Category: Web

Moving On

TLDR:

Some old Circus Scientist services have to go, in order to move forward with new projects. This is due to Ubuntu Server upgrade (not intentional)

Outline:

There are two ways to look at things in software:

  1. Keep things compatible and working no matter what. I think of this as the “hoarder” mentality (think Microsoft)
  2. Move fast and break things (aka Google)


I guess I try to keep a happy medium, leaning towards the “hoarder” side. Right now though, something is going on that I don’t have any power to change. The Ubuntu Server version 20 which I have most of my “experimental” services on is going EOL in a few months.
I don’t have a choice – I need to upgrade all of my online projects. Sometimes this is as simple as upgrading Ubuntu in-place but due to Python version updates this time it’s impossible. Each service has to be updated and put on a new version of the server – I’m using the latest LTS version, Ubuntu Server 2024.

What is going away

  1. LED Website Indicator. I really love this project, my first fully integrated Web and IOT project. Basically nobody cared except me. I’m going to open source the Arduino code at some point, some parts are already are available on GitHub.
  2. MagicPoi old website. There is already a new version with most of the same functionality (my patreon subscribers have had access to this for a while). This was my first really large Flask website with an api accessible from ESP8266 and is a bit old and insecure now. I have a backup if anyone has data from there that they need to get back, just send me an email and I will sort you out.
  3. AI Site Generation. A fun project that was just for learning purposes really.
  4. Monkey Detector (web version with api). Another learning project, not being used.
  5. K8 Juggling. Very old fun service.
  6. Invisible Deck Practiser. Just a JavaScript version of an Android app (magic).
  7. Other personal sites not related to this blog.

Temporary disruptions

Several other services need to be migrated, this may take up to a week depending on the complexity. Expect disruptions.

  • SmartPoi Downloader
  • The new alpha version of magicpoi site (with api)
  • devsoft.co.za
  • show.circusscientist.com
  • Other personal sites not related to this blog.

Conclusion

Sometimes you have to break things in order to move forward.

Everything that is moving to the new server is going to have proper Python virtual environments with up-to-date libraries. More secure, faster, future proof.

Boost Your Online Reach: How Multiple Related Websites Can Grow Your Business

Use your industry specific knowledge to create a related website and fill it with your own ADS. Create your own referrals with much less cost than paying for ads. I could go on, but let me start with

An Example

My own business is in the Entertainment Industry. We do high value entertainment which can run to thousands of rands invoiced for a single booking, and our customers often convert to returning customers (we get 50% returning customers on average) – so a single lead can be very valuable, long term. That is why we advertise on Google.

Many years ago we set up a page on our main site, which was in response to all of the enquiries regarding Party Venues. This was a simple service to our customers with our recommendations regarding our favorite venues in the Durban area. This quickly became the most popular page on our site, according to Analytics. Soon after I decided to branch out and create a full website using the initial list – and now this site durbanpartyvenues.co.za is getting up to 2000 visitors per month. We get 10-20 referrals from this site which converts to an estimated extra R1000-R10000 per month (guesstimate according to converstion statistics).

Since we were already paying for a web server the actual extra cost is R100 per year for the domain fee (!). Of course I spent a lot of time on the website development – first in WordPress and later Flask (Python) which made it easier to add new venues using a simple spreadsheet which makes it easier for my non-technical partner to do it.

Expanding

Last year we added capetownpartyvenues.co.za since we occasionally do entertainment in that city. This year I am working on another related services website, durbanpartyhub.co.za which will cover related entertainment services. This time we are planning on allowing our friends in the entertainment industry to pay a small fee for preferential placement (once the site gets traction).

Does this apply to your industry?

I am sure you can think of related products and services that you have inside knowledge of which can

  1. Provide informative content for potential customers
  2. Be made into a website which you create and control with your own brand front and foremost

Shameless plug

The years I spent refining this “Related Services” template has given me an unique insight into efficiently building out an effective marketing vehicle for my company – while at the same time offering a valuable service for our customers. At DevSoft, we use AI development tools to speed up, refine and enhance the website creation process. Perhaps the ideas in this blog make sense to you? If so, get in touch!

Changing times

I recently read an article on ZDNet which was talking about the new ChatGPT search and how Google Ads is going to be less relevant in future. The takeaway from that is that your organic web presence is going to be even more relevant, if paying for search placement becomes less effective. I did a test with the new ChatGPT search and “Magician for Kids parties in Durban” and “Top 10 Outdoor Party Venues in Durban” both return sites that I own at the top, organically – thankfully due to our SEO.

The article didn’t mention it in but I think social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, etc) are going to be even more important in the future – but you don’t have control over those. Owning your own content and related content is the most important thing in my opinion.

PS: check out the AI Enhanced super commercial version of this blog post here: https://devsoft.co.za/blog