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Hi Cheri;
First, I'd like to reply to a few of the points you mention... and then I'll offer some suggestions. : )
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This site wasn't intended to give advice about starting over. It was intended to be a place where people who are starting over or starting for the first time could support each other spiritually and emotionally by getting messages of empowerment that it isn't too late for them to do it, because others have done it and are doing it.
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I had to smile. One of my first sites had an area like that... where my intent was for people to encourage each other. What I found happening, though, is the same thing we all see here at Adland. People posting "great site - click my affiliate link."
I used to run a chat once a week, and even had to private message one fellow and ask him to stop or leave... he'd logged in with pre-typed sales pitches for his affiliate programs and kept pasting them into the chat window.
For some odd reason, a lot of people lose their communication skills (and manners?)when they sit in front of a keyboard. Maybe it's because they're not looking anyone in the face?
I now think that the best way to give people encouragement is to go out and collect stories and interviews and post them ... perhaps allowing people to post feedback. Left to their own devices, you're more likely to get sales pitches than any real usable content. And I say that with a bit of sadness that it IS that way.
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I knew that success at any age includes the ability to achieve financial security if not prosperity, so I put the link in the Resources page because I didn't want the rest of the site to be commercial. Perhaps that was naive of me.
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Naive? I don't know. Trial and error for sure. And, really, that's the way we learn.
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Or I could develop it in the direction you have suggested, make it commercially viable and feature my primary business. I'm leaning toward that...do you agree?
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To answer that, I'm going to explain a rule, and then show you the way to flex the rule.
When people develop a website, the first "rule" of planning is that they need to decide which of two business models it will be.
--> Will it be a commerce model?
--> Or a content model?
A commerce model sells something. A product, or a service, or both. It does not matter if it's yours, or one you're reselling. What matters is that the bottom line purpose of the site is to sell something.
A content model site provides content, and is subsidized by advertising. Visitors don't come for the ads... they come for the content. A good comparison is television. You put up with the ads to get the shows. That's the content model. Same thing.
There are many ways to monetize the content model... Google Adsense, third party ads, etc. But - realize that people are NOT coming for the ads. They are coming for the content and will tolerate the ads - maybe even click a few - for the content. That model needs lots of content, and needs to be updated often to have half a chance.
The commerce model, on the other hand, is simple. This is what I sell.
Now here's the way to flex the rule.. a commerce model site can be enhanced by content, but it's not driven by it. So, whether you have a little content or a lot doesn't matter.
Not so with the content model. A content model with with only a little content doesn't work.
Take my site for example. I sell design, hosting and consultation. I have tons of articles... which enhance what I do because they inform and educate my potential buyers and help establish me as an expert in my field - but I'm not relying on the content to have enough steady traffic to make money off advertising. My site is a commerce model so it's not reliant on large amounts of content.
With that said, I agree with you, that you'd get better results if you DID focus more on the financial training and services that you know so well.
And, it would be easy for you to write an article or two a week to add to the site. And, with that focus, you could also seek articles by "feature" writers to add more content.
You would not have to lose the original intent of your site, either. There's no reason you couldn't seek out people that have used Ascend to clean up their financial situation and add those stories... as well as stories of people succeeding online.
All of those things - planning for retirement, getting finances in order, making a business fly online -- they all feed right into the theme of "starting over"
In the process, you establish yourself as an expert at what you do, too.
Does that help? I'll let you have a turn here because I could post a book if I don't pull up on the verbal reins once in a while.
: )
Linda
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