Kyle Thomas

The Website of Kyle Thomas (KyleWith)

This is where Yellowknife Online is at

Something that has been on my mind lately. It is talking about what we do. For some reason, we keep what we do within our own little circle. We refrain from telling the world for fear they might take it away from us.

This is wrong.

I have reasons about why this is wrong, but this post isn’t about that.

This post is about what is happening with one of my labours of love: Yellowknife Online (ykonline.ca).

I have invested thousands of hours since 2009. Writing, developing, building and creating Yellowknife Online into what it is today.

Does Yellowknife Online make me money?

Nope.

It is a labour of love.

It is like volunteering for a non-profit organization. The mission is to make information about a community more accessible.

Except the non-profit is an online brand run by one person. In his spare time or when he should actually me working.

Yellowknife Online has never made any profit and very little money.

It currently makes no money.

It has never received government funding.

It actually cost money to keep Yellowknife Online online.

Approximately $5000 is the past 7 years.

It is not seen relevant within the community it supports. It is not taken seriously.

Yellowknife Online is an online resource for information about Yellowknife.

It is for visitors. It is for residents. And it is for newcomers.

Does it have every bit of information each of these groups needs to know about Yellowknife?

No. Not yet.

Not yet.

There is a post idea list a mile long. All information and resources that should be online on Yellowknife Online.

Some of that information already exists in many places. Some of that information is not written and online yet.

The point of Yellowknife Online is to bring information together into one easy to find place. Resources might jump off to another site. Or it might be right on Yellowknife Online.

What is not understood about Yellowknife Online is that is not a “news site. Even though new posts aren’t published every day, doesn’t mean there is no traffic to the website.

Where Yellowknife Online excels is in publishing timeless content. Content that remains relevant with minor updates.

This has built a strong reputation with Google and the like.

Yellowknife Online receives approximately 20,000 visitors a month.

20,000 visitor a month.

Oh, and I have spent $0 on advertising it.

How?

For exactly the reasons mentioned above.

Trusted and relevant content.

Site longevity. Been around since 2009.

Link sharing. Linking to those other resources in posts and pages. This built incredible search engine credibility.

Trend following. Yellowknife Online is where the people often are. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram.

Few residents might know about Yellowknife Online, but visitors and newcomers do.

On a daily basis, Yellowknife Online receives emails from visitors researching Yellowknife. Other emails from people researching moving to Yellowknife.

Just yesterday I helped a young professional understand utility costs. And where to find an apartment. All before even moving to Yellowknife.

The simple act of helping that one person made Yellowknife seem all that more welcoming. And even less isolated.

That person may not have felt as comfortable finding a place with the help of Yellowknife Online. All because it appeared as a trusted resource.

Without any consistent publishing, Yellowknife Online will continue to be an online resource. All because people will continue to search for the information it hosts.

Posts will stay relevant.

Podcast episodes will remain relevant.

And I’ll always answer emails and comments.

What is next for Yellowknife Online?

There lies the grand question. Here are some general ideas.

New content follows a regular publishing schedule. That post idea list is long.

Become a Yellowknife tour listing directory and booking engine.

The How To Be a Yellowknifer podcast follows a regular publishing schedule. Always featuring different Yellowknifers

The How To Be a Yellowknifer podcast picks up a sponsor.

Yellowknife Online partners with other local non-profit organizations to help distribute their resources.

Other contributors come on board to help fill information gaps that I don’t know enough about. Sports. Parenting. Houseboat Living. Music Scene. And so on.

Yellowknife Online becomes a non-profit organization. With the mission of helping visitors, residents, and newcomers thrive.

What is the financial model for Yellowknife Online?

There currently isn’t one.

There has never been one.

I can not sell advertising. I try and fail time and time again.

It will always be free to access the information without question.

To grow it needs some sort of financial model.

It doesn’t have to be a business.

It could be a business if advertising or sponsored content was a viable option.

It could be a non-profit organization. It could tap into different funding programs. Programs through different governments and other non-profit organizations.

It sounds like I’m bragging about Yellowknife Online’s success because I am. I’m proud of the brand that it is. I get excited each time I get to help someone learn more about Yellowknife. Or when I hear that someone has used the site.

But Yellowknife Online, as much as my ego wants to believe, is not about me. It is about making this community a great place to live, work, play and visit.

One of my own downfalls has been bringing like-minded people together to build this brand. Yellowknifers have so much to offer each other.

I recognize I can’t do it on my own.

But other than a byline I’ve never been sure what I can offer anyone. See above where I mention it makes no money.

Am I open to working with others on Yellowknife Online?

You bet!

I’d love if there were others who shared this vision and were willing to take a chance with me on it.

Maybe you are reading this? Contact me.

That, my friends. Is where Yellowknife Online is today.

KyleWith: Michelle MacDonald on Why you need a Website and Website Hosting

[podcast]http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53888dece4b0b0e91301d66b/t/55ba2b73e4b016dd4e34fda4/1438264279030/kw_michellemacdonald_2.mp3/original/kw_michellemacdonald_2.mp3[/podcast]

You would be surprised at how many businesses, organizations and artists don’t have websites out there. There are valid arguments as to why an entity doesn’t have a website and that they don’t need one to survive, but Michelle and I disagree.

In this episode of the KyleWith Podcast, we talk about what the point of a website is in 2015, how you can actually build one yourself easily, some tips for doing it and how to host it.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to Subscribe via iTunes.

Welcome to my new KyleWith.com design

My blog was so 2010. No seriously it was, It was based on the Twenty Ten theme that WordPress uses as its default theme. It was a little more advanced than that though, it was actually using the Genesis framework with a theme that was built around the Twenty Ten theme. I felt it was getting old though, I felt it was limiting what I could do with it. Now most are probably thinking “but Kyle this theme isn’t that much different from the old one” and you would be correct. I still like using the 2-column themes with the header, but now I’m using another theme framework altogether.

New Theme

I painted my own Canvas sort a speak. Well actually I built this new site off the WooTheme framework Canvas. It is an unbelievably flexible theme and will allow my site or any site to grow. This is not the first time I have used it, so I do have a relatively good understanding as to how it works. So if you buy it through the link above I may get a commission and I could help you set it up. I <3 WordPress.

Direction of the new site

One of the main reasons I wanted to revamp this blog was because I wanted to optimize it for photos, specifically Flickr photos. The old theme had a limit of 610px wide, which is an odd size for Flickr photos. So now I have made the width of this theme 710px wide, which handles the Flickr size 640px by whatever beautifully. Another big selling point for this theme is it has the ability to have the front page be a Magazine style – like a news website – or company site – with a featured gallery at the top of the page – and also have the ability to have a portfolio built right in. The portfolio being one of the key things I want to work on. Again the idea of the revamp was to focus it more on the subjects I want to showcase, photography being a big one. Although the portfolio feature is not set up yet, it will come soon.

Still working on it

There are still aspects of the site I’m working on and will improve. The sidebar and footers being two parts. I’m not satisfied with the way the sidebar is currently looking, I feel it needs more separation from the blog content. As for the footers – site footer and post footers – I need to 1 add something to them and 2 change them so they don’t look like the default styling. If you happen to notice any imperfection – there will be many – please drop me a line and let me know.

A look back

This was 2010 sometime when I was still using the default WordPress theme.

2010 Sometime

Then in late 2010 I moved over the Genesis framework and the Twenty Deiz theme.

2011 Genesis Theme

Finally we come to today, something new, something fresh, enjoy.

Late 2011 Canvas

Going Joint Venture

Nothing is set in stone yet and I don’t even know what I’m going to be approached about, but I know that it may be something about making YkOnline.ca a joint venture. YkOnline.ca is my local or hyperlocal blog that I started almost a year ago. It is my pride and joy and I truly see the potential within it and the need for it in the community.

That being said, I want nothing more than for it to succeed. That is why I am torn about the possible opportunity of making YkOnline a joint venture. Losing something that you built from the ground up is hard, especially something you’re passionate about. That is not to say I would loss the site completely, but going into a joint venture I would loss a certain percentage of control. I’m personally worried that once another person comes along I would fold to any idea they offer. In some areas I’m not very good at standing up for myself, which is a self-confidence issue.

Part of my reasoning for being a little paranoid about a JV is because I don’t understand what it is. I’m obviously looking for help with the site; it is hard for me to keep it up-to-date with current information on a daily base. What I was hoping for in a partnership was someone who shares the passion of the community rather than someone with a journalism background. That’s not to say that wouldn’t be great, but as someone with out any journalism background I would feel intimidated and feel as though I didn’t have the smarts or any good ideas for that matter to contribute.

Then we run into the question of money. I have put countless hours into YkOnline.ca over the last year where I have made no money, then add in the cost of running the site. There is no way I could give up 49% of the site with out getting a good deal in someway or another.  The site currently makes no money but come the end of April I will start to push getting advertisers and try to generate revenue through ads. If YkOnline.ca were to split between more than me, how would we split the revenue? Considering I would probably sell the ads, invoice, and do all the dirty work, what does that entitle me to. Many of these questions will be answered upon meeting the possible partner, but I’m just putting them out there so I have an idea.

Now you know the situation, so my question is how would you go about this if it were about your blog, or hyperlocal site? What you even consider it? What would you want out of it? What is your general opinion of Joint Venturing a site like YkOnlineca?

How do you explain this thing!

To continue on a series of things I’m bad at I will go on to approaching people.

I don’t know how Journalist do it, I wonder if they learn it in school…. anyways. The challenge I have been prompted with lately is selling YkOnline. I now have the hits and traffic to sustain the site, as long as I continue to write, so I thought it would be a good time to try and sell some advertising. The reason I want to sell adverting is simple, I want to feed this passion. I love writing about Yellowknife and what is going on but it is starting to take up to much time. My problem is I am almost afraid of approaching businesses about it. I don’t know what to say to try and sell it to them. It is a toss up whether or not businesses in this town need another place to advertise. They already have NNSL, CJCD, YkTrader, Coffee Break News and a couple others, so what I would have to do is prove to them that I am different. For some reason I just can’t bring myself to go face to face with them and ask.