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Go Back   WakeWorld > >> Wakeboarding Discussion Archives > Archive through June 07, 2004

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Old    anonymous920            06-02-2004, 9:24 PM Reply   
Ok, here's the situation, I don't want to make any waves so I am asking for your help anonymously and the e-mail account that I provided is very old and I never use it so if you wanna get in touch with me privately let me know and I'll e-mail you. Ok I work for another wake website, not naming any names, and I do quite a fair amount for this site and I love what I do but I am a student and I am trying to make ends meet, anytime I do anything for any other website I'm usually rewarded somehow. Anyway the site admin is claiming that any and all money made is going straight back into the site, which I think is awesome but I don't see how he is not making a profit and what urks me is I feel like the staff and I do 90% of the work. Ok so what I am asking is is it possible that he is putting all the money comming in back into the site (mind you I have not seen one improvement or upgrade in well over a month) there are several sponsors to the site and he even makes a % off everysale at the online wakestores that came from a click on our site. He has been saying for months that we'd be getting our own e-mail, never happened, that he'd put the photo gallery up, still hasn't happened, he keeps saying he'll do all these things and never does. Not to mention he is only in HS so what are the odds that he is actually paying for the whole thing out of his pocket and that mummy and daddy aren't helping out? How much does it really cost to run a website? I asked him what programs he uses and what start up costs are for a site (cause I'm trying to put my own together plus I wanted to see hoe much he was actually spending on the site). He said he does the whole thing from scratch (is that possible) and he says that there is never enuff room on the server which makes me think that the monthly payment is pretty low. What really bothers me tho is that I work my butt off for stuff that could have been put on my site or that could be in a place where it will get more exposure and instead I am giving him my services for free. Am I a fool? Is it possible that all the $$ are going back into the site? Should I stop altogether and put all my energy towards my site? Or should I at least keep the title of staff until I am up and running? WHat should I do? Am I being used?
Old     (malibuboarder75)      Join Date: Jan 2004       06-02-2004, 10:09 PM Reply   
if it looks like fish, smells like a fish, and feels like a fish...its probably a fish. If the guy seems to be taking all the profit, he probably is. Sponsors pay big bucks for website space. Im sure that there is money left over after all the bills are paid.
Old     (dcervenka)      Join Date: Sep 2002       06-02-2004, 11:00 PM Reply   
You can go to www.godaddy.com and register a domain name for only $9/yr.

For hosting, you’ll find plenty of places that will do if for FREE, but you’ll get pop-up ads and very limited space (<30 mb). For your type of web site you can get probably away with 150mb to start. Adding a forum like this one can eat up space quickly especially if you allow people to upload pics. Basically you're looking at $10/month and it goes up from there. Check out www.webhost4life.com for some reasonably priced plans.

"He does the whole thing from scratch" - Are you referring to writing the code? I thought that was you role, so get back to work... j/k! You can code a whole site with notepad and it won’t cost you anything except your time.

Do you have access to the web logs? With the logs you can see how much traffic the site really gets. It's probably not as much as you think... Unless you are getting 1,000's of unique hits per day most companies won't pay to advertise on your site. Putting a company’s link on your site doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re paying you. Many start-up sites will give companies free banner space just to look bigger…

If you are doing work for free you should at least be offered some sort of compensation or a percentage of the profits. just my 2 cents

Btw – if you have your own domain name/url setting an email alias is not very hard at all and take a whole 30 seconds..
Old     (dcervenka)      Join Date: Sep 2002       06-02-2004, 11:04 PM Reply   
oh yeah... it's always better to work for yourself than for the "man"!

Plus you're young and in HS so start your own web site. The worst thing that could happen is this guy beats you up...
Old     (wakeworld)      Join Date: Jan 1997       06-03-2004, 12:04 AM Reply   
We have always done our best (even when we weren't making any profit) to compensate those who work for us and so should any company that is receiving something of value from you. Even if they're losing money, they should do what they can to hook you up with equipment of something. There are many ways to creatively compensate. I would have to agree that you're not being taken care of.
Old    anonymous920            06-03-2004, 1:50 AM Reply   
Kung Fu, see thats the kinda degrading part that makes me feel stupid, he's in HS and I'm a college student... Also I don't know anything about web maintenaince or web logs, I just basically write a lot of articles do interviews and do that sort of stuff, a lot of what draws people to the site. And the thing is everytime the site is slow he's like we need news can you get me some articles or interviews or something? and like a retard I've been doing it. At first I was thinking maybe I'm doing it for a good cause but the site really isn't doing anything for anyone except potentially making some HS kid (a freshmen no less) $$$. I mean I supppose the message boards are helpful to people but I can continue to help people there even if I don't work for the site. So what do you guys recomend, should I stop? I do do some work for a couple other sites and they have always treated me incredbily well whenever I do things for them. Am I waisting my time at this site? Or should I stick it out cause its a means of getting my name out there? Cause thats how I've been trying to justify this all along, I just keep telling myself that its been a good opportunity and is opening a lot of doors. Which... is kinda true cause I have made some connections but I think I would have made those working for any site.
Old     (pierce_bronkite)      Join Date: Jul 2003       06-03-2004, 7:23 AM Reply   
Stop wasting your time. I would personally walk away from it.

Like Kung FU said, if you dont have access to the logs you dont know what is going on. All of your suspicisions sound like they are true.
Old     (tommyc)      Join Date: Nov 2003       06-03-2004, 8:28 AM Reply   
He may be paying someone to market the website on the search engines. That can cost quite a lot. Ask him to show you what he is spending his $ on.
Old     (jayman1)      Join Date: May 2002       06-03-2004, 8:38 AM Reply   
I would definitely consider starting your own site because you sound like you know enough about it. It will take some research but Kung FU has done some of it for you by giving you that domain info.

It will be a learning process for both you and your site admin. Your site admin will learn that if he does not take care of good people(you), good people will leave him. You, however, will learn that you can do this admin stuff yourself!!!.

Also, don't feel stupid because he is younger. There is always going to be someone out there who knows something you don't. All you have to do is recognize it and learn it yourself. This cat probably doesn't know how to code or he would be doing it himself, right? Use this as a learning experience and take what you have learned and apply it to your own site. Good luck.

PS - Run your site in tandem for a few weeks until you are ready to leave the old guy. This way, you can see how much work/time it involves before you quit to maintain you new site.
Old     (dcervenka)      Join Date: Sep 2002       06-03-2004, 10:30 AM Reply   
Anonymous - Since you're in college you've probably already met fellow students that can put a web site together for you. Combine this with your writing talent and you can start your own web site. Like I said the start up is minimal... less than $100/yr

I'm curious to check this site out. If you're cool with it please send me the link to the email in my profile.

~The Fu
Old    anonymous920            06-03-2004, 11:12 AM Reply   
check your e-mail in like 10 min and thanx for all your help.
Old     (wakeworld)      Join Date: Jan 1997       06-03-2004, 11:28 AM Reply   
Me too...

If you put together good wakeboarding content, we'd certainly pay you for it.
Old     (psudy)      Join Date: Dec 2003       06-03-2004, 11:44 AM Reply   
Try to get a hold of his tax returns. That will tell you everything he is doing with the money, or lack there of.
Old     (canaday)      Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Hawthorne       06-03-2004, 2:01 PM Reply   
I'd probably help you putting up a website in my spare time, for beer.
Old    anonymous920            06-03-2004, 2:37 PM Reply   
David I also sent you an e-mail, I don't mind people knowing the site or who I am for that matter, I just don't want to jump to conclusions or offend any one at the site if in fact the site owner is being honest.

Paul... I don't even know if he is old enough to have tax returns... .

Sean, haha, thanx for the offer, but I really want to do my site the right way the first time arround (I'm not saying that you wouldn't, don't get me wrong) there are some people in the area that are going to help me for a fairly cheap price and they're going to sit down with me and walk me through all the steps.

Thanx again everyone

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