by Mike Carey, October 12, 2006
That’s not the question, as grow we have been doing - big time. This year WL.com has really exploded in terms of readers and reports posted. I couldn’t be happier because the vision I have for this site is being fulfilled. It has become a resource bar none for thousands of lake anglers throughout this state. Which leads to the subject at hand…
Recently you may have noticed on the front page and on the report "thank you" page a request for donations to the web site. I would like to give you a little more detailed information as to why we are making this request and what we (Aaron and I) hope to accomplish.
As you probably are aware, for years WL.com has survived by finding corporate sponsors. We’ve had resorts, tackle manufactures, fishing guides, etc pay either cash or trade product to advertise on the site. It worked fairly well until the past year or two. The massive growth of the site has required increased expenses just to keep up. I am very grateful for the corporate sponsors that have supported and allowed WL.com to remain online through all the growth. However…
One thing I have found I don’t have and can’t get more of is time. You may know, Aaron and I both have full-time jobs. And full-time families. Now that my boys are in high school I have even less time for "extra-curricular" stuff. Specifically, it takes a good amount of time and energy to track down corporate sponsors, convince them to advertise on the site, and then follow up year after year to keep them on the site. More time than I have. So we are seeing this great growth in the site with not much growth in sponsorship. And that’s what caused Aaron and I to look to the donation model to help fund the next wave of changes to the site.
A look into the crystal ball shows some exciting things on the horizon. New coding technology is allowing us to develop a better web site. Aaron and I have some ambitious plans ahead with the next "version" of WashingtonLakes.com. We don’t want the site to stand still and get old. Also, we want to add better functionality to improve your visit experience and give you even more of our vision, an "Online Fishing Diary" web site. Without giving too much away, we are looking things like video, improved search, member pages, and more. When it’s all done you may well see a two-tier site with a free section (what is currently available) and a paid membership section (featuring new enhancements designed to improve your WL.com experience).
I should take a moment to mention the obvious. It takes a lot of hours to maintain the site. Aaron’s first revision of the site last year would have cost me at least $5-7,000 to have been done by a web design firm. And I can’t begin to tell you how many hours I spent moving the reports one by one from the old site to the new one. Our Featured Writers provide their articles free of charge. I would love to be able to pay them down the road for their work. The amount of information they have provided over the years is staggering, as you can see when looking at previous articles.
I will tell you I felt kind of weird putting the donation request up. Asking for money is not an easy thing to do, even when you know it’s a reasonable thing to do. But if enough people help a little we will have a lake fishing resource unparalleled for Washington state. Imagine instead of 2,000 reports per year if we had 10,000 reports covering triple the number of lakes we now cover? More information let’s you find new lakes to explore and use your precious time more effectively. And one thing I have come to appreciate is time and it’s limited nature. Your contribution will help make it possible. Donations will be used for site enhancement, connectivity costs, promotional activities, and anything else related to site improvement and growth.
With everyone’s help we can take WL.com to the next level. Thank you for your support!