Watching a site grow

Posted on April 7, 2007
Filed Under Geeeek Stuff

The process for launching a new website is, to me, pretty fun. First you come up with the idea of what you want to do. Then you have to decide on the design, what software is going to run it, do you want to use somebody else’s or write your own, how are you going to make it popular, how are you going to maintain it, etc, etc, etc…

So, by the time you get it launched, you are usually tired of seeing the design, you aren’t sure your idea is that great, you doubt anybody will want to see it, and so on. But, you have to push past all that and keep your enthusiasm up in order for your site to have any chance of making it.

That’s where I’m at right now with wellwtf.com. I’ve launched it, shown it around and have even brought on half a dozen other authors in order to keep the site fresh with new content at least on a daily basis, and usually more like 2-4 times per day. So far, so good. There has been a steady flow of content. Now, the trick… getting other people to see it!

I’m obviously trying to drive traffic to the site as cheaply as possible. I don’t want to go out and spend a bunch of money at this point since the site really isn’t making anything. Plus, I’ve set it up where I only get a very small amount of the revenue potential from the site. I’ve got it set up where the other authors are all able to share in the profits from the site which makes it worth it for them (in theory) to keep posting fresh content. Plus, the other authors all work as excellent viral marketing machines! They do just like they would with anything else they find on the internet, pass the link on to their buddies. There’s no better form of marketing in my opinion.

Still, you need to get your site linked from other sites that have traffic. The site has already been referenced from a few other sites who have found stories they have re-posted which is the first baby steps in the process. You can check out our incoming links at Technorati.

I’ve found a couple traffic generating sites that are pretty slick ideas. The first is a site called Tag-a-cloud. You place a banner on your site and the more clicks you get on your banner going to their site, the more points you earn. The more points you have, the bigger/better/brighter your link on their site becomes. They increase your font size, the color, the weight, etc.. for your outbound link. You also get points for people clicking on your link from their site. So, basically, it’s a win-win situation for the site.

The other site I found is a newer site, but one that I think has HUGE potential. I’m getting in basically on the ground floor of this one. The site is called LifeTimeTextLink.com. Basically what you are doing is bidding on placement for your link in their link directory. But, the really cool part is, your site visitors, if they like your site, they can help out by also donating to your text link. To check out the process (and, hey, to help out Well, WTF?), Click here and check out how the process works. You simply bid any account ($1.00 minimum) and your payment increases the bid for Well, WTF?. The more bids it gets, the higher it ranks on the list. The top 5 links remain on the front page, and also, you are ranked on the alphabetical listing page. It’s a pretty sweet idea and I’m excited to be a part of it.

So, there ya go. A quick update on my little project. It’s just now getting it’s legs and I’m really looking forward to what the next few months have in store for it. I’ve got a really good feeling about this one.

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