My first money making story :D

Hello all I just thought Id tell you my little money making story

Im 17 currently doing computer game design at college watching Alex Tew's Milliondollar homepage increase in value and watching the thousands of copycat sites appearing out of no where.

Next morning i'am in the shower thinking how can something so simple get so much money, I started thinking along the lines of simple + good concept = money. So i go upstairs and turn on my computer. Instantly become bored, no-one is on MSN - my auctions on World of Warcraft still hadn't sold and I started just tpying things into google and hitting the "Im feeling lucky button"

It suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks, why not have a site that randomly takes you to a website but have websites pay you to get into the selection pot - and thus, sitespin.net was born

It was a simple concept, to join the site for a lifetime it costs a $1, a nice and cheaop way to get traffic even though it was untargetted. Before it opened I knew a few friends with websites back when I was in the video game business, asked them they said it was a good idea and joined up, got my dads site to also and added my host free of charge so I could have more sites in the pot.

1 week later and the site was going strong, however something was bugging me - Paypal took 33c out of every dollar and was really eating into my profits. I decided to introduce a weight system - the more you pay the more entries you get and more site views. Took a while for it to get started, someone found me through google and paid me $10 - I was over the moon.

Deciding I need a bit of advertising I put some funds into a press release, it took off excellently, got featured in a few marketing blogs and there was a bid war in the day - one site paid for 50 slots ($50), 10 mins later one paid $60, and another person $75, before I had eaten my breakfast I had made $200 (including other signups).

No big bids since then but the site was getting stick for untargetted traffic, so I introduced a category system, the bad comments stopped and another flow of money started coming in.

It is now the end of the first month from my site opening, and I made over $500 - for a first try I'am pretty chuffed and I'am currently looking at the whiteboard for some new ideas.

 

congrats, I like the idea.

I am going to submit a few websites to it.

 

I saw your same post over at sitepoint.

As the people there said, don't go revealing all your moneymaking ideas, because I'm sure there are a plethora of copycat sites that will pop up now

 

copycat sites are already popping up but Id rather get my name out and be recognised as the first one

 

Good spin on the fad, submitted a site.

Good luck.

 

Ever heard of StumbleUpon?

 

Cracking Idea, I love the HUGE button.

You should'nt of told 'other internet marketers' about your idea this early though. People will copy.

 

hate to rain on your parade but I saw your marketing (which is what this post is too) on another board, looked at your site and immediately dismissed it as a gimmick. It's not worth the time it takes me to send you a dollar.

 

Please stop spamming.

 

This is amazing and inspiring! Since you decided to share the details, could you tell me where did you send your press releases to? A list of sites to submit such innovative ideas would come handy some time.

Oh, and don't get put off by negative comments. I, for one look up to you and wish you the best.

 

Thats a pretty good idea ! good job

 

Wow that is pretty good especially for 17!

 

I wish you many more money makings!

 

i have great ideas but I cant design for s***

 

Welcome to DP

 

lmao... I don't think I have a lot of time now reading that stuff.. but then nice to see you

 

Welcome to DP, nice idea!

 

sweet idea man...

 

smart kid, keep it up and you will have a good future

 

maybe it is your idea but i saw this kind of sites years ago

you are not first