Thinking about starting a "prepping" website......(I know, not another one)
Posted by zzaapp@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 40 comments
I'm sure I'll get flamed for this but I wanted to reach out to real people in the actual community and ask if you think this would be a good idea?
I have formal training in graphic design, photography, and web design. I have been actively involved in prepping for more than 20 years (since 2002) and it has become a significant part of my daily routine and life.
I've been kicking around the idea of creating a long-form, serious (but light hearted) website with reviews and self-taught skills related to prepping and general everyday use using various products from this community; imagine Hodinkee for preppers without all the cringe, sponsored ads and product shilling.
In my opinion, the prepping community has a very generic and boring appearance; the majority of blogs and websites on the topic have unappealing aesthetics and are challenging to navigate due to their abundance of repeated reviews, columns and ads. To be honest, I'm not sure if this group would be interested in or even care about a well designed website with actual real photos and well-written, in-depth reviews, which is why I'm reaching out.
The bulk of these "other" websites, I've found, appear to assume that everyone comes from the same social background and lack lengthy form discussions of the idea of prepping based on your area and budget. They also seem to lack actual taught skills and mainly focus on gear porn and reviews.
In summary, would the majority of the community find this interesting, and if yes, what further content would you like to see and what do you find most annoying and redundant with these other sites?
I appreciate it!
GigabitISDN@reddit
If it makes you happy and you think you'd enjoy creating content as a hobby, go for it!
If you're looking to make money from this, you'll have an uphill battle. There's a MASSIVE amount of content already out there and the signal:noise ratio is sky high. I'm not saying it can't be done -- especially if you partner with local companies for inexpensive flat-rate advertising or something -- but you're probably not going to make a sizeable income here.
However, since you're doing all the legwork yourself, all you're really going to be out is the hosting cost, which is around $5 - $15 these days, and the domain. DirectAdmin-based hosts are going to generally be less expensive than cPanel, and speaking as someone who was a cPanel loyalist for 15+ years, I have to say I'm really impressed with DirectAdmin.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
So that's the thing, I know I sound like complete bullshit but making money with this isn't a goal and I do feel that every channel and site focuses on purely DOOMSDAY scenarios, I'm actually more into practical prepping and using gear to help get by from day to day.
Again, I went to school for design, I don't do it as my main job so I want this to be a side project and do some real long form content with actual real World use, I just think this space is missing this.
Again, it might not be right for prepping but why not put a bunch of hobbies of mine together and do something with it?
GigabitISDN@reddit
Then absolutely go for it. Worst possible outcome, you had a fun inexpensive hobby for a while.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
Exactly, I'm sure it won't resonate with everyone, but there's only one way to find out.
GigabitISDN@reddit
I'm kind of in a similar boat. I do specialty travel videos (not going to link them here). There are an infinite number of travel vloggers doing the same so I'm a drop in an ocean of competition. I don't do it for the money or recognition or SEO farming or anything, I do it because I enjoy making videos.
jaroslaw-psikuta@reddit
Do you mind sharing link?
Adol214@reddit
You got something here.
Building local community can be difficult.
So, you can skip the actual prepping content (eg how to store water) and focus on what local prepping community care about : local deal, local law, local course, organize trip to practice camping skills, etc.
If you do this, you are not a competitor of the big yt channel, but a complement.
Count me in. (DM me the link when you are up.)
Tips: don't over invest in IT solution if you have actual communities.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
I would definitely involve the local aspect to it, and doing the usual content like food prep and water storage isn't necessary, imo since all that info is already out there .
If I do decide to do it I can tell you this, there's nothing else like this in the prepping community, other hobbies have done it but I've yet to see anyone do long form, well designed, real world tested content about this topic.
Im not claiming to be better or have more expertise over anyone, just a different approach.
Adol214@reddit
Being realistic, some prep don't know how to use their hardware. I sure don't use much most of it. So, myself I am more worry about to dressing properly a wound, than my bandage somehow expiring.
Anyhow, good luck with that. Keep us posted. Finding like-minded people in my area is not easy.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
Appreciate it! Will do!
wolpertingersunite@reddit
There’s probably a market for normal people to have disaster and climate preparedness. But then I wouldn’t even call it “prepping”. Too loaded.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
Yeah, I'm planning on keep key words like prepping, survival....etc etc out of the name.
Names like that are what makes it feel generic imo.
wolpertingersunite@reddit
There’s more baggage than just being generic! But if you don’t get that then you won’t be able to reach a new audience.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
Oh, I know, I'm just saying, making the name with keywords kind of limits you to doing only doom and gloom content which is not what I want the main point of the site to be.
If you make a site called doomsday prepping, you pretty much have to lean into that pretty hard, which most of them do, and that turns out to be fear mongering and overall looks generic and not very serious, the complete opposite of what I would like to do.
ACME-Anvil@reddit
You should name it canadianpooper dot com
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
🤣
angegowan@reddit
I am GenX. I want to read it not watch a YouTube video
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
That's good to hear, I'm not interested at all in doing video, a lot if it has useless filler to make the video longer and they're full of ads.
Kuru-Lube@reddit
Every prepper thinks they can do it better than the other guy. This isn't a dig at you. It's just something I have noticed and believe it explains the wash of websites I have stumbled on. I think you would have at much more unique in your approach.
You seem to have a passion for prepping and design. You already live the lifestyle. Why not focus more on yourself and tell a good story? Go the route of modern cookbooks. Make a website that is more along the lines of a journal. Note down your daily struggles and discoveries. Once you have a decent collection, combine it into a book deal.
Enigma_xplorer@reddit
I mean by all means go ahead and try but the biggest obstacle I see is driving content and engagement. I mean it takes more than a flashy well designed website to be successful especially in this day and age where attention spans are short and only seemingly only captured by clickbait and fear. As you see, even these poorly designed websites are successful because of the following they have. Even if you get some attention, what's going to keep them coming back? I guess what I'm trying to say is, you can have a great website on paper but if it isn't constantly being uploaded with new, relevant, and interesting content with some social aspect to drive engagement people will get bored and ignore it except on occasion when people are searching out a review on a specific piece of gear or information and accidentally stumble on your site. Maybe you don't care about popularity and just want to put information out there and that's fine but you should have realistic expectations so you don't get disappointed.
I also want to say that the website design has to have the right vibe to mesh well with the target audience and create the right atmosphere. For example, the style and overwhelmingly picture heavy Hodinkee website while nice in it's own right I don't think would mesh well with the more serious, down to business, pragmatic prepper crowd? It just looks like a giant advertisement rather than a serious website.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
This is where I'm at, I used Hodinkee as an example because of the content, I know most of it is ads but think of the hands on reviews that they do with a watch or product, where the person writing about it, actually spends time with it (day to to day), that same person photographs it, touches on the good and bad about it and lets the reader decide if its right for them.
As where now, say a review on a prepping site about a knife, its mostly stock images or really bad photography, they seem to have very little use or time spent with the product and give you general info on it and then move on to the next product.
Everything in this space is just so generic looking, again, that may be what the actual community wants.
Enigma_xplorer@reddit
And in a sense thats kind of what I'm driving at? I mean it's not so much the ads themselves it's the vibe of the whole website feels like one big advertisement or storefront and I don't think it translates well into the prepper community? As funny as it may sound it's like it looks too professional and lacks a certain credibility? Maybe a bad example but I mean if you saw a video of prepper with perfectly shiny, polished, unscuffed boots in the woods talking about building a shelter while it may be visually more appealing but it also looks more like a performance rather than the genuine artifact? I think the prepping community actually does like a more gritty unrefined look and feel? Something that feels more real? Even ignoring the actual content it's a subconscious impression?
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
I guess I don't mean literally like Hondinkee but just overall higher quality made content, I get that the prepping community has a more gritty look but that doesn't mean it all has to have bad photography, clickbait titles, horrendous cheap looking web design and sponsored reviews of junk no one will ever need or use.
Traditional-Leader54@reddit
There are many different aspects of survival and there are websites or YT channels dedicated to each of those that are very good. You’re better off finding a good one for each different skill etc because no one is a master of all of them. Some focus on homesteading, some on food prep, some outdoor survival, firearms, gardening, first aid etc. I wouldn’t go to a one stop shop because it will never be as good.
Also if you include open discussion it becomes like this sum flooded with nonsense and the same questions asked over and over. I was thinking of starting a new sub on here and that I could moderate it better but many don’t even realize you can search a sub to find posts in a topic etc, don’t know how or just don’t want to be bothered.
Additionally as I understand it a decent sized website costs money to operate just for the server space alone. All the information on it has to be stored somewhere.
TinyDogsRule@reddit
You basically described City Prepping. The only difference between you and him is he has years of trust built up with a million followers. For every one of him, there are a thousand other people trying to do the same thing.
Eredani@reddit
City Prepping now has a pay wall... the whole operation has turned into a cash grab to fund his bug out ranch.
wamih@reddit
He's still on YT making vids? A new power bank review dropped today...
Eredani@reddit
Most of his YT videos are 'news' recaps of the million reasons why you need to be prepping. Like he needs to sell the idea to his viewers... that's why we are watching.
What kills me is the idea that a three week food supply is somehow going to save you from a global food shortage caused by wars, crop failures, supply chains collapsing, and an economic depression.
Traditional-Leader54@reddit
Yeah once he started selling his own brand of survival food everything changed.
Traditional-Leader54@reddit
He has a lot more ads and he’s now selling his own emergency food kits. I don’t want to say he sold out but I noticed a difference in his channel the last few months compared to the previous 2 years.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
I get it, but he has city in his name and he primarily focuses on general prepping and doesn't always focus on urban prepping.
He also mainly uses youtube and does weekly news updates, I'm not looking to use youtube at all, his website is just a basic portal, uses stock imagery and pretty much just links you to one of his youtube videos.
Not down playing the guy or trying to do anything remotely close to what he does, just something different that I've yet to see anyone in community try or accomplish.
ryan112ryan@reddit
Having done this myself (started a website like you described), I’ve found that 95% of people (readers) skew to the beginners and so you only can talk about the basics. They really don’t take the time to go beyond surface level.
The more detailed and advanced topics are enjoyed by too few people to make it a viable business in any form, you can’t even cover costs like your server.
That also means you can write about 30-50 articles and it will cover 99% of searches on web, there just isn’t a lot of depth to beginners.
On aesthetics, I’ll just say that where the preppers are, they tend to not resonate with nicer designs. There is something about bad looking design that they like and click with.
What looks good is subjective, I’ll cop to that, but many preppers are older and they tend to skew psychographically to not like change. That extends to designs, they prefer websites that are older looking, not polished, etc because they’re more comfortable with it. New design and better UX and UI is “new” which they don’t tend to like as a whole.
As for assuming same social background, unfortunately it’s because they often are. It’s quite monolithic. To make the economics of a site work you need lots of volume, the largest group is white, boomer, Christian and conservative preppers.
I sympathize, being from a different demo than most preppers. Just to have a neutral place would be welcome, but remember back to them feeling comfortable, that forces the issue. Consider the subs liberal prepping and liberal gun owners, way less trafficked, way less engagement.
I also think, and this will be controversial, but preppers tend to get keyed up way more on outrage and fear mongering than other demos, so website owners naturally find if they stir the pot that their clicks go up and their profits do too.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
Appreciate it! this is why I've sat here for years thinking about doing something like this and usually the community steers me away.
There's a lot of guys doing really nice work in the firearm community (aesthetically) but it does seem to be a lot of hypebeat shit much like the sneakerheads.
And like you said, unfortunately, the demographics of the prepping community seems to be one sided but I know there has to be people out there that feel the same why I do, we can't all be into zombies, mre's and basic wix sites that have clickbait, right?
snakes-can@reddit
I feel a prepping website for different levels of preppers / potential preppers would be a good idea.
Perhaps a sort of a questionnaire / flow chart on the type conditions someone is in that would link to more tailored advice.
—are you: 1) in the city? 2) suburbs? 3) rural?
Financial situation: 1) broke? 2) have some money to spend? 3) can afford some decent items? 4) money isn’t an issue?
Children or dependants?
Storage space available?
Annual climate?
Type of situation you’re prepping for?
Etc. etc. it would have saved me much time and a few mistakes if I had somewhere to start that catered to someone in my situation.
Also a resource section with up to date links / forms / videos / gear would be great.
Good luck.
Eredani@reddit
There is virtually nothing new to be said on the topics of food storage, water treatment, sanitation, communication, etc. All the information is already out there for any that care to look for it. But maybe you can put your own spin on it in an engaging way? So much the better if you are having fun and even making a few bucks.
It's also worth noting that every major site and channel had to start somewhere. Just don't forget your roots when you are a prepper celebrity.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
Haha, I hear ya.
Again, everyone assumes someone would do this purely for money, I actually want to have fun, cover topics and gear in a complete different way then anyone has in this space.
I'm also very much into the watch and camera space and yes, most of that is considered luxury goods but they put a lot of time and effort into articles to make them engaging to people, none of that can be found in the prepping community.
eearthchild@reddit
Personally would love some better aesthetics in the general prep arena. Aesthetics aren’t just pretty - UX changes the experience of a site / resources.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
This is my exact thoughts, nearly every website I go to on this topic I leave within seconds, maybe some of them have good ideas and tips but I'm not sticking around to find out.
OnTheEdgeOfFreedom@reddit
If you can do it WITHOUT going down the rathole of fear mongering, and keep ads respectable and to a minimum, then do it. You'll be alone in your market.
I think you'll also find that it's a lot of work, and sponsors won't recompense you well unless you go down the rathole, because their marketing departments know what's what works. In other words... you're offering a public service, not a product. But I say do it, because I'd love a website that wasn't awash in bad deals on food buckets, ammo and flashlights that can light up the moon - none of which I care about.
zzaapp@reddit (OP)
I appreciate the feedback, that's exactly what I'm looking to find.
I'm actually not much into fear mongering, extremely turned off by blogs and youtube channels that shill product at every chance they can and I also find myself to be a very ethical person which is somewhat lacking in this space, or so it seems. I'm actually not looking to make any money off of this and only interested in doing hands on reviews and if that means I have to buy the product with my own money so be it.
lack of transparency in most of these sites is what really gives me distrust in them, I guess you could call this a project, its a topic that I'm deeply involved with and I feel most of these guys are just a catalog for businesses and I question some of the stuff they recommend.