The Jeffery S. Westover Family

http://www.westovernet.com/

Age - How old are you now?
37

When did you start your site?
1996 - I have been online since 1989 but most of my family far and wide has been a little slower to get into in.

Marital Status
Married

How old are your kids?
Ages 14, 8, 6, 4, 2 and five months

Writer, Internet Content Developer

Hobbies - What do you like to do, besides keep this site?
Photography and other web sites.

Location - Where are you from? Where are you now?
Utah

Why did you start writing your Web site?
I wanted not only a means of updating my family on what we are doing or where we are living now (we've moved five times in ten years) but I also wanted an ongoing history of our life together. The site provides that easily.

There's nothing really secret about us. But there's lots that is unknown -- even by close family members. This is a way to express ourselves, to reach out to others and to teach my kids their future through the Internet.

Why do you post pictures of your children on your site?
Why not? It's the easist way to share pictures.

Of course. My children are my life. They're the reason I do everything else. And they are what I want other people to know, especially my family who cannot live close to us. I cannot bring back time but I can do things like this so that as family we stay connected.

Do you and/or others in your family communicate with readers of your site?

It's all family anyway. I have close friends who check in. But we don't list the site in search engines or market it in anyway. I send out a monthly newsletter with live links back to the site.

How much email feedback do you recieve from your site? Is it mainly positive or negative?
All positive. Except when people don't see the pictures they want. I have more than 1200 photos online now and it's still not enough.

Yes, and it's help in my work too.

Has your motivation changed over time?
Only to try to do more. The kids thrill to see their lives online...just like an old photo album.

Do your friends and family know you keep this site/read it? If so have you had any really negative experiences as a result? If not why?
No.

How has your Web site benefited you? Your friends? Or total strangers?

I get overwhelming positive feedback. Even when we're scattered and there's little time for contact, the site makes it easy to get just a quick email from people to let us know that they are okay.

If you had to do it over again from the beginning, what would you change?
I would add more photos of the early days.

What are your favorite things on your site?

I get a lot of comments about our family bio page. It shows a picture of each member of the family and tells a little about our personalities.

What do you look for in an personal Web site, as a viewer?
A personal web site should reflect who you are -- and not just links to things that interest you online. I prefer to see things written by the person who is being profiled -- even if it is unpolished and seemingly unprofessional.

Comprehensive.

Because of your site do you consider yourself a Web celebrity, an exhibitionist, a public figure, a writer, an innovator, or something different?
Just a Dad. All of my other web sites cater to my vanities.

How do you tackle the mechanics of Web design and how do you deal with your frustrations when you can't do what you envision.

I bug people. I scour the web for resources and I lean on people I know who do this professionally. I don't think you should have to be an expert to put up a great site but I don't think you should allow your name to be associated with anything shoddy either.

Why do you think people are interested in your family, what they do, and/or what they have to say?
I don't create the things for my site for anything but family. I will reference from time to time for my work. People there get a kick out of pictures I share or events that happen. But it's pretty much a who you know type of thing.

What compels you to design beautiful pages and to write from the heart (beyond just the usual question of "why do you write a Web site?")
Because this is who we are.