Name of your website?Catfish Bayou
Your name?
Blake
Your Location (city, etc)
Des Allemands, Louisiana
Please give us a short summary of your website?
My site is a fishing and hunting forum. There are topics that cover just about everything that has to do with fishing and hunting. There is also a place to post recipes for your bounty.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I launched this site to bring together people from many areas who enjoy the outdoors to share information and help each other to enjoy the outdoors even more.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
I actually launched my main site about a year ago but the forums are very new.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Being from Louisiana, and the fact that I was nicknamed "Catfish" years ago, it was just fitting, especially for an outdoors site.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
Most other sites are either a club or regionaly segrigated. I want to bring all the areas together so that we can all prosper from each other's knowledge of the outdoors.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
I have no intention of ever selling the site. This is just something to help me enjoy the outdoors when I can't get out. My goal is simply to enjoy the stories, learn from others, and teach our youth about the wonders of the outdoor world.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
So far, I have only a small amount of traffic so the return has not been much, however, as I am learning how to promote my site, I do expect great things in the future.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
With an unlimited development budget, I would be using website building software that would let me create pages easily designed in a custom fashon.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
I would have to appoint moderatiors to keep the site "family friendly" but other that that, it would be no problem.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
I have had to change my forum provider because the first one I was using bacame incompatable with my main site. The template I use for the site made it's own forum unreadable. Imagine that!!!
What has been your biggest challenge?
My biggest challenge so far has been teaching myself HTML code.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
So far, the best method I have found for promotion has been putting my url in my signatures for other forums, and in my emails.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I never dreamed it would cost so much for promotion. It seems that for wide spread promotion quickly, you almost have to spend a fortune.
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?
I will keep the site up as long as I can unless traffic is 0 for a long time.
Are there any changes coming in the near future on your site?
Yes. I am planning on adding a few more topics to provide a place for marine electronics, and possibly even for the commercial watermen to get together as well as outdoors news, announcements, etc..
What is your website address?
Catfish Bayou
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