Too Little, Too Soon

This week has been the first full week of Live, On The Couch and I’ve realized a few things about the website . . .  there just isn’t all that much content for it. I have basically one weekly media review on the site and an indication that a second weekly post is coming. In the back of my mind all week there’s been this niggling thought that if I were attempting to seriously do this (as opposed to doing it for the assignment, which is still as serious take, just not in the same manner), I’d approach it slightly differently.

As touched on in my in-class discussion board post, I would work on developing content and try to get as much of a catalogue of content before considering monetizing the site. Just having barely a handful of reviews just isn’t a wide enough selection to know what Keywords to use (the purposes of this week’s coursework) to advertise the site properly.

I’d also work on building up a schedule where there’s more than one update per week. Possibly keep the one weekly round-up of what I’ve watched, but then add to it. Have one day that I’m discussing a favorite media type from the past, have another day in which I focus on upcoming movies, tv, books etc.

As good as those plans are, they just aren’t feasible within the confines of the class that only runs a semester. So, I will have to do the best I can with what I’m given. I’m sure I’ll do fine, but it’s good insight to apply to future endeavors.

Who You Know

This week has been a chore. On top of it all, I’ve learned that procrastination is not my friend. While I know a part of this is should reflect my thoughts about legality of businesses and such . . . it’s just peripherally important to the week.

I freely admit that I should have begun working on the actual website sooner, but I had to wait until paychecks hit before I could feel safe enough attempting to pay for webhosting. Now, due to shoddy investigation on my part, that cheapest per month price that Bluehost gave me was only available if I purchased three years at a time. Even adjusting it to the shortest term (a third of the timeframe) only halved the total amount, which would still be a massive financial burden to my wife and I. $60 before is not a small amount when we’re barely making it paycheck to paycheck, especially when my wife considered any time I spent studying or working on schoolwork the equivalent of goofing off or playing video games.

But, and here’s where the blog post title comes into play. What contacts I have through my video gaming garnered me assistance for hosting. In a MMO I play, a guildmate offered me free webhosting on their personal web server, All I would need to pay for would be the domain name registration.

So, rather than $60 plus tax, I paid $1.17 (tax included in that amount) and after conferring with them through voice chat and screenshare of the “free hosting trial” GoDaddy is giving me after purchasing just the domain name . . . I was advised to keep the one month trial and transition the hosting to them after that first month.

Regardless, now I know I have someone in my pocket that I can go to for (if nothing else) advice on the technical side of things. Also, plenty of other people I know through gaming have stepped up and offered advice and knowledge of website building and helping me make the site look swanky and awesome. I haven’t taken their offers up yet, but at least I know assistance is there. I know I’ll want to have the site improve it’s appearance . . . I mean, have you looked at https://www.liveonthecouch.com? Yikes does it need work.

Slow and Steady part 2

This week has been a bit more like last week. The slow and steady progress toward the finish line. But, when it’s all said and done, whom would you like to be, the tortoise or the hare?

We have a few more steps of the process of establishing and implementing the building of a business website explained.

Part of the lesson was with regard to a walk-through of implementing PayPal buttons on the site to process transactions. Despite the fact that I doubt I will need a payment button on my site directly, I think it is fantastic information to have, and the concept and process can be applied to similar things which my site may utilize.

Now, even with the slow crawl toward the finish line (or would it be the starting line?) for the process of establishing a website, I believe that it ends (begins) next week. Then the true race begins. No safety net, no experimental models inside a classroom . . . just the read deal.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little apprehensive. Not a sense of dread as described last week that I felt at the beginning of the semester. Just . . . nervous.