Hit Harvester
Posted in Business on 31-03-2009 9:03 p.m. | 1361 Readers
My first serious step to take on the internet I made in October of 2000. Together with my classmates and Ricardo Leander I built the site in three days' Hit Harvester. We had like all great plans for this concept. Asleep rich, that was the goal to be achieved. Hit Harvester This is not entirely successful, but it was a learning experience.
The concept
We found that we have a great concept in their hands. The idea was basically simple. Hit Harvester had a Web service are intended for webmasters who wanted to get visitors to their website. To achieve this, we had all joined each other websites. For each site visited by a member, he got a credit. Credit that he could then exchange for a visitor to his own site.
It goes without saying that visitors to a website via Hit Harvester was not highly valued. They were after all only interested in collecting credits for themselves, not the content of what they viewed. But that is not consolidated in the first place because the system was mainly used for advertising and there was at that time little attention to the quality of visitors.
The main reason that we thought Hit Harvester could be a great success, was particularly because we were at the basis of the exchange visitors. All members who each visited Web sites did so via our website, so we would get lots of page hits and a nice database of website owners.
The development
The first step was to capture the domain hitharvester.com. That took at that time over 100 guilders. Then we put in our school PCs together and went to work. Experience with internet, we had little, because that was all still pretty new. Because we all three did an ICT training we thought we would learn soon enough.
That turned out to be, because we managed to have three days the first version of the website and ready to bring online. A performance where I still am a bit proud. I remember a couple of nice days, with chips and beer and bad music too. Why is still not clear, but we listened to the soundtrack of "The Hunt for Red October. In one way or another brought us this music in the right mood.
A simple database and ASP scripts and what the first visitors were already reporting.
The success of the first months
Right from the beginning was like a train Hit Harvester. Daily reported hundreds of new members. It was nice to see that the database is quickly filled with new members and a very diverse range of websites. It was especially nice to see what creative minds all thought about our concept.
There was a special website for the participant $ 100,000 promised when use was made of Hit Harvester.
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After some time we were the third site of its kind in the world.
Everywhere on the internet was written about us. This was particularly due to our referral program. We Hit Harvester way that anyone would bring a new member, was rewarded. This worked as an incredibly strong incentive, because even now there are over 16,000 results when you Google the term Hitharvester looking for.
The downside of success
The initial success was all very nice, but we have received many problems quickly with the hosting. That was something we had not thought beforehand total. We were punished for our own success, because a website with many visitors turned out to cost much money. Because we could not pay that money, we tried for a dime on the front row to sit. But that meant that we had to move several times our website to another web host, because they could not handle our visitors.
On the revenue side we knew a few hundred dollars to catch up with ads, which made it quite a nice extra income if no charges would be. But the real big money, we could not undo. So we had three months after our website was forced to market.
The sale and then
Because it was a thriving website, reported a happy buyer soon. The Canadian company UOWeb Hit Harvester eventually took over in January 2001. For a period of five years we would have a percentage of net revenues continue to receive an appointment where this company has kept to himself neatly.
UOWeb had even grander plans Hit Harvester than ourselves and in the first year they did a nice book sales. After the attacks of 11 September 2001 plunged the advertising in the U.S., however, and were also significantly less income from Hit Harvester.
UOWeb not developed the website, which further income dried up. After six years of Hit Harvester eventually died a quiet death.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:45 p.m.
Yeah, those were the days. Nice to good old Bob again to see with his neat suit and always positive outlook.
Even now when there must be equally gebikkeld I get sometimes the Hymn To Red October there ...