Name of your website?Pinoy Arena
Your name?
William Bill Torres
Your Location (city, etc)
Baguio City
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Pinoy Arena is a Filipino Community forum site where members can discuss general up to specific topics in tagalog, english, or even in their native dialects.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I've seen other forum sites such as Pinoy exchange and mukamo forum and I thought, I want also to have my own community site. I think it will be a great experience for me and I hope I can give great experiences to my members in return.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Just last month. January 2009.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Well, I use the word 'Pinoy' of course, because I am targeting filipino community then I thought some words where people can meet. And because Manny Pacquiao just won over Dela Hoya last December, I thought Arena will be a good addition to the word Pinoy. And the name doesn't hurt in my hearing so I think it is nice.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
In this site, I am planning to run some contest where members can win some cellphone loads. Other filipino forum site doesn't have this so I think it will be great added feature.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Of course, as time goes by, I am expecting to make some income from the site as I will invest in running some contest to make the forum site to have more fun.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
I am just beginning and I am still testing the waters so I think I will be investing more as of now than to see my success.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
If I have an unlimited budget, I will run more contest with decent prizes to have catch more members and eventually as revenue returns, I will make it a site that returns back the revenuw to the members. All in all, I would like to see members having fun as they interact with the forum.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
If it is only me, maybe not. But I have friends that can help me to moderate the forum so I think it will be fun. And I hope it becomes big really quick. :D
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
As of now, none yet.
What has been your biggest challenge?
My biggest challenge as of now is to have members that will sign up with the forum site. It is really slow.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
I made pm in my chat friends and so far there's some result. I am also submitting the site in directories but as of now, there are no result yet.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I never imagined that it is really difficult to have new members.
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 will keep it as much as I have a budget for the domain and for the host. So probably, maybe after 5 years, it nothing is happening, I can drop it out. Sell the site or abandon it.
Do you think forum still works today over social networking site?
I do believe that forum still works today. As of now, there are some filipino forum sites that still have a minimum of thousand active members per day so I think to have that much of active members is really fun to have.
What is your website address?
Pinoy Arena
