Name of your website?New England Bridal Guide
Your name?
Lowell Sun
Your Location (city, etc)
All of New england: Lowell, Fitchburg, Methuen, Dracut, Beverly, Salem, etc.
What is the reason for your website?
To help anyone that is thinking about or planning a wedding. It's a step - by - step guide to help with every aspect of a wedding. We can help people plan a wedding with tools like checklists, budget calculators & guest list managers. We also provide helpful articles on topics from destination weddings to how to save money on decorations.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Making sure that nobody goes into any decision about their wedding blind. An average U.S. Wedding costs around $28,000. That's a big expense for a couple that still need to think about a home after marriage. With the right tools people can make an informed decision about their wedding, and we want to give that to them.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
The site was first launched in 2001. However it was completely updated in August 2007 and continues to provide useful, up-to-date information on current trends and issues in the wedding industry.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
We didn't want it to just focus on Massachusetts. We wanted to focus to be for all of New England. Brides tend to have the same questions, concerns and needs in New England, so we expanded our focus to this area.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
We focus in on a specific area, this way we can cater to the needs of the local community. You won't find companies listed on our website in California for example. Only local shops, which makes the search easier for brides.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
The website is our concern right now. We are considering creating a magazine focusing on the needs of Brides in New England.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
We try to have it at least break even. The time we spend updating & using man-power has to equal the amount of income we generate from the site. Our return is good as long as we have visitors come to our site.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Change the design & create more free tools to help plan a wedding.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
I think that we would be able to keep up with the demand. We have a couple of really great Webmasters here to help us if we run into an issue.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Mainly geek problems, things like code issues.
What has been your biggest challenge?
The Code problems
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Newspaper ads
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It hasn't because we've done this before with other sites.
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?
We hope we can keep it up despite loss in traffic. It's really there to help people, it's not really made to be a giant profit generator.
What is your website address?
New England Bridal Guide
