend some time considering the ideas but ultimately resort back to your comfort zone.

The steady income of your secure job, the ease of having somebody else tell you what to do every day (instead of trying to figure it out from scratch), and the consistent schedule.

You tell yourself, “You know what? This year is a little too crazy. I’ll start that online business next year!”

But “next year” never comes.

We’re here to tell you that 2022 is the year you should start your online business. There’s more opportunity than ever, and you should take advantage!

To help you get started, We’re going to lay out 27 online business ideas. Read through them, see which you connect with, and start doing your research. Then get started with one, it’s that simple!

27 “Easy to Start” Online Business Ideas

Here is our list of 27 online business ideas for 2022.

1. Start a Blog and Monetize it

We talk a lot about how to start a blog on this website, and for good reason.

In 2022, it’s easier to start a blog than ever before, and your blog can also be a big potential source of income (if you know how to monetize it).

Keep in mind that you don’t just start a blog and expect the money to roll in. You need to create content consistently, and it also needs to be content that educates, informs, or entertains people. In other words, it needs to capture their interest in some way.

What’s more, you need to sell something through the blog. This can be ad space, products, digital products, sponsored posts, coaching, ebooks, etc.

But if you’re willing to put in the work and you’re in it for the long haul, blogging can be extremely profitable (some bloggers make $50k per month or more).Here are some resourcesto help you get started with your first blog:

2. Get Started With Affiliate Marketing

Learn affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is basically the process of earning a commission by promoting somebody else’s product.

There are two main ways most people do affiliate marketing:

  • Information products. You promote products like ebooks, membership sites, video series, etc. This type of affiliate marketing can earn you up to 50% or more in commission, has relatively low barriers to entry, and it’s easy to find products to promote.
  • Amazon partners. Many affiliate marketers have success with Amazon. There are literally millions of products to choose from, and it can be quite profitable. For more information, you can check out the Amazon Associates Program.

Quick side note: Before you start affiliate marketing, it helps to have at least a basic knowledge of SEO and copywriting (more on each of these later).

That being said, you can read a few copywriting books and look through the beginner’s guide to SEO from Moz to help you get started.Further reading:

3. Set Up an E-Commerce Site

One of the best ways to earn online income is by setting up an e-commerce store.

Here’s the plus side: if you try to go the route of affiliate marketing, the best affiliate marketers are focused on 3 main niches; dating, weight loss, and making money online. You would have to compete with the best of the best, and it’s not easy.

With the e-commerce route, in many markets, you’ll be competing against old-school business people who may or may not have any internet marketing experience. Many of them have glitchy, out-of-date websites, which leaves you a lot of room for improvement, and you can capitalize on their shortcomings.

It’s still not easy by any means. It requires hard work, and you need to stand out amongst the hundreds of thousands of e-commerce websites and online stores. But by filling a unique niche and executing the right marketing techniques, you can make your e-commerce store a profitable success.

Here are some tips to help you get started with your e-commerce store:

  • Find a profitable market. Brainstorm some ideas, do keyword research, and try to get as specific as possible. For example, there is probably a lot of competition for selling surfboards. But if you narrow it down to surfboard racks, you may have a better chance of standing out in the market.
  • Ask yourself, “Is the product expensive?” There are costs associated with manufacturing, distribution, reselling, etc. If your product isn’t expensive (at least $50 or more), there may be no profit left by the time you sell the product.
  • Ask yourself, “Is the product in a growth market?” If your market has already passed its peak (i.e., the VCR market) and is on the downslope, you probably don’t want to get involved. Instead, you want to get into an industry that’s on the upswing – that’s where you’ll have the most profit and growth potential.
  • Consider building a Shopify store. Shopify is a system built for e-commerce. With some basic web knowledge, you can set up a good-looking store very quickly, with a low-cost investment and with no coding needed. Shopify has a 30-day free trial too, so you can get started without spending a dime.

Here are some additional resources for creating a successful online store:

4. Self-Publish a Book on Amazon

Publish a book on amazon

Have you ever thought of writing a book, but didn’t know where to get started? All the publishing nonsense, editing, and formatting, marketing, etc.?

With Amazon, you can self-publish a book fairly easily, and really make money from it. There are some simple and inexpensive guides to help you write your book AND have it generate consistent income.

Here’s the secret sauce: If you can launch your book and get a few hundred sales in the first week, Amazon will take over and start promoting it for you. This way you can make some real money from it. It’s actually easier than it sounds, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Here are a few tips for writing a book:

  • Validate the book by giving a survey to friends, an email list, and/or survey sites like PickFu. By validating your idea before you write the book, you’ll improve the odds of people willing to buy your book (and you’re not wasting your time by writing it.)
  • Create an outline and stick to it if possible.
  • Set aside at least 30 minutes to an hour each day to write.
  • Format the book according to Amazon’s standards.

Once the book is written and formatted, you can head over to KDP.amazon.com. Log in with your Amazon account, then under “Create a New Title”, select “Kindle eBook.”

Here’s a good strategy for your book’s launch week (to get 100+ sales):

  1. Set the price at 99 cents for the first week.
  2. Run a 99 cent promotion with sites like Buck Books and Robin Reads.
  3. Post a book excerpt on a relevant subreddit and link it to your book page at the end.
  4. Post 1-2 guest posts during the launch week that link back to your book page.
  5. Blast your email list multiple times.
  6. By the end of the week, hopefully, your book has eclipsed the top 5,000 or 10,000 overall paid ranking. From there, raise the price to $2.99, and continue raising the price $1 at a time every few days until it stops selling (then, lower it back by a dollar). This will tell you the optimal price for your book.

(Here’s a case study of a book that used this strategy to launch successfully and consistently bring in $3-$4K a month in profit.)

5. Create a Digital Product or Course

Creating a digital product or course is similar to writing an ebook. You’re monetizing your expertise by teaching it to the others.

That being said, you don’t have the benefit of Amazon promoting your course. You have to do the promoting yourself through your own website, your email lists, and possibly through affiliate partnerships. You also need to create a compelling sales page that will convince visitors to buy from you.

If you don’t already have an audience, it might be better to self-publish on Amazon first. That way, you can validate your course idea, grow your email list (just make sure to have an email opt-in at the front and back of the book), and more or less create a rough draft of the course (since it will probably be similar to the book).Here are some additional resources to help you with an online course creation:

  • TheRiseToTheTop.com – David Siteman Garland’s website that’s helped thousands of entrepreneurs launch profitable online courses.
  • Monetize Your Expertise Podcast – Helpful episodes by online course expert Grant Weherley to help you start your fist online course.

6. Become a YouTuber

Videos are becoming more and more popular. From Instagram and Snapchat Stories to Facebook Live video, videos will only continue to grow. If you’ve always loved the thought of being behind the camera, now is the time you can take advantage.

Whether it be starting a vlog and getting ad revenue/selling products to your audience, or building a YouTube channel to drive more traffic to your website – 2022 is a great time to get started.

Not only will making YouTube videos help you tell better stories and provide more valuable content to your audience – it can also help you get profitable speaking opportunities.

The best part is, you don’t even need to go out and buy an expensive new camera – as long as you have a smartphone with a quality camera lens, you can start filming your first video right now!

7. Start App Development

Mobile apps are getting more and more popular by the year. If you have an idea for a cool, useful, and/or fun app for a phone or a tablet, this may be the way to go.

It helps to have some coding knowledge, but it’s not an absolute necessity. There are plenty of software developers looking to collaborate with people on app creation.

Word of caution: the app market is saturated right now, so make sure you validate your app and do your research before investing lots of money in your idea.Here are some resources to help you in the app development process:

8. Learn Facebook Advertising

Facebook continues to expand and grow. Therefore businesses are spending more on Facebook ads. But here’s the problem: a lot of old school businesses don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to Facebook ads. Even newer companies don’t have the time it takes to learn the ins and outs so that they get the most return on their Facebook ads investment.

Consequently, they’re looking for Facebook ad specialists to step in and do it for them. Luckily, this is something you can learn fairly quickly. Once you do, you can reach out to businesses and offer to help create profitable Facebook ads.Here are some Facebook Ad resources you can learn from:

9. Learn and Master SEO

Search Engine Optimization

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to getting a website to rank higher for certain “search terms” in search engines like Google. When a website ranks higher, it gets more relevant traffic and in turn, can make more revenue.

This is another highly valued skill in the internet marketing world. That being said, it can be a bit difficult because Google is always changing its algorithms. With it, some of the rules of search change. You always have to be on the leading edge, learning, and testing new strategies.

If you can master SEO, companies will always be willing to pay you for your help.

10. Become a Copywriter

Copywriting is the art and science of strategically delivering words (whether written or spoken) that get people to take some form of action. It can range from anything to sales pages, to email marketing, to even quality blog content.

If you have a natural inclination and passion for writing, copywriting may be your ticket to earning online income.

It’s a great way to achieve freedom in your life. Not only does copywriting allow you to work remotely, but it also allows you to control your schedule. Plus, learning the skill itself will help you in many areas of online business (i.e. building a blog, affiliate marketing, etc. – when you can write in a compelling way, all of these become much easier!)

11. Skype Coaching

Do you have an expertise that you’d like to help people with? Then Skype coaching may be a potential option for you. Basically, you hop on Skype and provide assistance to your coaching clients. This can come in the form of daily, weekly, or monthly calls.

There are Skype coaches for just about everything – life coaches, health coaches, dating coaches, etc.

Note: It’s much easier to market your coaching services when you also have a blog on your coaching topic.

12. Buy and Flip Domains

You’ve probably heard of people who buy and “flip” real estate, right? They buy a house for a relatively good price, fix it up a little bit, and then resell it for a nice profit.

It’s the same idea for buying and flipping domains. Whether it’s your own domain, or whether you’re looking to buy somebody else’s site and flip it, this can be a good source of online income.

You can use resources like Empire Flippers to both buy and sell your domains.

13. Start a Podcast

Podcasting

A podcast can be a great revenue generator.

As you grow your podcast, you can offer paid sponsorships and sell your own products and services. Through the podcast, you’ll be able to earn the trust of your listeners, which makes them that much more likely to buy what you have to offer.

14. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is when you create an online store to sell other people’s products (i.e you don’t do any of the manufacturing or shipping). Then, you get a commission for each sale.

The benefit here is that you don’t have to risk buying up stock in a product and losing money if it doesn’t sell. The entry barrier is lower and you don’t have to invest nearly as much to get started.

If you’d like to learn how to dropship, Drop Ship Lifestyle is one of the best resources to help you get started.

15. Freelance Pay Per Click Consulting

(These are PPC ads)

You ever saw those sponsored ads at the top of your Google search results? That’s Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising in action.

It’s a form of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Put simply, it’s a way of buying visits on your site.

If you can master this skill, you can offer the service to other businesses.

16. Sell Products on eBay

Sell on ebay

Sure it’s a bit old school, but people are still making lots of money on eBay. To start selling, you can do something simple like head to a local clothing store and buy some clothing on sale.

Then, you can list it on eBay for a higher price, and if it sells, you can reinvest the profit in more clothing and continue making more profit.

It requires some strategy and planning but is surely a profitable way of online business.

17. Become a Web Developer

A web developer is someone who knows how to build a website from the bottom up. In order to do this, you need to learn coding, which will take time and hard work. But if you’re willing to put in the effort, it can pay quite well.Here are some tips for learning to code and getting started with web development.

18. Invest Your Time in Graphic Design

Ever saw a beautiful sales page or a website design that really jumps out at you? That’s all due to a graphic designer.

Graphic designers are basically visual communicators. They design web pages, sales pages, logos, and really anything else that needs to look sharp.

To be a great graphic designer, you don’t need to be great at drawing, you don’t need a college degree, and you don’t need to buy a fancy expensive computer. But you do need to be a visual thinker, you do need to specialize in something, and you definitely need a portfolio.

19. Build Niche Sites

The idea behind a niche website is to target a specific niche (for example, a specific kind of photography), rank on Google for the keywords related to that niche, and then turn that traffic into earnings through affiliate offers or through selling your own products.

A lot of research goes into this – you should be ready for a bit of workload. If you create a good niche site, it can bring you an extra $500 a month or more.For further reading, check out this post from Sean Ogle:How to Build a Niche Site that Brings in $500 a Month

20. Start a Consulting Business

Do you have tons of knowledge in a specific field? Then you may have what it takes to be a highly paid online consultant.

As a consultant, you simply must apply the knowledge, skills, and experience you have in a specific field to help clients solve a problem or issue they have in that field.For further reading, check out this post from USA Today:How to Become a Highly Paid Consultant

21. Start a Paid Private Facebook Group

A paid private Facebook group provides you with the chance to create a highly engaged community.

It gives you a place to deliver your content, allows your community members to interact with each other, allows you to limit access to qualified members, and also allows you to moderate and control the group.

Note: If you already have a website and an email list, it’s easier to create a paid private Facebook group, but it’s not an absolute necessity.

22. Assist with Lead Generation

Businesses are always on the lookout for ways to create new leads. Leads, after all, are the lifeblood of businesses.

When you assist with lead generation, you basically play the matchmaker. You connect business with the leads for whom they can solve the problems.

23. Instagram Sponsorships

Do you love taking photos and dream of building up a great Instagram following? As you grow your following, more sponsorship opportunities will become available. For example, if your account is focused on fitness, you may be able to sponsor products like protein powder, supplements, etc.

24. Create SaaS (Software as a Service)

SaaS business

Google Apps, Dropbox, Leadpages – these are all SAAS.

SAAS is any kind of online software that you pay to get access to.

For this, you first must brainstorm/find an online service that people are willing to pay for on an ongoing basis. Once you create it, the challenge is to maintain it, which is not an easy task. That being said, it can be quite profitable if you can make it work.

25. Technical Writing

Ever wondered who wrote the instruction manual for that new TV? That’s the job of technical writers.

If you have a love for writing and like the technical side of things, then you may have what it takes to be a technical writer.

Here’s a resource that can help you get started: Starting a Technical Writing Business from Scratch

Here are some sites where you can find work:

26. Resume/Cover Letter Writing

People will always be looking for jobs – they’ll need help with their resumes and cover letters.

That’s where you can come in and help them create a stellar resume to get them hired.

27. Tech Support

With online tech support, you basically offer your skills as a tech whiz. You can work with bigger companies or even one-on-one clients.

Tech support jobs can also regularly be found on Upwork.

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