Name of your website?Self healing chapter one
Your name?
Bill Gustafson
Your Location (city, etc)
St. Louis
Please give us a short summary of your website?
It is a site filled with free self help tips and information I have used to maintain my health for the last forty years.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I have passed through very hard times when I had no insurance or money so I had to rely on simple basic knowledge and tools to survive. I am a retired healthcare administrator who over the years worked with many exceptional alternative medical professionals. I learned how to maintain my health outside of medicine. I heard others where also passing through similar times so I launched the site in the hope they too could benefit from what I have learned.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
My first site was launched two years ago under the name of Bills Self Help Site. The site has maintained the same general theme from the beginning but has a new name Self Healing Chapter One.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Using my name seems to restrict the audience or group who would consider going to the site so I changed it to Self Healing Chapter One hoping it might serve more people.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
First, the content is free and it is written to be useful. In some ways it is too simple but I am adding more clarity as I go.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
First, it is simply my gift to all those who visit my site. I hope some people who pass through the site are enriched with either hope and or practical ideas they use for their own wellness. I would like to see it presented to as many people as possible in the hope the ideas could serve those who have needs.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
I put Adwords on my first page and my Resources page in the hope of recovering my hosting cost but weighed out against hundreds of hours of writing and revising I can never recover my costs. I did not do this work for money I have knowledge that could reduce and prevent suffering plus I know enough to put it out there in the web. To do less than share would be wrong.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
My site and the concepts addressed there need to be expanded with more visual graphics, deeper descriptions and video so people would be more confident about using the ideas. My time and resources are limited so my end product reflects those limits.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes, I would find a way to develop it further.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
When you run a low cost essentally public knowledge site the cost of software for graphics and video production not to mention the time is a burden. The concepts are often simple but explaining them to someone never exposed to the ideas requires starting from the basics. Visual effects make these ideas come to life and clarify much that is hard to explain with words. As an example I have had the plans for a video explaining anchoring for more than a year but so far have been unable to develop it. Using anchoring would enable anyone to create behavior change by altering the unconscious material that drives us. Words are just not enough and can not compare to even a short video explanation.
What has been your biggest challenge?
In the Western world we have forgotten the idea of self healing so directories and search engines just do not have a place for it. We have learned to depend upon others so greatly the idea of health or mental wellness being natural and coming from within seems foreign. So all these amazing inner abilities which can make all of the other therapies better faster and in some cases unnecessary go unused and ignored.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Manual submissions to search engines and directories seems to work best for me. It is a time consuming process but one that has never gotten me in trouble.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I thought it would be easy to get the ideas out there. Instead it is hard work but helping even a few people makes it worth while.
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?
My site has been up several years and has enjoyed some success. It keeps going up in ranking and I keep putting into more places. I will continue with the site as long as my ideas are unique and useful. Once the more general knowledge catches up with me or I become unable to work the site I will take it down.
What is the value to the viewer of your site?
My hope would be that each person who arrives at my site would find something good and useful or at least be inspired to press on in the hope of finding an answer or tools to heal their being.
What is your website address?
Self healing chapter one
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