ShoeMoney 2008 Plans

Posted on: January 2nd, 2008 by Jeremy Schoemaker

I have had a lot of questions about what we are going to do next… whats our next big thing. Well most that know me know I do not like to talk much about “coming soon” I rather just launch. I think so many people waste so much time talking about “whats coming” but here is brief quick summary of what we are working on for 2008:

Fighters.com First on our list for this year is fighters.com. (scheduled q1 launch). I want to build a somewhat social mixed martial arts community that really gets the fans involved. I feel there is currently NO good resources for fighters and fans to connect. It will start with basics (fighter/fan profiles) and then move more into other areas like fantasy leagues, online store front, meetups…. etc… We have some great investors involved that are committed to seeing it become very successful. This is a long haul project and we know its going to take a long time to really pay off. We are HUGE MMA fans and so for us this is a great fit atm.

Other things in `08 – I have a interesting dating product/companion site idea… a new way to do reviews that might be interesting… and a few other things. We are about ready to announce the 2008 elite retreat (april 3-4 in san fran)… and there are other things in the works. Should be a very interesting year ;)

Post written by Jeremy Schoemaker

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.

More about Jeremy at http://www.shoemoney.com!

Have You Read:

105 Comments. What Say You?

  1. Derek
    February 5, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    I see the site has gone live.

    What else do you have planned for it? Its terrible as is, broken links, spelling errors, nothing new really…

  2. RacerX
    February 1, 2008 at 1:29 am

    Givin that boxing just can’t get its act together, (e.g. Jones v Trinidad – would of been fun if they hadn’t hurt their hips getting out of their walkers) This will be money well spent

  3. Simlock verwijderen
    January 26, 2008 at 11:03 am

    Nice project. I am fighting too, not Martial Arts, but Kickbox. I like it and I doing it from my 7th year.

  4. David G.
    January 17, 2008 at 4:21 pm

    Jeremy,

    Here is some information I had e-mailed you about, I sold Blair and His friend Tom a “Used” car last month. Tom Crowley from Hybrid-x-snowboards, is another big MMA fan, fighter and trainer. My be something you can use or maybe help them with some marketing.

    http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=81883145
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=BgNqH7qnBuw
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=6aP6gVJySWI&feature=related

    Good luck with fighters.com

    David G.
    Let me know if you want contact information.

  5. Scott Weaver
    January 11, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    I used to friggin love martial arts when I was little. Bruce Lee, Jean Claude Van Damme, hell yeah. Perhaps I should look a bit more into this MMA thing.

  6. David Chew
    January 11, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    You want to build something that is mixed martial arts, that is nice.

  7. VacationGuy
    January 10, 2008 at 1:38 am

    08 should be intresting

  8. Mark
    January 9, 2008 at 3:54 am

    The guys at the Fightworks podcast produced one, you can find it at MMAPredictions.com

    BTW Shoe – do you train and MMA or BJJ at all?

  9. o2s
    January 6, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    great idea and I tried to do it afew years back but for karate only..since i grew in the martial arts…i just revamped by site for more content but i think this is a sure hit!

  10. Kristi @ Addicted2Decor
    January 6, 2008 at 11:57 am

    well, I’m not a fan of mixed martial arts…at all….but I must say, that logo is fantastic. Kudos to whoever made that.

  11. Martial
    January 5, 2008 at 1:40 am

    very interested to how you proceed into MMA and UFC, IFL etc..

    Ill probably hope to copy your steps..

  12. Affiliate Confession
    January 4, 2008 at 11:28 pm

    How about google.fighters.com

  13. jay
    January 4, 2008 at 8:39 pm

    I will continue what I do best and stick to the hedgehog principle.

  14. Alan Johnson
    January 4, 2008 at 2:11 pm

    True, a lot of companies have made a name for themselves without having a dictionary word domain name. After all, the leading auction website is “ebay”, not “auction dot com” (although ebay was originally launched as AuctionWeb :) )

  15. Alan Johnson
    January 4, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    While entering the market and attacking the positions of the big dogs is always a challenge, I’m sure that Jeremy is ready for the battle :)

  16. Alan Johnson
    January 4, 2008 at 2:04 pm

    I’d say that as long as you don’t do anything which hurts the brand in question, there will most likely be no issues.

  17. Hustle Strategy
    January 4, 2008 at 12:41 pm

    just to note on the domain name. i just looked through all of my recent browsing history for 3 months. there are no domains that are pronounced one word domains. There are some that became words, like google, but none that were words before the domain was bought. i am not sure that google hasn’t killed the typing in of domain names, or atleast made it less common.

  18. Hustle Strategy
    January 4, 2008 at 12:39 pm

    how does copyright apply to subdomains, is it the same as domains? can you have ufc.fighters.com? seems that you could have ufc in the url, not the domain, but not sure on the subdomain. any suggestions?

  19. Hustle Strategy
    January 4, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    nice, will have to check that out.

  20. Dave
    January 4, 2008 at 11:40 am

    And like I said, it’s a huge uphill climb with established MMA sites like Sherdog dominating right now. But I’d be curious to see how a guy like mmajunkie.com does. His ads are really random taht he displays.

  21. FireflySEO
    January 4, 2008 at 6:50 am

    Nice one shoe, some good ideas. Brave new world with the social media, but a good niche. Now I don’t usually copy but I wanted to do this anyway so I hope you don’t mind but here are FireflySEO Plans 2008

    As you can see one of them is to go on Webmaster Radio. Come on invite us. You know you want to!!

    Cheers,

    Allan Stewart

  22. Positive Flow
    January 4, 2008 at 1:50 am

    It’s great to see someone such as yourself with soo much drive, truly an inspiration. All the best for 2008!

  23. balibuddy
    January 4, 2008 at 1:11 am

    ufc is always the best mma tournament on this planet !

  24. Scorpiono
    January 3, 2008 at 8:44 pm

    This post made me even more curious! heh..

  25. Alan Johnson
    January 3, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    Indeed, premium domains don’t exactly come cheap but such a domain definitely makes branding a lot easier, and, as such, buying it will prove to be a wise decision in the long run if the people behind this project do their job right.

  26. gnoma
    January 3, 2008 at 8:15 pm

    nice post…

  27. 賃貸 大阪
    January 3, 2008 at 6:46 pm

    I am looking forward to the elite retreats again. Last years, I couldn’t make the schedule work for me. I hope I can attend in 2008.

  28. 賃貸 大阪
    January 3, 2008 at 6:43 pm

    I was thinking the same thing. Or poverty.fighters.com

  29. Alan Johnson
    January 3, 2008 at 6:40 pm

    I believe he has stated that he thinks that such websites can be taken to another level and, if he’s got a solid business plan (funding is definitely not an issue) and can bring innovation to this niche, then I’d definitely say that things are looking good for the project.

  30. nashville
    January 3, 2008 at 5:51 pm

    wow look forward to this, sherdog is there but it is too political and one sided because it doesn’t like dana white and already has ties with other fighters and places that makes it not always so truthful. I will be visiting the site on a regular basis once it is up. Fantasy league is a real good idea I think many people will like to try that out

  31. Affiliate Unleashed
    January 3, 2008 at 5:40 pm

    He posts on Bodog if I’m not mistaken.

  32. Affiliate Unleashed
    January 3, 2008 at 5:39 pm

    Yea. I wonder how much he paid for that domain. I bet it was at LEAST 5 figures, probably more.

    Best of luck on that site!

  33. Affiliate Unleashed
    January 3, 2008 at 5:38 pm

    Sweet you’ll be in San Fran?! I live about 30 minutes away. I hope to be able to catch you there!

    ~Jonathan Volk
    http://www.jonathanvolk.com

  34. Alojate
    January 3, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    great domain. I am sure it costed a bundle

  35. Boris
    January 3, 2008 at 5:20 pm

    I was thinking that you shouldn’t let people know you run it since you’re not exactly the fighter type, but too late.

  36. Hans Muster
    January 3, 2008 at 4:36 pm

    The domain sounds excellent. I hope to read some good fighter-tiipps on it in the next time :)

  37. Affiliate Confession
    January 3, 2008 at 3:57 pm

    New product reviews sounds interesting. I’m kinda sick of all the product review sites clogging the search engines though.

  38. Coop
    January 3, 2008 at 2:49 pm

    MMA sure has taken off. I can remember some 20 years ago being in Brazil and hearing about “Vale Tudo”. At that time I had no idea what it was.

    I’ve been training CrossFit style for over 2 years (also a cert. CF Level 1 trainer) and at 42 yrs old, I’m in better shape now than I’ve ever been.

    I’ll be curious to see how the site goes.

  39. Dave
    January 3, 2008 at 2:37 pm

    I’ll be pretty curious to see how this one plays out. The UFC will likely only continue to get bigger, but Sherdog is the 800 pound gorilla out there for community…and mmajunkie is the premiere news site for MMA. Not that i would bet against shoemoney, but you’re pretty late to the game when it comes to riding the UFC bandwagon, so you’ll just have to work that much harder. Sherdog has an obscene amount of posts in it’s forum, i don’t see how anyone can compete with them.

    And i don’t see the rationale in paying for fighters.com. If you’re targeting MMA, why not get something more specific to mma and pay a lot cheaper.

  40. Alan Johnson
    January 3, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    I highly doubt that it will be a flop since it is a niche which is extremely popular with young people, I know my son is crazy over these kind of things and so are a lot of his friends.

  41. Alan Johnson
    January 3, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    Given the fact the project doesn’t lack funding and that Jeremy is definitely a person who knows what he’s doing, I’d say that it will most likely be a smashing success.

  42. Affordable SEO - Terry Reeves
    January 3, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    Another Elite Retreat would also be sweet.

  43. MonetizeYourBlog
    January 3, 2008 at 12:33 pm

    where’s my comment?

  44. Dan Blystone
    January 3, 2008 at 12:25 pm

    Look forward to seeing fighters.com -

  45. Charles Williams
    January 3, 2008 at 11:55 am

    You should look at MMA.tv and observe what they are doing right. They are doing a lot wrong, but their numbers are huge for a reason.

  46. CPA Affiliates
    January 3, 2008 at 11:23 am

    I am sure it will take off due to the connections shoe has plus the money of the backers plus it is a great domain name very easily brandable… plus with all the hype of UFC and fighting in general as of late, it wont take much to take off. Wish you the best Shoe!

  47. scott neumyer
    January 3, 2008 at 9:51 am

    fighters.com = I’m in! just let us know when we can sign up!

  48. Sean
    January 3, 2008 at 9:25 am

    Not trying to kiss you ass here, but I agree. Even with the huge fan base, no MMA site is doing it right, yet. I spoke to Rener Gracie about this a while ago and wanted to get the Gracie family involved, but could never get a commitment.

    Sean

  49. Nicholas James
    January 3, 2008 at 8:46 am

    Yeah, it really is a nice logo :)

  50. FreeScamMoneyMaker
    January 3, 2008 at 8:44 am

    Looks like a good idea you have there. A fighting community like a Rebel. That would invite a lot of people to join. That logo looks cool. would look great as sticker.

  51. Nicholas James
    January 3, 2008 at 8:44 am

    He’s had a few failures in the process though….just recently, he’s started to come up with projects with the correct execution ;)

  52. Nicholas James
    January 3, 2008 at 8:43 am

    Anything can have a typo created of it and since this is a generic word its easier to build your typo domains around.

    Although if your building your revenue of typo domains, this isn’t really a sensible idea as its built on the basis of that company/site being sucessful and if it isnt well you make $0 too.

  53. Nicholas James
    January 3, 2008 at 8:40 am

    I’m sure i saw a affiliate programme for them on CJ the other day.

  54. Nicholas James
    January 3, 2008 at 8:37 am

    I doubt it….go google “fighters” and niches within the “fighters” industry and you’ll find their is a large niche here.

  55. blogging beat
    January 3, 2008 at 7:41 am

    why would it be a flop?

  56. Unjustified Motorsports
    January 3, 2008 at 7:20 am

    fighters website is a flop. save your time for something else.

  57. Daniel
    January 3, 2008 at 6:48 am

    Cool Domain And Cool Idea …..Perfect Combination !!!
    GOOD LUCK Jeremy !!! – DD

  58. Web Design Chester
    January 3, 2008 at 5:28 am

    Another excellent and thought provoking post Jeremy!

    I’m particularly intreagued by your “…new way to do reviews that might be interesting…” – I think this is going to be a really interesting sector this year and look forward to seeing your take on it.

  59. Steve!
    January 3, 2008 at 3:11 am

    Sounds like a pretty good idea. I may be starting Muay Thai this year so I will definitely check that site out.

  60. Nascar
    January 3, 2008 at 2:21 am

    Thats an awesome domain to work with. Love to see how this develops to its full potential in 2008.

  61. blogging beat
    January 3, 2008 at 2:16 am

    Sherdog’s forums are pretty good community forums. I hope shoemoney’s forum gives out some shirts..

  62. lurksteraz
    January 2, 2008 at 11:45 pm

    Being a longtime fan, MMA has become huge as alot of people have jumped on the bandwagon since The Ultimate Fighter started. This should be an interesting project. Sherdog is for the hardcore fans, this should capture the casual fans great. I hope you incorporate multiple organization fighters and other disciplines. Good Stuff

  63. Alan Johnson
    January 2, 2008 at 11:28 pm

    There are a lot of great domains out there which could be put to better use but again, everyone has the right do make whatever decisions they want as far as their funds are concerned.

  64. Jeremy Schoemaker
    January 2, 2008 at 11:24 pm

    the great thing about our country is that anyone can do anything they want ;) . I encourage you both to do the sites you think the world needs

  65. Jeremy Schoemaker
    January 2, 2008 at 11:23 pm

    we can always make crime.fighters.com

  66. Jeremy Schoemaker
    January 2, 2008 at 11:23 pm

    I don’t really feel any of them do a very good job. I know we are not going to take everything over overnight but we are relentless. I think 2008 will be a building year for fighters. A lot of money and time will be invested.

    When we made AuctionAds there was so many other competitors (including eBay). I thought that would take a lot longer but it outgrew us very fast.

  67. Alan Johnson
    January 2, 2008 at 11:21 pm

    This is a project where a lot of funds are being invested, you really can’t tell people what to do with their money under such circumstances. Sure, I’d like to see more sites about fighting against poverty, for example (personally, I link to a series of websites such as TheHungerSite from my sidebar and always encourage other webmasters to do the same, but in the end, you can’t force anyone to do anything), but people do whatever they want with their money, it’s just the way things stand.

  68. Search◊ Engines Web
    January 2, 2008 at 11:14 pm

    Isn’t there enough gratuitous violence in the world.

    Change fighters into a social activism site. Fighting for justice or political or consumer justice.

    But what is so appeal – ing about violence in a world where you can not even look at TV or read a newspaper or visit a news site without seeing images of the worst in humanity!!!!

    That valuable domain name could be put to such better use

  69. Alan Johnson
    January 2, 2008 at 11:12 pm

    Of course, having a domain name such as this one will make branding a lot easier since it is something people will have no problems remembering. I am convinced that Jeremy will do a great job with this project.

  70. Will
    January 2, 2008 at 11:06 pm

    oh wow i just noticed the domain name… nice catch. the site will probably a huge hit when you launch it just from direct url traffic.

  71. Will
    January 2, 2008 at 11:04 pm

    Sounds like the fighting community you’re working on will be a huge hit. Kinda reminds me of bodybuilding [dot] com where people get to post their stats and such.

  72. Jeremy Schoemaker
    January 2, 2008 at 11:03 pm

    ufc already has affilaite programs on cj for ufc.com

  73. Alan Johnson
    January 2, 2008 at 11:01 pm

    Well…everything aside from the ” Shoemoney Petroleum Company” :)

  74. Jeremy Schoemaker
    January 2, 2008 at 10:54 pm

    yup I always post my bets

  75. youfoundjake
    January 2, 2008 at 10:54 pm

    Hey Jeremy, how about having some kind of Elite Retreat related contest where the lucky winner gets comp’d the admission? I’m here in the bay area, so driving is not problem, but the admission, heeh, could use a little help with that.
    Also,why am I getting a 401 on fighers.com? odd. that is..

  76. Monetize your Blog!
    January 2, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    easy to make typos imho..

  77. Monetize your Blog!
    January 2, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    Hmm I’m really into martial arts and looking forward to join ;)

  78. Bathroom Hero
    January 2, 2008 at 10:29 pm

    sounds exciting!

  79. Mike Huang
    January 2, 2008 at 10:24 pm

    Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us :)

    -Mike

  80. Ben Cook
    January 2, 2008 at 10:18 pm

    Shoe, where do you put your action? Have you shared that info before?

  81. Ben Cook
    January 2, 2008 at 10:15 pm

    There have been some pretty entertaining flops that he blogged about not long ago but yeah, he definitely cranks out impressive projects.

  82. Ben Cook
    January 2, 2008 at 10:10 pm

    Dude, fantasy MMA is brilliant (and probably a freaking gold mine)! Like others have said, it’s a fantastic domain name. Should be a huge success with you guys behind it. You definitely have a passion for the subject.

  83. Justin Goff
    January 2, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    There’s definitely a lot of these aspects out there already in the MMA community, but none of them really in one site.

    Sherdog has the largest community forum. ProElite.com has a social network thing going on and MMAPlayGround.com is a fantasy league. Also the UFC runs their own fantasy league.

    Good luck on the site man.

  84. Vincent Abry
    January 2, 2008 at 9:34 pm

    What would be a goldmine is if websites like this http://www.ufc.com put an affiliate program on live internet pay per view

  85. Hustle Strategy
    January 2, 2008 at 9:26 pm

    What will be great to see is how you monetize the site. MMA is great and growing, but that does not guarantee money. Can’t wait to see it.

  86. browie
    January 2, 2008 at 9:24 pm

    Sounds great Jeremy. I’m looking forward to the MMA myspace. :)

  87. sl
    January 2, 2008 at 9:24 pm

    everything you touch seems to turn to gold. hope these work out well too.

  88. Vincent Abry
    January 2, 2008 at 9:18 pm

    Fighters.com domain name is excellent!

  89. Vincent Abry
    January 2, 2008 at 9:17 pm

    Oh nice Jeremy!!, we have the same interests: I am now talking about MMA on a regular basis on my blogs and I think your website will have a lot of success since this sport is becoming so popular.
    Dating is also a very good niche. I transformed a few days ago my french dating guide in a Dating Blog.
    It’s as easy to make money with a dating website (as an affiliate) than with Adsense :-)

  90. Gary R. Hess
    January 2, 2008 at 9:05 pm

    Fantasy league for fighters? Holy crap… nice idea. Haven’t seen that yet.

  91. Contest Beat
    January 2, 2008 at 9:03 pm

    Definitely $xxx,xxx or more

  92. CatherineL
    January 2, 2008 at 8:21 pm

    Sounds interesting Shoe. Good luck for 2008 – I’m sure you’re going to be hugely successful.

  93. Affiliate Confession
    January 2, 2008 at 8:01 pm

    10x more than anything else, ya that’s a pretty premium name. I suppose you already feel a need to make this work?

  94. John Motson
    January 2, 2008 at 7:54 pm

    Wow Jeremy,

    Fighters.com is an excellent domain name and I am sure you will make that a success.

    MMC is becoming bigger everyday and an online venue for fans is a great idea.

    Good luck with your venture.

    John

  95. Vizion
    January 2, 2008 at 7:40 pm

    Sounds like a good idea and really digging the logo.

  96. Jeremy Schoemaker
    January 2, 2008 at 7:32 pm

    I won money on him ;)

  97. Arjuna
    January 2, 2008 at 7:28 pm

    That name is awesome. That is gonna be a hit :)

    Best of luck Jeremy ;)

  98. Poker Affiliate
    January 2, 2008 at 7:21 pm

    Nice work in getting the new site up (coming soon). I like the little image you have on the page and hope the logo looks something like this. Get us some west coast coverage, we have a few fighters here!
    PS: We were wrong about Liddell huh?

  99. Jeremy Schoemaker
    January 2, 2008 at 7:14 pm

    it was purchased by our investors last fall. I don’t want to disclose what we exactly paid for it but it was more then 10x more then I had ever paid for a domain before.

  100. Alan Johnson
    January 2, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    Great domain name Jeremy, was it in your portfolio for a long time or have you recently bought it?

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