Founder of Greater Galaxy Web Design. Web designer, growth hacking information architect and interaction designer.
You might want to consider using a different platform than Wordpress. I would highly recommend teachable.com the platform will help you get online much faster than Wordpress and its functionality is specifically created for online courses.
Eventbrite is a popular social platform that allows event organization for free. If your event has ticket-related costs then they receive a small portion of profit off of the transactions that each attendee makes.
Meetup.com works a little differently. In order to create an event you must be a part of a group, but there is a cost associated with creating that group. I don't believe there is a limit on members of groups, but there is an application process each group has to filter members.
Take a look at this article about DropBox.
http://www.referralsaasquatch.com/dropbox-customer-referral-program-by-the-numbers/
The Company was able to have a 3900% growth rate over 15 months. This outstanding growth was created by implementing a successful referral campaign. If you can create a referral campaign that gives your users something in exchange for their efforts they will feel more compelled to invite people onto your platform or service. This type of growth campaign can be difficult to implement, but if you are at a stage prepared for growth, then you should be able to seamlessly integrate new subscribers onto your platform without too many (if any) hiccups.
Before you begin a referral campaign, remember that customer acquisition can be expensive. If you're only motivation behind the growth in customers is financial return, then consider whether your pricing structure is optimal before you rush into a referral campaign. You may be able to substantially increase your revenue by increasing your prices or looking for creative ways to reduce your overhead. Either way, when you are ready for rapid growth on a subscription-based service, (freemium or not), referral campaigns can be one of the most cost-effective ways to grow your customer base.
When marketing in the restaurant industry it's really important to think about what the theme of your restaurant is, and tie that to the community. For instance: karaoke or trivia may not be the right kinds of events to host if your restaurant is a little classier. However, since you mentioned bar & grill, I would say that it could be beneficial for you to reach out to the beer community. Try hosting monthly tap takeovers with local breweries and talking about it on social media. The breweries will help with promoting the events and bring their fans with them.
Don't forget about professional communities either! Try hosting meet and greet networking events and collaborating with local entrepreneur groups to host their events at your bar.
I would also suggest making sure you properly update your website and maintain an events calendar. You can promote your events on sites like Eventbrite which provide you with easy ticket sale and attendee tracking. Eventbrite is free to use and can easily integrate with your website's calendar.
I hope this helps! I wish you luck with your business!
This really depends on whether you already have a business checking account. Most banks partner with Authorize.net for online merchant services. If you do have a bank account contact your bank and they will be able to get you a better transaction rate than you could on your own going through Authorize.net. However, if you don't have a checking account then it depends on what level of integration you need with your online service. PayPal Payments Pro has some of the best integrations, consumer trust, and ease of use.
This is a hard question to answer without knowing exactly what application your merchant service would be interfacing with and what you would need it to do. If you want to discuss your project in further detail I would be happy to help you.
I love this question. First of all don't disregard any information any other expert has given you, all of their answers will help you. However, if you really want to grow your $500 quickly, eliminate all of your assumptions about money. I hate to break it to you but $500 is almost nothing investment-wise.
So what you're really asking is how can I make money from nothing? Realistically, getting a job (which you should do for sustainability purposes) is not a tangible way to generate a substantial amount of income at 16. Investing your money may lead to substantial amounts over a long period of time (at least 5+ years assuming your investment was well researched). If you want to create capital from nothing you need to develop a skill or realize opportunity where most people don't.
I would suggest reading this article on how entrepreneur students create large amounts of capitol on only $5.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creativityrulz/200908/the-5-challenge
So to answer your question: If you want to create money from nothing you need to begin to think like an entrepreneur and realize opportunity where others may have not.
This is a problem that many people run into when creating a website. What's the best way to create powerful content that results in an increase in conversions (i.e. higher sales)?
In my experience, it's best to look at the way you have structured the content, make sure that it is voiced appropriately for your audience, and that you have goals around what you intent do do with your website's content.
The creation, structural design, and attempt at influencing action with copy is called information architecture. Understanding the principles of information architecture (research, discovery, design, develop, test, and grow) will help you more than anything else when learning how to make your content more effective.
I would suggest reading this article:
http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/complete-beginners-guide-to-information-architecture/
It highlights the basics of information architecture and will help you on your journey.
If you have additional questions or are struggling on a particular concept you're welcome to follow up with a phone call. I would love to help you in any way I can.