How was the early state of Digital point? how many member were there in first year? how did you guys manage to built such a great and big board? what did you do to built content, did u hire anyone? after how many year actual traffic of member started coming?
We had about 4,300 users after the first year. We didn't hire anyone, we got traffic because we offered stuff you couldn't get on any other site.
There was never a stumble upon forum. lol I mean stuff like the Keyword Tracker (it was around about a year BEFORE the forum)... it's been since completely rewritten two different times. It's also still evolving, like just added historical Tweet and Facebook Like tracking to it too. https://tools.digitalpoint.com/tracker
Did you started this project alone or with a team. any advice for people out here who want to follow your path
I think he succeeded because he took the road which was not taken by others. So, don't follow his path Try finding a new path!
Shawn was also well known and there was a very popular forum that was sold and the new owners made some really dumb decisions and the users were disgruntled. Shawn didn't join the whiners - he solved the problem by giving us an alternative. When you start any business you need to find the "problem" your target market has - and if they don't have one then your business won't do well. It doesn't matter if they know about the problem - advertising and marketing can sort that out.
oh yeah ;-) My bad, that is true, I think It was another section, you are right, we just exchanged stumbles there, sorry about that , been a while. That is actually how I found this place in 2005, I was looking for a keyword tool and then found that original keyword tracker tool, At the time, I was just getting heavy into the web, I remember, finding the tracker tool and then finding the link to the forum on the left sidebar on that old but cool looking design, I also remember, looking up to you, ( sorry if that is weird ) cause back in like 2004, you were the king of that software, the coding god. I remember reading articles about digitalpoint, and then I saw your employees page and some surfer dudes bio that used to work for you etc, Yeah, this place has been around a long time, DP is a household name with all 6 of my children ages 8 - 18. There has been lots of good times and some times that I was an ass Shawn, You are a true blessing and this forum changed my life in so many ways Its truly amazing how far DP has grown, </ END SAPPY POST >
I am going to give you a like because after not being here awhile it is nice to find an intelligent question. lol Yes Shawn has created a master piece.
This was an adsense revenue sharing forum. Revenue sharing was a new idea, adsense was not too old as well. Millions were searching for how to make money online. Then this forum became popular. They followed this path. You can't follow the same path. Because it is old and won't work.
In fact, I *invented* the idea of AdSense revenue sharing (back in May of 2004): https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/now-get-paid-to-use-this-forum-no-joke.519/
It makes you a genius. I didn't know you invented it. It's truly one of the most original ideas in the internet history.