.tv ME.TV vs real development

[poiuytrewq]

I think that the saturation of me.tv sites and the ease of use of the tools (in that you can quickly get a channel with content up) has deflected our attention and perhaps we (as .tv owners) have taken our eye off the ball.

I don't see much 'real' development going on - I am as guilty as anyone in that I have become too reliant on the me.tv platform. It has only recently struck me that the me.tv route is somewhat of a cul-de-sac. To be frank, it has made me lazy. 3 months ago I was designing sites and doing graphics, now I'm grabbing someone else's videos - an uninspiring, soulless activity.

I for one am gonna change things next week and have a good summer clearout starting Tuesday! All my me.tv sites are being taken down (20 of 'em - some of them quite popular) and I'm gonna try and pick one good name and do something with it. Come on, let's develop those names!

I know some of you are doing this already and are doing a great job. I will try and follow your lead. Only wish I would have seen the light sooner!

 

[space101]

One question for all .tv owner's with me.tv sites, if and when you decide to take down your me.tv site and put up a real one do your visitors,links go with you? I know things like the blog,forum, and rss feed among others can't be transferred. But what happens to the traffic you may have built up can you take it with you or does it all stay at me.tv?

 

[mckennaronnie]

I really worry that too many people are going to think .tv is all about me.tv with the 1000's of similar looking me.tv sites popping up. Personally im worried me.tv could do .tv a lot of harm by giving the impression building poor mans Youtube/myspace sites is all .tv is good for.

I havent bothered setting up even 1 me.tv site as i dont see any advantage of doing it though that may change a little in sometime IF me.tv sites could make some money thru ads/affiliates.
Rather than spending my time setting up me.tv sites for all 30+ of my .tv's i have been spending everyday working on developing my 1st .tv, i am sure in that i have spent my time far more constructively by working on my own plans than by finding somebody elses clips on youtube all day to add to any me,tv site.

I know we all have a different view on me.tv and i respect everyone elses views & hopes for the whole me.tv vision but i too urge everyone to work on their own plans as they will pay better in the longterm (IMHO)

I do think that over the next few months we will see a number of original custom built .tv developments being released from namepros members as i personally know at least 5 .tv forum members who have been working on original sites for last few months.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Personally im worried me.tv could do .tv a lot of harm by giving the impression building poor mans Youtube/myspace sites is all .tv is good for.

QUOTE]

I have to agree Ronnie.

 

[Makis.TV]

i removed all of my premiums from me.tv because
it didnt offer me anything

If an enduser visit my domain and see a me.tv site would probably run away
without sending me any email or request of interest,
on the other hand sedo parked pages are more friendly for such thing as many people know whats all about.

thanx me.tv and bye bye

 

[Broker]

I'm simply useing my me.tv sites to hopefully steer traffic/visitors to other sites of mine.

 

[RPK]

I am waiting it out to see what type of monetization they will be offering. I am getting more traffic then I would by having it just parked and getting it indexed by the search engines is also very good. But before I start to build more out I want to see how we will be able to make money.

 

[TheBulldog]

I slapped up links and banners on a couple of mine to see what would happen. I am still getting about 25% click through and a couple of sales off of them. I rarely do any updating, and quite frankly don't plan to.

Before you ask, I put the banners in my blog section. The links went in the links section. All in all, for an experiment, it has worked out well enough. And it covered my costs, so meh.

Aside from that, I really don't do anything with the ones I have on me.tv. I should probably just sell them and concentrate on the ones I am putting effort into.

 

[*AllThings.tv*]

If you want more than me.tv has to offer, can you be specific about what you would like if you did not have a full blown development team at your disposal?

I was hoping to offer something, but I really don't know what people want or expect. Generally, those with little or development experience have outlandish expectations or do NOT really understand what they want, until they start dropping some serious money and start learning from their own development experiences and realizing the limitations of different designers they are working with.

If you have a .tv site and you want to make money off videos, I first recommend trying to make money off content created by others. Once you have done that and learned from it, then use that cash flow to create your own content leveraging other people's sites (Youtube for example) and embedding it on your site, and then once you have made that profitable host it yourself and make money off the adds you serve on that video player.

Slow development such as this means that you will invest less overall, make fewer mistakes, and make less costly mistakes, and ultimately develop a domain that will appreciate a greater amount in the long term than you would otherwise.

 

[boboski]

Good post hotnames. Also i like your justgirls.tv--how did to make that site?

 

[Marck]

If I want to use me.tv, should I reg through enom or the me.tv site? Do I have to pay a premium to sign up at enom or make a deposit?

*EDIT* I just rediscovered Enom.TV. I wish the relationships were explained better on the various websites.

 

[poiuytrewq]

If you want more than me.tv has to offer, can you be specific about what you would like if you did not have a full blown development team at your disposal?

I was hoping to offer something, but I really don't know what people want or expect. Generally, those with little or development experience have outlandish expectations or do NOT really understand what they want, until they start dropping some serious money and start learning from their own development experiences and realizing the limitations of different designers they are working with.

I hear what you say.

I have quite a bit of development experience myself and several developed sites including a few .tv. One of the points of the post was to highlight that for me, me.tv became a distraction from my development interests. I wondered if this extended to other users. It is not even a question of wanting more. I suppose I was asking "is me.tv making us lazy?"

I fear the perception from the 'outside' is that the extension is becoming synonymous with what amount to glorified myspace sites, channels that aren't really channels, petty squabbles (just check out the me.tv forum) and a foggy premium policy. The latter will be the nail in the coffin for .tv I fear.

Anyway, must get back to developing....

 

[TheBulldog]

.......If you have a .tv site and you want to make money off videos, I first recommend trying to make money off.......

Again, my take is that if you want to make money off your me.tv sites you have 2 choices.

1) Place text affiliate adds in your link section
2) Place Banner, and html adds in your blog.

It does work and it is simple. If you are waiting for the revshare from me.tv you are simply foolish. Think of it this way.....what does google adsense give you? Do they cough up 90, 80, 70%? Hardly, They give you maybe 5-10% of what they get. That is standard. So what is the solution? Do not try google adsense on me.tv sites.

For one, it doesn't work. For two, it isn't worth it. Get your own advertising source, whether through a place like commision junction, or an adult affilite program. (My take is that I make more off adult, but your mileage may vary)

Quite simply, don't waste time with adsense, it simply doesn't pay as well. And if you think that demand media is going to give you a huge chunk of the revenue pie, then you are seriously not looking at things realistically.

 

[poiuytrewq]

You are quite correct in what you say Showbiz.

However, I was trying avoid the renevue issue as it's been done ad infinitum and we all know the score on that.

I am talking about development. It is surprising that we have all these .tv between us here and very few quality sites to show for it. Or so it seems. I see hundereds of posts where people say (for example) "what do you think of ChocolateCheeseRodeoBilboBaggins.tv - I am going to develop it blah blah..." but it never happens.

Just an observation. I could be entirely wrong. And of course, I am one of those guilty of the above.

 

[mckennaronnie]

Ummagumma i dont think it is correct to assume its correct that " everyone says i'm going to develop...then it never happens."

I'm sure there is many members of this board who have decent .tv developed sites that they never mention on the board so i wouldnt assume everyone who talks about developing but doesnt brag when done has failed.

As far as any changes i would like done to me.tv or anything that a new service could offer:
1. Make the sites look original!! Allow different layouts, designs, images...etc

Thats it for me, i have no plans for using me.tv but i really worry 10000's of .tv's that look almost identical and share identical content can really hardm .tv's future. Originality is the vital if we want .tv to become this unique, edgy, media rich developers extension we all dream it will once be.

If we allow a large chunk of .tv's to look almost identical and offer nothing more that other social networking sites/video sharing sites then we lose our unique identity and .tv becomes boring.

Thats my 2nd rant against me.tv over use on this thread over now :zzz:

Im off to work on my .tv development now.
My site should be ready in around 2 weeks all being well, i am waiting on my camera guy shooting/editing some video as we speak. I am really glad i spent the last few months working on my development rather than setting up me.tv's for all my domains and sourcing videos on the net. Development will pay MUCH better in the long run and it is also much more exciting, challenging and emgaging than setting up me.tv using other peoples content.

Best of Luck to everyone no matter your ideas on how to make .tv work for you %%-

Mckennaronnie
(excuse the spelling erors, im sure there is LOTS)

 

[*AllThings.tv*]

Mckennaronnie,

I agree that development outside of me.tv is key. However, first-time developers (who want to save money rather than spending a lot) would be best served to develop a site or sites that display ads around content created by others. Not only will this allow them to begin learning a variety of the lessons that you and I probably learned with our first sites, but it will also allow them to get a feel for what audiences what to watch most. As a result, a first-time site developer may realize what his or her audience is more likely to pay for especially if he/she begins interacting and polling the audience visiting the site.

From the little polling I conducted on this site, several .tv owners cannot commit a huge amount of time or substantial sum of money to a development project. That is what makes me.tv so attractive for them. It does not cost any more than they already pay for their domain and they only need to invest a minimum amount of effort.

I get it if some .tv owners feel me.tv does not serve their needs, but those that put anything up, whether it is a blog or me.tv site, will benefit because the search engines will spyder the site, the site will begin to receive traffic, and the number of backlinks on the Internet may increase, thereby increasing the value of the domain to a future buyer.

Like you, I encourage people to begin experimenting/experiencing the development of their names. While their sites may share some content with other sites, like YouTube videos, their overall site will have its own unique look, feel, and experience. For the first-time developer, this is a very rewarding experience (especiall when the first site is a .tv).

If I showed you my first website ever, everyone would laugh at me. It was a basic html page designed to answer frequently asked questions about the products I sold on the Internet. That was way back in 2003, which still does not feel that long ago in the grand scheme of things.

I am excited to see your own .tv development and loook forward to your announcement.

 

[mckennaronnie]

Hotnames : I dont completely disagree with anything you say and think me.tv does have a use but over use of the same looking sites is awful. Remember lots of people dont know what .tv is still and for a large % the majority of .tv sites they see will be me.tv's, i think this will give many the impression me.tv IS .tv

I see the potential in me.tv, i undestand it has it uses and can help people feel that they are developiong their own site and trying to attract the myspace crowd....etc

For us who own multiple .tv's then we need to think more about the long terrm future and less about the short term benefits of using me,tv (getting site indexed, building links..etc)
My view is that the more me.tv's there is then the more people who's only view of .tv is standard me.tv sites so if we want the best for ,tv longterm then we need to provide as many unique sites as possible.

I like what you where saying Hotnames about getting people to start slowly in development by doing a me.tv and learning the ropess...etc
BUT
I would much rather those who have development ambitions bought a script of their choice and developed something that suits their name rather than everyone doing the standard me.tv design/layout/strategy.

Hotnames my .tv will be ready in a few weeks i expect then i will share it with the forum. I am taking an alternative route and wont be developing a video site. My site will only use video as a feature on the site to help guide your way around. Doing things without too much Video to begin with has helped keep my start up costs lower than some but we will try us more & more video content after we get money rolling in.


I gotta go now and watch some football (Scottish SPL, boring but hey im a Scotsman so its my duty to watch)

 

[poiuytrewq]

Ummagumma i dont think it is correct to assume its correct that " everyone says i'm going to develop...then it never happens."

Yeah, a bit presumptious that. But it was early in the morning and i did have a hangover. Look forward to seeing your site.

 

[VisualArtistFrankBonilla]

.tv

I am waiting it out to see what type of monetization they will be offering. I am getting more traffic then I would by having it just parked and getting it indexed by the search engines is also very good. But before I start to build more out I want to see how we will be able to make
money.

Exactly. I now have over 30,000 views on www.Abstracts.tv . Would I get this many if it was parked at www.Sedo.com? Nope, not even 1/60 of that! I am not a web designer, but would I get this many if I developed my own website?
I guess it all depends on what you want. Of course, I want to make money with domains. However, I can let 3, or 4 sit at www.Me.tv, and see what happens with them. It will be a study. If I don't make money off them, that's ok. I still buy some .tv's , and aprk them at www.Sedo.com. So, both sides are covered.

Frank

 

[Marck]

me.tv isn't real?