Name of your website?Colonial Zone Dominican Republic
Your name?
Janette Keys
Your Location (city, etc)
Colonial Zone, Santo Domingo
Please give us a short summary of your website?
It is a guide to Colonial Zone, the oldest city in the Americas, and Dominican Republic.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I was stuck in USA for a time and missed being in Dominican Republic so I decided to make a website to keep me from getting lonely for my adopted country. I wanted to share what I love about my new home.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
This is my first web site. I had no idea how to build a site or what to write. I just did it.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Since it is about Colonial Zone thats what it had to be called.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
My site has information I learned about this country from my own personal experiences. I write all the information from my heart and soul. It is not professional at all. It is sharing what I found important during my time living in and learning about Dominican Republic.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
To let people know some of the good things about the area. To be able to meet my page visitors and show them this country through my eyes and to make a living doing it.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
The time I spend on my site can never be compensated with money. I work on it almost everyday adding new information. I am not making much money but I am happy to share. Since I built the site myself it really hasn't cost me much.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I really don't think I would change much. Maybe but more server space and add much more information and pictures about the entire country. If I had someone build me a professional page it would lose its personal touch and this is what I feel makes my page special.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
I'm sure I could keep up with the demand. If my site gets more visitors then maybe I would be able to show more people around this country when they visit and then give some good people much needed work in this developing country.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
I haven't really had unexpected costs. But the headaches are, since I had no experience making a web site if I have a change I have to change all 500+ pages separately and this takes alot of time.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Finding all the information I need and getting business here that do not really understand the power of the internet to advertise.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
The search engines seem to like my site, thank goodness, so this has really helped. Other than that some forums and word of mouth.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I never thought I could make money enough to live with a web site. I'm not making much but it at least pays the rent. Also, I had no idea that it was so time consuming.
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've had the site for about 3 years now and it started with 1 page. I plan to keep it running for as long as my fingers can type and my eyes can see. Maybe in time I will make other sites with detailed information about other parts of Dominican Republic.
What is your website address?
Colonial Zone Dominican Republic
