Business Interview with Andrew Wood - 3

The final part of the interview with Andrew Wood, the MD of Trainer Bubble...

If you had an unlimited budget, how would you change?

There is a lot going on in the serious gaming market, where customers will play business simulations in order to develop their skills. I see this being a real interesting area in the future and I think the demographic of learners coming through will demand this. I'd also like to market overseas in a more substantial way, as we get a lot of new business from this area and could expand here.

What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?

It was a shock to me how much of a money pit marketing can be. I don't remember who it was that said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. I only wish I knew which half." They were right.

What has been your biggest challenge?

It has to be in the early days of the website, when I felt that my programmers did not have the same sense of urgency about my website as I did. It was frustrating to have to wait a few days for a couple of lines of text to be changed. Eventually I decided I'd have to learn how to programme and edit the website myself. I became self taught, which was a major uphill struggle to begin with. I can now design, edit and pretty much do all the basics. I also learnt a lot about search engine optimisation as I knew this was the cheapest form of advertising, it certainly beat paying for an seo company!

How has running your website differed from your expectations?

It's a lot more work than I thought it would be. I didn't realise how much time and effort I'd need to put into the website from inception to now. The idea of, 'If you build it they will come.' is not a sound one!

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?

The site has been running for three years now and we are enjoying continual success. I don't see the need to stop as long as we can diversify into new areas and keep offering customers what they want.