Name of your website?NJ Guitar Lessons
Your name?
Ira Strum
Your Location (city, etc)
Northern New Jersey - Bergen County NJ - Hackensack NJ 07601
Please give us a short summary of your website?
My website is one that promotes my main business of teaching guitar lessons in the general area of Bergen County New Jersey. I teach guitar full time and needed a point of reference for others to have their questions about my policies and about me in general answered. The site has helped me with advertising my services and I am thankful for having it up and running while I am "up and running" all over town doing lessons and earning a living.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I realized that using classified advertising wasn't cost effective as producing my own site and driving people there to see for themselves what I am all about. The classified ads are able to inspire interest, but they aren't able to answer all the questions that my prospective clients ask.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
I had a earlier website that involved my participation in Real Estate in Bergen County, but I have moved on from that business and believe that the site has been shutdown. NJGuitarLessons.com is the first site that I am actually controling all on my very own.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I decided on NJ Guitar Lessons by thinking about the area that I serve in my guitar lessons business and then found out that the name hadn't been taken yet.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
I am very similar to other sites that advertise "at home" guitar lessons in that I just need to get the information "out there" to people about what I do and how I do it. People like to get a feel about who they are going to do business with before they sign on to a program of services. I am in contrast to many other sites in that I am very straight forward about who I am and what my theology is about my business. I'm not a slick talking snakeoil salesman.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
I'd like to increase my lessonbook to keep me busy 6 out of 7 days a week and to hopefully run a referral business that people can rely on when looking for a music instructor in the area.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
I thought at first that the guitar lesson business was an easy money business - I already knew how to play guitar, right? I was wrong. I need to have a well defined lesson plan for each lesson and also must put in a few hours of work each week with marketing my website and putting in ads in the classifieds. I'd say I'm still working a 40 hour work week.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would have more music videos available for viewing - most youth today do not have any direction as to what REAL classic rock n' roll really is and it is up to the guitar teacher to introduce these older and classic songs to the kids. Otherwise they'd be stuck playing GUITAR HERO - which is where they get their exposure to most of the classic rock. I would also produce my own videos of guitar tips and tricks to help the students "on their way" to stardom.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Unfortunately, it seems that the best way to get exposure to the demographic that I am looking for is to place two ads a day in craigslist. I put one in the "musicians" area and one in the "lessons & tutors" area. I get alot of traffic driven to my site because of these ads. Some of it is just a quick glance but some visitors will call and inquire about lessons.
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?
My website has been up and running since the third week in January of 2008. It was first put together with an idea that I would update the site daily with news of whats going on in the guitar lessons each week, but that has become almost impossible. I look forward now to add new content weekly with new items of interest to my students and also people who might be interested in taking guitar lessons from me.
What is your website address?
NJ Guitar Lessons
