Name of your website?Chicago Small Business Blog
Your name?
Mesum Norat
Your Location (city, etc)
Chicago, 60659
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Chicago Small Business Blog is a place that provides articles, information and tips to small business owners to market, promote and grow their businesses.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I am a successful small business owner myself and I know how hard it is at times when someone like me to look for ways to implant new ways to grow my business and can't find a place to do so. I created this blog as sort of a personal diary of my personal experiences about my business.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
This is my first official site. I have had other personal websites in past but they are irrelevant to this blog.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I live in Chicago and I own small business. Name of my blog is my niche online and offline.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
There are many other marketing and sales blogs but this one stands out from them simply because they are self-proclaimed "experts" and I am an actual small business owner. Others have ideas that they want others to adopt and my blog has practical exercises that I have personally used.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Help other small business owners while learning more their questions and feedbacks.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Blog has been around for about 4 months and so far I am seeing a very nice growth that is slow but is very targeted.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I will invite more writers to my site and would pay them even if I have to.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Cost was zero but I had to put a lot of time in the first month as the whole blogging experience was new to me.
What has been your biggest challenge?
To compete with those who have been in the market for while and have huge communities that follow them.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Sticking to the niche (small business) and habbit of adding content on a very regular basis.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
The idea was to have a personal diary to log my personal business experience but as it turns out, there are a lot of business owners out there who are facing similar problems as I am.
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 been running it since May 2007 and am planning to run it for as long as I can. I am not using this site for money or popularity so whatever I am getting from this blog is a bonus.
What is your professional background.
I have a major in Business Management from Loyola University of Chicago. I have ran a very successful but small clothing store chain for past 5 years and currently just started a few new businesses.
What is your website address?
[404 Check: was link to http:/ / www. letmereport. com, anchor: Chicago Small Business Blog]
