Write 101

Website Overview

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All about writing at Write101.com -- home study courses and professional writing services. The site has more than 600 pages of information on all aspects of writing. There are articles for those who write just for fun or for profit, as well as a free online writing course, vocab quizzes, essay-writing tips for students and tips to help parents help their children with writing. The site also has archived copies of The Write Way - a free, weekly newsletter that has been sent out every Friday since 1998.

Site Owner:	Jennifer Stewart
Contact Email:	jennifer.stewart@bigpond.com
Website Home Page:	http://www.write101.com
Location:	Azerbaijan
Month/Year Website Launched:	December, 1998
Initial Start Up Costs:	$300
Time Invested Before Launch:	2 weeks
Programming and Technical Work Done By Owner or Hired Out:	Fully self-operated.
Time Invested Each Week Running Website:	25 hours
Niche Market Target:	Writers
Products And Services Offered:	Home study writing courses and my profesional writing services.
Average Number of Monthly Visitors:	60,000
Number of Newsletter Subscribers or Members:	14,3000

Interview By: Jeremy Gislason
Interview Date: 13-Jul-05

Q. Please tell us a little about your background.
I spent over 20 years as a high school English and History teacher ... the change really started one day during my long service leave ... I was sitting in the dentist's chair having root canal treatment when it occurred to me that at this time I would normally be teaching my year nine class (15 year olds). When I realised that I'd rather be sitting where I was than in front of a class, I knew it was time to look for something new!

After leaving teaching, I spent six months doing all the things that teachers dream of doing when they're busy preparing lessons and marking assignments, but then I was bored. So I decided I'd put all my experience and resources to some use and I wrote a series of writing tutorials.

Q. What made you decide to start a website in the field?
After I'd written my course, I sold it by running ads in newspapers. But advertising in national papers was expensive, so I decided if I had a website, I could just list the URL in the ad and then put all the information about the course on the site. Which is what I did.

Q. What kind of research went into this niche area before building your website?
I started the site originally to sell my course - and I was targeting people who'd missed out on basic language skills when they were at school, adults who wanted a refresher course and students who needed some extra help with their writing.

My research was pretty informal, I'm afraid.

Q. How did you design and build your website?
A friend I'd met online recommended FrontPage as being suitable for a complete novice like me, so I bought a copy and spent a month playing with it until I'd taught myself to use it properly. Then I started putting up pages as I thought of additional material.

The shared borders feature in FP makes it possible to change every page on the site with one click - and with over 600 pages now, that's a great time saver!

Q. What software do you use to run your business?
FrontPage for the actual site
Mailloop to organise my mailing lists and autoresponders
eBook Pro to create secure ebooks
Click to Convert to create PDF documents
Norton Internet Security

Q. How does your website generate income?
From the sale of my home study courses and my writing services for clients.
From affiliate programs with reputable people I've established relationships with over the years. From google adsense.

Q. How do you collect payments for your products or services?
I use PayPal and Mal's ecommerce to process credit card payments. I also have my physical address listed so peopel can pay by cheque.

Q. What promotion methods do you use?
Search engines - I listed my site early with google and yahoo as well as the other major engines.

My newsletter - I write articles and submit them to other ezine owners and sites with related subject matter.

Q. Which method has proven to give you the best sales results?
When major ezines run my articles I get the best sales.

Q. Which method of traffic generation has proven to be the best for you?
Search engines and directories bring me the bulk of my traffic.

Q. What is your biggest challenge each month?
Not to spend too much time getting side-tracked when people ask questions that require research. I always feel I have to answer in deatil and often spend too much time!

Q. What's the biggest mistake you've made since starting your business?
Aargh! So many mistakes and challenges ... but not many regrets!

Most of my mistakes have been due to inexperience and to my technologically-challenged nature! When I started sending out my newsletter, I had no idea how to do something as basic as cut and paste ... so I used to type each newsletter individually! I didn't know about mailing lists ... but once my subscribers numbered more than 20, I soon learnt! Now I have over 14,300 subscribers ...

Q. How has your lifestyle changed since you started your online business?
It's great being able to work from home. I have a laptop so I can take my business on the road when my husband and I travel ... and still get paid!

Q. How has your SureFireWealth.com membership helped you with your online business?
I've only just joined but there are some excellent products that I'm using as bonuses for people who buy my courses.

Q. What would you say to someone looking to start a website in the same niche as you?
While you must treat it as a business and be professional, don't forget to have fun! You'll meet some wonderful people on the Internet, especially among writers ...