Portfolio

Website design and management entail a lot of creativity.  Creativity for design is an obvious requirement.  You want Websites that are attractive, intriguing, and mobile-friendly.  But you also want to choose topics that are interesting and informative to your visitors.  And you need good writers to produce the content for those interesting topics.  It takes a lot of creativity to find and nurture good writers.  Small World Marketing prides itself on a history of helping aspiring writers realize their goals as freelancers.  Some of our past writing team members now work for themselves full times.  Others have gone on to accept full-time positions with large publishers.

You also need a creative technical team to build and maintain your Websites.  How do you choose the right hosting resources?  How do you install and update the Websites and software you need?  How do you manage those resources efficiently so that you save on time and money?  Small World Marketing has benefited from working with very good Website administrators.

The following portfolio is just a sample of the Websites that Small World Marketing has built or managed through the years.

Research Summary for the Benefits of Things

Research Summary forr the Benefits of Things
The Benefits of Things blog.

Research Summary for the Benefits of Things publishes articles explaining the benefits, and sometimes the risks, of many different practices and ‘things’. Our writing team draws extensively upon carefully vetted scientific research. We launched this popular blog in November 2012 and it has published many articles covering health, government, entertainment, and technology-related topics.

One of the editorial standards we maintain for Research Summary for the Benefits of Things is that we ask our writers to substantiate whatever they say through highly qualified scientific research wherever possible.  Our top-performing articles cite reliable sources of information, not simply credible sources.  And you’ll find greater depth and detail on this site than on many competitors who specialize in those awful slide show formats that are designed to keep you clicking in the hope you’ll accidentally click on an advertisement.

Although Research Summary for the Benefits of Things does feature advertising, we credit the blog’s success to its emphasis on creating a high quality user experience (especially for our mobile visitors), and on the editorial policy for maintaining accuracy and high quality.  We believe you won’t find a better source of information for many of these topics anywhere on the Web, even though you’ll find a lot of sites publish more content.

Research Summary for the Benefits of Things

Discount Light Bulbs

Discount Light Bulbs publishes tons of detailed information about lights and lighting.
Discount Light Bulbs

You may ask why a Website about light bulbs is worth while.  Believe it or not, this is one of our more popular Websites.  We believe that is because our writing team dug deep into the technical details of all aspects of modern lighting.  No matter where you live or work, you probably need to know a little something about light bulbs.  Older bulbs need to be replaced; when it’s time, do you think about how much money and energy you can save?

Understanding how lighting works affects your home aesthetics, too.  Proper lighting assists you in appreciating the look of your home and decorations.  If you work at home you want to use proper lighting to maintain good visual health.  And, let’s face it, everyone hates glare in their television sets.

Lighting has come under intense scrutiny as people look for environmentally friendly lighting.  We also want to save money on new light bulb purchases.  Are Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) really the best choice for the modern home or office?  Our lighting experts explain what the choices are, what the contributing factors to costs and environmental impacts should be, and what you should look for.  And the site is mobile-friendly, too, which is extremely helpful when you’re making a lighting decision in the store and need a quick reference.  We launched this site in October 2009.

Discount Light Bulbs

The Eerie Books Blog

The Eerie Books blog
The Eerie Books blog

What do you do with the Website when you close down your retail store?  Small World Marketing founder Randy Ray loves horror books, movies, television shows, games, and paraphernalia.  In 2008 he opened a book store in Dallas, TX, Eerie Books, with the hope of creating a place where the community of loyal horror fan enthusiasts could congregate, buy hard-to-find books and games, and call their second home.  Unfortunately the Great Recession was not kind to either the Eerie Books store or its customers.  Randy had to close the store after a few years.

But whereas many former small business owners just allow their Websites to fade into oblivion Randy decided to let Eerie Books live on as a personal hobby blog.  Although he doesn’t update it very often any more, The Eerie Books Blog remains a popular resource for fans of horror books and movies.  Interest picks up every Halloween, naturally, but loyal readers come back all year long.

Although you can no longer order books directly from Eerie Books we maintain an affiliate relationship with Amazon and you can still browse their inventory of great horror books, games, and related merchandise through our special links.

The Eerie Books Blog

Pickup Lines

Pickup Lines: Advice for meeting and dating people.
Pickup Lines: Advice for meeting and dating people.

You might think a Website titled Pickup Lines would only appeal to young men from the USA. So you just may be surprised to learn that over 40% of the visitors to this popular site are from India. And about half of all the visitors to Pickup Lines are women.

Launched in 2006, Pickup Lines offers far more than just lists of cheap things that guys can say to women.  In fact, we believe that most would-be pickup artists eventually give up on the idea of seducing women with a few words and a soft brush of the arm.  We hope the men who read Pickup Lines come away with a better appreciation for the complexity and depth of character required to find and win the heart of the best available ladies.

Our writers spent many hours reading and reviewing some of the top books in the dating field.  You’ll find all the controversial “experts” profiled here as well.  And you’ll find in-depth research into topics like human pheromones, techniques for meeting women and asking them for dates, and more.  And, yes, you’ll find some of the cheesiest, raunchiest, sassiest pickup lines anyone would want to use.  One of our most popular articles is a huge list of compliments anyone can use.

Although you may have strong feelings about the merits of pickup techniques, this remains one of our most popular sites. Small World Marketing brings its Web design and content expertise and high quality editorial standards to a niche topic that had previously earned a shady reputation.

Pickup Lines: Common Sense Dating Advice & Tips

Pursuing Trivia: A Trivial Pursuit Fan Site

Pursuing Trivia: a fan site for Trivial Pursuit enthusiasts.
Pursuing Trivia: a fan site for Trivial Pursuit enthusiasts.

If you know nothing about the game Trivial Pursuit this site was designed for you. If you know everything about Trivial Pursuit except where to get the next variation on it, this site was designed for you, too. Small World Marketing takes no topic lightly, least of all one of the most popular party games of the past few decades.

Our writing team put together one of the best, most thorough guides to the world of Trivial Pursuit you could ever hope to find.  We set out to create a resource of unparalleled quality and depth and we don’t mind saying we think the team succeeded with room to spare.

In addition to being loads of fun trivia games often make great gifts for children.  Learning games help our children improve their research and memory skills, and they acquire a lot of fun facts.  When we considered whether to invest time and resources into this site it was an easy business decision to make.  We launched Pursuing Trivia in 2011 and it remains one of our most popular Websites today.  It’s fast, light, and mobile friendly so shoppers will appreciate being able to check our reviews of games right in the store!

Pursuing Trivia: A Trivial Pursuit Fan Site

The Essence of Quotations

Quotes and Sayings: The Essence of Quotations is a great resource for writers everywhere.
Quotes and Sayings: The Essence of Quotations is a great resource for writers everywhere.

We wish we could say this site was originally our idea but Small World Marketing only acquired the Quotes and Sayings Website a few years ago. The original site has been around for many years and boasted a searchable database of quotes and sayings. Small World Marketing‘s writing team adds depth and an occasional sense of humor to the mix.  Our articles include historical anecdotes, biographical information, and helpful references.

The Essence of Quotations remains one of the most popular Websites in our inventory.  It attracts interest in many topics throughout the year.  This is a great “all seasons, all events” type of site that appeals to people of all ages and from all walks of life.

Writers always need good quotes to use.  When you want to know who said something specific, The Essence of Quotations either has it in the database or you can use our custom search engine to scour the Internet for a hard-to-find resource.  Every year we review this site with an eye toward making it even more useful for writers and casual daydreamers alike.

Quotes and Sayings: The Essence of Quotations

Scrabble Rules

Scrabble Rules: tips on how to play and research.
Scrabble Rules: tips on how to play and research.

If you appreciate word games at all you’ll love Scrabble. We know of whole families that have played this game for generations, which is quite an achievement for a game invented during the Second World War.  Not only is Scrabble a great learning resource for children, it remains a useful educational game for adults throughout life.  We believe you should never stop learning about new words.

J.R.R. Tolkien, one of the most famous philologists in history, liked to say that every word has a history.  That history is full of stories.  Our popular “Word of the Day” feature publishes articles about words you can use when playing Scrabble.  Each article contains some information on the etymology of the word as well as suggestions on how you can extend words during game play.  The beauty of Scrabble, of course, is that you can completely change the meaning of words by adding suffixes and prefixes to them.  If you played a drinking game where everyone had to take a shot when a word on the board changed meaning, no one would finish the game!

And you may notice something interesting about the title of this site: it’s a pun.  Although you can learn about the rules of the game Scrabble here, it’s also a plain old fan site.  The title means that Scrabble RULES!  We hope you’ll agree.  We launched this site in November 2009.

Scrabble Rules!

Top Ten Topia

Top Ten Topia publishes top ten lists on every subject.
Top Ten Topia publishes top ten lists on every subject.

In January 2013 Small World Marketing founder Randy Ray was reading one of the numerous “top ten” sites you’ll find across the Internet. He thought to himself, “We can do better than that!”  What is it about the “top ten” format that leads so many Web publishers to churn out garbage?  Randy and his team of writers set about creating articles that provided in-depth insight and entertaining anecdotes about everything.  The most popular article on the site is about cults in America.

But Randy invited his friend and Tolkien expert Michael Martinez to contribute a few articles about science fiction and fantasy.  Michael’s articles about trivia that stump Tolkien fans will blow your mind away.  You’ll also find articles about time travel and movies where humans are the invading aliens.

Top Ten Topia is great fun but Small World Marketing insists on publishing only the finest, most in-depth articles possible.  You won’t find the usual light fluff pieces here inviting you to swipe away while you are inundated with blatant advertising.  Content comes first at Top Ten Topia because this is the kind of trivia Website that Randy Ray wants to read.   You could easily spend hours reading article after article.  In fact, some people do!

Top Ten Topia: Top Ten Lists on Every Subject