setting up your own tarot website
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 07 Jan 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| miss_apples |
07 Jan 2004 |
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Im thinking of setting up a tarot website of my own because I want to do readings professionally but Im too shy to do it in person or over the phone. Any tips anyone can give me...such as how do you set it up for clients to pay and things like that?
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| Majecot |
07 Jan 2004 |
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miss_apples...wow, that is quite an undertaking,.... I am clueless so I would not be able to give you advise on how to set up a web site, but payment wise I think the easiest and safest route is a Pay Pal account, money can be sent and received by various methods through them.
Good luck :D
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| allibee |
07 Jan 2004 |
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Or you can go to people's websites they have on their profiles here ... you can pick through mine with a toothcomb if you like to see how i've done it, but remember not to plagerise anyones content as people tend to take exception, lol, unsurprisingly ... feel free to ask any questions, as i'm more than happy to help
Click on the www link at the bottom of this post
Best wishes
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| Star Spirit |
07 Jan 2004 |
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miss_apples--
You and I must be tied into each other, for the past couple of days I have been contemplating the exact same thing. I'm sure PayPal is the best way, because you'll need direct payment before you can do the reading. You need to have a credit card to register with PayPal, and you have to wait for your monthly statement (unless you can watch it online) before you can activate your account, because they post the activation code on it to avoid fraud.
The only problem I think I would have is business. I mean, I would love to do paid readings (I will very soon be leaving my job, I don't have a choice, so I want some extra cash). The only problem is, I don't know how I'd go about advertising it! All the Tarot people I know are right here, but we all just get free readings on the Reading Exchange. So how would we go about reaching the people who would pay? And also....how much to charge?
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| Star Spirit |
07 Jan 2004 |
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If anyone has insights on this I'd like to hear them also.
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| Imagemaker |
07 Jan 2004 |
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I'd like to go back to the first statement you made, Miss Apples: "I'm too shy to do it in person or on the phone."
Please consider the time and expense of designing and advertising a site--at which you wait for a random someone to surf in--compared to meeting one person at a time and doing a reading for a fee.
For me, I'd be much more willing to pay someone I've met even casually than go to a website and pay an unknown, merely based on the impression I get from the graphics and words on a site.
What does the tarot say about your starting a site?
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| miss_apples |
08 Jan 2004 |
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well another reason why i wanted to do readings online rather than in person is because I am a stay at home mom and really cant get out to do readings. Im not really doing it for money than I am to actually have something to do. I feel it will make me feel that Im accomplishing something by creating the website and things such as that.
Im definatly going to use paypal. We already have an account with them. Theres also this site called changinglinks.com which is basically a website that people go to when they are bored and it will bring up random websites for them to look at...and I was thinking of posting the site on there so that I have a better chance of people at least seeing it. I already have my own website, but its not tarot related, so Im pretty familiar with creating the actual site. I will definatly look at some others tarot websites to see how they are laid out...and dont worry Allibee...I wont copy you...lol.
Dead Star...good luck with your website!
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| Star Spirit |
08 Jan 2004 |
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Good luck to you too! That last paragraph you wrote is pretty much identical to my life, lol.
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| Alissa |
08 Jan 2004 |
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I'm also a stay at home mom, and Paypal is how I receive royalties from my e-book. It's very convenient, very secure.
Consider ways to promote your site, as that will likely be your biggest challenge. You may wish to get business cards printed with the site listed, and other relevant contact info.
Best of luck....
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| Imagemaker |
08 Jan 2004 |
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<>
Ah, this is a much better reason for doing the site! Thanks for clarifying. I work with college students and some who have great talent never contribute because of the wall of shyness that locks them in. I'm dedicated to unlocking them :-)
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| Majecot |
08 Jan 2004 |
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Originally posted by Alissa
I'm also a stay at home mom, and Paypal is how I receive royalties from my e-book. It's very convenient, very secure.
Alissa- you have an e-book??? what is it about?
miss_apples I hope you let us know how your progress is going with your new web site.
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| skytwig |
08 Jan 2004 |
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Originally posted by Majecot
Alissa- you have an e-book??? what is it about? Also, where can we go to read it? I looked for a homepage in your profile and none listed...... :(
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| Alissa |
08 Jan 2004 |
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In hopes of keeping this thread on track, I'll PM folks the henna info.... :D
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| TemperanceAngel |
08 Jan 2004 |
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I am thinking about doing the same, miss_apples :)
Very interesting idea!
If anyone has any expertise or knowledge they would like to share, feel free to pm me :D:D:D
XTAX
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| miss_apples |
08 Jan 2004 |
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What about the legalities of running a website where youre charging for readings? What are some things that are a must that one has to do in order to keep from getting in trouble for false business practices?
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| augursWell |
09 Jan 2004 |
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I think some states(Texas, USA maybe?) require licensing since your are acting in an "advisory" capacity but I've never looked into this.
I have no experience with doing this as a business but one thing I would do is check out as many "new-age" bookstores and shops in your area just to see if they have a bulletin board or have Readers that do readings in the stores. One local shop where I live does that. You might get some advice, tips, friends, etc. out of that. You could post business cards on the bulletin board or something like that.
With all of the scam artists on the Net I would be hesitant to trust a business to any questionable method of advertising, so watch out for that.
Please let us know how it goes, and good luck. :)
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| CreativeFire |
11 Jan 2004 |
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It is an interesting topic Miss Apples and something I have been curious about myself, even though I prefer to do readings in person and already spend far too much time on computers :-)
I can't comment on the legalities and tarot specifics but worked as a Web Site Designer / Analyst for a number of years and one of the first things I would advise clients when they wanted to start a web site is to surf around the web and find other "like" web sites and pick out and write down what you like and don't like and from this you can work out your model. Also work out your "logo" or theme and then the ideas will flow from there as well.
Allibee is also spot on in regards to the plagerism bit - upsets people and also doesn't show your individuality.
Also don't be shy to ask people to give you "constructive criticism" - I always had a couple of net savvy friends who would test drive any new sites I did for clients - and they could sometimes be quite ruthless - but you can get some very good feedback that way.
Also always follow the golden rules of easy to navigate, quick to download, concise and to the point - try to work out your target audience. In regards to advertising - that is the real time consuming part - keep listing on the search engines, do reciprical linking and have even found doing letter box drops (this only gets your local area but you may be surprised as to where the referrals end up). Also found this good excercise when I was a stay at home Mum for a while!
Good luck and look forward to seeing input from others who are knowledgable in the tarot web site arena.
Creative Fire
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| TemperanceAngel |
11 Jan 2004 |
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Thanks for your thoughts, Creative Fire, very helpful and insightful :)
XTAX
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| Agathe |
12 Jan 2004 |
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I've been following this thread and I was wondering...how many questions, let's say a week, does a person owning a site get? Aproximately, of course. Does anyone know? :confused:
Thanks,
Agathe
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| Star Spirit |
12 Jan 2004 |
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Originally posted by Agathe
I've been following this thread and I was wondering...how many questions, let's say a week, does a person owning a site get? Aproximately, of course. Does anyone know? :confused:
Thanks,
Agathe
I hope it's a lot. I'm almost done my site :D
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| Agathe |
12 Jan 2004 |
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Originally posted by Dead Star
I hope it's a lot. I'm almost done my site :D
No Way!!!! Are you serious?!?! That is soooo great. Will you mind if I ask you few questions when you finally start operating it?
This is such wonderful news Dead Star. I hope you really have a lot of questions...:D
Blessings,
Agathe
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| miss_apples |
12 Jan 2004 |
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I havent started mine yet because my boyfriend is supposed to teach me how to use this webpage creator he has but he's been too lazy to teach me...but im collecting Ideas and pictures and stuff for the site.
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| TemperanceAngel |
12 Jan 2004 |
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Originally posted by Dead Star
I hope it's a lot. I'm almost done my site :D
Gosh, that was quick?? XTAX
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The setting up your own tarot website thread was originally posted on 07 Jan 2004 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.
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