HotorNot goes free: "Free sites are destroying pay sites" | Hacker News Reader

HotorNot goes free: "Free sites are destroying pay sites"

gigaom.com

10 pointsdomp9 comments

So where is some good data as to how much traffic can convert and how much CPM one can get with various types of traffic? I've been all around googling this to come up with almost nothing. I know one must work on getting users first, but this is not always a viable method, and sometimes one must worry about monetization later on.

Very little in life is free.

Today's internet clearly proves that.

Very few websites cost money, and very few websites are free of ads. These ads are a charge to users in the form of annoyance, inconvenience and spam. They ruin a site's layout and distract from valuable content.

Worst of all these ads are EXTREMELY far from being useful. I'm sure most of you have seen the abysmal figures of facebook's 0.04% click through rate. Even giants like facebook and myspace with their millions (or billions) of monthly page views aren't profitable based on traditional ad based business models.

Maybe paid sites are the way to go.

I know i'd be fine with the death of banner ads.

I predict the future holds one last method of advertising (pat.pend.) and then hopefully in a few years someone will be able to introduce a form of micro-payments that will actually catch on.

I suspect Google's AdSense ads are a better model. I've actually seen _useful_ ones!

Anybody that can make a dollar using google adsense can make two using other means.

The blame lies fully on banking regulations. Micropayments just don't work in the end.

In some ways, it's a lot like the kid selling lemonade for a nickel across the walk from some Coke machines. For next to nothing, your expectations can be a ton lower and you'll still feel like you're getting some value. And if these free sites can actually beat out the established players in features and community, they'll basically be dead in the water, 'cause there's no price that beats nothing.
Then again, I heard that when Yahoo! started charging to get into their online dating service, they actually saw dramatic increases in membership due to the added ensurance of reputation a fee provides.

Then again, I heard that when Yahoo! started charging to get into their online dating service, they actually saw dramatic increases in membership due to the added ensurance of reputation a fee provides.
That's an interesting angle. Nothing quite like that pay-barrier to act as a filter for quality users. Though, it's a smaller percentage of sites where this is both applicable and truly rewarding for the company.

Extremely ballsy. Refreshing to see someone willing to throw it all out and start over right when they've seemingly reached the top.

OTOH, James has a few million in the bank from HotOrNot's previous profits. So he can afford to take some risks.

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