Valpo man with a British soul generates success with anglophile website

A bad economy indirectly inspired a Valparaiso resident to turn his longtime passion into a full-time business.

Jonathan Thomas used to work in Internet marketing until he was laid off in March 2011. Since then, he has dedicated himself to Anglotopia.net, a website that expresses a love for all things Britain. Thomas co-founded the site with his wife, Jackie, as a side project four years ago.

"We started it in a closet," Thomas said.

The couple's then-apartment in Chicago was so small the first incarnation of Anglotopia.net was launched in the converted space. Their start-up cost consisted of buying a domain name and Web host.

"We were bootstrap from day one," Thomas said. "We invested our own money, which wasn't that much because it doesn't cost much to start it."

But it took a long time to make any money, Thomas said.

The website, which covers British TV, culture, history and travel, has been growing ever since. It makes more money each month than it did in the prior one.

"The nice thing about a Web-based business is it's scalable," Thomas said. "Your cost only increases as the business itself increases."

Thomas pays $150 a month for hosting because of the volume of traffic the site receives.

"The site supports that now, whereas when we started we were paying $6 a month for hosting," he said. "We grew out of that."

The website makes money on advertising but can't run on that alone, Thomas said. Revenue also comes in by way of direct-selling ads when people contact him wanting to sell a product relevant to the site.

"We don't seek out any advertisers. They find us," Thomas said.

The site also earns income from affiliate marketing, which is when Thomas places ads for a link and receives a share of the revenue generated from them, such as a British Airways affiliate program.

Thomas and his wife also have a monthly contract to operate a British TV station on the site.

"Just running the website leads to opportunities," Thomas said.

Thomas is originally from Ogden Dunes, and his wife is from Dyer. They have a son, William, who was born in March. Thomas said he always has nurtured a love for Britain and has traveled there nine times. The blog originally was started to fund a trip there. One of those trips was in April for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. A BBC reporter interviewed him there after the British broadcaster discovered his website.

"We got tons of traffic during the royal wedding," Thomas said. "Traffic jumps dramatically if we're covering an event as it's happening."

Traffic comes from people interested in traveling to Britain, anglophiles like Thomas, and expatriates in the U.S. and United Kingdom.

The couple recently launched a sister website, Londontopia.net, dedicated to everything London, and has plans for Australia- and Ireland-themed ones as well.

The goal is continued growth, which includes hiring employees. Eventually, while keeping their Valparaiso home base, the couple would like to buy a cottage in England.

"If you've got a hobby or interest that you're passionate about, the Internet empowers us to turn those passions into viable businesses with enough hard work," Thomas said.