Name of your website?Everything In Nakhon Si Thammarat
Your name?
Mark White
Your Location (city, etc)
Nakhon Si Thammarat
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Reviews and photos of hotels, resorts, restaurants, beaches, national parks and just about everything that tourists and residents could need to know!
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I moved to the area a couple of years ago and found little little information available in English anywhere. So I decided to be the one to do it.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
My first website was way, way back. I think I wrote it on an Amiga and used an early version of Netscape for browsing. This website is my third website ever.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Well, it speaks for itself really :-)
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
There are no similar offerings. There are smaller directories, like the TAT official website, and places offering hotel bookings, but nothing with personal reviews and pictures. And none with an interactive map.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
To the the first web resource for people who want to come to Nakhon. Parts of the area are being developed quite quickly, such as Khanom which is getting the overspill from Koh Samui, so the whole area is likely to see an influx of people in the next 2-5 years. So come here while it's still quiet!
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Success is writing a site which does exactly what I want it to, in terms of function and information. Time and money can't compared to that sense of achievement.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I might pay for assistance with SEO, but I'm fine with it how it is.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
There will be a few hundred places reviewed on here eventually, and I'll have to visit them all regularly. That's no difficulty at all. As for visitors and traffic to the website, the more the merrier.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Learning HTML4, learning CSS, learning Flash, coding the map, getting everything to work in IE (grrr!). All great fun though, except for the last one.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Finding the time to do it :-)
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
None as yet! It's just starting to get picked up by search engines and a few unexpected links are out there, but I'm really starting this now that I'm happier with the new design of it.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I had no expectations, so it's fine.
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?
It was started in March 2008, launched in June, then redesigned in December. I've still got a lot of work to do adding more information and hope to continue to do so as long as possible.
Canyou give me any advice on the techniques you've used on the site?
Sure - I learned from example code everywhere, and some parts of the map were very tricky to get right. I'm more than happy to help anyone who's going through the same learning curve. Just contact me via the website.
What is your website address?
Everything In Nakhon Si Thammarat
