It’s Alive

Yes it’s true. On February 10th I flipped the giant rusty iron switch located on the wall of my web-lab; power surged and a new website was born.

The Wildlife Portal (TWP) is alive.

Ok, so really it’s not that dramatic, but it sure feels like it. After months of work building the site, testing it, creating content etc. it’s now out there for all to see.
But the work doesn’t stop there as the filming side of it, which let’s face it is the whole point, is ongoing and there’s much to do.

At this stage I’m merrily filming away creating the mini-episodes to populate the site, but it all takes time and money! And of that there is not much to throw at it.
In fact the question I’m most asked is “how does it pay?” and “Where does the money come from?” And those are good questions.
The simple answers are, “It doesn’t.” and “out of my own pocket.”

Then comes the blank stare as people look at me like I’m a crazy person… and partially I am!

The idea is, to firstly ‘do something I love’, and secondly ‘try and earn some cash to pay for it along the way’. Now trust me no businessman ever walked into a bank with a business plan like this, that didn’t get thrown out, while the rest of the bank employees laughed their heads off, and spoke about him for the rest of the week over a beer with their buddies. I know! However, there is something to be said for trying these things and following your dreams. Yes I know, I know, heard it all before (don’t panic this isn’t turning into the sequel of The Secret!).

To cut to the chase there is method to my madness and a plan, it’s just not the type that banks like! You’ll probably have noticed if you’ve visited the site that there are advertising banners across the top and bottom of the pages. These are the first and primary source of funding. Every click that a visitor makes on one of these ad links sends a few pennies my way. (As you can imagine it needs a LOT of clicks). And with enough visitors to the site it could pay for its upkeep. It’s just a case of building up the punters!

The secondary source of funding is one that may take some time to achieve, but has great potential. That is a grant for the site to become a teaching aid in classrooms across the globe. This already has the backing of a group of professors and is underway, but as with all good things, this will take time – probably even years to come to fruition. So we won’t hold our breath over that one.

Then there is the merchandise the Portal’s little web store has to offer. Cafepress does a great job of hosting a web store that has no overheads to the storeowner, but allows you to make a few bucks with each sale. Genius! The two individuals that came up with the idea were in the same boat, no money to have stock printed for their new business, so many businesses later, they started cafepress.com that gave people an option to get their brand out there without spending a penny. Thank you Fred Durham and Maheesh Jain.

Ok, so there it is. The Portal needs your support to help keep its future long and prosperous. Oh, and don’t forget to fill your wardrobes with the latest height of fashion from the TWP store at http://www.cafepress.com/wildlifeportal

Until next time…

Jake.

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