What makes a website popular

koeksGHT

koeksGHT

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So many of the big name brands in South Africa who own websites such as Vehicle Traders, Job Posting sites, News sites, mybb, even things like reddit etc all very popular boasting millions of hits on these sites per month.

So what is the key to a good website? These sites are generating millions in revenue on something which can be bought for less than $20.

1 popular site on www.satopsites.com for example is Vehicle Traders with an average daily visit of 17267.3 people. This whole idea and functioning of the site can basically be bought for $18 here

Another popular site owned is an online lotto generator with an average daily visit of 1251.8 people which could bring in an adsense revenue of a couple thousand pm. This again is a $6 script


The examples are endless going up to the billionaire companies like Naspers which owns PriceCheck, another $20 script


So... where does that leave us, popularity would obviously depend on multiple factors such if it was the first one of its kind, easy to use, intuitive. Good support with constant updates.

But all this can and is being replicated all over the internet.

The question is, how do you keep value to your product/idea over time and insure it meets the expansion, growth and evolution of the internet? It seems mostly about patents for the hardware companies and then taking each other to court when their brand feels threatened, would this kind of apply to software? Is this an untapped secret and the only way is to be first to the game in a specific niche?

This may seem like a very arb or vague thread but I feel this is something more to this because it all of a sudden seems too easy to understand(self actualization?). I suppose i'm the kind of person who does not value their skills for only monetary gain but rather helping people who would need an online boost.

/rant over

TL;DR
GTFO


Love to hear your input
 
Google listings and proper advertising. Also keep in mind that PriceCheck and Vehicle Traders would be popular since not many other sites offer the same service.
 
Pics of nekkid women usually does the trick

/runs
 
Rickster said:
Free giveaways like mybb,and realtime support like RPM.
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I really doubt it is the free giveaways that keep people on MyBB. The giveaways here are far and few between, and usually suck (considering the amount of money I'm sure they generate, plus that half the prizes are sponsored).
 
I suspect it works in much the same way as mobile apps do. Everyone thinks if they publish a great app it will just get downloaded, not realizing that the most successful ones (both websites and apps) had MASSIVE marketing campaigns behind them.

Example, you can get free e-commerce templates online quite easily, but take kalahari, it was not a case of "Build it and they will come". They had TV, print, radio, all of the conventional marketing channels covered with a campaign running into tens millions of rands when they launched. Of course it was worth it, but that is what it takes.

Either that, or time, a lot of it.

A good google ranking and a couple of google/facebook ads just don't cut it if you want to be in the top local sites.
 
roguemat said:
I really doubt it is the free giveaways that keep people on MyBB. The giveaways here are far and few between, and usually suck (considering the amount of money I'm sure they generate, plus that half the prizes are sponsored).
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Things people go nuts for....FREEBIES

If I could get a tablet for free HELL YES!
 
Content alone will count for nothing if nobody knows about your site. It's very important though.

In my opinion the things that most account for the success of the average website:

1. Good content. There should be a reason why people are visiting the site. The content does not even have to be all that original. It must just be there and it must be good.

2. Marketing or SEO but preferably both. People need to know about your site. Whether you spend a ton of money on marketing or do it all yourself, the more people know about a site, the more traffic you will have. Plus if your content is good then they will be returning. SEO wise it helps a lot if people google for a specific keyword and find your site at the top of the list. I mean, most times all of us go with the top 3 links.

3. Website age. If your content is good then people will come back and over time your website will continue to grow. Well... ideally that would be the case. A lot of the popular websites have been there for a quite a while so people know them and trust them.
 
Solitude said:
Content alone will count for nothing if nobody knows about your site. It's very important though.

In my opinion the things that most account for the success of the average website:

1. Good content. There should be a reason why people are visiting the site. The content does not even have to be all that original. It must just be there and it must be good.

2. Marketing or SEO but preferably both. People need to know about your site. Whether you spend a ton of money on marketing or do it all yourself, the more people know about a site, the more traffic you will have. Plus if your content is good then they will be returning. SEO wise it helps a lot if people google for a specific keyword and find your site at the top of the list. I mean, most times all of us go with the top 3 links.

3. Website age. If your content is good then people will come back and over time your website will continue to grow. Well... ideally that would be the case. A lot of the popular websites have been there for a quite a while so people know them and trust them.
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Building market strength.

I agree with the marketing but it only works for certain types of products and can be costly unless done by yourself.

Trust and transparency seems to be valued far more than than functionality alone.

Look at Ubercab and some of the other local competitions where all have exactly the same system(prob can buy script somewhere or make one lol)

A good eye for design and user interface with a minimalist feel get way more visits from me than the old boring site.

I suspect it works in much the same way as mobile apps do. Everyone thinks if they publish a great app it will just get downloaded, not realizing that the most successful ones (both websites and apps) had MASSIVE marketing campaigns behind them.

Example, you can get free e-commerce templates online quite easily, but take kalahari, it was not a case of "Build it and they will come". They had TV, print, radio, all of the conventional marketing channels covered with a campaign running into tens millions of rands when they launched. Of course it was worth it, but that is what it takes.

Either that, or time, a lot of it.

A good google ranking and a couple of google/facebook ads just don't cut it if you want to be in the top local sites.
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You have to spend money to make money.

I guess good rep is never bad :P

The social influence also has a huge impact with things going "viral" where your mediocre app gets to the front page of reddit.

aigle2am said:
Google listings and proper advertising. Also keep in mind that PriceCheck and Vehicle Traders would be popular since not many other sites offer the same service.
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Not true, a quick google shows at least 4 and more similar sites on the top page. The 2nd top site on satopsites at the moment is cars.coza which is basically same as VT
 
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NomNom said:
To me it comes down to one thing, usefulness, if I don't find the website useful I don't go to it.
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True, but many people have the same type of site(sybaritic, rebeltech, takealot) all useful and providing more or less the same thing.

What makes them sustainable compared to others?
 
koeksGHT said:
True, but many people have the same type of site(sybaritic, rebeltech, takealot) all useful and providing more or less the same thing.

What makes them sustainable compared to others?
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If we knew the answer then I doubt any of use would share it for free. But there are many factors and its not just about being the best, or the most useful but more about giving the site visitor the most value and to get them to return and share the site with others.
 
useful content that can easily be shared among friends. something that makes life easier or better. It helps when it has not been done before, but one thing is for sure success does not happen over night. Most of the time it takes a while to build up trust with your website.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
If we knew the answer then I doubt any of use would share it for free. But there are many factors and its not just about being the best, or the most useful but more about giving the site visitor the most value and to get them to return and share the site with others.
Click to expand...

that array of mixed answers is what i'm looking for ;)

What makes your clock tick?
 
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