Look at the new True.com ads. They don’t even bother showing faces anymore. Is this progress? No. Does this raise the bar for online dating? No. Does this type of marketing even make a dent in the Adult Friend Finder revenue? Probably not. I’m surprised that they didn’t say that the a*s in question was a True.com member.
Let’s look at the difference between total monthly visits and the number of unique visitors at a few upstart dating sites (thanks Markus).
A WIRED writer says they disregard anyone on dating sites who believes in astrology. The tv show The Big Bang Theory ties it all together. You’ve got well-intentioned geeks, a hot blonde and, well watch the clip.
Given the number of people who sit in front of the tv watching reality television, someone should start a dating show on cable. Wait, Comcast tried that, and there is another guy trying to make it happen. Browse video profiles and vote with you mobile phone. Not much different than Idol, so why hasn’t this taken off yet?
The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs has a great piece on Facebook hiring away Sheryl Sandberg from Google to run Facebook.
Fake Steve explains that Facebook is an investor shell game:
You have to remember what Facebook’s core business is about. It’s not about helping people stay in touch with friends or express themselves. It’s not about changing the world or creating an ecosystem for small apps makers. It’s not even about selling ads. Facebook is a vehicle through which a bunch of investors in the Valley hope to turn a small pile of money into a much bigger pile of money by selling shares in the public markets. That is Facebook’s core business. That is its raison d’etre as they say in Latin. This is a company created by, for and about venture capitalists. It’s not a company so much as it’s a narrative. A fable. A fairy tale.
…Worse yet, right now Facebook is a friggin Ponzi scheme, with Facebook’s venture-funded apps partners making money primarily by selling ads to, um, Facebook’s other venture-funded apps partners. And voila, like that, everyone’s making money! Can you say shell game?
Penthouse Media Group, the troubled adult media company, plans to file for a $250 million IPO, the company has announced. It says it plans to file the S-1 in Q2 of this year. Penthouse acquired Various Inc. for $500 million in December 2007.
Penthouse attempted an IPO in 19993, and recently filed for bankruptcy protection. They need an IPO windfall put themselves back on track.
Dan Abelon (sorry for the misspelling earlier) wrote in to provide some additional information:
We absolutely do not set users up with fake people. People do not respond because they are either looking at another site in another tab, or have stepped away from the computer. We realize that this is an issue. Within the week, we are tweaking the technology to ensure that people don’t continually get set up on dates if they are not in front of their screens.
Point taken, the dates are not fake and the systems needs to be tweaked so that you aren’t sent on dates while you’re reading TMZ in another browser window.
TNS acquired web analytics firm Compete for $75 Million - $150 Million.
Tracking service Compete has been acquired by TNS (Taylor Nelson Sofres plc) out of London. Initial acquisition price is $75 million with an additional $75 million paid out over 2008-2010 based on meeting certain revenue targets. Compete had raised $43M since 2000.
Congrats to Boston-based Compete, members of which I have met at Betahouse parties. I ventured out to the tech+libations event in Cambridge last night where I ran into someone from Compete, who assured me they will remain autonomous while enjoying the benefits of having access to more resources.
Another site promotion method is banner advertising. A banner is a graphic image of a standard size such as 468x60 pixels. Some Internet "experts" may say that banners don't work, but this is not true. Banners work very well - otherwise you wouldn't see so many of them around. Also, banners works especially well in the dating software industry where surfers are more receptive to the graphic content than on other sites.
You can create banners yourself with a graphic software or hire a graphic artist. Banner effectiveness is measured inCTR - click trough rate. The higher CTR - the more traffic you receive from a banner campaign. The trick to effective banner campaign is to have a banner with a high CTR. Note that only a half-percent CTR difference can make your campaign a success or a failure.
As a rule of thumb - avoid pretty banners with your company logo and name in a dramatic font. Such banners do not generate high clicks. People don't click your banner because they like its design. Neither will they click your banner because they are interested to learn more about your company. So, leave those things out of your banners. Fine design does not belong in banner art – it can decrease your CTR and waste your advertising money. But a properly crafted banner will make you tens of thousands dollars and more. This is how important a banner is. Do not underestimate the importance of the banner design.
Recently, I have been on several great dates and been deluged with emails and winks from some very cool women on Match.com. Did someone at Match optimize a database differently, tweak the search page, or are they spending more ad dollars in different ways?
Whatever the reason, I am seriously impressed with the people Match is attracting these days. Obviously there are a number of factors, some of which I can control, others not so much.
The usual post V-day signup splurge is in full effect, I’ve got some new photos and, hello Match, every single woman that emails me says my little mini-blog post that I updated at the top of my profile is a big reason they contacted me. They know I’m active and taking the time to do something different to put myself out there and differentiate myself from the rest of the single dudes.
Two important deals being announced in Massachusetts today.
Web analytics firm Compete was acquired, and Mzinga has acquired Prospero. Prospero’s community platform powers some of the largest social nets around. The combined company will become a market leader in the enterprise community space, with 1 billion pages served per month across 14,000 communities.
TechCrunch says via Jeremiah Owyang that there are more than 60 white label social networking players. Today Jeremiah’s posted Consolidation Needed in the White Label Social Networking Industry.
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