How did they become famous? Because for instance if you start a classifieds web site like CraigsList or a free dating site like PlentyOfFish, no one will visit it because no one will know about it. Did they market their sites, or were they backed by a friend who works at a national newspaper that gave them free PR, or...How did they do?
I was wondering how plenty of phish got famous as well. Even though its free , it seems like a pretty crappy site (design atleast).
One of the main things involved here is "time". Like craigslist has been around for a very long time so not only will time be a factor, but also word of mouth advertising. The trick is also being "original". That always helps of course but money is always a big helper as well. Like Yahoo which was one of the first search engines had the original and word of mouth factor, but then companies like Google who had money can come along and become actually more popular. At that point it's a popularity and money contest. If you were to try and create a dating site you would need money for advertising or a VC for backing. Look at sites such as eHarmony. They became popular because of ad funds. Once they were able to afford all those TV commercials people became more aware of them. Sometimes you don't need much money to start the ball rolling, especially if you are a good marketer, and have programming/design skills. This can save you money. Always remember though, it takes an original idea in those types of cases usually. Look at Craigslist. They have (in my opinion) a horrid design scheme and I remember an interview with the site creator saying they wouldn't change it because it works for them. Such as In & Out burger never changes their menu. It just works for them. If you wanted to create a dating site or classifieds site now with all the competition, you would need money for advertising, and pretty much it would have to be in the hundreds of thousands if you wanted to get in the same real of a top dating site or classifieds site. If you had an original idea however which hasn't been done yet, you stand a better chance with a more shallow pocket in making it the next big thing on that niche. Hope that helped a little.. I'm sure others can expand on these more..
I am from canada - i met the guy who started plenty of fish from his apartment. He made 900K one month in advertising. I saw the receipt myself.
I think they got so big because they were the "first ones" if you know what i mean. If you think of a social networking site - you think myspace, if you think dating you think eharmony ect
Essentially word of mouth marketing in both cases, its very powerful, don't underestimate the power of having your customers market for you.
Think of it like this, on the average you site attracts 3-4k uniques per month without any promotion. It takes about 3 yrs for atleast 1 million visitors to know your site. This is the approximation math.
I don't believe that's the reason. There's plenty of free services around there. There must be more to it than just sticking "FREE" to the homepage.
Don't think being first matters either. Google wasn't the first search engine, and Microsoft wasn't the first software company. I think it's a mistake to think that being first with some idea automatically guarantees you success.
Yeah, being free is definitely not the only thing. Most web sites are free these days, and most fail.
They both offer a free service that is needed/wanted. It does not matter about the design, the sites do a good job at what the're meant to do and that's what people want. The non corporate, amature, homely design has probably helped them alot with word of mouth marketing as I think people are more likely to reccomend the sites in the same way you may recommend a inderpendent homley coffe shop to friends but you wouldn't recommend starbucks. First mover advantage would have helped to
I didn't even know about craigslist until I saw a show on flipping real estate. Apparently a guy had purchased a pretty ran-down house off of craigslist. This was about a year ago. I guess I live under a rock.
Well i meant first as in the first that brought something new to the table. Google wasn't the first search engine but it brought some yahoo didn't - simplicity and ease of use. Plus excellent marketing!
But there are some many free-easy sites like plenty of fish, why "that" become so popular, that's what I don't get?
I wish being free was all that was needed to be popular. I think their "niche" factor played a major roll, as well as them being the first to offer and easy way to advertise for free.
Well he purposely made a clean and fast site.. those nicely design flash sites never get famous coz people hate loading flash every time they visit. What looks good is not always good.