Adsense or Subscription? My progress since June

[Tommy92l]

Hey everyone, I am starting this thread to get some harsh criticism. While I know this website will need a lot of labor, and it may not be fast lane yet...I am extremely proud of what it has come to be.

Now before I tell you, please sign this non-disclosure forum

______________

Thank you.


So, if you remember correctly, my website started out looking like this

-

Yeah I know, primitive, right?

Then, I decided to reach out to get more advice from people like "Justanentreprenuer" as shown above.

After contacting my freelancer, he said he'd redo the entire website. So, I worked some more days at my carwash job and saved up to pay him off.

Eventually, he stopped responding to me (I was told by the person who introduced me to him, that he is oversea's and probably in school now, which explains the lack of communication.)

I reached out again and again, only to find that people did not want to do the job I had posted, which was add even more to the homepage. Then, out of the blue, some guy makes it sound like the easiest thing in the world for a dirt cheap price... 2 days later, the website looks better than ever (He only added the "Recent links bit", but with the coding the way it was, not many people I asked understood how to do it properly").

So, the website was the way it was, and then I was at a stand still. I figured "work more, pay for more advertising".

Then my friend came a long. He loved the way the website looked, and told me "I'll back you on this". I had actually turned him away numerous times because I tend to become freaked out when someone puts so much faith in me, when in reality I had just worked to pay people to do this, I didn't actually code it.

He insisted, found a great "SEO" team, and we went to work. I am now talking to these people who are in charge of my websites SEO. Truly great people. But seeing as it is a waiting game for me to climb the ranks in google to become a more noticeable website, I'm not sure if I should just save my money and wait until more customers come in so I can finally get direct feedback as to what to change next, or change the little things, so when they come it seems fairly flawless.


It sounds dumb, but I've gotten so caught up in just looking at this and being like "I cannot believe this started out as an idea while washing someones car, to THIS"........it blows my mind seeing that I've actually done someone. While this whole thread is nothing but "I, I, I", sometimes you need to kind of sit back and give yourself a pat on the back. Not stop working of course, but recognize your progress.

Some ideas that me and my new partner have had, was
A. Adsense -.... But Demarco kind of went over as to why that is a bad idea. Google can just pull the PLUG ON YOU.

Or

B. When the website has increased traffic, spend a small amount of money to be featured on the homepage, or have your website rotating on a banner ad.

Any advice would be awesome.

It is fairly scary writing this thread, only because I have NO idea what the reactions are going to be like.

While I'm not making millions yet, I'm making progress, and to me, that's better than nothing.


Thanks.


Welcome to TizeMe

 

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[Gold777]

Have you followed the huge pile of advice you received in this this thread?

Judging from your posts it seems like you're going on a roller coaster ride of uncertainty concerning your idea.

How have you tried to acquire customers/users thus far? What are your traffic numbers looking like? How many active users do you have? And exactly why did you start this site?

 

[Tommy92l]

I've tried to acquire people by posting on the current forums I go to, doing press releases, small advertising campaigns, and trying multiple different ways to improve my rank on google. It hasn't gotten me too many people. So far I only get like 70 people a day, last month I only had 1000 people view the website, but the good news is, is that the traffic per month is constantly rising.

I started the website because I wanted a "Mainstream" directory, that didn't look like a directory, and that people could actually talk on and rate/comment, give advice, ect. Directories look too boring, and a lot of the time they charge you. My goal is to have it get so big that when people start a website with no viewers, its the first place they go, almost as if to say "How could I live without it?"

Oh and take reddit for example, sometime your stuff with blow up and get to the top, but other times it just gets buried. With the thumbnails the way they are, clearly depicting your website and making it easy to navigate through, I hope people half the sense of security that your post won't just be buried in a field of text.

 

[Gold777]

How many active users do you have (who are registered and use your site daily/weekly)?

 

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[Tommy92l]

Not many, it's a good point you're bringing up. Not many repeats. I've explained the reasoning behind my concern before, and while it seems idiotic, it makes some sense. It's a content feeds content website. There needs to be more for people to come back. "Oh look! Someone read my comment" "Oh someone commented on it!".

 

[Gold777]

Is the activity increasing or declining? Also, what are you doing as far as social media?

When I click a "Recent Link" on your website, it shows me comments, rating, tags, etc. Cool, but why does it show me the page rank and Alexa ranking? If I'm just trying to discover new sites, why do I need to know that info? It seems to be more clutter than anything.

I still don't understand how it's any better than/different than StumbleUpon.

"Hi.
We're StumbleUpon.

We'll help you discover great sites, videos and photos from around the Web. Just tell us what you're interested in, and start Stumbling.

Explore the Web with over 25M members"

Vs

"Hello and welcome to "TizeMe.com"! This website is specifically dedicated to posting and discovering online creations. We welcome all different types of content from forums to video channels and know how difficult it can be to find a place to post your website. Here at TizeMe you can simply join and post your website for all to see! We highly encourage rating and commenting other websites you may view or come across! Registering is quick and easy, so go ahead and start using TizeMe today!"

What do you offer that StumbleUpon doesn't?

 

[Tommy92l]

Let me ask you something (and this is not in a smart a$$ brat way, I hope I don't come off like that).

Are these questions to encourage me to change and create a better site, or are you bringing them up to prove it will be a failure?

 

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[Gold777]

Let me ask you something (and this is not in a smart a$$ brat way, I hope I don't come off like that).

Are these questions to encourage me to change and create a better site, or are you bringing them up to prove it will be a failure?

To encourage you to change and create a better site, I'm asking you these questions to help you think outside of the box. You know what would be cool? If when I clicked a link on your site and a pinterest-style list of popular/cool web pages on that site popped up. It's different, I haven't seen it before, and it's better than seeing an alexa rank/tags/comments/PR that I honestly care nothing about. I would probably end up visiting SEVERAL pages of that website, and thus keeping your tab open and spending more time on your site as well.

If you DON'T change something, imo it will be a failure. You're obviously here, asking for help about how to increase traffic to your site that's supposed to help people get traffic to their sites. Adsense? Why would you need Adsense for this? What do you hope to convert? Adsense isn't cheap, it isn't a good tool for driving loads of traffic, thus it's mainly used to convert visitors to paying customers. Not to increase the size of a user base.

If these questions/answers make you feel as if I'm trying to prove your site will be a failure, then you must not be too confident in your venture or else you'd be knocking these questions out the park with ease.

 

[Tommy92l]

To encourage you to change and create a better site, I'm asking you these questions to help you think outside of the box. You know what would be cool? If when I clicked a link on your site and a pinterest-style list of popular/cool web pages on that site popped up. It's different, I haven't seen it before, and it's better than seeing an alexa rank/tags/comments/PR that I honestly care nothing about. I would probably end up visiting SEVERAL pages of that website, and thus keeping your tab open and spending more time on your site as well.

If you DON'T change something, imo it will be a failure. You're obviously here, asking for help about how to increase traffic to your site that's supposed to help people get traffic to their sites. Adsense? Why would you need Adsense for this? What do you hope to convert? Adsense isn't cheap, it isn't a good tool for driving loads of traffic, thus it's mainly used to convert visitors to paying customers. Not to increase the size of a user base.

If these questions/answers make you feel as if I'm trying to prove your site will be a failure, then you must not be too confident in your venture or else you'd be knocking these questions out the park with ease.

Yeah, this is the kind of advice I wanted to hear, and no that isn't sarcasm. Geeze, when I think of it that way it seems like I should just open a more creative branch than? Keep expanding and making it look less and less like the norm.

And I'm not hitting the questions out of the park because I know NOTHING about business or the online world. This is my first website I've ever really put money into.

 

[Gold777]

Yeah, this is the kind of advice I wanted to hear, and no that isn't sarcasm. Geeze, when I think of it that way it seems like I should just open a more creative branch than? Keep expanding and making it look less and less like the norm.

And I'm not hitting the questions out of the park because I know NOTHING about business or the online world. This is my first website I've ever really put money into.

Yeah, less like the norm is good. Either offer a different experience, or a different look (combine both and that's even better). The more unique you are, the better. Don't be afraid to experiment and try something vastly different from what you have now, it's really all about the experience. If I visit your site and I'm curious, then I sign up and enjoy the experience? You'd have a new user. It doesn't have to be complicated and filled with tons of features, usually the more simple it is the better.

StumbleUpon for example is very simple. You sign up, and you drag a button to your tool bar and every time you click it a new site pops up. Easy right? Yet, how come they're so successful? Not every site a person stumbles upon will be a good or cool one, but for some reason users continue to go back to experience it.

A long time ago there was a scientist who did a test with a lab rat, you may be familiar with the story. The scientist put a lever inside of a box, and every time the rat pressed it a peanut would pop out. Well when all the nuts came out the same size, the rat would eventually stop pressing it and then only when it got hungry (or bored). However, sometimes the nuts would come out in all different shapes and sizes, big, small, you name it, When THAT happened the rat would go crazy and start pressing the lever rapidly in anticipation of what was next.

This is called variable rewards, think of the users of StumbleUpon as rats and the "StumbleUpon" button as the lever. Users click the StumbleUpon button constantly in anticipation of what cool (or shitty) site will pop up next. See how simple that concept is at the very core? And they've monetized this by allowing advertisers to put in their own "variable reward" and just making it pop up more often, thus leveraging the system to their advantage.

That's the core of it, but HOW exactly users experience your site is up to you. I could sit here and spew a plethora of suggestions at you, except they actually probably wouldn't be suggestions but require you to change whole parts of your site. That's for you to figure out, I'm not the co-founder and I'm not trying to make you see my vision of what I think would work, because you have your own vision.

Just... be different, or improve.

 

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[Tommy92l]

I know it is not a huge amount, but I've added more of an incentive to join. You said it would be good to have a random function, and I have added that in a couple of ways.

A. The homepage shows "recent links"
B. There is literally a random button
C. Recent links appear on the side of the directory.

I think it's good because when people join they won't think "Well, what if no one digs all the way back 30 pages, and mine will never be seen!?". Well, now you have 3 different ways to view them.

There is going to be a new feature put in place so when you view the links on the home page, and highlight the categories on the directory page, it will have a really neat and cool effect that will almost want to make you keep clicking links.

Edit: Oh and one more things! Custom thumbnails. I think that people will love that because it gives them a chance to make their website really "POP!" when people see it! Almost like a youtube video.

There have been 1600 visitors this month, while there were only 800 last month. My traffic has doubled, so that is kind of uplifting!

 

[chrishobson]

Here is my feedback after using it for a bit -

- Don't link directly to full sites, link to individual posts on those sites, and keep the links inside your webpage. Right now they open someone else's site and leave yours. You have no assurance they'll keep browsing on your site.

- On the "Links" page, I expect to see the post when I click on the name, not the link details...which added no value for me. Make it link to the post and show in that same browser window with your stuff up top.

- I think you could remove some of the negative space in your design. Content doesn't really start until the lower half of the screen, which I dislike unless it is on the home page. You'll want to do this if you take my advice about leaving people on your site.

- This was in your last thread, but why don't you just add sites on your own? I know in stumble upon people don't always add their own posts to it. Trying to get blogs to add their sites to your service when you have few users goes against your idea of helping to get their blogs seen.

- If I'm a user, why would I use your site when there is minimal content? You're in a chicken-egg conundrum. IMO, the content needs to come first, so just add cool sites/posts.

Also, I think Gold777's advice to make it kind of like Pinterest (large icons for each site, how to do this is another matter altogether) is good, and would help differentiate you from other link sites.

 

[Tommy92l]

Here is my feedback after using it for a bit -

- Don't link directly to full sites, link to individual posts on those sites, and keep the links inside your webpage. Right now they open someone else's site and leave yours. You have no assurance they'll keep browsing on your site.

- On the "Links" page, I expect to see the post when I click on the name, not the link details...which added no value for me. Make it link to the post and show in that same browser window with your stuff up top.

- I think you could remove some of the negative space in your design. Content doesn't really start until the lower half of the screen, which I dislike unless it is on the home page. You'll want to do this if you take my advice about leaving people on your site.

- This was in your last thread, but why don't you just add sites on your own? I know in stumble upon people don't always add their own posts to it. Trying to get blogs to add their sites to your service when you have few users goes against your idea of helping to get their blogs seen.

- If I'm a user, why would I use your site when there is minimal content? You're in a chicken-egg conundrum. IMO, the content needs to come first, so just add cool sites/posts.

Also, I think Gold777's advice to make it kind of like Pinterest (large icons for each site, how to do this is another matter altogether) is good, and would help differentiate you from other link sites.

Great advice! My concerns with a few of those are (And I'm not doubting you, just ironing things out!)

1. Do you actually mean open a webpage inside of a webpage? Do you have any websites that kind of show an example of that?
2. When someone clicks the button, should it have a little tab that rolls down that would be like
>Go To Website
>Go to link Info
3.Understood!
4. Yeah, I will admit I need to put more time into adding websites! It will also boost the number of users on the homepage
5. Nothing to say, but it makes sense!

 

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[Tommy92l]

I won't have things fixed until later this month because the guy I use is currently away.

I wanted to tell all of you about something that was well, a nightmare. LOL.

I have the custom thumbnail option that my freelancer put it, and while It did work once you uploaded a custom thumbnail, the process would fail if it did not. So this whole last month, every submission was getting and error when someone tried to click "Submit". And error just popped up that said "Sorry, this file already exists!".

Thankfully I found this, but this is a good lesson. Always be playing with your site as if you were the user. I f*cked up, BIG TIME.

 

[johnp]

Thankfully I found this, but this is a good lesson. Always be playing with your site as if you were the user. I f*cked up, BIG TIME.

yup I think that is what beta testing is for. My site has all sorts of fake users just for testing. We spent weeks testing, as though we were the users. You will find some crazy bugs (and some funny) no matter how good the programmers are. I also know of a company that has a multi-million dollar web development contract with a state. They test things about 5 times over and still find some bugs which could bring down the entire system. It's crazy.

 

[Tommy92l]

That is where fear probably comes from with a lot of people. They fear they won't be able to handle a large amount of users, so they never grow to their potential.

 

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