Name of your website?John Griggs Comedy
Your name?
John Griggs
Your Location (city, etc)
Scottsdale, Arizona
Please give us a short summary of your website?
John Griggs Comedy has comedy videos, comic strips, music, and more!
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I am a stand up comedian in the Phoenix Arizona area. I built a website so that people can see samples of my work, and to gain more popularity.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
My first free website was at Geocities. I basically just put a bunch of links of my favorite websites there. This was back in 1997.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I decided on johngriggscomedy.com because johngriggs.com was taken, but I still wanted my name to be in the domain.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
Unlike other comedians' websites, I offer a variety of media including music, comic strips, and art in addition to my stand up comedy.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
I want to have more people going to my website and get booked for more paid comedy gigs. I'd like to have my own TV show or best selling book eventually.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
I do stand up comedy for fun mainly. I do get paid for it sometimes. If I were doing it just for monetary gain, I would've given up long ago. There are more important things besides money.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would probably either hire a professional website designer, or invest in taking computer classes so I can build a fancier website myself.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
I would probably have to get different hosting. The hosting plan I have currently possibly would not be able to handle 10,000 plus visitors per month. Currently, I have about 450 unique visitors monthly.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
The biggest headache I have run across is having the website not come out as I planned. Coding is a lot of trial and error. It takes a lot of patience, which I sometimes don't have.
What has been your biggest challenge?
My first six months, my website traffic almost doubled every month. After that however, the gains were slower. It takes a lot of promotion to keep traffic increasing month after month.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
When I posted a listing of comedy shows in the Phoenix metropolitan area, more people were finding me through the search engines almost immediately.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I was expecting more people to write me and provide feedback. I rarely get an email message from anyone even though I have visitors every day.
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?
I have had John Griggs Comedy running since January of 2008. I plan to keep it up indefinitely. I do not pay much for hosting or domain renewal, so even if I don't make thousands of dollars a month from my website, it is not a big deal.
What is your website address?
John Griggs Comedy
