Name of your website?Share our Paros Paradise
Your name?
Michael Shepherd
Your Location (city, etc)
Paros Island, Cyclades group
Please give us a short summary of your website?
An American-Irish expatriate couple share their Greek island experience by offering hospitality, workshops and information including maps and photos. They provide content and links for Paros, the Cyclades, Greece and the world of living abroad.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
After living in West Cork Ireland for 6 years I took a summer holiday to Paros, Greece and did not want to leave. I was looking for a way to support the expat island lifestyle.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
In 2001 we started marketing accommodation on Paros. We were one of the first small units to use the internet this way.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Paradise is the word most commonly associated with our Greek island of Paros.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
We marketed our personable hospitality rather than the facilities of our rooms.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
To continue earning enough to maintain our beach front lifestyle.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Well in terms of enjoying life. Poor in terms of cash income to spend elsewhere.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Hire help: young people that want to live on an island for awhile. One a graphic artist for better design; one a computer programmer for more efficient pages. I would do more article writing.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes. I only use a small fraction of my minimum bandwidth. My products are provided by others.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Not enough time to make all the improvements that I see.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Getting traffic, of course. Not enough time to write articles.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Recently CraigsList but I use anything and everything and have not noticed any one source as predominant.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Some of ideas that I think will be immensely popular, are not.
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?
Seven years. I will continue as long as I get bookings for accommodation and advertising income to cover expenses.
To the editors:
This has been interesting so please let me know if you use it. If you don't; I will link it together and publish it somewhere. I need content!
What is your website address?
Share our Paros Paradise
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