Easy Outdoor Decor Interview Name of your website?Easy Outdoor Decor Your name? Mercedes Campbell Your Location (city, etc) Knoxville Please give us a short summary of your website? Upbeat and engaging garden & yard decorating enthusiast offers outdoor living problem-solvers, easy-to-do backyard craft projects, do-it-now time-savers, and an endless parade of inspiring outdoor decor ideas. So flex your creative muscle, expand your living space, increase your home's value, and stay connected to all that's trendy, not spendy in outdoor living. Walls are so passe! And outdoor decor is easy. Let's make your yard eco-chic fabulous! ~~ What inspired you to launch your own website? I was really looking for control over my life. And when I found out that a website should be about a topic that is loved, I was sold. Because I'm absolutely crazy in love over outdoor decorating! When did you launch your first website, and what was it? Easy Outdoor Decor is my first website. It launched in April 2008. How did you decide on a name for your website? For me, "Easy Outdoor Decor" is just stating the obvious. What makes your website different from other, similar offerings? One standout feature is original content. Most outdoor decor sites I've looked at are all purchasing the same articles. What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?) I plan to keep it and see if I can turn it into a real business. I've had an offer to sell the site, but I wouldn't seriously consider selling it. And it's more than just an income or a business. It's my baby. Plus, a lot of people use my "contact me" form to get in touch to ask questions or to tell me how much they like the site. I never imagined that I would be making personal contact with people over the web -- it's been a real treat. So it's been extremely motivating, and the site is helping me to reinvent myself, and I'm able to learn so much about how the web works. How does your investment of time and money balance against your success? I think it balances out nicely. You just have to realize -- upfront -- that building a website as a work-at-home business is going to require work on your part. It's not a get rich quick endeavor. There are no shortcuts, and not every problem or function can be solved by throwing money at it. Having said that, every little achievement is huge and reason for celebration. No matter how difficult something is, or how much time is spent doing any one thing, when you see you're making progress -- no matter how small, it's extremely exciting. If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site? I'd like to have giveaways with cool prizes. For instance, my site has a unique wind chimes section. In this section, I do a show and tell about unique wind chimes in my own collection. The page features these blue sea glass and copper wind chimes. These chimes are beautiful. And I imagine that people would be interested in entering a contest where these chimes were the prize. And I'm sure when they were delivered to the winner, they would not be disappointed. I'd also like to do how-to videos. So I'm not just promoting some cool outdoor decor item, or giving written boring step-by-step instructions. I'd like to make he diy projects into full-blown productions, so that the steps were truly duplicatable. If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand? Imagine my site blowing up to the degree that I would need to give someone a job. Does it get any better than this? I think not! What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with? I've not come across any unexpected costs or headaches. I will say that providing accurate answers to some of the questions posed through my "contact me" form presents a challenge. I spend a lot of time researching answers because I want to give visitors actionable answers. So, I'd have to say that finding the time to do adequate research is challenging. What has been your biggest challenge? Time. There's just not enough time in any one day to do all I'd like to get done. What method has been most successful for promoting your website? Definitely word of mouth. Although I will be starting my first article submissions this week. So, can I get back with you on this one? How has running your website differed from your expectations? All I can tell you is there is a lot to learn. And I mean this in a good way. I feel like I'm getting an education by building and promoting my site. I knew a little html before I started. But I had no idea of what the actually process would be like. 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? The site went live in April of 2008. I plan to work on it as long as I can execute a lucid thought. Replace this with a question of your own Would you give my site a critique? It would be great to have an objective opinion. I've gotten good feedback from visitors, but the site could always be made better. What single piece of advice can you give that would be the best RIO if I executed it. What is your website address? Easy Outdoor Decor | 
