In Part II of this series Jeremy introduces one of his new websites, DonkeyLotto.com and discusses the thought process behind the concept and idea.

As a follow up to my last article I am ready to reveal what one of my new sites is.  This new website is currently in the process of being launched by both Brandon and I and can be previewed at www.DonkeyLotto.com

What the hell is a Donkey Lotto you ask?  Quite simple, it's a contest website and script that allows users to compete against each other by being the right click number to win cash and prizes.  I am not going to go into the concept of a Donkey Lottery so much here as all this information can be found on the site. I feel it would be more beneficial to my readers to actually go into the thought process behind this site and explain why I feel it has the potential to be a tremendous success.

For starters I also want to preface this article by saying that although I came up with the concept, Brandon Berndt who now works with me and is a business partner managed almost all of the development and he will be managing the day to day operations of the site.  Kudos to Brandon who after working tirelessly on this project has proved he is an up and coming star in the world of internet marketing and business.

Okay now to the good stuff.  When I started thinking about getting back to the basics I knew that building a general poker website filled with content, strategy, and articles probably wouldn't have the big bang and the potential that the same site would of 3 years ago.  I knew in order to start from scratch and generate a significant revenue stream from just one site I would have to come up with something that was outside the box and would accomplish several things:

• Drive Massive amounts of traffic.
• Create a "real" reason for visitors to come back to the site often.
• Come up with an idea that was catchy and could become viral or at the very least create a buzz.
• Create a high traffic website that will allow us to operate on a mixed revenue model of paid advertising as well as affiliate revenue.
• Take an idea and turn it into a "Brand"
• Establish a general online community that is not niche related and is simply fun and wild.

Although there are other aspects to what I knew needed to be done, these are the main ones above.  With that I came up with an idea to do some sort of a contest site where people could win free stuff.  After all the word FREE is one of the most powerful words in internet marketing.  I decided to make it a quasi lotto or lottery simply because everyone knows what a lottery is and associates lotteries as chances to win lots of money. The concept of using a donkey was really just to make it stickier and more comical.  This is where the branding comes into place.  I would love nothing more than to see several copy cat sites launched in the coming months toting their own donkey lotteries.  Alex Tew created an entirely new way to generate ad revenue with pixel advertising.  We are looking to create a new internet term and contest with our term "Donkey Lottery".

While on the topic of pixel advertising and the million dollar homepage let me explain a few things.  Although the concept may seem similar it really isn't.  Of course the massive static banner ads surrounding the donkey may seem similar, the business model here is much more sustainable.  With the million dollar homepage there was a huge influx of traffic that visited the site to simply see what it was about.  After you have seen it once there is really no reason to back, wouldn't you agree? With the DonkeyLotto there is always a reason to go back and either click the donkey yourself or see where the current click counter is at.  Once there perhaps visitors will stop by the Donkey Forums and participate in a fun and wild community.  With the forums, we are going after an "Ebaums World" type feel.  Sorry guys, it has nothing to do with poker. :)  But now imagine the excitement and traffic once the counter does get near a winning click, especially for the bigger prizes.

Of course many will immediately say that it is rigged or whatever, BUT here is the beauty of this contest.  In order to click you must be a registered member in the Vbulletin forum.  Every time you click the donkey it prompts you for your username.  In the forums there is a "Winners Circle" where we will post the usernames of all winners and invite them to post pictures of whatever prize they won and discuss what went through their mind when the pop-up appeard telling them they just won.

The way the business model is designed, these cash and prizes are essentially being funded by the advertisers.  Obviously in order to fill up ad space however we need to drive several thousand unique visits per day and "build the brand".  Luckily we do have a moderately large budget for this site to supply cash and prizes for the first few months with $0 advertising dollars.  More than likely we will be operating in the red for the first few months, but long term if we can build the brand, drive the traffic, and give maximum ROI to our advertisers, it will be a winning proposition.  I cannot stress the importance to webmasters that in order to make money you have to take some risks and spend money.  In the old days it was simpler, but now it is just reality.

In respect to marketing the website and getting it out into the general public.................come on now, do you really think I am going to give away ALL my trade secrets. :)  I can tell you though that we have a written business plan on the steps and timeline we will be taking for various points in the launch.  Stay tuned for Part III of this article where I will introduce you to yet another brand new site and brilliant concept.

So there you have it, The Donkey Lotto has been born!  I invite you all to #1 join the community and grow with it, but #2 also feel free to comment about the idea/concept in our forums at PAW.  Like I said in the Part 1 of this article I am making this promotion public to set an example to my peers. EEEEEEEE AAAWWWWW!

Jeremy

And be on the look out for an all new site for MySpace Layouts and MySpace Graphics & Codes