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Pictures and travelogue style narrative of what we experienced in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Canada.
We tent camped near the ocean, tried to whale watch, saw a ton of great relaxing scenery.
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| Site Owner: | Linkerton Corporation | | Contact Email: | frethog@yahoo.com | | Website Home Page: | http://www.Vacation-Nova-Scotia-Tourism.com | | Location: | United States | | Month/Year Website Launched: | August, 2004 | | Initial Start Up Costs: | $19.00 | | Time Invested Before Launch: | 3 Weeks | | Programming and Technical Work Done By Owner or Hired Out: | I did the tech work myself. HTML with SSI (gotta use SSI) Gold member hosting doesn't brag about it, but they have it and it's great!
Setting up the domain name to point to new Gold Member hosting service. | | Time Invested Each Week Running Website: | 1-2 Hours | | Niche Market Target: | Aspiring Nova Scotia and PEI Vacationers | | Products And Services Offered: | None. Just advice at this point.
Great photos/snapshots of the relaxing scenery of Nova Scotia and PEI, with travelogue type narrative.
Couldn't find a site like this before we went on vacation, so I built one when we got back. |
Interview By: Jeremy Gislason
Interview Date: 28-Aug-05
Q. Please tell us a little about your background.
Born and raised Iowan. Got a degree in Computer Science, but for building websites it's not necessary. Layout skills are far more important.
Q. What made you decide to start a website in the field?
Wanted to monetize my vacation photos. Most of them area of the scenery, so it's not like you're staring at me most of them the time.
Q. What kind of research went into this niche area before building your website?
Unmet needs with respect to search engine results. Decided that this niche wasn't being fully served to searchers.
Q. How did you design and build your website?
By hand. I used a modified 3x3 table grid layout with the middle and top center cells rowspan=2. I use SSI for header, left-center, right-center, and footer (colspan=3) cells.
It's a format I developed when laying out my LinkertonPublishing.com website, and I use it at ToothyGrin.com too.
I use Ultra-Edit software to expedite the process.
If you're already tinkering with HTML, tables and SSI are a couple tools the beginner or intermediate HTML person should get good at. Big payoff in quick and precise layout.
Q. What software do you use to run your business?
Ultra-edit ($40), Quickbooks Simplestart ($99), Picasa2 (free).
Other than that, just email, Windows XP, and other things that everyone and their dog has.
Q. How does your website generate income?
Google AdSense.
Q. How do you collect payments for your products or services?
Google AdSense sends me money, when people click on my adverts.
Q. What promotion methods do you use?
SEO, articles, backlinks. Possibly e-zine promotion.
Q. Which method has proven to give you the best sales results?
Not sure yet. Counting on SEO and articles to do the most.
Q. Which method of traffic generation has proven to be the best for you?
SEO.
Q. What is your biggest challenge each month?
Not working too much on a website that doesn't need that much work.
Q. What's the biggest mistake you've made since starting your business?
Not backing up by hard-drive.
I'm a computer programmer who understand the value of backups and we lost a lot of data this summer - including 3 months worth of photos from family events.
Q. How has your lifestyle changed since you started your online business?
A feeling of more potential liberation from the 9-5 grind.
Learning constantly via audiobooks and eBooks.
Q. How has your SureFireWealth.com membership helped you with your online business?
I'd been apprehensive about shelling out $60 a year (miniscule, I know) for another webhost - but Gold Member hosting fits the bill. Sure it's only 10Mb, but I host my JPGs on LinkertonPublishing.com and link the Vacation-Nova-Scotia-Tourism.com website with Gold Member hosting.
Also, the eBooks from my Gold Membership have been highly educational and contributed greatly to the improvement of my website design and my business models that I explore.
Q. What would you say to someone looking to start a website in the same niche as you?
Ready, Fire, Aim.
Don't procrastinate, just build something sound - then tweak it as you go when you don't get the results you expect and you analyze your traffic/sales.
Leverage what you have. Consider outsourcing the non-crucial aspects of your work.
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Thanks!
Warm Regards,
Jeremy Gislason
Webmaster
SureFireWealth.com
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