RedHedd.com: Social Networks and Affiliate Marketing

By Bud on July 29, 2008 TrackBacks (0) Comments (3)

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Steve Warrington founded RedHedd.com as an experiment to see if he could harness social networks to generate content for his affiliate marketing business. So far, the experiment has only produced break even results. Steve goes on to describe some of the elements of affiliate marketing success.

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Network Businesses | RedHedd.com | Steve Warrington

Steve Warrington came up with the idea for RedHedd.com when he was working on "resource" sites for social networking sites. These "resource" sites provided tips on customizing the social networking sites and were highly popular. Steve's business model was to gain high search visibility for the sites and then monetizing the resulting traffic by referring it to sites with which he was affiliated. These sites would pay significant amounts for each click through.

The only problem with the "resource" sites was that producing content for them was extremely time consuming. RedHedd.com was an experiment to see if Steve could harness a social network site to produce easily monetized content. So far, the experiment has only produced break even results, making it a labor of love compared with his main business of developing affiliate marketing sites.

Steve happened into affiliate marketing in 2005 when he wanted to sell an ebook about mortgage financing on the web. He quickly discovered that he could make far more money providing the content for free and using it to draw traffic for the sites with which he was affiliated. Since, he has created a total of ten sites focused on different topic areas, and affiliate marketing has become a full time occupation for him.

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3 Comments

Karen Kuula on November 12, 2008 4:30 AM
I find this to be so interesting. In this day and age advertising is a very expensive part of marketing a product. I never really thought of the difference between having a site that charges compared to the revenue that can be created by having a free site with web advertisements. Steve said that currently RedHedd.com does not have very many members, but is still currently breaking even. This puts things into perspective for the amount of money that Tom Anderson, the founder of myspace.com, must be making with its over 100 million members. The social networking industry has become very popular within the last five years. Dating websites were to abrasive for many but others still wanted a virtual way of keeping in touch with one another in a similar, but non-romantic, way. Steve is definitely correct when he modeled it after other social networking sites, but that his has more of a niche to it. The idea of a social network for just red heads is very interesting. It's almost discriminatory, and seems like it would be a lot to keep up with yet another network and another username, password, and e-mail. However, some people do not seem to mind. The fact that people are willing to pay the premium membership shows that it is meeting its niche, and has found a successful way to generate sale and not depend solely on the per view payments from their advertisers. This industry continues to grow, and I do not see it slowing down any time soon. People love using technology to keep in touch with people. Social networking is a fun way to meet new people in a relaxed environment with little pressure. Steve should look to create a broader network with a twist on the current concepts in order to really create a network that masses of people will want to be a part of.
Bob on February 27, 2009 10:27 AM
As a small Michigan business owner, I like to stick to the local guys for supplies when necessary. For years, I have been getting my abrasive belts, wheels and supplies from Econaway Abrasives. They have information on their website with full pricing and order forms. I believe the URL is http://www.econaway.com. They are in West Michigan, and provide a full spectrum of abrasive supplies for residential or industrial needs.
Tom on August 31, 2009 4:40 PM
I would have to agree with Bob. As another small business owner in Michigan, using other local businesses for supplies has been very reliable. They have provided me with quality service and great products for years and www.econaway.com makes them much easier to get a hold of.

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