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142 Comments
- inactive, on 10/31/2007, -0/+45Once again proving that ugly websites make ridiculous bank.
- Linuturk, on 10/31/2007, -0/+31Notice how an article about a site that generates money based on traffic just got submitted to Digg.
That's the sound of this guy going to buy another car. - Dradis, on 10/31/2007, -3/+23Plentyoffish has been around since 2003, so I would hardly call your year-old idea for a site essentially the same as PoF 'innovative'.
Also, just because two of your buddies were happy making good money at their jobs and didn't want to spend time away from their families/ friends helping you create yet another dating website doesn't make the entirety of Silicon Valley full of "lazy hippie follower types" with no innovation. On the contrary, Silicon Valley is a very innovative place, hence its reputation. - inactive, on 10/31/2007, -1/+20I have made exactly $2 dollars off adsense. Yippie!!
- asnider, on 10/31/2007, -0/+17One of the things about POF that I think is hilarious is the fact that a significant portion of the ads that run on that site are for other dating sites.
Either way, I'm envious of the guy. Seriously, raking in that kind of money as a 1-man business? Even now that he has an employee, most of that money is still going directly into his pocket. - somespecial, on 10/31/2007, -2/+19I don't think it's easy as it sounds to start something like that. Traffic would be difficult & If everyone at the site can date for free, why would they sign up for other dating sites, but he was one that managed accomplish it.
- rudy23, on 10/31/2007, -0/+16and that too from friends forced to your links
- thekid42, on 10/31/2007, -0/+15"PlentyOfFish, a leading online dating site that is run by a single person"
Sounds like he should consider joining the site himself.... - inactive, on 10/31/2007, -0/+15Sadly true.
- fkr3, on 11/04/2007, -0/+14A billion bucks today is better than 10k tomorrow.
- Plower, on 10/31/2007, -1/+13Welcome to the new American Dream. Anyone can become rich, you just need some computer/internet knowledge.
- wattersm, on 10/31/2007, -0/+12Alexa is not the end all of site ratings.
- WikiEasy, on 10/31/2007, -0/+12See, desparate people try out POF, and after a while of no success, they click to other dating sites and purchase! That's the secret....
- NSResponder, on 11/02/2007, -2/+13A billion-dollar valuation for a company that's making $3.5M/year in revenues is quite a stretch.
-jcr - wattersm, on 10/31/2007, -0/+9He'd be stupid to sell it, 10k a day for sitting on your ass isn't bad. Once the site is up and running it's not much work to maintain.
- invader, on 10/31/2007, -1/+9wtf
- kittybit83, on 10/31/2007, -0/+8how weird. i started an acct on PoF to spy on my then boyfriend who had an acct (and cheating on me as well), only to later on long after we separated find my future husband on there. very ironic IMO. :) :)
- joaob, on 10/31/2007, -1/+9His monetization comes from AdSense ads. NOT up selling other membership sites.
- roodammy44, on 10/31/2007, -0/+8Dude, do you know how annoying it is when friends ask you to take your precious free time to do a website they want?
If it's so damn important learn to code it yourself!
I was 14 when I started writing websites, surely with some time you'd be able to learn? Besides, it looks like myspace was coded by a 14 year old, and that's not just because it allows the users freedom. - inactive, on 10/30/2007, -4/+12Good grief! More power to him I guess... I'm glad if I make 50 cents! =)
- dreesemonkey, on 10/31/2007, -1/+8RTFA, the second freaking paragraph said:
"He didn't want to get specific about earnings, but he said that POF will earn $10 Million + next year (which puts it at around $30k per day)."
Still, $1B seems ridiculous. Usually people pay 10x-15x net profit for a business, obviously not in the crazy intertube land, though. - thinkdj, on 10/30/2007, -1/+8When i first heard about POF, the first thing that came to my mind was someone trying to get all the hype towards his website..
:-? I still wonder how a dating site could make 10k+ / day from adsense when there are plenty of other free dating sites around. POF has an alexa rank of 700 something. - objectcode, on 10/30/2007, -0/+7someone found success with his site
- rudy23, on 10/31/2007, -0/+6i dont think alexa should qualify as the anything of site ratings
- serra, on 10/30/2007, -0/+6The most horrible and stupid guys are on this site. I have been there for a good while now, tried it a couple of times, but I am about to give up again. With the fact that it is free comes a lot of losers that you have to sift through. Argh!
- Narcism, on 10/31/2007, -0/+6Listed his AdSense cheque but not server costs? Big numbers impress people!
- ussoldier, on 11/06/2007, -2/+8The site should be renamed PLENTYOFROTTENFISH.COM. Everybody needs to start calling it that, because that is what it is. POF is the absolutely worst meat market dating website out there. Steer clear with a wide birth. The women are the absolute worst of thw worst, bottom of the barrel lot. Its pretty hard to make bottom of the barrel in a huge market of bottom of the barrels, but POF snags it hands down.
The first POF date I went out with, wanted to meet at a waffle house, looked nothing like her picture, and had a motorcycle tatoo on her arm. She smoked. Her fantasies were into kinky sex with 'furrys'. You know, like, imagine, Thundercats Ho. Was in her 40's, lived with her mom still.
The second, had a picture up of when she was 30 but was now an old hag in her fifties, missing LOTS of teeth. Like, yikes yeesh. I met her at a hospital, where she was visiting an old friend (man) dying from lung cancer. Oh, did I mention, she was married and wiccan? Her husband had lots of problems with polyamory, but not her, no sir.
The third fatty, on my first date with her, after lunch I went with her to the local mental clinic for an appointment, for schitzophrenia manic depression. I ***** you not. I have no problem with mental illness or hefty women, what I did have a problem with was back at her house she sat on the computer the whole time with 5+ yahoo chat windows open chit chatting with guys. This was her daily norm. That, I have a problem with.
The fourth, wanted to argue all the time about absolutely nothing, and smelled like smoke and dogs (pooches... gross), because her mom and her kept 6 dogs in her filthy trashy rented traler house. I didn't even want to sit down in that place. I cleaned up her car for her, and did a 3day bondo job on her shot out firebird which had a wrecked front end, and she turned around and sold it for next to nothing the next week. So basially, I did a free three day body work job for people I don't know. That was the last straw. Oh yeah, and joy of joy, she gave me herpes. Not to mention its been 3 weeks since then and I am still coughing from the bondo dust I inhaled during sanding.
My advice to you, if you want a free dating site, try OKCUPID. The girls are much younger, and not old shot out hags. Or better yet, don't date at all, you are better off alone. Seriously, you are. Internet dating is over. POF isn't worth a damn, and Google Adsense is royally being ripped off by him and his pages with a page refresh tag built into them to refresh ever 20 seconds. - ImOscar, on 10/31/2007, -0/+6That's exactly the problem- the $1B valuation was made off of Facebook's $15B valuation. The $15B value is based on Microsoft's $240M investment in Facebook, which includes exclusive advertising rights. This article has lots of funny math.
- fossilnews, on 10/31/2007, -0/+6Here's why his site has such a high click through rate:
1) He designed his site to look like the Google ads that are on it, but differentiated it just enough to not violate Google’s terms of service. That way the ads appear to be part of actual site - which boosts the accidental clicks.
2) His site has one subject – dating - so all his ads are relevant. The real kicker here is when I search for people in New York, there is almost always an ad (that just happens to look like the rest of the site) that says "New York Singles", making the ads even more relevant. This means more inadvertent clicks.
3) He then placed the ads near the main navigation elements on his site. So if you are a little sloppy with your clicks, or are simply paging through results in hurry he gets - you guessed it - more inadvertent clicks.
He does all this by skirting, but not actually breaking, Google’s terms of service. Google makes a ton of money via his site and have sited him as an adsense success story, so they let it keep going. Everyone wins, except the adwords advertisers. - aiten, on 10/31/2007, -1/+6I wouldn't like to boast that you moved in together after 2 months. That's a very short time to know somebody in that way.
But good luck and congratulations to you anyway, I don't want to sound negative. - dubbleenerd, on 10/31/2007, -0/+5then what do you think of a $15 billion valuation for one that makes $50M/year?
- Charlotte_Web, on 10/31/2007, -1/+6I would also say that the popularity of MySpace and Facebook would make it nearly impossible for a free dating site to become successful these days without a ton of marketing capital.
POF was unique because it was at the right place at the right time; dating sites were taking off in popularity, but people were balking at the costs, and growing frustrated with the artificial limitations on not being able to show people email addresses or URL's. - tempusrob, on 10/31/2007, -0/+5Ever run a high-traffic website? :)
- inactive, on 10/31/2007, -0/+5Perhaps you need to ask yourself why that is all you can get.
- davewashere, on 10/31/2007, -0/+4When you make most of your money from Adsense, ugly is not a bad thing. People will enjoy the features of your site and keep coming back, but the fact that it's so ugly to look at will make them look for an exit from the site (perhaps without even realizing it).
- inactive, on 10/31/2007, -0/+4So, in this ***** up bubble, a company that earns $3.5 million per year is worth $1 billion? Comapnies are fine with taking THREE HUNDRED YEARS to get a return on their investment. (And that is assuming it is all profit.)
- mego22, on 10/31/2007, -1/+5Ugly and simple will always beat out pretty and complicated.
- linuxmage, on 10/31/2007, -0/+4compatibility rises in proportion to blood alcohol content :P
- elf25, on 10/30/2007, -1/+4re> single mums and fat chicks
Welcome to America! Wake up! damn few girls look like movie stars, models or porn stars. - jeffyjones, on 10/31/2007, -0/+3It pains me that a site so terrible can make a guy rich. I really need to find my own good idea.
- gibsonic, on 10/30/2007, -0/+3I bet he's the "I have THREE PS3's!" guy...
- skidooer, on 10/31/2007, -0/+3Ah, but does that statement actually hold true for Plentyoffish? Do the ugly and simple-minded people beat out the pretty and complicated people?
- darkism, on 10/31/2007, -0/+3POF running costs, if I recall, are $5k / month on only a couple servers.
http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/2007/05/20/upgra ... for more on his config. - raynar, on 10/31/2007, -2/+5"I met my gf there too, she moved in with me after 2 months. Agreed, this site rocks!"
I met your gf there too. Watch out, she's stinky. - booboolean, on 10/31/2007, -0/+3Good that you realize.
- rudy23, on 10/30/2007, -0/+3What he did was create a site that was very basic and simple to use. The ads are placed in such a way that many dumbass users think they are part of the site itself and end up clicking it. even a small fraction of users clicking ads will be a lot of revenue. hats off to the dude though.
- inactive, on 10/31/2007, -0/+3At 10K a day how long would it take you to make a billion? A long time my friend. Some people are silly and want their billion dollars right now.
- gandhii, on 10/30/2007, -0/+3true. the biggest action is in the forums.
- inactive, on 10/31/2007, -0/+3The next few months should be fun to see all the articles about how "such and such".com is worth billions or hundreds of millions, etc. Because everyone is now basing valuations of web sites off the ridiculously inaccurate $15 billion valuation of Facebook. So for the foreseeable future, we are going to be seeing a lot of idiotic articles talking about websites being worth FAR more than they are by comparing it to Facebook.
It is not hard to understand. Microsoft paid about $225 million to Faceobok to extend their advertising contract for two more years. They then paid $15 million to own a piece of Facebook. That puts Facebook at about $1 billion. Being generous. AND...Facebook has far more value than just what it generates in ads from the site. There's a WHOLE lot of marketing information to be had with that database. So a site that gets 1/15th the ad revenue of facebook isn't worth $1 billion. it isn't even worth $100 million. - Akaricloud, on 10/31/2007, -0/+3I might be wrong, but I am pretty sure he has a girlfriend and she used to run the customer service part of the site.
The word single is in reference to the numerical value.
Though I could of read this wrong and you were just going for laffs. -
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