Guest interview - Ron Steenvoorden of Islayinfo.com
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Ron Steenvoorden of Islayinfo.com talks to Europe a la Carte about his website which features the Scottish island of Islay.
1 What is the aim of your business?
To promote, through the Islayinfo.com website, the beautiful Isle of Islay in the best possible way, give its visitors enough inside information to make the best of their holiday and try to give some of the money I earn through the website back to the island. Islay is often referred to as the Whisky Isle, which is true of course, but the island has so much more to offer. Often people are focused too much on visiting the distilleries and easily forget how they got there in the first place and what else Islay has to offer. Islay played a very important part in the Scottish history, being the seat of the Lords of the Isles. I always believe that, to fully understand the place you are visiting, you got to have some knowledge of the history as well.
2 What prompted you to start your own business?
It started with pictures, many pictures, and the warm feelings I had toward Islay and its people. After my first visit to Islay I realised that the presence of Islay on the internet was rather poor. Of course there were the usual websites about the island but they all lacked good pictures. People nowadays are very visually oriented and have only little time to read page after page in their browser. Providing a website with enough information and most of all pictures was the logical thing for me to do.
3 What has been the hardest aspect of having your own business?
Perfectionism and balance. Always looking for ways to make it better, more informative, easier to navigate, better pictures. Having a website means you have an extra job which can basically consume every bit of spare time you have. Keeping a good balance between your private life and maintaining a good website is sometimes very hard.
4 What is the funniest thing that has happened to you running your own business?
Basically the fact that people constantly think I am an Ileach (person who lives on Islay) myself while I am actually based in the Netherlands. There is nothing I would like more tobecome an Ileach myself! That’s one of my dreams as well and working on the Islayinfo.com website might make it easier later on.
5 Is there anything you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight?
I would have started many years earlier and got hold of some very nice domain names. There are people asking crazy amounts if they sell a good domain name. Take for instance Scotland.com, that domain will come up in an auction and they expect to get 2 million pounds for the name only.
Thanks Ron, it’s so true what you say about the importance of good photos on a website. One could write long, flowery descriptions when a photo will say it much more quickly and succinctly.
