Name of your website?Panoramic Earth
Your name?
Peter Watts
Your Location (city, etc)
London
When did you start your website and why?
Panoramic Earth was started in 2005 to bring together a growing collection of panoramas photographed around the world under one roof, and link them together to maps.
Please give us a short summary of your website, business model, etc
Panoramic Earth displays panoramas taken from travel destinations around the world. Each panorama is linked to an interactive map and accompanied by a local description and potential reviews from the site members. The site forms a basis for 360 panoramas around the world, promotion for panoramic photographers, promotion of travel destinations, hotels, sights and attractions.
The business model in part is to build up a collection of panoramas and then sell promotional images to hotels and other places. The tours are available for 3rd parties too use, meaning that advertising a hotel on a Panoramic Earth tour is more than simply promoting it on the PanoramicEarth.com website. Those wanting to find out more about this should visit our FAQ page or contact us.
What has been the most difficult part of creating and running your website?
Figuring out how the various parts of the site should fit together, especially as it is using new AJAX technologies. Then getting the site to be ranked in the search engines so that it would be found. There is no point having a great idea and then it sitting in the back room of the internet gathering the byte equivalent of dust.
What has been the easist part of operating your website?
Uploading the panoramic images to the site, creating site content.
What was your biggest mistake?
Underestimating the amount of time, energy, resources and effort the whole enterprise was going to take.
Who maintains your website and why?
A growing number of people are taking on management of various sectors of the site. There are opportunities for people to manage and promote Panoramic Earth in their local areas and earn some commission from the sales this generates.
Tell us how your business has benefitted from your website?
As my business is my website, without it the business could not function.
What are your views on ecommerce and the future of the internet?
Ecommerce will continue to grow and develop and become an increasingly popular way of purchasing services and goods.
What are your views on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
That it is essential for any site wanting to be seen to be properly written and optimized.
What are your views on Search Engines? Have they helped or hindered your website?
Traffic from SEs can only help a site. That SE's continually change the algorithms that they work from can be a pain in the neck, but hopefully they will be getting more specific and useful. I would like to seem them demoting sites that rely heavily on content from other sources and are built mostly of affiliate link schemes.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Getting to the first page of rankings in the major search engines for a growing number of key search terms. How is this done? Well, good page content, unique and specific page content. Each panoramic image in the site has it's own specific web page which makes each page highly targeted to the relevant content.
What method has been least successful for promoting your website?
Doing nothing. That said, submitting to huge numbers of website directories is becoming increasingly fruitless, as is pursuit of link exchange programmes
What would you like to see change with respect to the internet?
Have all sex, gambling and gaming related sites moved over to their own TDL. Get the main internet clear of these sites.
What is your website address?
Panoramic Earth
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