men.com -vs- askmen.com

[Lotus_Mike]

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/?url=askmen.com

Ask Men
askmen.com

Offers tips, hints, and guides about sex, women, relationships, dating, cheating, fashion, and health.

Avg. Review for askmen.com: 4.0 of 5 stars
Traffic Rank for askmen.com: 883




http://www.alexa.com/data/details/?url=men.com

Men.com: The Definitive Online Magazine for Men.

An online lifestyle maagazine for men.

Traffic Rank for men.com: 206,142


men.com must be run by a millionairre 1 hit wonder. Having dollars doesn't substitute business development knowledge.

[mrthumbs]

i agree.. its pretty shocking to see how thats going.

[Lotus_Mike]

i agree.. its pretty shocking to see how thats going.

I would sell it or convert it into to a gay site.

[mrthumbs]

I would sell it or convert it into to a gay site.

There we go. Men.com would do best as a gaysite.

No self respecting heteropsexual man will browse men.com ;)

[mrthumbs]

let alone buying it!!

[warlock5]

Is your other nickname bluff?

[eGawd]

Ever think it might just be an investment?

[Lotus_Mike]

There we go. Men.com would do best as a gaysite.

No self respecting heteropsexual man will browse men.com ;)

Not to mention, multimillion dollar domains are owed a floor in a building with 50+ employee's.

[WarChild]

I would sell it or convert it into to a gay site.

Great.. And if I had super powers I would rob a bank. The likely hood of me getting bitten by a radioactive spider is just about as high as the chances you will own a premium domain like men.com or be in a position to advise those that do.

[Lotus_Mike]

Is your other nickname bluff?

I'm not a flaming homosexual. Like juicy.

[aico]

Yah, I ofter wonder why that site is what it is (or isnt't). It's all just RSS feeds and other crap. Make it a Gay site and you'd be rich as hell.

[Lotus_Mike]

Great.. And if I had super powers I would rob a bank. The likely hood of me getting bitten by a radioactive spider is just about as high as the chances you will own a premium domain like men.com or be in a position to advise those that do.

Owning a premium domain =! guaranteed success.

Do you know what a dot bomb is?

[Young]

Men.com hurts my eyes.

Who the fuck still uses Bevels and Drop Shadows? Especially a site with a million dollar domain name. That layout looks like shit. Didn't somebody tell them that the color white = professional and easyness on the eyes.

is this still KRL's? I charge $500 an hour for a consulting fee. E-Mail me.

[WarChild]

Owning a premium domain =! guaranteed success.

Do you know what a dot bomb is?

Nobody said anything about it being a guaranteed success. I only said it doesn't really matter what you think about it.

[Libertine]

First of all, Lotus_Mike, comparing the two is sheer stupidity for one simple reason:

men.com
Online Since: 1-Apr-2004

askmen.com
Online Since: 02-Jun-1999

Secondly, to be truthful, men.com does suck. They got most things that are important for an online men's mag entirely wrong, failed to come up with anything original, got an absolute 0 on viral and se marketing, have went through a number of sucky designs to end up with a lame askmen.com rip-off, etc.
It could still do well as an online mag, but for that it should develop its own personality and come up with some original marketing angles.

[Pipecrew]

Didnt askmen.com sell recently for millions and millions?

[GeorgeK]

Yes, Pipecrew. See:

http://corp.ign.com/articles/620/620643p1.html

And then IGN (which also has game sites) was acquired by News Corp, for around $650 million:

http://corp.ign.com/articles/648/648836p1.html

[Lotus_Mike]

First of all, Lotus_Mike, comparing the two is sheer stupidity for one simple reason:

men.com
Online Since: 1-Apr-2004

askmen.com
Online Since: 02-Jun-1999

Secondly, to be truthful, men.com does suck. They got most things that are important for an online men's mag entirely wrong, failed to come up with anything original, got an absolute 0 on viral and se marketing, have went through a number of sucky designs to end up with a lame askmen.com rip-off, etc.
It could still do well as an online mag, but for that it should develop its own personality and come up with some original marketing angles.

It would do much better as a gay portal. Not a mens magazine. The domain name men.com doesn't inspire me as a heterosexual to brown nose about other dudes.

[Nasty]

I do think men.com is a crappy site but to compare it to askmen.com is not a fair match, askmen is ran by a company who already has a million daily users, its easy to migrate your user base when you have a network of sites with critical mass like ign

http://corp.ign.com/

[Lotus_Mike]

Didnt askmen.com sell recently for millions and millions?

Six. Hundred. Fifty. Million....!

[cayne]

News Corp > IGN > AskMen...that's kinda funny. Always a bigger company purchase a smaller one. Now is just Microsoft missing... Microsoft > News Corp... :D

[Libertine]

It would do much better as a gay portal. Not a mens magazine. The domain name men.com doesn't inspire me as a heterosexual to brown nose about other dudes.

The domain name is easy to brand and provides a steady flow of fairly fresh traffic. Those things help when building up any related business.

It might make more as a gay site, but I can imagine that it would be more fun to run your own men's mag. And the name itself could have been used to form the basis for a great online men's mag, had it been properly developed.

[Lotus_Mike]

I do think men.com is a crappy site but to compare it to askmen.com is not a fair match, askmen is ran by a company who already has a million daily users, its easy to migrate your user base when you have a network of sites with critical mass like ign

http://corp.ign.com/

askmen.com was bought by IGN for $650 mil, even comparing pre-acquisition is a way unfair match.

Look, askmen.com had the employees and executive power to make all their shit happen.

men.com's owners are probably still stuck in their porn high. Being a millionaire doesn't make you a business executive by financial authority either.

[KRL]

This new team we hired to run the site came with very impressive credentials.

They developed all the sites for American Media, Weider Publications, Men's Fitness, and even some US government sites.

I'm not in love with the new iteration yet either, but they're still working on a lot of it so we'll see how it turns out, and I believe in giving everyone a fair chance.

Its just an investment for me at this point, and long term no matter what goes on there domains are increasing in value tremendously.

If anyone thinks they can do a better job or has innovative ideas send your bio, portfoio and ideas to me at [email protected] and I'll show it to my partners and staff at our next board meeting.

Comparing us to askmen isn't fair. They've had their site going for 6 years and have a enormous content base. Last thing we're going to do is invest in that much infrastructure and turn it into a dot com scene laidened with overhead. The way were doing it now gives us the opportunity to try a bunch of different things on there until we get one that works the best.

PS - Hi Lotus_"Lee"

[BradM]

If I spent a million bucks on a domain I would want to make it back within the first 2 years. "Investment" is a shitty excuse for an abismal failure at this point KRL.

That domain has potential. It's just being run terribly.

[xlogger]

Hand this domain over to me! I bet i can do more with it that a anyone!

[KRL]

If I spent a million bucks on a domain I would want to make it back within the first 2 years. "Investment" is a shitty excuse for an abismal failure at this point KRL.

That domain has potential. It's just being run terribly.

First off I'm not running the domain. We hired a company to do it.

Secondly, you don't call something a failure until the games over, you walk away from the table and you indeed lost money. Games not over, we aren't walking away from the table and we haven't lost money.

Like I said its easy to be a critic. Lets see what all the critics got. E-mail a biz plan with something better and you might be hired next if our current team doesn't accomplish the goals they gave us.

[xlogger]

I would think most of the people comming to your site are gay.

Why would a stright guy type in men.com for?

Just do a anonymous poll on the site asking if the surfer is stright/bi/gay.

Let us know the result.

[broke]

Of course men.com is not going to be askmen.com...

Anyone with a clue would turn it into the gay version of askmen, though. You're taking the short view, Kevin. Real targeted content, product placement, and the subsequent ad revenue.

Won't happen overnight... but it WILL happen if done correctly.

[Libertine]

This new team we hired to run the site came with very impressive credentials.

They developed all the sites for American Media, Weider Publications, Men's Fitness, and even some US government sites.

I'm not in love with the new iteration yet either, but they're still working on a lot of it so we'll see how it turns out, and I believe in giving everyone a fair chance.

Its just an investment for me at this point, and long term no matter what goes on there domains are increasing in value tremendously.

If anyone thinks they can do a better job or has innovative ideas send your bio, portfoio and ideas to me at [email protected] and I'll show it to my partners and staff at our next board meeting.

Comparing us to askmen isn't fair. They've had their site going for 6 years and have a enormous content base. Last thing we're going to do is invest in that much infrastructure and turn it into a dot com scene laidened with overhead. The way were doing it now gives us the opportunity to try a bunch of different things on there until we get one that works the best.

PS - Hi Lotus_"Lee"

Here's some free advice: make the site less bland and generic. As a relative newcomer in an already tight market, you need to have an extra edge that the competition doesn't have. Throw in some virals, like humour, quirky tests, a babe contest, etc. Those things target an audience younger than the one you are aiming for, but they are a good way of getting the word out there and gaining some extra visitors. After that, incorporate some specific angles like a sharp, satirical, almost-over-the-edge column, elaborate guides on fitness/dating/sex (the stuff that the other men's sites ask money for), a "babe" database, etc.

Right now the site lacks personality, and everything it does is done much better by sites like men.com

[Pipecrew]

Of course men.com is not going to be askmen.com...

Anyone with a clue would turn it into the gay version of askmen

That's actually a really good idea.

[Lotus_Mike]

First off I'm not running the domain. We hired a company to do it.

Secondly, you don't call something a failure until the games over, you walk away from the table and you indeed lost money. Games not over, we aren't walking away from the table and we haven't lost money.

Like I said its easy to be a critic. Lets see what all the critics got. E-mail a biz plan with something better and you might be hired next if our current team doesn't accomplish the goals they gave us.

There are several new media and brand development consulting firms out there; why would an millionaire consult with the mom and pops in here? They couldn't understand market metrics, ROI benchmarking, advertiser hot syncing, etc., much less find a partnership contract even if was stapled to their foreheads.

[KRL]

There are several new media and brand development consulting firms out there; why would an millionaire consult with the mom and pops in here? They couldn't understand market metrics, ROI benchmarking, advertiser hot syncing, etc., much less find a partnership contract even if was stapled to their foreheads.

You seem to be very knowledgeable with lots of good ideas. Instead of bashing me like you have over the past year, send me your res and plan.

[Jace]

doesn't anyone else laugh when xlogger comes into a thread and offers his "business advice"?

[Lotus_Mike]

You seem to be very knowledgeable with lots of good ideas. Instead of bashing me like you have over the past year, send me your res and plan.

I'm not bluff.

Just saying.

[KRL]

doesn't anyone else laugh when xlogger comes into a thread and offers his "business advice"?

I take all comments and advice to heart, even the one's from bluff / Lee.

I also respect everyone's ideas no matter who they are in the biz, big or small. Most good ideas don't come from seasoned experts, but from bright young guys like on GFY.

There are a lot of very sharp and brilliant marketers on this board. Even the guys that stalk have actually made some good ideas over the past year.

[KRL]

I'm not bluff.

Just saying.

Well sorry about that, but you came on with a brand new nick, didn't say hi to anyone and immediately went to town with posts about posing and men.com posts so you have to acknowledge that's a bit strange.

Sorry bout that.

[Jace]

Even the guys that stalk have actually made some good ideas over the past year.

no i haven't....i have horrible ideas

[Lotus_Mike]

Its just an investment for me at this point, and long term no matter what goes on there domains are increasing in value tremendously.

How much was men.com bought for? Selling currently for $5 million? I would think everyone would be priced out at $2 million. But $5 million? SHeeeeESH.

[studiocritic]

First off I'm not running the domain. We hired a company to do it.

Secondly, you don't call something a failure until the games over, you walk away from the table and you indeed lost money. Games not over, we aren't walking away from the table and we haven't lost money.

Like I said its easy to be a critic. Lets see what all the critics got. E-mail a biz plan with something better and you might be hired next if our current team doesn't accomplish the goals they gave us.

Is what we currently see on men.com a placeholder until this plan is further along, or is this what they're going to be building around? I'm in no place to offer criticism, only trying to understand the situation better before sticking in my

[Ron Bennett]

My suggestions for Men.com - and to digress a bit, a sales pitch for CANNABIS.COM

Interesting info. Here are my thoughts...

1. Generic domains most often have much innate value even if poorly developed / not developed at all; an investment.

2. Generic domains are a great way to break into a particular market quickly...

3. However, from there development, marketing, luck, etc all then come into play.

In regards to men.com - I tend to agree with the poster above who mentioned "gay" / porn site - that may be a better use for the site...

A quick check of related keywords to men.com at Overture tends to support the idea of gay / porn as potentially a more worthwhile use of the men.com domain.

With that said, some simple suggestions, in my view, that would go a long way to making men.com better...

* Redo the homepage...

ie. many folks will mistakeningly think the menu graphic in the middle is just another ad.

* Speaking of ads - way too many and way too large on the right-hand side ... make them smaller or something and instead provide more content in that space ...

* First impressions count a lot - if a surfer doesn't see what they desire within the first screen-full, they're likely going to leave quickly, and likely not return.

* Redo the side-menu ... shift the emphasis more to the life-style related items - most men aren't there to read the news ... they want to get answers to personal men-type (ie. sex, dating, dress, hygene, health) questions, see some women, and have some fun...

* Speaking of fun ... add a message board (if there already is one, I couldn't find it), a chatroom / blogs maybe, and perhaps consider a gameroom - could tie that into paid poker sponsors or something.

X as in eliminate - offering free email - that's so 1990s ... and usually more hassle than it's worth - a few abuses of free email by users can potentially lead to far-reaching problems, such as email being blocked, and more to the point, can potentially lead to the turnishing of the men.com brand; hurting its value.

Now to really digress - hey this GFY afterall

CANNABIS.COM is for sale - and seeing how much Men.com reportedly sold for, CANNABIS.COM is likely a bargain in comparison ... includes some common typo variations plus CANN.COM (a nice 4 letter!) too along with much of the content ...

Current high offer, just this past week, is $500K USD for the CANNABIS.COM package.

That's getting closer to the ballpark of what I'd consider accepting from a motivated buyer...

Please direct offers / questions to me at [email protected] and/or [email protected]

Lets do business.

Ron

[frankfortuna]

This new team we hired to run the site came with very impressive credentials.

They developed all the sites for American Media, Weider Publications, Men's Fitness, and even some US government sites.

I'm not in love with the new iteration yet either, but they're still working on a lot of it so we'll see how it turns out, and I believe in giving everyone a fair chance.

Its just an investment for me at this point, and long term no matter what goes on there domains are increasing in value tremendously.

If anyone thinks they can do a better job or has innovative ideas send your bio, portfoio and ideas to me at [email protected] and I'll show it to my partners and staff at our next board meeting.

Comparing us to askmen isn't fair. They've had their site going for 6 years and have a enormous content base. Last thing we're going to do is invest in that much infrastructure and turn it into a dot com scene laidened with overhead. The way were doing it now gives us the opportunity to try a bunch of different things on there until we get one that works the best.

PS - Hi Lotus_"Lee"

I'd like to offer some constructive criticism from a technical / usability perspective.

1. The excessive use of javascript on the index is causing poor site load performance.

2. The site could really benefit from a clean, CSS only 3 column layout with a more inviting color scheme. In its present incarnation, the site is very dark and the image based fonts are terribly hard to read.

[Lotus_Mike]

I'd like to offer some constructive criticism from a technical / usability perspective.

1. The excessive use of javascript on the index is causing poor site load performance.

2. The site could really benefit from a clean, CSS only 3 column layout with a more inviting color scheme. In its present incarnation, the site is very dark and the image based fonts are terribly hard to read.

Hint: Graphic design is the least of men.com's problems.

You mom-and-pop site owners (are) mom-and-pop site owners for a reason.

[frankfortuna]

Hint: Graphic design is the least of men.com's problems.

You mom-and-pop site owners (are) mom-and-pop site owners for a reason.

Did you even read what I posted? I simply offered a couple of suggestions from a usability standpoint. Nowhere did I offer or address any other issues.

Please post your great accomplishments so we can critique them.

[adultchica]

Like it or not, KRL is a smart son of a bitch!

He's not spending his money on "overhead" until it starts getting lots more traffic and he gets the right concept on it that hits paydirt.

I think most of the people talking shit are just jealous that they can't afford a million dollar fucking domain name!

[Lotus_Mike]

Like it or not, KRL is a smart son of a bitch!

He's not spending his money on "overhead" until it starts getting lots more traffic and he gets the right concept on it that hits paydirt.

I think most of the people talking shit are just jealous that they can't afford a million dollar fucking domain name!

Buying a premium building and running it like a slum landlord doesn't make you a smart cookie either.

[Young]

Go Gay. Thats probaly the best idea yet. If you did it right...it would be a monster of a site.


Lotus_Mike isn't a moron after all Throwing out words I haven't heard since my marketing classes back in college.

[xlogger]

doesn't anyone else laugh when xlogger comes into a thread and offers his "business advice"?

business advice? what business advice? It should be fucking obvious to any fucking idiot.

[xlogger]

Any one laugh when Jace cant affort some design work and have to whore a big ass sig for 2 months.

[KRL]

I'd like to offer some constructive criticism from a technical / usability perspective.

1. The excessive use of javascript on the index is causing poor site load performance.

2. The site could really benefit from a clean, CSS only 3 column layout with a more inviting color scheme. In its present incarnation, the site is very dark and the image based fonts are terribly hard to read.

I've already jumped on the guys about this.

Like I said they came to us with very strong credentials, so we'll see if they can get it together.