A couple of readers sent me over a fascinating story by RJMetrics about a company that apparently uses thousands of simple lawn signs located all over the US, and thousands of domains advertised on the lawn signs, to drive traffic to dating sites and generate revenues in the 8 figures every year.
Yes I said 8 figures.
I warn you ahead of time, the story is a long one. The author spent many years, tons of research to track down the players and figure out the business model.
However it is well worth a 1/2 hour out of your day to thoroughly read though it, and appreciate how a low tech idea can make so much money in a high tech world.
MHB,
Read this the other day and found it fascinating.
I had a friend who did similar thing with “Grant
Money to Purchase a Home” or some similar name,
till the grant money disappeared. Worked very
well for him for a couple of years with signs at
the end of the expressway ramps. He made some
serious money.
What else ranks high like “Dating” or “Singles”
that this modle could be used for, that people
would spend “Disposable Income” to fuel a business??
thanks for all you do,
Ed – Michigan
Great idea for Geo names…
Fascinating story indeed; saw it a day or two ago over at Andrew’s site.
Just goes to show–again–what can be done with the Internet (even though signs on private/city/etc land is just plain wrong).
Tim–this would actually be a bad idea for a geo name/site, as the bad will such an approach would likely mean an early death to such a site/business.
The “off-shore & anonymous” approach won’t work where you’re trying to show everyone–including your potential advertisers–that you’re a local/area company.
The cops would be at the geo owner’s door w/in days.
The only limits to the possibilities in your life tomorrow are the buts you use today. – Les Brown
Steve, what do you mean this would be a bad idea for a geo site? These are geodomains, right? And the business has worked quite well. While I disagree with the methods, and unfortunately think it is another strategy that leaves outsiders with a bad taste of domainers and geodomainers in particular, it is in fact one of the most successful geodomain strategies thus far (outside of probably Vegas.com and a few other big ones).
I imagine spinoffs of this to come in the geo-space. Dating is not the only geo long tail possibility with this business model. What about local auction goods (ebay/craigslist style bicycles, tv’s, etc.)? Or local gambling/poker games?
Not something I would do, but doesn’t mean there isn’t money to be made there…