Name of your website?Cake Ideas 101
Your name?
Linda Dougherty
Your Location (city, etc)
Agra
Please give us a short summary of your website?
A place where people can come for cake decorating tips and hints and general cake ideas and can find tips, ideas, and pictures for creating their masterpiece.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I have been decorating cakes since I was about 18 years old. I had taken a great interest in the cakes my cousin made and decided it was something I wanted to do. So when looking at what niche I could explore online, I felt this was something I knew quite a bit about and could share with others and hopefully make an income from it.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
This website is my first one, and I launched it in November 2008.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I wanted something short and easy to remember that also had one of my keyword phrases in the name. When I came up with cakeideas101, I figured it was probably already taken. But to my surprise it was available, so I guess it was meant for me:)
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
One thing that makes my site different is the color combination I used. I have had many compliments on it. I also have it set up on my site when someone opts in then on their birthday they receive something special from me:)
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
My goal is to generate an income from the site with affiliate products that relate to cake decorating in some way. Also to offer party gift ideas that can be purchased from the site so people can do all their shopping in one place - the products for making the cakes and gifts for the occasion. The party gift ideas is in the works at this time.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
For the investment of time and money at this point, there is no balance with my success yet as it is a fairly new site. I feel like the site itself is a success though since it is getting traffic and I have had some emails from my readers saying they like my site and the content of the emails they receive from me.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would get someone to assist me with setting up the party gift ideas mentioned above so people can purchase them on the site (this is not set up yet). I would have someone post to the blog at least 4 or 5 times a week, and I would have articles and press releases published to advertise the site.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
That would be a nice situation to have. If it grew that fast and that big, it would be generating a nice income so I could outsource for assistance to keep up with the demand.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
I can't really say there have been unexpected costs other than the education I invested in to learn how to do all the stuff to get a site set up. My biggest headache is just finding the time to try and keep blog posts done, keeping the autoresponder ahead of the customers opting in, and knowing I am trying to do it all by myself with not enough hours in the day:)
What has been your biggest challenge?
My biggest challenge was that this was the first website I have ever built, so learning all the stuff that goes with doing that has been tremendous. And it wasn't just the site itself, but also learning to set up an autoresponder for when people opted in to my site for the free ebook and recipes.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
I haven't done much promoting yet - just a few twits on Twitter and Facebook about updating the blog portion of the website. I also have a link to the site on a couple other blogs of mine. Most traffic has come from keyword searches.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I was told that once I got the site up and had some affiliate products people would start buying those and that companies would be eager to buy an advertising spot on the site. Those have both been very slow in coming, but I've had fun setting it all up.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
I enjoy cake decorating and sharing ideas with other fellow decorators, so even if it didn't turn into a big moneymaker, I will keep it going.
What is your website address?
Cake Ideas 101
