5 ms·

What was the biggest thing you did to grow big so fast?

by mattbarrie 12y ago

cpncrunch 12y ago
That's what I was wondering too. The site went from 493 pageviews in the first month to 182404 in the second month.
- adventured 12y ago
  Keep in mind that's just the ad views, not the analytics for the entire site. If he began testing AdSense briefly in June, it wouldn't show the traffic the site had in May. His site from archive.org reveals some interesting things: (from april 2003) https://web.archive.org/web/20030422063613/http://plentyoffish.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20030422063613/http://plentyoffi... At the top of the page are links to promotional systems. I'm guessing he basically used link exchanges, similar to how imgur used a traffic exchange (mgid.com) to dramatically bolster its early start. https://web.archive.org/web/20030423171521/http://www.thefreesite.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20030423171521/http://www.thefre... and: https://web.archive.org/web/20030420035505/http://www.alovelinksplus.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20030420035505/http://www.alovel... and: https://web.archive.org/web/20030420102231/http://www.singles-online-dating.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20030420102231/http://www.single...
adventured 12y ago
He knocked over one bowling pin to start: he conquered the Canadian dating market, started locally and moved across the border. That can't be replicated again in the dating market, it's hyper saturated now, but that concept holds true for most any market and for most any product or service: you have to conquer that first market.
- sayemm 12y ago
  You know, I was thinking that too... but then again, the crazy rise of Tinder really surprises me. They're conquering mobile.
  - freyr 12y ago
    Mobile shook things up. Zoosk got in early, and they're consistently among the top grossing apps. Tinder's taking off too.
rebelde 12y ago
I remember Markus saying that he used radio advertising for early marketing.

What was the biggest thing you did to grow big so fast?

cpncrunch 12y ago

That's what I was wondering too. The site went from 493 pageviews in the first month to 182404 in the second month.

adventured 12y ago
Keep in mind that's just the ad views, not the analytics for the entire site. If he began testing AdSense briefly in June, it wouldn't show the traffic the site had in May. His site from archive.org reveals some interesting things: (from april 2003) https://web.archive.org/web/20030422063613/http://plentyoffish.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20030422063613/http://plentyoffi... At the top of the page are links to promotional systems. I'm guessing he basically used link exchanges, similar to how imgur used a traffic exchange (mgid.com) to dramatically bolster its early start. https://web.archive.org/web/20030423171521/http://www.thefreesite.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20030423171521/http://www.thefre... and: https://web.archive.org/web/20030420035505/http://www.alovelinksplus.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20030420035505/http://www.alovel... and: https://web.archive.org/web/20030420102231/http://www.singles-online-dating.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20030420102231/http://www.single...

adventured 12y ago

He knocked over one bowling pin to start: he conquered the Canadian dating market, started locally and moved across the border. That can't be replicated again in the dating market, it's hyper saturated now, but that concept holds true for most any market and for most any product or service: you have to conquer that first market.

sayemm 12y ago
You know, I was thinking that too... but then again, the crazy rise of Tinder really surprises me. They're conquering mobile.
- freyr 12y ago
  Mobile shook things up. Zoosk got in early, and they're consistently among the top grossing apps. Tinder's taking off too.

rebelde 12y ago

I remember Markus saying that he used radio advertising for early marketing.