Creating a new fansite can be a great adventure.
I believe that there are three important considerations that should be made prior to creating your fansite.
1. Niche/Topic – you have to have a niche or topic that you believe you can exploit with good quality content. Look for other fansites on your niche of choice – is the field crowded? If so, what could you do better or different?
Defining the niche of your site is good practise – in my experience it improve the focus of the site. You may find that you want to narrow down your niche into a small sub-topic.
2. Endurance/Passion – before you go ahead and buy that domain name or hosting package, consider whether you have the endurance to talk about the fandom that you want your site to be based on. A fansite is a form of communication. Do you have passion for your chosen topic? Consider the life cycle of the topic? Will you have the time, motivation and organizational skills to update/generate content for your fansite throughout the life cycle of the niche?
3. Platform. I’m currently writing a series of articles on the different platforms available to fansite operators. Identifying the platform for your site is an important consideration that should be made early – choosing the best platform for your topic and technical ability could save you time and possibly money later on down the line. My tip is to experiment with as many different platforms as you can until you find the one you are most comfortable with – but remain open to learning new platforms and applications. For instance, if blogging is your thing, then blog to the best of your ability – you can always expand you fansite with a forum or gallery or social media tools later on when you’re comfortable.
If you can answer YES to these three points, I believe that you have a good head-start on those who start a fan website on an impulse. I’ve seen hundreds of fan created sites die out after a couple of months, week, days and even hours because the owner didn’t fully consider the above.
Of course there are other circumstances which can affect the niche and endurance elements mentioned above – life changes, personal interests and other situations that are out of your control can also play a big role in your ability to maintain your fansite.
My plan is to share my personal experiences with you in future posts.
Photo: jakecaptive
