Name of your website?for the love of work
Your name?
Sam Mooney
Your Location (city, etc)
Priceville, a tiny village in Grey County
Please give us a short summary of your website?
We design websites and specialize in building sites for small businesses. for the love of work describes our services and has some design and optimization price guidelines and, of course, a portfolio of our designs.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
A couple of things. I wanted to learn how to make a website and I was doing internet research about the Aude, in France. I designed a site as a place to keep track of my research.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
My first site was Ode to Aude, http://www.odetoaude.com. It was launched in the summer of 2000. It had information about the Aude, tourism, real estate, stuff like that. It's still around, after a lot of iterations, and it still does well in search engines.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
for the love of work is about 8 years old. My daughter and I were brainstorming names and my partner yelled from the other room "Call it for the love of work", so we did. Initially it had nothing to do with web design. When I started designing sites for other people I just used it as a portfolio site. If I were doing it over I'd pick a more descriptive name. And use hyphens. I did think about having a site called dyslexia-designs but decided that it wouldn't sell.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
Hmm. Honestly, I'm not sure that it is. The are a billion web designers and as many sites. It's tough to be original. Maybe the difference is that I'm realistic about it and about the competition. Probably the biggest difference between us and other web design companies is that we won't design a site unless we optimize it at the same time. There isn't really any point in having a website if you don't target the search phrases that your customers are going to use.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
My goal? To make enough money design and optimizing websites so that I don;t have to live under a bridge and eat dogfood.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
It seems to balance out in the end. Some years are better than others but that's the nature of being self-employed.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Not immediately but it wouldn't take me long to find the resources and people that I needed. The synergy of a group of people working together is amazing. Collaboration is more rewarding - financially and emotionally - for me than competition is.
What's the biggest challenge in designing sites for small businesses?
Convincing clients that it really is worth the extra cost to have good, optimized content. It takes a while for a new website to rank well in search engines and the cost of having a site built is an investment that pays off over time.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Organic search results. Always.
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?
We've had for the love of work for about 8 years but I've just started promoting the website design business in southwestern Ontario because I've recently moved there from the south of France. I plan to keep the site until I stop working. Could be a long time.
What is your website address?
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