Name of your website?Home Computer Games
Your name?
Ken Durham
Your Location (city, etc)
Chesterton, 46304
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Retail sales of digital entertainment media such as video games, music cds, movie dvds, and all of the hardware to go with it. the site also has a free online arcade, gaming forum, and digital entertainment blog.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I have been working with the Internet for nearly 2 decades. A lot of my work has been developing online businesses for other people. So I decided to do it for myself this time around.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
MY first real website was in partnership with Graeme Levin. The site is Gambling.com. A fairly major domain for my first real website. This was launched back in the early 90s and became quite successful.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I wanted to develop a site that I could get my 2 sons involved in. Of course it would have to interest them in order to get them to do any work. I thought video games and digital entertainment would be just the thing. I found an awesome domain name open. It was perfect and fit right in with what I wanted. HomeComputerGames.com
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
We offer a very large assortment of digital entertainment that makes HCG a one stop shop. Besides games we carry a large assortment of music, dvds, and hardware such as computers, entertainment systems, speakers, and such. We also carry used merchandise in order to compensate for the current economic situation. Along with this we offer a free online arcade, gaming forums, and a digital entertainment blog.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
To build an interesting legacy that my children to continue as not only a form of income but something that they will enjoy and continue to grow.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
I'll put it this way, if I was getting paid by the hour I would be a very rich man. But I am not and do understand that noting good comes easily. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment, contrary to the get rich quick schemes that advertisement often refers to for an online business. I can say that after just one year we have done quite well and our standings in the Google world are quickly catching up to Amazon.com and the others.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
A new, high tech design would be first. I would then start our own MMORPG. I would also hire a knowledgeable writer for our Entertainment Blog. I do not wish to just sell games and movies, I would like HCG to be an authority site in Digital Entertainment.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Absolutely I would. At Gambling.com we went from nothing to a multi million dollar business in just a short time. We had our growing pains but the knowledge I learned from that venture was invaluable.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
My biggest costs and source of aggravation has been thieves! Daily someone tries to rob from us or hack our site. This is a never ending battle that you cannot let your guard down on. If you do they will have your money and be gone before you know what happened. It is a pity that people waste their great talent to just harm and rob from others.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Competing against Amazon.com. Everywhere I turn I see them trying to oust the little guy. But I will not give into the major corporations. At HCG customers get one on one assistance and no canned form letters and responses. I have many thank you emails from customers stating how refreshing it is to be treated like a person instead of a sale.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Word of mouth through great customer service. Net wuld be the constant testing of SEO and keywords. Long tail keyword marketing has done quite well. Also the inclusion of the UPC in the Title has gotten some good results.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Actually it has been easier than I thought considering I am tackling the video game market. I hold top placements on the lessor search engines and am certain once the site ages more I will make the grade with Google. In fact I just reached front page of Google for the terms, "Used Computer Games" and "Buy Computer Games". Not a major one or two word phrase but HCG is well on the way there.
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?
HCG opened up Officially March of last year. So that is just over one year old. Still a baby in the business world. I will not shut down the site even if it does not do well. There is no reason that it cannot compete except for the excuse of laziness and inactivity. As long as the site is growing and keeping true to the people it is worthwhile above and beyond the income.
Do you have any other projects under way?
I own several domains but I love to travel and am in the process of developing americantravelblog.com. This will be a free site for people to post their American travels. I also have under development a free online dating service for seniors. The domain being goldenmeetings.com. I know many single seniors and know that most dating services cater to the young and charge a fee. I hope to fill a niche and assist seniors in meeting people so they don't have to spend their nights with their dog or cat. As seniors often are on a fixed income I intend to keep this service free for everyone over 55 years of age.
What is your website address?
Home Computer Games
