Name of your website?Face Lift Advice
Your name?
Linda
Your Location (city, etc)
Nottingham
Please give us a short summary of your website?
We provide information on a range of anti ageing and cosmetic beauty treatments to help people choose the best treatment for them. Our target audience is mostly women aged 25+, although we do have a small section on for men. Our most popular pages are those which provide information on face lift alternatives, for people who would like a face lift without cosmetic surgery.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Having reached middle age, but still wanting to look young, I started to try different beauty treatments which would rejuvenate my face and give me a face lift effect without surgery. There are so many different treatments available and I found it difficult to find helpful information on the web. So I thought why not put together what I found to help others make the right choice for themselves.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
My first website was launched in 2005. It was a dating and matchmaking site, but there was too much competition, so the project was ended.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I wanted something that indicates what we do, and helps people looking for information get to the right place.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
We are a one stop shop, providing information on a wide range of cosmetic beauty treatments. Most other websites are just giving information about one type of treatment. We also have a review section, where visitors can read reviews to help them decide whether or not to try a product or treatment. Visitors can add a new review or add comments to an exisiting review.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
I intend to continue running the website, even after I retire. I enjoy researching new products and treatments. I do not intend to sell the site, as it is providing me with an income, and a future pension.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
At the moment my financial success does not really pay me for the amount of time I invest in the business. Let's just say that I am working well below the minimum wage! However, the profits are improving each month, and hopefully will continue to grow, so that I can reduce my hours and maintain the same level of income.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I don't think I would change anything. The website was developed on a limited budget, and the main investment is my time. Most visitors come from natural search engine results. I could use a budget for advertising and marketing, but I want to see how successful it can be without paid advertising.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes. I could always take on extra staff if necessary. It is a content based site providing information for visitors. At the moment we are not directly selling any products, so staff time is mainly for dealing with enquiries,and ongoing website maintenance and development.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
I recently had to change to a new web host provider. I started out on budget web hosting, but they kept having server problems and my site was down for hours at a time. The new web host guarantees 99.9% uptime, so hopefully there will be no further problems.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Perseverance and learning web development and SEO skills. I like to be as self sufficient as possible, so I try to learn new skills myself rather than pay someone else to do it. The main problem is that this is very time consuming. A paid expert would do things in half the time, but to learn things for yourself keeps the brain active, and it is so satisfying when you start to see results.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Search engine optimisation and developing good content for the website are the most important factors.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I think I was hoping that I could earn money without putting the hours in! I had not anticipated the time taken on researching products and treatments, building web pages and search engine optimisation.
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?
FaceLiftAdvice.co.uk has been running for 15 months. It will keep running indefinitely. If in the future I decided that running the site was no longer rewarding, then I would consider closing the website down or selling on for someone else to develop it.
What do you enjoy most about running a website?
I like the fact that I can run my business from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. Once you have worked out a formula for success on one website, you can apply that knowledge to other projects and develop new websites, whilst continuing to manage the exisiting ones.
What is your website address?
Face Lift Advice
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