Links.com - New website launched. Did I achieve my objectives?

[richrf]

Well guys, I finally launched Links.com. It is a very simple concept that was suggested to me by a recent college graduate and someone attending college at this time. Just links to humor sites. My objectives were two fold:

1) To get people clicking for links (eventually I can monetize)

2) To keep people coming back?

Did I achieve this with this design? If not, how can I do better?

Thanks for the feedback.

Rich

 

[mwzd]

Just a heads up, sites like theonion use framebreakers, so the minute someone goes to them, the link breaks.

Like I said in pm, am not sure this is the best way to monetize the domain imho.

Good luck with it in any case. Cheers!

 

[richrf]

Just a heads up, sites like theonion use framebreakers, so the minute someone goes to them, the link breaks.

Like I said in pm, am not sure this is the best way to monetize the domain imho.

Good luck with it in any case. Cheers!

Thanks for the heads up Samit.

In a few days I'll know whether there is stickiness to the site. The good news is that so far the bounce rate is 40% which is quite good for starters. But the key is whether I get repeats.

Thanks again. It was a pleasure speaking with you.

Rich

 

[Blitz]

Just my humble opinion, but there is so much more potential in this great name you have. I believe I remember you had a thread last year asking for ideas for this name and others came up with quite a few. Time will tell I guess. Keep us posted on how well it does for you. Good luck with it.

 

[richrf]

Just my humble opinion, but there is so much more potential in this great name you have. I believe I remember you had a thread last year asking for ideas for this name and others came up with quite a few. Time will tell I guess. Keep us posted on how well it does for you. Good luck with it.

Hi Blitz,

The reasons I decided to try out this idea are:

1) Nominal development costs

2) Nominal ongoing overhead costs

3) Monetizing possibilities by interleaving ads within content

4) Potential for building long-term repeat traffic

5) Potential stickiness on a per visit basis

It is really a great idea (proposed by college students) if it works! Time will tell. Thanks for the comments.

Rich

 

[andr69]

Hallo! It seems that your web site is not finished - when I click "funny links" there is just an empty black page with one picture and no links. To my mind something is wrong with functionality.

 

[noy.com]

Well guys, I finally launched Links.com. It is a very simple concept that was suggested to me by a recent college graduate and someone attending college at this time. Just links to humor sites. My objectives were two fold:

1) To get people clicking for links (eventually I can monetize)

2) To keep people coming back?

Did I achieve this with this design? If not, how can I do better?

Thanks for the feedback.

Rich

what a waste of a beautiful name!!

it is like having an auto.com to place there a website for coin collectors.

 

[richrf]

Hallo! It seems that your web site is not finished - when I click "funny links" there is just an empty black page with one picture and no links. To my mind something is wrong with functionality.

Hi,

I will check into it. There doesn't seem to be any problems with any other users. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Rich

---------- Post added at 08:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 AM ----------

what a waste of a beautiful name!!

it is like having an auto.com to place there a website for coin collectors.

Hi,

Thanks for the comment. Always interested in new ideas if you have any. However, the name is Links and we are providing funny links. We believe passionately in smiling and laughing.

Rich

 

[noy.com]

smiles and laughter won't make money enough to justify misuse of a great name.

For the project actually you could have used something like

MyHumorLinks.com or Links4Humor.com (both available).

 

[RLW]

smiles and laughter won't make money enough to justify misuse of a great name.

For the project actually you could have used something like

MyHumorLinks.com or Links4Humor.com (both available).

I agree that MyHumorLinks.com or Links4Humor.com could have been perfectly good domains for this guys website.

But since he has links.com (a brilliant domain), I'd suggest that he use the sub-domain funny.links.com or humor.links.com

... and maybe later on he could branch out to sport.links.com, 3dtv.links.com and medical.links.com etc... The possibilities are endless.


_____
For the OP:

I think Links.com could work perfectly well if you expand your site and include keywords in your sub domains like I said above.

I think the home page could be improved. To me the home page layout kind of feels like something from a few years ago when the internet was still young and browsers didn't stick to standards very well so CSS and HTML were kept very simple. People might disagree but I don't think you need that black bar across the top on the home page. I'd move the About Us, Terms of Service and Contact Us links to the footer. I'd leave the submit a link and register links at the top, but they might look better if they were in tabs coming down from the top of the page (I hope you get what i mean). I'd probably run the digg and facebook etc links down the side of the page in a column because they look out of place. I do like that you just have that big image in the centre of the page - I think that works well, although at some point I'd consider hiring a graphic designer to redo the image.

On the link pages, again i'd get rid of the About Us, Terms of Service and Contact Us links. I'd move the 'click here for more links' graphic to the left - by the way I really like that graphiic... I feel like I want to click it I'd have the home, register, submit a link and share links all aligned to the right of that black bar. I'd suggest changing the font or increasing the size of the current font because I find the current one a little hard to read.

Finally, i'd suggest adding some CSS styles to the form elements on the contact us, submit a link, and register pages - just make it look a little more up to date. On the contact us form, I wouldn't bother asking for addresses or anything like that. I know they are optional fields, but I don't think there is a need to ask for that information, and I think it could possibly turn people off completing any of the form at all. I think that with a form, the less fields that are present the better. If people have a reason to give you their address, they will be able to provide it in their message for you.

EDIT: I noticed some of the material in the links could be offensive or not suitable for some people/minors (i.e. humor of a sexual nature). I had a look at the terms of service and noticed that you say that users must be over 18 to use your site. Thats perfectly well, but you should probably make it more noticeable (like a big disclaimer on the homepage). Like most people I click first, think later. I don't think I have ever read a site's terms of service before I used it - and I think most people would be the same.

 

[richrf]

smiles and laughter won't make money enough to justify misuse of a great name.

For the project actually you could have used something like

MyHumorLinks.com or Links4Humor.com (both available).

Checked out the sites. Both are errors. Did a google search and came up with nothing.

Rich

---------- Post added at 07:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:04 AM ----------

I think Links.com could work perfectly well if you expand your site and include keywords in your sub domains like I said above.

Yes, this is an excellent idea. However, on this trial I wanted to give it the to domain view so that I can see whether the concept has any substantial value.

I think the home page could be improved. To me the home page layout kind of feels like something from a few years ago when the internet was still young and browsers didn't stick to standards very well so CSS and HTML were kept very simple. People might disagree but I don't think you need that black bar across the top on the home page. I'd move the About Us, Terms of Service and Contact Us links to the footer.

Yes, I thought the same but decided to keep development costs low just to try out the concept. Either people start clicking once they are past the home page or they don't. That was what I wanted to test out.

I'd leave the submit a link and register links at the top, but they might look better if they were in tabs coming down from the top of the page (I hope you get what i mean). I'd probably run the digg and facebook etc links down the side of the page in a column because they look out of place.

Yes, I agree with all of your comments. Further investment in the project depends upon whether I believe that making these mods will significantly increase clicks. As it turns out the home page is pretty good. I am getting about 50% bounce. However, subsequently clicking is very nominal at this point. Nothing to get excited about.

On the link pages, again i'd get rid of the About Us, Terms of Service and Contact Us links. I'd move the 'click here for more links' graphic to the left - by the way I really like that graphiic... I feel like I want to click it

Agree with all of these comments. I will pass them on and see how many we can implement. One of the goals was not to use up too much vertical space leaving the maximum possible for the frame.

Finally, i'd suggest adding some CSS styles to the form elements on the contact us, submit a link, and register pages - just make it look a little more up to date. On the contact us form, I wouldn't bother asking for addresses or anything like that.

Yes, I agree with all of your suggestions. I will pass them on to the developer.

EDIT: I noticed some of the material in the links could be offensive or not suitable for some people/minors (i.e. humor of a sexual nature).

Yes, some material got into the database which has to be removed. I am walking through all of the links trying to clean things up. Thanks! However, because I am linking to other sites that may have offensive material, it is really difficult for this kind of site to be totally clean. Something that I am thinking about right now.

Thanks again for all of your excellent suggestions.

Rich

 

[gingeman]

Checked out the sites. Both are errors. Did a google search and came up with nothing.

Rich

You've misunderstood what that guy was saying. Those domains are undeveloped and unregistered, so you won't see anything in google. They are also more suitable for the site you are offering, i.e. they are crappy names that are a dime a dozen, just like your site. (no offense intended.)

The domain you have is world class and could be made into a serious money making top 1000 alexa site. You have to spend money to make money. Invest some serious $$ in development or sell the domain to a top SEO company or similar. Even partner with an investor, I'll bet there are people here who'd bite your hand off for the chance...

Personally, I think you are wasting the name with the option you have chosen, but I sincerely wish you the best of luck with it. :]

 

[richrf]

Checked out the sites. Both are errors. Did a google search and came up with nothing.

Rich

You've misunderstood what that guy was saying. Those domains are undeveloped and unregistered, so you won't see anything in google. They are also more suitable for the site you are offering, i.e. they are crappy names that are a dime a dozen, just like your site. (no offense intended.)

The domain you have is world class and could be made into a serious money making top 1000 alexa site. You have to spend money to make money. Invest some serious $$ in development or sell the domain to a top SEO company or similar. Even partner with an investor, I'll bet there are people here who'd bite your hand off for the chance...

Personally, I think you are wasting the name with the option you have chosen, but I sincerely wish you the best of luck with it. :]

Hi gingeman,

Thanks for the explanation.

I have learned in my career that there are some serious investors out there and the best know the difference between investing, speculating, and wasting money. Good partners are very hard to find but I am always open to a fair deal. Those are even more difficult to find.

Thanks again.

 

[Larry Fling]

You should have created a search engine.. Links.com has more potential than google as a domain name..
Good luck,
The blog look doesnt look that great IMO

 

[richrf]

You should have created a search engine.. Links.com has more potential than google as a domain name..
Good luck,
The blog look doesnt look that great IMO

I totally agree with you. I would love to host a relevant search engine solution on my domain. I have tried several experiments with custom google and the results were actually quite good. However, building a bunch of custom google search engines on my site is not a very interesting solution. If you have further ideas I would like to discuss them with you. In the past I have tried to partner with up-and-coming search engines but so far to no avail.

As for the blog, it was not the new site that I launched. I had to pull back from the idea and am reworking it now. Hopefully redeploy in a couple of weeks.

Thanks again for your comments. I found them very helpful and useful.

Rich

 

[jagdotme]

Hi Blitz,

The reasons I decided to try out this idea are:

1) Nominal development costs

2) Nominal ongoing overhead costs

3) Monetizing possibilities by interleaving ads within content

4) Potential for building long-term repeat traffic

5) Potential stickiness on a per visit basis

It is really a great idea (proposed by college students) if it works! Time will tell. Thanks for the comments.

Rich

1. Park it with sedo NO COST FREE SIGN UP
2. No Out going cost, aprt from renew of domain name
3. Ummmm not sure about that.....
4. No problems
5. Maybe

You have a great name, I have not had the chance to view the site as its blocked on this PC. I will how ever check out the site when I get home, ftrom what I have read on this thread seem like the site you have created is poor.

Why not park it with sedo and when you get enough money pay someone to develope you a great site.

 

[snoop]

I can't see why anyone would visit a site like that, low quality and looks awful. Would suggest parking.

 

[south]

Golf Golf Golf.

 

[iowadawg]

Okay, tough crowd in here!

But south has the best idea I do believe (because golf was the first thing that came to my mind).
Done right, should be number two at least behind golf.com...maybe better and be number one...

I do believe you would get more golfers and golf partners if you went this route.

SOmething to seriously think about......

GOLF

 

[snoop]

Okay, tough crowd in here!

But south has the best idea I do believe (because golf was the first thing that came to my mind).
Done right, should be number two at least behind golf.com...maybe better and be number one...

I do believe you would get more golfers and golf partners if you went this route.

SOmething to seriously think about......

GOLF

Should at least be number two behind golf.com and maybe number 1? C'mon.....be serious here. That is going to need a massive site built around it, tens of millions spent. It is a bit like saying with Social.com you could be as big as Myspace.