- April 24, 2024
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After college, when I was broke and bored and living with my parents — “funemployment,” I called it — I needed a project.
Luckily, my friend Joey was in the same boat, so we helped each other. We were both hilarious guys — the funniest guys we knew, in fact — so after much deliberation, we decided we’d fill our time making a series of YouTube comedy shorts, to really play to our strengths. The idea was simple: We’d review movies — except, the hilarious part was, we’d get sidetracked in every episode and never actually review a single thing.
I know. The idea was gold, and, in a matter of weeks, we were sure, viewers would embrace our alternative brand of anticomedy and make us certified Internet sensations.
In no time, we reached 100 Facebook fans. But it took a lot longer to reach 113. And today, after all these years, we’re still right there, at 113.
Don’t ask me what our show was called — I conveniently left that part out. The point is, being successful online is crazy hard (even when you’re unadulterated laugh-riots, like we were).
But there are a couple locals who’ve figured it out.
Ormond Beach-born Camicia Bennett, along with Lauren Mack, from Palm Coast, launched the Well Written Woman in May 2011, as a writing community for women. Along with some contributors, they write about everything: literature, politics, faith, video games.
It’s about creating a space not just for women writers, Bennett says, but all women.
Today, the site’s Facebook page boasts 6,704 fans. But even better, it just got picked up by MSN Living for syndication.
“I’d read so many women’s websites that seemed very cynical and divisive in their attempt to elevate women,” Bennett says. “The ones that were positive or uplifting seemed to often be poorly written with more ideas about how to dress or do your makeup then encouraging and supporting one another.”
Keep in mind, the two built this fan base all in their spare time. Bennett works at Valiant Equipment, at 10 Aviator Way, as her day job, drafting contracts for kitchen supplies. Mack works at the Nike store, in St. Augustine.
Bennett and Mack met through Twitter and the rest just snowballed. Bennett estimates that the new syndication could increase traffic to their site up to thousands per day. If they can level up again and some day make it onto MSN’s homepage, they’re looking at an audience upwards of a million.
The momentum these two have created online, working part time, in addition to their “real” jobs, is the kind to which all bright-eyed bloggers and startups aspire. And I’m not excluding myself from that.
A couple months back I made a site for Netflix Instant reviews and recommendations called Just Queue It. But I’m sure you’ve heard of me already (you don’t get to 122 Facebook fans without creating some serious buzz). Unlike the YouTube show, though, now I have a template to follow. I call it the Well Written Woman model, and it goes like this.
Copycat every ... single ... thing this website does.
*Search “Well Written Woman” on Facebook to join the community!
BY MIKE CAVALIERE | ASSOCIATE EDITOR
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