Dark times ahead?
I've been feeling sort of stressed anxious lately, and I think I figured out why. I realized that I'm scared shitless about the future of my business. Things haven't been good all year, and I'm wondering if 2008 may be the end of running my website as a full-time job.
A little history: I've been running the DCRP site for ten years now. It's been my full-time job since 2001. Since then I've been working hard and raking in a lot of money (by most people's standards). It paid for my house, my car, and all the gadgets that I own. And yes, I put a lot of it into investments and savings, too.
Something started to change in 2006. People just stopped going to my PriceGrabber co-brand site. I know it's not my fault -- it's a problem that many consumer electronics websites have experienced, and not just with PG either. Since fewer people were visiting the co-brand site, my revenue dropped like a rock. I tried reworking some things to try to entice more people to click over to the co-brand, but it didn't help.
I had hoped that selling advertising would help cover my PG losses. In the past, I could sit back, and advertisers would come to me with five figure budgets. That stopped in 2007. Since I'm not the salesperson type, I've had a great deal of trouble getting new advertisers. I'm trying something different right now, but it's not performing well at all.
What I'm getting at here is that I'm terrified about what the next 12 months will bring. Will I have to start pulling money from savings to pay my bills? Will I have to -- God forbid -- get another job? Or will things work out somehow, putting the DCRP revenue chart up the upswing again. Something needs to change, and soon -- because right now I see dark clouds on the horizon.
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Jeff,
Sorry to hear that things are not going great at the moment, fingers crossed that everything improves over the coming months.
How is your site traffic these days? The only reason I ask is that I noticed that if you search on google for "Digital camera reviews", dcresource.com is at the top of page 3. I'm not sure what you could do about that, but it might be worth looking into.
Dave
Hello there,
I am sorry to hear that because your site had a big part in bringing me into photography (I adore my D40 ;) ). And in my opinion your site is with 'dpreview.com' the best resource on that theme in Internet. Also I think you are a nice person so i am double sad for you.
Really hoping the best for you and i will consider registering at paypal to donate you some money, just for the using of your website all that time or so.. but sure it won't help you anyway since i am a student ^^
I also can't give you advice, primarely because I think your site layout is close to perfection (i am really into Internet, i know what I am talking about). Really wondering where the problems come from! In Germany (I am german) there was a constantly rising change in maybe the last 10 years (or maybe since end of DDR), that people don't have that much money anymore and that they start saving it instead of 'donating' it the industry. Small buisnesses (like yours) keep having problems staying alive, and the problems even get bigger generelly. So that could be a explanation, IF the explained situation is the same in the US. But is it...? (really, please tell me)
Sorry for the englisch (as I said, i am german) and
ALL the best Jeff, keep my fingers crossed you stay alive and you have some luck!
Sebastian Tramsen
Hey Jeff,
I am a big Fan of your site, too. As Sebastian I also am from Germany, seems you've got a whole bunch of fans here ;-)
My suggestion would be to ask Phil if you couldn't do some kind of "affiliate programme" with him. In the way of dpreview putting a: "please check dcresource.com for a 2nd opinion" thing -I know you already do the same...
Apart from that I see (like Dave) a possible reason in a declined ranking, as google recently changed their ranking-evaluation. Maybe you could do something there....who knows?
No matter what happens, Jeff, I wish you all the best and that the business motor will be up and running again.
PS: another possibility could be to open kind of a fan shop with dcr merchandising articles for a cheap price (like tshirts and so on)...people would walk around as a living ad then ;-)
All the best,
Simon
Dave: Site traffic is very good... it has not dropped off like the revenue has. Oh, and I don't know why I'm on page 3 for google for you -- it's page one for me.
Jeff
hi Jeff...
Sorry to hear about your revenue situation... I love the site and always try and click through whenever I purchase a new camera... Since traffic is still there have you considered a membership site.... that maybe has camera how to's , and other stuff of interest for members? I imagine you get quite a few sign ups just to help keep the site going...
doug
Jeff,
Just after I wrote my message I wondered whether it was a difference between google.co.uk results and google.com - that is more than likely the reason for the difference.
Dave
Get over it
The economy has gone to hell in a hand baskeet
I just lost my job
A friend pays $400 a month for gasoline to get to his job (He's in the procerss of buying a green car)
Be greatful for what you have, like all of we are going to HAVE to tighten our belt and make what we have work!
So, top whinning! Get to work!
I wouldn't say this if I didn't care
Sorry you lost your job Garry, but that was a pretty insensitive response.
Have you looked into using Google's AdSense program which places AdWords on your site? It seems like Google is very successful right now. Their success is built on their ability to get people to click on their ads. What's good for Google is often good for those who display their ads. I'm hoping their success can help you be successful too.
Please, however, don't resort to those awful links within the body of the reviews themselves. I'm sure you've seen the type--they're usually underlined in green and they pop up a little bubble when your mouse passes over them or anywhere near them! Very Annoying.
I really enjoy your site and wish you lots of success!
Michael: Already doing AdSense... it does okay but not great. Lots of slimy companies advertise on it, so I block a lot of potential income. I actually tried Vibrant Media (the green in-context ads) and turned them off after a day because they drove me nuts.
I'm pretty naieve when it comes to web things. I don't know what determines the revenue your site generates, or how it gets to you. I assumed that it came either from ads, where a vendor has an ad on your site, and you get paid by the number of hits he gets from that ad. Or maybe if someone buys something from a link on your web site. I'm sure you wouldn't take a fee from manufacturers of the products you rate....that would destroy the independent reviews that people rely on. Perhaps you could give a brief explanation of how the revenue is generated and paid. Thanks. I do read and enjoy your reviews, and am oversaturated in cameras because of your reviews. I may not be in the market again for a couple of years. But that doesn't stop me from reading your latest reviews. Thanks!
Phil, money is from A) banner ads and B) from PriceGrabber, when a user clicks over to a merchant. No payola from manufacturers is accepted.
Hi Jeff,
I've just read about the problems you are facing, and I am really sorry about that. It's hard to imagine that one of my favourite pages which i am checking nearly everyday is having some trouble. I would never buy any camera without seeing your opinion. Thanks to your reviews I got the Canon 710is for my sister who lives now in Latin America and NeatImage for my XTi.
You sound like an ethical person, and I know it may feel a bit like selling your soul, but maybe what Phil Askey could did (DPreview is owned by amazon now),might help you to carry on doing the things you enjoy and be able to pay the bills.
Maybe you could also suggest the companies providing you cameras for tests that they could add the "recommended" results to their product description on their parent webpages.
I keep my fingers crossed for you. Anyway, I will be clicking the adverts on your page, and try to donate dcresource via paypal few times.
All the best
Michal from Poland
Jeff,
Sorry to hear about the revenue situation. You've got SUCH a great job and I hope you're able to work it out. A couple pieces of advice:
** Work on the community aspects of the site.
* Rather than just have a generic forum link at the bottom of each review, create a specific forum thread for every review and then prominently link to that thread at the top and bottom of the review. This keeps the review "fresh" as people add their own information to your reviews. Consider adding the latest forum posts to the bottom of the review itself.
* Consider turning your Forums button in the top header to a menu with links directly to the major forums. This makes it easier for people to jump right to the topic that interests them. Again, the idea is to give people a reason to come to your site other than just looking up reviews.
* Along the same lines, consider putting a box with the latest forum posts on the front page.
** Go beyond just camera reviews
* Post photo industry news. You don't have to be all-encompassing here, but posting a half dozen news items a day keeps things fresh and gives people a reason to come to the site over and over.
* Partner with photographers. Feature an amateur photographer's Flickr photos on your front page every week. A lot of people would be happy just to get the extra traffic, or you could offer a $25-$50 "prize" for being featured on the front page.
* If you'd rather, you could hold themed photo contests once a month with a $50 prize. Make it a condition of the contest that you have a non-exclusive right to feature any submitted photo and you'll have a steady stream a nice photos to feature on the front page. Again, you're giving people a reason to stop by other than the occasional review.
* Heck, you could even grab photos that people are ALREADY posting to your forums and put those on the front page.
* Put more graphics on the front page of the site. The site is clean and easy to use, but it's a photography site with no photographs on the front page. Look at what DPReview does: They've got pictures of cameras on the front page. Make your front page more visually appealing and people will come back.
I hope those are helpful,
Carl
I've noticed a dropoff in your Alexa rank this year from ~6,000 a year ago to around 19,000 right now. As much as I'd like to discount Alexa, it does say something about the overall traffic levels over the course of this year, and I'm fairly certain that advertisers check this information when they come to propose deals.
One thing that might account for this all is the fact that the market is saturating. Most people have a decent digital camera, and many are on to their second, third or umpteenth one.
I would recommend adding in more "sticky" elements that keep people returning and maybe even some features to get people participating more. One idea is the introduction of user-written reviews. These can be the short blurbs like you'd see on Amazon, or they can be longer ones closer to what you do yourself. This model has worked out well for a well known site that reviews laptops, and the people writing those extended reviews get a small amount of money to write them ($50?).
Another idea is to introduce a blog onto DCRP that's separate from your personal blog. This would be the place to post up what cameras you've gotten (including pictures of the unboxing process), where you are in the review process for certain cameras and so forth.
The key to all this is that perhaps it's time to think about new ways to retain your audience and attract new comers. The current model has worked for years, but market conditions change and force you to think of new ways to keep things going.
By the way, the anti-robot mechanism here is very hard to read that I got it wrong multiple times.
- Jon
To add on to my post, what you did here - http://lostworld.pair.com/blog/archives/002186.html - would be great material for a DCRP blog.
I really don't know anything about your site metrics or anything specific on how you generate revenue but have you considered SEM? Search does incredibly well if you can get yourself at the top of the sponsored search spot. Have you also considered working on SEO to get yourself moved to the top of the natural search? I typed in "Digital camera reviews" into Google and noticed you were 10th down. I'm not sure how your traffic has been doing over the past few years but if that can bring more traffic into your site maybe that could help.