WoodenCRATES.org is a member-managed web site for the wood shipping crate and pallet industry. Companies that provide products and services to the industry can add a free basic listing or at a very small cost, create a full-page Sponsor-Gold advertisement.
Companies with Crate Pro 6 and an active maintenance plan are eligible for FREE Gold-Sponsor ads should create their ad first then notify [email protected] for activation
All listings and ads can be modified at any time by you or anyone you designate to assist with your listing or ad. To keep pricing low for paying customers and free for Crate Pro 6 customers, we do not create the ads/listings. You will use a WYSIWYG editor, similar to using Word or Pages.
Member managed means that our members create and maintain their company information by logging into their member control panel. Membership is free.
You do NOT need to be an expert in web design to create a full-page advertisement. It's easy and can always be accessed and changed as you desire.
*If a site visitor notifies us a listing or ad is invalid or contains incorrect information, we will email the primary contact and request the ad be reviewed. If there is no response within 7 days, the listing will removed from the website. Please ensure that correct email addresses are available.
Listing your business in WoodenCRATES.org is easy and profitable! It provides you with the best exposure possible to other companies desiring your services within and around the crating industry.
Here's a sample of a Gold-Sponsor advertisement (you can add videos and links to your own web pages)
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Follow these steps to create a listing and a Sponsor Advertisement
Check if your company is listed on the site
1..> Check if your company already has a listing by clicking on the Companies/Services tab located on the left side of the home page then selecting what you expect to be your primary service Category and geographical location your shop is in.
If you're not sure what Category you might be in, contact us at [email protected]
2..> If your company has a listing, click on the listing to see your information. If there is no admin associated with the listing, you'll have the option to 'create your account to manage the account '.
If this is not an option, someone with your company has already set up an administrator account. Contact us at [email protected] and we'll get your account associated with your company and notify you of the current administrator
3..> If you are unable to locate your company, go back to the Home page and select to Sign Up to enter your company and add it as a new listing
Sign Up for a member account if you don't have one (membership is free)
As shown previously, if your company is not on the website you will Sign-up as a new member
Click on Submit
Now that you have a member account login to your Member Control Panel: The Company Settings tab allows you to add or modify your company as it appears on the website.
If you do not have a company listed - add it:
> Company Settings > General Settings > General Information
The General Information tab contains your company contact information and the primary Category of Service your company will be listed in.
!! If you are setting up a free basic listing, this is the only tab that you will need to enter information. Adding additional information will not change what appears on the website.
HOWEVER - Feel free to continue to create a Sponsor advertisement and preview what it will look like. You don't have to pay anything for a preview
Even if you only want a basic listing - at the end of this article are some great options to Get More Business by using this site
Creating your Sponsor advertising:
> Company Settings > General Settings > Sponsor / Gold Advertising: (this is beyond a basic listing and allows you to appear in multiple geographic zones and categories of service)
.1. > Click on the 'Sponsor Ad Information' - Enter a sales contact person, their email, your own company website URL and contact phone numbers
.2.> Appear in All Range Searches - Prospects might enter a ZIP or Postal code to limit their search results from the main page to a specific area, however, you might serve a broader area. If you select to "Appear in All Range Searches", when the prospect searches by zip / postal code, your company will appear in results if the zip / postal code is included in the same geographic Zone(s) you will select.
Example: Your physical location is in Raleigh, North Carolina but you provide service to the entire state. By checking this box, when a prospect searches by zip/postal code, your ad will appear if the zip code is anywhere in the state.
.3. > Service Area: If you service a wider geographical area than your physical address, you might prefer to display a description in place of your street address to site visitors. An example might be "Tri-County Area" or "Servicing Florida and Georgia". If you leave this field blank, your street address will be shown.
.4.> Advertising tagline: If you have a tagline for your business enter it here. An example would be ' Family owned and operated for 50 years' or 'Proud Veteran Owned Business"
.5.> URL: Copy-paste the URL from any online MAP application if desired. If you don't support local traffic to your location or you select multiple geographic locations, you will want to leave this blank
.6.> Company Logo: Upload a png or jpg. Best images are no more than 150 w x 75 h pixels. Some image files that are well out of square may not show well. We may be able to help with your logo if you're having an issue uploading it.
Don't forget to click on SUBMIT when done.
> Company Settings > Sponsor Ad Categories
You may select additional Categories that you provide services in here.
For each category, you select, check ALL options in that window that reflect products or services you offer in that Category. Each option you select adds a unique icon on your advertisement page when viewing your ad in that Category.
NOTE: Additional Categories may not apply to you. An example is ISPM-15: while you may offer this service, this category is for companies that provide eradication services and inspection and not necessarily crating services.
.1.> Your primary Category is already checked based on your selection in the General Settings. If you want to have your company appear in additional Categories, go to the tab and check the box located at the top of that tab.
.2.> For each Category you selected, check ALL the service-product options that apply to you.
Note: Additional Categories may not apply to you. An example is: ISPM-15 Category is for companies that provide inspection services to crating and shipping companies.
.3.> Check if you accept credit cards
Click on SUBMIT to continue
Selecting Company Settings > Sponsor Ad Geographic Zones
A Zone can be a state, province, or country.
USA, Canada, and Australia are divided by state or province. Other zones are the entire country.
If you have Flash player you will see the map and can click on the Zones you want your ad to be in. If you still have Flash and don't see the map, you can click to show it and check the boxes that apply to where you want to appear. Your primary zone is pre-selected based on your physical address.
Flash is being removed so you may need to select your Zones manually. We can assist with this if you are unable to add/remove Zones ([email protected])
If you are unable to turn on flash and want additional zones, click on TOGGLE option on the screen. This will add all available Zones in that tab to your account and have them appear in the list below the map. You can uncheck those that you don't want.
.1.> To add more geographic Zones check the box(es) that contains the additional zones.
.2.> Click on each zone on the map. To select all zones in a country use the 'TOGGLE [country] ' option. You can remove individual zones as desired from the list. (Canada, USA and Australia are the only countries with individual zones)
Note- Until payment is made and your ad activated - on the website your company will appear in the first Zone in the list. If you intend to keep a basic listing be sure to remove extra Zones or your company may not appear in the Zone you prefer.
Click on SUBMIT
> Company Settings > Sponsor Ad Creation
This site uses the WYSIWYG editor. (What You See Is What You Get)
If you're familiar with using Word or a word processing application, you'll find this to be the same.
You can add hyperlinks, images, and even videos to your page. Save your page and select PREVIEW to see how it looks before having it 'Go Live'.
Need help? Scroll below for information if you already have a website
DON'T FORGET TO SAVE!
>>>>ADDING IMAGES!
Adding images into your advertisement can be a little confusing because the WYSIWYG editor is very basic. These steps will help explain the options:
> Your cursor needs to be approximately where you want the image to be added to in the ad. Click on the image icon in the toolbar
> There are 3 tabs.
- Image Info tab: SELECT THE LINK OR UPLOAD TAB FIRST TO ADD AN IMAGE! This has the image information and once you add an image you will automatically be on this tab. You can adjust these as needed after your image is placed.
- 'URL' is the address you want people to go to when they click on your image -
- 'Browse Server' is used if you have previously added URL's to an image. The URLs are saved
- 'Alternative text' is text shown if a visitor is unable to see the image
- 'Width" and 'Height' manages the size of the image in the ad, You will be able to adjust this later if the image in the ad doesn't appear as desired
- 'Border' set in pixels creates a frame around all 4 sides of your image
- 'HSpace' often used in place of a border will create a white space on the left and right sides of the image so that text or other images placed on the left or right side of your image has a clear area versus being directly against the image
- 'VSpace' often used in place of a border will create a white space on the top and right bottom of the image so that text or other images placed above or below your image have a clear area versus being directly against the image
- 'Align' Allows you to specify the orientation of the image on the page
- 500 pixels is the full width of the ad space. Ensure your Width is 500 or fewer pixels. When you upload or link to an image, the image size will appear on the 'Image Info' tab. Change any dimension and the other dimension will auto adjust. After adding the image to the page, you can right-click on the image and select 'Image Properties' and make changes until you are satisfied.
- LINK -- this allows you to enter a URL to an image you have hosted on another website. The link must be to the actual image location and not to a page the image is on. This can be confusing if you're not aware of the website file structure. If you do not have access to the hosted file location, do not use this option.
- If you do you can also set the action that will occur if someone clicks on the image, BLANK means that when the image is clicked on, the prospect goes to the URL in a new window (tab) versus leaving the current website. Ensure that an URL has been entered ion the "Image Info' tab
- UPLOAD - You can upload an existing image file. This will save it on our servers
- Choose your file
- Once selected chose 'Send it to the Server' - You'll get a successful upload message
- Once uploaded you'll be on the Image Info tab and can make initial changes if desired
- You may right-click on any placed image and select Image Properties to make changes
Explore the other tabs on the editor bar to enhance your ad!
DON'T FORGET TO SAVE!
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With a free basic listing, your company will appear in a single geographic Zone and Category no matter how many are selected. You're able to upgrade to a full Sponsor ad for an incredibly inexpensive rate. Fees are based on the number of Zones x the number of Categories.
(Companies with Crate Pro 6 eligible for free Gold-Sponsor ads must contact [email protected] for ad activation)
Payment can be made in several ways: Click on 'Go to Check Out' which will allow you to pay via Pay Pal. If you don't have a verified Pay Pal account, Pay Pal may refuse your payment. Contact [email protected] for alternate payment methods - include your company name and address as you listed it in the General Settings tab.
A Sponsor ad allows you to add additional Service Categories and/or Geographic Zones.
1> To see how inexpensive it is to add more Categories and/or Zones select View the yellow Sponsor Ad Pricing Table
2> Shows the selected number of Categories and Geographic Zones you selected
3> Check out link: The current payment method is via Pay Pal. If you do not have a verified Pay Pal account, payment can be delayed as they have a verification process with several steps. Payment is made to Deploy Tech Services when you use the link. For safety do not enter our company name in Pay Pal without the confirmation link as there are other companies with the same name. Pay Pal allows for international payments.
If you prefer to pay via credit card, send a request to [email protected] with your company name and address and I'll send an invoice that can be paid online. We accept major credit cards or ACH business checks. Contact [email protected].
THIS COMPLETES CREATING YOUR GOLD / SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT = Continue below for more ways to manage your ad, and get free exposure
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Consider inexpensive banner ads. There are two sizes that rotate through the website: Click Here for more information.
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Get More Business FREE
Your advertising investment will not only increase your companies exposure to qualified buyers but also helps us provide you and the rest of the community with this service.
Do you have a web site? If so, we ask that you consider adding our logo to your site along with a link to the WoodenCRATES.org home page or to your Sponsor Ad page. By doing so, you let your visitors know that you care about, and are a part of the wood box and crate community.
GO HERE TO SEE WHAT'S AVAILABLE
Select the logo that best fits your site. Simply click on the appropriate button underneath the desired logo. This will copy the required code to your clipboard then you can paste it into the HTML code for your website. Or you can right-click on any graphic to cut-and-paste it to your web server.
PRESS RELEASES: From your member control panel you have the ability to submit press releases. Accepted press releases are those that also appear in additional resources such as industry magazines, newspapers, and industry websites. Press releases are not sales advertisements. After submitting a press release, send an email to [email protected] and we'll check it and activate it.
ARTICLES: From your member control panel you have the ability to submit industry educational articles with links to your Gold-Sponsor Ad and website. These should be designed to provide information to others in and out of the industry. For longer subjects, it's suggested to break up your articles into parts and submit them weekly or monthly. This provides greater exposure to your company. All articles must be authored by a WCO member. Accounts are free. After submitting an article, send an email to [email protected] and we'll check and activate them.
Thank you for your support of WoodenCRATES.org! Your wood box and crating community.