Mark Ambroz is a videography professional in the Brainerd Lakes area of North Central Minnesota. So much so, he's now a videography instructor at the local Central Lakes College located in Brainerd. Mark has an extensive history in the business working as a videographer for television, outdoor shows and more for over 25 years.
I built this website for Mark's company many years ago and it's served him well. Besides teaching, Mark does video work of all kinds for businesses, celebrations, vlogging, and is now filming and producing virtual business videos using Zoom.
Recently, we decided it...
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Author: Brad Miller
New Church Revival
[caption id="attachment_2254" align="alignright" width="300"] Old Site | 2010[/caption]
I was asked to do my church's website not long after I got in the business, back in 2003. Immanuel Lutheran is located in Crosby, Minnesota. The first rendition was OK, but largely forgettable. The second rendition, done in 2010 was pretty cool. I took a template called WP80 and swapped out various images. I think the site was really unique looking, by the time I got done and has served the church well.
Recently, I've felt pressure to upgrade the design, since some of the functionality didn't really w...
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Cuyuna Rock Club
The Cuyuna Rock, Gem & Mineral Society in Brainerd, MN exists educate and celebrate the earth sciences and related geological interests. The club had a website handled by one of the members for years.
This is a common story I've heard quite often. The volunteer did a nice job, but over time volunteers come and go and these kinds of sites pay the price by not being maintained and updated properly.
The centerpiece of their annual effort is a large Gem and Mineral Show at the Crow Wing County Fairgrounds in the spring, generally in May.
Their critical need was for folks to make payme...
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Being Santa Dave
'Tis the Season to Be Santa Dave....(I Mean Claus)!
My friend Dave has long white hair and a real white beard. Someone told him he should play Santa Claus as an avocation. I did some research and found out it's a relatively lucrative little side business provided you have all the right stuff to fit the bill.
I found out the Santa Claus business is quite large and there's several Santa for Hire warehouse-type websites out there where you can go and "shop" for the Santa you believe is right for your gathering.
My friend figured he needed a website to give a professional flavor to his budd...
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All Form, LLC
Minnesota Liquid Silicone Rubber Injection Molding
All Forms LLC is a leading custom manufacturer of precision molded silicone rubber parts & components for established and emerging technologies and industries since 1997.
Their experience and dedication to meeting their client’s needs defines their niche in the supplier sector and rates us as a preferred source for medical, pharmaceuticals, industrial, aerospace, military, and consumer purchasing agents.
They are committed to manufacturing products to meet the ever increasing quality standards required by the technologies and indust...
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Brainerd Wedding Florist – Flowers
Lily Grass Floral
[video width="1306" height="878" mp4="https://bamsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/LilyOpenHome.mp4" autoplay="true"][/video]
Lily Grass Floral is owned by Marci Hoard of Brainerd, Minnesota.
The original site was on WIX, which looked decent, but lacked any real SEO, which is typical of "spin your own for free" type sites. Marci is one of the most sought after wedding florists in the entire Brainerd Lakes region who also does flowers for other types of events - beyond weddings.
The main focus of her strategy, we determined, is her glowing reviews. She has stellar rev...
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K&J Repair – New Face
Revision Time
K&J Repair is a marine and small engine repair shop located near me in the Brainerd Lakes area. I built the site to the right...about ten years ago.
I've always thought it was cool having the dark appearance. But I realized it was not mobile friendly and alerted the owner that a revision to a responsive theme might be in order to retain they're excellent Google positioning in the area.
Kevin McGuire, owner said go for it. I went to work and retained most of the content. Since it was a WP site built using Artisteer, it was pretty straight forward to convert.
I used M...
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Cool Mapping Tool
Making Maps (for Free) Great Again!
Map making has always been fun for me. I've used Google Maps and Leaflets Maps Marker, etc. for years in Wordpress. But those plugins are getting very difficult to use and Google Maps is now charging for API usage - which used to be free of course! Leaflets is also holding you hostage to API's and other upgrades - once free.
It gets very frustrating searching for API codes and other related hassle factors, especially with Google who changes their policies about every six months. Suddenly you can't find anything and of course their support is horrible.
...
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Irondale Township
Irondale Township which contains Ironton and part of Crosby, Minnesota did not have a website. I had done a similar township website which I've maintained for several years in a nearby township.
I especially liked the way it looked on a phone, so I used the same format for Irondale.
They had a nice logo which I incorporated throughout the site. Although it's nothing fancy, it does the job very well by posting meetings, minutes, special announcements, etc.
All this public information was previously posted physically on a couple of signs around the township.
Now they finally are oper...
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Screen Area Enclosures
We were asked to update and outdated website for Marilyn Peters, owner of Screen Area Enclosures. It's a pretty cool concept turning outdoor areas such as patios and decks into three season environments. The system is unique and we needed to do a couple of things:
Improve the appearance and make mobile friendly.
Set up informational links to the manufacturer for additional info.
Embed SEO tactics to bring up prominently for regional searches.
We also added a Dealer Inquiry section to attract more regional dealers.
Key Action - Call for More Information
We set this up on a W...
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