Often I talk about being action oriented and just doing stuff. Well just doing stuff has taught me some interesting stuff. Now before I launch a website it really HAS to contain these 3 items or I will keep it on the back burner until I can find a way to implement these 3 items. I will use AuctionAds as an example.
Service
Does your product/website offer a service people will use? I always do “offline research” asking friends/family if they would use a service like this. I also ask them how they would use a service and how it would improve there life. Many times people will just tell you they would use it just cause they want to make you feel good. With AuctionAds we really saw there was a need to make accessing the eBay affiliate program easier. Between the easy to use code and geotargeting for 15 different countries we offer a service that nobody else does.
Viral
This is very important IMO. The item has to have a viral component so it can spread itself. Again take AucitonAds as an example… We spent a bit on advertising at first but over 80% of new signups come from seeing the ad placed on websites. Not from our banners. Now AuctionAds gets over 200 new users every day and we spend nothing on advertising.
Money
Obviously there has to be a business model to make money from the product. With AuctionAds the plan was to pass on 100% of the revenue for the first 6 months so we can reach the highest tier then take a small percentage while still being able to give the best payout to our publishers.
Anyway these are things I think about before starting stuff. I have a few sites like rafflebag.com which have the service and money part down but lack the viral component so they have not launched…
This is your tip for success – 3 Things to think about before launching a site/product
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Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2416 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.
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A bit obvious, but good information nonetheless. You did a great job on the viral aspect of AuctionAds.
For the viral part… it depends on what is the website about really.
For example, if you sell “real” goods… like, an picture hanging system, I’m not sure if we can count on the viral marketing to sell by itself lol
As far as service goes, I guess it can work two ways — you supply a demand or create one. The latter requires a lot of ingenuity (and more patience) though.
I’m not sure if I’m the only one, but I can only read 1 of your posts at a time via RSS.
Yeah, somethings screwy with the RSS.
The only websites I have ever run though is more of an idea and thoughts. The most of a service ive ever had sharing is pictures, videos and just ideas. Is it generaly easier or harder to do a site with ideas or actually with a product?
And it doesn’t always work out.
Good tips. I like the idea of making sure it has the potential to become viral. That’s something I’ve been working on more and more in the past few months. If you can get one part of a new site to hit it big virally you are set for years sometimes.
200 new users a day! Wow, that is awesome. I bet ebay loves you guys
Indeed they must. 200+ is something to brag about!
This is off topic, I guess, but I was just curious as to why you didn’t link to one of your other sites in that post, you mention rafflebag.com but no link and talk about auctionads as well. Any particular reason?
If you could do an “auctionads” with geotargetting Amazon then I’d be a happy happy man.
Of the three, I think viral is the most important because it allows you to make money without additional work.
rafflebag.com comes up “unable to connect” for me. Perhaps the site is just not up yet so there is no need to link to it.
going viral is a challenge. I am filling this site with content but wondering how to make it viral since i’m still a noob. Any ideas? I have the service (helping people start a home based biz doing hauling with zero down) and the money part is being developed (azoogle offers for credit to start the biz and auction ads for trucks and trailers). I just don’t get the viral part yet.
Self propogating is a big help.
viral is a big key look at the dove evolution vidoe on youtube the thing went huge and only cost them 50K to do. and the amount of attention it has gotten is worth MILLIONS!!
I would actually add that you need to make sure you’re on a decent server–or on a server that is easily scaleable. I’ve seen too many businesses launch sites and didn’t estimate (or underestimated) the amount of publicity and traffic their site would get in the first few days…to have the site crash and burn just when it’s all going well.
As he says it aint launched as it hasn’t got the viral aspect yet.
6000 new users a month is excellent.
If you want to go viral, you simply have to offer users an incentive to tell their friends. Make it easy for them to do, and they’ll definitely do it.
That’s a tough comparison to make because with ideas, it’s intangible. You rely on people to think whether your idea is cool or not. But you can certainly make money through affiliate marketing. Having a tangible product, on the other hand, will require direct sales and stuff. Does that make any sense? LOL Just my two cents for today.
Good point; yeah, sometimes I feel that these important things are overlooked somehow.
The viral aspect is crucial, I agree. Create something that will speak for itself, something that people will definitely talk about and spread around.
I agree.
Solid, solid info. So far I am 0 for 3 but I’m taking action to correct that.
Cheers,
Flint
I agree for the most part, but I think you could get away with not having a viral strategy when you launch.
Why? I just like to get my sites up and out as quick as possible so that the search engines can see them and they can start accruing some of those old site bonsues ASAP. Then if you ever do come up with a way to spread it, you’ll just get that much more love on the search side of things.
Very Very good advice.
Asking people what they want is the trickiest of the 3.Viral is a given and anything that is successfully viral makes money. So forget about what people say they are willing to pay for. Find out what things are like yours that they are already paying for. Desire is mostly presentation.
The second and third point is most certainly vital. Smart promotion means that by spending less on advertising you get maximum mileage. And users can be enticed by giving them more earlier on.
Absolutely. The best advertising is often the kind you can buy. Word of Mouth.
I agree, because I am trying to figure out a way to make some of my ideas viral, but I don’t see a way immediately. So what would be a substitute for this?
I’m following your step with my article site…everyone gets paid!
It’s difficult to come up with an original idea, but if you can it might become viral. It’s a challenge creating something that will go viral. you can try and try, but it’s hard to know when it will really hit.
I have a question about affiliate banners….when running affiliate banners froma say a big network like linkshare..has anyone seen issue like the banners not showing up? would it be a safe bet to just run your own banners?
Nice mini guide, definitely agree with you.