Name of your website?A Page Full of Freebies
Your name?
Jon Heller
Your Location (city, etc)
Palm Springs
Please give us a short summary of your website?
A Page Full of Freebies is a constantly updated themed blog that features as many of the current Marketing GiveAways and Free Product Promotions that we can find and that the promoters of these events tell us about.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I am addicted to freeware, shareware, any software. And these Free Software Giveaways are popping up every week. I wanted to have a single source of information for all of the Marketing Giveaways-what marketer is putting it on, what other marketers are involved, and what are they giving away? I wanted one website that had all of this information... so I built one.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
I have been designing or developing for the Internet since 1999. Until a year and a half ago I continued to maintain SoberRecovery.com, the largest Addictions Information Portal of its kind. I launched SoberRecovery in September of 2000; I sold it last March. Recently I've become involved in Internet and Affiliate Marketing.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I've built a lot of directories, and I just couldn't call a blog a directory. With blogs, the majority of interaction takes place on the front page. So... A Page Full of Freebies was born.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
As a former journalist and columnist, I can be pretty opinionated. When it fits, I'll add commentary to the listings or write an article to go along with the event. But I always try to keep it pretty light. Freebies are suppossed to be fun.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
This one is a keeper. It's low maintenance, and as more people become aware of it, they'll begin supplying content for me. Besides, I get to know about all of the great GiveAways before anyone else!
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Depends on how we define success. I'm a workaholic, so on an hourly or on a monthly basis my income relative to the time I put in is pretty weak. But I love what I do, and I wouldn't want to work for someone else ever again.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I always have a couple of "Super Projects" bouncing around in my head. And a lot of different ideas for doing some of the basics like CMS, Content Generation, and Community Building, in new ways. I would really like to be able to test and try some of my bigger ideas.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Sure. Any niche or theme only has so much information-it's not infinite-so getting really big would mainly involve functions like hosting, and that's already outsourced. Get a bigger server, a secretary and an assistant and we wouldn't miss a beat.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Thankfully none so far. And even though the site is not in profit yet, the only capital outlay is a monthly hosting bill. The other expenses involve my time, and due to the sale of my primary business last year, time is something I have plenty of right now.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Making it "fun" again. I had reached burn-out by the time the sale went through. I had spent over 6 years living and breathing that site and the community that grew alongside of it. It had become a J.O.B...the very thing I had turned to the Internet to get away from. Now, starting over with some much smaller projects, I need to make sure I don't get obsessive over the details.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Actually it's on the promotion side that I've been able to try a lot of new tools and learn even more. RSS and blogging and pinging aren't new, but they were new to me as a promotion tool. The results have been fantastic.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I was fine on the expectation side...I had none. it was the fear side that troubled me. I worried that I would turn a GiveAway Announcement site into 18 hour days. (I haven't even come close.)
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?
A Page Full of Freebies has only been online two months so I haven't even scratched the surface with regards to different features, different content and different revenue streams that I would like to try out. This much is definite- if and when it stops being fun and starts resembling a job...I am outta here.
Wrap us up, Jon. Anything else that you're having fun with online?
Wow...Audio and Video have come on like crazy. And they came on fast. If you weren't paying attention, and I wasn't, you could find yourself way behind. I've been trying to make up lost time by diving right in. You Tube, Google Video, Clip.tv... I'm having fun. I have no idea what I'm doing yet, but I'm definitely having fun.
What is your website address?
A Page Full of Freebies
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