Large Community, respect all!

I agree with Lance in that a couple of developers should be plenty to keep a site like this going. Do the TradeMe thing and develop good systems that don’t require too much human interaction. Focus on good organic SEO instead of paid search marketing. Focus on user experience etc, and do the whole thing on a tight budget so that getting a ROI out of the site is actually achievable. With the costs Ferrit were clocking up, they never really had a chance of getting any ROI. How can you make any money when you have a few dollars margin on a product, and you are paying a few dollars a click for advertising?

The domain is in a good position now to be picked up by someone who can revamp it and create some buzz. It should be easy enough to get a list of honest complaints/feedback from retailers and customers (just ask them). If someone revamped the site with this feedback in mind, it would generate buzz in the media and the project would have a chance.

We’ll add $1 to the pool of “investors” if we can get personally introduced to each of the individual stores.

Since you brought up some good points, I thought I’d respond. I agree with most of your points, and the methods you mention are indeed valuable, if not essential, aspects to any serious online presence.

However, I think that you’re being unrealistic to simply rely on them alone, for they are only part of an overall strategy.

Good communication and smart marketing are still valid methods for spreading the word about your products and services (I am not referring to spam that clogs up the entire network and promises larger and longer pleasure!)

Television works. Radio works. Print media works. And OPT-IN email works. If you think it doesn’t or that it’s not a valid method of marketing, then I would suggest you look at the many and varied businesses that utilise it. One day is a prime example. Ferrit also, but here’s the crucial factor: the online presence has to actually be simple, user friendly and interesting enough to actually engage your audience once they decide to visit!

I’m not saying that our website http://www.boomskateboarding.com has all the answers, but certainly our numbers suggest that we are on the right track (always room for improvement, I’m sure you’d agree!)

SEO optimisation is one thing, but a loyal email database is something entirely different. My comment above about buying the Ferrit database was largely tongue in cheek, but perhaps that didn’t come across!

Intruding on people with email is not the future, it is just another form of TV style shotgun advertising.

I bagsey director of databases ! (lemme get my hands on them 100,000 email addresses :-)

I wonder how many of the Telecom employees will get “re-assimilated” into the mother ship??

We looked at selling our skate hardware and clothing on Ferrit – it was such a clunky site and a very clunky back-end. I’m not suprised it fell over…. still, it’s a shame for the e-commerce image….

Awesome post even if I disagree with the last point :)

I got 50 cents if you want to go in 50/50