Maria on why she decided to buy a business...
“We thought about running a business of our own for a few years beforehand and we just hadn’t come across the right one. That is until we discovered a company selling website-based businesses promoting county tourist guides for sale.
“It looked like something we would be interested in and we decided to purchase the Somerset Tourist Guide.”
On what she has found difficult about running a website...
“We were completely new to this sort of work when we started. There’s an awful lot to learn in terms of how to go about getting it optimised, etc.
“You can fall foul of company promises. You get inundated with emails from companies who say they can get all the links you need and get you onto page one of Google for £500.
You can fall foul of company promises, you get inundated emails from companies who say they can get all the links you need and get you onto page one for £500
“We did actually fall foul of a company early on which promised this, and sure enough our position on Google did go up quite quickly, so we thought it was great. But a few months down the line suddenly we lost our position.
“When we did some further investigation it was quite clear these sites were set up purely to put links on and they weren’t general sites.”
On the advantages of being an online business...
“In terms of day-to-day running costs all you’re paying for is your phone line and broadband, and it’s up to you how much you pay for advertising and promotion. So in terms of fixed overheads, they are very low.
“It’s a good business for people with family commitments. I was looking for something that was flexible in terms of working round the children. Now if the children happen to be ill I can sit on the sofa with a blanket and watch the telly, pop in and check they’re ok and have my lunch with them.
“Also for David, who gave up his business and works full time with me, the childcare responsibilities are divided equally. He takes the children into school in the mornings and I pick them up in the afternoon, so the children see as much of their dad as they do of me and that’s great!”
