Over the years I have come to find out that almost all sites are "fads". Sure a lot of sites are still around over two years, but they are not as popular or profitable than before the two year mark. Myspace was the thing, now it is Facebook and Twitter. I noticed with my sites that during the first two years it seems like I hit the jackpot and ready to become a millionaire, then suddenly they die off for no reason. Sure they still have the die hard regular users coming back, but they do not grow as much as they used to. I wonder if Google plays a role in that? I noticed some of my sites, one day Google would display my site as the #1 listing for months, then suddenly pushes it off to page six for a certain keyword. Or perhaps people just like new sites, so in a way sites are only fads like clothing styles.
I think your a little wrong, right now in the social network business I'd say Twitter and FaceBook are booming. MySpace, I'd that was a fad.
That is my point, but my mistake for not explaining that I meant by next year Facebook and Twitter won't be talked about as much as they are now (2 years will be up). There will be a new fad that seems like the next biggest thing until its two years are up and it is totally forgotten about.
Right there though, I think you may be a little wrong. I could agree about Twitter maybe but I think the way facebook is doing things, helping the older crowd connect with there friends from high school and the younger crowd. I think they will actually grow more.
OK, just wait until next year and you will see I believe that almost all sites are fads. The ones that last a long time are technical ones like this one or sites that carry products like Amazon. Those sites are more like tools, sites that are more for entertainment are fads.
Ya I can agree with you about twitter. It's just for facebook I see them growing as it's about connecting the old and the young with there class mates.
Social networking definatly goes in waves, look at all the sites trying to be the "newest" thing. Eventually facebook will probably get knocked off it's thrown as it will make bad decisions like MySpace did, and drive people away, and all the sites targetted around facebook will try and shift to the new ones hoping to strike it rich. Outside of social networking, I'm not so sure. There are definatly outside trends that impact the popularity of sites (world events) that determine how much traffic is heading towards a certain niche: (See: Kanye West after VMAs). These are indicated by like Yahoo's "most popular keywords" kind of things...but there are things that are really always going to be popular or in-need (medical advice, legitimate - not viagra crap), that people will search for. Of course news stories about medical breakthroughs with large media coverage might bring an influx of traffic, but over all it's pretty stable. Games aren't so much the same way (WoW, etc).
The only reasons websites fall into the ground is because the competitors are putting more work into putting them into the ground. If you constantly update your website with fresh content, you will never have to worry about losing to your competitors.
I would agree with you to some degree. A lot of sites online are BUILT to be a fad. Adult or mainstream. People are always chasing 'the next hot thing'. Even adult can fall into this. The new hot tube, the new hot chick, the chick who finally takes it in the shitter. All are fad that are pushed for a period of time and something new replaces it. Few seem to keep innovating their sites for the long haul. However, this does not factor in those who flip sites, lose interests, like you build and sell off among some of the others.
Uh sorry but your are wrong! What about Google, Ebay, Paypal, Amazon, Youtube, IGN, Gamespot...and the millions of sites we dont know about that secretly make thousands of dollars per year You just mean social bookmarking websites...because they are fads
Many sites last the test of time, but I think it often depends on the subject matter, how fast moving that particular niche is, whether you adapt the site over time etc. It perhaps depends on your attitude though. Developing sites, with a view of selling them in a year or 2 isn't a bad idea as such though. It all depends on your outlook.
It sounds interesting.But I can't totally agree with you.Well,I'll try to check it.As you mentioned,competition maybe a big challenge that prevents your website develop better and better.
You're wrong because its all about community. When you own a website and you have your viewers, you need to work really hard to keep them. MySpace died because it was simply a mess, a poorly executed projects that they attempted to fix but never really got there. Facebook has always been booming, it decided to go public which made it only more powerful. Twitter is a useful tool for marketing that wont last long, simply because its a stupid idea. Who the hell wants to know what Johny is doing at 3:43 PM? I don't, i personally can care less what he is doing. Twitter is smart for utilizing web projects, its the only way it survives. Once there is a new social marketing tool better then twitter, you can pretty much say its a dead project. To run a successful website for a long time you need to listen to your community and work with them to create a better business that they are attracted to. Your visitors are the most important aspect of your business.
your idea is totally wrong.......................google has applied filter to personalize the search results..........before two years competition is very low................now its very competitive to get a keywords on the rankings.........