BellyBelly Needs An Urgent Rebuild!

I totally know what you’re thinking…

"That BellyBelly Kelly woman is SO awesome! She’s the BEST!"



Okay, okay I’ll be serious.



You’re more likely thinking, “Holy heck, why on earth would you need $50,000 for a website?!”



Or,

“BellyBelly looks fine! What are you talking about?!”



So, let me explain the reason for the rebuild.


To be clear, it’s a necessary technical rebuild, not simply a case of wanting a pretty new look for BellyBelly.


First, I will start with the shortest version, followed by a longer version, followed by the longest version for people who like all the juicy details (you know who you are).


So, short version: below is an email response I just received from BellyBelly's hosting company. I asked them to replace some advertising code on my website:




"Hi Kelly,

With the site in it's current (messy) form, we're very hesitant to touch this.

Whoever does it would basically need to reverse engineer all the spaghetti code.



Personally, I'd invest in a rebuild before even attempting to add extra features to the website.

It can be done, but at what cost. We couldn't charge a flat rate for this, as we could be opening a can of worms.

We'd likely need to spend many hours tweaking and testing, which could cost up to $1000+"


I didn't know if I should laugh or cry (hysterically). It's kinda funny in a messed up way, but, I can't get any work done.




Longer version:

Running BellyBelly from my home for the last 15 years has been an amazing experience. I totally love what I do and I have so much passion – more than ever. And I still can't quite believe that little 'ol me created something which 2.5 million people read, every month.

I'm proud of what I've been able to do, while growing and keeping alive three humans (and myself too, phew). 


But, there have been PLENTY of growing pains along the way, which thankfully you don't get to see. Until now...



Since 2014 when I had some major setbacks (explained in the longest version below) I’ve used offshore developers to help reduce the significant cost of local developers for this little website of mine. The difference is more than $100 an hour, and it’s never a quick job!


I’ve now learnt the hard way that cheaper developers can actually work out to be much more expensive in the long run, because fixing up the mess doesn’t come cheap. In fact, sometimes you just have to start over. :(



BellyBelly currently needs a complete rebuild in order for any changes to be made or features to be added, due to the mess the developers have created in the code, leaving it highly unstable.


Thankfully, I’ve found an amazing team to transform BellyBelly into an amazing, high tech information machine, so it can continue to reach and support even more parents and parents-to-be.

But, it comes at a cost. The only way BellyBelly can take a huge step up and lead the game is with highly skilled people who are leading the game in the development space. In order to do that, BellyBelly needs a complete overhaul, from the code up. And it's no job for an every day developer.



All it will take is:
* 1% of BellyBelly’s Facebook fans to donate $5, or;
* 0.5% to donate $10.

To explain a bit more why I'm seeking the support of BellyBelly's fans... it costs money to buy magazines. I have never charged anyone to read BellyBelly. And like magazines, I pay a team of writers.

My writing team happen to be totally amazing and highly passionate parents, working from home just like me. I love supporting parents who need flexible working arrangements.

But I don't know of many magazines that are currently reaching millions of readers every single month, while trying to change the world for good rather than profit. All the while, being completely run  by dedicated and passionate parents working from home, who want to make a difference.

 
So, I’d really appreciate your support! If BellyBelly's articles have helped you in any way, given you confidence or supported you have a more informed journey, please consider giving a small amount back - even a dollar will help!


With a professional, spectacular re-build, BellyBelly will be able to continue to help

With a professional, spectacular re-build, BellyBelly will be able to continue to help many more people, just like you. Hopefully, for generations.

 


Now, for the long version, which also includes why it will cost $50k to rebuild BellyBelly!




If you’ve been following BellyBelly for a while, you might know I created the website 15 years ago, in late 2002. I was just 22 years old! Awww, I was so little and cute back then.

 


Initially, BellyBelly wasn’t intended to be a business.

 
But after experiencing the darker sides of being a new mother, particularly, postnatal depression, anxiety and feeling completely unsupported, I felt compelled to reach out and support new mothers going through the same.

 


Surely it wasn’t just me feeling like I’d been through a washing machine a few hundred times, without any sleep in between washes?

 


With a 6 month old baby girl on my knee, and next to no money in my bank account (because I quit my job when I found out I was pregnant at 22 years of age), I started creating the BellyBelly website.

 


From simply rolling up my sleeves and playing around with code, I taught myself basic html and got creating. The millions of ‘how to’ videos on Youtube didn’t exist back then! I was one determined mama on a mission.

 


The first version of BellyBelly ended up being a hideous bright pink colour, featuring crazy oversized buttons. Thankfully, a friend gave me some tactful, constructive feedback.

 


Over the following Christmas break, I asked (and by that I  mean I begged and pleaded) my ex-husband, who was a programmer at the time, to please help a mama out and make something better for me.

 So he used all of his Christmas and New Year’s leave to develop BellyBelly. He had to go back to work just as he managed to complete it. Felt a bit bad about that one.

 


The following year, BellyBelly grew very quickly, and before long, I had to think about making it a business. Without extra income, I couldn’t afford all the costs it was generating to support the growing traffic, graphic design, development help, and then eventually, a newer, more professional website (which BellyBelly had until 2015).

 


 

Eventually BellyBelly grew enough to be able to afford what it needed to run and grow. I had to hire more writers, because I simply couldn’t keep up any more. But most of what was made was put back into growing BellyBelly. If you saw my shoe collection, you would see I certainly didn’t spend it on that!

 


As always, along the way there were so many hurdles, dramas and stumbling blocks, including losing a lot of money that was trusted to certain contractors.

 


 

One contractor put his own advertising code on the BellyBelly website, so the advertising revenue went to him instead of me. He refused to show me any reporting of revenue he had taken. I fired him and took off his code, but it was too late for money that had already gone to his account.

 


That was one of the lowest points of being in business, having happened right before Christmas in 2014. It meant around three months without income for me, and I also lost the $5,000 deposit he held for BellyBelly’s redesign. I felt so lost.

 



While I learnt a valuable lesson I needed to learn, unfortunately I could only afford offshore developers from that point, in order to make sure everything kept running, content was being written, bills were being paid and my family didn’t go without (and by that, I mean a roof over their heads, not the latest Gucci shoes).

 
To give you an idea, offshore developers cost me anything from $30-$60 USD an hour, when in Australia, it’s more like $150-$180 AUD an hour.

 


I was very picky with who I worked with, and I thought everything was fine doing it this way… until it wasn’t.

 
BellyBelly was last redeveloped, moved to a new platform and had a rebrand in 2015.

It was good, clean code and BellyBelly ran well. I was so happy with the result, despite the massive financial setback just months earlier. I did it on a shoestring, because I had to.

 


 

But since then, the numerous offshore developers who have worked on BellyBelly’s website have done things their own way at various skill levels, and it’s not always been clean code (I am not be skilled enough to evaluate their code).

 


 

This created a huge amount of code conflicts and left things hanging in a delicate balance.

 

 


When BellyBelly went down several times in September this year after making simple changes to the code, I knew something was seriously wrong.

 

I spent almost two weeks, from the minute I woke up until sometimes 12-1am in the morning, working with developers trying to fix some serious errors, which had sent BellyBelly’s traffic plummeting by up to 33%.

 


 

This is when I realised I needed local, highly skilled help. A specialist from my hosting company got BellyBelly back online and functioning, but also advised me that it was time to stop working on fixing it.



 

They told me there was so much legacy code, and around 50% bloat in the code (trying not to be too technical here) that they recommended not spending another cent on it and doing a complete rebuild, to start fresh. 



It’s not enjoyable cleaning up someone else's disasterous mess. It’s sometimes best just to start over.

 

 


I’ve had no option but to use offshore developers over the last few years, which has unfortunately become more costly in the long run. It’s been financially taxing on my family trying to fix it, along with the revenue lost, and a rebuild just can’t happen unless I have some support.

 
 Such a large loan would be too much pressure on my family right now. Which is why I’m reaching out for support from the community.

 


 

Why the $50k?

 


BellyBelly isn’t just a ‘blog’.

It has a big database of articles and supports traffic of around 6-7 million pageviews per month (which equates to around 2.5 million users a month).  

Server costs alone (including security and speed services) are close to $1,500 every month to make sure BellyBelly runs.

 


I asked my hosting company for the names of the best LOCAL developers they could recommend (no more offshore developers for BellyBelly).

I interviewed a few on their list, who quoted me around $20-$30k. I felt they were definitely capable.

 


Someone else gave me a glowing recommendation, warning me that they weren't cheap. I decided to go meet them anyway.
 

I'm so glad I did. I found the most amazing company who I would LOVE to rebuild BellyBelly. 

 


They are the company behind some amazing, complex corporate websites, brand names you will know. And the websites not only look amazing, but also are technically out of this world and feature rich.
 
They showed me some of the recent projects they completed, and FAR OUT. I didnt even know you could do some of the the things they were doing. They're years ahead of the game.


One thing is for sure… if this company is behind the next version of BellyBelly, both you and I will be in for a real treat. BellyBelly will be incredibly enjoyable and easy to use, with technology that few websites get to enjoy. 

 


They said they could rebuild BellyBelly for $20-$30k like the other quotes if I wanted… but they could do some super amazing things closer to their quotation of $50k.

 


I know it’s a lot.

But, it would be totally worth it.

 


Seeing what I did, I understood why I was quoted that amount. It just made me more determined to find a way to do this.

 


This week, someone suggested I try to crowd fund the amount, which I shied away from at first. After all, I had a business, right? Everyone would think I am nuts!

But, I hope BellyBelly is more than a business to its fans.

 


If BellyBelly has to be rebuilt, again, I want to do it properly. I want to do it with a bang, with a team who will  impress the heck out of all of us!

 


BellyBelly is one of the very few leading pregnancy and parenting websites still owned by the original creator.

And it’s owned by a parent, not the media or a corporate business.

 But for me, it’s not about building a multi-million dollar business to keep the shareholders happy. We’re only here for a short time, and I'm here to make my mark on the world... a better place for our kids... and their kids too.

Some things are for sure:



BellyBelly always has been and always will be fiercely independent.



BellyBelly has always offered content for free, because we truly want to help change the world.



And BellyBelly will always speak the truth.

 


So, if BellyBelly has helped you in any way at all, or if you enjoy reading our content, please consider donating the equivalent of a cup of coffee, and help this truly independent and locally owned business continue to make a mark on the world, for our children and their children too.

 


If 1% of BellyBelly’s Facebook fans donated just $5 (Gofundme's minimum amount), BellyBelly could be completely rebuilt.

A cutting edge website will give BellyBelly a massive boost, enabling the content to reach even more people.

 


Any funds in excess of $50,000 will help with the cost of the initial monthly maintenance fees getting things running – there are always unexpected expenses and the server fees and services needed will increase.

Gofundme also charges around 7-8% in fees and commissions.

 


With millions of fans and millions of pageviews over 15 years of hard work and sacrifice (so much of that), it’s time BellyBelly got a million dollar engine and million dollar look – to help serve many more millions of parents and parents-to-be, for many decades to come.




Will you help me create an amazing new BellyBelly? If the rebuild starts soon, we can expect a brand spanking new BellyBelly machine ready to do battle in January 2018.

 

Love, BellyBelly Kelly <3