Name of your website?Website Do It Yourself
Your name?
John Burch
Please give us a short summary of your website?
A build-it-yourself tutorial for the beginner who needs a Joomla or Wordpress site. To test the water, a beginner can set up their own site for very little money. The site walks the lay person through the setup and customization of a Joomla and Wordpress site. The language is kept simple, the goals are to show the steps required. A person can then make their own decision to buy expertise.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
The Open Source movement provides very profession tools for the average person to use in their business. Both Joomla and Wordpress do far more than the casual user expects. This site attempts to show what can be done and how to do it.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Long ago - 12, or is it 15 years now? - I put up a perl based shopping cart site. Not knowing how to market it was a major problem. Eventually, it was retired, but it was the first experience of a long line of sites in the process of becoming a business man.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
For Website Do It Yourself, it was pure and simple SEO and name recognition. I like one simple dash to break it up, a keyword and enough sense to give a human some concept of the site just from the name.
Many names have come and gone, but my other site is Lizard Fire Studios and the name came from a trade mark fight. Finally, to avoid the whole issue, and to express myself in the field of 3D Animation, I found a name that had no competion. I like lizards, fire represents creativity, so the name was born. I have not had any trade mark trouble since.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
I have an 18 year background as an electronic engineer with Dell, Texas Instruments, and Data General. I do technical very well. That combined with intense creativity and very well done 3D animation, makes my studio good at product presentation. We do many patent related presentations as well as anything related to selling the product. For Website-doityourself, there are relatively few sites to help the layperson use Joomla because the software is free. I like to see people doing their own stuff.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Website will last as long as I have the time and energy to work on it. There will always be a need for support like that.
Lizard Fire complements many of my projects. I can illustrate just about anything I need to explain. Website-doityourself.com is a movement toward other business and the entire marketing field.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
It's a full time job, and as long as I can create, it is what I will do.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I'd animate ways to fix the world. Sometimes it just needs a picture - a moving picture - to get everyone on the same page and to see something become real.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Sure, you find people to do the work, and you maintain the quality.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Having to become a marketer. An engineer generally stays out of the front office. We sit in small rooms in the back doing our thing - working with things. But to sell something, you have to become the guy up front and that is a pole shift in my case.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Finding time to do all the things that need to be done.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Ezine Articles seem to work better than most other things, but it is only one of many to use. I'm working on a youTube animation because it seems these viral content things are the most effective.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It never gets finished.
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?
Website-doityourself is between one and two years old. Closer to two. It should last forever if it evolves with the software that is available for these sites. I think there will always be people who want control of their own creation. It will last as long as I do, probably.
Did I know it would be this hard?
No, but then life is never what we expect. I find that my age is an advantage in ways and a handicap in others. My mental hard drive is full - it gets written over when new stuff comes in. And the access time is a lot longer than I seem to remember. I get these "data not found" messages more than I like. But to balance that, all those bits and pieces of five or six careers are all blending together into something that is a lot more effective than I would have been with only one or two.
What is your website address?
Website Do It Yourself
