John D

I would like to introduce our first interviewee, Jon Wheatley.
Jon is the owner of the yesthat.com network and owns many sites including his largest, www.OnlineGames.net


WF: *Can you give us a short introduction to yourself?*

Jon: Sure! My name is Jon Wheatley; I’m an 18 year old entrepreneur from the
UK. I have been involved with the internet for roughly 6 years now and
have been running a business for about 4. I enjoy what I do and could
not see myself doing anything else.


WF: *When did you create your first website and what was it?*

Jon: My first website? Ummmm… good question. I think my very first website
(like most other people) was hosted on geocities and had loads of
massive fonts and clashing colors all over the place. If I remember
correctly I think myself and a friend of mine thought we could open up
an online store selling computer games for slightly more than we paid
for them. We made the entire website on Microsoft publisher and thought
it was the bees knees. - That idea lasted about 5 minutes.

My first real website was a bmx website I made for some friends of mine.
I remember how satisfying it was adding something to it, then getting
positive feedback for whatever it was the next day when I went into
work. I think this is what really sparked my interest in websites and
the internet in general. **


WF: *Can you tell us some details about your main site, www.OnlineGames.net*

Jon: A while ago now I thought it would be a great idea to invest some money
into a really good domain name and develop an equally good website to boot.
The way the domain market was going back then it seemed like the obvious thing
to do. If I could get my hands on a good domain name and develop a website
that generates revenue I could get a massive ROI. So, I started email some decent
domain owners to see what I could get my hands on.

The original plan was to buy the domain “playonlinegames.com” for
$23,000. Unfortunately this sale fell through at the last second and I
was left with a big sum of money ready to be invested into something.
Luckily, a few hours after this sale fell through I received an email
from the old owner of onlinegames.net asking me to give them a call. I
gave them a call and we negotiated deal. OnlineGames.net was born.

OnlineGames.net has been in my possession for about 8 months now and in
that time has grossed about $30,000. It currently serves about 50,000
unique visits daily and it’s growing at a steady rate. I’ve got massive
plans for the site this year, big advertising contracts, large scale
multi player games etc. I am looking forward to seeing how far I can
take this property.



WF: *Do you think having a forum on your site is a good method to get return
visitors and revenue or do you think a forum should only be added if it
is needed?*

Jon: It really depends on the website topic. In some cases there is only so
much you can say about a topic. If you think the topic of your website
justifies a forum then yeah, sure. If not then I would advise against
it. There is nothing worse than a dead forum.


WF: *How many hours do you work daily and what are your daily tasks for your sites?*

Jon: I work about 9 hours a day at the moment but it varies from month to
month depending on what’s happening. Luckily though it doesn’t really
feel like work. Even if what I was doing wasn’t making any money, I am
pretty sure I would still be doing it on top of a normal job.

Here is the basic run down of my day.

- Wake up, check emails / forum posts.

- Reply to anything that needs to be replied to.

- Check on any design / coding jobs that are in progress.

- Check revenue stats for the previous day.

That is my normal routine every morning, after that I spend a lot of
time researching for future projects, writing up business plans,
building my domain portfolio and looking for any websites for sale that
I believe would be profitable.


WF: *Do you work alongside anyone else? What do they do?*

Jon: Currently I work alongside a group of freelance designers and coders
that I can call on if I need any work done for a site. I also have a few
people on the pay roll that submit content to my sites and keep them
updated.


WF: *What is the most important lesson you have learned about managing sites
and what was one of your most common mistakes when you started out?*

Jon: The best advice I could give anyone is when you make some money
from a website, be it selling it on, advertising revenue etc. don’t just
transfer it to your bank and spend it. Invest it back into whatever your
doing, it will pay off 10 fold. That is one of the reasons why I think I
have become successful, when I started off I had no money at all, I sold
my first website for a small profit and invested all of the money back
into my next project. Then when I sold the next project, I did it again
and again and again. Eventually the web property that you own will be
worth thousands.


WF: *What do you consider as your main accomplishments?*

Jon: It’s hard to say, I think the thing that I am most proud of is just
being in my position now starting as a naive kid with no money. It is
very hard to choose 1 specific accomplishment.


WF: *Tell us something about yourself that we don’t know.*

Jon: I can ride a uni-cycle.

Thanks very much Jon for being our first interviewee (And the first uni-cycle rider I talked to ) and I wish you the best of luck with your online ventures!

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