Viewing Blog In Case Studies  Monetization  Miscellaneous 

I’ve been a website owner and manager for over eight years. It used to seem so simple. I started a website knowing a tiny bit of html and learned how to write cgi scripts to add functionality. I wasn’t concerned about making money. I was educating visitors.

Every few days I’d add more content, writing the articles myself. Adding them manually. It was messy and time consuming.

When I discovered that my hobby website was attracting visitors who used the website, read the articles and sent me email of thanks and was selected for yahoo’s directory, I knew I was onto something. I found forum software and started the great adventure as a community administrator.

Money was still not an issue. It was not a concern. I had an awesome team of volunteer moderators who helped me on the forums while I continued to add content as the needs changed and expanded.

Fast forward eight years. Today I have offices I rent in a business office building. I have a few employees. I left my “real” career a few years ago and I continue to manage my website. It pays the bills. And more.

I love what I do and wouldn’t change a thing. But I do have a confession to make as I begin the process of blogging about the business of running a forum website.

I’m in over my head.

It’s exciting and doubly thrilling. At the exact same time its terrifying.

There is much I do not know. I do not make money from affiliate marketing so this is uncharted waters to me. I don’t understand much about SEO and page-ranking although I’m well positioned because of the timing I entered the internet with my niche. I have not been able to keep up with html or css or php or cgi. Its all beyond me.

There is much I do know. I know how to find a niche and fill the need. I know how to put the visitors needs as the most important thing and reason for the website to exist. I know how to demonstrate good ethics and high morals which attracts wonderful staff. I know how to articulate an idea and find the right person to manage the task. I know how to manage a large staff, demonstrate good-will to huge “offline” corporations, manage the day to day tasks and plan the long-term goals of my website. And make it all happen.

And thus this blog is a chance to write about the struggles I have with understanding the ever-evolving business environment of the internet. This is my opportunity to learn about those things I know very little about while attempting to implement them within my own online business. And perhaps this blog may be an opportunity to share some things I’ve learned along the way that have been successful.

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