Entrepreneur Interview

Thanks, Brandon, for taking the time to answer my questions. What name should I call you?

Brandon is good, I mean you can't get a better name than that.

How old are you?

23 going to turn 24 November 26th.

When did you start your business?

I started out with my first website October 2004. It was a running website and I had no intention of making any money off it. After that I designed my mom's antique website which lead me to start doing design jobs that I found through craigslist. While looking for tutorials and tips on web design I came across digitalpoint.com and that's where I learned the tricks of the marketing trade.

What is your business or website called, and what does it do?

I launched LinkExperiment.com on May 15th, 2006. It sells advertising space on the front page, 100 link slots ordered by price from highest to lowest. Anybody can purchase a link and when a new link is added, all lower priced links fall one spot and the last link falls off the homepage. The page is an opportunity for advertisers to take part in the story that I am promoting. I think a lot of people are very curious about people who make money online and The Link Experiment is a great story about something very simple that has made a good chunk of change. Advertisers can then promote their websites to that audience and get a piece of my pie.

What inspired you to do that?

Well, the Million Dollar Homepage was a big inspiration. After that page took off I started to think about why it was so successful. Some of my favorite threads to read about are threads about people making a lot of money online. It's exciting and inspiring to read about people creating a simple idea that really takes off. A lot of people are drawn to these stories like I am, so I thought I should create my own story of making money online. Thus the link experiment was born.

What makes your idea work?

People's curiosity and excitment about making money online is mostly what makes the idea work. That excitement drives people to the site, then advertisers pay to have their link displayed in front of these people, which in turn drives more people to the site because I've made more money. It's a cycle that feeds off of each other.

How much money is your business bringing in? Are there signifcant expenses associated with it?

I guess if you average it out it ends up being $2,000/month. However, the site was selling links for a penny a piece in the early days. It's only in the last 2 months that the site has really taken off. It's been about $4,000/month the last 2 months. There aren't too many expenses. I've made a few affiliate payouts, I've paid for a few press releases, and I've worked with adwords a bit.

How is your business marketed?

Word of mouth is definitely the best and largest source of my traffic. Shoemoney's blog post about my site was a big help. Other than that it's a lot of emails and forums and people just talking about my site.

Where is the business located? Where are its customers located?

I'm in Philly customers are from all over the world.

How much time is spent on your business? Do you employ help? How many, and what kind?

Hmm, i'm not sure. It really depends on the week. Some weeks it's 50 hours, some weeks it's 20 hours. I don't have any employees although I've contracted people for work here and there.

Is there any advice you can offer to fellow aspiring entrepreneurs?

Believe in yourself and invest in your dreams. A lot of people will try out a site and if it doesn't start making thousands right away they'll give it up. With the Link Experiment I had to scratch and claw my way to where I've gotten so far, and I'll have to scratch and claw some more to get higher. I think the first day of my project I made something like 29 cents. But you've got to believe in your ideas and put in the time to promote them hard. If you're not willing to promote and invest in your own ideas, then why should someone else? If you work hard and promote and advertise your idea, then you'll gain some respect from other people and convince people that OK, this guy is legitimate now, I'll have a look at his idea. If you're not willing to work at it, then it just won't work.