![]() |
Launching a new site/project with no traffic / money?
Business discussion.
I was reading this thread: http://www.gfy.com/showthread.php?p=...4#post17245104 My thoughts are below and it seemed like this would be a good topic for it's own thread. I am curious to see what other people think and ideas they have come up with, to what I think is the biggest hurdle to any new project / site (especially mainstream). I wonder HOW people like Markus with POF, and Craig with Craigslist got to where they are today. I believe they both were programmers and started off with little to no money and programmed their own sites. Both were based on the free model, and both sites became incredibly popular and made a lot of money. But how did they get from creation and launch to having their site get traction with out having a TON of money to buy advertising to launch it??? Was it just luck and they had 1000's of friends and asked them all to start using it and tell their friends? The biggest hurdle I face with start ups that are similar to a classified site or dating site is how do you start it off with no users? Ok so you can fake it and make some bogus classified ads or dating profiles but still, who wants to use a site that is new and has very little to no one else is using yet ??? Is it because there were no other free dating / classified sites except for theirs back then so people gave it a shot? Where as now if I created a classified site that was new and there was no listings on it, why would someone take their time to post on my site that apparently no one posts on? Why wouldn't they just go to craigslist and post their shit and sell it in a matter of minutes? Or make a dating profile on POF??? Discuss... Why did they make it past this huge hurdle where as many many other people can not. |
My guess is because they were programmers, they started out with scrapers of other similar sites until they had gotten some members on their site and slowly phased them out.
|
Quote:
|
i believe a lot of it had to do with timing and word of mouth. word of mouth for craigslist resulted from the success the early adopters had with its services- local events and tech jobs. pof word of mouth was based on the ability to browse the profiles for free, no cc required.
|
Word of mouth is one of the most profitable ways to market a product.
WG |
those 2 operations also benefit from the low cost of overhead of running *low-tech* sites.
|
Quote:
There are exceptions to this though. What about Google who took out all the major search providers at the time (Hot Bot, Alta Vista, etc..) with nothing but a link on the Standford website? |
Quote:
I also think now is a great time to get huge traffic using viral marketing and social networking tools...its always good if you can think of a new spin/concept to make the word spread faster ...I have watched the site fiverr.com grow and grow and the word is spreading ..its now getting picked up by media outlets more and more from what was not so long ago a totally unknown gimmick type concept site. |
I remember listening to Cart Talk on public radio and they used to mention craigslist a lot. That must have costed a pretty penny.
|
Quote:
when your free it really easy to get real posting, just look at the online/paper classified and call those people up with a free ad offer if someone paid 50 bucks for an ad in the paper and he gets as many responses from the free craigslist how likely do you think it will be that he wastes his money on another ad. |
blueprint for the success of Plenty of Fish: Pick a market in which the competition charges money for its service, build a lean operation with a "dead simple" free website, and pay for it using Google AdSense.
|
Quote:
THEN they grew. The point being, if you have a good idea in a smaller targeted niche, it will take off it's self and spread to become something bigger. If your idea is shit, it will be flushed. :2 cents: |
Quote:
Also, Google was the search engine partner/provider on Yahoo for a number of years. Yahoo did not buy them out when offered, nor renewed the contract. So Google spun off. They had brand recognition from years of 'search provided by Google' on Yahoo, which was the biggest at the time. They were far from, 'lightning in a bottle'. :2 cents: |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Everyone wants to be the next BIG THING. When you can easily be the BIG THING in your local area and make a mint. If you made the BEST dating site for your area, I am sure you could get a few hundred people to pay for it. If you made the BEST ad network for your area, providing the best targeted ads and data mining for your clients and advertisers, you would make a mint LOCALLY. As you refined your process, if it was any good, it would expand beyond your local market. College students would rant and rave like they did with these other things, and take them back home and they would spread if you provide a good service. Over time, if you have a good idea, you would be forced to expand. Maybe it's because I have always worked in niche, and on a smaller scale I see things this way. But I never thought of the online game of being the next..... Yahoo/Google/PornKing whatever. I only wanted to dominate my own little market. If I can make $10/20K a month locally on a good idea. That is more than I would never spend a month based on my lifestyle. I would still become a millionaire by default in time. Frankly, I think people spend so much time thinking of being the king fish, they never learn to swim or actually BUILD the better mouse trap as it were. :2 cents: |
Quote:
Quote:
Word of mouth is the best advertising you can get, not only is it free but typically someone you know is endorsing it. However, word of mouth usually comes from good experiences. For example, I make a profile on a dating site and get laid the next night. I then tell 20 buddies about this and they go make profiles. But if a site is new and I make a profile and get 0 replies, I don't go tell people about it ?? = no word of mouth. So how did the site get traction and getting success to then produce the word of mouth that got the snowball rolling faster. I don't believe the word of mouth came first and that is the hurdle I am trying to figure out how these sites got past that. |
Quote:
Sure free is better than paid, that is obvious. But if I made a free classified site today why would someone post on it for free if my site is new and doesn't look like it gets a lot of activity. That person would go post on craigslist and get 10 responses in an hour instead of posting on my site to see what happens. Quote:
|
The most successful site launch in the last 12 months has to be ChatRoulette. The Russian teen who started it is a self taught programmer and wrote the code for the first version of the site in just 2 days. He told a few friends and it grew, but once the media picked it up, it exploded.
|
Timing and originality.
They didn't make 'another craigs list' they made 'craigs list.' Those sites filled a present need when they launched. They didn't launch first and then try to create their own need after. Solve a current problem in an original or greatly improved way... and people will use your product or service. Linkspun.com link trading system websitesecure.org site certifications webmasterscore review submitter webmasterchecks payout processing (pre DOJ) all examples of innovative ideas solving existing problems timing and originality. |
Quote:
Same with the SugarDaddy MillionairesOnly BeautifulPeopleOnly dating sites.... There has to be a niche you can exploit. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Craigslist is a great service, but what are it's flaws toots? The Nazi flaggers, the endless spam you get to almost every post because people do not have to sign up or have any accountability, their is not PREMIUM option where people like myself would PAY for a highlighted listing, stickied to the top, etc.. If you look at what their strengths and weaknesses are, build something better on a smaller scale, then over time it will take off just as those sites did. :2 cents: |
Quote:
Quote:
Most of their ideas are too big for a single person, with unrealistic time frames, and typically no funding or resources to put behind it. In capital, and workforce. So they are bound to fail before they leave the station so to speak. :2 cents: |
Quote:
I would think that it is a lot harder now to come up with original ideas and needs to fill. Dating, Classifieds, market places like Ebay, etc... all of the big things have been done and needs have been filled. Its like we need to wait for a new problem to pop up now to give us the opportunity to try to create a new innovative fix for it. |
On the word of mouth thing a good example right now is myfreecams.com many of my buddies(non adult) is no talking about anything else and they recommend It to each other like crazy.
|
Quote:
I do really well with niche advertising, but i look at it as I have this pool of traffic, in stead of trying to sell everyone the same thing, I will throw out there several different options and let people separate themselves down into their own niche. Thats for generating traffic. But there was a disconnect when it came to launching a new project / site (again all mainstream) . I've always thought big, set the bar high and wanted to be the next big myspace or facebook, or else why even do it right ? But it was the approach. Instead of doing a site focused on one college I wanted to start a site with a section for 100's of colleges. Now it just looks like a huge site with no people, you spread your resources thin, and it still looks empty. Instead of taking one college in this example and focusing on that one 100%, get it going, then add the next one. Keep it simple stupid, and you can still be the next big site you just have to do it one piece at a time. |
One thing that sites like facebook had - before they became 'mega hits' - was that they were local. Built up a base by word of mouth (having users, and not feeling "empty"), then marketing/PR'ing their way to success on a national level.
Now-a-days, it's very hard to have major national success without a lot of capital, something that can make your site go 'viral' instantly (i.e. Howard Stern talks about it), or just simply having a hit (one of those DUH! Why didn't I think of that!?!? websites). |
Quote:
You could put that on your site for say, car stereos, and if they did not like the shit on your blog, you could send them to relevant auctions on EBAY for that same shit for the cheapskates and still make some money. Which is a loose 'tiered' system where you still are finding a way to make money on your traffic provided in VALUE and relevant service to your freeloading fucks. I do not think he had that network for 6 months before he supposedly sold it for millions to whomever. Not a revolutionary concept by any means, but a simple way of meshing two things together or provide a SERVICE or a VALUE to your customer base. |
Quote:
:pimp |
Quote:
|
Quote:
That site should have a paid function even if it was just $1 a month for "approved" users to cut back on spam. And like you said, a sticky post for 24 hours in some section in the bigger cities would sell for tons of money. Even google ad words on side of the page would make a lot of money. I never understood why subtle things like that weren't added, what a waste of revenue. Seems so sac-religious. Although I can't complain about it too much. I've sold a lot of stuff on craigslist, from cars, boats to old refrigerators to sports tickets. I've sold it on craigslist before it would even get listed in a newspaper or an auction on ebay would be finished <- both of which would have cost me a decent amount of money. So you can sell something faster and free. Who can compete with that. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
:upsidedow |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Although, I am a creative person. So I really have a hard time staying focus once and idea starts making money and starts to level off. I simply want to move on to something else. I have a white board, and years of shit I would like to do. So I typically sell the shit off when I am bored, and go do something else. I simply can't do a daily maintenance. So I try and automate everything, or have assistants deal with it. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
and tbh, i've had more failures than successes! lolz. |
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
The guy was all over the place but it was apparent he wanted to do what ever made him the most money. Where as Craig comes across as an anti capitalist hippie. Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
frustrating.... I was definitely trying to start too big. |
Know someone that knows someone at CNN. That gets the words out pretty quick.
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Trying to re-create the success of a phenomenon like CL or POF or OK Cupid or MySpace or Facebook or Twitter or Mister Peabody World (heh) is ultimately pointless because many of these sites' success was a result of a "perfect storm": timing, something in the public consciousness, a cool idea worked relentlessly until they "made it", etc.
"You must be the change you seek in this world." - Ghandi |
Quote:
I actually have a couple pretty unique ideas, but thinking I need to go back and rework them and start small instead of HUGE!! |
Quote:
|
Quote:
:2 cents: |
As a programmer i get stuck always tinkering with the development and really hate to stop to add some designs. Sometimes I get done with the project and feel like working on something else in stead of marketing it.
I have several finished projects that never got marketed. |
Craig Newmark had programming skill, alot of friends/ a big circle of influence, and he was located near ground zero for tech.
|
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 04:09 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
©2000-, AI Media Network Inc123