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running a website

What does it take to run a website?

    Running a website… How hard can it be? That was our first thought when we started…

    It’s been over a year since we published our first website. The day was the 1st of December in 2019 – an official day when we launched genemtwo.com. That day our eyes shined bright like diamonds because we knew that we are going to change the world. We always expect huge outcomes, otherwise, we would lose the discipline to run a website soon. 

    But how did it went? We closed our first website seven months later (genemtwo), because of some technical difficulties. In between, we have started with new websites, learned a lot everything about running websites, and reopened our first website again (Genemtwo to GENEM for Growth). What a journey it has been and now it’s a great time to reflect, what we have learned on the way.

    So yeah, running a website… Is it easy or hard? Fun or boring? Self-developing or waste of time? 

    It can be both, depending on how you feel on the current day, or setbacks that life brings you when you are doing something for the first time. Running a website isn’t just about making your site look good – this is just one part of it. 

    What are some of the different aspects you have to think about before running a website? Do I have to pay for anything? Does it take a lot of time? Is owning a website even worth it? Here we can reflect on our point of view on what we have learned during this process.

    1. TIME, it takes a lot of time

    run a website

    How much time does building a website take? To be honest, we could write a whole article about a certain topic, but we point out the main aspects that take the most time:

    The time before publishing the work

    The idea to start with our website came three months before publishing. We started by collecting different ideas such as: what to show on the site, what value we give through that, and just by experimenting with different forms on the website… So it roughly took two to three months of designing, writing, and setting up goals and visions before we published in December. We started with writing down our vision and purpose – what we want to achieve and what is our WHY (why we want to do it). 

    The beginning was slow, but setting up common goals was essential, and since then we have been focusing on the same goals. That means going together in the same direction (when it comes to the meaning of the website concept). 

    When you haven’t done a website before, then it’s challenging at the beginning. We changed our site design almost every week. We found something that seemed better; experimenting with new themes every day. Week after week our page started to look like the real deal (finally).

    How did we find time to do all of this? 

    We both were tied up with work and school, so we found time in the evenings and on weekends. That meant that our schedules were pretty tight but we remained positive because we wanted to do something useful, rather than just chilling at home. Even though the beginning was frustrating (because of slow progress), we kept going because we knew our purpose.

    We published our website, so now we have to put in less effort? 

    Hell no! The real action starts at that point. All the good companies and services keep developing their businesses regularly and keep an eye on this rapidly changing society.

    In the beginning, we thought that our website looks the best and also it’s logical for visitors as well. First, the visitors will understand what page they have landed, what is our meaning, etc. Reality isn’t that way. People don’t think the same way as we think. Damn it.

    With developed website skills, knowledge about site management, and feedback on our page – our website design changed completely over time. But the core meaning of the website stayed intact.

    About generating new ideas

    Even when you have a good-looking site, it’s not worth people’s attention when there is no value or content. To be on the top of the game we have to add new content constantly. At first, our page was pretty empty, just a few blog posts and our credentials. Visitors would just come to the site, take a quick look around and then leave. Since that we have added more content and our core activity – blog posts. 

    Writing blog posts

    It starts from an idea then goes on to writing and THEN reading it over and over again to get grammar almost perfect (English is not our native language). In the beginning, we were busy designing our website, which robs our time to write new content. But after we made big changes on our site, we had more time to focus on writing blog posts. 

    2. MONEY – Investing into Website

    money

    Yes, It has taken some money and yes, you also have the option to do this completely free. But there are some points, why we think it’s better to pay some money:

    • When you have to pay for something then you have more motivation to keep on going – pretty obvious, right?.
    • Running it as a business you don’t want to have a loss in the balance sheet. Normal people hit the profit. You will find more ways to be profitable with an online business.

    These are pretty simple points and I don’t know how far we would have gone if we would have done it with no expenses. Would we still have the motivation or would we have given up and even without any income?

    Making a profit through a website is easy? 

    Like everywhere, you won’t generate profit by accident. It takes some consistent learning and being open to trying different options. Currently, as we just reopened our page it’s operating as a start-up. Expenses exceed revenues. There is a small cost for a website host (monthly), a fee for a domain name (one-time), and some other fees which help to run our website. 

    When we will make a profit? 

    We have become more realistic about managing a website and we know that it won’t be an overnight success. It takes time. We are doing our own thing and constantly improving in different fields and just getting better every time.

    3. Learning & improving together with a website

    website traffic

    Marketing, SEO, backlinks, website traffic – these are just a few things of many, what is essential to be visible in that enormous online world. You could have the best website, best content, but if nobody knows about your site, then you can admire your masterpiece by yourself. Leading traffic to a website is the most complicated thing to be successful. There are so many different possibilities to do it, but it takes some hard work to be on the first page in Google. (after all, it’s the main purpose). To put it in perspective, then digital marketing is a specialty that people are studying in schools for years. 

    In the beginning, we knew that we have to be active in the marketing field, but going more deeper in that area, we realized that it’s an essential field. With many different options and knowledge, you have to obtain – It also takes time and effort. We are more aware of online business thanks to our learning process and advice from friends. There are so many things to learn and that is why we have to improve constantly. 

    In the end, is it even worth it to run a website?

    side hustle

    This project has taken most of our free time, it has made us poorer, and we have put in a lot of effort into improving ourselves and the website. So is it worth it? I think you already know the answer (YES). It depends if you like to hustle or not – obviously we do.

    why we think it’s worth it:

    • Side hustle – With that time after duties (work and school) we can do anything. Just to hang out and relax or do something that would have a positive outcome.
    • Online is changing our future more and more. Being close to online business will be beneficial to our future.
    • We take it as a business – setting up strategies, being alert, and improving in changing the world. That improves our business mindset and hunger to find ways to be productive. 
    • Growing together with the process – Our website is about personal development, so it inspires us as well to live the way we are writing. It’s a fun thing to do while it keeps our eyes shining like a diamond.

    It takes a lot of time and effort to end up somewhere where we can call it a “Success”. But that’s okay, we are excited about the progress and what the future is going to bring. We will upload content constantly, even if it won’t skyrocket overnight. 

    That was a reflection of a total of a year of building and running the websites. It has been challenging, full of improvement, and also a pretty fun period. Our project is continuing and keeps on growing…


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